What makes New Zealand, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and others “cleaner” than most countries?
Posted by Kit in Corruption on Thursday, 26 January 2012, 9:05 pm
By Marie Chêne
Senior Research Coordinator
Transparency International
New Zealand, Denmark, Finland and Sweden have been consistently ranked at the top of the Corruption Perceptions Index and are perceived to be the least corrupt of all the countries surveyed.
They are not perfect – still falling short of the target 10 out of 10 on the index – but many still want to know about how these countries have managed to contain corruption.
Beside law enforcement, there is a broad consensus that fighting corruption involves public participation and transparency mechanisms such as disclosure of information.
Preliminary findings from upcoming country studies for Finland, Denmark and Sweden indicate that this “integrity system” function relatively well in these countries.
But what makes their “national integrity systems” more effective? Read the rest of this entry »
Instruct police to speed up NFCorp probe, ex-top cop tells Najib
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Corruption, Crime, Law & Order, Police on Thursday, 26 January 2012, 7:08 pm
By Yow Hong Chieh
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 26, 2012
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 26 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak should use his powers as prime minister to expedite the probe into the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp), a former senior police officer said today.
Former city CID chief Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim said Najib could instruct the police, graftbusters and the Attorney-General’s Chambers to finish investigating the scandal-hit livestock company within a fortnight.
“Straightforward criminal breach of trust cases like [NFCorp] need at most two weeks,” he said in a statement.
“If the PM says he can’t interfere in the investigation or decision to prosecute, that’s just a weak and childish excuse.”
Mat Zain pointed out that in 1998, then-Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had ordered him to quickly wrap up the high-profile investigation into Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s black eye, failing which a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) would be set up to look into the police force. Read the rest of this entry »
NUJ to govt: Don’t muzzle the press
Posted by Kit in Elections, Media, Parliament on Thursday, 26 January 2012, 7:01 pm
Patrick Lee | January 26, 2012
Free Malaysia Today
Let the media roam free during elections, the National Union of Journalists tells government.
PETALING JAYA: As the general election draws nearer, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has demanded that the government let go of its iron grip on the country’s media.
In a letter to Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Electoral Reforms chairman Maximus Johnity Ongkili, NUJ general-secretary V Anbalagan listed a number of media-related proposals for the committee to consider.
Anbalagan claimed that these proposals –which included limiting the government’s control over the media – would ultimately create a level playing field for all political parties during the election.
“Journalists are to provide reliable information for everyone to take part in the democratic decision-making process. As such, it is the duty of the journalists to supply all individuals with diverse information for them to make decisions later,” he wrote.
Chief among the proposals was the setting up of a media monitoring committee, formed by the Election Commission (EC). Read the rest of this entry »
Most deplorable at Mohamad Salleh’s attempt at semantics when the RM336.64 million NFC/NFCorp scandal is not just a “mess” but “a terrible mess”
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Corruption on Thursday, 26 January 2012, 5:05 pm
It is most deplorable and the height of irresponsibility that at this late stage, after three months of continuous almost-dailyh adverse publicity, the family of Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, the Minister for Women, Family and Community Development, is still trying to shirk accountability with her husband, Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail, the chairman of National Foodlot Corporation (NFCorp) Chairman claiming that the Auditor-General had confused NFCorp, a private entity, with the National Foodlot Centre (NFC) which is owned by the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry.
The Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang has not made any such mistake in his Federal Accounts Report 2010 and I am not aware that he had made any such admission in any subsequent statement.
Mohamad Salleh deserves public censure for his attempt at semantics to avoid accountability and responsibility when the RM336.64 million NFC scandal (which involves the NFCorp scandal) cries out for full disclosure and investigation, as the whole NFC/NFCorp scandal stinks, and is not just a “mess” (which the AG did not say) but a “terrible mess” (which the AG should have said)! Read the rest of this entry »
Najib and Muhyiddin should not be ignorant and contemptuous of Constitution and the law by exploiting the 3R cards of race, religion and Raja Melayu against DAP
Posted by Kit in Constitution, DAP, Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak on Thursday, 26 January 2012, 3:44 pm
Last Saturday, when two young Malay professionals from Perak both of whom UiTM law graduates, Fairuz Azhan and Dyana Sofia announced joining the DAP, close on the heels of similar announcements by Hata Wahari, former President of National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and two wellknown bloggers Mohd Arif Sabri or known as Sokmongkok AK47 on the blogosphere and Aspan Alias, UMNO Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin was sufficiently upset at Malays joining DAP as to come out with a public statement.
