A re-look at the Malaysia Education Blueprint
– Hussaini Abdul Karim
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 13, 2012
OCT 13 – It is only natural for parents to demand the best for their children. More so now that parents of the noughties are generally better informed, more knowledgeable and are more educated when compared to those of the 80’s, 70’s, 60’s or earlier.
Likewise, the government of Malaysia also demands the best from its people, the best of everything.
Therefore, it is only logical if the government provides the best in order for them to get the best. Our country is blessed with abundant natural resources, a stable economy, peace, prosperity and harmony, among others. The better the people (human capital) the better our country will be in terms of progress, economy and development. The provision of quality education and if accompanied by the necessary and complete infrastructure combined with having good teachers and trainers, will ensure us a continuous supply of the right human capital. So, providing quality education should be made a priority in any country to produce the best people. That includes our country Malaysia.
Parents send their children to schools not just because the laws require them to do so and they also do not send their children to schools just for the sake of sending them to schools. I am referring to the larger majority. Most parents, if not all, want their children to get a decent education and to go as high as possible, up to university level for a first degree, if not further. Read the rest of this entry »
What Does “Moderate” Mean in Malaysia?
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Islam, Najib Razak, nation building on Saturday, 13 October 2012, 10:01 pm
by Azeem Ibrahim
Huffington Post
10/12/2012
There have been a lot of loose definitions of “moderate” Islam in the media recently and in the wake of violent protests throughout the Muslim world, the word is starting to mean simply — non-violent. The deaths in Libya and many other Muslim countries have been a disturbing counterpoint to the hopes aroused by the Arab Spring movement. Peaceful protests have achieved so much more change in the last two years than all the decades of violence in the past, yet extremists still believe they can achieve their agenda by continuing to murder innocent civilians. Violence is their only way of remaining relevant as they have nothing else to offer.
Malaysia is often referred to as a moderate Islamic country, as it is mainly peaceful, prosperous and law-abiding. A predominantly Muslim country with vocal and distinct minority populations of Indian and Chinese origin, peaceful change has taken place over the last twenty years without violent extremism. It may be because the government has kept a tight hold on the country with the emergency law and regulations adopted in 1957 to maintain political order and stability when Malaysia was emerging from the communist insurgency. These laws stayed in place until very recently and have been used to respond to any movement that was considered prejudicial to national security. Today, the question arises of whether such laws provide security or whether they have become a liability. In September, 2011 the increasingly controversial Internal Security Act (ISA) of 1960 was repealed and in November, 2011, the government finally lifted three existing emergency proclamations, rendering void the unpopular Emergency Public Order and Prevention of Crime Ordinance of 1969.
However, civil rights groups are expressing dissatisfaction with the new legislation which replaces the archaic repealed laws; Hasmy Agam, the Chief Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia has spoken out against the new legislation for failing to meet international human rights standards. Many see the proposed Peaceful Assembly Bill as placing further curbs on civil liberties by restricting street demonstrations and the new Security Offences Act is simply “the New ISA.” The much vaunted relaxation of media restrictions is also being criticized as an inadequate half-measure. Read the rest of this entry »
As Najib is an interested party as UMNO President, he should establish a RCI into the RM40 million Hong Kong-laundered UMNO funds to clear UMNO/BN and Malaysia’s name
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Sabah on Saturday, 13 October 2012, 5:04 pm
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has refused to disclose the source of the RM40 million “political donation” for UMNO Sabah that was the subject of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) investigation of Sabah Chief Minister, Datuk Musa Aman, giving an unbelievably weak and unacceptable excuse.
Najib said that “All parties have a right to receive political donations” and “As long as it is through the right channels, it is not an offence”.
What Najib had completely ignored is that the RM40 million is not “above-board money” but dirty money, as it is Hong Kong-laundered UMNO funds which the Sabah businessman Michael Chia had tried to smuggle into the country in his luggage in cash in the form of $S16 million currency but got arrested at the Hong Kong International Airport on August 14, 2008 for money trafficking and laundering.
