The knockout punch Najib failed to deliver
Posted by Kit in Anwar Ibrahim, Najib Razak, Pakatan Rakyat, Sabah, Sarawak on Friday, 17 September 2010, 8:48 pm
Wong Choon Mei
Malaysia Chronicle
Friday, September 17, 2010
The much longed-for recognition for Malaysia Day finally came in the form of a public holiday for the entire nation, but it failed to do anything to shore up the political position or the popularity of Prime Minister Najib Razak and his BN coalition.
And for this Najib has to take the blame. Not only has he been hiding behind glitzy public relations that do nothing but burn a hole in taxpayers’ pockets, even his Malaysia Day message was laughed at by the people for perceived cowardice. For while the 57-year old Najib disavowed ‘extremism’ in his speech, he took great care to do it as vaguely as possible so that no one knew what he was talking about or was referring to. Intentional or not, the end result was that no one took him seriously. And that is serious. Read the rest of this entry »
Najib should seriously implement 20-Points Agreement on Borneonisation by setting target to fill at least half of 59 Federal departments in Sabah with Sabahans as heads before the next Malaysia Day on September 16, 2011
Posted by Kit in nation building, Sabah, Sarawak on Friday, 17 September 2010, 3:49 pm
Sabahans are disappointed that the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has come to Sabah completely empty-handed for the first Malaysia Day national public holiday in 47 years.
This makes a complete mockery of the belated recognition of the importance and significance of September 16 as Malaysia Day in the history of Malaysian nation-building process, which involves the rightful place of Sabahans and Sarawakians in the Malaysian scheme of things.
If not for People’s Power as represented by the emergence of Pakatan Rakyat, Malaysia Day on September 16 would not have been declared a national public holiday by the Prime Minister even after 47 years!
This is why the people of Sabah and Sarawak do not want to see the declaration of Malaysia Day as a national public holiday as a mere political ploy but want it to symbolize a belated recognition by and wake-up call for the Federal Government after 47 years to take seriously and address full-heartedly the frustrations, grievances and alienations suffered by Sabahans and Sarawakians for three generations at not being given full and fair treatment as Malaysian citizens – by removing once and for all the nagging sense felt by Sabahans and Sarawakians that they are not accorded recognition and rights as first-class citizens of Malaysia.
This is why Sabahans and Sarawakians expect more than having Malaysia Day declared as a national public holiday – why Sabahans expect Najib to come to Kota Kinabalu and Sandakan on the occasion of Malaysia Day to announce concrete measures how the Barisan Nasional Federal Government proposes to begin to address and resolve their 47-year-old grievances, frustrations and disaffections at not being given fair and proper treatment under the Malaysian sun. Read the rest of this entry »
Waiting for promises made three generations ago
Posted by Kit in nation building, Sabah, Sarawak on Friday, 17 September 2010, 9:53 am
By Leon Donald
SRI AMAN, Sept 16 — As we celebrate Malaysia Day, my thoughts roll back to my 95-year-old grandfather in Sri Aman.
He has shared many a story with me on how his grandmother brought him to Kuching to meet the Rajah in court, reminisce on the hardship during the Japanese occupation and then continue on the tragedies he had to go through during the early days of Malaysia during the Confrontation and Communist insurrection.
Then he would tell me about the hardship of campaigning with his cousin, the Paramount Chief of the Ibans, the late Tun Jugah anak Barieng, trying to convince the Ibans to agree to the formation of Malaysia.
He must be wondering the same as I, why only now, the government declares a public holiday on September 16?
Malaysia was formed 47 years ago, not 53 years mind you as Umno would lead us to believe, and only now there is an urgency to recognize the date.
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August 31st Merdeka Day to Sept 16 Malaysia Day – “bumper harvest” of bad news for Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Education, Media, Najib Razak on Thursday, 16 September 2010, 6:09 pm
Never before in the nation’s history has the country been buffeted by such a “bumper harvest” of bad news in the 17 days between Merdeka Day on August 31 and Malaysia Day on September 16.
