Najib at bay
Posted by Kit in Elections, Najib Razak on Friday, 3 February 2012, 12:38 pm
Economist
Feb 4th 2012
Politics in Malaysia – Good intentions are not enough for a leader at odds with his party
KUALA LUMPUR
WHEN the leader of the Malaysian opposition, Anwar Ibrahim, was acquitted by a high court judge last month on controversial charges of sodomy, supporters in the government of the reforming prime minister, Najib Razak, were able to claim it as something of a victory. It was proof, they said, that ministers no longer meddled in judicial decisions, as in the bad old days. They even claimed it as evidence of Mr Najib’s wider programme to bring the country into a modern, liberal age.
And so the attorney-general’s decision barely two weeks later to appeal against Mr Anwar’s acquittal hardly looks good. Mr Anwar has always maintained that the sodomy charge was a smear that had been orchestrated by people from within Mr Najib’s ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). The case had run for two years, which for many Malaysians was quite long enough. Mr Anwar’s lawyer quickly derided the appeal as “a desperate act”.
The attorney-general’s decision renews suspicions that nothing much has changed within UMNO, which refuses to stop hounding Mr Anwar and, despite Mr Najib’s worthy intentions, wants few reforms to speak of. Resistance to Mr Najib’s changes has become something of a leitmotif of his time in office, and it could cost him dear at the next general election, which is expected later this year. Read the rest of this entry »
Unity
- by Clement Ting
- The Malaysian Insider
Feb 02, 2012
FEB 2 — Ever since DS Najib took office on April 3, 2009, “unity” is yet another word used on slogans without much effort to embrace the word for what it truly means. Let’s look at the latest and hottest slogan promoted by our dear PM himself, 1Malaysia.
The 1Malaysia slogan is now everywhere — from Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M), 1Malaysia clinics, 1Malaysia pillars, banners, posters etc. I am not trying to run down the idea as I think this idea has successfully reached everyone from the urban cities to rural areas. However, I feel that it is just an empty slogan with no one taking heed of what it actually means. Furthermore, this 1Malaysia slogan is contradictory in so many ways to the extent that instead of promoting unity, it is possible that it is doing the exact opposite. Read the rest of this entry »
Anti-1 Care group demands Putrajaya kill proposed healthcare scheme
By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 02, 2012
PETALING JAYA, Feb 2 – The newly-formed Citizens’ Healthcare Coalition (CHC) came out for the first time today to demand the government shelve its proposed “1 Care” insurance scheme, warning that its implementation would spell “disaster” for Malaysia’s healthcare system.
The pact insisted that the present two-tiered model was superior to “1 Care”, which it predicted would only turn healthcare management into a “business”.
“We believe the (current) Malaysian model is superior for the Malaysian environment. We do not want healthcare to be turned into a business.
“We believe there should be both public and private sectors – public as a service-oriented model and private as a corporate model… it is not possible for a service sector model to be corporatised,” Federation of Private Medical Practitioners Associations of Malaysia (FPMPAM) president Dr Steven Chow said during CHC’s maiden media briefing at the Global Business and Convention Centre here this evening.
According to CHC, “1 Care” is a new national healthcare system that will force all households to surrender nearly 10 per cent of their monthly household incomes as contribution to a government-run Social Healthcare Insurance (SHI) scheme.
The group insists that the scheme would not achieve its objective to provide equitable access to healthcare for all segments of society and would only increase costs. Read the rest of this entry »
Jika Mempunyai Peluang, Saya Akan Menyertai DAP
Kenyataan ini seolah-olah saya mahu menyertai politik selepas tamat pengajian. Tidak, bukan itu maksud saya. Tetapi sedikit komentar dari saya setelah memerhatikan beberapa siri kejadian yang tidak disangka-sangka oleh ramai rakyat Malaysia yang aktif memerhatikan gelombang politik tanah air muttakhir ini.
