Say ‘no’ to Ibrahim Ali-style politics, Chua
Posted by Kit in Lim Guan Eng, MCA, PAS on Friday, 10 February 2012, 3:55 pm
— Francis Loh
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 10, 2012
FEB 10 — Since he is MCA chief, it is expected that Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek would criticise and exchange barbs with his political opponents in the DAP and the other Pakatan Rakyat parties. Nothing wrong with that, even welcomed. But he should not patronise us the rakyat with the usual simplistic and ethnicised arguments, like Ibrahim Ali is prone to do.
For instance, it was reported (The Star, February 3, 2012) that he had resorted to that age-old boring refrain: that the DAP has been misleading the Chinese into believing that a vote for the party would help realise their hopes of getting fair treatment and a top Chinese leader. In fact, for Chua, “Chinese voters did not understand that a vote for the DAP would only help PAS realise its objective of forming an Islamic state and implementing its brand of hudud”.
Chua made these remarks even when the PAS leadership had just sacked the extremist Dr Hasan Ali from the party and got him removed from the Selangor state exco for expressing views and acting in opposition to PR policies and positions that had been agreed upon and adopted. Read the rest of this entry »
Pemimpin-pemimpin dan rakyat wajar melalui kursus sivik kenegaraan
Posted by Kit in Constitution, Elections on Friday, 10 February 2012, 3:38 pm
— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 10, 2012
10 FEB — Kita nampaknya mesti kembali kepada “basic” penubuhan negara kita. Itu sahaja caranya bagi kita untuk melihat negara kita kembali kepada asas penubuhannya dan cara pengendalian negara yang sebaik-baiknya. Sejak beberapa lama kita telah melihat negara kita dikendalikan dengan cara yang sudah asing dari apa yang sepatutnya kita lihat.
Kerajaan atau pada siapa yang bertanggungjawab, elok kembali kepada asas dan diadakan peruntukan khas bagi memberi rakyat kursus-kursus sivik semula. Kita wajar memberitahu yang negara kita ini adalah sebuah negara Persekutuan (Federation). Perjanjian Persekutuan ini dibuat pada bulan Februari 1948 dan pada masa itu ada sembilan negeri-negeri Bersekutu dan tidak Bersekutu telah menandatangani Perjanjian Persekutuan itu.
Selain dari itu dua buah negeri, iaitu Melaka dan Pulau Pinang, juga turut menyertai perjanjian itu untuk mewujudkan sebuah negara yang dinamakan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu. Rakyat harus diberitahu yang Persekutuan Tanah Melayu itu merupakan gantian kepada Malayan Union, anjuran Britain, yang cuba untuk menubuhkan sebuah kerajaan “unitary” yang tidak mempunyai kerajaan-kerajaan negeri dan menjadikan Kuala Lumpur sebagai Pusat Pentadbirannya dan kerajaan itu dinamakan Kerajaan Pusat.
Oleh kerana negara kita ini adalah sebuah Negara Persekutuan, pusat pentadbiran di Putrajaya itu adalah pusat pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan, bukannya pusat pentadbiran Kerajaan Pusat. Diantara Kuala Lumpur dan Bangkok serta Jakarta ada perbezaannya. Kedua-dua Bangkok dan Jakarta misalnya, kedua-dua bandaraya itu menempatkan kerajaan Pusat kerana Thailand dan Indonesia itu adalah negara “unitary” yang tidak mempunyai negeri-negeri yang berdaulat didalamnya. Malaysia adalah seperti Amerika Syarikat dan Australia; iaitu berkerajaan Persekutuan dalam mana ada kerajaan-kerajaan negeri didalamnya. Read the rest of this entry »
Azmi should step down as PAC Chairman if he is not prepared to convene emergency PAC meeting to investigate into propriety of RM250 million government loan to NFCorp so as to be able to report to Parliament next month
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Corruption, Parliament on Friday, 10 February 2012, 12:48 pm
My statement on January 24 calling on Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid to resign as Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman if he is not prepared to convene an emergency PAC meeting to investigate into the RM330 million National Feedlot Centre/National Feedlot Corporation (NFC/NFCorp) “cattle condo” scandal so as to be able to report to Parliament next month has been vindcated by none other than the NFCorp chief executive officer Wan Shahinur Izmir Salleh.
Wan Shahinur Izran came out with a most shocking assertion yesterday when he said in a statement:
“The issue of NFC managing its loan monies amounting to RM250 million is the company’s responsibility to administer and utilise. NFC retains the prerogative to invest the funds in the best interests of the company.”
