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Why Azmi should resign as PAC Chairman

Yesterday, the Star carried a letter by an ex-airman contending that “We don’t need the Eurocopter”.

He wrote:

“AS an ex-RMAF serviceman for 22 years, I believe I am qualified to comment on our government’s insistence on purchasing the Eurocopters. Worse still, without any physical tests.

“Buying the Eurocopter for use in Malaysia is like buying an F1 for use in Petaling Jaya; or a Rolls Royce for use in a remote kampung.

“This chopper is such a sophiscated machine, it is not meant for the normal role of a helicopter. I still see the Aloutte and Nuri (Sea King) in service in other countries.

“Eurocopter is more a combat helicopter. Who do we want to fight anyway? Why use it for search and rescue or during flood relief operations? Other choppers can do that just as well or even better!

“The Eurocopter is expensive. So are the training, spare-parts, servicing, accessories or role changes and armoury. Can we afford the subsequent costs of parts and modern armoury?

“You don’t buy such a sophisticated machine without evaluation. By first going through its built-in purpose, the subsequent cost of training for pilots and ground crews, availability and cost of spare parts, etc.

“Saying that the Alouettes and Nuris are old and obsolete is no justification for buying a machine that will not be fully utilised.

“Just buying the armoury to go with the machine will cost a bomb! Buying the Eurocopter just to show off is downright arrogant!”

As the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had concluded its “rush” inquiry into the RM1.6 billion Cougar EC725 Eurocopter helicopters, can the PAC Chairman Datuk Azmi Khalid answer the questions posed by this former RMAF personnel? Continue reading “Why Azmi should resign as PAC Chairman”

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Tajuddin of Pasir Salak – “tak sekolah ke?”

Before the disgraceful “bastard” episode in Parliament on Wednesday (5th November 2008), the Barisan Nasional (BN) MP for Pasir Salak, Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman was involved in an earlier parliamentary row when I was speaking on the Prime Minister’s Department on how the Biro Tata Negara (BTN) was poisoning the minds of the new generation of public servants with racist, communal and unMalaysian propaganda.

This was Tajuddin’s “tak sekolah ke?” expose.

Many MPs, not only from Pakatan Rakyat but also from BN, have been wondering why Tajuddin had been enjoying immunity not only for showing utter contempt for parliamentary decencies but even for openly challenging the authority of the Chair, as happened on on 29th October 2008 when the Deputy Speaker Datuk Dr. Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaffar was presiding, and Tajuddin threw the gauntlet:

“Kalau macam ini saya tidak setuju kalau Tuan Yang di-Pertua hendak ambil tindakan kepada saya, ambillah! Betul, ambillah, ambil! Come on. Let’s be fair dengan izin. You dengar ini dengar!”

DAP MP for Bukit Gelugor Karpal Singh was suspended for two days over the “main, main” issue but Tajuddin got away scot-free for unprecedented open defiance to the Chair except to subsequently withdraw the statement.

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“Bastard” in the House – most severe action must taken against Tajuddin

Yesterday, two DAP MPs were suspended from the Dewan Rakyat – a dubious record for a single day of parliamentary proceeding.

DAP MP for Batu Gajah Fong Po Kuan was reduced to tears not because she had committed any crime or wrong but at the injustice of being ordered out of the House for trying to discharge her parliamentary duty to speak up on behalf of her constituents and Malaysians.

DAP MP for Bandar Kuching Chong Chieng Jen was suspended because he stood up to support Fong and complained about the harsh nature of the Speaker’s decision.

On Tuesday, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) MP for Batu, Tian Chua, was suspended from the House for repeatedly demanding to know why the Finance Minister, Datuk Najib Razak was refusing to allow opposition MPs to seek clarification on his new RM7 billion supplement to the 2009 Budget which had not been formally tabled in Parliament.

Last Thursday, DAP National Chairman and MP for Bukit Gelugor Karpal Singh was suspended for two days over the “main, main” issue.

But all these “infractions” of the four Pakatan Rakyat MPs added together are nothing compared to the ultimate parliamentary offence by the obstreperous Barisan Nasional MP for Pasir Salak Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman in his most obnoxious and completely unacceptable conduct on Wednesday when he used the terms “bastard” and “bloody bastard” against the DAP MP for Ipoh Barat, M. Kulasegaran.

