Apcet II raiders repent and relieved by court decision

Saifudin feels a sense of huge relief. — File pic

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid- The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 23 — Two PKR leaders, who were part of an unruly Umno Youth mob that stormed the Asia-Pacific Conference on East Timor II (Apcet II) in 1996, say they feel relief after a court awarded damages yesterday to 29 participants of the conference who were arrested by the police.

Saifudin Nasution and Datuk Johari Abdul are now PKR supreme council members. In 1996, they were part of a group of Umno Youth leaders who disrupted Apcet II. The police subsequently arrested the participants of the conference instead.

Today, they both claimed to The Malaysian Insider that they had stormed Apcet II on the instructions of the then-Deputy Home Minister Datuk Megat Junid Megat Ayub and then-Umno Youth chief Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi, who is now Defence Minister.

They also denied Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was then the deputy prime minister, had any role in the storming of the conference.

Saifuddin, who was then Umno Youth secretary, said yesterday's High Court decision had exonerated him from his guilt over his role in the raid.

"Personally, I feel a sense of huge relief. After 10 years of court proceedings, it is finally over. Now, I would take the approach of looking forward and not look back," he said.

Saifuddin, who is Machang MP and elections director for his party, was the ace for the plaintiffs in the Apcet II trial.

He had testified in court that the raid was instructed by the late Megat Junid, whom Saifuddin alleged had also instructed the police to back the raiders.

The High Court, however, dismissed the involvement of Megat Junid in the incident.

Another former Umno Youth leader who also took part in the storming was Johari, who, like Saifuddin, has turned against their former party and joined the opposition.

Johari was in the Umno Youth mob which stormed Apcet II. — File pic

Johari, now the MP for Sungai Petani, told The Malaysian Insider that he too felt relieved by the High Court decision.

But Johari said it was important for him to stress that those behind the raid must be held accountable for their actions.

"It was Megat and then Umno Youth chief Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who instructed us to storm the conference.

"But I remember that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who was the deputy prime minister at the time, called us and told us to 'stop this nonsense at once'. It is important to put this on record," said the PKR leader.

Speaking on the incident itself, Johari said even though he was among the mob, just like the Apcet II plaintiffs, he too felt that the police had acted beyond their powers when they made the arrests.

Both Saifuddin and Johari have now become close friends and comrades of some of those arrested at the conference, including current PKR vice-president R. Sivarasa and strategic director Tian Chua.

"This court decision will act as a closure to this episode for me," said Saifuddin.

Not all judges are slime-balls and scumbags

How many of you remember what happened almost 14 years ago back in 1996? Some of you were probably too young then. Well, in 1996, a very brave judge exposed the serious corruption in the Malaysian Judiciary and was eventually forced to resign for this ‘crime’. Yes, even back in 1996 the whistleblower and not the criminal gets punished. Anyway, for those ‘not around’ in 1996 and who may have missed the fireworks, today, Malaysia Today will take you down memory lane.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Courting Controversy

A flurry of questions about Malaysian justice

By Roger Mitton, Asiaweek, July 1996

THE MALAYSIAN JUDICIARY IS in a state of crisis. In the recent past, several court decisions have provoked allegations of interference. Government leaders felt obliged to try to quell the unease; Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad himself cautioned judges about associating with businessmen. On July 1, in an unprecedented move, a High Court justice, Syed Ahmad Idid, resigned after publishing a 33-page pamphlet accusing colleagues on the country's highest benches of corruption, abuse of power and personal misconduct.

Last week Attorney-General Mohtar Abdullah revealed that police and the Anti-Corruption Agency had questioned 12 top judges, including Chief Justice Eusoff Chin, and had examined their assets in light of the pamphlet. It contained 112 allegations: 39 charges of corruption, 21 of abuse of power, and 52 of misconduct, immorality or other indiscretions. There were claims of payments of RM 50,000 ($20,000), with recipients graduating to taking millions from named business entities.

The AG said police found the judges clean; he described the accusations against them as "highly seditious, defamatory and derisive." But he was not prosecuting Idid, whom he did not name in his statement. The judge's resignation, Mohtar explained, was sufficient punishment. The matter was closed, he added: "I hope the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary will not be doubted henceforth." Chief Justice Eusoff echoed the AG's position.

No dice. The government-aligned domestic media, including the influential vernacular press, carried comments critical of the AG's handling of the matter. Some critics saw it as an attempt to skirt the concerns raised by Idid. "The judiciary must be clean -- and must be seen to be clean," said government MP Fauzi Rahman. "I'm glad the CJ says it is clean. On whether it is seen to be clean, I don't want to comment." Lawyer and legislator Khaled Nordin, also of the dominant UMNO party, declared: "To sweep things under the carpet like this will only make matters worse." Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang added: "The public reaction has been one of widespread disbelief and dismay. It has not restored confidence in the judiciary, but has further undermined it."