Can this shocking claim be true, that NFCorp has been given a completely blank cheque to do what it likes with the RM250 million loan from the Finance Ministry although completely unrelated to the “high impact” NFC economic project to promote beef self-sufficiency in the country?
If true, then the “political masters” responsible for this decision at the relevant time, whether Tun Abdullah, who was the Prime Minister when the project and loan was approved, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the Chairman of the Cabinet Committee on “High Impact Projects” or Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yasin the Minister for Agriculture and Agro-Based Industries should be hauled up before the PAC for the whole truth to be told.
If untrue, it is the responsibility of PAC to get to the bottom of the matter and report to Parliament when it reconvenes on March 12.
Read the rest of this entry »
A tale of two classes: Inequalities in Malaysia
— S.M. Mohamed Idris
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 10, 2012
FEB 10 — The government’s aim is to achieve a high-income economy by 2020 must equally benefit all Malaysians. We cannot have a society where one small elite group is living in luxury, while one big part of the society is struggling to survive.
The income inequality gap
According to Dr Muhammed Abdul Khalid, a research fellow with University Kebangsaan Malaysia, although Malaysia has made great strides in reducing poverty and inequality (especially between ethnic groups) from 1970 to 1990, the inequality remains high post-1990.
It has remained almost at the same level for the past 20 years; in fact, the inequality in Malaysia is among the highest in the region. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysian health reform socio-economics: Part 4
— David KL Quek
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 10, 2012
FEB 10 — Out-of-Pocket and Catastrophic Payments
So what is so terrible about out-of-pocket (OOP) payments for healthcare? Why are health economists and policymakers so enamoured with this unsavoury OOP payment that this healthcare financing mechanism has been universally targeted to be eradicated, or at least reduced?
Many health authorities from the WHO and World Bank have analysed this in great detail, taking into account especially poor countries around the world, including those in Asia, Africa, Central and South America. Malaysia too has been included in many multi-country analyses to ascertain if common themes and determinants are shared within the disparate health systems in the regions.
When one looks at poverty levels and unequal economic systems, the health determinant as a function of economic underdevelopment and social aberration unfortunately looms large in some really poor nations. While poverty per se cannot all be attributed to just ill health or the lack of access to proper health care, impoverishment as a result of quests for healthcare has been a classic example of what poor countries are doing wrong. Read the rest of this entry »
Let MPs have a free vote when Parliament reconvenes on 12th March on whether Shahrizat should resign as Minister over the RM330 million NFC “cattle condo” scandal
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Corruption, Najib Razak, Parliament on Thursday, 9 February 2012, 5:25 pm
Now, even Gerakan, the political party whose President had to get into Cabinet by the backdoor of Parliament, has joined the pack of wolves in Barisan Nasional demanding for the resignation of Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil as Minister for Women, Family and Community Development.
Although couched in the sweetest of words, calling on Shahrizat to “sacrifice” for Barisan Nasional and expressing “much sympathy” for her, the Gerakan Deputy President Datuk Chang Ko Youn hoped that the Wanita UMNO chief will have the “magnanimity to vacate her position as a minister in the cabinet and focus her energy on combating this…assault on her family”.
It will not be long before Gerakan leaders themselves will be asked by their Umno counterparts to make “sacrifices” for the larger interests of UMNO and Barisan Nasional.
Be that as it may, it is clear that the Gerakan Deputy President has either not heard or believed Shahrizat protesting in the loudest of voices that she is married to the chairperson of National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) which has nothing to do with her official duties as Minister of the Cabinet.
The question is how many Ministers, Members of Parliament and Barisan Nasional leaders at all levels are of the same mind – not heard or believed Shahrizat’s protestations. Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysia health reform socio-economics (Part 3)
— David Quek
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 09, 2012
FEB 9 — Ability-to-pay model in healthcare financing
Ability-to-pay encompasses the concept that people or households would choose an economic activity or service according to their capacity to afford such an activity based on their perceived hierarchy of needs, and also what goods or services to give up or sacrifice.
If healthcare or medical services are priced too high and are perceived as too unaffordable, health care considerations might be placed under such a low hierarchy of needs that it could be sacrificed for more urgent day-to-day needs and essentials.