This plethora of bad news for Malaysia cannot be more detrimental to Malaysia’s ability to escape from her decades-long “middle-income trap” and the terrible fate of a bankrupt nation in 2019 by undertaking a national transformation to achieve an inclusive and sustainable high-income developed nation in 2020.
Today for instance, there are two such bad news.
First is today’s Malaysian Insider story “Investors shun Malaysia for neighbours” which reports:
“Malaysia is now the “least favoured market” in Asia Pacific for investors after nearly doubling its underweight rating from last month, according to a recent Bank of America Merrill Lynch report.
“The country slipped two spots — from 10th place to dead last — in the investment bank’s latest Fund Managers Survey, even as the Najib administration prepares to unveil ambitious economic reforms meant to boost investor confidence.
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Najib’s job as Prime Minister is not just to express sadness at rise of extremism but to provide leadership to stamp out racial bigotry and religious extremism especially when they come from UMNO and allied or outsourced groups
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, nation building, UMNO on Thursday, 16 September 2010, 9:00 am
In his Malaysia Day message, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak expressed strong opposition at the rise of extremism which is a stumbling block in the nation’s progress.
He said he is “saddened” that despite living in an independent multi-cultural nation, there are still those who cannot tolerate, much less accept the benefits of a diverse society and reject the 1Malaysia concept and policy propounded by him since becoming Prime Minister in April last year.
Najib’s job as Prime Minister is not just to express sadness at the rise of extremism but to provide leadership to stamp out racial bigotry and religious extremism especially when they come from UMNO and allied or outsourced groups.
There can be no question that the rhetoric of race and religion had reached an unprecedented level in the past 17 months since he took over the helm of federal government, and what compounded the problem was that the racial bigotry and religious extremism were all coming from one direction – UMNO and its allied or outsourced groups, raising the fundamental question whether Najib has the political will and leadership to stand up and be counted to stamp out extremism coming from his own camps.
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Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #32
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, globalisation on Thursday, 16 September 2010, 8:58 am
By M. Bakri Musa
Chapter 5: Understanding Globalization
There is no doubt that globalization is an idea whose time has come….[But] the fact that [it] has come…does not mean we should sit by and watch as the predators destroy us.
—Mahathir bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia
The one dominant force shaping the world today is globalization. That is, the increasing integration of markets, economies, infrastructures, and other institutions into one world standard. As a consequence, there is increasingly free movement of goods, capital, services, and ideas across borders.
Globalization, observes the World Bank, is not just an economic phenomenon. While the accounting of benefits and costs of globalization depends very much on one’s perspective, there is no question that it is a relentless and inevitable tidal wave. And like any tidal wave, one is more likely to survive and even thrive, if prepared. A non-swimmer will be swept away and drowned, but a skillful surfer will exhilaratingly ride the crest.
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Najib should not come empty-handed to Sabah for first Malaysia Day celebrations as national public holiday but should address problem of “Sabahans losing patience over 20 Points” as articulated by UPKO Senator
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building, Sabah on Wednesday, 15 September 2010, 6:45 pm
Malaysia Day on September 16 tomorrow will be celebrated as a national public holiday for the first time in the nation’s history.
The very fact that it has taken 47 years for Malaysia Day to be recognized officially as a national public holiday is testimony of why Sabahans and Sarawakians feel so aggrieved at not being accorded full and proper treatment as an integral part of Malaysia.
This prevailing sense of alienation, discrimination and even marginalization is best illustrated by a newspaper headline in the Sabah press today, viz: “Sabahans losing patience over 20 Points – Maijol”.
United Pasokmomogun Kadazan Dusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) vice president Senator Datuk Maijol Mahap was quoted as declaring that “Sabahans are fed up with the Federal Government’s failure to fulfill what have been promised in the 20 Points Agreement”.
Read the rest of this entry »
Najib’s words, words and more words!
Fight extremism, says PM | Bernama
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 15 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today expressed strong opposition to the actions of extremist groups or individuals who believe in their radical views and actions against others.
“It saddens me that despite living in an independent multi-cultural nation for over 50 years, there are still those among us who cannot tolerate, much less accept the benefits of a [peaceful] society,” he said.
