Archive for category Najib Razak
Umno’s never-ending theatrics
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, UMNO on Sunday, 8 December 2013
Jeswan Kaur| December 8, 2013
Free Malaysia Today
Refusing to deal with the truth and reality has left Umno in a vulnerable position.
COMMENT
When it comes to self-aggrandization, no one does it better than the nation’s largest political party, Umno. The party whose reputation precedes it continues to be ‘recycled’ by its leaders under the myth of ‘evolution’.
Umno after it was ‘reinvented’ by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad is full of vengeance, of hatred towards those who refuse to be cowered in the face of injustices.
Racist, seditious, ethnically intolerant, disrespectful of fundamental rights and selfish – this best defines Umno Baru, the party which continues to be in denial over its marred credibility and warped reason d’etre.
The fact is that Umno has long lost its bearing and left many of its supporters disenchanted. Still, the hands that dictate Umno’s fate continue to be out of sync with the truth, acting instead in their own best interests.
This is perhaps the reason why the 64th edition of the Umno general assembly that kicked off on Dec 5 has turned into a ‘circus’ of sorts, with members trying to outsmart one another by resorting to ‘talking shop’.
While the keris wielding has stopped making its presence felt in the Umno assembly, Malay supremacy and racially-charged speeches continue to be harangued at the party’s gatherings. Read the rest of this entry »
Despite Najib’s much vaunted 1Malaysia, Umno debates show otherwise, say analysts
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, UMNO on Sunday, 8 December 2013
by Eileen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
December 08, 2013
Two facts were established during debate time at the Umno general assembly – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s much-vaunted transformation programme and his 1Malaysia dream have failed.
His party men clamoured for contracts and projects and continued to see everything through the prism of the Malay race.
From demands for government-linked companies to award public contracts to more Bumiputera firms to the re-examining of the BR1M cash handouts and calls for a 1Melayu slogan, the attitude at the Umno general assembly makes a mockery of the 1Malaysia slogan and talks of national reconciliation.
There was also nothing about inclusiveness in the debates. Nor was there any mention about corruption in the country, wastages, leakages or wrongdoings by those in power – concerns that are shared by other Malaysians.
“The tone of the debates reflected the sentiments of members on the ground and it is a sad situation,” said Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) CEO Wan Saiful Wan Jan. Read the rest of this entry »
Three slaves and the rakyat
Posted by Kit in Mariam Mokhtar, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 27 November 2013
Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Nov 25, 2013
The three women in London who were imprisoned as slaves have much in common with the Malaysian rakyat. Their escape plan was hatched in secrecy but their story, which is slowly unfolding, has shocked the world. It is doubtful if many Malaysians realise the similarities between themselves and these three women.
For the past 30 years, the women were forced to serve a married couple from India and Tanzania. The oldest woman was a 69-year-old Malaysian who was denied medical treatment when she suffered a stroke, another was a 59-year-old Irish woman, and the youngest was a 30-year-old, who grew up in this family.
The women cleaned, cooked, shopped, ran errands and cared for their masters. As punishment, they would be beaten but despite their treatment, were too terrified to escape when an opportunity to flee presented itself.
The women were imprisoned for three decades, but the Malaysian rakyat have been metaphorically imprisoned for the most part of 56 years. The women were described as having been shackled by “invisible handcuffs”, just like the Malaysians.
Despite being aware of the injustices and abuse of power, older Malaysians are reluctant to embrace change. The married couple are just like the leaders of Malaysia. The tools of control for both the London slaves and Malaysian rakyat, are a combination of threats and emotional blackmail. Police said that the mental hold on the women was strong and “cult-like”.
Umno Baru leaders know how to pitch their stories. For instance, older and more conservative Malays are told that a vote for the opposition would mean that the Chinese and Christians would overrun Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »
Rosmah oh Rosmah … Ready, Get Jet, Go!
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 27 November 2013
By Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo! News
Nov 24, 2013
Rosmah oh Rosmah, you are so endearing that Malaysians love you. So much that they are questioning why you used the Government’s jet to fly to Qatar for the International Business Women Forum earlier this month. And why you took with you the MP Azalina Othman, your hubby’s special adviser Shahrizat Abdul Jalil and several ministers’ wives.
Minister Shahidan Kassim said you went on “official business”, and that the Cabinet approved your use of the jet. Your own special officer Siti Azizah said you went to Qatar in the national interest.