That is why most countries around the world, if not all, offer a basic basket of health services (safe clean water supply and sanitation, childhood vaccinations, preventive child-maternal health services, etc), which are not taxed and are freely accessible to all, without the need to consider affordability or ability-to-pay. Thus, there is no question of having to consider these basic health services as an economic sacrifice for all income groups. The question arises as to how big or wide a basket of such health services, any country can afford to provide, without the need to impose co-payment mechanisms or additional taxes. Read the rest of this entry »
Berikan kepercayaan kepada rakyat, bukan sebaliknya!
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, UMNO on Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 10:34 pm
— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 08, 2012
8 FEB — Nampak nya, bila PM Najib menyeru kaum India mempercayai nya, dia sudah lupa kepada slogan dia sendiri. Suatu ketika dahulu, semasa berkobar kobar semangat liberalism dan terlalu taksub untuk meyakinkan dunia barat, PM Najib telah berkata bahawa zaman dimana pemerintah lebih tahu segala nya sudah berakhir. The age of government knows best is over. Translated, it also means, the age of big brotherism is over.
Tapi kita tahu, PM Najib kadang-kadang tidak tahu apa yang sudah diucapkan. Maklum sahajalah, sebahagian besar ucapan mengenai dasar-dasar negara, di sediakan oleh con-sultans. Slogan itu sedap di dengar, tapi perlaksanaan nya tidak ada.
Dan baru-baru ini, kita dengar PM Najib berkata perbelanjaan keatas kebajikan rakyat akan memufliskan negara. Adakah bantuan kepada rakyat yang susah, bayaran melalui jabatan kebajikan masyarakat misalnya, akan memiskinkan negara? Kenyataan ini amat sukar di terima memandangkan dalam masa 10 tahun (2000-2009) sebanyak satu trillion atau 1,000 billion telah hilang dari negara akibat pemindahan wang ke luar negara secara haram! Bayangkan jika jumlah tersebut di aplikasikan kepada kebajikan masyarakat! Maka yang sebetulnya membengkrapkan negara ini ialah rasuah dan pemindahan wang secara haram. Read the rest of this entry »
The 1 ‘S’Care scheme
— The Black Cactus
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 08, 2012
FEB 8 — In the last few weeks, there has been immense debate on the proposed national health scheme dubbed 1 Care in both the internet and the mainstream media. A collective conclusion shared by both the public and the very professionals alike (who play a major role in the system) is the uncanny ability to fully comprehend the confusing entity which remains an uncertainty till today.
This commentary was written to achieve the following objectives
1. To help the public understand why this system was proposed and what led to the genesis of this scheme;
2. If possible, to pressure the government to be more transparent in providing information on the 1 Care scheme to allay fears among the general public; and
3. To help the layperson understand the unaddressed policy issues but highly crucial perspectives surrounding the 1 Care scheme Read the rest of this entry »
A Critique of the ETP: Part 3 (ii) – Execution (ii) – The hothouse labs probably killed innovation
The ETP resulted from 12 ‘labs’. Each lab comprised 30-50 experts who had 8 weeks to research best practices and innovations, distill them in intense brainstorming sessions and support them with detailed analysis. The result was 131 Entry Point Projects (EPPs) across 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) that would maximise gross national income with minimal public-funding support. Such is the PEMANDU narration.
Truly transformative ideas may have had no chance. Much was made of the private sector participation. But large companies would naturally dominate. Start-up companies, even if invited, cannot afford to release staff for 8 weeks. Consider this example: Ten years ago, Microsoft, IBM and HP would have dominated any lab to transform the IT industry. Google was a cash-strapped start-up, Apple was in disarray and Facebook did not even exist. The incumbents would have been free to promote pet projects and stifle their competition.
Hothouse environment favoured incumbents with existing business plans. The tight time frame incentivised lab participants to select EPPs for which research was ready, rather than pursue alternatives. In addition, private sector participants would be expected to lobby heavily for their pet projects. Their duty is to maximise profits, not embark on public service ventures. Unless properly steered, the labs would be inclined to select heavily-promoted projects rather than the most transformative.
Read the rest of this entry »
Malaysian health reform socioeconomics (Part 2)
— Dr David KL Quek
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 08, 2012
FEB 8 — 1 Care health reform phases
In the 1 Care Health Reform plan, there are four proposed phases of transformation that could take anything from 10 to 15 years (according to officials), depending on the uptake of the various phases and programmes, as well as its implementation progress.
Importantly, the Health Ministry increasingly understands that it would require general public acceptance, as well as significant consensus and (if possible) seamless buy-in from as many stakeholders as possible.
