Lament of a Stressed-out Minister
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye on Wednesday, 24 October 2012, 8:43 am
By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysiakini
Oct 23, 2012
I tell you, it’s tough laa being a minister these days.
We have to take so much shit. From the media, from Facebook, from bloggers, from the Opposition. It was so different when Mahathir was PM. Nobody dared to question any minister then. Nobody wrote a word to criticise. But now …
And it’s not like we make that much money. Our salary is nothing compared to Singapore. Some more, the people don’t appreciate it. They think we are getting kickbacks left, right and centre.
This recent case over Musa Aman getting RM40 million … it’s not him, the money was for Umno. Political donation. What’s wrong with that? PM Najib already said it’s proper. But people still want to make trouble and call it money laundering. Just because Michael Chia got stopped when he was bringing the money out from Hong Kong. Read the rest of this entry »
Bankrupt Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M)
Posted by Kit in Elections, MCA, Najib Razak, UMNO on Wednesday, 24 October 2012, 8:33 am
Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Oct 22, 2012
The election chest is empty, chaos threatens BN, the overseas bolt-holes paid for with taxpayers’ money look increasingly inviting to corrupt politicians and Malaysians no longer feel that the government is on their side.
(With apologies to the composer of the popular children’s song below)
There’s a hole in the budget, dear Rosmah, dear Rosmah,
There’s a hole in the budget, dear Rosmah, a hole.
Then mend it, dear Najib, dear Najib, dear Najib,
Then mend it, dear Najib, dear Najib, mend it.With what shall I mend it, dear Rosmah, dear Rosmah?
With what shall I mend it, dear Rosmah, with what?
With an AES, dear Najib, dear Najib, dear Najib,
With an AES, dear Najib, dear Najib, with an AES.There’s a hole in my budget, dear Rosmah, dear Rosmah,
There’s a hole in my budget, dear Rosmah, a hole.
Use your head, then! dear Najib, dear Najib, dear Najib,
Use your head, then! dear Najib, dear Najib, use your head!
With former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad taking potshots at him from the fringes and many in his own coalition undermining him, isn’t it time someone put Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak out of his misery?
Few in his party consider him a capable leader and it does appear as if Najib is the only one who believes that he is up to the job. Either this prime minister has hidden talents, or we are blind to his abilities. Read the rest of this entry »
Why are non-Malays enemies of BN?
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, nation building on Tuesday, 23 October 2012, 8:45 pm
— Jaleel Hameed
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 23, 2012
OCT 23 — Tan Sri Sanusi Junid’s revelation today about Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s economic policy is shocking. How can any Malaysian government base its policy on Hitlerian Germany’s anti-Jew measures? How can it equate non-Malays to Jews, to be sidelined economically in the pursuit of a richer Malay community?
And why have non-Malays, no less citizens of Malaysia, become enemies of the Barisan Nasional (BN) under Dr Mahathir? Is the current government also following Dr Mahathir’s line and think the non-Malays should be ostracised?
Come, sirs in Putrajaya, pray tell? Are we really a country that uses race like Hitler when conducting business? That anyone who isn’t Malay shouldn’t be allowed to compete or must be handicapped to ensure the Malays progress further?
Sir, what does that make the Malays? We are a race that have competed and can compete with the world but you, yes you in BN, sir, make us look so unworthy that we need policies to make sure we can do well. Read the rest of this entry »
Dr M defends policies, says Jews created problems
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Finance, Mahathir, nation building on Tuesday, 23 October 2012, 8:38 pm
By Zurairi AR
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 23, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today blamed Jews for “creating problems for us,” and pointed out that while his economic policies may have been interpreted as anti-Semitic it was actually to help develop Malaysia.
This morning, former Cabinet minister Tan Sri Sanusi Junid said Dr Mahathir’s policies when he was prime minister were inspired by Germany’s past policy of limiting Jewish financial influence to help the Malays but they were later thwarted by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Sanusi told a Malay economic forum that Dr Mahathir and former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin were hoping that Malays would control the economy but when they saw progress was slow, they decided to follow the German example of not granting banking licences to Jews, in their treatment of Chinese interests.
“The problem is that they (Jews) were the ones who created problems for us and the world because they disobeyed international law and got away with it,” Dr M said in a press conference this afternoon.