She even explained what she meant: “It was not for personal reasons. … [Rosmah] does not represent the Government, but she went there for the sake of the Government’s interest. She is the prime minister’s wife, she went to give the keynote address [at the forum]. So she made the address not as a government representative, but in the national interest.”
Not a government representative and yet doing it in the national interest? Hmmmm … can what, right? Why not? Even many ordinary Malaysians go overseas to do things in the national interest without their even knowing it what, right? Like when they go on holiday and tell the foreigners they meet what a nice country Malaysia is or how delicious Malaysian food is. That’s in the national interest. That’s boosting tourism. Read the rest of this entry »
Show us your income tax returns, Najib
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 26 November 2013
Dear Najib,
You have come out to call tax evaders traitors. That’s a very strong word. If you had used it on corrupt public officials and politicians, especially government ministers, that would have been more apt. It would have struck a resonant chord. It would also have indicated your seriousness in fighting corruption within your ranks.
As it is, according to your minister Paul Low, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) arrested nine politicians who were reported to be involved in corruption between 2010 and August 2013, and only five have been charged. That’s a pretty low number over the course of four years. The minister did not clarify who these politicians were, but one would presume that they were part of the ruling party.
It may well be that Malaysian politicians, including those holding public office, are generally clean, but the unofficial allegations that have been brought up from time to time tell us a hugely different story. You may be aware of them yourself – allegations about this minister living beyond his means, like building a palatial home, and that minister receiving kickbacks or laundering money for his so-called “adopted son”. And of course the biggie surrounding Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and his relatives, some of whom were caught on video earlier this year by the international NGO Global Witness allegedly offering logging licences in return for profit.
Read the rest of this entry »
Sabah bishop reminds Najib of his assurance to shun extremism
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Religion on Tuesday, 26 November 2013
by Desmond Davidson
The Malaysian Insider
November 26, 2013
Sabah Council of Churches president, Bishop Datuk Dr Thomas Tsen, today sent a barb message to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak saying that while he is “inspiring people across the world in the fight against extremism”, back in his own backyard, Malaysians are “experiencing extreme action against the church”.
In urging Najib to urgently rein in extremism, Tsen claimed “religious intolerance has reached a dangerous level”.
Tsen then reminded the prime minister when he first mooted the idea for building a “Global Movement of Moderates”, in his maiden speech at the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September 2010, Najib called on all faiths to reclaim the agenda for peace and pragmatism, and to marginalise the extremists.
“We, therefore, call on him to restore the middle ground for religious tolerance and to respect the constitutional rights of non-Muslims to freedom of religion and the right to manage their own affairs,” Tsen said in a statement. Read the rest of this entry »
Moody’s has given us a good mood… but is it sustainable?
Posted by Kit in Economics, Finance, Najib Razak on Friday, 22 November 2013
– Ramon Navaratnam
The Malaysian Insider
November 21, 2013
After the earlier cautious Fitch Rating Report on Malaysia’s sovereign credit outlook, the Moody’s Investors Service’s upgrading of our credit outlook from “stable to positive”, uplifts our mood on our country’s economic prospects.
Yes Moody’s has given us a good mood on our economic prospects. But unfortunately the question lingers as to whether this feel good mood, about our sovereign credit and economic outlook, can be sustained and for how long?
The upgrading had been due to the positive and bold promises made in Budget 2014 Speech by Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak. His speech has obviously made an impact on Moody’s. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib perlu memberi kenyataan kementerian di Parlimen pada hari Isnin ini tentang kelonggaran kawalan keselamatan Esscom sehingga menyebabkan seorang pelancong dari Taiwan ditembak mati dan isterinya diculik oleh kumpulan yang disyaki sebagai pengganas Abu Sayyaf di pulau Pom Pom berhampiran Semporna
Posted by Kit in Defence, Najib Razak, Sabah on Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak perlu memberi kenyataan kementerian di Parlimen pada hari Isnin ini tentang kelonggaran kawalan keselamatan Esscom sehingga menyebabkan seorang pelancong Cina ditembak mati dan isterinya diculik oleh kumpulan yang disyaki sebagai pengganas Abu Sayyaf di pulau Pom Pom berhampiran Semporna awal pagi ini.
