Archive for July, 2017

Extension of Raus as Chief Justice after August 3 not only unconstitutional but deny Richard Malanjum as the first Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak to be appointed as Chief Justice of Malaysia

It must be a matter of grave concern to all patriotic Malaysians that the integrity and sanctity of the Malaysian Constitution is receiving less and less respect from the powers-that-be, and the latest example of an incipient constitutional crisis in Malaysia is the illegal and unconstitutional extension of the tenures of Tan Sri Raus Sharif and Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President on August 3 and Sept. 27 respectively.

The extension of the tenures of Raus and Zulkefli are not only unconstitutional, but would affect the promotional opportunities and prospects of at least eight Federal Court judges, including three women.

But the most glaring injustice of the unconstitutional extensions will be the denial of the opportunity of Tan Sri Richard Malanjum as the first Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak to be appointed as Chief Justice of Malaysia.

Malanjum is in fact the most senior Federal Court judge in the country, more senior than both Raus and Zulkefli. Read the rest of this entry »

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Reply to Salleh – DAP neither sidelined nor do we dominate Pakatan Harapan, which is coalition of political equals based on the operational principle of consensus, unlike Barisan Nasional which is founded on UMNO hegemony

The Minister for Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Salleh Said Keruak was mystified by the Pakatan Harapan leadership council decision yesterday on the structure of Pakatan Harapan and asked about the absence of the DAP leaders in the top three positions in the Pakatan Harapan line-up.

He asked: “Was DAP sidelined or the line-up was deliberately done to make as if the coalition is dominated by the Malays?”

It is neither.

DAP is neither sidelined nor do we dominate Pakatan Harapan, which is coalition of political equals based on the operational principle of consensus, unlike Barisan Nasional which is founded on UMNO hegemony.

For quite some time, the main thrust of UMNO/BN propaganda of UMNO leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers was to purvey the lies, fake news and false information that DAP dominated Pakatan Harapan and that I am a “dictator of dictators”, exercising dictatorship not only in DAP but also in Pakatan Harapan; and that Malay leaders like Mohamad Sabu, Azmin Ali, Rafizi Ramli, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Tan Sri Muhyiddin and Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad have sold their soul and were just my stooges and puppets.

This serves the UMNO grand strategy of a propaganda campaign of lies, fake news and false information to poison the Malay ground with the fear that if UMNO is defeated in the next general election, the Malays will suffer as the Chinese will grab the political power from the Malays.

These are all lies – for Malaysia can only start anew and find greatness if UMNO is defeated; and if UMNO is defeated, the Chinese will not grab the political power of the Malays as Malay political power in Malaysia is assured, with the Prime Minister from Pakatan Harapan a Malay and not a Chinese or non-Malay. Read the rest of this entry »

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Shariah’s Winding Path Into Modernity

Mustafa Akyol
New York Times
JULY 13, 2017

In June, Americans in about two dozen cities joined a “March Against Sharia.” For these protesters, the Arabic term is a code word for the oppression of women and men in the name of God — horrors like stoning and beheading. Since such brutalities do indeed happen in the name of Shariah, they may have had a point. But there were also points that they missed.

In Arabic, “Shariah” literally means “the way.” More specifically, it refers to the body of Islamic rules that Muslims see as God’s will — based either on the Quran or on the Prophet Muhammad’s reported words and deeds. It is conceptually impossible, therefore, for a Muslim who is serious about his faith to condemn Shariah. But the implementation of Shariah, which is called “fiqh,” or jurisprudence, is open to interpretation and discussion.

Much of Shariah is about personal observance: A good Muslim should pray five times a day while turned toward Mecca, for example, or should fast daily throughout Ramadan. Of course, there is no problem with these acts of personal piety — unless they are coerced. They should be welcome in any society with religious liberty.

However, a part of Shariah is about public law, including the penal code. And there are clear conflicts here with modern standards of human rights. First, Shariah lays out corporal punishments, such as chopping off hands, stoning, flogging and beheading. The Islamic legal code also proscribes crimes like apostasy, blasphemy and extramarital sex — none of which can be a crime at all in any liberal society. Read the rest of this entry »

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Is there not a single one from the 36 Ministers who realized that establishing an RCI into Bank Negara forex earnings losses a quarter of a century ago without a RCI into 1MDB is the dumbest thing the Cabinet can do?

