Najib Makes False Claims on TV
Posted by Kit in Economics, Martin Jalleh, Najib Razak on Thursday, 14 March 2013, 12:03 pm
By Martin Jalleh
A beast out of time
By Stan CH Lee | 13 March 2013
The Drawing Is On The Wall
If there is any doubt that the time is up for BN, it will be swiftly removed by watching the actions of its minions trying to show their strength and power at the most primitive, gutteral level possible. In scenes that belongs more to a WWE ring than on the streets of Malaysia, the BN hoodlums and hired thugs try to intimidate sensible Malaysians by acting in the most violent, disgusting ways. They have been raining stones and bottles on PR Ceramahs. They have gatecrashed talks and thrown chairs around. They have attacked PR buses. They have tried to kick down the glass doors at LGE’s office. They have even thrown fists at Nurul.
They have also set up their very loud ceramahs in the immediate vicinity of planned PR talks with the intent of drowning out the opposition with their superior sound systems. Everything about them is big, loud, brash. All these were done with the Police simply watching. Tacitly approved by the silence of the BN leadership.
Read the rest of this entry »
The Petronas dilemma
LAWRENCE YONG
KiniBiz
MARCH 8, 2013
Oil is all about access, not production. And therefore only those who have access to the black gold can pump up extraordinary profits.
It is estimated that three quarters of the world’s 1,653 billion barrels of proven oil reserves are in the hands of national oil companies with no foreign participation. Many of them are in the OPEC cartel. That’s how they have managed to control supply and keep oil prices soaring.
Then you have the anomaly – the so-called century old multi-national oil companies, ExxonMobil Corp, The Royal Dutch/Shell Group, BP and Chevron Corp – who used to own the oil world. Now they offer their expertise and know-how to any country who will lend them access…and still make extraordinary profits (minus pollution payouts) because they have established markets everywhere…
But therein lies Petronas’ dilemma, a young upstart of 38 years which has neither full know-how nor international access or great oil assets. It is struggling between transforming into an international major oil company or staying as a national oil concern. Fairly speaking, Petronas is now neither here nor there.
One long-time observer of the company put it unkindly : “They are earning a reputation for biting off more than they can chew.” Read the rest of this entry »
Sabah natives: We’re losing our lives too
Alyaa Azhar | March 13, 2013
Free Malaysia Today
Media organisations are urged to highlight the misery of indigenous peoples living in the Lahad Datu area.
KUALA LUMPUR: A group representing Sabah natives has urged the media to highlight the suffering indigenous peoples have to bear as Malaysian forces battle Sulu invaders in the state.
Andrew Ambrose, who leads the Sabah Coalition of Human Rights Organisations (Sacohuro), told reporters today that the presence of security forces in the Lahad Datu area had severely disrupted the lives of locals.
He paid tribute to the soldiers and policemen fighting the invaders and offered his sympathies to the families of the fallen, but said the natives too were losing their lives in a sense.
“The presence of security forces have been greatly felt, thanks to the media, which have been showing images of them on ground zero on a daily basis,” said Ambrose.
“But the people of Sabah, especially the indigenous people, are feeling insecure and helpless. Read the rest of this entry »
Our Fallen Heroes
by Allan CF Goh
“Theirs is not to question why,
Theirs is but to do and die.”
No more will they see the sky,
Return to earth, they will lie.
They sustain our tomorrow,
When sadly killed in action.
They are our fallen heroes,
Felled, fighting for the nation. Read the rest of this entry »
Mahathir kata bankrap, Musa kata tidak
Posted by Kit in Economics, Elections, Mahathir, Pakatan Rakyat on Thursday, 14 March 2013, 8:48 am
— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
March 14, 2013
14 MAC — Kenyataan Musa Hitam semalam memberikan pencerahan yang sangat baik untuk politik rakyat dan negara. Beliau tidak bersetuju apa yang didakyahkan oleh pimpinan Umno khususnya Dr Mahathir Mohamad yang negara akan bankrap jika Pakatan Rakyat memerintah selepas pilihanraya yang akan datang ini.
Musa berkata Pakatan Rakyat akan bekerja keras untuk memastikan yang negara akan terus mencapai kemajuan dan tidak akan melalaikan tanggungjawab yang buat pertama kali diberikan oleh rakyat terhadap pihak pembangkang.
Musa juga tidak bersetuju dengan politik rasis yang menebal sekarang dan pihak yang memainkan sentimen perkauman itu merupakan permainan poltik bankrap yang sudah tidak relevan lagi buat masa dan zaman ini. Kenyataan Musa ini tentunya bertentangan dengan pandangan Dr Mahathir, seorang pemimpin yang boleh berjalan di atas air itu.