He also pointed out that he won the general election in 1999 because non-Malays supported him, while Malays refused to since they thought his treatment of Anwar was unfair. Read the rest of this entry »
Germany’s past anti-Jew policy inspired Dr M’s banking reforms, says Sanusi
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Mahathir, nation building on Tuesday, 23 October 2012, 8:32 pm
By Lee Wei Lian
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 23, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was inspired by Germany’s past policy of limiting Jewish financial influence to help the Malays but it was later thwarted by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, former Cabinet minister Tan Sri Sanusi Junid said today.
Sanusi told a Malay economic forum that Dr Mahathir and former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin were hoping that Malays would control the economy but when they saw progress was slow, they decided to follow the German example of not granting banking licences to Jews.
But the plan failed when Anwar became finance minister and approved two banking licences to non-Malay banking groups — Alliance Bank and Hong Leong Bank.
“We thought that if we can’t control the economy, we would follow Germany,” Sanusi said at the Malay Economic Congress here. “In Germany banking licences are not given to the Jews.” Read the rest of this entry »
MCA and UMNO leaders’ “devil’s compact” for each side to tell the most blatant lies and falsehoods to frighten Chinese and Malay voters respectively
Posted by Kit in DAP, Elections, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, PAS, UMNO on Tuesday, 23 October 2012, 5:21 pm
My first reaction to the speech by the MCA President Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek at the MCA 59th Annual General Assembly on Sunday is one of outrage that so much lies and falsehoods could be crammed into a single speech.
Just three examples of such lies and falsehoods spouted by Chua on Sunday:
1. “DAP has succeeded in convincing non-Mulsims that PAS’ hudud will reduce crime and corruption in the country. This is another big lie. Of the 11 countries that practice hudud, eight are regarded as the most corrupted and they are also recognized as unstable and unsafe countries.”
2. “UBAH is for :- U for Untuk, B for Bentuk, A for Agama and H for Hudud ala PAS. CHANGE, would mean :-C = Choose H = Hudud A = At N = Next G = General E = Election”
3. “It (DAP) will continue to mislead, give false hope to the Chinese that if the Chinese vote DAP, they are empowered to be kingmaker in the country”
Chua is desperately trying to convince himself and Malaysians that DAP is championing PAS’ hudud to the extent of arguing that it will “reduce crime and corruption” in Malaysia and turning the 13 General Election into a referendum for “hudud ala PAS”.
Chua is right. This is a “big lie”, but a big lie perpetrated by Chua himself and not by the DAP. Read the rest of this entry »
Sure signs of MCA’s terminal disease
Posted by Kit in Elections, MCA, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 23 October 2012, 3:21 pm
Stanley Koh | October 23, 2012
Free Malaysia Today
The writing was all over the wall at Dewan San Choon last weekend.
COMMENT
If anyone still needs to be convinced that MCA is in its death throes, then the loud talk, the sabre rattling and the tasteless pomp at its 59th annual general assembly should do the trick.
The weekend meeting gave unmistakable signs that MCA is in denial about its loss of relevance as a political organisation representing Malaysian Chinese and its inability to regain their support.
All this became evident the moment Deputy President Liow Tiong Lai opened his mouth last Saturday to address the party’s youth wing. He profusely thanked Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak for “wooing back” Chinese support to “Barisan Nasional and MCA” through his transformation programme.
Liow’s tone embarrassed many delegates to the assembly. Some were heard whispering that it was a virtual admission that the party was now so impotent and so lacking in good leadership that it had to depend on Umno for its lifeline.
President Dr Chua Soi Lek, who spoke on Sunday, was even more sycophantic. After his usual attack against Pakatan Rakyat, including unsubstantiated remarks about the failure of Pakatan-rule states, he proceeded to pour praise upon Najib, to the point of mistakenly describing him as a “democratically elected leader”. He even tried to show a fondness for abbreviations and acronyms, which Najib is known for. Read the rest of this entry »
More Nonsense from Nazri
Posted by Kit in Islamic state, Martin Jalleh on Tuesday, 23 October 2012, 2:50 pm
By Martin Jalleh
Kit Siang: Former PMs declared Malaysia a secular state
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Islamic state, Parliament on Tuesday, 23 October 2012, 7:49 am
Karen Arukesamy and Hemananthani Sivanandam at the Dewan Rakyat
The Sun
22 October 2012
KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 22, 2012): The country’s first prime minister, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, had openly declared that Malaysia is a secular state with Islam as its official religion, the Dewan was told today.
