Archive for October, 2012
Rapidly Losing
Posted by Kit in Martin Jalleh, Transport on Wednesday, 17 October 2012
By Martin Jalleh
TV3 akan menghadapi nasib yang sama seperti Utusan?
— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 16, 2012
16 OKT — TV3 sedang merudum “rating”nya. TV3 yang termasyhur sebagai lidah Umno dan BN kini sudah mula tidak mendapat sambutan ramai. Sebelum 2010, TV3 telah mendapat “rating” yang tertinggi sehingga mendapat 3.5 juta penonton sehari dan kini jumlah tontonan dari rakyat telah jatuh sehingga 1.2 juta sehari. Kejatuhan bilangan penonton lebih dari 60 peratus ini tentu bersebab dan sebabnya boleh diagak oleh kita semua. Kejatuhan ini akan akhirnya membawa padah kepada pendapatan syarikat dan menjejaskan prestasi kewangan syarikat televisyen itu.
Selalunya kejatuhan penonton sesebuah syarikat penyiaran seperti TV3 itu adalah kerana kejatuhan keyakinan penonton terhadap kredibiliti saluran itu. Dalam sejarah banyak syarikat penyiaran dan saluran TVnya telah jatuh kerana tidak mendapat sokongan ramai. Keadaan ini tidak mengecualikan TV3 yang kini sudah menampakkan keadaan seperti itu akan berlaku ke atas syarikat televisyen itu.
Kejatuhan penonton yang dialaminya sekarang sudah mula menampakkan apa yang dialami oleh banyak syarikat TV yang terpaksa ditutup di negara-negara yang lain itu akan berlaku ke atas TV3 jika saluran televisyen itu tidak menjaga kredibilitinya di mata penonton yang sedia ada sekarang.
Ramai di antara pengiklan-pengiklan barangan dan perkhidmatan telah mula memikirkan untuk mengiklankan barangan dan perkhidmatan mereka di saluran-saluran yang lain kerana TV3 tidak menjadi saluran sukaramai rakyat lagi. Kejatuhan jumlah penonton untuk saluran ini masih menurun dan dijangkakan yang ia akan melewati bawah dari 1 juta penonton setiap hari.
Keadaan ini berlaku bukan kerana apa….tetapi kerana TV3 sudah menjadi alat pembohongan BN dan Umno dan rakyat yang berfikiran “professional” tidak menganggap saluran TV3 ini sebagai saluran untuk rakyat. Sikap “tidak professional” TV3 ini menjadi persoalan ramai kerana orang ramai tidak gemar dengan sikap condong yang keterlaluan terhadap sesuatu pihak dalam politik ini adalah tindakan yang dianggap tidak jujur. Read the rest of this entry »
IWK in Deep Shit!
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Martin Jalleh on Tuesday, 16 October 2012
By Martin Jalleh
Malaysia’s elections: Should the international community care?
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Constitution, Corruption, Elections, Human Rights, Media on Tuesday, 16 October 2012
— Ambiga Sreenevasan
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 15, 2012
OCT 15 — Those in the international community may be forgiven for saying, “Is there a problem with the democratic process in Malaysia?”
In the international arena, our leaders portray Malaysia as a moderate Islamic nation that is built on the democratic principles that are enshrined in our Federal Constitution. The fundamental rights of freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, the right to life and a fair electoral process, are indeed guaranteed under our Federal Constitution.
The reality is, however, far less idyllic. There are serious questions whether these rights are respected and upheld by those in power. Read the rest of this entry »
Water Privatisation, Not ’Piratization’: How It Can work
by Koon Yew Yin
The prolonged conflict involving the Selangor state government, the Federal Government and the privatized company, Syabas, over the management and pricing of water resources may give the impression to Malaysians that there is no way in which any privatized concern and commodity can ever work to the advantage of consumers. This is a wrong impression.
Privatization can work and the screwing up of public interest or ”piratization” can be avoided. Perhaps the most outstanding example of successful privatization in the water sector comes from Penang. How this best practice in privatization was implemented is important for our public and policy makers to learn from. Read the rest of this entry »
AG report: Top marks to Pakatan states
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Pakatan Rakyat, Penang, Selangor on Monday, 15 October 2012
Syed Jaymal Zahiid | October 15, 2012
Free Malaysia Today
The 2011 Auditor-General’s report showed that apart from a few minor glitches, all four states showed good financial standing.
KUALA LUMPUR: The 2011 Auditor-General’s report indicates good fiscal management by all four Pakatan Rakyat-controlled states with revenues improving.