In the coming weeks, when more Malays, both young and old, join DAP in the struggle for a united, just, democratic and competitive Malaysia for all Malaysians, the Prime Minister and UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy UMNO President, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin would be the next persons to be upset and shocked.
Let me inform the UMNO leaders that this is the tide of the times and no force in the world can stop more Malays joining up with other Malaysians from other ethnicities in DAP to build a common destiny as Malaysian citizens for future generations of Malaysians.
DAP has right from the beginning of our formation 46 years ago committed to the cause for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region – the forerunner of the 1Malaysia policy promulgated by Najib when he became Prime Minister but which could not secure unanimous and unconditional support of his Cabinet and Barisan Nasional leadership after 33 months. Read the rest of this entry »
Mengapa saya pilih DAP
Posted by Kit in DAP, Lim Guan Eng, Penang on Thursday, 26 January 2012, 2:45 pm
– Oleh Fairuz Azhan
Roketkini
25 January 2012
25 JANUARI – Baru-baru ini satu sidang media telah diadakan di Ipoh untuk memperkenalkan saya dan saudari Dyana Sofya yang membuat keputusan untuk menyertai DAP.
Berita tentang kami sebagai dua orang graduan undang-undang dari UiTM menyertai DAP bagaikan telah mencetuskan fenomena dan pelbagai reaksi daripada pelbagai lapisan masyarakat am.
Bukan sahaja saya datang daripada sebuah universiti Bumiputera tetapi saya bersekolah di sebuah sekolah berasrama penuh Melayu di Ipoh yang cukup terkenal. Malah alma mater saya, Sekolah Tuanku Abdul Rahman dahulu dikenali sebagai MSS atau pun Malay Secondary School.
Saya bukanlah golongan orang Melayu yang ‘tak bersyukur’, malah sebaliknya. Segala pendedahan dan ilmu yang saya perolehi saya guna pakai untuk berfikir bagaimana untuk menambah baik keadaan di negara kita. Read the rest of this entry »
Khairy Jamaluddin: Musuh saudara dalam Umno, bukan DAP
— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 26, 2012
26 JAN — Khairy Jamaluddin, Ketua Pemuda Umno Malaysia, telah meminta DAP mengeluarkan senarai ahli-ahlinya dari kaum Melayu jika benar DAP sekarang sedang mendapat sokongan dari kaum Melayu. Khairy berkata setakat tiga orang Melayu yang menyertai DAP itu tidak melambangkan yang parti itu sudah diterima oleh orang Melayu. Saya tidak yakin kenapa penyertaan orang Melayu di akhir-akhir ini menjadi isu dari Sabah hingga ke Perlis.
Saya hanya hendak memberikan komen yang pendek terhadap cabaran Khairy ini dan saya rasa boleh memberikan jawapan kepada kenyataan Khairy itu kerana saya adalah salah seorang dari orang Melayu yang telah menyertai DAP baru-baru ini.
Untuk pengetahuan Khairy DAP tidak membuat pengasingan ahli-ahlinya mengikut bangsa dan agama. Di dalam borang permohonan menjadi ahli, tidak ada petak yang bertanyakan dari kaum apa pemohon-pemohon tersebut kerana sebagai sebuah parti yang memperjuangkan untuk semua tanpa mengira kaum dan budaya bangsa dan ethnik ahli-ahli tidak menjadi perkara penting. Read the rest of this entry »
Politik perkauman akhiri zamannya
Posted by Kit in DAP, Lim Guan Eng, PAS on Thursday, 26 January 2012, 2:22 pm
— Abd Shukur Harun
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 26, 2012
26 JAN — Tidak syak lagi bahawa generasi baru, malah sesetengah generasi lama juga, telah dengan jelas menolak politik perkauman. Dengan itu parti politik yang berasaskan kaum, atau tebal dengan perkauman sedang menghadapi zaman gelapnya.
Dengan itu, tidak mungkin lagi politik perkauman akan terus mendominasi iklim politik di Malaysia, justru golongan yang mendukung politik perkauman semakin merosot dan terus merosot.
DAP yang sejak puluhan tahun digambarkan oleh musuh politiknya sebagai parti perkauman Cina, kini berusaha keras memulihkan imejnya sebagai parti politik untuk semua kaum di Malayia. Usahanya itu sebanyak sedikit menampakkan hasil di mana sudah ada tokoh-tokoh Melayu yang menyertainya.