Of the ex-justice's charges, Lim says: "We want to see how they are found to be untrue. Idid is generally respected by the bar, so the question is: why did he feel impelled to author such a pamphlet?" Mohtar said the judge made a full statement explaining his reasons, but that it could not be made public. In parliament, a request by Lim for an emergency debate on the accusations against the judiciary was rejected. For its part, the Bar Council called for an urgent "independent Royal Commission to look into the administration of justice and propose, if need be, radical reform." Mahathir said there was no need for a further inquiry since the allegations had been found to be false.

The issue, however, continues to reverberate in the legal fraternity. Bar Council chairman Hendon Mohamed says: "We have always believed [the pamphlet] was the work of more than one person." Idid, asserts lawyer and opposition MP Karpal Singh, "is just the fall guy. Obviously, he was pressured to resign." The judge has vanished; his family says he has gone abroad, the local press reports that he left for London on July 2.

"Poison-pen letters" are common in Malaysia and tend to be quickly -- and rightly -- dismissed as malicious nonsense. But Idid's missive was different. Like some epistolary neutron bomb, its shock waves are still causing casualties, partly because it appeared amid mounting concern over some judges. Malaysian lawyer Param Cumaraswamy, who is also the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, says: "There was already public disquiet about the judiciary well before this letter."

The concern arose over several judgments, culminating in the Ayer Molek Rubber Co. share dispute. In that complex commercial case, the second-ranked Court of Appeal called a lower court's decision "an injustice perpetrated by a court of law." But the nation's highest bench, the Federal Court, overruled the appeal chamber and berated it for "bringing the administration of justice into disrepute."

Mahathir pacified the quarrel, but the damage was done. "The affair badly affected public confidence in the judiciary," says former MP and lawyer Wee Choo Keong. Param adds, echoing others in the legal profession: "That case brought to the surface allegations about some business quarters influencing the system of justice."

Matters cooled off briefly -- until Idid's pamphlet appeared. Judicial practice seems set to remain a big issue despite the AG's statement clearing the 12 judges. A flurry of defamation charges made by tycoon Vincent Tan and lawyer V.K. Lingam (both named in Idid's pamphlet and involved in the Ayer Molek case) will further stir the controversy. The two are suing, among others, a senior member of the bar, Tommy Thomas, and a leading law firm, Skrine & Co.

If these allegations reach court, they may again call into question the decision not to prosecute Idid. Statements cited in the defamation charges, which claim $144 million in damages, appear less inflammatory than those in the judge's pamphlet. For his part, Idid told Asiaweek he may write a book about the whole affair.

*************************************************

Chief Justice says 'Flying Letter' issue closed

The issue of the anonymous letter written by former High Court judge Datuk Syed Ahmad Idid Syed Abdullah which alleged corruption in the Judiciary is closed and need not be mentioned again, said Chief Justice Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

He said all necessary action on the "flying letter", which was written 10 years ago, had been taken and it was over.

"I don't know about this case. It happened a long time ago but I believe all the necessary action had been taken by the parties involved," he told reporters here Friday.

He said he was told that the investigation was over and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Mohamad Nazri Aziz had also told him that the case was closed.

However, he said, anyone with information on wrongdoings by judges should come out in the open to give evidence instead of writing "flying letters".

He also said a proposal by the Bar Council to set up a royal commission to investigate the allegations of corruption in the Judiciary was unnecessary.

The Chief Justice recently revealed that he had received several anonymous letters that accused some judges of being corrupt. – Bernama, 23 June 2006

*************************************************

I’ll do it again, says ex-judge Syed Idid who blew whistle on corruption

Former High Court judge Datuk Syed Ahmad Idid, who resigned after a 33-page letter on corruption in the judiciary was circulated 11 years ago, said yesterday he would “do it again, but differently.”

“But I want to clear something up: I did not distribute the letter to the public.

“I sent it to seven people and one of them must have printed copies and distributed them,” he said at a public lecture titled Addressing Corruption in Malaysia organised by the International Institute of Public Policy and Management at Universiti Malaya.

Syed Ahmad said this when asked whether he would do the same today if he were still a judge.

“I was trying to get the Government to realise there was a problem and the need to address it.”

“Life has been hard (since his resignation) but at least I’m still alive unlike in some other countries where informers are killed,” said Syed Ahmad, who made it public last year that he was the author of the letter.