Continue reading ““Bastard” in the House – most severe action must taken against Tajuddin”

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Abdullah would fail in judicial reforms if original Article 121(1) not restored

The parliamentary reply of the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, yesterday on judicial reforms and the RM10.5 million ex gratia payment to six judges who were victims of the 1988 “Mother of all judicial crisis for two decades” has raised more questions.

Firstly, Nazri most irresponsibly tried to rewrite history about the 1988 “Mother of all judicial crisis for two decades” when he denied that the judges, particularly the then Lord President Tun Salleh Abas and two supreme court judges the late Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawanteh and Datuk George Seah were “sacked” , saying that they were asked to “retire early”.

Nazri was flying in the face of facts of history in making such a claim, for there can be no dispute that Salleh Abas, Wan Suleiman and George Seah were sacked after the outcome of the two “kangaroo” judicial tribunals set up by the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad time, while the other three judges, Tan Sri Azmi Kamaruddin, Tan Sri Wan Hamzah Mohd Salleh and the late Tan Sri Eusoffe Abdolcadeer were victimised when they were suspended and virtually “sent to conventry” for the rest of their judicial service after their suspension was lifted. Continue reading “Abdullah would fail in judicial reforms if original Article 121(1) not restored”

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Obama’s historic win – can a Chinese, Indian, Kadazan or Iban become Prime Minister?

This is the question I posed in Parliament at the beginning of the 16-day committee stage debate of the “wayang kulit” 2009 Budget debate in Parliament today.

I started by congratulating Barack Obama for his historic win as United States President as it was unthinkable even until very recently for anyone to believe that it is possible for a black, who were slaves until some 150 years ago, to be able to become President of US.

I said Parliament should also send its congratulations to Obama.

However, Obama’s historic breakthrough make many Malaysians ask whether it is possible for a Chinese, Indian, Kadazan to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia although the Constitution is very clear that any Malaysian citizen, regardless of race or religion can become Prime Minister.

If such a question is asked 50 years ago, the nation’s founders like Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Dr. Ismail, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Tun Tan Siew Sin and Tun V.T. Sambanthan would unhesitatingly answered in the positive as there is no constitutional bar – separate from the question of whether it was likely to happen. Continue reading “Obama’s historic win – can a Chinese, Indian, Kadazan or Iban become Prime Minister?”

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Najib as David Copperfield

Speaker: No debate on Najib’s stimulus package
By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 5 – Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia has ruled that economic stimulus plan announced in Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s address to Parliament yesterday are not amendments to the 2009 Budget but measures to tackle the economic crisis.

Pandikar Amin said the RM7 billion stimulus package was derived from savings in fuel subsidy and not an additional allocation and it was clear that the amount was not part of the Budget.

“It is not an additional Budget. There is no change to the Budget tabled at the policy level and no change to any figures to projections made in any documents. This is the response if necessary due to the economic downturn,” Pandikar Amin told Dewan Rakyat.

He said the members would be debating the Budget tabled by then Finance Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Aug 29. Continue reading “Najib as David Copperfield”

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A rare parliamentary sight not seen for decades – eight UMNO Ministers queuing up in Parliament till 11.30 pm last night to reply

A rare parliamentary sight in Parliament for decades – eight Umno Ministers queuing up in Parliament till 11.30 pm yesterday to take their turn to reply in the 2009 Budget debate yesterday.

Clearly, my Sunday speech to the DAP Kuala Lumpur Convention castigating Umno Ministers for neglecting their parliamentary, Cabinet and national responsibilities because of the protracted Umno party elections and suggesting that they take five-month leave so as to ensure that the people and country do not suffer because of their party politicking when Malaysia faces the worst global economic crisis in 80 years has hit home and taken instantaneous effect.

On Thursday, two Umno Ministers, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein played truant from their Ministerial duties when they were absent in the winding-up of their Ministries, passing the buck to their deputy ministers.

If Hamid and Hishammuddin think that their deputy ministers were equal to them and could reply of behalf of their Ministries as effectively as they themselves could, then it is time they resign and give way to their two deputies to become full ministers! Continue reading “A rare parliamentary sight not seen for decades – eight UMNO Ministers queuing up in Parliament till 11.30 pm last night to reply”

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Azmi’s unilateral rush as PAC Chairman to whitewash Eurocoper helicopter deal fiasco

Public Accounts Committee Chairman Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid has provided the most eloquent testimony why there is a Commonwealth parliamentary convention that a senior Opposition parliamentarian should be head of the PAC (and why a Minister who has just stepped down from the Cabinet should not head the PAC) if the parliamentary watchdog committee is not to be bullied or overawed by the Executive to rubber-stamp or whitewash controversial government decisions like the RM1.6 billion 12 Couger EC725 Eurocopter deal fiasco.