This has raised a very pertinent question, whether the MACC and the Attorney-General are empowered to enquire and prosecute the top UMNO leadership (including the UMNO President) whether for corruption or money laundering without getting the green-light from the Prime Minister?
Nobody in Malaysia is under the illusion that the MACC and Attorney-General have such powers, that is to conduct full investigations into the top UMNO leadership including the UMNO President, involving corruption and money laundering, as the Prime Minister is none other than the UMNO President himself. Read the rest of this entry »
Only fools or knaves or those who are both could believe the lies about DAP seeking to establish a Christian State in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Constitution, DAP, Islamic state, Religion on Saturday, 13 October 2012, 2:05 pm
Desperation knows no bounds. This is amply illustrated by UMNO/BN political desperadoes, whether in the political front-line or hiding in the shadows pulling propaganda strings hatching the most far-fetched and outlandish conspiratorial theories in the mainstream or social media to create fear and sow the seeds of hate and conflict to ensure the survival of the sixth Prime Minister and the ruling coalition in the imminent 13th General Election.
The issue of a Christian Malaysia and the allegation that DAP wants to repeal Article 3 of the Federal Constitution providing for Islam as the religion of the Malaysian Federation in order to establish a Christian State is one of the most irresponsible and reckless of lies and falsehoods in the current repertoire of the UMNO/BN political desperadoes.
In fact, those who disseminate such lies and falsehoods utterly reckless about its damage to the process of nation-building in multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia qualify to be condemned as the vilest and most despicable traitors to the vision of an united and harmonious Malaysian nation!
Only fools or knaves or those who are both could believe the lies that the DAP is seeking to establish a Christian State.
Henceforth, let Malaysians put the “fools or knaves” test to the political desperadoes who could so recklessly and irresponsibly disseminate such lies and falsehoods – whether they are fools or knaves, or both! Read the rest of this entry »
10 Things To Do If You Want To Be A Better Malaysian
Posted by Kit in Corruption, nation building on Saturday, 13 October 2012, 1:54 pm
By Thomas Fann
This article is not about Steve Jobs but I would like to start with a quote by him, made in 1994 during a TV interview…
“When you grow up you tend to get told the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life.
Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact, and that is – everything around you that you call life, was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.
The minute that you understand that you can poke life and actually something will, you know if you push in, something will pop out the other side, that you can change it, you can mold it. That’s maybe the most important thing. It’s to shake off this erroneous notion that life is there and you’re just gonna live in it, versus embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.
I think that’s very important and however you learn that, once you learn it, you’ll want to change life and make it better, cause it’s kind of messed up, in a lot of ways. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”
There you have it, a glimpse into the reason why Steve Jobs is, in my humble opinion, one of the very few people who ever lived who can claim that he has changed the world for the better.
Read the rest of this entry »
Clear and present danger?
Posted by Kit in Elections, Lim Guan Eng, Religion on Saturday, 13 October 2012, 7:35 am
Rom Nain
Malaysiakini
Oct 11, 2012
Many Malaysians surely must be sick to death – I know I am – of the latest ploy by hateful people, many within this regime, to split this country even further, to cultivate distrust at a time when they themselves have lost the trust of the people.
I am talking, of course, of this pathetic ‘strategy’ of churning out one bogeyman after another to frighten Malaysians, especially Muslims, presumably in the forlorn hope that we will all run back into the exploitative arms of this regime and its underlings.
Nasharuddin Mat Isa’s latest diatribe and Utusan Malaysia’s latest sojourn into the realm of lies and fantasy are illustrative of this desperation.
First, Utusan, not for the first time, in its Sunday edition, Mingguan Malaysia, brings up the topic of the Christian community and talks about a couple of Malaysia’s top church leaders apparently criticising Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib refuses to disclose source of Sabah Umno’s political donation
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Sabah, UMNO on Saturday, 13 October 2012, 12:34 am
By Md Izwan
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 13, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak refused tonight to disclose the source of a political donation received by Umno Sabah that was the subject of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) investigation of Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Musa Aman.