“I can give documents and proof to show that the former prime ministers of the country have declared Malaysia as a secular state and not an Islamic state,” DAP Parliamentary Leader Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timur) said when rebutting Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz’s statement that Malaysia is not a secular state.
Quoting The Star of Feb 9, 1983, Lim said the Tunku had reportedly said: “Don’t make Malaysia an Islamic state” in his speech on his 80th birthday on Feb 8, 1983.
“It was a huge function, which was attended by all the Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders, including the current prime minister (Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak).
“The Star frontpage on Feb 9, 1983 read: ‘The Tunku turns 80 – Don’t make Malaysia an Islamic state: Tunku’.
“On Feb 13, 1983, Tun Hussein Onn, who became the third prime minister, on his birthday, gave his full support to Tunku’s statement as reported in The Star: ‘Hussein says no to Islamic state’,” Lim added.
Citing further from pre-Constitution documents, Lim said all the documents clearly indicate that Malaysia is a secular state with Islam as the official religion, but not an Islamic state. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia a secular state contrary to Nazri’s remarks, say law experts
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Islamic state on Tuesday, 23 October 2012, 7:40 am
By Debra Chong and Ida Lim
The Malaysian Insider
October 23, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — Malaysia is and has always been a secular state even though not expressly stated in the Federal Constitution because the country’s supreme law and founding document is secular, several law experts say as debate continues to storm over the mainly Muslim nation’s status.
The legal pundits refuted minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz’s remarks in Parliament yesterday that Malaysia is not a secular state because it had never been declared or endorsed as such and is wholly absent in the Constitution though he stopped short of labelling the country an Islamic state.
“It’s absolutely untrue,” said Tommy Thomas, regarded as one of the country’s foremost authorities on constitutional law.
“To me, to say that Malaysia is not a secular state because the Federal Constitution does not say so is a real, oversimplistic argument. Just like the Federal Constitution does not say Malaysia is an Islamic state,” he told The Malaysian Insider last night.
The veteran lawyer, who had studied the subject and presented an essay debunking Malaysia as an Islamic state at the Malaysian Law Conference seven years ago, said his research had shown that the country’s forefathers and the legal experts who helped draft the Constitution had intended the country remain secular even as it acknowledged the individual Malay state Rulers’ rights and power over religious matters which, he pointed out, was for the most part ceremonial. Read the rest of this entry »
MCA in denial, PAS gets my vote
May Chee
Malaysiakini
Oct 22, 2012
I think every kampong or neighbourhood has this one person whom you see at the warung or food-stall during mealtimes. He kind of holds court, speaks rather loud and in a condescending tone.
If you stay long enough, you will also notice that he never pays for his food. It’s as if he needs to speak the way he does to earn his keep. I think you call that “freeloading”?
All these “hate” speeches lately by the MCA against PAS, “hudud”, and about my favourite Mursyidul Am, Nik Aziz instigating rape of non-Muslim women, borders on being just that – “freeloading”.
Rehashing news from 2008 just goes to show how bankrupt MCA has become. To go back in time when you should move forward – to create, innovate, progress, anything but backslide and with such malice, too. It beggars belief!
Instead of suggesting something constructive, the MCA, in election gear, decides to embark on a fear-mongering campaign.
Goodness, a dearth of brains in the MCA-ah? Are the people in MCA even serious about wanting to represent our interests in Parliament? Aiyoh, how-lah?
How can we trust such bird-brains to fight for us? Sure lose, hands-down! Read the rest of this entry »
History contradicts minister’s arguments that Malaysia is not secular
Posted by Kit in Islamic state, Parliament on Monday, 22 October 2012, 5:20 pm
By Zurairi AR | October 22, 2012
The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 ― Historical accounts show that Tunku Abdul Rahman and Tun Hussein Onn had both said Malaysia is a secular state, contradicting de facto law minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz’s remarks in Parliament today that the country had no secularist roots.