Siri kemasukan ramai nama-nama besar melayu (terpulang kepada persepsi pembaca) ke dalam Parti Tindakan Demokratik (DAP) akhir-akhir ini menimbulkan persoalan, apakah tuduhan dan serangan UMNO selama ini terhadap parti tersebut tidak berjaya mempengaruhi orang melayu?
Saya membaca beberapa keluhan dan rasa resah dalam kalangan rakan-rakan saya dan komen-komen pembaca mengenai berita ini, dengan menganggap mereka yang menyertai DAP sudah lupa asal usul, terpengaruh dengan ideologi komunis, dasar tidak mengenang budi dan sebagainya.
Bagi saya, ini lumrah dunia politik. Orang akan mengecam segala 1001 perkara yang mereka tidak suka. Tambahan pula, apabila perkara itu berlawanan dengan kebiasaan mereka.
Read the rest of this entry »
A Critique of the ETP: Part 3 (i) – Execution (i) – PEMANDU strengthens the ‘know-who’ cancer
Very swift progress, but is it due to PEMANDU? In its 8 ETP updates so far, PEMANDU has announced multiple new EPPs (Entry Point Projects) worth billions of ringgit of investment and creating thousands of jobs. One EPP – Johor Premium Outlets (JP Outlets) – is already open. But how much of this rapid execution is due to PEMANDU instead of normal private sector efficiency?
Opportunistic naming of existing projects as EPPs. For example, the JP Outlets and St Regis Hotel projects pre-dated the ETP. Their completion dates were unchanged by their subsequent EPP status – suggesting minimal input by PEMANDU. Naming them as EPPs gives the illusion of quick wins and overstates PEMANDU’s success.
PEMANDU might have indeed helped. PEMANDU might respond that these projects would have been delayed without its help in cutting red tape. Note that the developers Genting-Simon Property and Chua Ma Yu-MRCB are global multinationals, a prominent local businessman and a GLC.
Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia: Why do I care? (Part 2)
Posted by Kit in nation building on Thursday, 2 February 2012, 3:05 pm
By Clive Kessler | February 02, 2012
The Malaysian Insider
FEB 2 — Part 2: The “philosophical” aspect.
Why do I care about Malaysia?
Why do I have ideas and opinions? Why do I voice them? And why do I believe that people might occasionally listen and give some heed when I do?
Half the answer, which I have already provided in sketchy outline, is biographical. It is a matter of, literally, one’s “curriculum vitae”, the “small pathway” of one’s personal, individual life-course.
The other part, which I will now try to suggest in this complementary discussion, is a matter of the attitudes and sensibilities acquired during the course of that life.
Read the rest of this entry »
‘Umno warlords will not let Najib succeed’
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, NEM, UMNO on Thursday, 2 February 2012, 11:08 am
By Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | February 2, 2012
Free Malaysia Today
Sometime ago I met The Economist correspondent Dr Richard Cockett who asked me whether Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak will succeed in his transformation ideas.
I said, Najib will not suceed. And why not? Because Umno won’t let him succeed.
Take the case of his New Economic Model (NEM). Nowadays we hardly hear about it. In the 2011 Umno general assembly, Najib did not even mention it.
Instead he devoted much of his speech sounding very combative and full of vehemence. What he did at the time was to actually retrograde to Umno cavemen politics – stick and stones.
So how is he going to push his tranformation agenda? Knowing Najib, he will revert to the ‘old’ tested ways of ‘patronage’.
Read the rest of this entry »
In just two years, Najib has “given up the ghost” on his signature 1Malaysia policy
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, nation building on Thursday, 2 February 2012, 5:17 am
“Why must I be Malaysian first and Malay second?”
This seemingly innocuous question by the Minister without Portfolio in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Idris Jala yesterday marked another watershed in the 34-month premiership of Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
In just two years, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has “given up the ghost” on his signature 1Malaysia policy to create a Malaysia where Malaysians regard themselves as Malaysians first and their race, religion, region or socio-economic status second.
It marked another abandonment of Najib’s grandiloquent “transformation” policies, like the even more short-lived New Economic Model (NEM) which was given an unceremonial burial in three short months.