Newly-appointed Pakatan Harapan Chairman and former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, in his blog yesterday, wrote:

“On the other hand, no RCI is being set up to investigate the proven losses of tons of money by 1MDB and Najib despite the enormous evidence of wrongdoings which are available to the world and the Malaysian public.

“The RCI on currency trading by Bank Negara more than thirty years ago is not about seeking justice but is clearly a desperate effort by Najib to silence his detractors. It will not work.”

I fully agree with Mahathir.

In fact, I want to ask if there was not a single one from the 36 Ministers who did not realize that establishing a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into Bank Negara forex earnings losses a quarter of a century ago without a RCI into 1MDB is the dumbest thing the Cabinet can do and that the Malaysian Cabinet has become the laughing stock in the world in the past three weeks?

Where is the conscience of Barisan Nasional in the Cabinet? Gerakan had forsaken that self-appointed role as “conscience” of Barisan Nasional long time ago, and has the Barisan Nasional Cabinet and government become conscienceless all these years? Read the rest of this entry »

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Najib should take a leaf from Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, schedule a three-day parliamentary debate on 1MDB on 24-26th July when Parliament reconvenes and waive parliamentary immunity to give full accounting of a scandal which has made Malaysia into a global kleptocracy

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should take a leaf from his Singapore counterpart and schedule a three-day parliamentary debate on 1MDB on 24-26th July when Parliament reconvenes and waive parliamentary immunity to give a full accounting of the scandal, which has made Malaysia into a global kleptoracy.

Up to now, Najib and his government have put up an elaborate but artificial charade that the 1MDB scandal does not exist, a figment of imagination of Najib’s enemies who want to topple the Malaysian Prime Minister and undermine the national sovereignty of Malaysia.

However, the fig leaf of such an elaborate and artificial charade has been torn to shreds by the guilty plea of the former Singapore banker, Yeo Jiawei, to charges including money-laundering of stolen 1MDB funds. Yeo played a role in the 1MDB money-laundering transactions and made secret profits on the side.

Even more ominous was the statement by the Singapore prosecutors that 1MDB was the “main victim” of the US$6 billion financial scam by the Penang billionaire Jho Low and the revelation that Jia Wei had agreed to help with Singapore’s 1MDB money-laundering probes, described as the largest in the country’s history. Read the rest of this entry »

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Why had Khairy been overshadowed not only by “old men” in Pakatan Harapan but also “old men” in UMNO?

Former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad made a valid point when he asked the UMNO youth leader and Minister for Youth and Sports, Khairy Jamaluddin, why he is afraid of “old men” in politics because Khairy had asked Mahathir, Datuk Seri Anwar and I myself to retire from politics.

While we wait for Khairy’s reply, just as I am waiting for Khairy to elucidate the mysterious reason he had given asking for my retirement from politics, Khairy should explain why he is being overshadowed not only by “old men” in Pakatan Harapan, but also by “old men” in UMNO!

Khairy, who may regard himself as the greatest gift to Malaysians, has failed to stand heads-and-shoulders over the “half-past six” and “deadwood” Ministers in the Najib Cabinet which he joined in 2013 – an eloquent but sad testimony of the mediocrity of an Oxonian. Read the rest of this entry »

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Malaysia’s 1MDB Fund Spawns Worldwide Probes: QuickTake Q&A

By Shamim Adam and Laurence Arnold
Bloomberg
16 June 2017

Malaysia’s state-owned investment fund, 1MDB, was supposed to attract foreign investment. Instead, it has spurred criminal and regulatory investigations around the world that have cast an unflattering spotlight on financial deal-making, election spending and political patronage under Prime Minister Najib Razak. A Malaysian parliamentary committee identified at least $4.2 billion in irregular transactions.

1. What is 1MDB?

It’s a government investment company — full name, 1Malaysia Development Berhad — that took shape in 2009 under Najib, who went on to lead its advisory board. Its early initiatives included buying privately owned power plants and planning a new financial district in Kuala Lumpur. The fund proved better at borrowing — it accumulated $12 billion in debt — than at luring large-scale investment. Read the rest of this entry »

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Malaysia’s 1MDB a `Victim’ of Jho Low, Singapore Prosecutors Say

By Andrea Tan and Chanyaporn Chanjaroen
Bloomberg
12 July 2017

Prosecutors in Singapore said Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho is the central figure in probes linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd., and that he used money traceable to the state fund for his own benefit.

Low received “huge” sums of money, the prosecutors said in court filings made public on Wednesday. About $1 billion that 1MDB was purported to invest in a joint venture with PetroSaudi International Ltd. was diverted to a bank account beneficially owned by Low, according to the filings.

