Archive for May, 2017
Will UMNO concede to PAS the 40 parliamentary seats and five state governments which PAS leaders declare as their objectives in 14GE?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, PAS, UMNO on Sunday, 14 May 2017
Malaysians must put to rest once and for all the spectre and threat of May 13 racial riots in the 14th General Election by demonstrating that Malaysia is a normal democratic country where voters can peacefully and democratically through the ballot box elect a new government coalition in Putrajaya to look after the interests of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region.
Political desperadoes are trying to create a hot-house atmosphere by the irresponsible politics of lies, hate and fear to banish reason and common sense and stampede Malaysian voters into believing that the next general elections is great battle of race vs race and religion vs religion.
This is completely untrue, for the 14GE is not any battle of race vs race or religion vs religion, but a battle between democracy vs kleptocracy – whether Malaysia can be saved from the trajectory of a failed and rogue state.
The 14GE is not a battle between Malays vs non-Malays or Muslim vs non-Muslims but a battle among Malaysians, regardless of race or religion on both sides, between those who on the one hand want Malaysia to reset nation-building directions and policies up save democracy and on the other hand, those who want Malaysia to continue on the road to kleptocracy, a failed and a rogue state. Read the rest of this entry »
Call for appointment of an Independent Prosecutor to investigate into egregious abuses of power by Attorney-General and Inspector-General of Police as in the baseless charges against Khairuddin and Chang since July 2015
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Law & Order on Friday, 12 May 2017
The prosecution of Khairuddin Abu Hassan and lawyer Matthias Chang under Section 124L of the Penal Code for allegedly attempting to sabotage Malaysia’s banking and financial institutions is among the worst examples of malicious prosecution by the Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohd Apandi Ali to protect the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak at all costs from charges of global kleptocracy and the 1MDB scandal.
In countries which observe the rule of law and uphold the principles of good governance, both the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police would have tendered a detailed public apology, if not tendered their resignation, for their gross abuses of power.
The charges preferred against Khairuddin and Chang were not only serious, but most heinous – allegedly subverting the sovereignty of the nation apart from sabotaging the banking and financial institutions of the country, which carry a heavy maximum sentence of 15 year’s jail on conviction.
How can the Attorney-General and Inspector-General of Police prefer such charges without an iota of evidence adduced in court, and what is worse, seeking to use the anti-terrorism law in earlier charging both under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 (SOSMA), which would have allowed a person to be detained without trial for 29 days! Read the rest of this entry »
In playing the race and religious cards at 71st UMNO anniversary, Najib has wiped out the credibility of his Vesak Day speech that extremism should be “very few on the fringe”
Posted by Kit in DAP, nation building, UMNO on Friday, 12 May 2017
In playing the race and religious cards at the 71st UMNO anniversary last night, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razaak has wiped out the credibility of his Vesak Day speech that extremism should be “very few on the fringe”.
This is because Najib had given extremism the centre stage when he said last night: “For PAS, DAP is the enemy of Islam, while for Umno, DAP is the enemy of the Malays.”
This is part of the UMNO/BN demonization campaign of lies, hate and fear which Najib had directed UMNO cybertroopers to launch against the DAP in the middle of last month.
Over the decades, DAP had worked for a Malaysian cause with Malay and Muslim leaders, whether from PAS, UMNO or other parties, including Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Tan Sri Rais Yatim, Datuk Fadzil Noor, Datuk Seri Nik Aziz Nik Mat, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Mohamad Sabu, among many others.
Is it seriously suggested that the three former Prime Ministers, Tengku Abdul Rahman, Tun Hussein and Tun Mahathir, one-time UMNO stalwarts like Tengku Razaleigh Hamzan, Tan Sri Rais Yatim, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, former PAS President Fadzil Nor and former PAS Mursyidul Am Nik Aziz had been puppets and stooges of DAP to serve DAP’s anti-Malay and anti-Islam objectives? Read the rest of this entry »
UMNO’s 71st Anniversary “Superlative Achievement” – Turning Malaysia into a global kleptocracy!
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak, UMNO on Thursday, 11 May 2017
Double felicitations are in order today.