There is recognition that if the public fails to accept this in toto or in part, then there might be need to re-tweak or re-design certain aspects of the reform plans. Just how much the bureaucrats or our political masters are willing to change and adapt remains to be seen.
Therefore, it is crucial, indeed essential, that the public and interested stakeholders take an active role in providing enough input to help make this reform the one that they want. We should not simply accept a top-down programme designed by bureaucrats, and selectively enacted by policy makers. Why? Because, it would be disastrous if this reform fails or runs into the usual gaffes, just a few years down the line. Health care is simply too unforgiving and vital to fail or be subject to arbitrary social experimentation, no matter how good the intentions! Read the rest of this entry »
The road to Malaysia is sometimes paved with grammatical errors
Posted by Kit in Farish Noor on Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 11:57 am
— Farish A. Noor
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 07, 2012
FEB 7 — There are times when I can only assume that Malaysians have so much free time on their hands that they don’t know what to do with it. Today, as I was marking my students’ book reviews, I chanced upon an item on Facebook that caught my attention: A minor kerfuffle had erupted thanks to a naive and well-meaning, though poorly executed, attempt at political correctness and inclusivity. The JKMM Facebook page had announced a Happy Thaipusam, but to Buddhists instead of Hindus. Almost immediately scores of irate Malaysians wrote on the page, accusing the JKMM FB page administrators of being stupid and insensitive.
Now allow me to contribute my two cents’ worth here (I’m paid in Singaporean dollars now, so my two cents are worth five sen ok, don’t play-play … )
I find it difficult, if not impossible, to believe that anyone at the offices of the JKMM would deliberately set out to insult Hindus on the page of the JKMM. That would be so insanely counter-productive as to beggar belief. True there might be racists anywhere and everywhere (even in academia) but they seldom use official channels to insult others, what more in such a case where anyone responsible can be tracked down and eventually identified. Read the rest of this entry »
Another rural school mishap — but who cares?
— Andrew Aeria
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 08, 2012
FEB 8 — On the night of January 31, 18 young children, all students of a rural boarding school, SK Punan Ba in Sarawak’s Belaga district, were injured when their dilapidated wooden hostel (built in 1983) collapsed on them. According to the school’s headmaster, the “ramshackle wooden hostel” had been earmarked for renovation (see Borneo Post report).
Instead, for lack of repairs, five primary schoolgirls suffered “serious injuries” while 13 others had “minor fractures”. Luckily, there were no fatalities reported — although fatalities or permanent paralysis may still occur if any of the five ‘seriously injured’ schoolgirls do not respond well to medical treatment.
For those who do not understand medical parlance, a “serious injury” refers to the fact that the patient is bedridden after an accident and is incapable of walking. For those amongst us who have suffered “minor fractures”, we would all understand how painful, difficult and inconvenient an experience that can be. What more if the person is a child who is living in a rural and underfunded boarding school far away from family and loved ones, most of whom are poor and marginalised.
School buildings collapse and burn down regularly in Sarawak and Sabah owing to neglect and for lack of urgent maintenance funds. Read the rest of this entry »
When will Najib go into the den of the extremists to preach the message of moderation – especially Utusan Malaysia and UMNO Supreme Council?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Media, Najib Razak, UMNO on Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 8:03 am
The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak preached the message of moderation to a Chap Goh Meh celebration at Fo Guang Shah Dong Zen temple in Jenjarom, Selangor on Monday night, invoking the Buddhist teaching of moderation.
Najib said: “Even though we may differ in terms of faith, moderation exists in almost all religions…Moderation points to an understanding of not practicing extreme, fanatical, militant or violent ideology among us.”
He urged all Malaysians to support the concept of transformation and not to let the opportunity to pass to lift the nation to be a fully developed nation by 2020.
I commend Najib for spreading the message of moderation but he should realize that he was speaking to a converted crowd – as the audience in Jenjarom was imbued by the Buddhist teaching of “Middle Way” and/or the Confucianist doctrine of “zhong yong”.
It does not escape notice that although the Prime Minister had been preaching the message of moderation at a few international forums, and hosted an International Conference on the Global Movement of Moderates only last month, extremism and intolerance have been rearing their ugly heads resulting in the worst racial and religious polarization in the country in the first three years of any Malaysian Prime Minister from Tunku Abdul Rahman to Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Tun Mahathir, Tun Abdullah and now to him.