Dr Mahathir yang akhir-akhir ini seperti orang yang dalam ketakutan yang amat sangat itu telah membuat kenyataan-kenyataan yang menghangatkan dengan bermatlamat untuk membina dan meningkatkan sentimen perkauman di negara ini.
Beliau (Mahathir) telah meminta Felda untuk memainkan filem Tanda Putera bagi menaikkan perasaan kebencian orang Melayu terhadap kaum Cina dan ianya tentulah untuk menghalang DAP yang menjadi sasaran cemuhan Mahathir akhir-akhir ini.
Seperti yang saya sebutkan selalu Umno hanya akan kekal berkuasa jika ada perbalahan dan perpecahan. Umno tidak kekal jika rakyat dan negara dalam keadaan aman dan damai. Maka itulah sebabnya Umno sentiasa berusaha untuk meningkatkan perasaan benci-membenci di antara kaum agar parti itu terus menjadi parti pemerintah yang berkemampuan untuk melakukan rasuah secara sistematik. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s not the economy, stupid
Posted by Kit in Economics, Elections, Najib Razak, Ong Kian Ming on Thursday, 14 March 2013, 7:55 am
by ONG KIAN MING
MARCH 13, 2013
KiniBiz
A foreign fund manager asked me this question last month – “What exactly are Malaysians unhappy with?” After all, the country grew by 5.6% in 2012 compared to a lethargic 1.2% for Singapore for the same year. Investment, measured by gross fixed capital formation grew by an astounding 25% in 2012 compared to a lacklustre 10.2% in 2011.
As a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP – sum of goods and services produced in a year), investment was approximately 26% in 2012 compared to only 18% in 2009. Foreign direct investment in 2012 reached RM34.8 billion, a significant improvement on the abysmal RM5.0 billion in 2009.
The government seems to have a clear plan of action in putting the country back on track via the Economic and Government Transformation Plans (ETP and GTP). The shopping malls and hotels are bustling in Kuala Lumpur. New buildings and hotels are sprouting up all around the Klang Valley area.
The LRT and MRT projects will address the congestion problems in the Greater KL area and increase property values and development opportunities around their vicinity. Malaysia also had the 2nd and 3rd largest public listing in the world after Facebook via Felda Global Ventures Holding (FGVH) and IHH Healthcare.
Things seem to be looking pretty good for the country. But why is there still talk of the Barisan Nasional losing power in the upcoming general election? Read the rest of this entry »
Pope Captivates Crowds With 1st Words About Peace
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON Associated Press
VATICAN CITY March 14, 2013 (AP)
Before they even saw his face, Pope Francis had already won over the Roman masses.
The announcement that he would be known by the same name as St. Francis of Assisi, patron saint of Italy, sent the crowd into ecstasy.
He did even better with his first words, when the 76-year-old Argentine said the cardinals had reached to the “end of the earth” to find the bishop of Rome — recalling the beloved Pope John Paul II, a Polish cardinal who told his first crowd in 1978 that cardinals had called him “from a far country.”
The former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio is the son of an Italian immigrant and his Italian is only lightly accented.
“Let us pray for the whole world, that there may be a great spirit of fraternity,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
Call on all parties and persons involved to unite as patriotic Malaysians to face the Sabah Sulu crisis as one united people to fully restore national sovereignty and security and welfare of Sabahans
I regret that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in his hour-long programme of “Conversation with the PM” televised on TV3, Bernama TV, RTM and Astro Awani last night failed to address adequately and fully the Sabah Sulu crisis which has entered into its fifth week, causing the death of eight policemen and one soldier and 56 Sulu terrorists.
I want firstly to convey my deepest condolences to Private Mohd Hurairah Ismail from Pasir Mas, Kelantan , the first soldier to be killed by Sulu terrorists in an exchange of fire in Sungai Nyamuk in Lahad Datu yesterday.
Mohd Hurairah, like the eight police commandoes who were killed by Sulu terrorists in Kampung Tanduo in Lahad Datu and Semporna, died as a national hero in the defence of national sovereignty and the security of the people of Sabah and the nation owes them an eternal gratitude.
This is why I feel very strongly that there should be a special session of Parliament not only for MPs from both sides of the political divide to express full support and solidarity for all necessary measures by the security forces to deal with the Sabah Sulu crisis but also to pay tribute and honour the nine brave fallen heroes from the security forces and to assure the nation that the government, from whichever political coalition, Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat, will look after the welfare, as well the life-long education needs of the children, of the bereaved families as an token of national appreciation of their sacrifices.