“The main victim in this case is 1MDB,” prosecutor Nathaniel Khng said in a Singapore state court. “Jho Low has gone missing from the public eye.”

Singapore’s investigations into 1MDB-related activities has so far seen five people convicted, four of whom have been sentenced to jail. The city-state is the only country so far to have criminally charged bankers. Read the rest of this entry »

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1MDB probe: Former BSI banker Yeo Jiawei gets 54 months’ jail for money laundering, cheating

Grace Leong
Straits Times Singapore
12th July 2017

SINGAPORE – Former BSI Singapore wealth planner Yeo Jiawei was sentenced to 54 months in jail in a Singapore court on Wednesday (July 12) for money laundering and cheating in relation to a massive global probe involving billions of dollars allegedly misappropriated from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund.

Yeo, 34, plead guilty and was convicted on one charge each of money laundering and cheating, with eight other charges taken into consideration.

The sentence, which Yeo began serving immediately, will run concurrently with the remainder of an earlier 30-month jail sentence he was slapped with in December last year for witness tampering.

He is the third former BSI banker to be found guilty in the city’s 1MDB investigations. Read the rest of this entry »

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Singapore Banker Admits Money Laundering in 1MDB-Linked Case

By Andrea Tan and Chanyaporn Chanjaroen
Bloomberg
12 July 2017

Yeo Jiawei, a former banker serving the longest jail term in Singapore’s probes linked to 1Malaysia Development Bhd., admitted to charges including money laundering.

Yeo, who also pleaded guilty Wednesday to cheating his former employer, agreed to help with Singapore’s money-laundering investigation, which prosecutors described as the largest in the country’s history. He was sentenced to 54 months in jail by a Singapore state court. The former BSI SA wealth planner was handed a 30-month term in December on charges of trying to tamper with witnesses in the probe.

Principal District Judge Ong Hian Sun said on Wednesday that the courts must take an “uncompromising stance” to safeguard the integrity of Singapore’s financial system. Read the rest of this entry »

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The RM117 million 22-carat rare pink diamond necklace stolen from 1MDB funds by Jho Low and given to “wife of MO1” would be able to immediately sponsor over 11,000 haj pilgrims from Malaysia

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said yesterday that 1MDB had contributed to the people in many ways which they are unaware of, like the Prime Minister’s special haj programme which had spent RM57 million since 2011 to finance 5,700 people to perform the haj in Mecca.

I did an immediate calculation and found that the RM117 million (US$27.3 million) 22-carat rare pink diamond necklace stolen from 1MDB funds by Jho Low and given to the “wife of MO1” would be able to immediately sponsor over 11,000 haj pilgrims from Malaysia.

May be this is what the “wife of MO1” should do with regard to the 22-carat rare pink diamond necklace to immediately finance over 11,000 haj pilgrims from Malaysia. Will the “wife of MO1” agree to this suggestion?

We are only talking about the 22-carat rare pink diamond necklace gifted to the “wife of MO1” from the stolen 1MDB funds, which is not the only item of jewellery involved in the 1MDB international money-laundering scandal which landed up with “wife of MO1”. Read the rest of this entry »

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If there is a secret ballot among the hundred-odd judges in the three tiers of judiciary, the overwhelming majority will uphold the constitution and support the position that it is unconstitutional to extend the tenures of Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President

Thanks to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said for admitting clearly that the appointment of Chief Justice Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif and the Court of Appeal President Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin as additional judges so that they can continue as the two top judges in the country were made on the advice on Tun Arifin Zakaria on March 30, his last day as Chief Justice before his retirement.

Article 122(1A) in the Federal Constitution has not been complied with in the appointment of Raus and Zulkefli as as “additional judges”, unless the Chief Justice in office at the time of the appointment had also advised the Yang di Pertuan Agong on the matter.

Raus is the Chief Justice at present. Did he advise the Yang di Pertuan Agong on the appointment of himself and Zulkefli as “additional judges” under Article 122(1A) of the Federal Constitution, which reads: Read the rest of this entry »

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Khairy should ask Najib at Cabinet tomorrow to appoint another Minister to be responsible for TN 50 if Khairy does not have the courage to get the Najib administration to give proper accountability on international 1MDB money-laundering scandal

I am still waiting for the UMNO Youth Leader and Youth and Sports Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, to reply to my statement yesterday and explain in clear terms his call that Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and I should retire from politics.

