Sabah power supply scandal deepens
By Queville To | Free Malaysia Today
PENAMPANG: The electricity supply scandal in Sabah has taken a new twist.
Figures disclosed by the state and federal power utility companies are at variance with each other and do not add up, according to a top parliamentarian.
The discrepancies are so great that DAP Parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang has questioned whether the persisting poor and worsening System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) on power supply in the state was genuine, or a deliberate fix.
He believes it could be part of measures to create a ‘panic situation’, so as to compel the people to accept the controversial coal-fired power plant.
He said suspicion arose from the consistent disparity in the SAIDI figures that were given out by the Federal Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister, Peter Chin Fa Kui, the Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) and the Energy Commission Malaysia.
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Healthcare As A Bottomless Pit
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, Health on Monday, 22 March 2010, 8:20 am
By M. Bakri Musa, MD, MS, FRCSC, FACS
[Invited editorial, Malaysian Journal of Medical Science, 17(1):1-2, Jan-Mar 2010.]
As a young surgeon at the General Hospital Kuala Lumpur in the 1970s, I remember pleading with Tan Sri Majid Ismail, then Director-General of the Ministry of Health, for funding of my research project.
A distinguished clinician turned policy maker, Tan Sri Majid was professionally interested in my proposal. Nonetheless he politely declined it, but not before offering me a comforting explanation. Between funding me and building a Klinik Desa (rural clinic) in Ulu Kelantan, the choice was clear, he gently told me. Besides, he assured me, I would have minimal difficulty securing funding elsewhere while those poor Kelantanese had no choice.
Tan Sri Majid said something else that reverberates in me today. “Healthcare is a bottomless pit,” he advised me, “but the resources to meet those literally endless worthy needs are limited, so society must set its priorities and draw the line somewhere.” The job of government is to ensure a minimal acceptable level of care for all, he added, and beyond that it is for individuals to set their own limits with their own resources.
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Will Najib be the last UMNO Prime Minister and the RAHMAN prophecy fulfilled in next general election?
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak on Sunday, 21 March 2010, 6:10 am
Coming to the end of Najib’s first year as Prime Minister, the country is bogged down with many unresolved questions and issues, including:
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the two missing jet engines disappearing all the way to Uruguay;
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the multi-billion ringgit submarine that cannot dive;
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the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal still awaiting the prosecution of “big fishes”;
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who killed DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock who went willingly to Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters on July 15, 2009 and came out as a corpse the next day;
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when MACC will break its apron-strings to its political masters making it the catspaw of Umno/BN political agenda to declare war on Pakatan Rakyat instead of declaring war on corruption;
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Malaysia’s unchecked plunge down the slope of decreasing international competitiveness accompanied by avoidance of FDI and flight of domestic capital;
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First anniversary of Najib’s 1Malaysia slogan and concept dogged by the worst politicking of race and religion in recent years, spearheaded by none other than the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Umno media Utusan Malaysia;
Where are the “sharks” of the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal?
Posted by Kit in Corruption, PKFZ on Sunday, 21 March 2010, 5:45 am
On corruption, where are the “big fishes” the country had been promised would be netted and prosecuted in connection with the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal.
I am surprised in read in the press today a statement by the MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat that the Opposition did not want him to win and be re-elected as MCA President in the MCA “Three Kingdom” party elections.
Let me declare here and now that DAP has no interest whatsoever in the MCA “Three Kingdom” party battle, in particular in the fight to be MCA President expected to be a three-cornered one among Ong, former MCA President Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting and the MCA Deputy President Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek.
I do not want to emulate former Gerakan President, Tun Dr. Lim Keng Yaik who recently declared that Gerakan had “lost Penang for good”, gave very low assessment of his successor Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon and contemptuous dismissal of the Najib premiership when he said: “I give up la talking to this government” to make any similar comments about the MCA leaders.
But I want to tell Ong that he is to go down in history as a short-term MCA President and Transport Minister, do it with a bang and not in a whimper.
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Allow the Police to start on a new page on Police Day on 25th March
After a year of premiership, national and international confidence in the key national institutions and the system of governance in Malaysia have deepened instead of being improved.