In 1996, Syed Ahmad resigned and there was no prosecution.

Although he was never officially identified as the author, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, then Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, had told Parliament: “Everyone already knows that only one judge has resigned.”

Asked later at a press conference how he would do things differently since there are still no laws today to protect whistleblowers or for the public to have access to information that could substantiate allegations of corruption, particularly in light of the authorities maintaining that his allegations had been investigated and proven untrue, Syed Ahmad said: “If that’s what they say, I can’t say anything more. The government machinery is very strong.”

He commended Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the government’s campaign to combat corruption. – The Star, 23 May 2007

Umno masih bermain dengan perkauman

(Harakah Daily) - Perjuangan Umno Pulau Pinang disifatkan masih berlegar dalam kitaran perkauman apabila membangkitkan perbalahan dalam isu perebutan jawatan Pengerusi Barisan Nasional (BN) di negeri itu.

Naib Presiden PAS, Datuk Mahfuz Omar ketika diminta mengulas perkara itu berkata, jawatan itu tidak membawa sebarang makna kepada Umno tidak seperti mana jawatan Ketua Menteri yang mengetuai pentadbiran negeri itu.

Mahfuz yang juga Ahli Parlimen Pokok Sena turut mempertikaikan dakwaan pemimpin-pemimpin Umno Pulau Pinang yang menuntut jawatan itu hanya kerana kemenangan mereka dalam pilihan raya yang lalu.

Tindakan pemimpin Umno di negeri itu dilihatnya cuba meraih sokongan pengundi melayu yang makin terhakis kepada parti itu kebelakangan ini.

“Saya hairan kenapa tiba-tiba jawatan Pengerusi BN itu yang menjadi keutamaan mereka setelah BN gagal di negeri itu, kenapa tidak tuntut jawatan Ketua Menteri ketika mana mereka mempunyai majoriti dalam pilihan raya dulu.

"Sepatutnya Umno memberi keutamaan kepada isu yang lebih besar, bukannya mencetuskan isu remeh yang sering berkisar dengan isu perkauman seperti ini," katanya pada sidang media dipejabatnya semalam.

Katanya, perjuangan yang ditegakkan Umno di negeri itu disifatnya hanya lebih untuk menegakkan kepentingan politik perkauman mereka sahaja dan bukannya untuk kepentingan rakyat di negeri itu.

"Tidak ada apa yang nak direbutkan, Pengerusi BN Negeri itu hanya jawatan kecil sahaja, di peringkat nasional yang Umno pegang pun banyak masalah dan tidak boleh diselesaikan, inikan pula hanya jawatan di peringkat negeri,” katanya.

Mahatir dan Pak Lah, kedua-dua perlu disiasat

(Harakah Daily) - Naib Presiden PAS, Datuk Mahfuz Omar mahu kedua-dua mantan Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr mahathir Mohamad dan Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi dihadapkan ke Suruhanjaya Diraja untuk disiasat berhubung dakwaan penyelewengan wang sewaktu pemerintahan zaman masing-masing.

Mahfuz yang juga Ahli Parlimen Pokok Sena berkata, satu Suruhanjaya Diraja harus ditubuhkan bagi menyiasat dakwaan itu kerana siasatan melalui Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) dan Polis Diraja Malaysia tidak dapat dijamin ketelusannya.

Beliau berkata demikian kepada Harakahdaily ketika diminta mengulas berhubung dakwaan Tun Mahathir bahawa Pak Lah telah menghabiskan sebanyak RM270 bilion dalam masa lima tahun untuk kegunaan peribadi beliau.

Namun katanya, apa yang berlaku sekarang ini, kedua-duanya saling tuduh menuduh berhubung jumlah yang dihabiskan pada zaman masing-masing.

Mahathir juga sebelum ini didakwa menghabiskan 100 bilion dalam masa 23 tahun pemerintahannya.

"Kedua-dua mereka harus dihadapkan ke muka pengadilan iaitu perlu kepada satu proses penyiasatan yang telus ke atas kedua-dua bekas perdana menteri itu. Ianya perlu kepada satu penubuhan Suruhanjaya Diraja.Bagi saya kedua-duanya ada masalah dan mereka perlu menghadapi satu siasatan dan siasatan itu perlu telus, bukan polis, bukan SPRM," katanya.

Menurut Mahfuz juga, jika Suruhanjaya Diraja tidak dapat ditubuhkan, satu jawatankuasa siasatan di peringkat Parlimen harus ditubuhkan dn laopran siasatan berkenaan diletakkan di bawah biang kuasa Speaker Dewan Rakyat untuk dibahaskan," katanya lagi.

