Now Putrajaya hands LRT deal to UK firm ahead of Najib visit
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, NEM, NEP on Monday, 20 June 2011, 11:15 am
By Shannon Teoh
June 20, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — A Finance Ministry committee has changed its mind by awarding the contract for the Kelana Jaya light rail transit (LRT) extension to a consortium led by British firm Colas, after controversially ordering a deal last week with another joint-venture.
But the committee’s latest decision continues to ignore the recommendation of LRT operator Syarikat Prasarana Negara Berhad for the contract to be awarded to a third company in the frame.
The Singapore Straits Times reported today that the joint-venture between Colas and CMC Engineering Sdn Bhd would be awarded the project, citing senior industry executives and government officials close to the tender as its source. Read the rest of this entry »
Biarkan rally Bersih diadakan
By Aspan Alias
June 20, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
20 JUN — Pihak parti-parti dan kerajaan yang memerintah usaha mereka ialah untuk menggagalkan niat Bersih untuk mengadakan rally besar-besaran pada 9 Julai nanti. Semua pihak tahu lebih-lebih lagi pihak pemerintah dan parti-parti yang berkuasa bahawa rally anjuran Bersih ini pasti akan mendapat sambutan yang ramai, malahan dijangkakan lebih besar dari yang dianjurkan pada 2007 yang lalu.
Inilah yang sangat ditakuti oleh Umno terutamanya kerana Umno tahu jika rally ini berlaku kali ini, ianya akan membawa kemenangan tambahan kepada Bersih seperti yang dialaminya pada 2007 yang lalu. Sebagai pihak yang memerintah memanglah mereka tidak mahu melihat Bersih mengulangi kejayaan itu lagi kerana pilihanraya umum ke13 akan diadakan tidak lama lagi. Read the rest of this entry »
Ambiga: Bersih 2.0 good for BN too
By Yow Hong Chieh
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 20, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — Clean and fair elections will not only benefit all political parties including those under the Barisan Nasional (BN) umbrella, Bersih chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said last night.
She said electoral reform will “legitimise” BN’s rule in the eyes of the people and lend credibility to ruling coalition, which the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition pact has repeatedly accused of electoral fraud.
“We want clean and fair elections for everyone and this is good even for Barisan Nasional, because if they come in on free and fair elections, they’re legitimately there,” she told nearly 600 supporters at the launch of the Bersih 2.0 rally here. Read the rest of this entry »
A nation divided?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, nation building on Monday, 20 June 2011, 8:11 am
by Kapil Sethi
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 19, 2011
JUNE 19 — On the one hand there are the Petronas Twin Towers, Malaysia Truly Asia, Vision 2020, the Economic Transformation Programme, the Government Transformation Programme, National Key Result Areas and the prime minister’s international call towards moderate Islam.
On the other hand is Malay First, Malaysia Second, Perkasa calling for jihad against Christians trying to take over Malaysia, the cow head and Allah controversies, the failure of the New Economic Model, legalised child marriage, female genital mutilation and the latest additions being the Obedient Wives Club and the Polygamists Club.
The former aims to project Malaysia as a responsible, progressive member of the community of nations committed to inclusive spiritual and material growth. The latter reflects the changing social realities on the ground, where there seems to be a regression of sorts towards a narrow backward looking society, distrustful of multiracialism, insecure about its own identity and religious practices, and hell bent on seeking comfort in extreme traditionalism.
At a deeper level, this points towards a fundamental shift away from the quintessential Malaysian belief in the middle way, where everyone understood the fragility of the peace between the races and instinctively stayed away from trampling on the sensitivities of others. Read the rest of this entry »
Perkasa, have your demo before or after 9 July — not on the same day!
Aliran Online
June 19, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
JUNE 19 — The scheduled Walk for Democracy organised by Bersih 2.0 — the election watch dog comprising 62 NGOs — on 9 July 2011 is in keeping with the democratic tradition to highlight issues of concern. This democratic process is intended to draw the attention of the government to grievances that greatly bother the citizens of a country so that their grievances can be addressed. Their call is to conduct free and fair elections, which will legitimise election results and make them acceptable to all contestants.
