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Abdullah the new patron saint for “the truth that is not the truth”?

The Information Minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin was among the Umno Ministers joining Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the Prime Minister’s Hari Raya Open House at the Putra World Trade Centre yesterday.

When I shook hands with him, wishing him “Selamat Hari Raya”, I remarked that he has become the spokesman for “the truth that is not the truth”.

Zam knew I was referring to Friday’s Malaysiakini report “Zam to media: No need to tell PM the truth”:

Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin has told editors not to play up negative news because Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s pledge to “hear the truth” does not apply to the media.

Zainuddin said this during a one-hour meeting on Wednesday at the RTM headquarters in Kuala Lumpur with the country’s top editors.

The country’s information czar is one of two top government officials to hold meetings with the media top brass this week.

Yesterday, chief secretary to the government Mohd Sidek Hassan in another meeting urged media organisations to avoid emphasising on news deemed negative against the government, such as the 2006 Auditor-General’s report.

According to sources, Zainuddin began the meeting by declaring that he would frequently meet editors to advise them about national issues.

However, he stressed that he would only “advise and not give warnings”.

The information minister claimed that he assumed the new role under the instructions of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Zainuddin then explained that Abdullah’s often repeated pledges of “listening to the truth” were only restricted to government officials and Barisan Nasional leaders so as to assist the cabinet in making decisions. Continue reading “Abdullah the new patron saint for “the truth that is not the truth”?”

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Organ transplantation…brain death and financial implications (3)

Letters
by FK-506

In reply to Carpe Diem’s cherry picked quotes to the letter, ‘Organ transplant: Are we on the right track?’, the writer’s attempts to endorse this country’s nascent transplant program by trying to downplay key issues in any transplant program — financial implications and controversies surrounding brain death is reprehensible.

Quote : “… … … ..it isn’t quite right to place patients on VADs which have a limited life of their own into patients, not knowing if they are ever going to get a heart. This cannot be ethically correct.”

“Is it more ethical to deny me this option, based on not knowing whether I will get a heart in time, if the expertise is available and I am more than willing?”

For how long and at whose cost? Is Carpe going to pay this out from his or her own pocket? Clearly this person doesn’t realize the economic costs of such programs on government expenditure, unless of course, Carpe thinks that it is the state’s moral duty to transplant everyone with end-stage heart failure, liver failure, renal failure, etc. Chua Soi Lek moaned only last year that the MOH couldn’t afford to pay the RM900 million pharmaceutical bill for patients being treated by the Ministry. But miraculously he today is quoted to have said that the Cabinet, which has never shown respect for tax-payers money, is willing to provide even up to a billion ringgit for a transplant program. Incredible. Where is the set of priorities? Why don’t the cabinet approve the billion ringgit so that patients get better care, better follow-ups, better education programs, home nursing and of course better medicines, so that less patients end up in heart failure, renal or liver failures.

The age old idiom “prevention is better then cure” must hold true for this country based on the economy that we have unless Carpe is advocating American style healthcare, in which case, I would like to suggest that the technology be kept going but all transplants be borne by private funds. And I do hope Carpe fathoms the economic consequences of transplant programs. I hope he/she realized what happened to Barnard’s pioneering transplant work at Groote-Schur in South Africa. Transplant programs were immediately shut down by incoming President Nelson Mandela in 1994 when he realized that precious and limited health resources that could be used for Soweto’s populace suffering from cholera, typhoid, malaria and an AIDs incidence of almost 14% in some provinces, were being channeled to a glamorous transplant program. Are we in Malaysia any different if the startling statistics provided by our own MOH are anything to go by? In Sabah alone, even decades after independence, we have still not eradicated malaria and TB.

Quote: “Merican howled that what SJMC and Tan did were improper as ignorant patients may “not have been briefed about complications”. Tan, who pioneered liver transplant techniques at King’s College, London, of course left, preferring to base himself in “less ethical” Singapore, leaving Merican to focus on traditional medicine back here in Malaysia.”