"Paling kurang pun satu jawatankuasa siasatan peringkat parlimen yang dianggotai pelbagai latar belakang, diletakkan di bawah parlimen dan laporan (siasatan) dihantar ke parlimenuntuk diperiksa dan dibahaskan," tambahnya.

Mahfuz juga menyifatkan kedua-dua mantan Perdana Menteri itu sebagai penyamun yang saling menuduh sedangkan kedua-duanya terlibat dalam salah guna kuasa dan penyelewengan wang rakyat.

"Sekarang ni penyamun sedang tuduh penyamun.Seorang kata hang yang samun lebih, seorang lagi kata hang yang samun lebih.Dua-dua pun penyamun.

"Kalau Tun Mahathir kata Pak Lah habiskan 28 bilion, sudah tentu beliau (Tun Mahathir) habiskan lagi banyak sebab beliau 22 tahun memerintah berbanding Pak Lah yang hanya lebih kurang 4 tahun," ujarnya.

Mahfuz turut menegaskan, siasatan terhadap projek pembinaan rumah Pak Lah yang berjumlah RM12 juta juga perlu disegerakan kerana pembinaanya dibuat sewaktu Perdana Menteri sekarang, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Ini katanya membuktikan Najib juga terlibat dalam penyelewenagn dana awam.

"Siasatan ini juga termasuk rumah Pak Lah RM12 juta.Tapi rumah Pak Lah itu dibina di zaman Najib. maksudnya dalam pengetahuan Najib." katanya.

FORM ROYAL PROBE ON DR M'S SQUANDERING

1. I welcome Lim Kit Siang's proposal for Najib to set up a royal commission on whether I burned RM100 billion on grandiose projects and corruption during my 22-year reign.

2. Such a commission should not be made up of Government nominees but should have as members impeccable people including foreigners and members of Transparency International.

3. The commission should not confine to one Prime Minister only but to Tun Abdullah Badawi's regime.

4. It should include how RM270 billion of Petronas money paid during Abdullah's five-year term was spent; what projects were financed by this huge fund and the cost of all these projects.

5. It should include how much money was lost due to the cancellation of the crooked bridge and the Johore Baru to Padang Besar railway.

6. What is the cost over-run in the construction of the Bakun Hydroelectric project.

7. The financing of the second Penang Bridge and the procedure followed when giving out this contract.

8. I also agree with Lim Kit Siang that the investigation would reflect Najib's commitment to "combating corruption".

9. In order that the enquiry by the commission would be successful, Government must give the undertaking to give full access to the commission of all the documents and accounts of the Government over the period 1981-2009. There should be no cover-up of any kind.

10. Barry Wain must provide documentary proof of any sum that he alleged I had burned.

11. I will co-operate fully with the commission.

12. Depending upon the result of the commission, I reserve the right to sue Barry Wain, Lim Kit Siang and Malaysiakini.com for libel for a sum to be disclosed later.

13. If the Government is witholding the book: "Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times", I would request that the book be released forthwith. I am not in need of Government protection.

“Why are Chinese [Malaysians] dangerous?”

By Shanon Shah
thenutgraph.com

Arif Johny Abdullah

ARIF Johny Abdullah, 34, attended his Biro Tata Negara (BTN) programme back in the 1990s when he was in secondary school. He has blogged about his experiences at the camp, including an escape from camp grounds to find replacements for participants who had broken their eggs.

Arif is a Sino-Kadazan from Sabah and officially converted to Islam in his early teens. He tells The Nut Graph that his interesting position as an East Malaysian bumiputera might be why he resisted most of what was taught during the BTN programme. He is now an operation manager at a company that manages cybercafés.

The Nut Graph sat down with Arif in Cheras on 21 Dec 2009 for this final instalment, for 2009, in our series of interviews on the BTN blues.

TNG: When and where did you attend your BTN programme?

Arif Johny Abdullah: I know it was in Perak, and I know we passed by Kellie's Castle to get there. Tapi nama penuh kem saya tak ingat. I think it was in 1994. I was in Sekolah Menengah Seri Perak, Parit Buntar, and I think I was in Form Four.

How long did the programme last?

Itulah, saya pun tak ingat sangat. It was definitely not longer than five days. I think it was four days and three nights.

How many participants went for the programme?

I would say 150 to 200 students, boys and girls, from secondary schools throughout the Kerian district. Sebenarnya, the programme was meant for students from Institut Teknologi Mara (ITM), now Universiti Teknologi Mara, Manjung. I remember this because (former Prime Minister Tun Dr) Mahathir (Mohamad) was supposed to come and speak to them. But then Mahathir had something to do in Langkawi at that time.