“It is a political donation. All parties have a right to receive political donations. As long as it is through the right channels, it is not an offence,” the Umno president (picture) told reporters after chairing a Barisan Nasional (BN) supreme council meeting.
“We are not at liberty to disclose… the opposition also receives donations and they don’t disclose,” he said.
Yesterday, Parliament was told the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had cleared Musa of graft and money-laundering allegations after finding that the over S$16 million (RM40 million) allegedly channelled to the Sabah chief minister through corrupt means was meant for Sabah Umno’s use. Read the rest of this entry »
Governing Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, Zairil Khir Johari on Friday, 12 October 2012, 3:59 pm
Zairil Khir Johari
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 12, 2012
OCT 12 — A favourite line of attack adopted by the Barisan Nasional (BN) government these days is the accusation that the opposition is only capable of making empty promises and hence is unable to govern.
To corroborate this premise, the prime minister recently suggested three points, namely: that the opposition coalition has failed to formalise itself under a common party symbol, that the inability to formulate a shadow Cabinet reveals a lack of credibility, and that the opposition’s sweet promises are in reality “venomous poison” that will eventually bring financial ruin to the country. In stressing the last point, he even went so far as to say that the Buku Jingga, the opposition’s official policy manifesto, “is not worth the paper it is printed on.”
Now, it’s all very fine for the prime minister to partake in showboating, especially when the mainstream media will offer no space for a rejoinder by the opposition. Unfortunately, even with the near-monopoly of information that he enjoys, it is disappointing that the prime minister has to resort to mischievous half-truths, unabashed hypocrisy and outright lies in order to malign the opposition. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysians could just imagine what would have happened if RM40 million cash Michael Chia caught trying to smuggle into Malaysia from Hong Kong were meant for Anwar or anyone of the PR parties
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Sabah on Friday, 12 October 2012, 3:30 pm
The case of the Sabah businessman Michael Chia caught red-handed at the Hong Kong International Airport on August 14, 2008 with RM40 million cash in his luggage before he could board a flight to Kuala Lumpur is bizarre enough but even more weird is the utter indifference and unconcern shown by the authorities to the case purportedly because the RM40 million which Chia was trying to smuggle into Malaysia from Hong Kong were political contributions to the state Umno and not for Chief Minister Musa Aman’s personal use and that “no element of corruption was proven”.
Malaysians could imagine the prolonged nation-wide furore that would have ensued if the RM40 million cash Chia had been caught red-handed at the Hong Kong International Airport trying to smuggle into Malaysia had been meant for Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim or anyone of the three Pakatan Rakyat parties!
The leaders at various levels of Barisan Nasional component parties and their mainstream mass media would have competed, day-in-day out for weeks, demanding full accounting and action by the authorities, including throwing the books on corruption or money laundering.
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak would have trotted out his exhortation at the recent International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) conference in Kuala Lumpur on the critical and crucial importance to instil “a natural abhorrence to corruption” among people in positions of power and authority.
UMNO/BN Ministers and leaders would have issued one warning after another about treachery, traitors and the betrayal of the nation from the dangers and evils of foreign funding, particularly dirty money while dubious organisations and individuals would have crawled all over the country with demonstrations, butt-dances and denunciations.
But now, there is pin-drop silence from all these sectors and no “natural abhorrence to corruption” whatsoever! Read the rest of this entry »
I weep for Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Good Governance, Sabah on Friday, 12 October 2012, 1:52 pm
by J.C.
As the week draws to a close, I am struck by three events that occurred earlier in the week that would make every educated Malaysian tear his/her hair out.