DAP-held Penang led the way in terms of revenue collection, recording a RM192.19 million or 46.8% increase compared with the RM410.70 million made in 2010 while Selangor, Malaysia’s richest state, increased by RM62.50 million or 4% for the same period.
Kedah, on the other hand, saw its surplus drop when it recorded an increase in operating expenditures despite boosting its revenue, but the report noted that the PAS-led state government had more or less maintained a “satisfactory” balance sheet. Read the rest of this entry »
Hard To Be Part of the Solution When You Are Part of the Problem
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Monday, 15 October 2012
M. Bakri Musa
The Havoc Education Reform Inflicts: Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (Part 5)
[In the first three essays I critiqued the Blueprint’s recommendations: specifically its failure to recognize the diversity within our school system and thus the need to have targeted programs; the challenge of recruiting quality teachers; and the link between efficiency, efficacy, and quality. Part Four discussed the report’s deficiencies. This last essay focuses on the very process of reform, or how to do a better job of it.]
The greatest weakness of this reform effort is its exclusive dependence on in-house or MOE staff, the very personnel responsible for the current rot with our schools. These individuals have been part of the problem for far too long; they cannot now be expected suddenly and magically to be part of the solution. That would take an exceptional ability to be flexible, innovative, and have the willingness or at least capacity to learn. Those are the very traits not valued in or associated with our civil service.
The Blueprint’s local consultants included Air Asia’s Tony Fernandez, Khazanah’s Azman Mokthar, and Sunway’s Jeffrey Cheah, presumably representing the three major communities. These individuals are terribly busy. Unless they took time off from their considerable corporate responsibilities, they could not possibly do justice to this important national assignment.
The international consultants were equally impressive. Again here I wonder how much time they actually spent talking to teachers, students and headmasters. Another significant flaw is this: With the possible exception of the Canadian, the others are from systems not burdened with the Malaysian dilemma of low educational achievements identifiable with specific ethnic or geographical groups. In Ontario, Canada, only the Toronto School System which is separate from the provincial has significant experience with the “Malaysian” problem. The Canadian is with the provincial system.
Many of those impressive consultants were conspicuously absent during the many public sessions leading one to conclude that they were more window dressing. Read the rest of this entry »
Hasan Ali’s umbrage over PAS-DAP ties
— The Malaysian Insider
Oct 14, 2012
OCT 14 — There are many out there who fear the Islamist PAS working together with the secular DAP. To the point that PAS is seen as abandoning its Islamist roots while DAP is accused of either being very Christian or trying to help PAS implement an Islamic state.
That didn’t work in 1999 when both parties worked together in the Barisan Alternatif that floundered over the Islamic state concept. In Election 2008, they agreed not to contest against each other and PKR, and their success led to the formation of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR).
Among those in the happy group then was Datuk Dr Hasan Ali. Well, he isn’t there now after being sacked last January by PAS. Read the rest of this entry »
Can MACC recover from the disastrous setback of being exposed as among the most inept and incompetent anti-corruption agencies in the world?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Sabah on Sunday, 14 October 2012
There continues to be widespread disbelief and questions galore about the highly-publicized exoneration of Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman of corruption in connection with the seizure of S$16 million (RM40 million) cash and arrest of Sabah businessman Michael Chia at the Hong Kong International Airport on August 14, 2008 for money trafficking and laundering before boarding a flight bound for Kuala Lumpur.
It was earlier reported that Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) found that the money was earmarked for Musa and were part of more funds being deposited into a Swiss bank account containing US$30 million allegedly being held in trust for the Sabah Chief Minister by a lawyer.
If what the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said in his parliamentary reply is true, that investigation papers submitted to the Attorney-General by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) show that the RM40 million a Sabah businessman was caught with in trying to smuggle into Malaysia from Hong Kong were political contributions to the state Umno and not for Chief Minister Musa Aman and that “no element of corruption was proven”, two immediate questions arise:
1. Why did the MACC submit investigation papers to the Attorney-General for decision when “no element of corruption was proven”; and
2. Why has the MACC taken more than four years to discover that it has no case of corruption against Musa Aman? Read the rest of this entry »
Jangan was-was, lakukanlah perubahan
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, UMNO on Sunday, 14 October 2012
— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
October 14, 2012
Okt 14 — Rasa tidak terdaya untuk membaca dan mengulas tentang isu-isu yang mengelilingi politik negara. Seperti mana yang saya sebut selalu kebanyakan isu yang ditimbulkan ialah isu rasuah yang besar yang berlaku dalam pentadbiran kerajaan yang dipimpin UMNO kini. Saya tetap akan terus menerus bercakap tentang rasuah ini kerana rasuah adalah kerja yang sangat hina dan ia boleh menjahanamkan sebuah negara. Sebelum ia menjahanamkan negara elok rakyat bertindak dengan kesatuan yang kuat kerana perasuah ini bukan mudah untuk dihapuskan.