I will await Khairy’s elucidation before responding to his call.

But Malaysians want to know why Khairy has suddenly gone so quiet, and in particular, why he has yet to respond to the lament by Tunku Makhota Johor, Tunku Ismail Ibrahim who asked “What’s happening to a country I used to respect? A country that I was once proud to call my home”.

In fact, Tunku Ismail Ibrahim’s lament reminds me of the concern of another Johorean, former Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Musa Hitam, when he launched his autobiography, “Frankly Speaking” in April this year.

Musa warned that Malaysia was going downhill slowly, but the situation could get worse quickly.

He said there was a great distraction in the current Malaysian political scenario that was causing a loss of focus on the wellbeing of Malaysians. Read the rest of this entry »

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Was Shafee involved in former Chief Justice Arifin’s advice for the unconstitutional appointment of Raus and Zulkefli as “additional’” judges after the duo’s compulsory retirement to unconstitutionally extend their tenures as the two top judges in the land

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim threw a bomb from Sungai Buloh Prison when he questioned if prominent lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah was involved in the extension of Chief Justice Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif and Court of Appeal President Justice Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin’s respective tenures.

I full agree that if this is true, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak should come clean on the matter.

This will put Shafee’s comments on the constitutional controversy over the extension of Chief Justice and Court of Appeal President in a very different light – making Shafee’s comments most self-serving and lacking in the candour and professionalism expected of a senior and prominent lawyer. Read the rest of this entry »

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Khairy should withdraw and invite Tunku Makhota Johor to head the team to be responsible for TN 2050 to restore Malaysia’s greatness and vision as a united, harmonious, progressive and prosperous Malaysia which is a model to the world

At tonight’s DAP ceramah, I am going do something unusual.

I am going to read out verbatim the cry from the bottom of the heart of one distinguished and outstanding Malaysian, as his cry resonates throughout the country, as it represents the concerns of patriotic and loyal Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, politics or region, that something very wrong is happening to our beloved country – although the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, his Cabinet of 36 Ministers, and the entire UMNO/Barisan Nasional leadership does not agree with this cry and concern.

One reason why I reading verbatim the cry of Tunku Makhota Johor, Tunku Ismail ibni Sultan Ibrahim, which was first posted in Johor Southern Tigers Facebook, is because it should be compulsory reading and study by all Malaysians, not only the citizenry but also national and state leaders.

In fact, the Cabinet should schedule a special meeting of the 36 Ministers to ponder over the Tunku Makhota Johore’s cry. Read the rest of this entry »

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The RM117 million pink diamond necklace money-laundered from 1MDB funds by Jho Low and gifted to “wife of MO1” is beyond the capability of over 99% of Malaysians, even from their multiple life-time incomes or earnings

The MCA President and Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, asked how the DAP could assume the responsibility of managing and governing at federal level when the DAP could not resolve its problem with the Registrar of Societies (ROS) for some five years with regard to the DAP Central Executive Committee elections in December 2012.

Liow is barking up the wrong tree, for the problem of the DAP CEC elections dragging on for some five years is solely the responsibility and doing of the Registar of Societies under the directive of the political masters, and not because of any wrongdoing on the part of the DAP.

Who would have imagined that the Registrar of Societies could ask the DAP to have DAP Central Executive Committee re-election some four years after the DAP had conducted such CEC re-election following the ROS’ directive on Sept. 29, 2013?

If Liow Tiong Lai is a conscientious, outspoken and responsible Minister, he should be speaking up in Cabinet to point out that it is extremely ridiculous and irresponsible for the ROS to want the DAP to conduct re-election of DAP CEC based on the 2012 DAP Congress delegates’ list when the DAP had done precisely this on Sept 29, 2013, and asked why the ROS had taken four long years over the matter. Read the rest of this entry »

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DAP is not afraid of holding CEC elections but only UMNO’s perversity and capriciousness to use RoS to sabotage the DAP preparations for the 14GE for a change of Federal government in Putrajaya

In the 51 history of the DAP, the party is no stranger to plots and conspiracies by the ruling coalition to sabotage, destabilise and destroy the party, and the latest such attempt is the Registar of Society’s (ROS) directive to hold another re-election of the DAP’s Central Executive Committee based on the 2012 DAP Congress delegates’ list.

This is a most ridiculous directive for the Sept. 29, 2013 DAP Central Executive Committee re-elections were exactly based on the 2012 DAP Congress delegates’ list on the directive on the ROS.