Makes you special.... (source: morguefile.com)So they postponed the orientation for the ITM students and substituted the programme with us instead. We were told the ITM students were special, because they were going to "fly" (go to university overseas), but we were told we were special too, I don't know why.

The participants semuanya Melayu and Muslim. I was considered Malay (Malaysian) too, even though I don't consider myself Malay.

What about the trainers?

There were two groups of trainers. There were the facilitators who were there watching over us every day, around 15 to 20 of them. Some of them looked like former police or army personnel.

And then the second group consisted of the external speakers who came in to give us lectures. There were around five of them, including lecturers from public universities, I can't remember which ones, and the former speaker of the Dewan Rakyat. All the trainers were Malay (Malaysian) Muslims, and most of them were men.

What was a typical day like during the programme?

Biasalah, we all had to get up before subuh (dawn prayers). On one of the nights, we had to stay up and do qiamullail (doctrinally, these are optional night-time prayers). The strange thing is that one of the days of the camp was a Friday, and we didn't go to the mosque for (obligatory) prayers. Maybe they were trying to isolate us that strictly, saya tak tahu.

Warisan

The activities, macam biasa — lectures, group activities, and don't forget the singing. We all had to learn that song, Warisan, you know? It's a very sweet song, tapi I realised its true meaning (about Malay supremacy).

They turned off the lights in the room and taught us the song. It was very psychological. After singing the song, some of the participants started crying, especially the girls.

Was there anything else about the programme that was racist? Was there opposition-bashing?

Of course. At that time, PAS wasn't as strong as it is now, but they were still accused of ajaran sesat. The speakers said PAS was using religion to gain power, and it was mixing religion and politics. DAP also of course kena — apparently it was anti-Melayu because of its "Malaysian Malaysia" slogan. At that time, I didn't even know what the DAP was.

During one of the lectures, one of the external speakers asked us, "Do you know why Chinese (Malaysians) are dangerous?" He continued, "The Chinese (Malaysians) in Melaka bury their weapons in one of their cemeteries, and are waiting for the day when they can gali these weapons and lawan 'us' for real." Of course, I don't have a voice recording of this or anything, but I remember it very clearly.

How did you feel when you heard all of this?

"I don't equate kampung culture with Malay
culture" (© sophokles / Wiki Commons)

Conflicted, of course. I had never considered myself Malay, even though I'm familiar with Malay culture and kampung culture. I don't equate kampung culture with Malay culture. For example, when my friends taught me how they eat with their fingers and so on. To me, that's cara orang kampung, that's all.

But I was lucky because I wasn't alone in feeling this way during the programme. I had Malay (Malaysian) friends who were angry, too. They were not exactly angry about the content at that point, but more because we were all forced to attend against our will. You know, we were only told the day before we went that we needed to attend the programme. That was during the weekend, and my friends and I were all hostel boarders. Our plans for the weekend, including those who wanted to balik kampung, were ruined just like that.

So how did you change after the camp?

Shamsiah Fakeh's memoirs were published
in 2004

I don't know, but maybe this experience aroused my curiosity and has caused me to fight back until now. I was an ordinary student before attending the camp. In school, orang yang kami tak suka kami akan momok-momokkan by calling them Chin Peng or Shamsiah Fakeh. But I don't know, maybe BTN changed me and made me want to find out more about them.

I still did not consider myself Malay even after attending the programme. I mean, at that time I didn't know what "racism" was, I just knew that I didn't like what was being taught during the programme.

And like I said, the good thing is there were those of us who didn't agree with the camp and stuck together. We couldn't fight back openly, we still had to mengalah in front of the facilitators. But we stuck together even after returning to school. I ended up getting involved in the Reformasi movement during the 1999 general election. And when I voted in March 2008, I voted for Dr Lo' Lo' Mohamad Ghazali from PAS.

Do you think the programme had anything good about it?

The group activities, the marching drills, the motivational talks — these were actually good. But then, the facilitators would justify every single activity by saying, "This is why Malay (Malaysians) must work hard, otherwise 'they' will rob us of this country." The activities were good, but their motivations were racist.

MMA Slams 1Malaysia Clinics

From The Sun Daily

by Meena L. Ramadas

PETALING JAYA (Dec 22, 2009) : The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) has criticised the government’s decision to implement 1Malaysia clinics which are to be manned by medical assistants and nurses, calling it “wasteful” and “illegal”.