He said this in his latest entry entitled “Our Fight Against Extremism” in his blog, www.1malaysia.com.my here.
Najib said he was sad because by rejecting Malaysians’ way of life, these groups were rejecting the 1 Malaysia concept.
Read the rest of this entry »
ANALYSIS – Malaysia “top-down” reforms set to disappoint
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Economics, Najib Razak, NEM on Tuesday, 14 September 2010, 4:26 pm
By David Chance | Reuters
Malaysia’s plans to revitalise investment by backing national champions and ending race-based policies may sound ambitious, but the details are hazy and real economic reform will face formidable obstacles.
The government starts public consultations this month on a new round of reforms, but there is growing resistance from voters and disappointment from investors over measures taken so far.
A government think tank has identified a dozen growth industries such as oil and gas, biotechnology and Islamic finance to focus on in a drive to double Malaysia’s income per capita and propel it into the ranks of “developed nations” by 2020.
Prime Minister Najib Razak’s record on reform is patchy — he shied away from big subsidy cuts and reversed tack on race-based preferential equity ownership rules for the majority ethnic Malay population under pressure from activists.
Read the rest of this entry »
Will PM Najib Razak push through an effective NEM to transform a failed problem ridden Malaysia?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Dr. Chen Man Hin, Economics, Najib Razak, NEM, NEP on Tuesday, 14 September 2010, 3:51 pm
by Dr Chen Man Hin, life adviser DAP
IT WILL TAKE A LIBERAL NEW ECONOMIC MODEL AND A STRONG PRIME MINISTER TO PUSH MUCH NEEDED REFORMS TO TRANSFORM MALAYSIA INTO A HIGH INCOME COUNTRY WITH DEMOCRACY, JUSTICE AND PROSPERITY FOR ALL REGARDLESS OF RACE OR RELIGION.
The political and economic outlook for the country is critical. We are riddled with multiple problems of corruption, lack of judicial independence, racialism, brain drain, with 40% of households living below the poverty level of RM1,500, and four out of five poor households are bumiputras.
All these things are happening even after two years of PM Najib rule since April 2008. His 1 Malaysia and mediocre attempts at reforms have failed.
WORLD RANKINGS OF MALAYSIA
The sorry state of political and economic development is reflected in the world ranking status of Malaysia on areas which indicate whether a society is honest, democratic, transparent,and just.
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Utusan champions Dr M’s views in campaign for Perkasa
Posted by Kit in nation building on Tuesday, 14 September 2010, 12:32 pm
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — Umno’s Utusan Malaysia continued its campaign backing Perkasa today, and appears to throw its weight behind Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad by citing the former leader’s arguments for the Malay rights group.
In what appears an attempt to show detractors that the Malay rights group has widespread public support, the Malay daily carried opinions, features and stories directly backing Dr Mahathir and Perkasa.
Dr Mahathir recently said that Umno risks losing the next general elections — if it snubbed Perkasa as the party is according to him, weak.
Perkasa leaders have joined that chorus and warned Umno that it could lose the backing from a majority of Malays if it continues plans to distance itself.
Utusan’s support for Perkasa in an editorial on Sunday had already raised questions about whether it was still backing party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak. Read the rest of this entry »
INDONESIA: We Are NOT, I Repeat, Your Whipping Boy
Posted by Kit in Foreign, Tunku Abdul Aziz on Monday, 13 September 2010, 7:12 pm
If media reports on the meeting in Kota Kinabalu between our Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah and his Indonesian counterpart Dr. Marty Natalegawa are accurate, then I am afraid we ended, as usual when dealing with international issues, drawing the “short straw.” The Malaysian Foreign Minister in his anxiety to show his newly minted diplomatic template, designed on the trot, totally missed the point about the need to drive home to the Indons, in the strongest possible terms, the increasing difficulty of our trying to contain and control the anger of our people.