Firstly, to UMNO for its 71st anniversary and its “superlative achievement” in its 71-year history – turning Malaysia into a “global kleptocracy” which no UMNO member or leader, past or present, including the previous six UMNO Presidents, Datuk Onn Jaafar, Tengku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir or Tun Abdullah would have imagined possible in their wildest dreams or would have given their endorsement or approval.
In fact, I believe that the overwhelming majority of the current 3.5 million UMNO members would not have approved or tolerated Malaysia being known world-wide as a “global kleptocracy” if they fully understand the meaning of the term.
Secondly, to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) for an unprecedented congratulatory message by the country’s anti-corruption agency to a political party, asking UMNO leaders to serve as role models to the public in the fight against corruption.
But the MACC message is noteworthy, not for what it said but what it did not mention – the elephant in the room, viz. the 1MDB scandal which has given Malaysia the epithet of a “global kleptocracy”! Read the rest of this entry »
Isn’t Malaysia’s new-found infamy as “global kleptocracy” and MACC’s drive for corruption to be declared as country’s number one enemy a blatant contradiction in terms?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 10 May 2017
The Chief Commissioner of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Datuk Dzulkifli Ahmad, who launched the “Anti-Corruption Revolution Movement” (GERAH) two days ago, has said in an exclusive interview that the MACC had set a three-year deadline for Malaysia to move high up the Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
The question that immediately comes to mind is whether the MACC does not expect any improvement in the TI CPI until three years later in the 2020 TI CPI? Read the rest of this entry »
Bandar Malaysia fallout: Two relieved of duties, say reports
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Trinna Leong
Straits Times
10th May 2017
Minister and 1MDB president are said to be no longer in charge of key projects linked to state fund
The fallout continues over the aborted Bandar Malaysia property development deal, as reports emerged yesterday that key personnel tasked with negotiating the multibillion-dollar project have been relieved of their duties.
Malaysia’s Second Finance Minister Johari Abdul Ghani and troubled state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad’s (1MDB) president Arul Kanda Kandasamy were part of the so-called Budiman committee, a government unit set up to manage restructuring and divestment of 1MDB assets. The Malaysian Insight (TMI) reported that both men and the committee are no longer spearheading 1MDB-linked prime developments in Kuala Lumpur, namely Tun Razak Exchange and Bandar Malaysia.
The news comes after the government’s sudden decision last Wednesday to abort a RM7.41 billion (S$2.4 billion) deal inked in 2015 to jointly develop Bandar Malaysia, the country’s biggest property project on the fringes of Kuala Lumpur, with private conglomerate Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) and China Railway Engineering Corp (CREC). Read the rest of this entry »
10 Male Muslim Scholars Who Resist Islamic Punishments
Junaid Jahangir
Assistant Professor – MacEwan University
Posted: 05/08/2017 12:47 pm EDT Updated: 05/08/2017 3:51 pm EDT
Huffington Post
The Pan Malaysian Islamic Party clerics recently declared liberal Muslims as a threat to Islam as they reject the hudud (punishments under Islamic law). They vowed to wipe them out. Such rhetoric is not unique to Malaysia.
Identity politics allows Muslim scholars and their followers in the West to uphold draconian punishments under an ideal Islamic state. Dr. Mohammad Fadel notes that rejecting hudud as “cruel and unusual punishments … would have no purchase among believing Muslims.”
Catering to their religious constituents, popular Muslim academics engage in apologetics to make the classical Islamic position on homosexuality, apostasy, slavery and hudud palatable to modern sensibilities.
They downplay the application of the hudud by arguing that such punishments are impossible to apply and that the primary purpose is to remind people of the enormity of their sins. They apologetically claim that such punishments are rarely inflicted and are often politically motivated.
Read the rest of this entry »
Najib’s upbeat take on 1MDB called into question
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Monday, 8 May 2017
Jeevan Vasagar in Singapore
Financial Times
7th May 2017
Property failure and Abu Dhabi deal leave taxpayer on the hook, says MP
In an ebullient New Year’s message, Najib Razak declared that 1MDB’s “major challenges” were behind it. But critics of the Malaysian prime minister have seized on two apparent reversals as evidence that efforts to clear the scandal-hit Malaysian state investment fund’s debts are in disarray.