Najib perlu memaklumkan kepada Parlimen tindakan apa yang akan diambil oleh Esscom untuk mengetatkan kawalan keselamatan supaya kejadian pembunuhan dan penculikan oleh para pengganas Filipina tidak akan berulang lagi di Sabah.
Laporan awal menyatakan bahawa sekumpulan lelaki lengkap bersenjata telah tiba di pusat peranginan Mandur Pom Pom dan menyerbu restoran di pusat peranginan tersebut yang ketika itu hanya dilanggani oleh pasangan dari Taiwan terbabit dan lalu melepaskan beberapa tembakan.
Mangsa tembakan Lim Min Hsu, 57, telah ditembak dua kali pada bahagian dada dan rusuk. Beliau meninggal di tempat kejadian. Isterinya, Lim Min Hsu, 57, dilarikan oleh kumpulan bersenjata tersebut dengan sebuah bot kecil ke arah Filipina selatan.
Read the rest of this entry »
Masanya sudah tiba untuk kita berusaha bersama demi merealisasikan Impian Malaysia, dan menyelamatkan rakyat daripada ‘Mimpi Ngeri Malaysia’ yang panjang ini
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Crime, Malaysian Dream, Najib Razak, nation building, Parliament, Sabah, UMNO on Monday, 18 November 2013
Masanya sudah tiba untuk kita berusaha bersama demi merealisasikan Impian Malaysia, dan menyelamatkan rakyat daripada ‘Mimpi Ngeri Malaysia’ yang panjang ini
Saya bangun untuk mengambil bahagian dalam perbahasan peringkat Jawatankuasa Bajet 2014 mengenai Jabatan Perdana Menteri dan Jabatan-jabatan yang lain termasuk Majlis Keselamatan Negera (MKN), Jabatan Perpaduan Negara dan Integrasi Nasional (JPNIN), Biro Tatanegara, Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM), Jabatan Peguam Negara, Pejabat-pejabat Setiausaha Persekutuan, Sabah dan Sarawak.
Pertama sekali, saya ingin merakamkan ucapan takziah kepada keluarga Allahyarham Mohd Raffli Abdul Malik yang mati ditembak di Kuantan, Pahang; keluarga Allahyarham Norazita Abu Talib, yang menjadi mangsa rompakan Ambank tempoh hari; serta Allahyarham Hussain Ahmad Najadi, yang turut menjadi mangsa tembakan beberapa lama dahulu.
Kesemua mangsa jenayah ini adalah korban-korban tidak berdosa akibat daripada kelalaian dan kerakusan pihak yang berkenaaan mengejar kuasa dan jawatan, sehingga mengabaikan persoalan integriti, tanggungjawab kepada negara dan impian besar rakyat Malaysia.
Saya juga ingin merakamkan ucapan takziah kepada keluarga mangsa warga Taiwan dalam tragedi pembunuhan dan penculikan di Pulau Pum-Pum beberapa hari sudah. Ternyata Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) tidaklah efektif dalam menjaga keselamatan negara sungguhpun ia ditubuhkan sebagai tindakbalas terhadap peristiwa pencerobohan di Lahad Datu. Walaupun Ketua Polis Negara dan Menteri Dalam Negeri menyifatkan ini sebagai kejadian terpencil, nyawa yang hilang pasti tidak dapat diganti. Keyakinan rakyat terhadap kesungguhan pihak berkuasa dalam melaksanakan tugas menjaga keselamatan negara dan rakyat jelata sekali lagi berkecai.
Read the rest of this entry »
Racism and inequality
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Economics, Najib Razak, nation building on Monday, 18 November 2013
Sakmongkol AK47 | NOVEMBER 17, 2013
The Malaysian Insider
Government leaders preach inclusiveness and togetherness. At the very least they pretend to want that. The idea of togetherness and inclusiveness can be summed up in the powerful idea of unity.
Something of that nature cannot be sold like an advertising product and commoditised- it must be secured by living out that experience. It must be practised as an everyday life experience.
Something of that nature too must be formed on the basis of earning and giving trust. The government has neither earned our trust and they have never trusted the people.
PM Najib paid a lot of money to consulting firms to come up with slogans to reflect the idea. He has actually paid RM7.2 billion to a number of consultants since 2009. Over a 5 year period, the fee is like RM3.945 million a day.