That Merican howled is a fact. It is also a fact that K.C. Tan announced in the media that he was not willing to work in the ethical environment imposed on him. But the end result of this entire episode was clear. Malaysia’s liver transplant program in the private sector, supported quite earnestly by the media even then, was dead in the water. No RM30 million, 100 million or 1 billion ringgit boost to this program, although it was led by a Malaysian surgeon and the incidence of patients requiring liver transplants were equally a concern. Even private donations collected to help patients in this program were ultimately taken over by the Ministry. Why the double standards? Was it because K.C.Tan was a private surgeon working at a private hospital? Or was it due to something else? Yes the insinuation is direct. I am sure readers can make their own conclusions. Continue reading “Organ transplantation…brain death and financial implications (3)”

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Hari Raya message – four things to make Hari Raya on 50th Merdeka anniversary most meaningful

Hari Raya this year coincides with the nation’s 50th Merdeka anniversary.

Celebrating this year’s Hari Raya on the occasion of the nation’s 50th Merdeka anniversary will be most meaningful if there is a national resolution and government political will to achieve four things:

  • A low-crime Malaysia where everyone, whether citizen, tourist or investor can feel safe again in the streets, public places and the privacy of the homes and where the fundamental rights to be free from crime and fear of crime are not just empty and meaningful words.
  • Zero tolerance for corruption, abuses of power and financial scandals.
  • Restore national and international confidence in a truly independent judiciary and a just rule of law, which will go a long way to enhance Malaysia’s international competitiveness which has suffered considerable erosion in recent years; and
  • A Malaysian national consciousness and identity transcending racial, religious or political differences.

Selamat Hari Raya to all Muslims in Malaysia.

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Reply to ‘Organ transplant: Are we on the right track?’ by FK-506

Letters
by Carpe Diem

I would like to comment on the letter by FK-506. However I will try to focus on rebutting factual inaccuracies in his letter, rather than comment on his insinuations and innuendos as my interpretations of his statements may be flawed.

Quote : “………..it isn’t quite right to place patients on VADs which have a limited life of their own into patients, not knowing if they are ever going to get a heart. This cannot be ethically correct.”

Whether this is ethically correct or not depends on the patient’s wishes, the facilities available and expert opinion. Unfortunately this is one area where opinions matter. An individual may consider it mental and physical torture to be hooked to a machine with no definite end in sight, but another may consider it a lifeline to a possibly better future. Is it more ethical to deny me this option, based on not knowing whether I will get a heart in time, if the expertise is available and I am more than willing?

Quote : “Merican howled that what SJMC and Tan did were improper as ignorant patients may “not have been briefed about complications”. Tan, who pioneered liver transplant techniques at King’s College, London, of course left, preferring to base himself in “less ethical” Singapore, leaving Merican to focus on traditional medicine back here in Malaysia.”

Well I have no love for traditional medicine, but I don’t see how this case affects the current scenario. Anyway, if I am not mistaken the issue against KC Tan then was on unrelated living donors. Please correct me if I am wrong. Continue reading “Reply to ‘Organ transplant: Are we on the right track?’ by FK-506”

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Lingam Tape – end the rigmarole of Nazri flip-flops, lameduck Haidar Panel and Cabinet micro-managing of inquiry

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz has done a triple flip-flop in four days.

On Sunday, he said that the probe into the Lingam Tape will come to a dead end if the witnesses who can verify it do not come forward to establish its authenticity.

He also assured witnesses and whistleblowers of “full government protection, including a change of identities if necessary”, declaring: “I guarantee that we will protect the sources. Trust the government to do so.”

However when he found that the Witness Protection Act or Bill which he had quoted as authority for such protection does not exist, Nazi said on Tuesday that he would present a strong case to the Cabinet to provide protection for the people behind the recording of the Lingam Tape.

He said: “The panel’s investigation will not be able to progress if the protection is not provided. We will not then be able to get to the bottom of this. The panel will be rendered useless.”

However, Nazri sang a different tune after the Cabinet meeting yesterday.

He said: “We will assist but first we have to establish what type of protection these people want.

“If it is anonymity, it can be arranged. If it is security, it can be arranged, but we have to know.”

It is most shocking that Nazri could be so ignorant that what the informants want is full immunity from any prosecution, protection from persecution and victimization from the powers-that-be and that there should be no cover-up of the Lingam Tape scandal of perversion of the course of justice with judicial appointments and judge-fixing.

Nazri said the Cabinet had decided to assist the Haidar inquiry panel investigate the Lingam Tape in whatever way it could. If the panel had difficulty getting those behind the video clip to come forward to be interviewed, it could ask for the government’s help.

“If the panel faces difficulties in concluding investigations, it could submit a report to us and we will assist in whatever way possible.”

