Archive for category Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
BERSIH petition to King – acid test whether it marks the burial of Abdullah’s 4-yr pledge to hear the truth
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Election, Human Rights on Monday, 12 November 2007
The negative and irresponsible responses of the government and its leaders to Saturday’s mammoth peaceful BERSIH gathering petitioning the Yang di Pertuan Agong for electoral reforms to ensure clean, free and fair elections is most disappointing though not unexpected.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the BERSIH gathering and petition were “tantamount to dragging the institution of the monarchy, and the king, into politics”.
This is a baseless allegation completely unworthy of the Prime Minister as nothing could be further from the truth.
The Yang di Pertuan Agong symbolizes the fountain of justice in Malaysia, and it is completely within constitutional norms for Malaysians who are shut out from all avenues of redress to seek justice to appeal to the Yang di Pertuan Agong for intervention — and it will be beholden on the Prime Minister and his Cabinet to give such petitions to the Yang di Pertuan Agong serious consideration and not to dismiss them in a most arrogant, cavalier and undemocratic manner.
In this particular case, the mass petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong is all the more pertinent as the government has turned a deaf ear to widespread and legitimate calls for electoral reforms to ensure that there is a level playing field for all contestants so that clean, free and fair elections could be held in Malaysia.
This is why I said during question time that the government should uphold the important symbol of the King as the fountain of justice by giving serious and positive consideration to the petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong supported by the mammoth and peaceful BERSIH gathering on Saturday or the government will be doing an injustice to the system of monarchy. Read the rest of this entry »
Mammoth BERSIH gathering – People have spoken but will Abdullah listen or will he remain deaf, blind and mute?
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Election, Human Rights, Media on Sunday, 11 November 2007
Malaysians have spoken loud and clear in the peaceful mammoth BERSIH gathering yesterday to support the petition to the Yang di Pertuan Agong for electoral reforms for clean, free and fair elections – but will the Prime Minister, Datuk Abdullah Ahmad Badawi listen and act or will he remain deaf, blind and mute?
When he became Prime Minister four years ago, one of Abdullah’s first public pledges was to listen to the truth however unpleasant.
However, Abdullah had not been listening in the past four years. Last month, the Information Minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin assumed the new roles as Abdullah’s “Truth Gatekeeper” and Press Censor, laying the law to the media that Abdullah’s pledge to hear the truth was limited to Barisan Nasional leaders and top government officials and not to the public or the press.
It is significant that in my parliamentary exchange with Zainuddin on press freedom which is accessible on YouTube, thanks to RTM website, Zainuddin did not specifically deny that he had become the new “Gatekeeper” as to what is the truth to be conveyed to the Prime Minister.
This has resulted in all the printed media today playing down yesterday’s biggest peaceful public gathering during the four-year premiership of Abdullah to petition the Yang di Pertuan Agong on electoral reforms for the simple reason that the Prime Minister had refused to listen to the voice of the people.
No newspaper dared to publish photographs of the mammoth peaceful gathering, which is a tribute to Malaysians for their love of peace and commitment to democracy. This is because of Zainuddin’s directive to the printed media that no such photographs were to be published. All that the newspapers could print were pictures of massive traffic jams!
The mainstream media were not allowed free and independent reporting of yesterday’s gathering, which was completely peaceful except when marred by excessive force by police in firing tear gas and water cannons.
Newspapers dared not give an estimate of the mammoth peaceful gathering, and were forced to use the official figure by the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan putting the gathering at 4,000 people.
If the Inspector-General of Police had not been misquoted, then the country’s top police officer suffer from the grave ailment of innumeracy or difficulty with numbers — as there is at least one zero missing when Musa said only 4,000 people responded at the mammoth Bersih peaceful gathering yesterday. Read the rest of this entry »
Hisham’s keris-wielding – Is Abdullah PM for all Malaysians or just UMNO President?