Yesterday, Azmi announced that the PAC had cleared the government of any procedural abuse in the RM1.604 billion Eurocopter helicopter deal and that the deal “was done in accordance with procedures”.

Is Azmi aware that his announcement clearing the government of any procedural abuse in the helicopter tender process has created consternation, disbelief and dismay among right-thinking Malaysians and undermined public confidence in the institution of Parliament for it runs counter to the clear and grave procedural abuse in the tender process requiring physical evaluation and in this case, test flights of the helicopters shorted-listed?

How can Azmi claim on the one hand that there is no procedural abuse in the tender process and yet in the next breath admit to the fact that there was the grave procedural abuse of no physical evaluation and test flight of the helicopters concerned? Continue reading “Azmi’s unilateral rush as PAC Chairman to whitewash Eurocoper helicopter deal fiasco”

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Are MCMC/Ministry dumb or just subservient to Telekom Malaysia?

“Are MCMC/Ministry dumb or just subservient to Telekom Malaysia?”

This is the question I posed to the Minister for Energy, Water and Communications Datuk Shaziman Abu Mansor in Parliament at close to 11 pm last night when winding up the debate on behalf of his Ministry on the 2009 Budget debate.

I had queried Shaziman on why Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) was awarded the RM11.3 billion HSBB (High Speed Broadband) project, subsidised with RM2.4 billion of taxpayers’ money, when there was an alternative proposal by HSBT (High Speed Broadband Technology Sdn Bhd) offering to build a similar network without any subsidy?

I also challenged the government’s rationale in awarding the HSBB to Telekom when Telekom must bear the greatest responsibility for Malaysia’s failure to become a broadband power, left far behind in the past decade by other countries when Malaysia had started on an equal broadband footing with them.

South Korea has now a broadband penetration rate of 93 per cent and Hong Kong at 30 per cent, as compared to Malaysia’s 13 per cent (Shaziman corrected me and claimed that Malaysia’s broadband penetration rate is now 17%) which includes Malaysia’s most extraordinary “low broadband speed”! Continue reading “Are MCMC/Ministry dumb or just subservient to Telekom Malaysia?”

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Three Higher Education Ministers in 4 years while universities continue plunge in international rankings and losing out to Indonesia after left behind by Singapore/Thailand

Three Higher Education Ministers in four years while Malaysian universities continue the plunge in international university rankings – this is the second consecutive year Malaysia is excluded from the Times Higher Education Supplement’s (THES-QS) World’s Top 200 Universities.

Are these two matters inter-related?

This is the question I posed to the third Higher Education Minister in four years, Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin in Parliament this morning when he replied during the winding-up of the 2009 Budget debate, but as expected, he could not throw any light on the conundrum.

It is a sad reflection of the “paradigm shift” in university quality and excellence in Malaysia that while the first two Higher Education Ministers (Datuk Dr. Shafie Salleh and Datuk Dr. Mustapha Mohamed) talked about how to defend Malaysian university rankings in the Top 200 World Universities, Khaled spoke with pride this morning at the inclusion of Malaysian universities in the Top 500 world universities! Continue reading “Three Higher Education Ministers in 4 years while universities continue plunge in international rankings and losing out to Indonesia after left behind by Singapore/Thailand”

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Are Nuris “flying coffins”?

Are Nuris “flying coffins”? If not, why not just upgrade them for a few hundred million ringgit, a small fraction of the cost as compared to the billion-ringgit purchase of Cougar EC725 Eurocopters, which are 40-year-old Cougars in any event?

This is one important question which the Public Accounts Committee should probe, answer and report to Parliament by before the end of the month in its current inquiry into the billion-ringgit Cougar EC725 Eurocopter deal fiasco.

The Deputy Defence Minister, Datuk Abu Seman Yusop, in his winding-up on behalf of the Defence Ministry in the 2009 Budget debate on Thursday, was not only unable to rebut allegations concerning very grave issues about propriety, accountability and professionalism in the decision-making process in the tender for the helicopters to replace the Nuris , but reinforced concerns of unprofessional and below-par leadership running the Defence Ministry.

