Category: Razaleigh Hamzah

Syed Jaymal Zahiid | October 24, 2012 Free Malaysia Today

The former premier said this is because the Malays are no longer the kingmakers and are now reduced to being ‘beggars’ in their own land.

KUALA LUMPUR: Dr Mahathir Mohamad today called the Najib administration “weak” and said it will not entertain the concerns of the Malays, especially its business community, as they are no longer the country’s kingmakers.

The former premier said the division among the country’s majority electorate has made them fragile and forced the present government to depend on the support of “others” in an apparent reference to the non-Malays.

This is the second time Mahathir had openly called Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s government “frail”, saying it is forced to make key concessions to non-Malay demands in the hope of winning their support in the upcoming national polls.

“I do not believe this government will take your demands seriously,” he told the 2012 Malay Economic Congress held here.

“This is because we [the Malays] no longer hold anymore political power… we have become a beggar in our own country,” he added. Continue reading “Dr M: ‘Weak’ Najib won’t heed Malay concerns”

By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 01, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, April 1 — Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah resumed his attack on the New Economic Policy (NEP) today, stating that “captive minds” continue to support it despite Malaysia moving further from its objective of redistributing wealth through pro-Bumiputera policies.

The Umno veteran said there has been “no intellectual inquiry” into why “despite many years of implementing the NEP, inequitable distribution of income continues to plague the people” as “we have become incapable of devising an analytical method independent of current stereotypes about Malays, Chinese, Indians and others.”

Ku Li today said, “…The NEP…has produced results that are diametrically opposed to the original intention of bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots.” — file pic
“If the doctor keeps on prescribing the same medicine which produces opposite results, then something must be wrong with the doctor, and something more serious must be wrong with the patient who keeps on trusting the same doctor.

“Our thinking is based completely on a racial world view when it comes to matters of politics, education, economics, planning, and so forth. Needless to say, we promote a racial world view that thrives on the policy of divide and rule,” the Kelantan prince said at a book launch in Ipoh this morning.

Tengku Razaleigh, popularly known as Ku Li, had in February said “as a former finance minister, let me emphasise that it was never the intention of the NEP to create an incubated class of Malay capitalists.” Continue reading “Support for NEP coming from ‘captive minds’, says Ku Li”

— Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 24, 2012

FEB 24 — I am indeed honoured to have been invited to speak to all of you gathered here this morning on a subject of great importance for the continued preservation and survival of our nation.

As all of you are aware, our nation became free from the fetters of colonial domination about five-and-a-half decades ago.

Sadly and strangely, after 55 years of independence, I think we are farther apart now than we have ever been before. Continue reading “A plea for unity”

By Lee Wei Lian
The Malaysian Insider
Nov 08, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 — Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah criticised the pace of reforms in the country today, saying that it was too inconsistent and there appeared to be no overall plan to transform the country and society.

The Umno veteran and president of newly registered civil society NGO Amanah (Angkatan Amanah Merdeka) said that while there have been initiatives such as the National Key Result Areas (NKRA’s), they were currently too fragmented.

“I don’t know actually because everything is done in dribs and drabs,” he said at a press conference when asked about the government’s reforms. “There is no overall plan as to how they are going to transform our country or society.”

He added that it was “very difficult” for him to gauge what is going to happen in terms of transformation unless there is “a complete reformation.” Continue reading “Najib’s reforms in ‘dribs and drabs’, says Ku Li”

By Finance twitter

As much as I would like to stop writing about PM Najib administration, the plot just got interesting and I think he may just hit the bull’s eye as far as my prediction that his downfall may be faster than his predecessor, Abdullah Badawi, is concerned. Compared with Najib, Badawi now seems like a cute adorable little kitten, who merely likes to sleep (on the job). Malaysians tend to be more forgiving on lazy prime minister but not a prime minister who lies, cheats, brutal, dirty (allegation on Mongolian Altantuya’s murder), hypocrite but above all stupid yet arrogant.