A crucial part of Mr Najib’s claim was a $1.7bn deal to sell a stake in a Kuala Lumpur property project to a China-backed consortium. That deal has now collapsed, with questions raised about China’s role in vetoing the agreement.
Meanwhile, 1MDB made an agreement earlier this month to pay Ipic, Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, $1.2bn to settle an embarrassing dispute in which Ipic was claiming about $6.5bn.
The Malaysian fund is at the centre of multiple global investigations into alleged grand corruption. Swiss investigators allege that up to $4.8bn was diverted from companies linked to 1MDB,which was set up by the Malaysian premier.
“With the latest collapse of the proposed [property project] sale, the entire ‘rationalisation’ exercise . . . hailed by the prime minister and cabinet has been completely unravelled,” said Tony Pua, an MP with the Democratic Action party, Malaysia’s main opposition group. Read the rest of this entry »
End to 1MDB saga still elusive after Bandar Malaysia setback
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Monday, 8 May 2017
Shannon Teoh
Straits Times
8th May 2017
The chief of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Mr Arul Kanda, was last Tuesday personally overseeing the dry run for Prime Minister Najib Razak’s site visit the next day to the Bandar Malaysia development.
Over a year ago, Mr Arul brokered the deal to sell 60 per cent of the upcoming township by 1MDB for RM7.4 billion (S$2.4 billion), one of the main planks of the plan to retire the state firm’s whopping US$11 billion (S$15.5 billion) debt.
But the lavish party to be attended by Datuk Seri Najib and the top brass of the Malaysia-China consortium that bought the stake didn’t happen, as the deal was aborted last Wednesday.
More worryingly for the Malaysian government, another key plank to bury 1MDB’s controversial dealings – a settlement with an Abu Dhabi sovereign fund over a US$6.5 billion claim – still needs a great deal of work.
The past fortnight was supposed to help draw a line under 1MDB’s controversial dealings. It turned out to be two weeks of unfulfilled hopes. Read the rest of this entry »
How many Malaysians will believe that I want to be Prime Minister of Malaysia so as to appoint Guan Eng as Deputy Prime Minister?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, DAP, UMNO on Monday, 8 May 2017
In the last 24 hours, I came across three items on the social media in the vicious demonization campaign launched by UMNO/BN propagandists and cyberbroopers in the run-up to the 14th General Election to paint me as a devil, a puaka, even jembalang; that I am anti-Malay, anti-Islam; cause of May 13, 1969 riots; a communist; a stooge of foreign powers; that I dominate Pakatan Harapan and made other leaders like Tun Mahathir, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Datuk Seri Wan Azizah, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and Mohamad Sabu into my stooges and puppets, etc.
The first one was a WhatsApp visual, with the words: “The crystal ball shows that Lim Kit Siang will be Prime Minister after GE14”.
The second was a two-and-a-quarter minute youtube visual “Apa Untong Rakyat Dengan DAP” which demonised me garbed in a communist uniform, accused me of causing the May 13 riots in 1969 and the “power” behind the “DAP-led” Pakatan Harapan.
The third is the accusation that I want to be Prime Minister after the 14th General Election so that I can name Guan Eng as the Deputy Prime Minister.
How many Malaysians will believe that my political ambition is to become the Prime Minister of Malaysia so as to appoint Guan Eng as Deputy Prime Minister? Read the rest of this entry »
Call on Malaysians, regardless of race, religion and region, to be united as Malaysians in the 14GE to save Malaysia from becoming a kleptocratic and failed state
Posted by Kit in DAP, nation building on Sunday, 7 May 2017
It was always an inspiring occasion to attend a DAP function in Petaling Jaya, which had for decades been the DAP fort in the political struggle for an united, just, democratic and progressive Malaysia.
What made tonight’s DAP dinner even more significant are two events.