This raises the even more vital question whether Malaysian defence and security as well as the lives and welfare of the armed services personnel are really in safe and trustworthy hands and the topmost priority of those in the highest echelons of the Defence Ministry.

This is apparent from the video (embedded below) of the parliamentary grilling of Abu Seman by Pakatan Rakyat MPs in Parliament on Thursday. Continue reading “Are Nuris “flying coffins”?”

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UMNO continuing to behave like big bully of MCA and Gerakan in Parliament as well as PRS

It was only less than a fortnight ago that the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made it as the theme in his opening speech at the 55th MCA General Assembly that “UMNO is not a ‘Bully Party’ or many component parties would have left BN by now” and even asking:

“Do you think Ka Ting allows himself to be bullied? You think (MIC president) Samy (Vellu) can be bullied? You think (Gerakan president Dr. Koh) Tsu Koon wants to be bullied?”

I don’t want to answer Abdullah’s question as the best people to answer are the Malaysian people. All I can say is that Abdullah will be very surprised by the answers from the people if he really believes that Umno is not a “bully party” in Barisan Nasional.

Those who follow the recent parliamentary proceedings cannot escape the conclusion that Umno’s “bully” mentality vis-à-vis the other Barisan Nasional component parties are still very alive and unrepentant, as evidenced from the merciless way Umno MPs flayed the MCA Deputy Minister for National Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage, Teng Boon Soon and the Gerakan Wanita chief and Deputy Information Minister Datuk Tan Lian Hoe – with a NST headline “DEWAN RAKYAT: Lian Hoe gets another roasting” – and nobody in MCA and Gerakan in Parliament dared to come to their defence apart from DAP and Pakatan Rakyat MPs! How pathetic! Continue reading “UMNO continuing to behave like big bully of MCA and Gerakan in Parliament as well as PRS”

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UMNO Ministers – take 5-month Cabinet leave for party election campaign instead of neglecting national duties

Umno Ministers are neglecting and abdicating their Cabinet and national responsibilities to gird the country to face the worst global economic crisis in 80 years because of protracted Umno party election politicking.

This could be seen from the absence of two Umno Ministers from Parliament during the winding-up of their Ministries on Thursday, namely Home Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and Education Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

This is most shocking and irresponsible, as both Hamid and Hishammuddin are responsible for important Ministries at this critical stage when the country is faced with a crisis of competitiveness – a safe and low-crime society where citizens, investors and tourists are not increasingly worried about personal or property security as well as having an education system which could nurture a creative culture of talents for the country to climb up the competitiveness ladder with a core group of highly-educated and competent people in all areas of the economy. Continue reading “UMNO Ministers – take 5-month Cabinet leave for party election campaign instead of neglecting national duties”

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NEP cannot be equated with Article 153

A call for the review of NEP is not a call for the review of Article 153 or attack on Malay special rights. This is because NEP cannot be equated with Article 153.

This argument on the differences between Article 153 and the NEP surfaced in Parliament on Wednesday, October 29th October 2008 in exchanges during the winding-up debate on the 2009 Budget involving two Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Abdullah and Senator Datuk Amirsham Aziz, as illustrated by the videos here.

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Eurocopter inquiry – PAC should summon Najib

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should summon Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to its Eurocopter hearing and not just call up civil servants as he is the Defence Minister at the time of the critical decision-making before the ministerial swap with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Sept. 17 and who must bear final responsibility to Parliament for the Eurocopter deal.

The PAC postponed its second-day inquiry into the Eurcopter deal on Thursday because the Finance Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Dr. Wan Abdul Aziz Wan Abdullah did not turn up to testify.

The PAC is right in demanding that the highest-ranking officer from the Finance Ministry should appear before it to testify, and Wan Abdul Aziz is setting a bad example of civil service leadership and guilty of contempt of Parliament in claiming that he was “busy with other duties”!

What is the nature of Wan Abdul Aziz’s “busy with other duties” that he is prepared to commit parliamentary contempt by not appearing before the PAC when summoned?