The first is the allegation surrounding the award of a contract to supply padi seeds to companies that originally failed the evaluation criteria. Does this sound familiar ? My mind goes back to the Ampang LRT extension where a disqualified tenderer got reinstated, and then won the contract despite not being the lowest bidder. Back to the padi seeds case. Apparently the tender process was well crafted, and three committees from various ministries were created. The advertisement was clear enough: companies need to have the requisite qualifications to submit bids for the RM 164.8 million contract. When the successful tenderers were announced, it became clear that at least one company, linked to a Negeri Sembilan exco member, did not fulfill the original requirements of the tender. When asked about this, the Agriculture Minister Noh Omar sarcastically commented that “….it is suprising that when we introduced the open tender…..there were more protests…”. Read the rest of this entry »
Budget 2013: Federal government subsidies go up in flames while poor Malaysians watch
Posted by Kit in Budget Debate, Economics, Lim Teck Ghee on Friday, 12 October 2012, 12:45 pm
By Teh Chi-Chang, CFA
Executive Director
REFSA (Research for Social Advancement)
Friday, 12 October 2012
We write to rebut Dr Lim Teck Ghee’s assertion that “There is little empirical research to back up what has become an increasingly popular line of argument” that blanket subsidies such as for cheap petrol and sugar “benefit upper-class Malaysians who consume much more than their poorer cousins[1]”.
These are the basic facts:
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The federal government subsidy bill is expected to exceed RM42 billion this year.
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If we can agree that subsidies should go only to the poor, and we define the poor as the bottom 1/3rd of households, there will be 2.3 million households or nearly 10 million Malaysians[2] who will get subsidies.
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RM42 billion is enough to give these bottom 1/3rd of households RM1,650 per month – which will more than double their current incomes of RM1,500 per month!
Christian monsters in Malaysia
— Terence Martin
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 12, 2012
OCT 12 — With the elections just around the corner, it seems that the battle for the Malay votes is heating up to unprecedented levels.
A number of prominent politicians has fashioned themselves as defenders of Islam in order to entice the huge vote banks of the Muslim electorate.
In order to protect the akidah of Muslims, they need a bogeyman. A convenient fall guy to stir the emotions of Muslims in the country.
Take a bow Malaysian Christians… Read the rest of this entry »
The NFC tale continues
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak on Thursday, 11 October 2012, 5:55 pm
— Fikri Osman
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 11, 2012
OCT 11 — Just when you think it’s safe to read what is happening in Malaysia, you get a spin of the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) saga.
In her defamation suit against several PKR leaders, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil had her day in court yesterday to give her side of the story.
And what a tale it was, or a yarn as the case may be.
But the facts are simple when it comes to the NFC. Taxpayers lost RM250 million and public funds were used for the purchase of condominiums and whatever else.
Some Umno leaders might have defended her family’s use of public funds but it remains indefensible. And troubling that they can’t differentiate right from wrong. Read the rest of this entry »
Where is Najib’s “natural abhorrence” of corruption when as PM he could be completely indifferent about RM40 million “black money” attempted to be smuggled into Malaysia – whether for Sabah Chief Minister or Sabah UMNO?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak, Sabah on Thursday, 11 October 2012, 5:45 pm
The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz invites national and international disbelief when in a written parliamentary reply to Batu MP Chua Tian Chan he said that investigation papers submitted to the Attorney-General by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) show that 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”.
On August 22, 2008, Sabah DAP officials comprising DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu Hiew King Cheu, DAP Sabah State Assemblyman for Sri Tanjong Jimmy Wong Sze Phin and Sabah DAP leader Edward Mujie lodged a police report at the Dang Wangi police station in Kuala Lumpur to demand that the Anti-Corruption Agency (before its replacement by MACC) investigate the allegation which had appeared in the press and Internet about a Hong Kong seizure of S$16 million cash and arrest of Michael Chia, a confidante of Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman at the Hong Kong International Airport on August 14, 2008 for alleged money trafficking and laundering before boarding flight bound for Kuala Lumpur.
More than four years after the event, Sabahans and Malaysians are now asked to believe that the RM40 million was not meant for Musa’s “personal use” as they were meant for Sabah UMNO – which contradicted media reports at the time that Chia had allegedly told the Hong Kong authorities that the money belonged to Musa. Read the rest of this entry »
Menjelang PRU, musuh ulangi pujukan
— Abd Shukur Harun
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 11, 2012
11 OKT — Semakin hampir PRU Ke-13, semakin rancak desakan dan pujukan supaya PAS memutuskan hubungan dengan DAP sekaligus menarik diri dari Pakatan Rakyat, kerana DAP didakwa menolak Islam.