We won’t know how much PM Najib paid consultants who came out with slogans and follow through plans of 1Malaysia and now Endless Possibilities. What seems truly endless is the rapacious appetite to gobble up taxpayers’ money.
Read the rest of this entry »
Najib should give Ministerial statement in Parliament on the Esscom security lapses resulting in a Taiwanese tourist shot dead and his wife abducted by suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists on Pom Pom island off Semporna
Posted by Kit in Crime, Najib Razak, Sabah on Friday, 15 November 2013
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should give a Ministerial statement in Parliament on Monday on the Esscom security lapses resulting in a Taiwanese tourist shot dead and his wife abducted by suspected Abu Sayyaf terrorists on Pom Pom island off Semporna early this morning.
Najib should tell Parliament what actions would be taken by Esscom to tighten security to ensure that such killing and kidnap by Filipino terrorists would not be allowed to recur in Sabah.
Initial reports indicated a group of heavily armed men arrived at the Mandur Pom Pom island resort and stormed into the resort restaurant, where the Taiwanese couple were the only customers and fired several shots.
The victim Lim Min Hsu, 57, was shot twice in the chest and ribs. He died at the scene. His wife, Lim Min Hsu, 57, was taken away by the gunmen who fled in a pump boat towards southern Philippines. Read the rest of this entry »
Sworn statement on Gani’s alleged misdeeds out due to Putrajaya inaction, says former top cop
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Crime, Mahathir, Najib Razak, Police on Tuesday, 12 November 2013
by Lionel Morais
The Malaysian Insider
November 12, 2013
Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim has revealed the alleged wrongdoings of Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail after Putrajaya failed to act on the retired senior police officer’s statutory declaration which contained a litany of complaints against the Attorney General.
Mat Zain’s initial revelation about the meeting with former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Umno lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah on Gani’s failings only amounted to two pages of his 31-page sworn statement.
He promised more disclosures soon and said he was also mulling the possibility of having the statutory declaration (SD) tendered in court.
“Since my SD was made in accordance with the Statutory Declaration Act 1960 it can be used in any judicial proceeding, civil or criminal. In that manner the SD will be considered a public document,” the former Kuala Lumpur CID chief told The Malaysian Insider. Read the rest of this entry »
Racial extremism bad for economy, warns ex-diplomat
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, nation building, NEM on Thursday, 7 November 2013
Lawrence Yong
Malaysiakini
Nov 7, 2013
Malaysia will lose its competitive economic edge if its politics continue to cater to racial and religious extremes, a former senior diplomat warned today.
Razali Ismail, who was a diplomat for 35 years before retiring in 1998, warned that although polemics – the practise of one-sided political arguments – was inescapable in multi-racial, multi-religious Malaysia, it must not translate into a welfare state.
“If you just want to be a backwater country somewhere, that’s a different story.
“But we are in a strategic position (for economic growth) …all the differences between us have to be worked out,” Razali said at the Prime Lecture on Culture 2013, where he was invited to speak on “polemical politics” by the Tourism and Culture Ministry.
To emphasise his point, Razali cited that Malaysia’s rivals, such as Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, already woke up to global realities and are well on their way to fortifying their own economies to attract foreign investments.
During his years as a diplomat, including as ambasadors to several European counctries, he saw almost all countries he served in as seeing Malaysia as a stable country.
However, Razali added, his international friends have of late started to question the divisive goings-on in the country. Read the rest of this entry »
Perspective is everything
Posted by Kit in Mariam Mokhtar, Najib Razak on Thursday, 31 October 2013
Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Oct 28, 2013
Kim Jong-un of North Korea, the world’s youngest leader, is usually known as ‘The Great Successor’. He could use other titles like Supreme Leader, First Chairman, Commander and First Secretary, but the one he treasures, because it gives him respect, is the honorary doctorate awarded by HELP University which is based in Kuala Lumpur.
Nowadays, we all take honorary degrees for granted. Despots or those who literally shoot their way to the top, use their titles like badges of honour. Unscrupulous vice-chancellors desperate for donations award honorary degrees like confetti at a wedding.
The honorary award resembles Najib Abdul Razak’s ‘I help you, you help me’. Theoretically, awards may be revoked, if the recipient is involved in human rights abuses or corruption, but few universities are willing. Curtin University has honoured Rosmah Mansor, the self-styled First Lady of Malaysia, and the University of Adelaide gave an honorary doctorate to Sarawak Chief Minister, Taib Mahmud.
