Nazri tying himself up in contradictions when he said it was HK’s ICAC and not MACC which cleared Musa Aman of corruption in the RM40 million “smuggled” cash from Hong Kong
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Sabah on Friday, 19 October 2012, 2:30 pm
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz has tied himself up in contradictions when he said in Parliament yesterday that it was Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and not the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) which cleared the Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Musa Aman of corruption in the case of RM40 million “smuggled” cash from Hong Kong in August 2008.
In answer to supplementary question by the DAP MP for Cheras, Tan Kok Wai, Nazri said in Parliament yesterday:
“Yang Berhormat bercakap tentang wang yang dibawa masuk daripada Hong Kong. Saya hendak sebut di sini itu bahawa siasatan yang dijalankan bukan daripada SPRM. Siasatan dijalankan oleh ICAC iaitu Hong Kong yang terkenal dengan penyiasatan without fear or favor. ICAC telah pun menyatakan itu bahawa tidak ada kes rasuah di sini. Soal sumbangan kepada mana-mana pertubuhan pun tidak ada kesalahan. Kalau macam mana-mana parti pun hendak menerima wang tidak ada kesalahan, boleh terima orang hendak sumbang bagilah, apa salahnya.”
However, Nazri gave a very different story in his written answer on the same subject to the PKR MP for Batu, Chua Tian Chan last week, viz: Read the rest of this entry »
MCA: After Mega Dinner, Mega Disaster Awaiting
By Koon Yew Yin
It was reported in the Star that several thousand people attended the mega dinner in the Ipoh Stadium, organised by the Perak MCA on 14 October. In his speech, Dr Chua Soi Lek, the MCA President, urged the guests to vote for the Barisan National because it had established a solid foundation dating back to independence. He also said that DAP would not be able to defend the Chinese even if Pakatan Rakyat took over power because it is subservient to PAS and Parti Keadilan.
At the function, Dr Chua presented RM 500,000 to 44 Chinese primary schools and 6 national type secondary schools or Rm 10,000 for each school.
Various thoughts come to my mind on reading the report of the mega dinner. One is of disbelief that the MCA leaders can stoop so low in using public funds for Chinese education in their attempt to win a few seats in the coming elections. But we should not be surprised especially when we look at MCA’s track record in the 2008 general election in Perak where they won only one state and three parliamentary seats.
A Chairman of one of the Chinese schools told me that he did not attend the dinner because he did not want to appear so stupid as to accept the Rm 10,000 bribe to vote for the MCA. Learning from the senior partner, electoral bribery appears to be the main item in the standard operating procedure manual of MCA for the coming election. But unlike UMNO in the Peninsula, and Taib and Musa Aman in Sarawak and Sabah who have billions in their political slush funds, MCA can only throw out crumbs – such is the party’s impotency and poor standing in the BN and governmental system.
Read the rest of this entry »
Privatising power – in the people’s interest?
By Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah | 12:52PM Oct 18, 2012
Malaysiakini
COMMENT I have chosen this subject because the privatisation of power, as an economic policy, is a reflection of a fundamental change in our political economy which will have a significant impact on the future of our economy.
In the 1990s, following the lead of the Reagan and Margaret Thatcher policies of encouraging privatisation as an economic policy, it had a very significant impact on Malaysia’s political economy (I have explained this in my speech on Feb 16 at the Selangor Club).
It shifted the role of government as a guardian of public good which has been institutionalised in various public bodies like the Tenaga Nasional Berhad, to private corporations of selected companies.
Read the rest of this entry »
Priority is to break back of worsening problem of Indian youth gangsterism with a high-powered Commission of Inquiry to highlight that it is a national problem
Posted by Kit in Indians, Parliament on Thursday, 18 October 2012, 3:15 pm
This Parliamentary Roundtable on Indian youth gangsterism is most pertinent and timely, not only because the problem has become even more acute and serious in recent years but also because it has been two-decades in the making.
I remember that twenty years ago in April 1992, I had devoted my speech in the debate on the Royal Address in Parliament calling on the government to hear the cry of despair and hopelessness of the Malaysian Indians so as to address the fundamental problems confronting nation-building in Malaysia.
I had spoken of the growing sense of deprivation of the Malaysian Indians, who felt that the government had not been able to do much to improve the plight of the Malaysian Indian estate workers in particular and the Malaysian Indians in general.