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, nation building, UMNO on Thursday, 8 November 2007
The mass media are in a swoon with adulation for the speech by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the Umno General Assembly in his capacity as Umno President.
However, they had completely glossed over the most disappointing parts of Abdullah’s speech, as in coming out to defend and validate Umno Youth Leader Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s keris-wielding antics in the past two years, Abdullah had shown that he has subordinated his promise to be the Prime Minister for all Malaysians to his position as Umno President.
When Abdullah lashed out at those who had criticized Hishammuddin for the brandishing of the keris at the last two Umno Youth general assemblies, claiming that such criticism was done to spread fears among the non-Malays, Abdullah had chosen to ignore or forget that among those who objected strongly to Hishamuddin’s keris-wielding in the last two Umno Youth general assemblies were component parties of the Barisan Nasional, particularly MCA, Gerakan and MIC.
Or have MCA, Gerakan and MIC been “desensitized” to accept that there was nothing wrong with Hishamuddin’s keris-wielding antics in the last two Umno general assemblies and that it was MCA, Gerakan and MIC leaders who were being irresponsible and immature in expressing strong protests against such keris-wielding?
Last week, Hishammuddin had said that despite nation-wide controversy and protests he would continue to unsheath the keris at the Umno Youth general assembly this year until the non-Malays become “desensitized” to it.
Had Hishammuddin been given an assurance by MCA, Gerakan and MIC leaders that they have become “desensitized” to the keris-wielding antics to encourage Hishamuddin to wield the keris for the third year consecutively at the Umno Youth general assembly on Wednesday?
In Parliament later on Wednesday, I had criticized Hishammuddin’s “desensitization” stance as akin to the Boiling Frog Syndrome. Read the rest of this entry »
PM AAB is PM for his family only
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Letters, NEP on Thursday, 8 November 2007
Letter
by Loh Meng Kow
PM AAB is reported to have said to the UMNO GA yesterday that since the list of richest individuals in the country was not led by Malays, NEP targets had still not been achieved. On record, the NEP objectives did not have the objective of making Malays the richest persons in the country. The PM’s statement shows that UMNO leaders can add to the list of NEP targets as it wishes, and hence NEP should read never ending policies.
Clearly the PM did not utter those words without having thought about the issues. NEP as implemented has always involved using government funds for the intended beneficiaries. When it was the intention of the government to create the richest Malay to head the list of richest individuals, now announced by the PM, the government adopts the policy to give public funds directly or indirectly to private individuals so that he/she can become the richest individual Malay in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
RM27 million cop charged – call for end to “headless administration” and multi-millionaire cops
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Corruption, Police on Friday, 2 November 2007
The charging of the Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Ramli Yusuff in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court yesterday with two counts of failing to make a full disclosure of his assets and another for involvement in business which entail a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if convicted has raised the curtain for public view of something very rotten both in the police force as well as the government.
It warrants an urgent call for an end to the “headless administration” presently prevalent in the country in the past four years, as it is most disheartening to the Malaysian public that despite the Royal Police Commission Report and its 125 recommendations to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service to keep crime low, eradicate corruption and respect human rights, the rot both in the police and government have got worse rather than improve for the better.
The prosecution of the “RM27 million cop” reminds Malaysians of two serious allegations about corruption in the police force –
The Ramli prosecution has refocused public attention on the problem of police corruption and millionaire and multi-millionaire plice officers — and the failure to implement the recommendations of Royal Police Commission for zero tolerance for corruption in the police force. Read the rest of this entry »
50-50 whether next general election this year or next year
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Election on Monday, 29 October 2007
With Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi celebrating his fourth anniversary as the fifth Prime Minister in two days’ time, which also marks more than 3 years and 7 months after his unprecedented landslide victory in the 2004 general election, the question everyone is asking is the date for the next general election.