How much longer can we be expected to continue to stand by and watch the flag we ran up, so proudly for the first time 53 years ago, trampled and desecrated by one ugly and uncivilised mob after another? The official Indonesian response borders on the moronic arrogance of a people sustained by delusions of moral and cultural superiority. I am always amused listening to countries such as Indonesia parading their democratic credentials, including the freedom to participate in aggressively violent demonstrations, and looking down on us for our poor democracy record by comparison. My one liner rejoinder which puts the cat among the pigeons, as I am wont to do in such a situation, and which always works is, “What use is your democracy on an empty stomach?”
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Competitiveness Not Unity Basis for Strength
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa on Monday, 13 September 2010, 9:02 am
Hardly a day goes by without Malay leaders of all persuasions lamenting our lack of unity. If only we are united, they earnestly assure us, we could take on the world!
I respectfully disagree; their conviction is misplaced. The force that would make Malays strong is not unity rather competitiveness. If we are competitive, then our place in Tanah Melayu (Malay Land) or even Dunia Allah (God’s World) would be assured. If we are not, then we would forever have to be indulged with such silly fantasies as Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Hegemony). We would perpetually have to pin our hopes on such political amulets as Article 153 of our constitution (guaranteeing our special status).
Our leaders’ quixotic quest for “unity” is not only misplaced but also distracting. It distracts from the pressing challenge of making us competitive.
These leaders’ obsession with unity is misguided for another reason. They take unity to mean unanimity. To them we are not united unless we parrot their views. Any disagreement is an expression of “disunity.” They prefer us to be like a flock of sheep.
Read the rest of this entry »
Daydreams That Turn Disastrous
By Richard Loh
What Wiki said about Daydream:
A daydream is a visionary fantasy, especially one of happy, pleasant thoughts, hopes or ambitions, imagined as coming to pass, and experienced while awake. There are many different types of daydreams, and there is no consensus definition amongst psychologists. Daydreams may involve fantasies about future scenarios or plans, or reminiscences about past experiences, and may include vivid dream-like mental images. They are often connected with some type of emotion.
While daydreaming has long been derided as a lazy, non-productive pastime, it is now commonly acknowledged that daydreaming can be constructive in some contexts.
Malaysians as well as the leaders have daydreams in the political atmosphere which we can termed it as political daydreams. In such political daydreams the constructive contexts will be different depending on which side of the divide you are aligned to.
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Umno and the average Malay
By Cheong Suk-Wai, Senior Writer
The Straits Times, June 1, 2010
TABLE TALK WITH MAZNAH MOHAMAD
IT USED to be that whenever it came to election time in Malaysia, the country’s ruling party Umno would gets its community development workers to fan out to all the hamlets on bicycles and on foot to take the political temperature and assure villagers that Umno was the best doctor for them, taking care of their births, deaths and everything in between. But then village youth began migrating en masse to towns from the 1980s and Umno lost these rural forts.
Malaysian sociologist Maznah Mohamad recalls Umno’s women telling her how urban folk would shoo them away and even hurl insults at them if they tried to woo them. Dr Maznah, 54, notes wryly: ‘You can’t go knocking on doors in, say, Subang Jaya. People will just chase you away. There’s no community spirit in such neighbourhoods. Anyway, they’re urbanised, so why would they need you to help them?’
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To Modernize, Can Malaysia Move Beyond Race?
Posted by Kit in 1Malaysia, Najib Razak, nation building, NEM on Saturday, 11 September 2010, 2:58 pm
Time
Sunday, Sep. 05, 2010
By Michael Schuman / Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia is that rare country with an unequivocal national narrative. It goes something like this: Malaysia’s 28 million people, comprising mainly Malays, Chinese and Indians, make up a moderate and modern emerging democracy. Unlike members of other multiethnic countries, they respect one another’s beliefs and values and share a commitment to achieving prosperity. The official religion is Islam, but other faiths are freely allowed and celebrated. This is one harmonious place.
Much of that narrative is true — but not all of it. Malaysia’s economic miracle has stalled, and while the nation is, indeed, somewhat pluralistic, it is no melting pot. Indeed, it is a society where people define themselves first and foremost by race.
The country’s political leadership has in some respects reinforced those ethnic identities. For the past 40 years, policymakers have doled out special privileges — in education and business — to one community: the majority Malays. The program is one of modern history’s greatest experiments in social engineering and possibly the world’s most extensive attempt at affirmative action. But the policies have also bred resentment among minorities, distorted the economy and undermined the concept of a single Malaysian identity.