Desakan ini tidak sekedar datang dari musuh PAS — Umno/BN — bahkan datang dari segelintir yang amat kecil jumlahnya dari ahli PAS yang keliru dan kecewa atas sebab tertentu.
Juga mereka yang tidak memahami sejarah PAS dan tidak memahami secara mendalam konsep dan pengertian Tahalluf-Siasi (Pakatan PAS dengan parti lain).
Tahalluf-siasi, seperti saya katakan dalam tulisan saya dulu, bukan rekayasa sembarangan, tidak juga ijtihad perseorangan, jauh sekali didorong oleh kepentingan duniawi.
Tetapi ia dicetuskan sebagai suatu ijtihad jamai’e (Ijtihad kumpulan) PAS setelah diadakan muzakarah antara ulama dan pemimpin tertinggi PAS dengan ulama di peringkat antarabangsa, khususnya termasuk pemimpin Ikhwanul-Muslimin dan pemimpin ulama sedunia, Dr Yusuf Al-Qaradhawi. Read the rest of this entry »
The good news… and the bad
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Human Rights, ISA, Media on Thursday, 11 October 2012, 8:51 am
Rom Nain
Malaysiakini
Oct 8, 2012
After a couple of weeks or so of unrelenting inanity, enough to make me wax lyrical (well, almost) in this column, I thought of writing something nice, inoffensive, light-hearted even, this week.
After all, two Malaysian court decisions this past week certainly gave many of us reason to cheer.
The judgment for the five ex-ISA detainees in the illegal detention suit they brought against the regime, for one, must have been the perfect pick-me-up for many of us.
The KL High Court found that the five had been detained unlawfully and in bad faith in 2001 and reportedly awarded them ‘RM15,000 each, for every day of their detention under Section 73 of the Internal Security Act, as well as RM30,000 each as aggravated damages’.
Altogether, in the Oct 2 judgment, five former ISA detainess, then Reformasi activists, including the irrepressible Hishamuddin Rais (left), PAS’ Hulu Selangor assemblyperson Saari Sungib and PKR’s Batu MP Chua Tian Chang, better known as Tian Chua, were awarded a total of RM4 million. Read the rest of this entry »
Years of living precariously in Malaysia
Posted by Kit in civil society/NGOs, Media on Wednesday, 10 October 2012, 11:46 pm
Mustafa K. Anuar
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 10, 2012
Oct 10 — Malaysians are living in the grip of fear, not necessarily because of the spike in crime. Perceived or otherwise. Nor is it necessarily because of the number of deaths on the road which has risen over the years.
And certainly not because of two jet engines — as well as large amounts of money — that have somehow flown out of the country.
No. It is because there are “devils” — in various manifestations and aberrations — lurking in modern-day and technology-savvy Malaysia.
Why, quite recently Malaysians were warned by the federal government — which is visibly concerned for the common good of ordinary Malaysians especially those who can be quite impressionable — of the cunning and naughty attempts by “foreign elements” to topple the present-day government through their funding of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Suaram, Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) and online newspaper Malaysiakini.
Indeed, this is an issue of national import that would not and should not escape the rapt attention and deep concern of serious newspapers worth their salt. This explains why dailies such as the influential and socially responsible Utusan Malaysia had front-paged this plot in the hope that fellow Malaysians would be patriotic enough to be on high alert and to defend their beloved country when the occasion arises. Read the rest of this entry »
Mahathir lwn Soros
Posted by Kit in Elections, Mahathir, Najib Razak, UMNO on Wednesday, 10 October 2012, 8:17 pm
— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Oct 10, 2012
Oct 10 — Kenyataan Dr Mahathir semakin hari semakin bizarre. Orang Melayu kata macam buang tebiat. Sewel, biul dan merapu. Terbaru Dr Mahathir berkata mengundi Pakatan Rakyat bererti mengundi Soros dan mengundi Soros bererti penaklukan semula. Re-colonisation.
