Archive for July 25th, 2015

Kenyataan pahit politik Malaysia – Hadi sekali lagi akan “dipermainkan” oleh Najib pada persidangan Parlimen akan datang kerana usul rang undang-undang persendirian berkenaan hudud tidak akan diberi ruang untuk dibentangkan kerana Najib telah pun mencapai matlamatnya untuk memecah-belahkan Pakatan Rakyat

Saya terperanjat dengan ketidakjujuran Presiden PAS Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang yang terus membuat tuduhan palsu bahawa keinginan DAP untuk merampas kuasa politik ke tangan kaum Cina adalah sebab mengapa DAP mahu mengembalikan pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan dan punca perpecahan Pakatan Rakyat.

Saya baru saja menonton video wawancara Hadi dengan Channel News Asia yang di dalamnya beliau menuduh DAP melanggar “moral” Pakatan Rakyat dan mahu merampas kuasa politik demikaum Cina dengan cara mengembalikan pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan.

Saya terkejut dan sekaligus sedih kerana seorang bekas pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat seperti beliau sanggup meletakkan dirinya ke tahap yang begitu rendah dengan menyebarkan pembohongan sedemikian. Ia perbuatan yang tidak berakhlak bagi seorang pemimpin politik atasan.

Ketika UMNO menyebarkan pembohongan tentang DAP, pemimpin atasan UMNO tidak melibatkan diri, membiarkan kerja-kerja kotor dilakukan oleh para propagandis dan pemain politik tingkat bawah.

Namun dalam PAS, Presiden parti sendiri terlibat secara giat menyebarkan pembohongan yang dulu diulan-ulang oleh UMNO!

Kita mungkin boleh berbaik hati dan memberi alasan bahawa Hadi mempunyai masalah ingatan sehingga sanggup berbohong dan menuduh DAP cuba merampas kuasa demi kaum Cina dengan cara menuntut supaya pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan dikembalikan dan kononnya pilihanraya itu akan merugikan Melayu kerana 60 peratus daripada kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri dalam negara ini telah dikawal oleh DAP.

Dakwaan sedemikian adalah pembohongan terang-terangan dan tidak masuk akal atas enam sebab:

i) DAP tidak mengawal 60 peratus daripada kerusi DUN kerana gabungan ketiga-tiga parti Pakatan Rakyat, iaitu DAP, PKR, dan PAS (sebelum Pakatan dikorbankan dalam Muktamar PAS pada 3 Jun lalu) telah memenangi tidak sampai 50% daripada jumlah keseluruhan kerusi DUN dalam PRU ke-13 yang lalu. Jumlah keseluruhan dan peratus kerusi DUN yang dimenangi oleh parti-parti Pakatan dalam PRU 13 adalah 229 kerusi atau 45% daripada 505 kerusi DUN dalam negara.

ii) DAP tidak pernah menjadi sebuah parti khusus untuk kaum Cina atau mana-mana jua kaum atau agama. Sejak penubuhan parti ini hampir 50 tahun lalu, DAP komited dengan matlamat menjadi parti untuk semua kaum dan penganut agama di Malaysia. Malah, DAP adalah satu-satunya parti politik pan-Malaysia di Malaysia, dengan cabang di semua negeri dalam negara ini.

iii) Pemulihan pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan sentiasa menjadi matlamat DAP sejak penubuhan parti ini pada tahun 1966.

iv) Suatu perbuatan yang amat mengelirukan dan tidak bertanggungjawab untuk mengatakan bahawa pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan akan memanfaatkan kaum Cina dan merugikan Melayu. Kenyataan sedemikian mengabaikan hakikat bahawa sejak lima dekad lalu penstrukturan semula kerajaan tempatan telah berlaku dan begitu juga proses urbanisasi Melayu, menghasilkan 148 buah kerajaan tempatan, sekitar 90% daripadanya mempunyai majoriti Melayu lebih 50%, manakala kaum Cina hanya membentuk majoriti di hanya dua atau tiga peratus daripada 148 kerajaan tempatan itu, dan 13 kerajaan tempatan bersifat majmuk dengan tujuh daripadanya didominasi Cina dan enam didominasi Melayu.

v) Suatu kemuncak sikap tidak bertanggungjawab juga untuk menuduh para pejuang pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan sebagai “cauvinis” atau “komunis”, memandangkan pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan turut diadakan di Indonesia, Turki dan Iran. Apakah Hadi cuba menyatakan bahawa Presiden Jokowi di Indonesia, Erdogan di Turki, dan bekas presiden Ahmadenijad adalah “komunis” dan “cauvinis” kerana mereka berjaya dalam pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan?

vi) Tiada asas bagi dakwaan bahawa DAP telah melanggar “moral” Pakatan dengan bertindak secara bersendirian untuk cuba memulihkan pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan sehingga mencabul Dasar Bersama Pakatan Rakyat. Hakikatnya, pemulihan pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan terdapat dalam manifesto Pakatan Rakyat di peringkat kebangsaan dan manifesto Pakatan Rakyat Selangor untuk PRU 13.