One cannot help but fell off the chair laughing after read that Najib said he cancels a family vacation because he wants to spend more time with Malaysians. This was perhaps the best joke ever by premier Najib since he took over from Abdullah Badawi. This joke actually worth a thousand “Like” on his facebook page. Forget about Bersih 2.0 because this guy may quit under pressure – not from opposition parties or Bersih 2.0 but from his internal UMNO party. Boy, if it was true that the US$24 million controversial diamond ring indeed belongs to his wife Rosmah Mansor, that ring is cursed.
Continue reading “Resign Or Snap Election For Najib, Here’re The Reasons”

By Sakmongkol AK47 | July 27, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

JULY 27 — There’s a practical side as to why I usually break up my articles into several parts. One is that I am writing from memory and therefore the output depends on my power of recall; if the issue at hand has decelerated, I can discontinue. I am also able to include responses to comments that come in if I judge them to be of material relevance.

Many of the comments on my articles on Amanah for example said they know of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah’s well-meaning intentions and all that. But they lamented that this country needs action. The action will come in the next elections is the short answer.

I think, if I may put it as such, we don’t have to rush Tengku Razaleigh into doing something strategically inopportune. It will eventually be incorporated into a political agenda on a political platform. For the moment a little patience is prudent.
Continue reading “The Amanah agenda (Part 3)”

By Razaleigh Hamzah
Jun 19, 11 | MalaysiaKini

Malaysia’s post-colonial history began with optimism and a grand hope in 1957. When Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first prime minister of Malaysia, proclaimed our Independence at the Merdeka Stadium in the unforgettable words that “Malaysia is a parliamentary democracy with an independent judiciary,” he had a vision of a happy people in spite of the formidable economic problems we needed to solve.

After that dawn of independence, there was a search of how we could achieve this happy society, fulfilling the needs and aspirations of all Malaysians which was to continue for the generations to come. He symbolised the concept and conviction of generational responsibility in his vision. Continue reading “Power is duty, not a prize”

The Malaysian Insider
Jun 12, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, June 12 — Following growing calls for power purchasing agreements to be reviewed, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah today announced that a Cabinet committee has been formed to evaluate the matter.

“The committee will study various aspects (of power supply) and not just the [independent power producers] problem… among them (production) costs and (requirements for) the future because there are IPPs whose concession is due to end in 2014 and 2015,” Ahmad Husni was quoted by Bernama Online today.

The second finance minister also stressed that the committee will take a birds-eye view of subsidies and not be focussed primarily with the power deals or the producers.

“We have not been given any deadline for submitting the report, but what must be stressed here is that it will give priority to the interests of the people,” he said.

It remains to be seen if the committee will be enough to assuage lawmakers calling for a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) to probe the lopsided power deals between Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) and the IPPs. Continue reading “Cabinet forms panel to study power deals”

by Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
November 07, 2010

We need to distinguish between a crass propagandist and a sober politician. Ahmad Maslan fits into the former category it seems.

Ahmad Maslan, the Umno information chief cited 4 reasons for the victory in Galas. The acceptance by the people, of the national leadership of Najib and Muhyidin. The influence of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Mustapha Mohamad, the acceptance of the people of the various initiatives thought of by our great leader which will be implemented by the ruling government and so on. He was referring to such initiatives like 1 Malaysia, ETP and so forth. Finally, and here is the earth shattering observation- people are fed up of the politics of the opposition to the ruling BN. It’s a triumph of moderation over extremism. One writer puts as the alarm bell for the 13th GE.

For whom does the bells toll?

People in Gua Musang and Galas in particular must be the most intelligent people in Malaysia. There must be something in the pristine air and the physical terrain of the area. Or maybe something in the diet of Gua Musangians. The nasi kerabu and berlauk at Restoren Kak Zah or the stalls near Fully Inn?

They understood the concept of 1 Malaysia when the same concept baffled Tun Mahathir and misunderstood by other Malaysians. The people eating at Restoren Kak Zah in Bandar Lama Gua Musang talking politics and cock understand and embrace the various initiatives by the national government. The people in Sungai Terah and Batu Papan are waiting for their ETP, GTP and whatever P’s we can think of. Continue reading “A momentum yes, monumental shift not yet”

Free Malaysia Today
05 Nov 2010

GUA MUSANG: Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah believes that loyalty has no expiry date so long as the candidate does not go back on his promises.

This was reflected in Galas when Barisan Nasional (BN) wrested the state seat from PAS by a bigger majority of 1,190 votes, nearly double the majority PAS won in the 2008 general election.