This was why the theme of my speech in Parliament on the Tenth Malaysia Plan on 21st June 2010 was “Tenth Malaysia Plan: Long live NEP – RIP NEM” although the NEM was unveiled only on 30th March 2010. Read the rest of this entry »
Idris Jala: Why must I be Malaysian first?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, nation building on Wednesday, 1 February 2012, 9:43 pm
By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 01, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 1 – Datuk Seri Idris Jala said today that nationality, race and religion are of equal importance when determining an individual’s true Malaysian identity.
As such, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said the “Malaysian first, Malay next” dilemma should not arise as being Malaysian as well as Malay are different matters and are both important.
“I get upset with people stuck with this whole Malaysian first dilemma. Why must I be Malaysian first and Malay second?” he said when dissecting the 1 Malaysia concept during his keynote address at an intercultural dialogue this afternoon.
The Sarawakian Christian minister, who served as mediator between the religious community and the government during the Alkitab bibles row last year, said race, nationality and religion contribute equally to a person’s identity and should not be placed in a contest against one another.
He added that by insisting that the “Malaysian” tag should supercede others, it was tantamount to saying that the hand is more important than the leg or vice-versa.
“My name is Idris, that is my name, my identity. Kelabit is the tribe I was born in.
“I belong to a group called the Orang Ulu. I am Sarawakian, I am Malaysian, I am Asian.
“They are all individual identities that are equally as important – you cannot say one is more important than another,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
PR MPs will remind Najib in March Parliament to honour his solemn undertaking to leave “no stone unturned” to find out the truth about Beng Hock’s death or face the censure of voters
Posted by Kit in Parliament, Teoh Beng Hock on Wednesday, 1 February 2012, 3:45 pm
For more than 30 months since his murder at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters at Shah Alam on July 16, 2009, justice have been denied to Teoh Beng Hock.
Despite an inquest, an exhumation, a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) and solemn undertaking by the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to Teoh Beng Hock’s family that “no stone would be left unturned”, the full frightening story of the causes and circumstances for Beng Hock’s murder at MACC Headquarters have still to be told and full justice given to Beng Hock and family.
The Coroner Muntapha Abas in Beng Hock’s inquest had ruled out suicide but had returned an open verdict as there was insufficient evidence to prove that his death was a homicide.
The James Foong RCI came out with a finding overturning the verdict of the Inquest ruling out suicide – concluding that Beng Hock was “driven to commit suicide by the aggressive, relentless, oppressive and unscrupulous interrogation”.
This is most unacceptable finding as it was not based on any evidence but completely a leap in speculation by the RCI. Read the rest of this entry »
Hassan Ali talking as if he got more than a screw loose in his head – impossible to get angry and outraged but only feelings of great pity at the gibberish pouring out from him
Posted by Kit in Constitution, DAP on Wednesday, 1 February 2012, 2:10 pm
Expelled PAS member and former Selangor state exco member Datuk Hassan Ali must have shocked his “masters” when he made the wildest and most preposterous of allegations in the first stop of his nationwide roadshow in Bangi yesterday, alleging that “once they take over Putrajaya”, DAP will merge Malaysia with Singapore into a republic and abolish Article 153 of the Federal Constitution and do away with Islamic enactments.
One should get outraged and incensed at lies and falsehoods, but when they are so far-fetched with Hassan Ali talking as if he has got more than a screw loose in his head, it is impossible to get angry and outraged but only feelings of great pity at the gibberish pouring out from him.
It is clearly an utter waste of time to try to reason with such a deranged person.
DAP however reserves the right to take all necessary legal action against such defamatory falsehoods, whether from Hassan personally or others spreading his defamatory falsehoods. Read the rest of this entry »
Rebranding Rela into BN’s vanguard
Posted by Kit in Election, Law & Order, Najib Razak, Police on Wednesday, 1 February 2012, 1:09 pm
— Bob Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 31, 2012
JAN 31 — Under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP), Rela is to be rebranded as part of a police “omnipresence.” But its massive build-up has raised suspicions that it may instead become Barisan Nasional’s (BN) vanguard or even an additional vote bank.