Now a movement is gaining strength to finally change the system — and it’s coming from the very top. Prime Minister Najib Razak, 57, has surprised the country by advocating a fundamental reform of the pro-Malay program first introduced, ironically, by his father, who was Malaysia’s Prime Minister in the 1970s. Though the specifics of the new policies remain hazy, Najib’s intent is not. “I want Malaysia to be globally competitive,” he told TIME in an exclusive interview. “For that, we need to get every single Malaysian to be together.”
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Salam Aidilfitri
Posted by Kit in Announcement on Friday, 10 September 2010, 11:27 am
Let us celebrate this Syawal together as Malaysians regardless of race and religion.
Malaysian universities falling out of top 200 universities in QS World University Rankings 2010 latest proof that Najib’s NEM are just empty words lacking political will and leadership necessary to effect Malaysia’s economic transformation
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, NEM, university on Thursday, 9 September 2010, 10:12 am
Malaysian universities have again fallen out of the top 200 universities in the latest QS World University Rankings 2010, with University of Malaya falling from last year’s ranking of 180 to 207.
This is the latest proof that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s New Economic Model are just empty words lacking the political will and leadership necessary to effect Malaysia’s economic transformation to escape the decades-long “middle-income trap” to become a inclusive and sustainable high-income developed country by 2020.
The Najib premiership is fast developing a split personality – plugging the NEM for international consumption with its recognition of human talents as the most valuable national assets in the era of globalization while ignoring NEM locally for fear of evoking extremist opposition to its proposals on new affirmative policies based on meritocracy and needs.
During the Sibu by-election in May this year, I had referred to the latest QS Asian University Rankings 2010 where the country’s premier institution of higher education, University of Malaya had dropped two places to 41st this year from 39 last year while Universiti Sains Malaysia, which was granted Apex status in 2008 only managed to maintain its ranking at 69, and lamented Malaysia becoming the “sick man of South-East Asia”- Read the rest of this entry »
Not too late to suspend Musa Hassan as IGP with his honourable discharge subject to full investigations into his dereliction of duties and serious allegations of corruption and abuses of power against him
A war of words have broken out between the outgoing Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan one the one hand and the Ministry of Home Affairs represented by the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and the Home Ministry Secretary-General Datuk Seri Mahmood Adam on the other.
Since Hishammuddin’s announcement that there will not be another extension as IGP for him, Musa has been hitting out at “excessive interference from third parties” against the police force, zeroing in particular on the Home Ministry.
Yesterday, he told police officers and personnel not to be “yes men” or the entire force would “rot and collapse”.
It would appear that Musa was content to be a “yes man” to the political “powers-that-be” so long as he continues to be IGP, which was why the police under his leadership reached the bottom of its “rot and collapse” of public confidence and support in the history of the Malaysian police force, despite the blueprint formulated by the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission in 2005 to restore plummeting public confidence by transforming itself into an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service.
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Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #31
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, globalisation on Thursday, 9 September 2010, 9:48 am
Chapter 4: Modern Model States
The Relevant Lessons For Malaysia (Cont’d)
Moving on to South Korea, it is an example of what sheer determination, discipline, and an obsession with learning and education could do for a nation. When General Park took over, he whipped the nation into strict discipline and regimentation, with a single-minded purpose of economic growth and competitiveness. Being an ethnically and culturally homogeneous society, Park was able to ramrod through many changes without giving rise to sectarian dissatisfaction. In Malaysia, with its racial diversity, any political or social initiative inevitably would be analyzed into which race would benefit more and which group would lose. This invariably leads to the politics of envy and resentment. No such problems arose in South Korea.
As Korean society changed however, Park remained the same. Pursuing the army analogy, even though his initial recruits were now disciplined and accomplished officers, Park still treated them as if they were still a bunch of raw recruits. The Koreans expected greater political and personal freedom commensurate with their economic gains, but the military-backed Park and his successors still persisted with their authoritarian mindset.
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