There are three possibilities for the 12th general election in Malaysia:
1. This year, with November 25 as the “hottest” date, with Abdullah in this scenario announcing dissolution of Parliament at the end of the Umno General Assembly on Nov. 9;
2. Before end of next April with the “hottest date” in mid-March, 2008 before Anwar Ibrahim regains his civil liberties to stand for elective office; and
3. After April next year as there appears to be growing support in Umno for the school of thought that the next general election should “exorcise” the Anwar factor and not allow it to haunt Umno after the next general election on the ground that the election outcome would have been very different if Anwar had been allowed to contest — and based on the confidence that Umno is enjoying a very favourable political climate in the Malay heartland and the Umno constituencies.
Apology from PM Abdullah to 106 Ops Lalang ISA detainees
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Human Rights on Sunday, 28 October 2007
At this hour on this day 20 years ago, Lim Guan Eng, who had been elected Member of Parliament for Kota Melaka for just a year, had already been detained as the first of 106 detainees representing a wide spectrum of dissent, including MPs, civil rights leaders, Chinese educationists and social activists in the Operation Lalang mass arrests under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
By this hour 20 years ago, Karpal Singh and I had also been detained, when together with other DAP MPs we went to the High Street Kuala Lumpur Police Station over Guan Eng’s detention.
The 1987 Ops Lalang mass ISA detentions was not only a black day for human rights in Malaysia, it also marked the most relentless assault on democracy in Malaysia and we are still paying the consequences of that assault — which stemmed from the fight for political survival of the then Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who was faced with the greatest challenge to his power position from within Umno.
One upshot of Mahathir’s battle for his political life 20 years ago was the Operation Lalang and 106 ISA detainees and another was the subversion of the doctrine of the separation of powers, with Parliament and the judiciary subordinated as subservient organs of the Prime Minister.
The seeds for the 1988 judiciary crisis over the arbitrary and unconstitutional sacking of Tun Saleh Abas as Lord President and Datuk George Seah and the late Tan Sri Wan Suleman Pawanteh as Supreme Court judges were sown at this period.
Even before the Operation Lalang, there were moves by Mahathir to subjugate the judiciary and I had publicly spoken up against a proposal to move a substantive motion in Parliament to censure the then High Court judge, the late Justice Harun Hashim, as a lesson to all judges to toe the Executive line.
Today, Malaysia is still paying a heavy price for the fateful decisions taken 20 years ago to undermine the democratic fundamentals in the country as represented by the doctrine of the separation of powers — with the country reeling from one judiciary crisis to another in the past two decades, the latest over the failure of judicial leadership of the Chief Justice, Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, the Lingam Tape scandal, Ahmad Fairuz preposterous application for a six-month extension as Chief Justice from Nov. 1 and whether Malaysia will have an UMNO Chief Justice for the first time in 50 years. Read the rest of this entry »
Sudden flurry of ACA activities – just intensified pre-election PR as 4 yrs ago?
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Corruption on Thursday, 25 October 2007
There has been a sudden flurry of Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) activities — with the ACA Director-General Datuk Ahmad Said Hamdan courageously declaring: “We do not discriminate. Small fry or big fish, we will go after them if they are corrupt”.
This was on the same day that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi visited the ACA and after a “brief meeting” with its top management and state directors, publicly praised the ACA for a job well done, with the following summing-up by Ahmad: “He (the Prime Minister) said he thought we were doing a good job, he is happy, and wants us to continue doing our best.”
There has been a sudden flurry of ACA activities in the past few days — but is this evidence of new ACA independence to root out corruption or just intensified PR (Public Relations) and replay of the high-profile pre-election anti-corruption action four years ago which fizzled into nothing?
In a week’s time, Abdullah will be completing his fourth year as the fifth Prime Minister of Malaysia.
The high hopes which Abdullah had raised among Malaysians to initiate government reforms and wipe out corruption are still fresh in the minds of the people.
When Abdullah became Prime Minister, the country was told that 18 high-profile personalities — the ikan yu (sharks) – would be arrested and prosecuted but four years later, not a single high-profile personality had been brought to justice, while most of the 18 “ikan yu” have escaped and are swimming merrily in the South China Sea.