Usaha menghapuskan rasuah ini memerlukan kerjasama yang rapat di antara semua pihak dan rakyat keseluruhannya kerana kehancuran terhadap negara itu akan pasti sampai jika rasuah yang keterlaluan ini tidak dibendung. Perjuangan ini merupakan perjuangan yang panjang dan memakan masa yang lama, tetapi langkah permulaan wajar berlaku sekarang kerana jika usaha ini ditangguh-tangguhkan ia akan menjadi barah yang susah untuk dikawal.
Perjuangan melawan rasuah ini memerlukan permuafakatan yang jitu dari rakyat semua kaum dan juga dari parti-parti politik serta setiap individu-individu yang sedar tentang bahayanya rasuah ini dibendung. Maka samada terdaya atau pun tidak, kita harus ke depan dan memerangi rasuah ini habis-habisan melalui cara yang halal dan dibenarkan oleh perundangan negara kita.
Banyak pihak telah membuat teguran dan desakan untuk pimpinan sekarang ini melakukan pembersihan terhadap rasuah ini kerana UMNO merupakan parti yang memimpin negara kita. Namun semua desakan itu tidak pergi ke mana, malahan rasuah berkembang dengan begitu menjolok mata sehinggakan kita semua tidak tahan lagi untuk bersabar. Read the rest of this entry »
A re-look at the Malaysia Education Blueprint
– Hussaini Abdul Karim
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 13, 2012
OCT 13 – It is only natural for parents to demand the best for their children. More so now that parents of the noughties are generally better informed, more knowledgeable and are more educated when compared to those of the 80’s, 70’s, 60’s or earlier.
Likewise, the government of Malaysia also demands the best from its people, the best of everything.
Therefore, it is only logical if the government provides the best in order for them to get the best. Our country is blessed with abundant natural resources, a stable economy, peace, prosperity and harmony, among others. The better the people (human capital) the better our country will be in terms of progress, economy and development. The provision of quality education and if accompanied by the necessary and complete infrastructure combined with having good teachers and trainers, will ensure us a continuous supply of the right human capital. So, providing quality education should be made a priority in any country to produce the best people. That includes our country Malaysia.
Parents send their children to schools not just because the laws require them to do so and they also do not send their children to schools just for the sake of sending them to schools. I am referring to the larger majority. Most parents, if not all, want their children to get a decent education and to go as high as possible, up to university level for a first degree, if not further. Read the rest of this entry »
What Does “Moderate” Mean in Malaysia?
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Islam, Najib Razak, nation building on Saturday, 13 October 2012
by Azeem Ibrahim
Huffington Post
10/12/2012
There have been a lot of loose definitions of “moderate” Islam in the media recently and in the wake of violent protests throughout the Muslim world, the word is starting to mean simply — non-violent. The deaths in Libya and many other Muslim countries have been a disturbing counterpoint to the hopes aroused by the Arab Spring movement. Peaceful protests have achieved so much more change in the last two years than all the decades of violence in the past, yet extremists still believe they can achieve their agenda by continuing to murder innocent civilians. Violence is their only way of remaining relevant as they have nothing else to offer.
Malaysia is often referred to as a moderate Islamic country, as it is mainly peaceful, prosperous and law-abiding. A predominantly Muslim country with vocal and distinct minority populations of Indian and Chinese origin, peaceful change has taken place over the last twenty years without violent extremism. It may be because the government has kept a tight hold on the country with the emergency law and regulations adopted in 1957 to maintain political order and stability when Malaysia was emerging from the communist insurgency. These laws stayed in place until very recently and have been used to respond to any movement that was considered prejudicial to national security. Today, the question arises of whether such laws provide security or whether they have become a liability. In September, 2011 the increasingly controversial Internal Security Act (ISA) of 1960 was repealed and in November, 2011, the government finally lifted three existing emergency proclamations, rendering void the unpopular Emergency Public Order and Prevention of Crime Ordinance of 1969.