Keterlibatan tokoh Melayu itu mampu menonjolkan kesungguhan DAP untuk dilihat secara praktikal sebagai parti bukan perkauman. Tokoh terkini Melayu dalam DAP yang mula mengukir nama ialah seperti Zairil Khir Johari (anak Tan Sri Khir Johari), Prof Arifin Omar, Mohd Arif Sabri seorang blogger yang terkenal dengan nama samaran Sokmongkol AK 47, bekas Presiden Kesatuan Wartawan Malaysia (NUJ), Hatta Wahari dan mungkin ramai lagi yang sudah memasang niat untuk bersama DAP.
Ramai yakin untuk memastikan Melayu dilihat ada tempat dalam DAP, mereka akan diberi kedudukan tertentu untuk ditonjolkan sebagai tokoh Melayu dalam DAP.
Kalangan yang menyertai DAP ini sudah tentu mempunyai persepsi yang sama bahawa masa depan politik Malaysia bukanlah politik perkauman. Justru mereka melihat Pakatan Rakyat — di mana terdiri dari PAS, DAP dan PKR — mempunyai potensi yang sangat baik. Read the rest of this entry »
A Critique of the ETP (Part 2) – We won’t really be twice as rich in 2020
By Dr. Ong Kian Ming BSc (LSE), MPhil (Cantab), PhD (Duke)
Teh Chi--Chang, CFA, BSc (Warwick), MBA (Cantab)
Refsa | 25 January 2012
RM48,000 in 2020 is not real income. The ETP promises to double gross national income (GNI) per capita to RM48,000 by 2020 from RM23,700 in 2009. However, RM48,000 in 2020 will be worth a lot less than RM48,000 today, just like RM100 today buys a lot less than RM100 eight years ago, thanks to ever-rising prices. If Malaysians are really to be twice better off, nominal income must be RM64,000 by then, to compensate for the 2.8% per year inflation that PEMANDU expects.
Nothing transformational in the RM48,000 target. This target is for nominal income, which includes inflation, and not real income, which strips out inflation. Because of inflation, nominal GNI per capita growth averaged 8.2% from 2001-2010, whereas real GNI grew only 3.2%. At the historical average 8.2% per year growth rate, nominal incomes will exceed RM48,000 by 2018 anyway, with or without the ETP or PEMANDU.
PEMANDU and its expensive consultants cannot even get basic mathematics correct. If the income target is RM48,000, PEMANDU’s 6% real GNI growth rate and 2.8% inflation forecasts are wrong. If its growth and inflation forecasts are right, then the RM48,000 target is wrong – it should be RM54,145 in 2020, not RM48,000. Furthermore, key metrics of some EPPs – the investment value, GNI contribution and jobs created – are unavailable.
Read the rest of this entry »
Khazanah sold Proton for no profits?
Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | January 25, 2012
Free Malaysia Today
The ‘Che Det Consensus’ is an economy built around problem solving that is ‘practical’ only for the Malaysia’s business and Umno political elite.
COMMENT
I found it odd the statement from Khazanah Nasional Bhd that it didn’t make profit from its sale of Proton Holdings Bhd’s shares to DRB-Hicom Bhd. If no profits were made, why sell the shares?
Secondly, Khazanah’s statement can be construed as an admission that it was given a fait accompli – take this price and don’t ask any questions. In Malaysia, only one person can do that – the man who can walk on water – Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
I hope I can throw more light on the sale of Proton shares to DRB-Hicom. Were there any other bids besides DRB-Hicom presented to Khazanah?
Is Khazanah brave enough to publish the identity of all the bidders?
If it has the courage to do so, we shall not be surprised if the bidders were the Tengku Mahalil-Arumugam group, DRB-Hicom and Nazmi and company. And they all have only one master – Mahathir. Read the rest of this entry »
One Saturday with The Oracle of Syed Putera
— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 25, 2012
JAN 25 — We are going to ignore the doomsday statements from Perkasa about Islam being threatened with Khalid in charge of Islam. How is Islam threatened? Khalid is a closet Christian evangelist? He is not Islamic enough? He can’t manage properly? It is more reasonable to assume Khalid can do a better job since he has managed Selangor financially better than previous BN MBs.
Islam is threatened simply because the majority of Umno members shy away from mosques and suraus. They don’t ‘prosper’ the masjids and suraus. They want positions as chairmen of suraus and masjid for the prestige but are sorely deficient and wanting when it comes to evangelical programmes.
But then that is the basic leadership philosophy of the majority of Umno people — positions without accountability and responsibility. Kedudukan mau, kerja tak mau.
They want to become boss of suraus or mosques, they want to become chairman of PTA even though they themselves are elementary educated. So on so forth. So when things go afoul, the answers are not difficult to identify and can immediately be found. They somehow originate from Umno.
