Events of last few days a rehearsal of what to expect in the 15th General Election

The events of the last few days were a rehearsal of what to expect in the 15th General Election which the top UMNO leadership wants to be held immediately.

In what is a coming-out speech for the former premier at the Makkal Sakthi Malaysia function, Najib Razak claimed he had paid the price for telling the truth to the people in the 14th general election. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ismail has missed the train altogether – is he suggesting that two-and-a-half months is not enough time for him say something on Azam-gate, especially as we have the most ludicrous situation of Azam investigating Azam if MACC had been investigating for the last two months!

The Prime Minister Ismail Sabri has “missed the train” altogether when he asked for space for the authorities to thoroughly investigate the conflict-of-interest allegations against the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner, Azam Baki.

Is he suggesting that two-and-a-half months is not enough time for him as Prime Minister directly responsible for MACC to say something on Azam-gate, especially we have the most ludicrous situation of Azam investigating Azam if there had been such MACC investigation in the past two months. Read the rest of this entry »

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Prime Minister Ismail Sabri’s silence on Azam-gate is most ominous when he is at the same time destroying the doctrine of separation of powers among the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary

Malaysia is facing its worst crisis of confidence over its anti-corruption agency, but the person who should be most concerned, the Prime Minister under whom the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) directly comes under, is blissfully indifferent and unconcerned.

Its coming to two weeks since academician Edmund Terence Gomez resigned as a member of MACC Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel in protest against MACC’s failure to act on the conflict-of-interest allegations against the MACC Chief Commissioner Azam Baki but the Prime Minister has not said a single word of Azam-gate, the latest scandal of scandal-ridden Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »

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As MACC is facing worst crisis of confidence in 55 year history of anti-corruption agency, Ismail Sabri should extend special Parliament to two days with the second day specially devoted to restoring public confidence in government’s anti-corruption programme

The Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri, has called for a special Dewan Rakyat meeting on January 20 focussing on the floods disaster in various areas in Malaysia.

It is an eternal shame to the Malaysian Parliament that the government was not prepared to have a special debate on the floods disaster when the floods were at or near their worst at a time when Parliament was still in session, but now there is going to be a special one-day Parliament on the floods disaster on January 2001. Read the rest of this entry »

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Could the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department meet next week and table a report on the conflict-of-interest allegations against the MACC Chief Commissioner in Parliament by January 20?

(Versi BM)

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commissioner (MACC) Chief Commissioner Azam Baki has opened the Pandora’s Box.

Azam has not only plunged the MACC into its worst confidence crisis, not only in the 12-year history of MACC and 55-year history of Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency, he has raised the question about the usefulness of the five purportedly “independent” committees to ensure the MACC’s integrity and performance and to protect the citizens’ rights. Read the rest of this entry »

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MACC’s Anti-Corruption Advisory Board acted ultra vires in clearing MACC Chief Commissioner Azam Baki of conflict-of-interest allegation when it has no power to do so under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009

(Versi BM)

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) Anti-Corruption Advisory Board acted ultra vires in clearing the MACC Chief Commissioner Azam Baki of conflict-of-interest allegation when the Board has no power to do so under the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009.

Section 13 of the MACC Act 2009 stipulates six functions of the of the MACC Anti-Corruption Advisory Board and none of them gives it power to clear the MACC Chief Commissioner of conflict-of-interest allegations. Read the rest of this entry »

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Why Azam is not prepared to say that he is prepared appear before the Parliamentary SSC on Agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department to clear himself of the conflict-of-interest allegation against him first made more than two months ago

(Versi BM)

The Chairman of the MACC Anti-Corruption Advisory Board Abu Zahar Ujang said the MACC Chief Commissioner Azam Baki had told the Board on Nov. 24 that his trading account was used by his brother to acquire shares in two companies in 2015.

Abu Zahar said the Board was satisfied with Azam’s explanation that he had neither pecuniary interest nor conflict of interest in the acquisition of those shares.

The pertinent question is why Azam is not prepared to say that he is prepared to appear before the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department; to clear himself of the conflict-of-interest allegations first made against him more than two months ago.
Read the rest of this entry »

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Ismail Sabri’s clarification on no imminent Cabinet reshuffle welcome but why he is still shy on commenting on the conflict-of-interest allegation against the MACC Chief Commissioner?