Nazri told Parliament today that Malaysia has never been declared or endorsed as a secular state, arguing that the country was formed of the Malay Sultanate, an Islamic government and, unlike countries like the United States, India or Turkey, was never declared as secular.
His remarks today come amid debate over the status of the Federal Constitution. It was also made despite a previous Supreme Court ruling that said Malaysia is a secular state, as well as previous statements made by earlier leaders such as the Tunku, the country’s first prime minister.
Tunku Abdul Rahman had referred to Malaysia as a secular state, and not an Islamic one, on a number of separate occasions.
Read the rest of this entry »
Should Government Scholars Be Grateful?
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye on Monday, 22 October 2012, 4:30 pm
By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysian Digest
Should recipients of government scholarships be grateful? Grateful to whom?
I’m asking this because former minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil mentioned recently that PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli was a Petronas scholar and yet he appeared to be going against the people who had given him the scholarship. As the Petronas scholarship is a government scholarship, she implied he was being “ungrateful”.
She even suggested that other young people of Rafizi’s generation might also be “ungrateful”.
But should Rafizi – and other Petronas scholars, indeed all government scholars, including those awarded the Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA) scholarships – be beholden to the Government and eternally grateful to it?
First of all, what is “the Government”?
Read the rest of this entry »
Is DAP all that matters to MCA?
By Jimmy Wong | The Malaysian Insider
Oct 21 — Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek must be a short-sighted politician for saying that MCA is ready and united to battle DAP in the coming general elections.
Is that all this MCA president thinks about? Beating DAP, not representing all Malaysians in a government.
Is the MCA just focussing on the Chinese vote and not other voters, in its “Battle Without Fear” campaign to keep DAP from becoming part of any government?
What about other races? Actually, what happened to MCA’s soul-searching after the Chinese rejected it in the 2008 elections? Have they forgotten that they wanted to be more inclusive, more Malaysian?
If this is how low MCA has sunk, from a party that protected Chinese interests but also represented Malayans wanting independence, then the party should just close shop. Read the rest of this entry »
Why so much fear?
By Lucius Goon | The Malaysian Insider
OCT 21 — The Chinese are scared about hudud and have become wary of the DAP’s marriage with PAS, says Chua Soi Lek.
The Malays dislike DAP, says Najib Razak.
So I say: what is the problem, then?
The coming elections should be a walkover with an easy victory for Barisan Nasional. No reason for Najib and BN to lose sleep because the rakyat are with the BN.
Or at least that should be the case if what has been said by BN leaders at the MCA AGM is truthful. Read the rest of this entry »
MCA’s death knell gets louder
Stanley Koh | October 20, 2012
Free Malaysia Today
The party goes into a crucial annual assembly amidst doubts over its chances of recovery.
COMMENT
Chinese voters are no longer asking whether MCA will remain credible as part of the ruling coalition, but whether it will survive even as an opposition party.
The general belief is that it will do worse in the 13th general election than the bruising it got in 2008, and most of the blame is placed on Dr Chua Soi Lek’s leadership, or rather the lack of it.
At the party’s 59th annual general assembly this weekend, Chua will no doubt try to boost party morale in preparation for the impending election. Sources familiar with his style predict that he will use emotional rhetoric aimed at imbuing the rank and file with the fighting spirit necessary to pull off the miraculous feat of winning more seats than the party did in 2008.
He is also expected to emphasise that he has brought unity and stability to the party, as he has done on many occasions. His detractors in the party say the claim sounds more hollow and frivolous with each repetition.
Chua, 65, limped into the MCA presidency in April 2010, carrying a tremendous amount of moral baggage. Since then the party has plunged ever more deeply into the political abyss, with no convincing sign that it will recover any time before the election.
Such is the pessimism within a sizeable section of the membership. But many prefer to whisper to each other about their grievances and frustrations rather than discuss them openly, mostly for fear of being accused of disloyalty in the face of a seemingly formidable Pakatan Rakyat, specifically DAP. Read the rest of this entry »
How do Najib, Nazri or MACC know whether RM40 million “smuggled” cash at HKIA in August 2008 was laundered money or not?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Sabah on Saturday, 20 October 2012, 12:37 pm
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday denied that there was any attempt to illegally smuggle the RM40 million “donation for Sabah Umno” into the country.