If it is true that Abdullah had given the ACA “a pat on the back for a job well done”, then what was it that Abdullah was happy about the track record of the ACA in the past four years to wipe out corruption? Read the rest of this entry »
Who lied? Zam or Pak Lah?
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Media on Tuesday, 16 October 2007
Who lied? Was it the Information Minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin or the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi himself?
On Friday, 6th October 2007, speaking at the Gerakan National Delegates Conference, Abdullah called on “leaders, especially those in Barisan Nasional” to tell him the truth and to stop “be in a state of denial”.
He exhorted:
“Tell the truth, even if it is painful.
“The prime minister must have the courage and readiness to listen even to the worst stories, whether it is related to the country or himself. Never allow yourself to sink in a hole of denial and feel that everything is alright.”
Four days later, on Wednesday 10th October 2007, Information Minister Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin summoned top media editors to a special briefing and in the name of the Prime Minister, laid down the law that
- Abdullah’s pledge to “hear the truth” does not apply to the media as it was restricted to Barisan Nasional leaders and government officials; and
- the Prime Minister’s repeated pledges to “listen to the truth” did not mean that the media have the green light to “practice unrestrained reporting”.
It is a reflection of the deplorable state of press freedom in Malaysia that no mainstream media had protested or written about Zainuddin’s violation of a free press, especially under a Prime Minister who had pledged greater openness, accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance!
In fact, Zainuddin’s summoning of the top media editors to direct them what to print and what not to print would be completely unthinkable in the past 50 years of the nation’s development, as no Information Minister would have such temerity to regard himself as the Comptroller-General of the Press. Read the rest of this entry »
Zam the “Minister for Truth” ala-Orwell’s 1984 in Abdullah administration?
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Parliament on Monday, 15 October 2007
It is five days since last Wednesday’s extraordinary briefing to the country’s top editors by the Information Minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin that the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s pledge to “hear the truth” does not apply to the media as it was restricted to Barisan Nasional leaders and government officials — and three days since the public revelation of such a “directive” by Malaysiakini in an exclusive report on Friday.
As there had been no clarification or correction by the Prime Minister to such a briefing by Zainuddin, who specifically told the editors that he was acting under Abdullah’s instructions to convey to the media that the Prime Minister’s repeated pledges to “listen to the truth” did not mean that the media have the green light to “practice unrestrained reporting”, I feel compelled to pose in Parliament when it reconvenes next week the following question:
Does Abdullah want Zainuddin to be his “Minister for Truth” ala-Orwell’s 1984, exemplar of “doublespeak and doublethink” in his administration?
George Orwell’s novel 1984 painted a totalitarian country paralleling Stalinist Russia and Hitlerian Nazi Germany, where there is incessant brainwashing and re-education in a society saturated by doublethink and doublespeak.
There is a Ministry of Peace which concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and Ministry of Plenty with starvation.
Is Malaysia on the occasion of Abdullah’s fourth anniversary as Prime Minister heading in the direction of the “doublethink and doublespeak” of Orwell’s 1984, starting with the directive to the editors that the Prime Minister’s pledge to “hear the truth” does not apply to the press or the public at large? Read the rest of this entry »
Abdullah the new patron saint for “the truth that is not the truth”?
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Media on Sunday, 14 October 2007
The Information Minister, Datuk Seri Zainuddin Maidin was among the Umno Ministers joining Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the Prime Minister’s Hari Raya Open House at the Putra World Trade Centre yesterday.
When I shook hands with him, wishing him “Selamat Hari Raya”, I remarked that he has become the spokesman for “the truth that is not the truth”.
Zam knew I was referring to Friday’s Malaysiakini report “Zam to media: No need to tell PM the truth”:
Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin has told editors not to play up negative news because Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s pledge to “hear the truth” does not apply to the media.