“The MMA believes such clinics in urban areas would be redundant and shortchange the rakyat,” its president Dr David K.L. Quek said in a statement today.

“Furthermore, getting unregistered medical doctors to man these clinics is also wrong and undermines the healthcare service which leads to a possible poorer standard of care,” he said.

Quek said the employment of medical assistants and nurses to man clinics is against the Medical Act 1971 which prohibits medical assistants from prescribing “any more than some very simple medicines”.

Last week, Bernama quoted Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai as saying the clinics would be allowed to prescribe medicine for minor illnesses like fever, cough or minor cuts and could also handle referral cases.

A total of 50 1Malaysia community clinics will begin operation next month to provide basic health treatment for urban residents.

However, Quek said there are already many “under-utilised” general practitioner clinics.

He said there are many doctors in the country but they are poorly distributed.

“If the government feels the 1Malaysia clinics have to be established, the least it could do is ensure these clinics are manned by registered medical doctors,” he said.

“The standard of medical care should not be compromised.”

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak recently announced an allocation of RM10 million under Budget 2010 for the clinics

Zaid: Pakatan Perlu Pulihkan ‘Maruah’ Politik Negara

Dari Malaysian Insider

PETALING JAYA, Dis 23 — Pakatan Rakyat (PR) perlu memperjuangkan semua isu dan kepentingan rakyat tanpa mengira bangsa dan agama bagi mengembalikan maruah kepada perjuangan politik negara ini.

Bekas menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Datuk Zaid Ibrahim (gambar) yang kini bersama Parti Keadilan Rakyat, salah satu komponen PR berkata, cabaran ikatan itu sekarang ialah membuktikan muafakat sejati di antara pelbagai kaum.

Dengan merujuk kepada kejayaan penganjuran konvensyen sulung PR Sabtu lalu, Zaid berkata PR perlu menjalankan pentadbiran negeri serta negara yang adil dan saksama.

“Inilah sebenarnya cabaran yang menanti kita semua,” kata beliau dalam blognya.

Beliau menambah setiap kaum di negara ini juga perlu membuktikan bahawa mereka tidak hanya memperjuangkan kepentingan kaum masing-masing.

“Orang-orang Cina dalam Pakatan Rakyat mestilah menunjukkan bahawa kita bukan hanya mementingkan isu orang-orang Cina.

“Orang-orang India bukan sahaja memperjuangkan isu sekolah Tamil. Orang-orang Melayu pula tidak harus terus-terusan memperkatakan tentang kelemahan mereka serta meminta pertolongan ekonomi.

“Kita dalam Pakatan Rakyat mestilah memperjuangkan semua isu dan kepentingan rakyat tanpa mengira bangsa dan agama. Kita mesti mengembalikan maruah kepada perjuangan politik Malaysia,” kata beliau lagi.

Zaid menambah apa yang bakal menjadi cabaran kepada PR bukanlah menangani dakyah Umno semata-mata tetapi seperti kata Ketua Pemuda PAS Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi, “kita jangan jadikan konvesyen itu sebagai satu kejayaan satu hari sahaja.”

“Ia perlu disusuli dengan kegiatan bersama dalam usaha bersungguh meyakinkan rakyat bahawa kita akan laksanakan janji tersebut.

“Kita perlu menunjukkan kepada rakyat bahawa kita membawa mesej serta fahaman politik yang berbeza,” katanya.

Beliau menambah, Dasar PR sendiri yang dipersetujui tiga parti komponennya merupakan satu paradigma baru dalam politik negara.

“Kejayaan konvesyen itu memang tidak boleh dinafikan. Sudah tentu Umno dan media miliknya akan terus memperlekehkan usaha murni kita dan mengatakan itu semua cakap-cakap kosong sahaja dan tidak boleh dilaksanakan.

“Ada pula yang berkata, tidak ada perkara baru yang diketengahkan. Ada pula menuduh PAS menggadaikan perjuangan Islamnya. Inilah cara mereka yang biasa kita dengar; merendah-rendah, menghina dan menidakkan usaha baik orang lain.

“Malahan, mereka juga tidak malu mengaku bahawa mereka ini menghayati ajaran dan amalan Islam,” katanya.

Pun begitu, kata beliau, yang paling ketara dan jelas ialah PR telah pun sebulat suara bersatu untuk berpegang teguh kepada empat perkara pokok teras.

Dr Rosli Allani Resigns As Kelantan PAS Youth Information Chief

KOTA BAHARU, (Bernama) -- A day after being ordered by the court to live separately from his second wife as their marriage was in doubt, Kelantan Pas Youth information head Dr Rosli Allani Abdull Kadir, on Tuesday announced his decision to resign from all party posts with immediate effect.