Bersih had organised a similar gathering on 10 November 2007, which attracted close to 50000 participants in a peaceful attempt to demand ‘free and fair’ elections. One cannot help but be impressed by the disciplined and responsible conduct of the protesters then. They even cleared and cleaned the streets of all rubbish that littered the streets. They had traffic marshals to manage the crowd. They were that responsible. Read the rest of this entry »
“Smoking Gun” proof of Muhyiddin-Utusan conspiracy to subvert 1Malaysia concept
There is now the “smoking gun” proof of the conspiracy or complicity of Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Umno official organ, Utusan Malaysia, to subvert the 1Malaysia concept and destabilise Malaysia to justify a Operation Lalang2 crackdown on civil liberties with mass ISA arrests to prolong Umno hegemony.
Yesterday, Muhyiddin made the preposterous claim in Sabah when opening the Beaufort UMNO general meeting that Pakatan Rakyat is hiding behind the planned Bersih 2.0 rally with a plot to topple the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) Goverment.
He alleged that the opposition’s agenda was to create a momentum among the people to hate the government by raising various issues beyond the call for clean and fair elections. Read the rest of this entry »
Majlis pelancaran Misi Palestin: Mat Sabu tidak dibenar berpidato
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Middle East/Africa, Palestine, PAS on Sunday, 19 June 2011, 3:13 pm
By Fazy Sahir
June 19, 2011 | Free Malaysia Today
KUALA LUMPUR: Timbalan Presiden PAS Mohamad Sabu mendakwa pentadbiran Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak bertindak mengambil alih misi kemanusiaan rakyat Palestin dalam majlis yang dilancarkan malam tadi.
Ini berikutan beliau dan beberapa badan bukan kerajaan (NGO) Pakatan Rakyat digugurkan dari menyertai majlis Pelancaran Pasukan Lifeline4Gaza (LL4G) Malaysia itu.
Mat Sabu yang dijadualkan menyampaikan pidato dalam majlis pelancaran itu malam tadi di Stadium Badminton Kuala Lumpur, Cheras telah digugurkan daripada berbuat demikian.
Beliau hanya diberitahu oleh pihak penganjur bahawa ucapannya dibatalkan awal pagi semalam dan membuat keputusan untuk tidak hadir dalam majlis tersebut. Read the rest of this entry »
Why reject my questions, Chong asks S’wak speaker
Posted by Kit in Sarawak, State Assembly on Sunday, 19 June 2011, 3:08 pm
BY Ang Ngan Toh
Jun 19, 11 | MalaysiaKini
Kota Sentosa state assemblyperson Chong Chieng Jen has criticized state legislative speaker Awang Asfia Awang Nasar for rejecting two of his questions for the question and answer session of next week’s assembly meeting.
Chong, who is also the Bandar Kuching member of parliament, said the speaker rejected the two questions because they breached the august house’s Standing Order 20(1) (a), (c) and (l).
The first question was to the chief minister to state: Read the rest of this entry »
Utusan: Bersih is Pakatan’s bid to spark Middle East-style protests
By Yow Hong Chieh
June 19, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — The opposition will use next month’s Bersih 2.0 rally to trigger an uprising similar to the popular protests which toppled Egypt’s Mubarak regime and now threatens governments in Libya, Syria and Yemen, Utusan Malaysia said in its Sunday edition today
Its Mingguan Malaysia weekend edition said those who intend to mass in the capital on July 9 to demand electoral reform have lost faith in democracy after realising they cannot win federal power through the ballot box.
“Peace is no longer important to them. They want only to seize power and install their leader as Malaysia’s prime minister using whatever means possible,” the Umno-owned daily said in its Maulana Arrif column.
“The enemies of Islam, both humans and syaitan-syaitan (devils), are working to aid them,” it added. Read the rest of this entry »
What creativity?’ Kit Siang asks Soi Lek
Posted by Kit in Facebook, Good Governance, Tourism on Sunday, 19 June 2011, 3:02 pm
By Shannon Teoh
June 19, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — Lim Kit Siang mocked today Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek’s defence of the “unquantifiable creativity” behind the tourism ministry’s RM1.8 million Facebook project.