It is outrageous that three weeks after the disclosure of the Lingam Tape, the Cabinet is still studiously avoiding the core issues of the Lingam Tape scandal on judicial misconduct and perversion with the course of justice — focusing all the attention on the authenticity of the Lingam Tape which could be established through forensic voice and tape analysis. Continue reading “Lingam Tape – end the rigmarole of Nazri flip-flops, lameduck Haidar Panel and Cabinet micro-managing of inquiry”

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Congrats to Sheikh Muszaphar as Malaysia’s first angkasawan

Congratulations to Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor as Malaysia’s first angkasawan, orbiting in space to the International Space station — 360 km above the earth.

It is a feat Malaysians can feel proud.

We must however ensure that Malaysia can follow up and take a quantum leap in advances in science and technology and not be like Saudi Arabia, which sent the first Muslim into space more than two decades ago in 1985 in the United States space shuttle Discovery but the desert state has little to show in terms of building a science and technology research and development sector beyond oil and petrochemicals.

The government must also learn from the mistakes of the programme to send the first Malaysian to space, as it had been mired in controversy at almost every stage, from its genesis, conception and selection as well as its transparency and accountability.

The lift-off programme last night would have been more fitting the nation’s 50th Merdeka anniversary if an inter-faith prayer session had been held to give blessings for a successful launch as Malaysia is sending a Malaysian who is a Muslim into space and not a Muslim who happen to be a Malaysian.

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Burma’s Monks: Ethics is not confined to Books and Temples

By Farish A Noor
The Other Malaysia

By now the international community is fully aware of the recent developments in Burma, a country that has been under military rule and isolated from the rest of the globe since 1963. The images of Burmese Buddhist monks taking to the streets and defying the armed might of the Burmese junta and its security apparatus reminds us of familiar scenes dating back to the 1980s, and echo the democratic revolutions we have seen elsewhere in Asia, including China, since then.

While the fate of Burma and her people hang in the balance, the protest of the monks — many of whom happen to come from ordinary Burmese families with scant political protection themselves — teaches us a vital lesson and is a model for many progressive theologians and religious activists to follow. It is sometimes said that in the post-Enlightenment age we live in there is little concern for religion and that religion has no place in society. Worst still, the political instrumentalisation of religion for clearly divisive and sectarian ends has further added scepticism for many who believe that religion is best kept out of politics and the public domain, where it has often been abused. (A view that many would concur with). Unfortunately today any talk of religious ethics is often met with images of Bible-thumping evangelists talking of holy wars and moral crusades, angry bearded fanatics burning books and nosey neighbours spying on what the people next door are doing. Are religion and ethics destined to remain forever trapped in the nonsensical and pointless debate over who is holier and who wears his or her religion on the sleeves? Has religion nothing to say on pressing issues of the day such as fundamental political rights and liberties, democracy and rule of law? Continue reading “Burma’s Monks: Ethics is not confined to Books and Temples”

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Lingam Tape – Nazri’s histrionics powerful reason why RCI needed

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, is up to his histrionics again — yesterday claiming that he will ask the Cabinet today to provide protection for the people behind the recording of the Lingam Tape.

This was 48 hours after Nazri had declared “No Source, No Case”, castigated the people behind the Lingam Tape as liars if they dared not come forward to co-operate with the Haidar Inquiry Panel to determine the authenticity of the Lingam Tape on the ground that witnesses and whistleblowers are already fully protected under the various laws of the land, although he subsequently admitted that he had made a mistake when referring to the non-existent Witness Protection Act or Witness Protection Bill.

However, if various laws already provide protection to the maker or makers of the Lingam Tape, why is it necessary for Nazri to ask the Cabinet to provide protection for the people behind the Lingam Tape recording?

Furthermore, why ask the Lingam Tape makers to come forward to co-operate with the Haidar Panel when Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had said that the Panel is not supposed to call witnesses and must rely on the Anti-Corruption Agency and the Police in their deliberations?

At least Nazri has one quality which has so far been absent from other Ministers, the humility – some will say the “temerity” – to admit that he was wrong, although it is not clear what is the wrong of wrongs which Nazri is admitting to, whether in mistakenly claiming that there is a Witness Protection Act or Bill which are non-existing, or mistakenly claiming that the various laws already provide adequate protection for the maker or makers of the Lingam Tape to enable them to surface publicly to give information to establish its authenticity. Continue reading “Lingam Tape – Nazri’s histrionics powerful reason why RCI needed”

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Petition – Petronas’ corporate responsibility for the violent repression of saffron revolution

Letter

by Daniel Chong

PETITION FOR PETRONAS TO ASSUME CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY IN THE CURRENT CRISIS IN MYANMAR

As you have highlighted in your blog, things are not well in Burma and for me it is not good that the corporations are able to keep silent while the people, NGOs and governments are making all the headlines in the press.