Pada Mac 2010, Menteri Besar Selangor dan Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang telah menulis surat secara berasingan atas nama kerajaan masing-masing meminta Suruhanjaya Pilihanraya mengendalikan pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan di negeri masing-masing, namun permintaan itu ditentang oleh Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Saya berasa sedih melihat Hadi menggunakan pembohongan dan pendustaan UMNO untuk memburuk-burukkan DAP sedangkan beliau sendiri tahu menerusi penglibatan beliau selama tujuh tahun dalam Pakatan bahawa semua dakwaan itu adalah dustasemata-mata.

Lebih buruk daripada itu, Hadi cuba menyemai perpecahan dalam DAP dengan mendakwa bahawa “sesetengah pemimpin DAP” dan “pemimpin negeri” tidak bersetuju dengan pemimpin parti di peringkat kebangsaan dan bahawa hubungan pemimpin PAS dengan pemimpin-pemimpin DAP yang dimaksudkannya itu “masih baik”.

Hadi boleh terus dengan khayalannya itu kerana DAP tidak akan mula menjalankan proses “menyucikan parti” hanya berasaskan dakwaan berniat jahat Hadi itu.

Lebih penting untuk setiap orang mengenal pasti kenyataan pahit dalam politik Malaysia.

Realiti pertama – Pakatan Rakyat akan kalah teruk dalam pilihanraya umum akan datang jika melibatkan diri dalam pilihanraya itu tanpa mempedulikan sama sekali pelanggaran Dasar Bersama oleh PAS, menjadikan hudud satu isu panas dalam kempen pilihanraya.

Malah, sekiranya Dasar Bersama Pakatan dilanggar sebelum PRU 13 yang lalu dan hudud dijadikan isu panas, tentu keputusan yang terhasil berbeza – kerajaan negeri Selangor mungkin telah kembali ke tangan UMNO/BN dan UMNO/BN mendapat semula majoriti dua pertiga, menghasilkan akibat politik jangka panjang.

Sekiranya Dasar Bersama Pakatan dicabul dalam keadaan sedemikian, kesannya di kalangan pengundi Melayu mungkin tidak banyak, tetapi sokongan bukan-Melayu pasti akan merosot teruk, membawa kepada kehilangan sokongan daripada pengundi bukan-Melayu sebanyak sehingga 20%.

Peningkatan undi Melayu sebanyak 1% dan pengurangan undi bukan-Melayu sebanyak 20% dalam PRU 13 mampu menghasilkan senario berikut:

Projeksi berdasarkan negeri sekiranya Hudud dijadikan isu pilihanraya

Senario

Sokongan kepada pembangkang Senario baru
Melayu +1%
Bukan Melayu -20%

Rumusan berdasarkan negeri

GE13 Senario Baru
Summary Parliament PAS PKR DAP PAS PKR DAP
PERLIS 0 0 0 0 0 0
KEDAH 1 4 0 0 0 0
KELANTAN 9 0 0 9 0 0
TERENGGANU 4 0 0 4 0 0
PULAU PINANG 0 3 7 0 2 7
PAHANG 1 2 1 0 1 0
SELANGOR 4 9 4 2 4 4
W.P. KUALA LUMPUR 0 4 5 0 0 5
NEGERI SEMBILAN 0 1 2 0 0 1
MELAKA 0 1 1 0 0 1
JOHOR 0 1 4 0 0 0
JUMLAH 21 28 31 16 7 21
GE13 Senario Baru
Ringkasan Parlimen PAS PKR DAP PAS PKR DAP
PERLIS 1 1 0 0 0 0
KEDAH 9 4 2 5 1 0
KELANTAN 32 1 0 34 0 0
TERENGGANU 14 1 0 14 0 0
PULAU PINANG 1 10 19 1 7 17
PERAK 5 5 18 1 2 14
PAHANG 3 2 7 2 0 2
SELANGOR 15 14 15 5 5 11
NEGERI SEMBILAN 0 3 11 0 0 6
MELAKA 1 0 6 0 0 3
JOHOR 4 1 13 0 0 4
JUMLAH 85 42 91 62 15 57