The Ipoh Timur MP pointed out that a Facebook page protesting the project has already garnered three times the support of the Tourism Malaysia ~ Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia page.
“Chua is defending the indefensible. What creativity is Chua talking about?” said DAP’s parliamentary leader of the MCA president’s statement yesterday defending Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen.
The Curi-curi Wang Malaysia community page has raced to nearly 120,000 “likes” in just five days while the official Tourism Malaysia page is yet to hit 40,000 despite being set up in May. Read the rest of this entry »
Power is duty, not a prize
Posted by Kit in Articles, nation building, Razaleigh Hamzah on Sunday, 19 June 2011, 11:13 am
By Razaleigh Hamzah
Jun 19, 11 | MalaysiaKini
Malaysia’s post-colonial history began with optimism and a grand hope in 1957. When Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first prime minister of Malaysia, proclaimed our Independence at the Merdeka Stadium in the unforgettable words that “Malaysia is a parliamentary democracy with an independent judiciary,” he had a vision of a happy people in spite of the formidable economic problems we needed to solve.
After that dawn of independence, there was a search of how we could achieve this happy society, fulfilling the needs and aspirations of all Malaysians which was to continue for the generations to come. He symbolised the concept and conviction of generational responsibility in his vision. Read the rest of this entry »
“Creativity cannot be quantified” – Malaysians must thank their lucky stars it only cost RM1.8m
Posted by Kit in Facebook, Good Governance, Tourism on Sunday, 19 June 2011, 10:11 am
R1.8 million six Facebook fiasco – Going by Chua Soi Lek’s logic, Malaysians must thank their lucky stars they had not been charged RM18 million or RM180 million as “creativity cannot be quantified”
Going by the logic of MCA President Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek, Malaysians must thank their lucky stars that they had not been charged RM18 million or RM180 million for six Facebook pages to promote tourism to Malaysia although facebook pages are free as “creativity cannot be quantified”.
Chua’s logic is impeccable when he said it might cost nothing to start facebook but “maintenance had costs” particularly when he stressed that it is difficult to put a dollar figure to the creativity of the IT consultants used. Read the rest of this entry »
Growing into my father’s son
By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
June 19, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
JUNE 19 — A grunt, a shadow of a frown or dead silence. These things tell me whether or not Abah is upset with me.
All my life, I’ve known Abah to be a man of few words. A quiet, unassuming type, aunts and uncles call him, but a proud man nevertheless.
Take a walk into Abah’s study at home, or his office at work, and you’ll be greeted by an army of books, yellowed by time and dog-eared with overuse. Read the rest of this entry »
Bank Negara’s conditions tripping Abu Dhabi’s RHB sale
Posted by Kit in Finance, Good Governance on Sunday, 19 June 2011, 8:39 am
By Jahabar Sadiq
Editor
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 19, 2011
KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — Several new Bank Negara conditions are threatening the RM5.9 billion sale of a 25 per cent stake in RHB Capital Bhd between two Abu Dhabi sister firms, including the requirement that the new shareholder must support a possible merger with another Malaysian bank.
Two other puzzling requirements by the central bank is the request for Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) and new RHB shareholder Abu Dhabi investment fund Aabar Investments to adjust the sale price if the merger price is lower than the RM10.80 per share price agreed by both companies and the merger must not deviate too far from the market price so as to weaken the merged entity.
The Malaysian Insider understands that after the deal was signed on Friday, Bank Negara sent a series of harsh emails to to ADCB telling them to state the conditions imposed by the central bank in their press releases, which some bankers say is an aggresive and unusual intervention for such a matter. Read the rest of this entry »
Pemandu explains RM64 mil expenditure
Posted by Kit in Good Governance on Sunday, 19 June 2011, 7:53 am
Regina Lee | Jun 18, 11
Malaysiakini
The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), raising eyebrows with its RM63.9 million price tag, has pointed out that the expenditure pales in comparison to similar programmes undertaken by multi-national companies.