The DAP people whom the majority are not Christians want to proselytise on Islam? This is the biggest gobbledygook thus far pedalled by Perkasa. Islam is under threat precisely because Umno has carried out ruinous business policies and economic predation that so impoverished the Malays leaving them vulnerable and seeking help from the inefficient Islamic bodies. If Malays convert then the fault lies firstly with the institutions charged with keeping the faith. Read the rest of this entry »
Auditor General forewarned that he would be destroying credibility of the sole national institution which had kept its reputation intact in past few decades if …
Posted by Kit in Auditor-General Report, Corruption, Parliament on Wednesday, 25 January 2012, 6:09 pm
The Auditor-General Tan Sri Ambrin Buang must be forewarned that he would be destroying the credibility of the sole national institution which had kept its reputation intact in the past few decades if he succumbed to improper pressures to “whitewash” the RM300 million “cattle condo” scandal, whether the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) or the National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp).
The NFCorp chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail – husband of Woman, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil – has claimed that the Auditor-General in his 2010 Report had confused NFCorp, a private entity, with the NFC, which is owned by the Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Ministry.
Salleh said NFCorp is not the entity criticized in the Auditor-General’s Report for being “a mess”.
I have re-read the Auditor-General’s 2010 Report on the National Feedlot Centre (NFC) project and there is nothing to justify Salleh’s claim that the Auditor General had made the most elementary mistake of confusing the two entities, mistaking NFC for NFCorp or vice versa.
Salleh should not try to escape responsibility and accountability for the RM300 million NFC/NFCorp “cattle condo” on such a technical and ridiculous ground.
Buang is right when he clarified today that the word “mess” was never used by him to describe the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC), but was made by media reports on the Auditor-General’s criticisms on the NFC project, and very rightly so. Read the rest of this entry »
Saudi: no cash from emerging economies until given more clout
Posted by Kit in Finance, international economic crisis on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 7:47 pm
By Andrew Torchia
Reuters
Mon, Jan 23 2012
RIYADH (Reuters) – Big emerging economies such as China, India and Saudi Arabia will not aid the West in its financial crisis unless they are given more influence in running the global economy, a senior figure from Saudi Arabia’s ruling establishment said on Monday.
“The financial crisis and great recession were born in the West, developed in the West yet hit hard throughout the world,” former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal said in a speech to a business conference in Riyadh.
He said this showed the need to give emerging economies more representation and more authority in global bodies such as the Group of 20 nations, a forum of the world’s major industrialized countries, and the Financial Stability Board (FSB), which discusses regulation of banks and financial markets.
So far, however, organizations such as the FSB “have yet to take these new realities into consideration,” while the G20 is making little headway in coordinating economic policymaking around the world, he said.
Big emerging economies’ lack of influence in international bodies reduces their willingness to contribute money to fight the global crisis, the prince warned.
The International Monetary Fund is seeking to more than double its war chest by raising $600 billion in new resources to help countries deal with the fallout of the euro zone’s sovereign debt crisis. Read the rest of this entry »
Freedom works both ways, Faekah
Posted by Kit in Human Rights on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 7:35 pm
— Yow Hong Chieh
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 24, 2012
JAN 24 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) promotes equality for all, regardless of religion or race, and stronger civil liberties as the bedrock for a more modern, progressive Malaysia.
The pact says all basic rights enshrined in the Constitution will be upheld when it takes power, rights that Barisan Nasional (BN) has denied to the people on more than one occasion.
Among the fundamental rights that PR trumpets whenever it wishes to rally its supporters is the freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of movement.
But if the opposition believes in these freedoms, why is it we still see people like Faekah Husin, political secretary to Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, proposing that the outspoken Datuk Ibrahim Ali be banned from the state for being a nuisance? Read the rest of this entry »
For its own sake, Greece needs to declare default
by Costas Lapavitsas
Sydney Morning Herald
January 25, 2012
The dreadful debt saga will only come to a close when Athens takes charge of its predicament, writes Costas Lapavitsas.
Negotiations to reduce Greek debt have been suspended after no agreement could be reached last week. At some point in the near future, Greece seems certain to default on its obligations. But the drama surrounding the talks in Athens, Berlin and Paris shows that there will be nothing co-operative about a Greek default. It is a ruthless contest dominated by the so-called troika: the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund.
At every turn, the interests and rights of people across Europe have been disregarded. Negotiations have proceeded in secrecy. Greece, whose government is led by an unelected central banker, is represented by a team of politicians and technocrats who have performed lamentably during the crisis. Those who are owed money by Greece have been represented by the Institute of International Finance, a self-styled mouthpiece for bankers.