Although there is a lot of talk about achievements in the NKRA for combating crime, in particular street crime, the fact is that as far as the man-in-the-street is concerned, they are still hounded by the endemic crime and the fear of crime.
The fact that there are more gated-and-guarded communities in the country in the past year is the best proof that all the talk about NKRA achievements in combating crime is no real meaning to the ordinary people.
A meaningful NKRA for combating crime is when the people feel safe and secure enough to dismantle the guarded and gated communities instead of the reverse – with more people feeling unsafe as having to build new guarded and gated communities.
The Prime Minister and the Home Minister must accept the reality that an essential element to have a new start in restoring public confidence in the efficiency, independence and professionalism of the police is to have a new Inspector-General of Police.
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New Economic Model – has it been hijacked by Neo-NEP Umnoputras like Perkasa
Posted by Kit in Economics, Najib Razak, UMNO on Sunday, 21 March 2010, 5:00 am
When Datuk Seri Najib Razak became Prime Minister last April, he announced that the government would introduce a new economic model for the country to ensure that Malaysia makes a quantum leap to escape the middle-income trap to become a high-income country through greater emphasis on innovation, creativity and competitiveness.
In May last year, the Second Finance Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah said the new economic model would be announced in the second half of the year.
Time is clearly of the critical essence to launch a new economic model as Husni subsequently admitted in a very frank speech in December that the country had lost a decade in economic stagnation.
In actual fact, the World Bank had recommended that Malaysia adopt a new economic model three years ago, stressing that industrial countries are already aiming for economic model 3.0, and with competition at economic model 1.0 intensifying, striving to achieve economic model 2.0 is not an option for Malaysia but a necessity.
The question is why the World Bank’s advice that Malaysia migrate to a new economic model 2.0 was ignored for three years, losing more precious time for Malaysia to catch up in the international competitiveness race when the country had become a straggler as compared to other countries.
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Sabah State Assembly next month should pass special resolution to support RCI on 50 years of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia
The Sabah State Assembly, when it meets next month, should pass a special resolution supporting the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry on how the dreams and aspirations of Sabahans and Sarawakians in forming Malaysia had been fulfilled or betrayed in the past five decades.
However, even before the Sabah State Assembly meets starting on April 15, I hope that the Sabah and Sarawak Barisan Nasional MPs would speak up in Parliament in the current parliamentary debate on the royal address to endorse my call in Parliament on Thursdays for such a Royal Commission of Inquiry.
2013 in three years’ time mark Sabah’s 50th anniversary in the formation of Malaysia. It is appropriate in preparing for the occasion to seriously assess whether the dreams of Sabahans and Sarawakians in 1963 to form Malaysia had been fulfilled or betrayed.
Have the people of Sabah been granted their full citizenship rights as Malaysians in the past five decades?
Let the debate and soul-searching begin as to how one of the richest states in Sabah had been reduced in five decades to become the poorest state in the federation.
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Call for Royal Commission of Inquiry on how the dreams and aspirations of Sabahans and Sarawakians in forming Malaysia had been fulfilled or betrayed in the past five decades
Posted by Kit in Parliament, Sabah, Sarawak on Saturday, 20 March 2010, 3:28 pm
Last month, together with DAP MPs Hiew King Cheu (Kota Kinabalu), Teo Nie Ching (Serdang) and Lim Lip Eng (Segambut), I visited Kota Belud and Tuaran, which left us with one abiding impression – how the dreams of Sabahans in forming Malaysia had been betrayed in the past five decades.
In Kota Belud, 800 students and 54 teachers of SMK Tambulion have been suffering daily from the worst and most disgraceful 8km road which covered them in dust, turning them into orang putih, an ordeal which will last another year or two.
But this was not the only outrage in Kota Belud, for we visited Camp Paradise military complex meant to house 1,800 personnel. What we saw were impressive high-rise quarters which were virtually empty. Camp Paradise is now Ghostland Paradise with only some 35 personnel in a complex for 1,800 people – what a gross waste of public funds.
Will the Defence Ministry decide that no new army complexes would be built in the country until Camp Paradise is fully utilised?