However, why is the PAC not summoning Najib to testify and justify the extraordinary billion-ringgit 12 Cougar EC725 Eurocopters procurement – as in other “first-world Commonwealth Parliaments”, the appearance of the Minister concerned would have been the first item of such PAC inquiry?! Continue reading “Eurocopter inquiry – PAC should summon Najib”

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Chor Chee Heung – another deputy minister who did not know what he was answering in Parliament?

Yesterday, Parliament was presented with the spectacle of a Deputy Minister winding up on behalf of his Ministry in the 2009 Budget debate when he was totally out of his depths – Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Abu Seman Yusop on the current controversy over the billion-ringgit 12 Cougar EC725 Eurocopters.

As a result, both the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had to subsequently make supplementary statements outside the House to salvage the damage caused by Abu Seman in his “atrocious” parliamentary performance.

Immediately after lunch break yesterday, I had stood up in Parliament to ask Abu Seman the reason for three different sets of figures for the Eurocopter deal, firstly, RM1.604 billion he mentioned in the House; secondly, the RM1.1 billion cited by the Defence Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Abu Bakar Abdullah as reported in the media on 17th October 2008; and thirdly, the RM1.67 billion given by the Prime Minister-cum-Defence Minister on Tuesday, October 29, 2008.

When I had first pointed out the difference in the deputy minister’s figures with the Defence Ministry secretary-general, Abu Seman was clearly caught by surprise and I had to ask him whether he read newspapers last Saturday which reported Abu Bakar’s statement.

On the three sets of different figures, Abu Seman tried to wriggle out of the question by claiming that foreign exchange fluctuations factored in the differences in figure. Continue reading “Chor Chee Heung – another deputy minister who did not know what he was answering in Parliament?”

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PAC Chairman Azmi – out to whitewash Eurocopter deal or get to bottom of new defence scandal

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman Datuk Azmi Khalid has confirmed my worst fears about his suitability as head of the parliamentary watchdog committee as he had undermined his own credibility by claiming that the technical aspects of the billion-ringgit Cougar EC725 Eurocopters were “above board” and “professionally carried out” when the two-hour parliamentary debate on the subject yesterday proved completely otherwise.

The Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Abu Seman Yusop admitted in Parliament yesterday that the Eurocopter deal was sealed without conducting physical evaluation on the helicopters – no test flights were done nor were there any factory visits.

Outraged, I rose up in the House to flay the government for trifling with the lives and safety of RMAF personnel who would have to use the helicopters, by failing to comply with its own tender requirements for the helicopters to replace the Nuris, which clearly stipulated that the short-listed aircraft bidders would have to undergo stringent documentary as well as physical evaluation.

In response to my query, Abu Seman said three of the seven bidders for the international open tender for the utility helicopters capable of search and rescue and capable of being upgraded to combat search and rescue aircraft had been short-listed but he refused to name the three aircrafts concerned.

This is clearly a gross defect amounting to criminal negligence in the technical aspects of the Eurocopter selection, getting Malaysia into the Guinness Book of Records and making us the laughing stock of the world as a country which procures expensive and sophisticated aircrafts without any test flight or physical evaluation – despite this being clearly stipulated as one vital criteria in the tender process! Continue reading “PAC Chairman Azmi – out to whitewash Eurocopter deal or get to bottom of new defence scandal”

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Eurocopter deal – shameful episode in Parliament

Deputy Defence Minister Datuk Wira Abu Seman Yusof was literally grilled in Parliament for over two hours over the billion-ringgit 12 Cougar EC725 Europter helicopters deal as he was totally at sea and unable to answer the most elementary of questions, such as

(i) Why three sets of different figures for the 12 Cougar helicopter deal – RM1.1 billion given by Defence Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Abu Bakar Abdullah; RM1.67 billion given by the Prime Minister-cum-Defence Minister; and RM1.604 billion stated by Abu Seman Yusof in Parliament today;

(ii) Why no physical evaluation or test flights for the short-listed helicopters; or as I said in Parlaiment, getting Malaysia into the Guinness Book of Records as probably the only government in the world to order sophisticated and expensive aircrafts without any test flight although such physical evaluation for the short-listed tenderers was one of the conditions specified in the tender docunment.

Abu Seman was dumbstruck when asked both questions and was unable to give any sensible reply. It was a most shameful episode in Parliament.

It has to be left to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister to try to immediately repair the damage created by the deputy Defence Minister by answering these two questions outside Parliament, as in the following report Continue reading “Eurocopter deal – shameful episode in Parliament”