(Versi BM)

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri’s clarification yesterday that there is no imminent Cabinet reshuffle is most welcome, but it highlights his failure or inability to comment on the conflict-of-interest allegation of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commissioner Chief Commissioner Azam Baki for more than two months.

The issue of Azam Baki has been swirling in the public limelight for more than a week since the resignation of Edmund Terence Gomes from MACC’s Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel and many personalities have called on Ismail Sabri to break his silence as the allegation of Azam Baki’s conflict-of-interest which was made more than two months ago. Read the rest of this entry »

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Would MACC approve the appointment of a convicted corruption criminal as a Cabinet Minister?

(Versi BM)

A website reported on Sunday that there was going to be a Cabinet reshuffle and four Ministers will be replaced – the Finance Minister, Tengku Zafrul Aziz; the Minister of Youth and Sports, Ahmad Faizal Azumu; the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Abdul Latiff Ahmad, the Minister for Women, Family and Community Development Rina Harun would be replaced by, among others, Najib Razak as Economic Adviser in the Prime Minister’s Department, Ahmad Maslan as Finance Minister and Shahril Hamdan as Minister for Youth and Sports.

I do not know how true is the report but appointing Najib Razak to any Ministerial position or post would be crossing the “red line” and will jeopardise the confidence-supply-reform (CSR) Memorandum of Understanding (Mo0) signed by Prime Minister Ismail Sabri and the four Pakatan Harapan leaders on Sept. 13, 2021. Read the rest of this entry »

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If Azam is not prepared to appear before the Parliamentary SSC on Agencies in the PM’s Department, Ismail Sabri should terminate Azam’s appointment as MACC Chief Commissioner and take immediate steps to transfer the MACC from the PM’s Department to Parliament

(Versi BM)

If Azam Baki is not prepared to appear before the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on the Agencies in the Prime Minister’s Department on the serious allegations which had been made against him two months ago, the Prime Minister Ismail Sabri should terminate Azam’s appointment as Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner and take immediate steps to transfer the MACC from the PM’s Department to Parliament.

Ismail Sabri should present this proposal for Cabinet approval at the Cabinet meeting tomorrow – or will there be no Cabinet meeting tomorrow? Read the rest of this entry »

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Azam Baki should resign as MACC Chief Commissioner if he is not prepared to appear before the Parliamentary Special Select Committee for Agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department to explain the serious allegations against him which compromised national anti-corruption efforts

After causing two infamies to Malaysia, turning the country into a kleptocracy and opening an international conference as a convicted criminal for corruption, there is an attempt to score a triple infamy to Malaysia by suddenly appearing like a white knight in shining armour vying to be the country’s leading crusader against corruption in Malaysia.

Ensuring that Malaysia is an honest and non-corrupt country and acknowledged worldwide as among the top 30 countries regarded as least corrupt is serious business, and I will not be part of a charade so that someone could score triple infamy of corruption to Malaysia. Read the rest of this entry »

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Pakatan Harapan must resolve four communications failures before the 15th General Election if PH is not to suffer from these four misperceptions

(Versi BM)

Pakatan Harapan must resolve four communications failures before the 15th General Election if PH is not to suffer from these four misperceptions.

The first is the image of the Pakatan Harapan Government.

Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, in his new book on his 22-month premiership of the Pakatan Harapan government said that there was the allegation that the DAP was dominating the PH Government. Read the rest of this entry »

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Whether 2022 will be a year of rejecting corruption will depend on three things led by the issue of Azam Baki as MACC Chief Commissioner

A former Prime Minister in his 2022 New Year message hoped that 2022 will be better than 2020 and 2021, and that it would be a year of rejecting corruption to save Malaysia.

He said Malaysians must reject corruption and choose incorruptible leaders if the country is to have any hope to achieving its potential. Read the rest of this entry »

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How can Malaysia be back on track of long-term economic plan in 2022 when it could not even return to pre-Emergency days of the Covid-19 pandemic let alone end the 15-month third Covid-19 wave in Malaysia, which has become the longest Covid-19 wave in the world?

The Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri in his special New Year message yesterday, expressed the hope that 2022 will see Malaysia back on track of long-term economic plan.

Ismail Sabri is being very unrealistic. Read the rest of this entry »

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Appeal to GPMS, Mappim and Gapena not to appeal the Kuala Lumpur High Court judgement on the constitutionality of Chinese and Tamil primary schools but to provide leadership to undo the half-a-century of national decline losing out to other countries

(Versi BM)

2021 has the been the worst annus horribilis (horrible year), more than any year past, for Malaysia – Covid-19 pandemic, floods, kleptocracy, a convict opening an international conference, Kerajaan Gagal1 and Kerajaan Gagal2 among the long list of failures.

Should Malaysians give in to despair, dejection, despondency and hopelessness?

I do not think so. Read the rest of this entry »

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Abu Zahar has got the wrong end of the stick – the issue is not Gomez but Azam

(Versi BM)

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Advisory Board Chairman Abu Zahar Ujang has got the wrong end of the stick – the issue is not academician Edmund Terence Gomez but the MACC Chief Commissioner Azam Baki.

Gomez’ shock resignation has only highlighted the Azam Baki issue. Read the rest of this entry »

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Covid Infamy in Malaysia: In 30 days in December 2021, Malaysia has 20 times Covid-19 cases and four times Covid-19 deaths of Indonesia, which has more than eight times the population of Malaysia

(Versi BM)

Today is the last day of the last week for 2021.

I have written about an infamy a day for Malaysia in the six days for the last week of 2021.

Today is no exception. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ibrahim Durum has failed as the Malacca State Assembly Speaker in frivolously allowing the four-day Malacca Assembly to be shortened to one day when Malacca had the second lowest daily new Covid-19 cases since Polling Day on 20th November and no Covid-19 death on Dec. 27, 2021

(Versi BM)

Ibrahim Durum has failed as the Malacca State Assembly Speaker in frivolously allowing the four-day Malacca State Assembly to be shortened to one day when Malacca had the second lowest daily new Covid-19 cases since Polling Day on November 20 and no Covid-19 death on Dec. 27, 2021.

The Malacca State Assembly Speaker should not have allowed the Malacca Chief Minister, Sulaiman Md Ali to move the motion to shorten the State Assembly from four days to one day on the ground that four Malacca State Assemblymen did not attend because they were tested positive for Covid-19 while three other assemblymen were absent after coming into close contact with those who had tested positive. Read the rest of this entry »

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Call on all members the Parliamentary Special Select Committee for Agencies under the Prime Minister’s Department to agree to summon MACC Chief Comissioner Azam Baki to respond to serious allegations of impropriety first made more than two months ago

(Versi BM)

The ideal situation is to have a Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Corruption and Abuses/Wastage of Public Funds which should conduct an investigation into the allegations of lack of integrity which have been made against the MACC Chief Commissioner, Azam Bai, more than two months ago and which has prompted academician Edmund Terence Gomez to resign from the MACC’s Consultation and Corruption Prevention Panel for the MACC inaction in the last two months.

But even if Prime Minister Ismail Sabri agrees to set up such a Parliamentary Special Select Committee, which is a very big “If”, such a Special Select Committee can only be set up when Parliament next meets, which is two months away on February 28, when what is needed urgently is immediate action as the trust deficit in the government generallty and the MACC in particular has dropped to an all-time low.
Read the rest of this entry »

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Infamy of Infamies – the 1MDB “kleptocracy at its worst” scandal

(versi BM)

Thanks goodness, it was not all news of infamy for Malaysia every day for the last week for the year 2021 – as there were also some good news and one came yesterday when the High Court in Kuala Lumpur ruled that the existence and establishment of vernacular schools and the use of Chinese and Tamil languages in schools are constitutional.

Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali ruled that vernacular schools are not a public authority and the use of a non-Malay medium of instruction for teaching in Chinese and Tamil vernacular schools is not for an official purpose and thus, did not infringe Article 152 (1) of the Federal Constitution. Read the rest of this entry »

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