Zainuddin said this during a one-hour meeting on Wednesday at the RTM headquarters in Kuala Lumpur with the country’s top editors.
The country’s information czar is one of two top government officials to hold meetings with the media top brass this week.
Yesterday, chief secretary to the government Mohd Sidek Hassan in another meeting urged media organisations to avoid emphasising on news deemed negative against the government, such as the 2006 Auditor-General’s report.
According to sources, Zainuddin began the meeting by declaring that he would frequently meet editors to advise them about national issues.
However, he stressed that he would only “advise and not give warnings”.
The information minister claimed that he assumed the new role under the instructions of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Zainuddin then explained that Abdullah’s often repeated pledges of “listening to the truth” were only restricted to government officials and Barisan Nasional leaders so as to assist the cabinet in making decisions. Read the rest of this entry »
Lingam Tape – Abdullah should chair next Cabinet meeting to disband 3-man panel and set up RCI
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Judiciary on Saturday, 29 September 2007
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi must reconsider and set up urgently a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Tape scandal as the three-man panel chaired by Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor, tainted by his role in the 1988 judicial crisis, is just untenable and unacceptable.
Haidar has still to satisfactorily account for his role in the infamous episode in the 1988 judicial crisis where as Supreme Court Chief Registrar, he locked the doors of the Supreme Court and concealed the Supreme Court seal to frustrate the course of justice and prevent the Supreme Court from issuing an injunction to stop the Judicial Tribunal from continuing with its proceedings to discipline the then Lord President Tun Salleh Abas — which also led to the subsequent expulsion of Datuk George Seah and the late Tan Sri Wan Suleiman Pawanteh as Supreme Court judges.
This unsavoury episode can be found both in Salleh Abas’ “May Day for Justice” as well as “Freedom under Executive Power in Malaysia” by the Minister for Culture, Arts and Heritage, Datuk Dr. Rais Yatim, who was formerly Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of law and justice.
However, an even more important consideration as to why there must be a Royal Commission of Inquiry is that the issue which has shattered public confidence and caused the “March for Justice” of some 2,000 lawyers last Wednesday was not just the Lingam Tape, but the even more important issue of the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary and the rot in the system of justice since 1988.
University of Malaya law lecturer Azmi Sharom put it very well when he wrote in his Star column today “Judiciary must be protected”: Read the rest of this entry »
Deal with the Rot, Not the Tape
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Bakri Musa, Judiciary on Sunday, 23 September 2007
by M. Bakri Musa
If Chief Justice Ahmad Feiruz has any sense of personal honor and professional integrity left, he should resign immediately. If Prime Minister Abdullah has even the slightest responsibility for leadership and moral duty to the citizens, he should not extend the Chief Justice’s contract, due to expire this October. If the Malaysian Bar Council has any credible principle of societal obligation and self-policing ethics of a profession, it would disbar the lawyer making that phone call shown in the infamous video clip exposed by former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Alas, judging from past performances, expect none of these. That is the unfortunate reality of Malaysia today. What remains then would be for the King to withhold consent for extending Feiruz’s contract, thereby precipitating an unnecessary and distracting constitutional crisis the nation could ill bear.
The Bar Council had an Emergency Meeting, but instead of initiating the necessary disciplinary proceedings on the involved lawyer (which would definitely be within its power) it decided instead to march at Putrajaya and hand a petition to the Prime Minister demanding for a Royal Commission. Next those lawyers would be demonstrating on the streets. So Third World, a la Pakistan! I would have thought those smart lawyers would have concocted some novel legal theory on which to sue the government into action.
Meanwhile Abdullah Badawi was “disappointed,” not at the explosive contents of the video but the fact that it was released. Wake up, Mr. Prime Minister! The rot is the Malaysian judiciary, not the taping. If Abdullah does perk up from his slumber, he would probably order the arrest of Anwar Ibrahim!