I think Burma is our little version of Afghanistan (important pipelines, warlords, refugees, drugs…) Its unsettling that we the neighbours have adopted a “close one eye” mentality.

Please have a look at this petition I wrote. If you support it, I hope you can make a mention of it in your blog. If not could you forward it to someone who might?

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/20/petition-for-petronas-to-assume-corporate-responsibility-in-its-business-dealing-in-myanmar Continue reading “Petition – Petronas’ corporate responsibility for the violent repression of saffron revolution”

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Transplantation in Malaysia – are we on the right track?

Letters

by FK-506

As motorists on the NKVE scrambled to let pass the police outriders followed by a Perdana with an IJN logo with a host of other ambulances heading towards Subang Airport on Wednesday afternoon, many suspected the heart that 14 year old Tee Hui Yi so badly required after being placed on an ventricular assist device (VAD) for almost 12 months may have finally arrived. And indeed it had as she had her transplant done almost the same night courtesy of an unfortunate 15 year old accident victim who was declared brain dead at Ipoh General Hospital.

The miracle was all the more phenomenal as Tee Hui Yi’s predicament was highlighted only the day before on the front pages of the New Straits Times. Sadly she is said to have suffered a “hyperacute rejection” of her transplanted heart and had a second one put in which IJN happened to get from a patient from JB. Two hearts all in a day for one patient when none was available for almost a year. Miracles and coincidences do happen just like the statue of Virgin Mary crying blood sporadically in various churches around the world on Christmas. Hopefully Tee Hui Yi’s saga will finally end with her recovering fully.

Tee Hui Yi apparently developed viral myocarditis at the age of two and progressed to end stage heart failure. The indication for the expensive bridge to a natural heart in the form of the artificial ventricular assist device was presumably the failure of medical therapy in not being able to maintain her circulation optimally anymore on conservative therapy. In simple terms, for a future, she would need a heart. The VAD was just a stop gap. But in Malaysia this bridge to a heart or for that matter any other organ can be exceptionally long, arduous and occasionally a bridge just too far, leaving in its trail thousands dead on waiting lists. Continue reading “Transplantation in Malaysia – are we on the right track?”

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Lingam Tape – Nazri’s lame excuse and test for Cabinet tomorrow

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz has admitted that he was wrong and that there is no Witness Protection Act.

He claimed that what he meant was that whistleblowers were already protected under various laws which offered some protection to witnesses, like the Anti-Corruption Act, Criminal Procedure Code, Evidence of Child Witness Act and Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.

It is clearly a very lame excuse. But it has not released Nazri from the onus of justifying two outrageous statements he made on Sunday:

Firstly, his ‘No Source, No Case” assertion — that if the maker or makers of the Lingam Tape “don’t co-operate, then the authenticity of the Lingam Tape cannot be determined and this will prevent the (Haider) Panel from discharging its responsibility. As such, it is important for them to reveal the source, failing which, we can only conclude that they are lying.”

Secondly, “The witness will be accorded full protection by the government… a new identity, a new location, even a new face. So what is there to be afraid of?”

Firstly, what right has he to decide how the Haider Panel Inquiry is to operate? Or has the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak passed the buck of the Haidar Panel Inquiry as too hot a potato to Nazri as the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department? Continue reading “Lingam Tape – Nazri’s lame excuse and test for Cabinet tomorrow”

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Violent repression of “saffron revolution” – an ASEAN failure and responsibility for which ASEAN nations must make amends

Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar yesterday called on the military junta in Myanmar to begin immediate talks with pre-democracy supporters led by Aung San Suu Kyi to discuss the future of Myanmar before the international community “piles on the pressure”.

While Hamid’s call is welcome, the question must be asked as to what ASEAN is doing to pressure the Myanmar military junta to conduct itself not only as a responsible member of the international community but also of ASEAN in terms of the most minimal respect for human rights and democratic freedoms for its people.

After admitting Myanmar as a member for a decade, ASEAN cannot just wash its hands of any responsibility for what had happened in Burma and just “pass the buck” to the international community to “pile up the pressure”.