However, civil rights groups are expressing dissatisfaction with the new legislation which replaces the archaic repealed laws; Hasmy Agam, the Chief Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia has spoken out against the new legislation for failing to meet international human rights standards. Many see the proposed Peaceful Assembly Bill as placing further curbs on civil liberties by restricting street demonstrations and the new Security Offences Act is simply “the New ISA.” The much vaunted relaxation of media restrictions is also being criticized as an inadequate half-measure. Read the rest of this entry »
As Najib is an interested party as UMNO President, he should establish a RCI into the RM40 million Hong Kong-laundered UMNO funds to clear UMNO/BN and Malaysia’s name
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Sabah on Saturday, 13 October 2012
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has refused to disclose the source of the RM40 million “political donation” for UMNO Sabah that was the subject of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigation of Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Musa Aman, giving an unbelievably weak and unacceptable excuse.
Najib said that “All parties have a right to receive political donations” and “As long as it is through the right channels, it is not an offence”.
What Najib had completely ignored is that the RM40 million is not “above-board money” but dirty money, as it is Hong Kong-laundered UMNO funds which the Sabah businessman Michael Chia had tried to smuggle into the country in his luggage in cash in the form of $S16 million currency but got arrested at the Hong Kong International Airport on August 14, 2008 for money trafficking and laundering.
This has raised a very pertinent question, whether the MACC and the Attorney-General are empowered to enquire and prosecute the top UMNO leadership (including the UMNO President) whether for corruption or money laundering without getting the green-light from the Prime Minister?
Nobody in Malaysia is under the illusion that the MACC and Attorney-General have such powers, that is to conduct full investigations into the top UMNO leadership including the UMNO President, involving corruption and money laundering, as the Prime Minister is none other than the UMNO President himself. Read the rest of this entry »
Only fools or knaves or those who are both could believe the lies about DAP seeking to establish a Christian State in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Constitution, DAP, Islamic state, Religion on Saturday, 13 October 2012
Desperation knows no bounds. This is amply illustrated by UMNO/BN political desperadoes, whether in the political front-line or hiding in the shadows pulling propaganda strings hatching the most far-fetched and outlandish conspiratorial theories in the mainstream or social media to create fear and sow the seeds of hate and conflict to ensure the survival of the sixth Prime Minister and the ruling coalition in the imminent 13th General Election.
The issue of a Christian Malaysia and the allegation that DAP wants to repeal Article 3 of the Federal Constitution providing for Islam as the religion of the Malaysian Federation in order to establish a Christian State is one of the most irresponsible and reckless of lies and falsehoods in the current repertoire of the UMNO/BN political desperadoes.
In fact, those who disseminate such lies and falsehoods utterly reckless about its damage to the process of nation-building in multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia qualify to be condemned as the vilest and most despicable traitors to the vision of an united and harmonious Malaysian nation!
Only fools or knaves or those who are both could believe the lies that the DAP is seeking to establish a Christian State.
Henceforth, let Malaysians put the “fools or knaves” test to the political desperadoes who could so recklessly and irresponsibly disseminate such lies and falsehoods – whether they are fools or knaves, or both! Read the rest of this entry »
10 Things To Do If You Want To Be A Better Malaysian
Posted by Kit in Corruption, nation building on Saturday, 13 October 2012
By Thomas Fann
This article is not about Steve Jobs but I would like to start with a quote by him, made in 1994 during a TV interview…
“When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life.
Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is – everything around you that you call life, was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.
The minute that you understand that you can poke life and actually something will, you know if you push in, something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can mold it. That’s maybe the most important thing. It’s to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just gonna live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.
I think that’s very important and however you learn that, once you learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better, cause it’s kind of messed up, in a lot of ways. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”
There you have it, a glimpse into the reason why Steve Jobs is, in my humble opinion, one of the very few people who ever lived who can claim that he has changed the world for the better.
Read the rest of this entry »
Clear and present danger?
Posted by Kit in Elections, Lim Guan Eng, Religion on Saturday, 13 October 2012
Rom Nain
Malaysiakini
Oct 11, 2012
Many Malaysians surely must be sick to death – I know I am – of the latest ploy by hateful people, many within this regime, to split this country even further, to cultivate distrust at a time when they themselves have lost the trust of the people.
I am talking, of course, of this pathetic ‘strategy’ of churning out one bogeyman after another to frighten Malaysians, especially Muslims, presumably in the forlorn hope that we will all run back into the exploitative arms of this regime and its underlings.
Nasharuddin Mat Isa’s latest diatribe and Utusan Malaysia’s latest sojourn into the realm of lies and fantasy are illustrative of this desperation.