For the increasingly displaced and alienated Indian estate workers, the alternative they faced in moving out of the estates was low-productivity jobs in the urban areas – which launched them on the vicious socio-economic cycle resulting in the very serious phenomenon of Indian youth gangsterism today, aggravated by poverty and long-standing socio-economic and educational marginalisation and discrimination. Read the rest of this entry »
The happiest PM in the world
Posted by Kit in Mahathir, Mariam Mokhtar, Najib Razak, UMNO on Thursday, 18 October 2012, 8:01 am
Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Oct 15, 2012
The Tunku once described himself as “the happiest prime minister” when he was interviewed in 1983, by Peter Hastings, the foreign editor of the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH).
Today, as we read about Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, and the tactics used against the rakyat, NGOs, civil liberty groups and the opposition, we see a man who resorts to foul play, even breaking the law if necessary, to prolong his political career and that of his party, Umno.
Perhaps, what the Tunku possessed and what his successors lack is a sense of humour. Behind the calm purpose of his jokes, Tunku was able to show his spirit of tolerance.
Tunku laughed when Hastings reminded him of the time an Islamic group had sought the Tunku’s support for adulterers to be stoned to death and he had replied: “There are not enough stones in Malaysia.” Read the rest of this entry »
Deeper Debt
Posted by Kit in Economics, Martin Jalleh on Wednesday, 17 October 2012, 6:56 pm
By Martin Jalleh
UNODC clarification that it was not passing judgment about corruption in Malaysia welcome especially as MACC’s credibility at lowest ebb after pre-IAACA and post-IAACA blows
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Sabah, Sarawak on Wednesday, 17 October 2012, 5:17 pm
I welcome the clarification by the chief of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)’s corruption and economic crime branch, Dmitra Vlassis to dispel perceptions that at the recent 6th International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) Conference and General Meeting, he was commending and passing judgment about the Malaysian government’s efforts to fight corruption.
I had issued a statement last week questioning news reports about his commending the Malaysian Government for its “serious efforts” in fighting corruption.
I had pointed out at the time that anti-corruption campaigners in Malaysia had been horrified by such a commendation as “they regard this as a major blow by the United Nations anti-corruption agency undermining their efforts to get the Najib government to have the political will to really walk the talk to fight corruption, in particular ‘Grand Corruption’ involving VVIPs, especially top political and public personalities”.
I had also said:
“Furthermore, they are mystified as to how the Malaysian government could merit praise for its anti-corruption efforts when from the 17-year history of Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI), Malaysia’s ranking and score for 2011 on both counts is lowest on record – ranking No. 60 and score of 4.3 when in 1995 Malaysia was ranked No. 23 and attained a score of 5.32 in 1996.
“In simple terms, TI CPI 2011 underlined the brutal fact that corruption in Malaysia under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is worse and more intractable than at any time under his predecessors, whether the five years under Tun Abdullah or the 22 years under Tun Mahathir.” Read the rest of this entry »
Police report on corruption against Attorney-General Gani Patail based on lawyer Zainal Abidin’s book “Tan Sri Gani Patail: Pemalsu, Penipu, Penjenayah (Fraud, Liar, Criminal)?” still under investigation
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Parliament, Sabah, Sarawak on Wednesday, 17 October 2012, 2:31 pm
I have received written replies by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, to some of the points on corruption which I had raised in my speech on the 2013 Budget in Parliament on Oct. 4, 2012 but which the Minister did not have the time to respond during his winding-up on Monday.
In my speech I had called on the Prime Minister to give Parliament and nation an update of the actions being taken by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) with regard to the various police reports lodged against the “trio” of Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Taib Mahmud, the Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Seri Musa Aman and the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.
I had specifically asked what is the outcome of the police report lodged with regard to corruption allegations against the Attorney-General, in particular with regard to lawyer Zainal Abidin Ahmad’s recent book, “Tan Sri Gani Patail: Pemalsu, Penipu, Penjenayah (Fraud, Liar, Criminal)?”?
This is Nazri’s written reply:
“Yang Berhormat Ipoh Timur ingin mengetahui tindakan terhadap dakwaan rasuah oleh Peguam Negara Malaysia sebagaimana dalam buku tulisan Zainal Abidin Ahmad yang bertajuk ‘Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail Pemalsu, Penipu, Penjenayah’. Untuk makluman Ahli Yang Berhormat, buku yang ditulis oleh Zainal Abidin Ahmad mengenai dakwaan rasuah terhadap Peguam Negara yang bertajuk ‘Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail Pemalsu, Penipu, Penjenayah’ masih dalam siasatan pihak polis.”