This is one reason why I am very disappointed about the Prime Minister’s hour-long television interview last night, especially as I had sent an Open Letter to him yesterday urging the Cabinet today to convene a special Parliamentary session within the week, to adopt an unanimous resolution on the Sabah Sulu crisis on at least six points, viz: Read the rest of this entry »
Save Malaysia from Dr M
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Martin Jalleh on Wednesday, 13 March 2013, 3:07 pm
by Martin Jalleh
Supporting Wong Tack as the Green Candidate in Bentong
by CPI Asia
We, the undersigned individuals, support Himpunan Hijau’s proposal for its chairperson Wong Tack to stand as the green candidate under Pakatan Rakyat in Bentong, Pahang taking on Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai in the coming general elections.
Wong Tack’s candidacy signifies the frustrating scene of the green movement. Despite the unprecedented electoral setback in the March 8 political tsunami five years ago, the Government has demonstrated an arrogant and irresponsible attitude towards environmental protection. From the Lynas rare earth processing plant in Kuantan, cyanide gold mining in Raub, the proposed petrochemical plant in Pengerang, aluminum plant in Mukah, to the dams in Inland Sarawak and Cameron Highlands, environmentally harmful projects have been introduced or allowed operation in complete disregard of the well-being and health of the local residents and ecology.
Wong Tack’s candidacy is a milestone in green politics in Malaysia, which has so far been staying away from direct participation in electoral politics. Rallies and petitions in the past three years over the issues of Lynas, cyanide gold mining, Pengerang and other polluting projects have failed to bring any real policy changes. The angry roaring of communities and citizens has fallen on deaf ears of politicians and bureaucrats, who care more about the interests of foreign capital.
It is therefore time to have more green-minded lawmakers in our Parliament and State Legislative Assemblies to scrunitise our laws and policies to keep environmental disasters at bay. Wong Tack, whose team has effectively put Lynas in the minds of the Malaysian public, is certainly one of the most relevant and representative faces. In this regard, taking on Liow Tiong Lai will also be apt since the Health Minister has repeatedly neglected public interests and misinformed the public with regards to the Lynas plant, cyanide gold mining and the firing of tear gas and water cannons at Tung Shin Hospital in July 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
29-Day Countdown to 13GE – Najib doth claim too much, that Malaysia is world’s fastest country in GNI per capita growth which is as believable as his boast to make Malaysia “world’s best democracy”
Posted by Kit in Economics, Elections, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 13 March 2013, 9:32 am
I do not envy in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s shoes at present as he must continue to put up an external front of supreme confidence that he will not be the last Umno/Barisan Nasional Prime Minister and would even survive a coup d’etat in Umno ala-Abdullah Badawi after the 13GE while internally he must be quaking with gnawing doubts whether he could survive the final countdown for the “life-and-death” test for his political life.
As a result, he doth protest and claim too much.
Yesterday, the TV3 programme “Conversation with the PM” provided another example that the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia “doth claim too much” when he said:
“And when you talk in terms of benefit for the people, within three years, from 2009 to the end of 2011, our GNI (gross national income) per capita, it grew from US$6,670 to US$9,970. That’s roughly a 49 per cent (increase). There is no country in the world that has achieved that kind of result”.
Najib’s claim to be the fastest country in the world for GNI per capita growth in the three years from 2009 to 2011 is as believable as his other claim to transform Malaysia to be the world’s best democracy, when he could not even stand up to national and international scrutiny for the conduct of a free, fair and clean general elections despite his recent signature of the Transparency International-Malaysia’s Election Integrity Pledge. Instead, Najib is branded internationally as a “false democrat”.
Najib made two false claims in one short assertion last night – for Malaysia’s per capita GNI did not increase by 49 per cent in the three years from 2009 to 2011, and Malaysia is definitely not the world’s fastest country in per capita GNI growth in those three years.
The World Bank website shows the true numbers for Malaysia’s GNI per capita for the relevant period, viz: Read the rest of this entry »
Najib: More time needed to show results before polls
Posted by Kit in Elections, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 13 March 2013, 6:46 am
Malaysiakini-Bernama
11:38PM Mar 12, 2013
Before calling for the next general election, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak said he first wanted to show to the people what had actually been achieved through the various initiatives in the country’s transformation agenda.
He said this in the ‘Conversation with the PM’ programme aired over TV3 tonight.
Noting that real changes were taking place since he took office in 2009, he said the government would need more time to ensure that the people felt the positive outcome of the transformation agenda.