First, Utusan, not for the first time, in its Sunday edition, Mingguan Malaysia, brings up the topic of the Christian community and talks about a couple of Malaysia’s top church leaders apparently criticising Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib refuses to disclose source of Sabah Umno’s political donation
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Sabah, UMNO on Saturday, 13 October 2012
By Md Izwan
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 13, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak refused tonight to disclose the source of a political donation received by Umno Sabah that was the subject of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigation of Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman.
“It is a political donation. All parties have a right to receive political donations. As long as it is through the right channels, it is not an offence,” the Umno president (picture) told reporters after chairing a Barisan Nasional (BN) supreme council meeting.
“We are not at liberty to disclose… the opposition also receives donations and they don’t disclose,” he said.
Yesterday, Parliament was told the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had cleared Musa of graft and money-laundering allegations after finding that the over S$16 million (RM40 million) allegedly channelled to the Sabah chief minister through corrupt means was meant for Sabah Umno’s use. Read the rest of this entry »
Governing Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, Zairil Khir Johari on Friday, 12 October 2012
Zairil Khir Johari
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 12, 2012
OCT 12 — A favourite line of attack adopted by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government these days is the accusation that the opposition is only capable of making empty promises and hence is unable to govern.
To corroborate this premise, the prime minister recently suggested three points, namely: that the opposition coalition has failed to formalise itself under a common party symbol, that the inability to formulate a shadow Cabinet reveals a lack of credibility, and that the opposition’s sweet promises are in reality “venomous poison” that will eventually bring financial ruin to the country. In stressing the last point, he even went so far as to say that the Buku Jingga, the opposition’s official policy manifesto, “is not worth the paper it is printed on.”
Now, it’s all very fine for the prime minister to partake in showboating, especially when the mainstream media will offer no space for a rejoinder by the opposition. Unfortunately, even with the near-monopoly of information that he enjoys, it is disappointing that the prime minister has to resort to mischievous half-truths, unabashed hypocrisy and outright lies in order to malign the opposition. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysians could just imagine what would have happened if RM40 million cash Michael Chia caught trying to smuggle into Malaysia from Hong Kong were meant for Anwar or anyone of the PR parties
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Sabah on Friday, 12 October 2012
The case of the Sabah businessman Michael Chia caught red-handed at the Hong Kong International Airport on August 14, 2008 with RM40 million cash in his luggage before he could board a flight to Kuala Lumpur is bizarre enough but even more weird is the utter indifference and unconcern shown by the authorities to the case purportedly because the RM40 million which Chia was trying to smuggle into Malaysia from Hong Kong were political contributions to the state Umno and not for Chief Minister Musa Aman’s personal use and that “no element of corruption was proven”.
Malaysians could imagine the prolonged nation-wide furore that would have ensued if the RM40 million cash Chia had been caught red-handed at the Hong Kong International Airport trying to smuggle into Malaysia had been meant for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim or anyone of the three Pakatan Rakyat parties!
The leaders at various levels of Barisan Nasional component parties and their mainstream mass media would have competed, day-in-day out for weeks, demanding full accounting and action by the authorities, including throwing the books on corruption or money laundering.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak would have trotted out his exhortation at the recent International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) conference in Kuala Lumpur on the critical and crucial importance to instil “a natural abhorrence to corruption” among people in positions of power and authority.
UMNO/BN Ministers and leaders would have issued one warning after another about treachery, traitors and the betrayal of the nation from the dangers and evils of foreign funding, particularly dirty money while dubious organisations and individuals would have crawled all over the country with demonstrations, butt-dances and denunciations.
But now, there is pin-drop silence from all these sectors and no “natural abhorrence to corruption” whatsoever! Read the rest of this entry »
I weep for Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Good Governance, Sabah on Friday, 12 October 2012
by J.C.
As the week draws to a close, I am struck by three events that occurred earlier in the week that would make every educated Malaysian tear his/her hair out.
The first is the allegation surrounding the award of a contract to supply padi seeds to companies that originally failed the evaluation criteria. Does this sound familiar ? My mind goes back to the Ampang LRT extension where a disqualified tenderer got reinstated, and then won the contract despite not being the lowest bidder. Back to the padi seeds case. Apparently the tender process was well crafted, and three committees from various ministries were created. The advertisement was clear enough: companies need to have the requisite qualifications to submit bids for the RM 164.8 million contract. When the successful tenderers were announced, it became clear that at least one company, linked to a Negeri Sembilan exco member, did not fulfill the original requirements of the tender. When asked about this, the Agriculture Minister Noh Omar sarcastically commented that “….it is suprising that when we introduced the open tender…..there were more protests…”. Read the rest of this entry »
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