Chief Justice Feiruz, taking a leaf from the Prime Minister’s notorious “elegant silence,” issued a terse, “No comment!” It was neither elegant nor silent; instead it was ugly and spoke volumes. Read the rest of this entry »
Lingam Tape – MCA Ministers can undergo lobotomy or behave like traditional three monkeys, do not mean public must follow
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Court on Sunday, 23 September 2007
Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow in Kuantan yesterday asked all parties to refrain from speculating on the video clip of a lawyer allegedly brokering the appointment of judges, saying it was unwise to make assumptions or draw conclusions without solid evidence.
He repeated the nonsensical line: “The video clip merely shows a telephone conversation between the lawyer and another person. We don’t know exactly what they are talking about.
“Therefore, we should not arrive at a conclusion before police conclude their investigations.”
In the first place, it is very clear as to the matters that were talked about in the Lingam Tape.
Secondly, matters adverted to in the Lingam Tape is not just about brokering the appointment of judges but the wholesale perversion of the course of justice, polluting and contaminating not only the present administration of justice but the whole system of governance.
Thirdly, if MCA Ministers want to undergo a lobotomy or behave like the traditional three monkeys of having eyes that see not, ears that hear not and mouths that speak not, there is no reason why Malaysian citizens should emulate them.
Only yesterday, the Bar Council emergency meeting called for the immediate establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate into the Lingam Tape and the rot in the judiciary since 1988. Read the rest of this entry »
Nurin’s brutal death – let Cabinet observe minute-silence and renew forgotten commitment to keep crime low
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Crime, Police on Saturday, 22 September 2007
The country joins the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in shock, anger and grief at the brutal rape-murder of eight-year-old Nurin Jazlin Jazimin, whose naked body in a foetal position was stuffed in a sports bag in Petaling Utama.
No stone must be left unturned to track down and to bring the murderer to justice.
The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Musa Hassan said on Thursday that the Police was closing in on the killer. All Malaysians pray and hope that the police would be successful in the hunt for the murderer.
In contrast, the statement yesterday by Musa that Nurin’s parents are being investigated for possible negligence have stirred very mixed feelings from Malaysians, regardless of race or religion.
If there is evidence that Nurin’s parents had been negligent contributing to her brutal murder, and the parents are prosecuted, it is a totally different matter from putting pressure on the grieving parents at this time of their bereavement when the police has as yet to get any evidence to establish any parental negligence.
Is it right and proper for Musa to add to the grief and sorrow of Nurin’s parents in such circumstances?
Nurin’s brutal rape-murder must be regarded as both a family tragedy for taxi driver Jazimin Abdul Jalil and a national shame.
There is something very sick and rotten in our society that Nurin could meet with such a brutal end. But it also bespeaks of the breakdown of the institutions in the state responsible for upholding law and order.
Let the Cabinet meeting next Wednesday begin by observing a minute of silence for Nurin’s brutal death followed by a renewal of its forgotten commitment to make the country a safer place for our citizens, tourists and investors.
This renewal of commitment by the Cabinet is imperative for we must not allow Malaysia to become a crime-infested society which claim victims regardless of race or religion. Read the rest of this entry »
Lingam Tape – why PM’s one-sided threat if not authentic but nothing about action to be taken if true?
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Court, Good Governance on Saturday, 22 September 2007
The initial one-sided response of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to the Lingam Tape, which has plunged the country into a new crisis of confidence in the independence, impartiality, integrity, accountability and professionalism of the Malaysian judiciary — both national and international — is a great disappointment compromising the neutrality and impartiality of his high office.
Abdullah said yesterday that he had directed the police to immediately start investigations into the Lingam Tape as it was important to act quickly because the content of the clip could tarnish the image of the country’s judiciary.
He said: “We cannot treat this lightly. We will act fast to determine the truth.”
He said that if investigations revealed that the claims were false, action would be taken against those who were trying to undermine the judiciary as the video recording would invoke public anger and hatred towards the judiciary.