“Because, when we plan things, it does take time (to show results), but I’m pleased that the outcome is positive,” he said. Read the rest of this entry »
We must learn from the lessons of Lahad Datu
Melia Dangin
Malaysiakini
Mar 12, 2013
In the early 1990s, a small group of Filipino men heavily armed with M16s guns and grenade launchers appeared suddenly in Semporna town.
Their target? None other than the small Semporna police station, the nearby equally small marine base and the police barracks.
These marauders operated with military precision. How else do you explain their capability in trapping our security personnel in their own base?
They had positioned themselves strategically and rendered our men immobile.
They took control of Semporna for about 20 minutes from the time they cornered the police and moved to the town centre less than 800 metres away firing randomly into the air.
Fortunately, there were no casualties and a family of three who were taken hostage at a nearby kampung were unharmed. The marauders managed to escape the police cordon shortly before midnight that same day. Read the rest of this entry »
Don’t fear the consequences of change
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Economics, Elections, Good Governance, Politics on Wednesday, 13 March 2013, 5:19 am
Anwar Ibrahim
Malaysiakini
Mar 12, 2013
COMMENT
The present Umno-BN government of Najib Abdul Razak is living on borrowed time. It doesn’t want to admit it but its legitimacy is now totally in question because constitutionally, its full term has expired.
The people’s patience is tested to the limit here by the audacity of a government that goes on ruling without a mandate.
A number of bogus analysts and self-appointed doomsday prophets, especially those driven by very personal agendas, have warned that Malaysia will descend into political and economic chaos in the event of a Pakatan Rakyat victory.
On the other hand, the more genuine and independent observers have expressed greater optimism. For instance, the original ‘Dr Doom’, Prof Roubini, says that our economy will stay robust even with a change in government.
We know that a mandate for change is not limited to the political sphere though it is true that without that mandate, economic management itself will be off to a false start.
When Indonesia made that break from military autocracy to constitutional democracy, much of the focus of the free world was on how its economy would weather the transition.
And in their case, transition would stretch for years and indeed the fruits of that initial process of political upheaval are for all to see.
In the case of the Arab Spring, the major worry remains the lack of clearly defined policies that would set the road map to economic recovery and growth.
They are still finding their way and it won’t be an easy way but that is no excuse for rejecting freedom and democracy.
Certainly, political stability is a key factor, and I might just emphasise the most crucial factor in setting the direction and objectives of economic management. Read the rest of this entry »
Speaking up on Lahad Datu is patriotism
Stan CH Lee
Malaysiakini
Mar 9, 2013
First off, I wish to put on record my heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the families of the soldiers who laid down their lives for the country. I do not for one moment doubt your courage and commitment to the defence of our country. Malaysians of all backgrounds owe you a debt that can never be repaid.
Defence of the country’s sovereignty is the duty of all Malaysians who love the country. National defence is not something that most people wear on their sleeves. However, this duty extends beyond the physical defence of the country, which is the job of the armed forces.
It should and must include speaking up when things are not right. This is something that we as a people have not done for so many years, having left that to our elected representatives in parliament.
However, the Lahad Datu Invasion weighs heavy on my mind, as it does that of many, many concerned Malaysians. This is not to denigrate nor trivialise the sacrifices made by our armed forces. The dangers are real. Bombs and bullets do fly. Read the rest of this entry »
Probe Umno links to Sulus
Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | March 12, 2013
Free Malaysia Today
The bigger fear among Umno leaders is that any drastic military action would have destroyed the reservoir of potential voters among the Filipinos with Malaysian Identity Cards.
COMMENT
Umno Baru godfather Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the government misread the situation in Lahad Datu.
He said: “At first we did not think the intrusion was as an external threat for they [Sulu gunmen] were on our shore. But now that it is clear that the invasion is an attack from outside, the military was ordered to move in.”
Since this was an invasion by a group of foreign nationals threatening the safety of our country and citizens, the army should have stepped in from the very begining.
Why was the Malaysian government dilatory in dealing with the Sulu invaders?
Mahathir claims the government “acted cautiously” because the intruders were Muslims.
But the likelihood is greater that the bigger fear among Umno leaders was that drastic military action would have destroyed the reservoir of potential voters among the Filipinos with Malaysian Identity Cards, beneficiaries of Mahathir’s “Project IC” in Sabah.
To unleash our military might would be to destroy a fixed deposit that has kept Umno-Barisan Nasional in power here for decades. Read the rest of this entry »
Should Malaysia be saved from Dr Mahathir?
— Bangsa Malaysia
The Malaysian Insider
Mar 11, 2013
MARCH 11 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad may not be standing for elections anymore but ultimately he is just like any politician who will do or say anything to stay in power.