Dr Rosli Allani, 35, a former special officer to Kelantan State Executive Councillor Datuk Husam Musa, who had called for the immediate resignation of Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat's son-in-law as the chief executive officer of the Kelantan Menteri Besar Incorporated, said, however, that he would continue to be a Pas member.

"Although I'm convinced I have done no wrong, for the sake of protecting the image, integrity and public perception of Pas, particularly to avoid the party from being linked to my personal problem, I will resign from all posts in the party with immediate effect," he said at a press conference.

He said his resignation letter would be sent to the Kelantan Pas Youth movement soon.

Yesterday, Dr Rosli Allani was ordered by the Syariah High Court here to live separately (murafakah) from his second wife, Ilyani Mohd Nor, 30, temporarily as their marriage was in doubt because it had engaged the services of a syndicate in Subang, Selangor, in December last year.

He said he had informed Kelantan Pas Youth head, Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman, of his intention.

He also asked the newspapers that had carried news about his personal problems to make a public apology within three days to avoid legal action being taken against them.

Dr Rosli Allani said he had not decided whether to continue his career as a medical practitioner or to venture into other fields.

The good, the bad and the new year

The Star
Musings by Marina Mahathir

Despite the nasty and horrid things that the year witnessed, there is hope yet for us yet as the people become more aware of their rights and are willing to stand up for them.

SINCE this is my last column for the year, I thought I’d do my usual list exercise. It has been a very eventful year to say the least so I thought I would list out what I’ve been happy about and what I haven’t been happy about this year.

Let’s start off with Things I Wasn’t Happy About:

1. The way some people behave so badly with such impunity, as if they know they can do anything and get away with it. Top of the list are those “cow-head protestors” as well as their brethren who declared Malays “first-class citizens” and all others, “second-class citizens”. No throwing the book of sedition at them, not even a sharp rap on the knuckles?

2. The shrinking of public space for debate and discussion especially on matters of religion and race. If anyone tries to give alternative viewpoints, they are immediately shouted down or a police report is made charging them with everything from insulting God, religion, the Sultan and whoever has the thinnest skin. And we call ourselves a modern nation?

3. The refusal to get out from under the cloak of denial on all social problems. If there is a problem among our people, the answer is always more religion, particularly the form that refuses to entertain any discussion on the subject. Somehow we expect the matter to disappear just like that. Unfortunately, they fester and will ooze slime endlessly whether we like it or not. This would include issues like drug use, Mat Rempit and incest.

4. Related to that is the apparent wish that the Kartika problem will just go away. It is clear now that nobody really wants to whip her. But unless someone comes out and clearly states that she’s been pardoned, her life will remain in suspension. There is nothing just and fair about leaving her in abeyance like that. Some closure for her is needed.

5. In conjunction with that is the apparent belief that the only good Muslim is the one that wants to be punished while those who question injustice are painted as disbelievers. At the same time, those who are disobeying the courts, such as the men who are refusing to pay court-ordered maintenance for their children, are never painted as bad irresponsible Muslims. Are we naming and shaming the wrong people?

6. The complete lack of common sense on the part of some of our leaders is a cause for concern. If there are two groups at odds with one another, you don’t sit down with just one and then declare their grievances are justified. Nor do you express sympathy for someone who’s been responsible for many violent deaths and say that you could have rehabilitated them. Even sillier, you don’t try to equate the “pain” a chair might feel upon being whipped with what a human being might feel.

7. While some leaders talk about eliminating corruption, most remain blind to obvious questions, such as, how come a public official can afford a RM25mil mansion? No wonder cynicism reigns!

8. The increasing racist tone by which we refer to foreigners within our midst, especially those who are from countries less developed than ours. Racist monikers may not be okay for our own people but apparently okay for others. Also despicable are the sweeping generalisations about foreigners as criminals, conmen and prostitutes.

9. The constant politicisation of everything. Really, neither politics nor politicians are the most important things in the world.

Things I Have Been Happy About

1. The increase in the number of people who have become more aware of the issues surrounding them and are keen to express their opinion on it, mostly online.

2. The many young people who are not only increasingly aware of issues around them but will also take action to effect some change. The most impressive is the MyConstitution campaign to educate the public about our ‘Document of Destiny’ but also other smaller projects such as Fast for the Nation which does more for unity than any government project could.

3. The effectiveness of social media especially Facebook and Twitter in connecting like-minded people together so that they can share experiences, learn from one another and get organised. As always young people are way ahead of adults, especially those in government.