Since the brutal and violent repression of the “saffron revolution” two weeks ago, ASEAN government leaders have been using stronger language than before against the Myanmar military junta, starting with the expression of “revulsion” by the ASEAN foreign ministers at the United Nations over the killings and suppression of the monks-led peaceful protests.

Just stronger language however is grossly inadequate to the brutal and bloody crackdown of the monks-led peaceful protests in Burma if it is not matched with action.

The Myanmar military junta was admitted into ASEAN ten years ago in the teeth of regional and international opposition on the ground that the ASEAN constructive engagement policy with the Myanmar military junta would pave the way for national reconciliation and democratization in Burma.

In the past ten years, the ASEAN constructive engagement policy has turned out to be a one-way unconditional engagement with the Myanmar military junta, yielding no results whatsosever. It has now been totally discredited by the violent repression of the “saffron revolution”, with troops quashing the peaceful protests with gunfire. Continue reading “Violent repression of “saffron revolution” – an ASEAN failure and responsibility for which ASEAN nations must make amends”

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K-Economy is the way to achieve a united, progressive and prosperous Malaysia

by Dr. Chen Man Hin

The world has evolved and Malaysia is now gripped by globalisation together with other countries. This is the reality

We see that the countries which are successful are the developed countries who have adopted policies which promote progress and development.

There are certain markers which define a developed country.
,
Firstly all of them practise democracy, social justice, rule of law, no racial bias, and an education based on knowledge, science and high technology.

Their economy is a K-Economy, which is open with free trade and is highly competitive.

Singapore is an example of country which has adapted to the demands of a global world. It has high standards for all the markers of a globalised country

These are the statistics of global markers for Singapore and Malaysia: Continue reading “K-Economy is the way to achieve a united, progressive and prosperous Malaysia”

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Lingam Tape – has Nazri let the cat out of the bag how to end all inquiry?

Has the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, let the cat out of the bag — that there would be no further inquiry into the Lingam Tape if its authenticity could not be fully determined with the maker of the tape showing and owning up?

New Straits Times front-page headline has put it most bluntly: “NO SOURCE, NO CASE — SAYS NAZRI”

If the whole idea is to stymie any full inquiry into the serious allegations of the Lingam Tape about the perversion of the course of justice concerning the fixing of judicial appointments and the fixing of court decisions, this is as good a stratagem as any.

Of course, even if the makers of the Lingam Tape show up, there is no guarantee that it would be followed up with a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Tape and the rot of the judiciary in the past 19 years since 1988.

I am completely baffled by Nazri’s reference to the Witness Protection Act (Star, Sun) which he said assured protection to the person or persons who took the Lingam Tape. New Straits Times reported him as referring to the Witness Protection Bill, “tabled recently in Parliament” — which is untrue, as no such bill had been tabled in Parliament.

I had been pressing for a Whistleblowers Protection Act to give meaning to a national campaign to expose corruption, misuse of funds, government scandals, criminal breach of trust and all forms of malpractices and abuses of power but the government had been dragging its feet and there are no signs that the government is ready to present a Witness Protection Bill to Parliament. Continue reading “Lingam Tape – has Nazri let the cat out of the bag how to end all inquiry?”

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Rukunegara-reciting/Constitution-waving – pathetic proof of impotence and irrelevance of Gerakan/MCA

The 50th Merdeka Anniversary has seen a most unusual political phenomena — the MCA and Gerakan waving the Malaysian Constitution and reciting Rukunegara at their respective meetings in response to the keris-waving by the Umno Youth leader, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein at the earlier Umno Youth general assemblies.

It is a pathetic proof of the impotence and irrelevance of the MCA and Gerakan in the Barisan Nasional, whether at the national, state or local government level, that they have been reduced to waving the Constitution and reciting Rukunegara at their respective meetings instead of ensuring that the Cabinet and the government at all levels uphold the core nation-building principles of the Merdeka “social contract” which have found expression in the Malaysian Constitution and Rukunegara.

Why wave the Malaysian Constitution and recite the Rukunegara principles when MCA and Gerakan Ministers and leaders are unable:

  • firstly to ensure that Umno and other Barisan Nasional Ministers and leaders fully understand, respect and uphold the fundamental nation-building principles spelt out in the Merdeka social contract, the Malaysian Constitution and the Rukunegara; and
  • secondly, to set the example of themselves standing firm, true and loyal to the Merdeka social contract, Malaysian Constitution and the Rukunegara by refusing to betray these fundamental nation-building principles even if they fail to convince Umno and other Barisan Nasional Ministers and leaders to do the same.