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Parliamentary Select Committee on 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme Roadmap headed by an Opposition Member of Parliament
Posted by Kit in nation building, Parliament on Saturday, 20 March 2010, 3:23 pm
Unfortunately, we do not have efficient, independent and professional national institutions whether the Attorney-General’s Chambers, the Police, the Judiciary or the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) to fairly and fearlessly uphold what is right and true as they all have bent themselves to serve the political dictates of their political masters although they vary from the national interests.
Malaysians are entitled to ask why the Home Ministry is completely insensitive, unconcerned and indifferent about the long-standing exploitation of the “race and religious” cards by Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian making a mockery of Najib’s 1Malaysia, while trigger-happy like the latest case concerning the China Press – for wrongly reporting that the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan has resigned when his termination would be effective and final in September!
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has denied that the China Press editor is being pressured to resign or face three to six-month suspension of the newspaper – saying that only a show-cause letter had been issued.
Let Hishammuddin answer in Parliament – what is the big deal about the China Press report? It had made a mistake and a correction had been made.
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Hishamuddin punishment of China Press shameful
Posted by Kit in Dr. Chen Man Hin, Media on Friday, 19 March 2010, 6:40 pm
By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP Life Advisor
Home Minister Hishamuddin vents anger at China Press for prempting him in announcing news of termination of the services of IGP. The China Press did what a newspaper does, print news as they come in. They had information that the IGP was being terminated and they duly reported it – ahead of all the other newpapers including the Utusan and Straits Times.
Immediately, the home minister promised to take action against the China Press threatening punishment. Unfortunatelyfor him, the news by China Press was true news and not false news. The next day, the Home Minister was compelled to announce that the services of the IGP was to be terminated and that he would serve as IGP up to the end of the year.
Despite the fact that China Press reported true news, the Home Minister continued to hound them, until China Press took action against its staff. So China Press was forced to take action ‘internally’ to save face for the Home Minister.
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Umno media are ironically furnishing the best evidence of the rise of Middle Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Media, nation building, Parliament, UMNO on Friday, 19 March 2010, 2:55 pm
The 1Malaysia GTP talks about “promoting an all-inclusive 1Malaysia media”. It said:
“However, when some of the reporting and writing becomes too ethno-centric or even takes on a more race-centred angle, it raises, rather than breaks down, barriers. Further, instead of providing constructive and valid criticism, some writers abuse the greater freedom of expression now available to use terms and express feelings that are racist or inflammatory in nature and tone.
“While censorship is antithetical to democracy, there is a need to introduce, instill and internalize a commitment to journalistic professionalism, a sense of responsibility and self-restraint, with sensitivity to the divergent views and feelings of the diverse communities in Malaysia.”
Any independent survey of the mass media scene will show that those most guilty of the sins of being “too ethnocentric or even takes on a more race-centred angle” and abuses of using “terms and express feelings that are racist or inflammatory in nature and tone”, totally insensitive to “the divergent views and feelings of the diverse communities in Malaysia” in the past two years since the March 8 “political tsunami” of the 2008 general election are the Umno media of Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian.
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Video : 3 Acid Tests for 1 Malaysia
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, Parliament, UMNO on Friday, 19 March 2010, 12:52 pm
How many Cabinet Ministers, including the DPM, have the 1Malaysia DNA as to be able to pass three simple 1Malaysia tests? (Part 3)
Posted by Kit in Muhyiddin Yassin, Najib Razak, nation building, Parliament, UMNO on Thursday, 18 March 2010, 6:32 pm
I had proposed the establishment of an Opposition-headed Parliamentary Select Committee on 1Malaysia which had been met with indifference and disinterest from Muhyiddin and the overwhelming majority of Barisan Nasional Ministers.
This is really quite ridiculous as Muhyiddin and the Najib Cabinet should be persuading the Pakatan Rakyat MPs to agree to the establishment of a Parliamentary Select Committee on 1Malaysia and not the other way round!
Why is this so? Is this because the Najib Cabinet is full of Ministers who are quite skeptical about the 1Malaysia concept treating it as nothing more than political theatre not to be taken seriously?