The troika has accepted that Greek debt must be reduced to sustainable levels. However, it also wants the reduction to appear voluntary because, if the lenders were coerced, Greece would be declared in formal default, and banks and financial markets would be thrown into crisis. Read the rest of this entry »
Perkasa’s perverted paranoia
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Law & Order, nation building, Religion on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 7:07 pm
— David Martin
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 24, 2012
JAN 24 — January is almost up and we’re already a few days into the year of the Dragon. Seems like it’s same old same old as the business of hate mongering are abound, at least where the self appointed moral guardians Perkasa are concerned.
Today, Perkasa’s secretary general claimed that the appointment of Selangor’s Menteri Besar as the state’s Executive Councillor in charge of Islam would result in a bigger threat to Islam from the Christians in the state.
Now Mr Attorney General, Mr Inspector General of Police & Mr Home Minister, if such unsubstantiated accusations are not seditious in nature, what is?
What’s with Perkasa’s paranoia with Christianity anyway?
Why are the Christians made the bogeyman for any & all threats to Islam in this country in the last few years? Read the rest of this entry »
Azmi Khalid should resign as PAC Chairman and not be an obstacle to an urgent PAC investigation into RM300 million NFC scandal to table report to Parliament on March 12
Posted by Kit in Corruption, Parliament on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 3:44 pm
Datuk Seri Azmi Khalid should resign as Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Chairman and not be an obstacle to an immediate and urgent PAC investigation into the RM300 million National Feedlot Centre (NFC) scandal so as to be able to table a report of its findings and recommendations to Parliament when it reconvenes on March 12.
It will be a gross remiss of its responsibility if the PAC is empty-handed when Parliament reconvenes on March 12 when the “cattle condo” scandal is undoubtedly the No. 1 scandal of the country for the past three months since the delayed tabling of the Auditor-General Report 2010 last October.
I had occasion to criticise the “tardiness” of the PAC to plunge into full-scale investigation into the NFC scandal and Azmi has responded saying that he prefers the PAC to wait for the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to complete their investigations of suspected corruption in the NFC scandal before deciding if it should continue with its own probe.
The decision that the PAC refrain or suspend investigation into the Auditor-General’s exposes of the NFC scandal is only the personal inclination of Azmi and cannot be the collective decision of the PAC, as the PAC has not met after the start of the police and MACC investigations into the NFC.
Azmi should not impose his personal preference on the PAC when national interests demand that the PAC performs its duty to conduct an urgent and immediate investigation into the NFC scandal. Read the rest of this entry »
‘Elite Malay leadership cheating community’
Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | January 22, 2012
Free Malaysia Today
The majority of grassroots successful Malays have succeed on their own account, with no Umno help.
COMMENT
Many have realised that the struggle to preserve the 30% quota of privileges has never expanded into the universal struggle for the economic emancipation of Malays.
I want to repeat this observation. The penury of the majority Malays is not the result of greedy others (read non-Malays) taking a larger share of the economic pie.
We have been taken for a ride believing in this.
The causes for the continued misdevelopment of Malays are likely to be found in the actions and behaviour of the Malay leadership.
The Malay leadership at all levels have not acted in the interest of Malays actually. Read the rest of this entry »
UMNO fears DAP beachhead
Posted by Kit in DAP, Lim Guan Eng, Penang, UMNO on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 1:24 pm
KTemoc Konsiders ……..
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Lim Guan Eng and his Penang government, and not Khalid Ibrahim and the Selangor government, represent the greatest threat to Najib and UMNO, and therefore every attempt must be launched to destroy it, impossible as this task may seem.
In the immortal words of Cato the Elder, a Roman statesman, “Ceterum autem censeo, Carthaginem esse delendam” (Furthermore, I think Carthage must be destroyed).
Thus, to UMNO, in similar thinking, DAP in Penang must be destroyed …….. well, as much as is practically possible, given that an overwhelming majority of Penangites has rejected Gerakan and MCA parties as their political representatives.
Hence we have witnessed the relentless waves of terrible fabrications against Lim’s government in general, and Lim GE in particular, even down to the shameful sleazy salacious lies about his teenage son. Those fabricators surely threw their religious God-fearing beliefs and values out of the windows.
It has been anti-DAP carpet bombing all the way by both UMNO apparatus and affiliated bloggers (either sympathizing with UMNO or just being anti-DAP).
They have used not C4 but ‘C3’, namely, the alleged evils of Lim GE’s Christianity, Chinese ethnicity and Charborkooi (devil women) DAP colleagues, where the lies cover: Read the rest of this entry »