“When the chips are down, Rela will be with this government to defend the country. Do not cause havoc in this country because the 2.8 million Rela members will not stand idly by and watch the country descend into chaos,” he thundered to the noisy approval from a crowd of 30,000 Rela members gathered in Kuala Lumpur last Saturday.
Najib Razak seems at variance with his minister in charge of the GTP, Idris Jala. The GTP roadmap for combating crime requires Rela to help police keep “omnipresence” in 50 identified crime hot spots in the Kuala Lumur, Selangor, Johor and Penang.
But Najib talks about using Rela as a vanguard or vigilante when Umno or BN’s chips are down, and he wants Rela to contain demonstrators out to create public disorder. Read the rest of this entry »
PM – when will Beng Hock’s case be given due attention?
Posted by Kit in Teoh Beng Hock on Wednesday, 1 February 2012, 11:58 am
by Teoh Lee Lan
(Sister of The Late Teoh Beng Hock)
18th January 2012
It’s already 2012, could the PM please tell us when the Beng Hock case will be given due attention?
We, the family of Teoh Beng Hock, will be in Putrajaya at 9 a.m., 2 February 2012 for a Court of Appeal decision on the Teoh Beng Hock case judicial review.
In 2012 we are about to usher in the third Chinese New Year without Beng Hock and with the truth nowhere in sight.
We should like to ask: What actually happened on 16 July 2009 at the scene of Beng Hock’s death? Why have the various doubts we raised gone unanswered?
For the past few years, we have asked such questions not once, not twice, but more than a thousand times at the courts, in the media, and at various forums, but every time silence was the answer. Read the rest of this entry »
Breaking up wealth concentration in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Finance, Lim Teck Ghee on Wednesday, 1 February 2012, 10:51 am
— Dr Lim Teck Ghee
The Malaysian Insider
FEB 1 — The past year has seen the government and the opposition unveil their respective economic reform policies. Even if these reform policies and their attendant programmes are implemented they will not be able to resolve the country’s economic problems. This is because the policies advocated by both sides of the political divide are merely palliative. They do not address the root or fundamental cause of the problem of structural deformation of the country’s economy.
How has this deformation come about? What are its characteristics? And what can be done to bring about a reversal or correction of the deformation so that we have a really transformed economic system that can live up to its full potential?
First we need to recognise that wealth in any country — and Malaysia is no exception — is created by economic activity engaged in by individuals or enterprises that bring profits or gains to the entrepreneur. Much of this wealth creation and subsequent accumulation is legitimate. It is based on material reward arising from work (or gift) and is socially and ethically acceptable. It comes from risk-taking and from the social utility and superiority of the products and services generated by the individual or enterprise.
Wealth generated and accumulated by individuals through legitimate means and conforming to the norms of justice and fairness is not only desirable but beneficial to society and the economy.
But what about wealth that is created or amassed by less than legitimate or illegitimate or illegal means? Is it a minor or non-issue and do we just ignore it as is the case with the Barisan Nasional government? Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia: Why do I care?
— Clive Kessler
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 01, 2012
FEB 1 — Part 1: The personal quest
Now back in Sydney yet again, after two more months in Malaysia, I sigh from both exhaustion and relief.
Exhaustion, since as I age I find it ever more punishing physically just to get around Kuala Lumpur and keep up with things there.
… And relief. Relief since I am here at home spared the daily onslaught of anguish and stress that is my lot there, as I contemplate Malaysia’s future and prospects “from within”: from the midst, or at the least from my vantage point close on the sidelines, of the nation’s current travails.
I enjoy here, in short, some of the pleasure of a little distance from it all, some blissful detachment.
But it is a guilty pleasure, an enjoyment that makes me feel uneasy. Why?