Dalam senario seperti di atas, Pakatan tidak memenangi 89 kerusi parlimen atau 40% daripada kerusi parlimen, sebaliknya jumlah kerusi yang dimenangi hanya 53 kerusi (44 di Semenanjung dan 9 di Sarawak/Sabah) atau 24% daripada keseluruhan kerusi parlimen. Bermakna UMNO/BN kembali mendapat majoriti dua pertiga, membolehkannya membuat persempadanan semula demi memanjangkan lagi cengkamannya ke atas kuasa secara tidak demokratik.

Di peringkat Dewan Undangan Negeri, 229 kerusi DUN yang dimenangi di Semenanjung Malaysia tentu telah merosot kepada 42% atau hanya 134 kerusi DUN.

Walaupun Pakatan berkemungkinan kekal berkuasa di Pulau Pinang dengan 25 kerusi DUN (17 DAP, 7 PKR dan 1 PAS) berbanding 30 yang dimenangi dalam PRU 13 (19 DAP, 10 PKR dan 1 PAS), kerajaan negeri Selangor akan kembali jatuh ke tangan UMNO/BN di mana 44 kerusi Pakatan yang dimenangi dalam PRU 13 (15 DAP, 15 PAS dan 14 PKR) akan merosot kepada 21 (11 DAP, 5 PAS, 5 PKR).

Keputusan di negeri-negeri Pantai Barat yang lain tentunya sama buruk.

Di Johor, Pakatan tidak mungkin membuat penerobosan dengan memenangi 18 kerusi DUN (13 DAP, 4 PAS dan 1 PKR) dalam PRU 13 dan negeri itu akan kekal sebagai “deposit kekal” UMNO/BN dengan Pakatan hanya memenangi 4 kerusi negeri (semuanya DAP dan sifar untuk PKR dan PAS).

Di Perak, jumlah 28 kerusi Pakatan (18 DAP, 5 PKR dan 5 PAS) pada Mei 2013 mungkin merosot kepada 17 (14 DAP, 2 PKR dan 1 PAS); di Pahan 12 kerusi Pakatan (7 DAP, 3 PAS dan 2 PKR) mungkin merosot kepada 4 (2 DAP, 2 PAS dan 0 PKR); di Negeri Sembilan, jumlah 14 kerusi Pakatan (11 DAP, 3 PKR dan 0 PAS) mungkin merosot kepada 6 (6 DAP, 0 PKR dan 0 PAS); dan di Melaka dari 7 kerusi Pakatan (6 DAP, 1 PAS, 0 PKR) berkurangan kepada (3 DAP, sifat untuk PAS dan PKR).

Jika Hadi mencabul Dasar Bersama Pakatan Rakyat sebelum pilihanraya umum yang lalu dan hudud menjadi isu panas, PAS mungkin telah lenyap di Johor, Melaka, dan Perlis, mengekalkan hanya 1 kerusi DUN di Perak, 2 di Pahang dan 5 di Selangor dan juga Kedah – hanya mengekalkan kedudukan di Kelantan dan Terengganu.

Kenyataan pahit kedua: Dalam pilihanraya umum ke-14 yang akan datang, PAS mungkin hilang kuasa ke atas Kelantan yang telah ditadbirnya selama 15 tahun sejak 1990 jika berlaku perubahan undi sebanyak 4% yang tidak memihak kepada PAS di negeri itu.

Kenyataan pahit ketiga: Satu kesilapan besar untuk mengabaikan kemungkinan PAS kalah di Kelantan dalam PRU 14 jika berlaku perubahan undi sebanyak 4% kerana PAS hilang kuasa di Terengganu dalam pilihanraya tahun 2004 setelah berlaku perubahan undi sebanyak 15% setelah PAS memerintah dan Hadi menjadi Menteri Besar Terengganu selama hanya satu penggal.

Kenyataan pahit keempat: Hadi sekali lagi akan “dipermainkan” oleh Najib pada persidangan Parlimen akan datang kerana usul rang undang-undang persendirian berkenaan hudud tidak akan diberi ruang untuk dibentangkan kerana Najib telah pun mencapai matlamatnya untuk memecah-belahkan Pakatan Rakyat.