Further, why has it taken the ROS four years to decide that the DAP should hold CEC re-elections based on the 2012 Congress delegates’ list, if the ROS is efficient, competent and reasonable in the discharge of his duties?

DAP is not afraid of holding DAP CEC elections, but what is there to prevent a recurrence of the ridiculous situation where, on the flimsiest of grounds, the Registrar of Societies declares that it is withholding its recognition of the newly-elected CEC as he is investigating complaints that the new CEC elections are irregular and takes another four years to declare that there should be re-elections? Read the rest of this entry »

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Pakatan Harapan has to defeat the Najib-Hadi alliance defending Malaysia as a global kleptocracy, assaults on Constitution and Rukunegara if Malaysia is to be saved with a new federal government in Putrajaya in 14GE

The Australian newspaper, Sydney Morning Herald, recently carried a report about two individuals whom Malaysians should be familiar – Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr and the Penang billionaire Jho Low who is the mastermind behind Malaysia and the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s world-class financial scandal – the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB money-laundering scandal.

The Sydney Morning Herald article entitled “Miranda Kerr holidayed on Malaysian billionaire’s yacht after split from Orlando Bloom” was published after world publicity on Kerr’s handing over of tens of millions of ringgit worth of jewellery from her Los Angeles safe deposit box to US government agents after the third US Department of Justice (DOJ) suits to forfeit US$1.7 billion of 1MDB-linked assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland purchased from funds stolen from 1MDB and money-laundered through American banks.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported about Jho Low’s courtship of the Australian supermodel in 2014 on the US$250 million super-yacht Equanimity off the idyllic coastline of Corfu, a Greek island in the Ionian Sea.

Jho Low’s ‘”romance” with the Australian supermodel should be private matters except that the jewelleries presented by Jho Low to Kerr, which included a 11.72 carat heart-shaped diamond pendant, a Valentine’s Day gift from Jho Low in 2014, and even the US$250 million super-yacht Equanimity, with its gold-plated interiors, were stolen, misappropriated and money-laundered from 1MDB funds, which the US DOJ wanted to forfeit to return to the people of Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »

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Pathetic, with Shafie as the lone voice against the tide of informed opinion and putting up his worst defence ever for the unconstitutional extension of Raus and Zulkefli for the top two judicial posts in the country

It is most pathetic, with controversial senior lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah as the lone voice against the tide of informed opinion and Shafee putting up his worst defence ever for the unconstitutional extension of the tenures of Chief Justice Md Raus Sharif and Court of Appeal president Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin through the backdoor of Article 122(1A) of the Federal Constitution to appoint additional judges.

Just because Shafee got up at 5 am today and first saw the announcement is no testimony for the constitutionality of the extension of the tenures of the Chief Justice and the Court of Appeal president, which were in fact aggravated by the unconstitutional use of Article 122(1A) as a backdoor for such unconstitutional extensions – making the extensions of Chief Justice Rauf and Tan Sri Zulkefli for the top two judicial posts as doubly unconstitutional!

Shafee begs the question when he said:

“Almost everyone thought Raus recommended himself and Zulkefli to be extended as ‘additional’ judges under Article 122(1A) of the Federal Constitution. He did not.” Read the rest of this entry »

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Miranda Kerr holidayed on Malaysian billionaire’s yacht after split from Orlando Bloom

Andrew Hornery
Private Sydney
Sydney Morning Herald
JULY 7 2017

While Miranda Kerr’s silence on her “romance” with Malaysian billionaire Jho Low, which last week resulted in her handing over $11 million worth of sparkly jewels from her Los Angeles safe deposit box to US government agents, has been deafening, PS has managed to unearth a few more details about the model and the moneybags’ seemingly unlikely connection.

Among the jewels Kerr handed over, according to The Wall Street Journal, was a 11.72 carat heart-shaped diamond pendant, a Valentine’s Day gift in 2014 from former “boyfriend” and Malaysian financier Low.

PS can reveal that later that year, in August, Kerr and her Californian-based agent Kristal Fox, enjoyed Low’s hospitality aboard his $250 million superyacht Equanimity while it was bobbing off the idyllic coastline of Corfu.

​Fresh from splitting with her husband Orlando Bloom, Kerr was spotted in Corfu at the time and even made the local press, but it was her host who is raising eyebrows three years later as the central figure in a corruption scandal that has engulfed Malaysia’s powerful elite. Read the rest of this entry »

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