As I now think, from afar, about how exercised and agitated and concerned I become about Malaysia’s current situation and trajectory — especially as I contemplate Malaysia’s current situation and prospects from “inside” or “close up” there — I pose a challenge to myself. A basic question. Read the rest of this entry »
Beginning of a shift in racial politics
Posted by Kit in DAP, nation building, Politics on Wednesday, 1 February 2012, 9:56 am
Jan 31, 2012
YOURSAY
Malaysiakini
‘What is happening today is a revolt against corruption, and by extension revolt against Umno. It is not about race.’
The fracturing of the Malay community
Cala: S Thayaparan’s argument is surprisingly simple – that Umno due to its various weaknesses is slowly and steadily losing its grip on the Malays and thus giving rise to a fragmented Malay community.
The future, as seen by the writer is in DAP given its multi-ethnic stance and hopefully it will over the years allow “a reformed Malay-majority DAP” to work with other partners within the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.
In theory, the argument makes sense because in this case number matters. To be effective and be counted, DAP needs Malay memberships.
In practice, however, it is a painfully long process to anyone who wishes to boot out the corrupted and unrepentant regime quickly.
While waiting for more enlightened Malays to join DAP, the better way is to work closely with PKR and PAS as the latter two share similar political aspiration. Read the rest of this entry »
Cuepacs steps up fight against new scheme
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, public service on Tuesday, 31 January 2012, 6:54 pm
Stephanie Sta Maria | January 31, 2012
Free Malaysia Today
KUALA LUMPUR: Cuepacs has set up an action committee as its latest step in its fight against the Public Service New Remuneration Scheme (SBPA).
A 15-member team, led by Cuepacs deputy president, Azih Muda, will present a paper on its recommendations to Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, by early March.
These recommendations were compiled during a two-day workshop on SBPA which was attended by all Cuepacs officials.
Cuepacs president, Omar Osman, told the media this afternoon that the paper would be based on the five items that Cuepacs has already submitted for review by the SBPA task force.
“The prime minister introduced the SBPA in the hope that it would be better than the Malaysian Remuneration Scheme (SSM) but instead it is the worst scheme we have ever seen,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
Umno parti rasuah
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 31 January 2012, 6:44 pm
— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 31, 2012
31 JAN — Kawan kawan saya dalam Umno bercakap mengenai rasa cemas bila kerajaan yang di pimpin oleh Umno menabur wang begitu banyak kepada rakyat. Bayaran RM100, RM200, dan sekarang ini RM500 sedang rancak di jalankan. Tapi apa yang hendak di risaukan? Bukankah ini hasil pejuangan Umno dan bukti Umno dan BN amat perihatin kepada rakyat?
Mereka bertanya kepada saya, bayaran2 ini, adakah ianya meningkatkan peluang Umno dan kerajaan BN menang? Saya cakap sudah tentu ia meningkat peluang- peluang untuk rakyat merasa sakit hati. Bila rakyat sakit hati, bertambah ramailah musuh2 Umno.
Hah? Macam mana itu berlaku? Saya menyatakan bahawa dalam hal beri memberi ini, Umno selalu menghadapi masaalah. Siapa yang menentukan siapa dapat RM100, RM200 dan RM500? Selalunya yang menentukan ialah ketua kampung.
Ketua kampung punya keutamaan ialah menyenaraikan adik beradik, saudara-saudara terdekat, dan geng-geng yang sebulu dengan mereka. Golongan yang terpinggir ramai daripada yang dapat imbuhan. Ini memang resam sesetangah ketua kampong. Semasa saya jadi ADUN dahulu, saya mempunyai masaalah dengan ketua-ketua kampung yang seperti inilah juga — yang jadi pagar yang memakan padi.
Kalau buka kawasan pembesaran kampung, lot-lot tanah di sapu mereka dan keluarga mereka sendiri. Kalau ada rumah rakyat, rumah PPRT, sanak saudara di dahulukan. Bahkan lot-lot tanah di beri kepada suku-sakat mereka yang tidak pun tinggal dalam kawasan pemberian tanah.