Dr Kim’s award brought worldwide notoriety to HELP and its president, Dr Paul Chan, has been villified.
They say that Dr Chan is either stupid or ignorant; he is neither. When Myanmar opened up its doors, there was a stampede of Malaysian businessmen touting for business. North Korea cannot isolate itself forever, but Dr Chan has already got a head start. Read the rest of this entry »
Improving budget management: Our obssession with the 55% debt ceiling
Posted by Kit in Budget Debate, Najib Razak, Parliament on Monday, 28 October 2013
– Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
October 27, 2013
MPs were supplied with voluminous documents relating to the state of the economy. We were ploughing through the documents to analyse the management of the economy while Najib drone on waxing lyrical, poetic and at times, waxing sarcastic over his thematic budget. 2014 has another theme. The theme of the 2014 budget is ‘Strengthening economic resilience, accelerating transformation and fulfilling promises’. If that makes him happy, so be it. Giving an artful theme to the budget does not make it a better budget. The devil is in the details.
But where is the promise of giving RM1200 BR1M which he sold the voting public in last May’s elections? Where is the promise to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor?
Najib has reneged on this promise and stated poker-faced about paying out reduced BR1Ms. The scaled down BR1M hand-outs are downsized by the financial capacity of the government. Finally the chickens come home to roost. He has to face reality something the opposition MPs have warned continuously- that out of control spending is bad for the economy.
Public debt is now more than the 55% legislated debt ceiling simply because this government hides the real debt by various tricks. Eventually the weight of public debt will come down crushing. In 2013 alone, the deficit incurred by some GLCs amounted to RM93billion. When opposition MPs say this budget is for the rich, it wasn’t said out of spite. In 2013, the BR1M given to poor people amounted to RM7 billion.
Compare this to the freedom given to some GLCs to overspend by RM93 billion. The people who should be grateful are not the ordinary rakyat but the BN politicians and their corporate conspirators for being able to hide from the rakyat the magnitude of their extravagance. They should be grateful the public hasn’t turned on them yet. Maybe we should do a Louis and Marie Antoinette on them and that is not even Islamic law.
In the coming days, we will dissect his budget. Apart from minor jeering, we did not steal the Finance Minister’s thunder. We jeered only when he made political capital of certain portions of his presentation. Read the rest of this entry »
Duo message of 2014 Budget – Malaysia continues to be land of “heinous crime without criminals” and Ministers enjoy immunity and impunity for Ministerial dereliction of duties
Posted by Kit in Budget Debate, Corruption, Najib Razak, PKFZ on Saturday, 26 October 2013
A few hours before the Prime Minister cum Finance Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak presented his 2014 Budget in Parliament announcing the regressive and controversial 6% Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 2015, the Kuala Lumpur High Court acquitted and discharged former MCA President and Transport Minister Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik for cheating the government over the multi-billion ringgit Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project scandal.
Without going into the details of the case against Liong Sik, the Kuala Lumpur High Court decision carries two messages which have a direct bearing on the 2014 Budget, Najib’s National Transformation Plan and the future direction of the Malaysian nation and economy, viz:
• Malaysia continues to be a land of “heinous crimes without criminals”, with Malaysians victimized by mega corruption and scandals which neither the government nor the anti-corruption agency, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), could do anything to combat when confronted with “grand corruption” involving “big sharks” instead of “ikan bilis” in the Malaysian corruption waters; and
• Cabinet Ministers are now given a blank cheque to enjoy immunity and impunity for whatever dereliction of duties in the course of official duties, including up to Cabinet level.
Najib’s Budget 2014 acid test
Posted by Kit in Budget Debate, Najib Razak on Saturday, 26 October 2013
Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
Oct 25, 2013
COMMENT Malaysia’s Budget 2014 represents the most important economic policy initiative of Najib Razak’s premiership. After scraping through GE13 and deal-making his way to an unchallenged presidency of Umno, there are no immediate political obstacles undermining his ability to implement the economic reforms he has repeatedly promised investors and international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund.
Najib has gone on record to claim that he will reduce government debt, tighten spending and make the Malaysian economy more competitive. International watchers were initially bought over by all the different acronyms coined by the government, such as the ETP (Economic Transformation Programme).