He said at this juncture, the question of setting up a Commission of Inquiry did not arise as the allegations in the video clip had yet to be proven as authentic.
All right-thinking Malaysians are mystified and upset by the Prime Minister’s response and have one question — why is Abdullah threatening dire consequences if the Lingam Tape is not authentic but said nothing about action to be taken if it is proven true?
Abdullah’s initial considered response 48 hours after the public surfacing of the Lingam Tape does not inspire public confidence that the Prime Minister would rise above the fray and be absolutely neutral and impartial in handling the latest scandal of the Malaysian judiciary.
He is right when he said that the Lingam Tape has yet to be proven as authentic, but on the other hand, 48 hours and now 72 hours have passed since its public disclosure had elapsed and its authenticity has not been challenged — neither by Lingam nor Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, purportedly the other party in the telephone conversation recorded in the Lingam Tape.
The Prime Minister’s reaction is only valid and justifiable if he had received intimation from Fairuz denying the authenticity of the Lingam Tape as without such a denial from either Lingam or Ahmad Fairuz, Abdullah risks compromising his high office in staking a position which gave full status quo backing to the Chief Justice. Read the rest of this entry »
AG’s Report – why the thunderous post-Cabinet silence?
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Good Governance on Friday, 21 September 2007
Why the thunderous post-Cabinet silence over the 2006 Auditor-General’s Report — and does it signify the end of the three-day wonder of thunder-and-lightning in the media over abuses and mismanagement of public funds until next year’s Auditor-General’s Report?
Two Tuesdays ago, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi announced that he had directed all Ministers at the Cabinet meeting on Sept. 5 to go through the Auditor-General’s Report in detail and to fully explain mismanaging funds and other irregularities in their respective ministries.
Last Thursday, Abdullah said the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) should step in and investigate any suspicion of corruption in ministries and government agencies implicated in the Auditor-General’s Report 2006.
When was the Cabinet meeting for the Ministers to explain in detail the strictures of the Auditor-General against their respective ministries?
I had expected some announcement after this Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting on the outcome of the Prime Minister’s directive to all Ministers, but there is only thunderous silence.
Have all the Ministers been given a reprieve from having to personally account to the Cabinet for all the public fund mismanagement and irregularities in their ministries as revealed by the Auditor-General’s Report; and if not, why is there no public accounting from the Prime Minister as to any outcome?
For instance, what is the explanation from the UMNO Youth leader and Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein on the mismanagement of public funds of over RM285 million in the Ministry of Youth and Sports when he was the Minister from 1999 to 2004?
It is no use Hishammuddin making brave statements in public that “I’ve nothing to hide” and calling for thorough investigations into the misuse of funds by the Youth and Sports Ministry when up to now he has failed to give any satisfactory explanation for such colossal waste of public funds as the Minister in charge. Read the rest of this entry »
Lingam tape – letter to PM to suspend Ahmad Fairuz as Chief Justice and to establish judicial tribunal
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Constitution, Court on Thursday, 20 September 2007
I have written to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi asking him to invoke Article 125 of the Constitution to suspend Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim as Chief Justice and to establish a judicial tribunal to investigate the serious allegations of judicial misconduct against him as highlighted by the Lingam tape made public by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim yesterday.
In my letter, I quoted Article 125(3) which reads:
“125 (3). If the Prime Minister, or the Chief Justice after consulting the Prime Minister, represents to the Yang di Pertuan Agong that a judge of the Federal Court ought to be removed on the ground of any breach of any provision of the code of ethics prescribed under Clause (3A) or on the ground of inability, from infirmity of body or mind or any other cause, properly to discharge the functions of his office, the Yang di Pertuan Agong shall appoint a tribunal in accordance with Clause (4) and refer the representation to it; and may on the recommendation of the tribunal remove the judge from office.”
The Lingam tape has sparked the latest crisis of confidence in the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary stemming from grave judicial misconduct.