Leading the charge was Razaleigh, fondly known as Ku Li, who is no alien to the voters in Galas, which comes under his Gua Musang parliamentary seat.

He has proven to the BN, particularly Umno, that the party need not spent money to win votes, need not promise the stars and the moon to convince the people, and need not show its power by implementing projects.

Razaleigh showed that the only way to win over the hearts and minds of the voters is by being loyal and sincere to the people. Continue reading “Ku Li delivers, what has Umno to offer?”

By Philip Bowring
Malaysiakini

The result of the 12th by-election since the tumultuous general elections in 2008 is in practical terms irrelevant. Whether or not PAS retains the state seat of Galas in tomorrow’s by-election will make no difference to the Islamic party’s control of the state legislature. (PAS captured 38 of the 45 state seats in Kelantan, while ally PKR picked up one and Umno, six)

But it will be a test of the influence of Umno’s most distinguished internal dissident, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, and his calls for sweeping reform of Umno. Galas is part of Razaleigh’s federal parliamentary constituency and is centred on his hometown of Gua Musang in the south of Kelantan. And, together with a federal seat by-election on the same day, the election is expected to play a role in whether Prime Minister Najib Razak will go to national polls in early 2011.

But interpreting the Galas result will not be easy. The 73-year-old Razaleigh, usually known as Ku Li, is between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, the Kelantan aristocrat knows that his calls for reform of Umno are unlikely to make much progress if the erosion of support for the Umno-led BN ruling coalition that was seen both in the 2008 federal election and in subsequent by-elections is stemmed or reversed.
Continue reading “Ku Li caught in an Umno trap?”

2011 Budget not a child of New Economic Model but bears all the marks of old discredited Mahathirish policies (Part 2 of 5)

A veteran leader had warned that “It is time to wake up”.

He said: “Without a doubt, Malaysia is slipping. Billions have been looted from this country, and billions more are being siphoned out of the country as our entire political structure crumbles.”

Warning that corruption is the single biggest threat to the nation, he warned that corruption has become institutionalized in our political system and ruining Malaysia.

Who is this veteran leader? He is the head of the Barisan Nasional by-election in Galas, the MP for Gua Musang Tengku Razaleigh.

Will his views about the crisis of nation-building now be heeded? Of course not – just as it is clear that the Prime Minister does not have the political will to implement the New Economic Model (NEM) which he launched on March 30 to transform Malaysia into a developed, competitive and high-income economy with inclusivity and sustainability.
Continue reading “Budget 2011: Would Razaleigh’s warning be heeded”

By Yow Hong ChiehThe Malaysian Insider
ANALYSIS
Oct 9, 2010

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah will lead the Barisan Nasional (BN) bid to recapture the Galas state seat in the November 4 by-election, campaigning for a party that has sidelined him over the years.

The Kelantan prince has not minced his words with Umno, with his latest battle centred on oil royalty payments for his home state.

The PAS state government has taken the matter to court and Tengku Razaleigh said today it would be sub-judice to mention it, when he accepted the task of leading the BN election campaign.

He will finalise the campaign details on Monday with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, his opponent for the Umno presidency.

In campaigning for Umno, the politician popularly known as Ku Li will have to live down his various speeches and quotes on issues that are at odds with the party. Continue reading “Will Ku Li’s words get in the way in Galas?”

By Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah

The following keynote speech given by former finance minister and Gua Musang parliamentarian Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah at the 4th Annual Malaysian Student Leaders Summit (MSLS) today.

I have played some small role in the life of this nation, but having been on the wrong side of one or two political fights with the powers-that-be, I am not as close to the young people of this country as I would hope to be.

History and the 8 o’clock news are written by the victors. In recent years, the government’s monopoly of the media has been destroyed by the technology revolution.

You could say I was also a member of the United Kingdom and Eire Council for Malaysian Students (UKEC). Well, I was, except that belonged to the predecessor of the UKEC by more than 50 years, The Malayan Students Union of the UK and Eire. I led this organisation in 1958/59.
Continue reading “We were once ‘Malaysians’”

Below is an extract of the speech by Umno veteran politician Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah at the launch of ‘The Shafee Yahaya Story – Estate Boy to ACA Chief’, a book written by Shafee’s wife Kalsom Taib.