Firstly, the presentation by two of the country’s most patriotic Malaysians on their contribution towards building a better Malaysia at great personal costs – DAP PJ Utara MP Tony Pua who continues to cause the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to have sleepless nights because of his relentless pursuit of Malaysia’s greatest financial scandal, the multi-billion dollar 1MDB international money-laundering scandal which had turned Malaysia overnight into a global kleptocracy and the PKR MP for Pandan Rafizi Ramli who had similarly pursued and exposed relentlessly the SRC International dimension of the 1MDB kleptocratic scandal, naming names – individuals, companies and political parties.
But what has made tonight’s event most unique is the presentation of five young Malaysians, of various races from both gender, representing the new cohort of Malaysians who are equally committed to continue the struggle of a united, just, democratic and progressive Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
On 60th National Day Celebrations in 2017, Malaysians should ask why in the past few years, they feel shy when overseas to admit they are Malaysians, when they had never felt ashamed to do so for 52 years under the first five Prime Ministers?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Saturday, 6 May 2017
Malaysia will be celebrating our 60th National Day anniversary in four months’ time.
On the 60th National Day Celebrations in 2017, Malaysians should ask why in the past few years, they feel shy when overseas to admit they are Malaysians, when they had never felt ashamed to do so for 52 years under the first five Prime Ministers?
World-wide, Malaysia is suffering the infamy and ignominy of a global kleptocracy because of the 1MDB international money-laundering scandal, which is the subject of criminal investigations and prosecutions in over half-a-dozen countries except in Malaysia.
In Malaysia, there is a great pretence involving the Prime Minister onwards, affecting the key financial and criminal government departments and agencies, even involving Parliament, that the 1MDB international money-laundering scandal which is making international news headlines almost very other day, does not exist. Read the rest of this entry »
Broken Bandar Malaysia deal raises questions anew over 1MDB debt’s
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Friday, 5 May 2017
Trinna Leong
Straits Times
5th May 2017
The financial troubles surrounding debt-laden state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) were supposed to fade away quietly before Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called a general election, due by the middle of next year.
But the aborted plan involving the sale of a 60 per cent stake in the country’s largest property project, Bandar Malaysia, has put Malaysia’s public money woes in the news cycle again.
The upcoming 197ha township at the edge of downtown Kuala Lumpur has an estimated sales value of RM150 billion (S$48.5 billion) and will house the last station for the high-speed rail (HSR) line from Singapore. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia and Abu Dhabi strike a deal over 1MDB
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Thursday, 4 May 2017
Economist
Apr 27th 2017
A mammoth financial scandal is being brushed under the carpet
FOR the past year 1MDB — a Malaysian state investment firm at the heart of one of the world’s biggest financial scandals — has been locked in dispute with IPIC, a sovereign-wealth fund from the oil-rich emirate of Abu Dhabi, with which it was once chummy.
Terse statements released on April 24th suggest the pair are finally making up.
1MDB has agreed to pay IPIC $1.2bn, reportedly to settle a complaint that it reneged on the terms of a bail-out IPIC provided in 2015. The two companies have also agreed to enter into “good-faith discussions” about other disputed payments, which may total as much as $3.5bn. Read the rest of this entry »
Key lesson of Bank Negara forex losses quarter of a century ago – failure of Ministers, top civil servants, MPs and the press to play their role to uphold the principles accountability and good governance
Posted by Kit in Financial Scandals, Good Governance on Thursday, 4 May 2017
I am here in response to an invitation by the 1992/3 Bank Negara forex losses special task force for an interview “dengan pihak yang pernah terlibat atau mempunyai sebarang maklumat mengenai urus niaga mata wang asing yang dilakukan oleh BNM sekitar tahun 1990-an”.
I was never terlibat in the Bank Negara forward forex trading and what I knew about the Bank Negara forward forex trading in the early 1990s are public information in my speeches in Parliament on the subject in 1993 and 1994.
Let me state that I stand by my speech in Parliament in April 1994 calling for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the colossal Bank Negara forex losses, with the following tasks:
• to ascertain Bank Negara’s forex losses since 1992, and whether they could exceed RM30 billion;
• to ascertain whether there had been any financial malpractices and abuses; and
• to establish as to how the Bank Negara could incur such colossal losses.