Who are the Ministers in the Najib Cabinet who have the 1Malaysia DNA? I do not see anyone. No wonder neither Muhyiddin nor the other Cabinet Ministers comport themselves with any conviction that they are the standard-bearers of the 1Malaysia slogan and concept.
There are three simple tests as to whether Muhyiddin and Cabinet Ministers are sincerely and seriously committed to Najib’s 1Malaysia, viz:
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How many Cabinet Ministers, including the DPM, have the 1Malaysia DNA as to be able to pass three simple 1Malaysia tests? (Part 2)
Posted by Kit in Muhyiddin Yassin, nation building, Parliament on Thursday, 18 March 2010, 6:25 pm
I had occasion to ask publicly last month whether the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is sincerely and seriously committed to Najib’s 1Malaysia concept – whether he is the right-hand man of Najib or former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir as the custodian and surrogate of the Mahathir legacy in the Najib premiership.
I had asked Muhyiddin whether he had Najib’s endorsement and approval for all his utterances and actions which are inimical to the realisation of the 1Malaysia slogan and concept, including:
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His defense of the racist “brain washing” and indoctrination on “ketuanan Melayu” by Biro Tata Negara despite criticisms and expose of its racist, divisive and seditious content for the past two decades;
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His attempt to mitigate the Nasir Safar outrage claiming that it could have been “a slip of the tongue” when Najib’s senior political aide labelled Indians and Chinese in Malaysia as “pendatang”, alleging that the Chinese came as beggars and the Chinese women as “prostitutes”; claimed that Umno was solely responsible in drafting the constitution sidelining the contribution of MCA and MIC; and issued the threat to revoke the citizenship of those vocal about the subject cap for SPM examination.
How many Cabinet Ministers, including the DPM, have the 1Malaysia DNA as to be able to pass three simple 1Malaysia tests? (Part 1)
Posted by Kit in Najib Razak, nation building, Parliament, UMNO on Thursday, 18 March 2010, 6:18 pm
In about a fortnight, Datuk Seri Najib Razak will be celebrating his first full year as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia.
In the past year, the slogan of 1Malaysia has dominated the media, the airwaves and the television channels while the 1Malaysia logo in different shapes and sizes had littered the national landscape.
Paradoxically, however, Najib is fighting a losing battle for his 1Malaysia slogan and concept and the most disturbing recent example of such failure was when early this month, a rational and level-headed Umno leader like the Second Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Husni Mohd Hanadzlah could make a racist remark when egged on by anti-1Malaysia elements when he came under the influence of Penang Umno.
Husni has yet to apologise for his racist remark at a dinner organized by the Penang Malay Chamber of Commerce, where he said: “Kalau orang Cina di Pulau Pinang buli kita, kita lawan balik orang Cina” and what Husni said had been caught on tape.
I am very surprised as DAP MPs have always found Husni as a very rational, level-headed and reasonable Deputy Minister and since Najib’s elevation as Prime Minister last April, as Second Finance Minister, and we find it most shocking that he could have uttered such a racially-laden statement, which runs counter to what Najib’s 1Malaysia represents.
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MCA ‘s three-ring circus rolls around
Posted by Kit in Kee Thuan Chye, MCA on Wednesday, 17 March 2010, 1:25 pm
By Kee Thuan Chye
Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat just doesn’t know when to quit, does he? Despite his bravado in promising to step down before the mess hit the fan at the MCA’s extraordinary general meeting last Oct 10, he is still adamant that he will be an asset to a beleaguered party split apart by his high-handedness as president. He has declared — the first candidate to do so — that he will defend his position at the coming party elections on March 28.
This is the very man who promised to quit as president if the no-confidence vote against him at the EGM was passed by just one vote. It was actually passed by a margin of 14, with 1,155 delegates voting for it and 1,141 against. He should have kept his word, and done the honourable thing; instead, he chose to stay on.
That more than 600 members attended the party’s annual meeting on March 7 indicates that he enjoys their support, but that is only a quarter of the 2,379 delegates who will vote in two weeks. Besides, some of those 600 could have attended the AGM just to hedge their bets; there may be opportunists among them who will switch loyalties if another faction looks the surer winner. Furthermore, the political complexion has just changed, now that former president Tan Sri Ong Ka Ting has also announced his candidacy.
