Archive for November 27th, 2009

Close down Biro Tata Negara if Najib is serious, sincere and genuine about the 1Malaysia concept

When he became Prime Minister seven months ago, Datuk Seri Najib Razak came out with the slogan of 1Malaysia.

It was an admission of the failure of 52-year nation-building to create a Malaysian citizenry forged by a common Malaysian consciousness and identity, transcending their ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic differences.

The Biro Tata Negara (BTN) is one important factor for this failure in Malaysian nation-building.

In Parliament in March this year, I read out an indignant email from a recent participant in BTN course, on how BTN operated as the propaganda arm of UMNO, pumping communal poison instead of spreading the message of national unity.

The complaints against the BTN included:

Their purpose is to convey THEIR Message to us but I think they are absolutely wrong. It made us more irritable towards BN government and make us more stronger to vote opposition.
Read the rest of this entry »

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Open Tender for all government procurements – most effective way to prevent corruption and ensure efficiency

by Dr. Chen Man Hin

Last year on August 5th the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was quoted as saying that open tender would be implemented for government procurements. This was a very encouraging statement and gave the impression that he really intended to institute reforms to bring about better governance. Was this the signal that things are changing?

Later, when he was anointed prime minister, he announced further reforms to launch off his “1 Malaysia, People First, Performance Now” concept. This was even more promising.

Unfortunately, the euphoria engendered so far has now vanished by the announcement in Parliament on Wednesday that MATRADE expo – the biggest and most comprehensive exhibition center – would be awarded to a private contractor NAZA TTDI through private negotiated deal. The government procurement was NOT given out by OPEN TENDER.

This is a shocking development and has unravelled all the attempts by Najib to initiate a series of reforms for better governance in a “1 Malaysia”. Read the rest of this entry »

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