Najib should continue to preach the message of moderation but it is important that he should not just spread the word to the converted like the Chap Goh Meh celebration at Jenjarom but must take the message to extremist groups and circles who need conversion to the message of moderation the most.
How can Najib expect the bona fides of his message of moderation, though repeated in international conferences or to selected audiences in the country, to be taken seriously if Utusan Malaysia, the official newspaper of his own political party, UMNO, is the daily personification of a shrill, irresponsible, extremist and intolerant Voice both on racial and religious grounds? Read the rest of this entry »
Umno’s right turn
Posted by Kit in Election, Hishammuddin, Najib Razak, UMNO on Wednesday, 8 February 2012, 5:27 am
— Liew Chin Tong
Rocket/The Malaysian Insider
Feb 07, 2012
FEB 7 — As I walked from my hotel room to a meeting in Port Dickson in July 2005, I remember holding a newspaper with a photo of Hishammuddin Hussein brandishing a keris on its cover. At that moment, I knew Umno was kissing goodbye to its non-Malay support. (For reference, see the first part of this article here.)
Indeed, on hindsight, it was the pivotal moment of the decade: Umno had turned to the right permanently while the then-Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi lost control over his reform agenda. The demise of Abdullah’s premiership, arguably Umno’s last chance to reform, began in July 2005.
Today, unless Prime Minister Najib Razak can stare down the right wing of his party as effectively as Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Vision 2020 grand compromise and turn the clock back by seven years to restore its centrist credential, the events of July 2005 will culminate in Umno and Barisan Nasional’s eventual electoral collapse. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Trust’ Najib!
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Tuesday, 7 February 2012, 9:27 pm
— Sam Peh
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 07, 2012
FEB 7 — Why all this cynicism about Najib Razak’s “trust me and I can help you” statement? This is a man who can be “trusted”.
Let us examine the evidence since he became prime minister in 2009.
He can be “trusted” to keep silent when Perkasa bashes the Chinese and Indians and questions the loyalty of non-Malays.
He can be “trusted” to keep silent when supporters of Umno drag a cow head through the streets in protest against the construction of a temple in Shah Alam.
He can be “trusted” to pretend to be deaf when Umno politicians make all sorts of accusations against Christians and Christianity. (Note to PM: Not all Indians are Hindus) Read the rest of this entry »
Najib kata, ‘gua caya lu, lu caya gua’
Posted by Kit in Elections, Indians, Najib Razak, UMNO on Tuesday, 7 February 2012, 8:19 pm
— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 07, 2012
7 FEB — “Lu caya gua, gua caya lu!”….. itulah maksud kata-kata Najib kepada kaum India semasa melawat Batu Caves sempena hari Thaipusam pagi tadi. Najib menyeru kaum India supaya mempercayai beliau dalam usaha memperbaiki kehidupan kaum India dan memberikan beliau sokongan dalam pilihanraya yang akan datang. “Tuan-tuan tolong saya, saya akan tolong tuan-tuan” kata Najib lantang dan jelas.
Janji seperti ini telah dibuat setiap pilihanraya tiba sejak tiga puluh tahun yang lalu. Janji ini bukan sahaja dibuat kepada kaum India tetapi semua kaum termasuk kaum Najib sendiri, iaitu kaum Melayu yang merupakan kaum terbesar di negara ini. Janji ini jugalah yang akan ditabur dalam pilihanraya yang akan datang kerana kita tahu segala janji yang dibuat pagi tadi tidak akan kemana.
Tetapi kepada siapa yang masih yakin dan percaya kepada janji itu terpulang kepada mereka. Setiap rakyat berhak untuk memilih untuk dibohongi terus-terusan atau mengelak dari pembohongan tersebut. Sebagai seorang Perdana Menteri yang mengetuai Kerajaan Persekutuan, janji yang dibuat secara peribadi itu merupakan tindakan ‘desperate’ dan kata-katanya itu tidak melambangkan beliau seorang pemimpin yang ‘magnanimous’ yang memimpin rakyat yang berbilang kaum itu.