Apabila saham Felcra di beri oleh kerajaan, yang sepatutnya di beri kepada kepala keluarga, pemimpin kampung mendesak di beri kepada anggota isi rumah. Kalau keluarganya ada lima orang, mereka mahu saham Felcra di beri kepada ke lima-lima ahli keluarganya. Apa akan jadi bila perkara seperti ini di biarkan? Ianya bermakna lima ketua keluarga yang lain di nafikan peluang untuk dapat saham Felcra.
Nah, sekarang perkara yang serupa berlaku apabila pentadbiran Najib Razak membayar wang kepada rakyat. Ramai orang menerima wang tersebut tapi bilangan yang di nafikan hak untuk menikmati rezeki dari Najib Razak juga kian bertambah. Read the rest of this entry »
4 MCA Ministers should make amends for their ministerial cowardice/irresponsibility by speaking up in first post-CNY Cabinet meeting for full public transparency and accountability for the RM330 million “cattle condo” scandal
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Corruption, MCA on Tuesday, 31 January 2012, 1:33 pm
Just before the Chinese New Year, the MCA President Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek gave an interview where he blamed the Barisan Nasional government, “particularly embattled minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abd Jalil”, for the “poor handling” of the RM330 million “cattle condo” scandal, causing the public to perceive the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) project as “real rotten”.
If the MCA President is right, then the four MCA Ministers must also bear full responsibility as they have allowed the RM330 million “cattle condo” to drag on for three months in the public limelight, with the relentless expose of one abuse of power and misuse of public funds after another, without any rebuttal and providing no light whatsoever “at the end of the tunnel”!
In fact, as it is more than six months since the completion and submission to the government of the Auditor-General’s Report 2010 in early July last year which led to the expose of the “terrible mess” of the NFC scandal, Malaysians are entitled to an explanation why the Cabinet (including the four MCA Ministers) had been sleeping on their jobs to get to the very bottom of the NFC scandal?
In view of the MCA President’s statement blaming the “rotten mess” of the NFC scandal on Barisan Nasional’s “poor handling”, are the four MCA Ministers prepared to make amends for their ministerial cowardice and irresponsibility by speaking up in first post-Chinese New Year Cabinet meeting for full public transparency and accountability for the RM330 million “cattle condo” scandal? Read the rest of this entry »
Malays have no qualms about joining DAP: Only Umno says they have
by Moaz Nair
Malaysia Chronicle
30 January 2012
Some UMNO leaders and the nuisance-to-society Perkasa apparently still belong to the old school of thoughts that race and religion can be used to gain votes from the Malays. More often than not, they prefer to sow hatred among races in the country to achieve their selfish goals.
The new educated or enlightened Malay race – New Malays (Melayu Baru) do not auspiciously subscribe to this divisive politics or racial and religious rhetoric of UMNO or Perkasa anymore. The New Malays see race, religion and the country as a whole from an entirely different political perspective. They seem to spurn politics based on shallow discourse relating to race and religion. They have a bigger ambition for the country to see it develop with people of all races having a fair share of the economic pie.
Some irrelevant Malay politicians belonging to the old school of thoughts are wasting their precious time organising public speeches trying to delude the Malays into thinking that non-Malays are a threat to them or that Christianity is a threat to the Malays and the religion of Islam in this country. When these bigots sense that they are not getting the crowd to their numb sermons – as the people are not interested in their story telling – they resort to their friendly media to pad the events. They fail to realise that the majority of Malays are at ease living together with other races and seeing the many religions being practised in peace. There are many more Malays working, studying in Christian countries without fear that they will be converted to Christianity. Many Malays have even left this country for good after having hatred for UMNO’s approach to politics.
In truth, the New Malays in the country will not fall to UMNO’s bilk that DAP is a threat to the Malay race, Islam and the royalty. The country and its political parties have evolved for many years. DAP is today perceived by the New Malays as a party for all Malaysians. Never in the history of DAP’s party manifesto has it shown any predisposition towards the Malays, Islam or the royalty. Read the rest of this entry »