As the allegations of judicial misconduct are of very grave character affecting the perversion of justice, I also asked the Prime Minister to invoke Article 125(5) which reads:
“125(5), Pending any reference and report under Clause (3) the Yang di Pertuan Agong may on the recommendation of the Prime Minister and, in the case of any other judge after consulting the Chief Justice, suspend a judge of the Federal Court from the exercise of his functions.”
Uphold integrity/fight corruption – Abdullah risks being compared unfavourably with Mahathir
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Corruption on Tuesday, 18 September 2007
When Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became Prime Minister in October 2003, he promised many things to the people of Malaysia, asking the people to “work with him and not work for him” — towards the objective of a clean, incorruptible, efficient, trustworthy, democratic, just, people-oriented administration which is prepared to hear the truth from the citizenry.
In less than four years, Abdullah’s report card on his many pledges is quite a blank. Even more serious, it runs danger of being compared unfavourably with the 22-year Mahathir administration even on the key planks of upholding integrity and fighting corruption.
I will give three examples.
(1) For the past ten days, the country has been revolted by the exposes of the 2006 Auditor-General’s Report about the pervasive corruption, criminal breach of trust and mismanagement of public funds running into tens of millions, hundreds of millions and even billions of ringgit.
I remember that in the early years of the Mahathir premiership, there was a similar public revulsion when the Report of the then Auditor-General, Tan Sri Ahmad Nordin exposed the notorious “Instant Mee” scandal, where the Defence Ministry paid RM4.90 per packet when the average market price was only 14 sen a packet.
A quarter of a century later, nothing seemed to have changed — things have in fact got worse. The “Instant Mee” scandal was a rip-off of taxpayers’ monies with the government paying some 350 per cent of the market price, but what we have in the 2006 Auditor-General’s Report is a rip-off by over 5,000 per cent in the case of the Youth and Culture Ministry paying RM5,700 for a car jack worth RM50! Read the rest of this entry »
Letter to PM – urgent response to issues raised in budget debate in Parliament like RM4.6b PKFZ bailout, RM8.1b dev. est. discrepancy , e-Kesihatan rip-off
Posted by Kit in Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Good Governance, Parliament on Friday, 14 September 2007
I have written to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, asking him to respond to urgent issues raised in the first three days of the 2008 Budget in Parliament which cannot wait for Ministerial replies some two months later scheduled for early November when the Dewan Rakyat reconvenes on Oct. 22 after the 39-day break for the fasting month and Hari Raya holidays.
I listed four urgent issues which had been raised in Parliament in the first three days of budget debate earlier this week and which are crying out for immediate government response and action, viz:
1. The RM4.6 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) bailout scandal
Accountability, transparency, integrity and good governance principles demand instant end of the government’s denial syndrome both in and outside Parliament about the RM4.6 billion PKFZ bailout scandal — particularly at a time when the Prime Minister is trying to assure Malaysians that the government means business and would not brook any hanky-panky following the shocking exposes of the pervasive culture of impunity, corruption, waste and mismanagement of public funds in the 2006 Auditor-General’s Reports.
When compared to the RM4.6 billion PKFZ bailout scandal, the corruption and mismanagement of millions or tens of millions of ringgit of funds exposed by the 2006 Auditor-General’s Reports were mere “chicken-feed”.
However, if the Cabinet can be so irresponsible as to continue to deny that there is a RM4.6 billion bailout of the Port Klang Free Zone scandal, while the culture of impunity persists in providing immunity from legal and accountability consequences for those responsible for the RM4.6 billion bailout when the government had right from the start been given a very categorical assurance that the PKFZ project was feasible, self-financing and would not require a single ringgit of public funding, a wrong message is being sent out – that all the public hullabaloo over the Auditor-General’s Reports 2006 are mere “sandiwara” and not meant to be taken seriously, as absolutely nothing would ensue. Read the rest of this entry »
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