In a blog posting on the Economic Transformation Programme’s website yesterday, it said that out of the total amount covering communications and consultancy work, only RM27.5 million was expended on communications.
Out of which, RM15 million went to communications regarding the Government Transformation Programme while for the same purpose another RM12.5 million channelled to the Economic Transformation Programme.
But without providing a detailed breakdown, the statement said that they embraced “open days, exhibitions, speaker platforms and other targeted ground activities, media relations, advertising, digital campaigns, investor relations, production of videos, brochures and collaterals”. Read the rest of this entry »
Soi Lek says Tourism Facebook pages incur more cost than personal ones
Posted by Kit in Good Governance, IT, MCA, Tourism on Sunday, 19 June 2011, 7:22 am
By Yow Hong Chieh
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 18, 2011
The Facebook pages operated by the Tourism Ministry are “complicated” and cost more to run than similar personal pages on the world’s most popular social networking site, Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said tonight
The MCA president waded into the controversy surrounding the RM1.8 million paid for six Facebook pages by the ministry helmed by party vice president Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen, saying it might cost nothing to start such pages but maintenance had costs.
He added that it was difficult to put a dollar figure to the creativity of the IT consultants used, which he suggested was the largest variable in the bill.
“That creativity, I don’t know how much they will charge,” he told reporters after attending a fundraising dinner at SMJK Chong Hwa here. Read the rest of this entry »
Muhyiddin says opposition using Bersih rally to topple BN
The Malaysian Insider
June 18, 2011
BEAUFORT, June 18 – The opposition is hiding behind the planned Bersih 2.0 rally with a plot to topple the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said today.
The Umno deputy president (picture) said the opposition’s agenda was to create a momentum among the people to hate the government by raising various issues beyond the call for clean and fair elections. Read the rest of this entry »
Isn’t a one-race civil service a form of apartheid?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Good Governance, Public policy, public service on Saturday, 18 June 2011, 10:45 pm
By Dr Boo Cheng Hau
June 18, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
JUNE 18 — I remember once, as a young medical officer, I was boycotted by operating theatre staff when I wanted stern action taken against a staff nurse who went for a kenduri when she was supposed to scrub for a surgery.
An assistant nurse had to cover up for her delinquent senior. Both the nurses — the one who had absented herself and the one suddenly forced to relieve her duty — were Malay. The young patient lying on my operating table waiting to deliver her baby was Malay too. And also Malay, the anaesthetist and other operating theatre staff who gave me the cold shoulder after I remonstrated with the matron. Read the rest of this entry »
Some Saudi women challenge drive ban
By Asma Alsharif
Reuters
Fri, Jun 17 2011
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – Some Saudi women appeared to have answered a call over social media to challenge a ban on driving, posting accounts and pictures of themselves behind the wheel in the conservative Arab kingdom.
Groups such as “Women2Drive” and “Women’s Right to Drive in KSA” had called for a day of defiance, drawing more than 15,000 supporters on various Facebook groups.
“I drove with my husband, and a policeman stopped me and gave me a ticket, which stated that I was driving without a license,” Maha al-Gahtani, a resident of Riyadh, posted on Twitter along with a picture of a traffic ticket with her name.
“I was disappointed that I didn’t see any other women drivers,” she said. “I did it to get my rights.” Read the rest of this entry »
Rais demonising citizens through Bersih, says Ambiga
By Debra Chong
June 18, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 — Bersih 2.0 chairman Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan denied today all links between the recent spate of cyber attacks on government websites and her electoral reform group raised yesterday by Datuk Seri Rais Yatim, saying his conjecture is an attack on Malaysians.
A group of hackers calling themselves Anonymous mounted an attack on at least 200 websites last Thursday, saying they are against censorship of websites by the government.
“It’s a wholly unfounded, unreasonable, preposterous suggestion made by a Cabinet minister who should really know better than to make such wild accusations,” she told The Malaysian Insider. Read the rest of this entry »