On corruption reports against the Sarawak Chief Minister, Nazri’s written reply states:
“Yang Berhormat Ipoh Timur, Yang Berhormat Bandar Kuching, Yang Berhormat Sibu, Yang Berhormat Puchong dan Yang Berhormat Serdang ingin mengetahui hasil siasatan tuduhan rasuah yang melibatkan YAB Ketua Menteri Sarawak. Untuk makluman Ahli-Ahli Yang Berhormat, isu ini masih dalam siasatan SPRM. Siasatan kes-kes rasuah yang dibuat oleh SPRM adalah berlandaskan undang-undang dan memerlukan beban pembuktian yang cukup kukuh sehingga mencapai tahap (dengan izin) beyond reasonable doubt. Ini kerana penyiasatan sesuatu kes itu menjurus kepada intipati kesalahan yang melibatkan keterangan saksi, dokumen dan bukti-bukti lain yang mampu menyokong kes berkenaan.”
Pakatan is doing the right stuff
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Pakatan Rakyat, Penang, Selangor on Wednesday, 17 October 2012, 10:42 am
Jeswan Kaur | October 17, 2012
Free Malaysia Today
With the Auditor-General’s report vouching for Pakatan’s ability to ‘do a good job’, does BN have any other trick up its sleeve to bring the curtains down on its arch rival Pakatan?
COMMENT
Poetic justice – that best sums up the 2011 Auditor-General’s report that has given the opposition Pakatan Rakyat-controlled four states top marks for fiscal management.
The Auditor-General in its report had praised Selangor and Penang for collecting a revenue of RM62.50 million and RM192.19 million respectively.
Both states recorded a surge of 46.8% and 4% respectively as compared to the previous year.
The AG’s report also praised Kedah and Kelantan for their revenue collection but said that the states needed to improve their debt management system.
The DAP-led Penang showed the way in terms of revenue collection, chalking up RM192.19 million or 46.8% increase compared with the RM410.70 million generated in 2010.
Selangor, the country’s richest state, increased its revenue collection by RM62.50 million or 4% for the same period.
A paradoxical scenario indeed for in spite of the vehement attacks by Barisan Nasional on Pakatan’s ability to administer the four states under its fold, the opposition coalition, as revealed by the Auditor-General’s report, has proven its rivals wrong, shutting them up in the most fashionable way through an impressive performance. Read the rest of this entry »
UN rep clarifies, comments on corruption misreported
Posted by Kit in Corruption on Wednesday, 17 October 2012, 10:28 am
By Susan Loone | 9:02AM Oct 17, 2012
Malaysiakini
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) representative who reportedly praised the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) at an international conference said his comments have been misread by the media.
Dimitri Vlassis (left), who is chief of UNODC’s corruption and economic crime branch, said some of his comments and responses during the press conference held in Kuala Lumpur 10 days ago were misunderstood or taken out of context.
Vlassis said he wanted to offer clarifications as consequently those comments were “misinterpreted and may have created erroneous” impressions.
Read the rest of this entry »
Rapidly Losing
Posted by Kit in Martin Jalleh, Transport on Wednesday, 17 October 2012, 10:15 am
By Martin Jalleh
TV3 akan menghadapi nasib yang sama seperti Utusan?
— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 16, 2012
16 OKT — TV3 sedang merudum “rating”nya. TV3 yang termasyhur sebagai lidah Umno dan BN kini sudah mula tidak mendapat sambutan ramai. Sebelum 2010, TV3 telah mendapat “rating” yang tertinggi sehingga mendapat 3.5 juta penonton sehari dan kini jumlah tontonan dari rakyat telah jatuh sehingga 1.2 juta sehari. Kejatuhan bilangan penonton lebih dari 60 peratus ini tentu bersebab dan sebabnya boleh diagak oleh kita semua. Kejatuhan ini akan akhirnya membawa padah kepada pendapatan syarikat dan menjejaskan prestasi kewangan syarikat televisyen itu.
Selalunya kejatuhan penonton sesebuah syarikat penyiaran seperti TV3 itu adalah kerana kejatuhan keyakinan penonton terhadap kredibiliti saluran itu. Dalam sejarah banyak syarikat penyiaran dan saluran TVnya telah jatuh kerana tidak mendapat sokongan ramai. Keadaan ini tidak mengecualikan TV3 yang kini sudah menampakkan keadaan seperti itu akan berlaku ke atas syarikat televisyen itu.
Kejatuhan penonton yang dialaminya sekarang sudah mula menampakkan apa yang dialami oleh banyak syarikat TV yang terpaksa ditutup di negara-negara yang lain itu akan berlaku ke atas TV3 jika saluran televisyen itu tidak menjaga kredibilitinya di mata penonton yang sedia ada sekarang.