Orang Melayu telah dijanjikan bermacam-macam setiap pilihanraya, tetapi kita lihat apa yang berlaku sekarang ini adalah terlalu jauh dari menepati janji-janji yang telah dibuat kepada mereka. Umno telah menjadikan orang Melayu hanya sebagai dahan bongkok untuk ‘kera-kera’ meniti dan digunakan untuk memberikan sokongan dalam pilihanraya sahaja. Orang Melayu dan rakyat hanya diberikan RM500 upah sebelum pilihanraya ini untuk mendapatkan kuasa dan terus menjajah pemikiran bangsanya sendiri. Read the rest of this entry »
Warkah dari warga Felda
— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 07, 2012
7 FEB — Ini warkah dari warga Felda yang saya turunkan secara verbatim. Tidak syak lagi, walaupun selesai penyenraian FGV kelak, isiu nya tidak akan reda. Mudah mudahan ianya akan meningkatkan kesedaran politik warga Felda yang lain. — Sakmongkol.
CUKONG BELIA FELDA JAMIN SELEPAS PENYENARAIAN BERIBU PEKERJAAN UNTUK ANAK FELDA DIWUJUDKAN? KAH KAH KAH…
Woit cukong-cukong mengaku pemimpin belia Felda! Dah buat homework belum apa yang berlaku di Felda Global Venture tentang peluang pekerjaan belia Felda akan datang selepas penyenaraian? Makin kencap kencup kempis dan terus kempis … Kah Kah Kah.
Apa bukti???? Tanya si cukong. Woitt!! Cukong-cukong tahukah apa maksud Outsourcing? Ini kata lebai Google “Outsourcing is the act of one company contracting with another company to provide services that might otherwise be performed by in-house employees. Often the tasks that are outsourced could be performed by the company itself, but in many cases there are financial advantages that come from outsourcing. Many large companies now outsource jobs such as call center services, e-mail services, and payroll. These jobs are handled by separate companies that specialize in each service, and are often located overseas.” Apa makna ini?? Maknanya anak dara Jengka melepas jadi kerani payroll … dara sunti Trolak melepas jadi receptionist … janda berhias Lok Heng tak ada can jadi sumber manusia … Kah Kah Kah. Mat-mat belia Felda lagi la melepas terus join PAS … Kah Kah Kah. Read the rest of this entry »
Is Myanmar the new Asian tiger?
by Pepe Escobar
Al Jazeera
07 Feb 2012
Despite some reforms, Myanmar remains a hardcore military dictatorship and lacks a civil society.
Bangkok, Thailand – While the big story of 2012 in south-west Asia is the increasingly lethal US-Iran psychodrama, there’s no bigger story in south-east Asia in the Year of the Dragon than the controlled opening of Myanmar.
Everyone and his neighbour, East and West, has been trekking to Myanmar since US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit last November. It’s virtually impossible these days to book a flight or a hotel room.
Like Ashgabat in Turkmenistan and Astana in Kazakhstan a few years ago, the new capital Naypyidaw (“the abode of kings”) – built from scratch with natural gas wealth halfway between Rangoon and Mandalay – is surging as a new promised land. Read the rest of this entry »
Shahrizat returning to her first Cabinet meeting tomorrow after her 3-week leave triumphant or chastened?
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Corruption, Najib Razak on Tuesday, 7 February 2012, 5:08 pm
Is the Minister for Women, Family and Community Development, Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil returning to her first Cabinet meeting tomorrow after her three-week leave triumphant or chastened?
All the signs are that Shahrizat has returned from her three-week leave completely unrepentant about the RM330 million National Feedlot Centre/National Feedlot Corporation (NFC/NFCorpn) “cattle condo” scandal which had plunged the 34-month Najib premiership to the lowest point in terms of public accountability and integrity and threatened to topple Malaysia’s Transparency International Corruption (TI) Perception Index (CPI) 2012 next year to a new low in both CPI score and ranking – even lower than the deplorable 60th ranking and 4.3 score in TI CPI 2011.
Shahrizat came back from her leave even more combative and truculent, as if challenging not only her known public detractors but the unseen forces in UMNO and Barisan Nasional to a battle royale to force her to relinquish her positions in both government and party over the NFC scandal – as Cabinet Minister and Umno Wanita chief!
The Cabinet meeting tomorrow will be the national focus tomorrow, whether the Prime Minister and the Ministers dare to state the obvious – that she should extend her leave as the rationale of her three-week leave to allow the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Agency (MACC) to clear her of any corruption, abuse of power or conflict of interests in the “cattle condo” scandal has not yet been achieved – or to be cowed by her triumphant return, although MCA President Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek had blamed her for the “poor handling” of “cattle condo” scandal, causing the public to perceive the NFC project as “real rotten”? Read the rest of this entry »