However, they have become increasingly negative with regard to Najib’s financial management which continued to involve massive overspending and this led to a negative rating by Fitch in July this year. With debt reaching 54 percent of gross domestic product, near the 55 percent government self-imposed limit, Malaysia stands on the precipice of future downgrades.
As the Budget debate begins, it is important to highlight some of the key issues and patterns that have characterised Najib’s tenure as prime minister. Read the rest of this entry »
No goodies, but gov’t splurges will continue
Posted by Kit in Budget Debate, Najib Razak on Friday, 25 October 2013
by Tony Pua
MP for PJ Utara
Malaysiakini
Oct 25, 2013
MP SPEAKS Stripping the 2014 Budget of its cosmetic makeup, taking away the glossy distractions and analysing the bare bones will provide an extremely clear indication that nothing much will change in Najib Abdul Razak’s second term as prime minister and finance minister .
The Economic Report 2013/14 gave the good news that the expected revenue collection for the current year 2013 is RM224.1 billion, or RM14.4 billion higher than the original budget projection of RM208.7 billion.
By right, the RM14.4 billion increase in revenue should have resulted in a lowered projected budget deficit of four percent to a market-euphoric 2.6 percent. The budget deficit for 2013 should have shrunk from RM39.9 billion to only RM25.6 billion.
However, it didn’t. Despite collecting the significantly higher-than-expected revenue, the deficit for 2013 remained at RM39.3 billion. It means that almost every single sen of extra revenue collected by the government is immediately expended, instead of contributing towards reducing our debt.
What is interesting when you comb through the expenditure figures is that despite the increase in revenue, the actual development expenditure of the government was RM2.7 billion lower than the budgeted RM47.8 billion.
The development expenditure has the larger economic multiplier effect because it represents investments by the government for future higher returns. Development expenditure includes building schools, hospitals and other public infrastructures.
The lower-than-budgeted development expenditure, the higher than expected government revenue means that the government’s operating expenditure exceeded the budget massively. The government overspent in operating expenditure by RM14.3 billion more the original budget of RM201.9 billion. Read the rest of this entry »
New insight into Najib’s “Endless Possibilities” – one of world’s highest civil servants-to-population ratio relying increasingly on foreign consultants even to draft national documents and masterplans
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Parliament, public service on Wednesday, 23 October 2013
A parliamentary reply has given a new insight into the strange directions that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib is taking the country with his slogan of “Endless Possibilities”.
Malaysia has one the largest civil services in the world, with a 1.4 million civil servants accounting for 10 per cent of the labour force.
In 2009, Malaysia’s civil servants-to-population ratio was the highest in the Asia-Pacific. The ratio was 4.68 per cent compared to Singapore’s 1.4 per cent, Indonesia’s 1.79 per cent, South Korea’s 1.85 per cent and Thailand’s 2.06 per cent – all of which have less than half our ratio.
Strangely enough, despite having one of the highest civil servants-to-population ratio in the world, Malaysia is relying increasingly on foreign consultants even to draft national documents and masterplans. Read the rest of this entry »
Prisoner of conscience Uthaya paying dearly for defying the government
Posted by Kit in Hindraf, Human Rights, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 23 October 2013
CPI introduction
We are reproducing below the letter of P. Uthayakumar addressed to the Prime Minister, Najib Razak, and Home Minister, Zahid Hamidi, describing the horrific conditions of his imprisonment in Kajang Prison.
No prisoner in our country – or indeed any other civilized country – deserves such brutal and abusive treatment. It is clear that the prison authorities, with the tacit agreement of their political masters, are determined to break Uthayakumar’s health and spirit and to make him pay dearly for his defiance of the government in pursuing the cause of marginalized Indians in the country.
Uthaya’s plight is little known to most Malaysians with the mainstream mass media complicit in erecting a wall of silence on his case and refusing to share with the public the various appeals made by Hindraf; his family and Uthaya himself.
CPI hopes that other stakeholders, besides those to whom it is directly addressed, will be catalyzed by this letter to urgently take up his case as well as the larger issue of abusive and inhumane prison conditions, and the selective harsh treatment meted out to special cases that have been highlighted.
Immediate action is needed to ensure that Uthaya, who in our view clearly qualifies as a political prisoner of conscience, is treated with the decency, humanity and respect that he deserves, and for the vindictive and abusive treatment meted out to him to be stopped.
Read the rest of this entry »
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