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I was offered $2.7m for stolen data: Ex-PetroSaudi employee Xavier Andre Justo on the 1MDB saga

Nirmal Ghosh
Straits Times
Bangkok
July 24, 2015

Ex-PetroSaudi employee says he was never paid what prominent Malaysian businessman promised him

Swiss national Xavier Andre Justo – who is now in jail in Thailand in connection with trying to blackmail his former employer, PetroSaudi, which is entangled in a huge scandal involving the Malaysian government – has claimed that he was promised US$2 million (S$2.7 million) in exchange for data he stole from his former employer.

He also told The Straits Times in a prison interview that he was never paid what he was promised by a prominent Malaysian businessman. Justo claimed a deal was reached in Singapore in February on the sale of the documents, which was followed by lengthy discussions on how he would be paid.

The group of people he met in Singapore to negotiate the sale of the data were named in a 22-page confession Justo made to Thai police. He showed a copy of the confession to The Straits Times. Read the rest of this entry »

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Malaysia’s Edge Group Publications Suspended

By John Berthelsen
Asia Sentinel
July 24, 2015

Government action comes as owner, publisher, say they obtained documents through a ruse

The Edge Financial Daily, the country’s leading financial newspaper, and The Edge Weekly have been suspended from publishing for three months by Malaysian authorities for reporting on the scandal-tarred 1 Malaysia Development Bhd development fund that authorities said was “prejudicial or likely to be prejudicial to public order, security or likely to alarm public opinion.” It also stated that the reporting on 1MDB was “likely to be prejudicial to public and national interest.”

The suspension is unprecedented. Last week, the government also blocked The Sarawak Report, written by Clare Rewcastle Brown from the UK, which has been equally critical of the government. Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has been tied directly to the scandal by reports that US$680 million had been spirited from 1MDB-related companies into his personal accounts.

Tong Kooi Ong, the owner of The Edge Group, and Ho Kay Tat, the publisher, have both been threatened with arrest. Ho was forced to report to the police on July 22 and was questioned for two hours over the paper’s publication of a 3,800 word on July 21 report describing in deep detail, with flow charts, how money had flowed out of 1MDB into PetroSaudi International, a Middle East-based oil exploration company, and that US$1.83 billion allegedly was stolen by company officers and others. Read the rest of this entry »

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Najib intends to roll on, not over

Economist
Jul 25th 2015 | KUALA LUMPUR

Soldiering on – Malaysia’s prime minister battles claims of corruption

WHATEVER the truth of them, the accusations levelled against Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister, have astonished a country that some had thought inured to scandal. In early July the Wall Street Journal reported that it had seen documents produced by government investigators suggesting that nearly $700m from companies linked to a troubled state-backed investment fund had been paid into what they believed to be Mr Najib’s personal bank accounts. With worries about an oil-dependent economy, the controversy is the last thing Malaysia needs.

The allegation is that the money was received shortly before the general election in 2013, in which a coalition dominated by Mr Najib’s party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) scraped home, despite narrowly losing the popular vote. The prime minister helped launch the fund, known as 1MDB, in 2009 and chairs its board of advisers. It has acquired land and power plants, yet has struggled to service debts of around $11 billion. The firm’s affairs were already the subject of official investigations, but until this month no one had claimed to have evidence that the prime minister himself had received any money. Read the rest of this entry »

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Hard Realities of Malaysian Politics – Hadi will again by “played out” by Najib in the next Parliamentary meeting as Hadi’s private member’s bill motion on hudud will not see the light of day as Najib has already achieved his objective of breaking up Pakatan Rakyat

I am shocked by the downright dishonesty of the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang in continuing to accuse the DAP of wanting to grab political power for the Chinese as the reason why DAP wanted to restore local government elections and the break-up of Pakatan Rakyat.

I have just seen the video of Hadi’s interview with Channel News Asia (CNA) where he accused the DAP of violating the “morals” of Pakatan Rakyat and of wanting to grab political power for the Chinese in wanting to restore local government elections.

I am both shocked and saddened that a former Pakatan Rakyat leader could be reduced to a level to  tell such a lie, which is a most immoral act for any top political leader.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Based on reasons given by Home Ministry for 3-month suspension of The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily, will 1MDB become a new “sensitive” issue which will attract the full weight of Najib’s law if discussed or mentioned?

The Home Ministry’s secretary-general, Alwi Ibrahim has given three reasons for suspending The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily for three months, from July 27.

Firstly, the headings and reporting by the two publications has raised questions and created negative public perceptions towards 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and also implicated the government and national leaders.