Responding to a question at a press conference at the UMNO headquarters yesterday, Najib curtly said “No” when asked whether there was any basis to the opposition claim that the funds were smuggled or laundered through Hong Kong, adding: “It has already been explained in Parliament”.
Nothing has been explained in Parliament as to whether the RM40 million cash in Singapore currency which Sabah timber trader Michael Chia had in his luggage before boarding a flight to Kuala Lumpur at the Hong Kong International airport on August 14, 2008 and was arrested for currency trafficking and laundering was “smuggled or laundered money”.
All that Parliament had been told is the Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman had been cleared of “corruption” as the RM40 million concerned were “contribution” to Sabah UMNO and not for Musa’s personal use, and that “no element of corruption was proven” – although this flies in the face of media reports at the time that Chia had told the Hong Kong authorities that the money belonged to Musa. Read the rest of this entry »
HK dropped Musa’s case after MACC probe, says Nazri
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Parliament, Sabah on Saturday, 20 October 2012, 9:05 am
By Clara Chooi
Assistant News Editor
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 20, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 ― Putrajaya has confirmed that Datuk Musa Aman was only cleared of corruption after Malaysian graftbusters told Hong Kong authorities that a RM40-million cash contribution allegedly meant for the Sabah chief minister was a “political donation” to Umno.
De facto law minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz told The Malaysian Insider that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) probe on Musa was initiated after Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) requested for information on the issue.
He said the ICAC had asked for MACC’s co-operation after Sabah timber trader Michael Chia was arrested and charged with money laundering in 2008 for attempting to smuggle S$16 million (RM40 million) out of Hong Kong.
According to media reports, Chia had at the time told Hong Kong authorities that the money belonged to Musa.
“MACC agreed to co-operate with its Hong Kong counterparts and found that the money in question was not for Musa’s personal use.
“The agency then reported back to ICAC with the information and the Hong Kong authority decided to drop the matter and pull its complaint from the Swiss court,” Nazri told The Malaysian Insider yesterday.
The minister was asked to respond to DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang’s accusation that he had been giving conflicting reports to Parliament on which anti-graft authority ― Malaysia’s or Hong Kong’s ― had first cleared Musa of graft. Read the rest of this entry »
The Choices Before Us – Emigration, Encampment or Engagement
Posted by Kit in Brain drain on Friday, 19 October 2012, 11:25 pm
By Thomas Fann
19.10.2012
I had an interesting conversation with a friend this week about some of the choices made by people we know.
Over dinner, my friend related to me about his brother who had worked and lived in France for many years and how he had decided to return to Malaysia for his retirement only to find out that his citizenship has been revoked. He tried to appeal to the government but was turned down and he returned to France dejected.
He also related about his sister’s family who also wanted to return but after coming back for a holiday and looking over the socio-political environment and inequality here, changed their mind. My friend further told me that many people he knows are making plans to emigrate to Singapore or Australia. Read the rest of this entry »
Call to extend deadline for consultation on education blueprint
By CPI
Oct 19, 2012
The Centre for Policy Initiatives urges leaders from both sides of the political divide to pay heed to the urgent concerns expressed by educationists and civil society organizations with regard to the National Educational Blueprint 2013-2025.
Since its release more than a month ago on Sept 12, the blueprint has drawn markedly little response from our politicians either those in Barisan Nasional or in Pakatan Rakyat who are supposedly representing the interests of the stakeholders.
This lack of response is inexplicable and irresponsible given the importance of education to the future of our young generation and our national interest.
There is a genuine fear by Gerakan Bertindak Malaysia – a non-political, multiracial and multi-religious coalition of over 25 NGOs including CPI – that this blueprint will be hastily finalized before its many weaknesses are fully discussed and ironed out.
We share GBM’s view that the current deadline of October 2012 for the blueprint implementation is too short notice for public scrutiny of a plan that attempts to undo the damage inflicted on our education system over the past three decades and that will be in force for the next 12 years.
Extension of the period of public consultation and feedback must also be accompanied by the disclosure of key expert inputs and research data that have so far been denied to the public for reasons that cannot be justified. Read the rest of this entry »