Ramai di antara pengiklan-pengiklan barangan dan perkhidmatan telah mula memikirkan untuk mengiklankan barangan dan perkhidmatan mereka di saluran-saluran yang lain kerana TV3 tidak menjadi saluran sukaramai rakyat lagi. Kejatuhan jumlah penonton untuk saluran ini masih menurun dan dijangkakan yang ia akan melewati bawah dari 1 juta penonton setiap hari.
Keadaan ini berlaku bukan kerana apa….tetapi kerana TV3 sudah menjadi alat pembohongan BN dan Umno dan rakyat yang berfikiran “professional” tidak menganggap saluran TV3 ini sebagai saluran untuk rakyat. Sikap “tidak professional” TV3 ini menjadi persoalan ramai kerana orang ramai tidak gemar dengan sikap condong yang keterlaluan terhadap sesuatu pihak dalam politik ini adalah tindakan yang dianggap tidak jujur. Read the rest of this entry »
IWK in Deep Shit!
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Martin Jalleh on Tuesday, 16 October 2012, 1:28 pm
By Martin Jalleh
Malaysia’s elections: Should the international community care?
Posted by Kit in Bersih, Constitution, Corruption, Elections, Human Rights, Media on Tuesday, 16 October 2012, 2:12 am
— Ambiga Sreenevasan
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 15, 2012
OCT 15 — Those in the international community may be forgiven for saying, “Is there a problem with the democratic process in Malaysia?”
In the international arena, our leaders portray Malaysia as a moderate Islamic nation that is built on the democratic principles that are enshrined in our Federal Constitution. The fundamental rights of freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, the right to life and a fair electoral process, are indeed guaranteed under our Federal Constitution.
The reality is, however, far less idyllic. There are serious questions whether these rights are respected and upheld by those in power. Read the rest of this entry »
Water Privatisation, Not ’Piratization’: How It Can work
by Koon Yew Yin
The prolonged conflict involving the Selangor state government, the Federal Government and the privatized company, Syabas, over the management and pricing of water resources may give the impression to Malaysians that there is no way in which any privatized concern and commodity can ever work to the advantage of consumers. This is a wrong impression.
Privatization can work and the screwing up of public interest or ”piratization” can be avoided. Perhaps the most outstanding example of successful privatization in the water sector comes from Penang. How this best practice in privatization was implemented is important for our public and policy makers to learn from. Read the rest of this entry »
AG report: Top marks to Pakatan states
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Pakatan Rakyat, Penang, Selangor on Monday, 15 October 2012, 5:37 pm
Syed Jaymal Zahiid | October 15, 2012
Free Malaysia Today
The 2011 Auditor-General’s report showed that apart from a few minor glitches, all four states showed good financial standing.
KUALA LUMPUR: The 2011 Auditor-General’s report indicates good fiscal management by all four Pakatan Rakyat-controlled states with revenues improving.
DAP-held Penang led the way in terms of revenue collection, recording a RM192.19 million or 46.8% increase compared with the RM410.70 million made in 2010 while Selangor, Malaysia’s richest state, increased by RM62.50 million or 4% for the same period.
Kedah, on the other hand, saw its surplus drop when it recorded an increase in operating expenditures despite boosting its revenue, but the report noted that the PAS-led state government had more or less maintained a “satisfactory” balance sheet. Read the rest of this entry »
Hard To Be Part of the Solution When You Are Part of the Problem
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Education on Monday, 15 October 2012, 8:04 am
M. Bakri Musa
The Havoc Education Reform Inflicts: Education Blueprint 2013-2025 (Part 5)
[In the first three essays I critiqued the Blueprint’s recommendations: specifically its failure to recognize the diversity within our school system and thus the need to have targeted programs; the challenge of recruiting quality teachers; and the link between efficiency, efficacy, and quality. Part Four discussed the report’s deficiencies. This last essay focuses on the very process of reform, or how to do a better job of it.]
The greatest weakness of this reform effort is its exclusive dependence on in-house or MOE staff, the very personnel responsible for the current rot with our schools. These individuals have been part of the problem for far too long; they cannot now be expected suddenly and magically to be part of the solution. That would take an exceptional ability to be flexible, innovative, and have the willingness or at least capacity to learn. Those are the very traits not valued in or associated with our civil service.
The Blueprint’s local consultants included Air Asia’s Tony Fernandez, Khazanah’s Azman Mokthar, and Sunway’s Jeffrey Cheah, presumably representing the three major communities. These individuals are terribly busy. Unless they took time off from their considerable corporate responsibilities, they could not possibly do justice to this important national assignment.