Secondly, the published news reports were based on doubtful and unverified information, which might alarm public opinion and could/might be prejudicial to public order and national interest.

Thirdly, the 1MDB issue is being investigated by an investigation team that has been set up. Therefore, it is inappropriate for the reporting (on the issue) to create negative perceptions and done continuously, and it is unfair for 1MDB and consequently for the government and national leaders.

Based on the reasons given by Home Ministry for the three-month suspension of The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily, will 1MDB become a new “sensitive” issue which will attract the full weight of Najib’s law if discussed or mentioned? Read the rest of this entry »

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Malaysia’s Growing Opposition Can’t Be Silenced

By ANWAR IBRAHIM
Wall Street Journal
July 23, 2015

Why I’ve chosen to stay and continue the fight for peaceful, democratic reform from my prison cell.

COMMENTARY

Since Prime Minister Najib Razak’s 2013 electoral victory, which was plagued by widespread allegations of gerrymandering, fraud and voter intimidation, Malaysia has taken a turn for the worse. Mr. Najib, who once promised democratic and economic reforms and pledged to allow “the voices of dissent” to be heard, has doubled down on political repression.

A former deputy prime minister of Malaysia and leader of the opposition, I am now in the fifth month of a five-year prison sentence that has been roundly condemned by governments and human-rights groups around the world. I spend my days in solitary confinement in meditation and in the company of the few books that are allowed into my cell. Meanwhile, allegations of corruption at the highest levels of Malaysian government have surfaced.

In 2012, the draconian Internal Security Act was repealed by the Najib government with much fanfare, only to be replaced by the Prevention of Crime and Prevention of Terrorism Acts, which are equally, if not more, repressive. Beyond encroaching on Malaysian citizens’ fundamental liberties, these new laws rob judges of their discretionary sentencing powers. Read the rest of this entry »

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For truth’s sake, don’t hound the heroes

By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysiakini
Jul 24, 2015

COMMENT Counter-measures to discredit the credibility of citizens and media organisations making allegations against Prime Minister Najib Razak and 1MDB are sick and getting out of hand.

And the reported latest action of limiting the movements of a few concerned citizens who have been in the thick of exposing what might be terribly wrong with 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) appears to be sinister.

It also prompts the public to make connections – rightly or wrongly – between this latest measure and related incidents that have occurred in the last couple of months.

These include the arrest of former PetroSaudi International director Xavier Andre Justo in Thailand; the hoax perpetrated by the fictitious NGO Citizens for Accountable Governance Malaysia (CAGM) to entrap Malaysian online media and The Wall Street Journal (WSJ); and the allegation made by former Sarawak Tribune editor Lester Melanyi of opposition leaders having colluded with Sarawak Report to tamper with 1MDB documents.

The inference one could make from all this is that some forces are doing their darnedest – and, in the process, sinking to the lowest depths – to tamper with the truth regarding 1MDB.

It begs questioning, too, that Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar appears to favour Lester’s allegation that “there are those who are attempting to overthrow the government through undemocratic means”. Read the rest of this entry »

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Is Najib serious in wanting to sue WSJ?

By Mohamed Hanipa Maidin
Malaysiakini
Jul 24, 2015

MP SPEAKS By now everyone on this planet knows that The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has made a very serious allegation against Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

The allegations may be true or false and only Najib is able to determine that.

If he really cares about protecting his reputation, he has no choice but to put the record straight by suing WSJ for defamation.

The issue now is whether he is willing to do that.

For the record, so far, Najib has sued several individuals for defamation. He has sued MPs Tony Pua, Rafizi Ramli and Nga Kor Ming; Dr Rosli Yaakob (Harakah); and Taufek Yahya (harakahdaily.com). All the suits have been filed in Malaysian courts.

It is interesting to note here that Harakah’s Rosli is being sued for an article which substantially contained reports from The New York Times (NYT).

When asked by reporters as to why he decided to sue harakahdaily.com, Najib stated that he has to protect his integrity as well as his family’s reputation. Read the rest of this entry »

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Are we allowed to ask what happened to 1MDB?

Zan Azlee
The Malaysian Insider
24 July 2015

Malaysia is being plagued by one of its biggest scandals and it is even getting significant attention from the international community. You know it – the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

Sure, it’s a difficult issue for a lot of people to understand, me included. Complicated financial transactions and business negotiations can confuse a lot of people, even the experts.

But as the case develops and more media agencies cover the unfolding story, people understand it better and better. And when people start understanding it better, the more questions get asked. Read the rest of this entry »

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