As evidence just take a look at his latest remarks about saving the Malays from the opposition.
As reported in The Malaysian Insider yesterday he has dropped all pretense for a Bangsa Malaysia and has gone for the Malay vote and slammed the Opposition for listening and accommodating the views and needs of the non-Malays.
State news agency Bernama quoted the country’s longest-serving prime minister as saying that Selangor must be saved from the opposition to ensure the rights and position of the Malays and Bumiputeras are maintained in the state.
Really? The Malays and Bumiputeras need saving? Read the rest of this entry »
If security forces given free hand to deal with Sulu gunmen as militants instead of as “intruders, neither militants nor terrorists”, Sabah Sulu crisis would have ended faster and without loss of lives of eight police personnel
Thirty days after the invasion of the east coast of Sabah by a ragtag group of armed militants and terrorists, resulting in the death of eight police personnel in Lahad Datu and Semporna some three weeks later accompanied by the most gruesome, barbaric and savage mutilation of some of the police personnel who were still alive, including finger-chopping, eye-ripping and beheading, the Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa, who is also the chairman of the Sabah Security Committee, suddenly realized that the ragtag group of Sulu killers were not “intruders” but “terrorists”!
From yesterday, the media were directed by Musa to stop using the term “intruder” and to use “terrorist” instead.
But what is very strange is that it is not just the media who are guilty of the misnomer, all the top guns in government from political to security leadership, from the three Ministers who drop in and out of Sabah during the duration of the crisis, namely Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi and Foreign Minister Anifah Aman, to the security chiefs including the Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar and the Armed Forces Chief Gen Zulkifeli Mohd Zin were all guilty for more than four weeks in using the misnomer.
Even the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak when he finally visited Lahad Datuk on March 7, some 26 days after the first landing of Sulu terrorists on Feb. 9, also continued to talk about “intruders” instead of “terrorists” – betraying a serious problem of mindset of those responsible for managing the Sabah Sulu crisis.
There will be many unforgettable photographs preserving for posterity some the bloody and gruesome vignettes from the hitherto 30-day Sabah Sulu crisis. Among these unforgettable pics will be one showing the Home Minister in his first visit to Lahad Datuk on Feb. 18, peering at Kampong Tanduo through his powerful binoculars to survey the armed Sulu group and declaring that although the group was armed, they were “neither militants nor terrorists”. Read the rest of this entry »
30-Day Countdown to 13GE – Open Letter to Najib proposing Cabinet decision tomorrow to convene special Parliamentary session within a week on Sabah Sulu crisis
Posted by Kit in Defence, Parliament, Sabah on Tuesday, 12 March 2013, 1:11 pm
I am today issuing this Open Letter to the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak:
“YAB Datuk Seri Najib Razak,
Prime Minister,
Malaysia.
YAB Datuk Seri,
Cabinet decision tomorrow to convene special Parliamentary session within a week on Sabah Sulu crisis to condemn cruel, inhuman and barbaric killing of Malaysian policemen by Sulu terrorists and call to Philippines Government to officially drop all claims to Sabah
———————————————————————————————————
I am still reeling from shock, horror and revulsion from the Chinese media reports yesterday about the cruel, inhuman and barbaric killings of Malaysian policemen by Sulu terrorists in the water village, Kampung Simunul in Semporna on March 2 as revealed by the Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in Ipoh on Sunday – sadistic and savage atrocities like cutting off of fingers, ripping of eyes and beheading when our fallen heroes in Semporna were still alive.
To my knowledge, this is the first time there is official confirmation of such unspeakable atrocities committed by the Sulu terrorists against members of our security forces in Semporna although there had been rumours and later confirmation of uncivilized mutilation and beheading of corpses .
I am addressing this Open Letter to you to urge the Cabinet tomorrow to take an decision of great national importance – to convene a special session of Parliament as the eight fallen national heroes from the police forces in Lahad Datu and Semporna, as well as all the security forces personnel who had suffered injury in the Sabah Sulu crisis, deserve no less than a fulsome tribute and recognition from all Ministers and Parliamentarians, regardless of political party, race, religion or region, in a special Parliamentary session.
On 12th January last year, a special Parliamentary session was convened where all MPs condemned in unison the Israeli atrocities on Palestinians in the Gaza.
YAB Prime Minister’s Cabinet and the 12th Parliament will be seriously remiss in their duties if they are not equally prepared to convene a special Parliamentary session to condemn the atrocities on the Malaysian security forces by Sulu terrorists in Lahad Datu and Semporna. Read the rest of this entry »