Makna nya kalau Anwar PM- maka Soros dibelakang nya. Haji Hadi, Kit Siang semua menjadi antek neo-kolonialisme. Begitu? Rakyat Malaysia yang 29 juta ini apa pula? Anak kambing? Who are you trying to kid DR Mahathir? ( kid =anak kambing). Keluarga Shahrizat anggap kita lembu. Mahathir anggap kita anak kambing.
Siapa Soros? Kita tahu dia seorang yang kaya dan membuat pelaburan melalui beberapa syarikat milik nya terutama flagship company nya- Quantum Funds. Dia guna kekayaan nya untuk membantu pertubuhan dan gerakan2 mendapat kemerdekaan. Dia juga seorang dermawan yang terkemuka membantu rakyat yang buta huruf, kebuluran dan yang ditimpa mala petaka.
Dr Mahathir kata dia tak bagus dan penyangak. Tapi jutaan rakyat dalam negara yang duduk dibawah pemerintah yang zalim menganggap Soros sebagai anugerah Tuhan kepada mereka.
Kepada Dr Mahathir Soros penyangak. Tapi Dr Mahathir menulis suatu surat kepada Soros dengan nada yang merayu rayu ajak berjumpa untuk menyelesaikan masaalah ekonomi secara bersama. Kalau Soros ini jahat mengapa Dr Mahathir tulis surat kepada Soros dan kemudian nya berjumpa? Boleh jadi inilah agaknya maksud lebih baik berkawan dengan syaitan yang dikenali daripada malaikat yang tidak dikenali. Syaitan mesti kenal geng seangkatan dengan nya. Read the rest of this entry »
Spyware Leaves Trail to Beaten Activist Through Microsoft Flaw
By Vernon Silver
Bloomberg
Oct 10, 2012
On a Monday in July, Ahmed Mansoor sat in his study in Dubai and made the mistake of clicking on a Microsoft Word attachment that arrived in an e-mail, labeled “very important” in Arabic, from a sender he thought he recognized.
With that click, the pro-democracy activist unwittingly downloaded spyware that seized on a flaw in the Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) program to take over his computer and record every keystroke. The hackers infiltrated his digital life so deeply they still accessed his personal e-mail even after he changed his password.
Since then, Mansoor, 42, an electrical engineer and father of four, says he has suffered two beatings by thugs in September during his campaign for citizens’ civil rights in the Persian Gulf federation of the United Arab Emirates. While those assailants remain unknown, researchers say they’ve figured out what was behind the virtual assault.
The spyware that penetrated his laptop appears to be a Western-made surveillance tool sold to police and intelligence agencies that’s so powerful it can turn on webcams and microphones and grab documents off hard drives, according to the findings of a study being published today by the University of Toronto Munk School of Global Affairs’ Citizen Lab.
Mansoor’s predicament shows how nations have rapidly moved beyond the surveillance of phone and e-mail transmissions to rifle through the most intimate details stored by personal computers and the smartphones that citizens carry with them everywhere. The tools, which can peer into people’s living rooms and access rough drafts of love letters, business strategies or plans for street demonstrations, mark the latest escalation in a digital arms race between governments and the people they watch. Read the rest of this entry »
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should explain whether Dmitri Vlassis’ praises for Malaysian government’s anti-corruption campaign reflects the official stand of the world body and UNODC
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Najib Razak on Wednesday, 10 October 2012, 4:12 pm
In the past few days, I have been receiving negative reactions from Malaysians to the recently-held 6th annual conference and general meeting of the International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities (IAACA) in Kuala Lumpur, and in particular the praises given by the highest-level representative from the United Nations anti-corruption agency to the Malaysian government for its anti-corruption campaign.
During the IAACA Conference in Kuala Lumpur last weekend, Dmitri Vlassis, the head of the UN’s Corruption and Economic Crime Branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), commended the Malaysian government for its “serious efforts” at tackling corruption.
This has horrified anti-corruption campaigners in Malaysia 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.
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. Read the rest of this entry »