The Cabinet set up the special task force set up to probe the foreign exchange losses incurred by Bank Negara more than two decades ago but is it really concerned about accountability and good governance principles? Read the rest of this entry »
1MDB-linked Bandar Malaysia property deal falls through
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Thursday, 4 May 2017
Reme Ahmad
South-east Asia Editor
Straits Times
4th May 2017
Bandar Malaysia, the country’s biggest real estate project, is looking for a new master developer after the government made a surprise announcement last night to cancel a deal with a Malaysia-China consortium, saying the buyers failed to meet payment obligations.
In late 2015, Malaysia’s Iskandar Waterfront Holdings (IWH) and China Railway Engineering Corp (CREC) jointly secured rights as the master developer with a RM7.41 billion (S$2.4 billion) winning bid to buy a 60 per cent stake in the project.
The Malaysian government, through a unit of state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), was to hold the remaining 40 per cent stake, which has a projected sales value of RM150 billion. Read the rest of this entry »
Spinning 1MDB’s lopsided settlement
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 3 May 2017
P Gunasegaram
Malaysiakini
2 May 2017
A QUESTION OF BUSINESS Desperation causes stupidity to rise to the fore.
Take 1MDB and the way it spins its so-called settlement with Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), the parent company of Aabar Investments PJS. There was a dispute and it was settled, but there was no renegotiation. 1MDB capitulated to all IPIC demands.
But this has been spun to give the false impression that all matters have been settled between the two. Ministers rushed to make statements about how the eventual settlement will be in favour of 1MDB and how it indicates that no money went into Najib Abdul Razak’s accounts. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia’s $1.7 billion property deal to cut 1MDB debt falls through
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 3 May 2017
Wed May 3, 2017
Reuters
A $1.7 billion property deal that was expected to ease the debt burden of Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) fell through on Wednesday, complicating Prime Minister Najib Razak’s efforts to move on from a financial scandal surrounding the fund.
TRX City Sdn Berhad, a former 1MDB division now owned by the Malaysian finance ministry, said the deal had lapsed to sell 60 percent of Bandar Malaysia, a major property development project on the site of the former Sungai Besi air force base in Kuala Lumpur, because the buyers “failed to meet the payment obligations”.
In December 2015 Iskandar Waterfront Holdings, owned by Malaysian tycoon Lim Kang Hoo, and China Railway Engineering Corp (CREC) had said they would buy a 60 percent stake in Bandar Malaysia from 1MDB for 7.41 billion ringgit ($1.7 billion). Read the rest of this entry »
60th National Day Celebrations should cause all Malaysians to “reset” nation-building direction and policies for Malaysia to compete with the rest of the world and not to fight among ourselves to be more divided and lose out in the international race
Posted by Kit in Corruption, nation building on Monday, 1 May 2017
Malaysia will be celebrating our 60th National Day anniversary in four months’ time.
It is an occasion for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region or even politics, to re-set nation-building directions and policies for Malaysians to compete with the rest of the world and not to fight among ourselves to be more divided and lose out in the international race of nations for development and progress .
Malaysia has performed poorly in the international race in the past sixty years. Read the rest of this entry »
Federal Court bans investment fund managers for 10 years
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Financial Scandals, Najib Razak on Monday, 1 May 2017
BEN BUTLER, Melbourne and AMANDA HODGE South East Asia correspondent
The Australian
April 27, 2017
Two Gold Coast men involved in a funds management business linked to Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal are to be banned from corporate life for a decade over their mismanagement of Australian investors’ money.
Federal Court judge Jonathan Beach yesterday said he would make orders banning Paul Rowles and Clayton Dempsey from running companies or offering financial services when he hands down a full judgment at a later date.
Mr Rowles is listed in court documents as a director of a mysterious Cayman Islands entity at the centre of the 1MDB scandal, Bridge Global Absolute Return Fund.
1MDB, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, previously claimed $US2.3 billion of promissory notes connected to its investment in an oil joint venture, PetroSaudi, were stashed with BGARF. Read the rest of this entry »
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