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Hishammuddin denies demanding China Press editor’s resignation
By Clara Chooi | The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 – Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein today denied accusations by the Opposition that his ministry had threatened the China Press chief editor with suspension if the latter did not resign.
He said that the accusation, made by DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang in Parliament, was just the Opposition’s ploy to gain political mileage by sensationalising “common procedures”.
“No it is not true (the allegations). From what I know is that what happened with China Press was no different from the others (media publications) like Star and Al-Islam. What we did was merely to send them a show-cause letter and asked them for an explanation,” he said.
China Press was hauled up by the ministry after reporting on Saturday that Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan had submitted his resignation letter to the Prime Minister and the Home Minister.
The IGP’s term of office expires in September.
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Towards A Developed Malaysia (Last of Six Parts)
Posted by Kit in Bakri Musa, globalisation on Tuesday, 16 March 2010, 4:31 pm
By M. Bakri Musa
[Presented at the Third Annual Alif Ba Ta Forum, “1Malaysia Towards Vision 2020,” Rochester Institute of Technology, NY, December 5, 2009, organized by Kelab UMNO NY-NJ. The presentation can be viewed at www.youtube.com (search under “Bakri Musa RIT”) or through this link]
Part Six of Six: Q&A Con’td
Q 10: Can you give us examples of successful countries we can emulate? In one of your books you suggest South Korea, but it is so far ahead to make it a valid model for us.
MBM: Did you know that in the 1950s the Philippines was sending foreign aid workers to South Korea? How the world has changed! Today it is the Philippines that is an economic basket case. That is precisely my point; countries can change quickly, for better or worse. To re-emphasize, if you do not strive to reach Montreal, you would quickly slide back to Tijuana. Standing still is not an option.
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Open debate on New Economic Model (NEM)
Posted by Kit in Dr. Chen Man Hin, Economics on Sunday, 14 March 2010, 2:28 pm
By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life adviser
CALL FOR AN OPEN DEBATE ON THE NEW ECONOMIC MODEL AS IT IS A POLICY THAT WILL IMPACT ON THE ECONOMIC WELL BEING OF THE PEOPLE, AND AS SUCH THEY SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO DISCUSS AND DEBATE ON THE NEW ECONOMIC MODEL BEFORE IT COULD BE IMPLEMENTED.
This is absolutely necessary as the New Economic Policy was pushed through parliament in 1971 without a full discussion by the people. Only the cabinet and government under the then prime minister were privy to the details, and it was rushed through parliament.
Implemented from 1971 until today, the aim was to restructure society, to rescue the Malays from poverty and to give them access to all strata of the economy.
Today, admittedly there are more middle class Malays, but the vast majority of them still live in grinding poverty, and many others still live below the poverty line where families subsist on RM1,500 a month.
The wealth which was supposed to be transferred to the Malay poor was hijacked midway by Umno cronies. They have become rich beyond their wildest dreams.
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Why is Hishammuddin breathing down the neck of the media threatening “all hell to break loose” when all that is needed is a correction for any incorrect report about resignation of Musa Hassan as IGP?
The Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein is breathing fire and brimstone, threatening “all hell to break loose”, demanding an explanation from China Press for its report that the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan had tendered his resignation letter.
Warning China Press not to publish reports which are not true, Hishammuddin said he had instructed the Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Seri Mahmood Adam to ask the newspaper editor to explain the report.
Why is Hishammuddin breathing down the neck of the media threatening “all hell to break loose” when all that is needed in the relevant case is a correction for any incorrect report about the resignation of Musa Hassan as IGP?
Is the stability and strength of security in the country and in particular the Malaysian police force so brittle and fragile that a report like that of China Press today could seriously compromised or jeopardized them?
In fact, Hishammuddin should know that if the China Press report is true that Musa has resigned as Inspector-General of Police, there would be joy and jubilation not only among loyal and patriotic Malaysians who have always put national interests above self, but also among top police officers as well as the rank-and-file.
This is why – Read the rest of this entry »