The international consultants were equally impressive. Again here I wonder how much time they actually spent talking to teachers, students and headmasters. Another significant flaw is this: With the possible exception of the Canadian, the others are from systems not burdened with the Malaysian dilemma of low educational achievements identifiable with specific ethnic or geographical groups. In Ontario, Canada, only the Toronto School System which is separate from the provincial has significant experience with the “Malaysian” problem. The Canadian is with the provincial system.
Many of those impressive consultants were conspicuously absent during the many public sessions leading one to conclude that they were more window dressing. Read the rest of this entry »
Hasan Ali’s umbrage over PAS-DAP ties
— The Malaysian Insider
Oct 14, 2012
OCT 14 — There are many out there who fear the Islamist PAS working together with the secular DAP. To the point that PAS is seen as abandoning its Islamist roots while DAP is accused of either being very Christian or trying to help PAS implement an Islamic state.
That didn’t work in 1999 when both parties worked together in the Barisan Alternatif that floundered over the Islamic state concept. In Election 2008, they agreed not to contest against each other and PKR, and their success led to the formation of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR).
Among those in the happy group then was Datuk Dr Hasan Ali. Well, he isn’t there now after being sacked last January by PAS. Read the rest of this entry »
Can MACC recover from the disastrous setback of being exposed as among the most inept and incompetent anti-corruption agencies in the world?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Sabah on Sunday, 14 October 2012, 5:37 pm
There continues to be widespread disbelief and questions galore about the highly-publicized exoneration of Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman of corruption in connection with the seizure of S$16 million (RM40 million) cash and arrest of Sabah businessman Michael Chia at the Hong Kong International Airport on August 14, 2008 for money trafficking and laundering before boarding a flight bound for Kuala Lumpur.
It was earlier reported that Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) found that the money was earmarked for Musa and were part of more funds being deposited into a Swiss bank account containing US$30 million allegedly being held in trust for the Sabah Chief Minister by a lawyer.
If what the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said in his parliamentary reply is true, that investigation papers submitted to the Attorney-General by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) show that the RM40 million a Sabah businessman was caught with in trying to smuggle into Malaysia from Hong Kong were political contributions to the state Umno and not for Chief Minister Musa Aman and that “no element of corruption was proven”, two immediate questions arise:
1. Why did the MACC submit investigation papers to the Attorney-General for decision when “no element of corruption was proven”; and
2. Why has the MACC taken more than four years to discover that it has no case of corruption against Musa Aman? Read the rest of this entry »
Jangan was-was, lakukanlah perubahan
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Elections, UMNO on Sunday, 14 October 2012, 10:17 am
— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
October 14, 2012
Okt 14 — Rasa tidak terdaya untuk membaca dan mengulas tentang isu-isu yang mengelilingi politik negara. Seperti mana yang saya sebut selalu kebanyakan isu yang ditimbulkan ialah isu rasuah yang besar yang berlaku dalam pentadbiran kerajaan yang dipimpin UMNO kini. Saya tetap akan terus menerus bercakap tentang rasuah ini kerana rasuah adalah kerja yang sangat hina dan ia boleh menjahanamkan sebuah negara. Sebelum ia menjahanamkan negara elok rakyat bertindak dengan kesatuan yang kuat kerana perasuah ini bukan mudah untuk dihapuskan.
Usaha menghapuskan rasuah ini memerlukan kerjasama yang rapat di antara semua pihak dan rakyat keseluruhannya kerana kehancuran terhadap negara itu akan pasti sampai jika rasuah yang keterlaluan ini tidak dibendung. Perjuangan ini merupakan perjuangan yang panjang dan memakan masa yang lama, tetapi langkah permulaan wajar berlaku sekarang kerana jika usaha ini ditangguh-tangguhkan ia akan menjadi barah yang susah untuk dikawal.
Perjuangan melawan rasuah ini memerlukan permuafakatan yang jitu dari rakyat semua kaum dan juga dari parti-parti politik serta setiap individu-individu yang sedar tentang bahayanya rasuah ini dibendung. Maka samada terdaya atau pun tidak, kita harus ke depan dan memerangi rasuah ini habis-habisan melalui cara yang halal dan dibenarkan oleh perundangan negara kita.
Banyak pihak telah membuat teguran dan desakan untuk pimpinan sekarang ini melakukan pembersihan terhadap rasuah ini kerana UMNO merupakan parti yang memimpin negara kita. Namun semua desakan itu tidak pergi ke mana, malahan rasuah berkembang dengan begitu menjolok mata sehinggakan kita semua tidak tahan lagi untuk bersabar. Read the rest of this entry »