What is the use of waving the Malaysian Constitution and reciting the Rukunegara principles at the MCA and Gerakan meetings when MCA and Gerakan Ministers and leaders dare not wave the Constitution or recite the Rukunegara principles in Cabinet, Parliament, national, state and local governments to ensure that every government policy, decision and action is informed by the core nation-building principles agreed by the forefathers of the major communities and spelt out in the Constitution and the Rukunegara? Continue reading “Rukunegara-reciting/Constitution-waving – pathetic proof of impotence and irrelevance of Gerakan/MCA”

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Narcotizing the Masses Through Religion

by M. Bakri Musa

In the 19th Century, tiny Britain was able to humiliate the great Chinese Empire and subdue its masses by making opium readily available to them. It was also highly lucrative for the British, with the poor Chinese bearing the heavy burden. To be fair, Chinese leaders from the Emperor on down were fully aware of the dangers, but despite their valiant efforts they were unable to prevail against the British.

Today Muslims, Malays in particular, are being similarly narcotized, not by opium but by an equally potent agent: religion. Unlike the Chinese of yore who were victims of a malevolent foreign power, with Malays it is our leaders who are doing it to us, and with good intentions too. They want us all to end up in Heaven! Touching!

The Muslim masses today, like the Chinese of the 19th Century, were not unwilling victims. They are not to be blamed, just like we cannot blame a patient who is in great pain wanting a powerful painkiller. It may not cure the underlying disease but at least it relieves the suffering. Likewise when your daily existence is terribly painful — the fate of the vast majority of Muslims — you too need immediate relief. It would be cruel and inhumane to deny that.

The familiar official indices readily reveal the targic reality of daily existence of the Muslim ummah: high mortality and low literacy rates, pathetic per capita income, gross abuses of human rights, women deprived of their basic dignity, and oppressive governments. It is obvious to all, except the leaders. Visit the slums and squatters of Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan, and the anguished reality of unbelievable depravation will hit you hard even if you try to avoid it.

Muslim leaders should worry less about their followers ending up in Heaven and focus more on the monumental task at hand of lifting the masses out of their current living hell. It may be argued that if religion brings relief to their daily struggle, so be it. That is a delusion; the narcotizing effect of religion is even more destructive. Continue reading “Narcotizing the Masses Through Religion”

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RCI on Lingam Tape – Tsu Koon should show more backbone to tell PM not “if need be” but “very necessary, now!”

On his tenth day as the fifth Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made an electrifying call to Barisan Nasional leaders and members which came as a breath of fresh air, raising the hopes of 25 million Malaysians sky-high that the country was going to have a fully hands-on and people-oriented Prime Minister.

Speaking at the opening of the MIC branch chairmen convention on November 9, 2003, Abdullah told Barisan Nasional component party leaders and members to give him correct information to enable the government to respond appropriately to the people’s needs.

He said:

“Tell me the truth.

“Sometimes people do not provide truthful information for fear that I will cry, worry or lose sleep over it. But as a leader, I have to know the truth.

“If we (leaders) are not prepared to hear the truth, then we should not become leaders.”

Almost four years later yesterday, Abdullah made a similar call at the Gerakan National Delegates Conference, declaring:

“We do not want to pretend and say that everything is okay. We do not want to be in a state of denial. Tell the truth, even if it is painful.

“The prime minister must have the courage and readiness to listen even to the worst stories, whether it is related to the country or himself. Never allow yourself to sink in a hole of denial and feel that everything is alright.”

However, this time the Prime Minister’s call to end the state of denial and face the truth is incapable of having any electrifying effect as it has all the stale air from the long catalogue of failed promises of the least hands-on Prime Minister in the nation’s history in the past four years to “hear the truth” and “walk the talk” to deliver political and government reforms. Continue reading “RCI on Lingam Tape – Tsu Koon should show more backbone to tell PM not “if need be” but “very necessary, now!””

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Quo Vadis Malaysia?

by Dr. Chen Man Hin

At the last UMNO general assembly, it was put to the delegates to reject the objective of Bangsa Malaysia and opt for a Ketuanan Melayu Malaysia. The proposal was accepted by deputy prime minister.