The word ‘corruption’ comes from a Latin word meaning ‘to break’ or ‘to destroy’. Corruption is a cancer that steals from the poor, eats away at governance and moral fibre, and destroys trust.

Although corruption exists in both the private and public sector, the corruption of the public sector is a more fundamental evil. This is because the public sector is the enforcer and arbiter of the rules that hold us together, the custodians of our common resources.

It is time we recognise corruption as the single biggest threat to our nation. In our economy, corruption is the root of our inability to make the economic leap that we know we are capable of. There is no other reason why a country so blessed with natural resources, a favourable climate and such immense talent should not have done a lot better than we have.
Continue reading “Ku Li on corruption and Exocet missiles”

End-game to the silencing of Umno veteran leader Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah or his expulsion from Umno.

This is the import and intent of the gag order announced by Umno vice president Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein on Umno members on the Kelantan oil royalty issue which could affect the party’s image.

It is no more a question of who and what is historically right or wrong but who has the present power to impose his views on the country at the moment, right or wrong.

What the second and third Prime Ministers, Tun Razak and Tun Hussein Onn, intended some 35 years ago, as ordering Razaleigh as the first Petronas Chairman “to design the Petroleum Development Act in such a way that the Malay heartland states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Johor and especially his beloved Pahang, would benefit directly from offshore oil beyond 3 nautical miles through the mechanism of 5 per cent cash payments made directly to the state consolidated fund” (Razaleigh’s statement) do not matter today.

Even Razak’s categorical and unequivocal commitment in Parliament on Nov. 12, 1975 in reply to my parliamentary question that “Under the agreement, each state will receive 5 per cent of the value of petroleum found and extracted from each of the states, whether onshore or offshore, that is sold by Petronas or agencies or contractors” is now regarded as utterly of no consequence or value.
Continue reading “Why have the sons of the second and third Prime Ministers turned their backs on their father’s joint legacy on 5% oil royalty to the states?”

limkitsiang: Oil royalty – Najib is Razak’s son or Mahathir’s heir? http://bit.ly/93SgAj
04:12 PM

razaleigh: My fellow dinosaur w/ a memory of a better day RT @limkitsiang: Najib: Razak’s son or Mahathir’s heir? http://bit.ly/93SgAj
04:22 PM

limkitsiang: @razaleigh shld not have 2depend solely on memory Shld have documents somewhere Petronas etc though mayb OSA Must wait 4regime change 1st?
04:30 PM

razaleigh: Why don’t I put the PDA up on my blog, YB RT @limkitsiang: @razaleigh shld not have 2depend solely on memory
04:34 PM

limkitsiang: @razaleigh good idea but PDA makes no mention of “offshore”. Aren’t there some documents/records somewhere referring to it?
04:42 PM
Continue reading “Twitter conversation – LKS and Kuli”

by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah
Dec 12, 09

(Speech by former finance minister and Umno vice-president Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah at the one-day Young Corporate Malaysians Summit this morning)

In a speech I made in April this year, I spoke of where we stand in our developmental path and what I felt we must do to move forward.

I need to revisit that argument in order to develop it further.

We are stagnating. The signs of a low-growth economy are all around us. Wages are stagnant and the cost of living is rising.

We have not made much progress in becoming a knowledge and services based economy.

According to the World Bank, Malaysia’s share of GDP contributed by services was 46.2 percent in 1987. Ten years later, that share had grown by a mere 0.2 percent.

Between 1994 and 2007, real wages grew by 2.6 percent in the domestic sector and by 2.8 percent in the export sector, which is to say, they were flat over that 13-year period.

Meanwhile, our talent scenario is an example of perverse selection at its most ruinous. We are failing to retain our own young talent, people like yourselves, let alone attract international talent to relocate here, while we have had a massive influx of unskilled foreign labour. They now make up 30 to 40 percent of our workforce.

Alone in East Asia, the number of expatriate professionals here has decreased. Alone in East Asia, private sector wage increases follow government sector increases, instead of the other way around. We are losing doctors and scientists and have become Southeast Asia’s haven for low-cost labour.

I said that we are in a middle-income trap, stuck in the pattern of easy growth from low-value-added manufacturing and component assembly and unable to make the leap to a knowledge-intensive economy. Continue reading “Malaysia an ‘oil cursed’ country”