So it came to pass that former prime minister, Dr Mahathir’s dream of a VISION 2020 where the people are one – Bangsa Malaysia- and the status of a developed nation was swept aside.

Since then there has been various moves to promote the concept of a Ketuanan Melayu, and announcements by the prime minister that the NEP would be extended indefinitely.

We in the DAP view with great concern the rejection of Bangsa Malaysia, as the very idea has caused deep uneasiness among the people, and shaken the bond of national unity and testing their tolerance.

The implementation of NEP while it has eradicated the association of race with economic function, as there is a sizeable Malay middle class – successful businessmen and professionals – has slowed economic progress since the implementation of NEP in 1971.

The fact is that the NEP was redistributing wealth but it could not create wealth fast enough. It could not increase the size of the national cake! Continue reading “Quo Vadis Malaysia?”

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Lingam Tape – a grand conspiracy to “kill” it at the technical level on its authenticity?

With the one-week ultimatum given by the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) vice president Sivarasa Rasiah and party adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s political co-ordinator Sim Tse Tzin to reveal the source of the eight-minute Lingam videoclip or face action under the Anti-Corruption Act 1997 entailing two years’ jail, RM10,000 fine or both, every concerned Malaysian is asking:

Is there a grand conspiracy to “kill” the Lingam Tape scandal at the technical level casting doubts on its authenticity to avert any inquiry into the rot of the judiciary in the past 19 years and who are the people and parties privy to this grand conspiracy?

With the ACA ultimatum, the game-plan for the damage control of the explosive revelation of the Lingam Tape on the perversion of the course of justice with grave allegations of the fixing of judicial appointments and court decisions has become clearer — as the ACA is only interested in zeroing on the “whistleblowers” rather than the truth or otherwise of the serious allegations of the perversion of the course of justice highlighted by the Lingam Tape.

An administration fully committed to restore national and international confidence in the independence, integrity and meritocracy of the judiciary would leave no stone unturned to investigate into the allegations of fixing of judicial appointments and court decisions regardless of whether the identity of the “whistleblowers” could be identified.

But here, we have all the resources of the state being expended to try to cast doubts on the authenticity of Lingam Tape while ignoring the rot in the judiciary in the past 19 years since the 1988 Judicial Crisis. Continue reading “Lingam Tape – a grand conspiracy to “kill” it at the technical level on its authenticity?”

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Lingam Tape – Haidar, Mahadev, Lam Thye should return inquiry panel appointment letters to Najib “for the sake of Malaysia”

The three-man Haidar Inquiry into the authenticity of the Lingam Tape yesterday asked the person who recorded it and others who have relevant information to come forward “for the sake of Malaysia”.

Panel member and former Court of Appeal judge said: “Somebody out there (has) the original video. Does he have the responsibility (to come forward)? There may have been others who were there (during the incident). Have they got the responsibility?

“If you don’t come, don’t complain, because at the end of the day, our report is based on the material made available to us.”

It is the three panel members Tan Sri Haidar Mohamad Noor, Datuk Mahadev Shanker and Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye who should set the example of acting “For the sake of Malaysia” by returning their letters of appointment to the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to ask for the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Tape, the allegations of the perversion of the course of justice concerning the fixing of judicial appointments and the fixing of court judgments as well as into the 19-year rot in the judiciary.

With the declaration of five “No”s — no power to administer oaths, no power to compel witnesses to come forward, no power to commit anybody for contempt, no immunity under the law and no power to protect witnesses, the Haidar panel is swiftly degenerating from a farce into a joke.

It is balderdash to plead “The truth is the best armour, justice is the best protection” or to trot out philosophical arguments about “the power of the powerless” as counterpoint to the absence of protection for witnesses who appear before the panel.

If all the judges at all levels of the judiciary in the past 19 years had been guided by the noble objective “For the sake of Malaysia” and the principle that “the truth is the best armour, justice is the best protection”, the system of justice and national and international credibility in the independence, integrity and meritocracy of the judiciary would not have plunged to such a sorry state with one judicial crisis after another in the past 19 years.

What happened to a courageous judge, Justice Syed Ahmad Idid Syed Abdullah who in 1996 tried the blow the whistle in his 33-page anonymous letter containing 112 allegations of corruption, abuses of power and misconduct against 12 judges? Continue reading “Lingam Tape – Haidar, Mahadev, Lam Thye should return inquiry panel appointment letters to Najib “for the sake of Malaysia””