4. The fact that we can talk about human rights without the ground opening up and swallowing us.

5. The continued belief in this country, despite all the nastiness, and the willingness to stay and fight gives hope.

There’s probably more I could be happy about if I thought hard enough but the horrid things somehow come quicker to mind.

Whatever comes along, things must get better in 2010. Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy Muslim and Gregorian New Year!

Malaysian Bar ‘disappointed’ by court’s decision

The Star
By Joshua Foong

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Bar has expressed its disappointment with the Court of Appeal’s ruling last week that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) can question witnesses beyond office hours.

The ruling last week overturned the High Court’s earlier decision that the MACC could only question witnesses during office hours.

Bar president Ragunath Kesavan described the ruling as being “inimical to the protection of witnesses,” who have the right to refuse interrogation outside office hours.

“The legislation should be interpreted in accordance with the Federal Constitution’s provisions that protect the fundamental liberties of individuals and in a manner that safeguards human rights.

“The reversal of the ruling condones the MACC’s practice of compelling witnesses to appear and be questioned for long hours that may stretch beyond office hours,” he said in a statement.

He said witnesses should be accorded the same protection and rights as accused persons, whose right to be allowed rest is guaranteed by Rule 20 of the Lock-up Rules 1953.

“It is essential that witnesses, whose testimonies are important in court hearings, to not face any actual or perceived intimidation, pressure or coercion during interrogation,” he said while urging the Government to take steps to protect the rights of witnesses.

Najib's KPIs, Jomo's warning and a film in Papan - Malaysiakini

Listen to what UN Assistant Secretary-General K S Jomo, an economist from Malaysia, has to say about the perils of financial liberalisation, as reported in theSun:

A bigger crisis awaits Malaysia if we continue on the path of financial liberalisation and fail to learn the right lessons from the last economic downturn in the late 1990s, warns an economist.

Prof Jomo Kwame Sundaram, who is the assistant secretary general for Economic Development in the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said financial liberalisation, as it showed in the 1997-98 Asian crisis, is actually the “bleeding of resources from poor to rich countries” and does not lead to development.

Jomo, who was giving a public lecture titled When Will We Ever Learn? last Wednesday, explained that the last financial meltdown not only prompted some rethinking of how to “manage” financial crises but also stimulated some serious rethinking about the character of the development model in Asia.

Lessons were supposed to have been learnt and new policy and institutional frameworks were put into place to avoid another crisis, he said….

He also had harsh words about recent attempts to liberalise the local financial market, saying that it has been proven that this does not bring about development.

Instead, Jomo said, it bled out the capital resources of Third World countries.

“Half of the capital inflows in the year 2007 went to the US due to financial liberalisation,” he said, adding that it was imperative for Malaysia to start planning the real economy and not look to the US model.

“There is an urgent need for much more original and creative development policy thinking in the region,” he said, and warned that if we continue on this path (of financial liberalisation), “Malaysia’s development status target of 2020 would be delayed by a decade.”

Meanwhile, the quietness and tranquility of the century old mining town of Papan on the outskirts of Ipoh has suddenly become punctuated with the sounds of activity as a film crew prepares to shoot on location, the story of Sybil Kartigasu, the town’s very own World War II heroine, reports the Ipoh Echo in a story here.

Apcet II: Detainees win suit, gov't ordered to pay - Malaysiakini

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today ordered the government to pay RM30,000 each to 29 human rights activists and journalists wrongfully detained following Umno Youth's disruption of the Apcet II civil society gathering in Kuala Lumpur more than a decade ago.

The local activists and journalists had filed a RM87 million suit against the government in 1998 - two years after the incident.

Appeals Court Judge Wan Adnan Muhamad delivered his decision saying that "the facts here are clear and straightforward and the judgment is based on facts submitted by both parties".

The government was ordered to pay RM870,000 in total to the plaintiffs.

The suit was filed against the government after the group's wrongful detention at the Second Asia Pacific Conference on East Timor (Apcet II) on Nov 11, 1996.

The conference was held to discuss human rights abuses in East Timor and its struggle for independence from Indonesia.

It was held at the Asia hotel in Kuala Lumpur and saw nasty scenes when an Umno Youth mob stormed the venue and harassed the 60 participants.

Four hundred members from the Umno Youth-led BBRM (or Malaysian People's Action Front) broke down the doors of the conference halls, threw chairs and verbally and physically abused the participants.

The police intervened an hour later but instead arrested the conference participants.

Foreign participants were immediately deported while the local ones, including several journalists, were detained for up to a week.

A total of 36 activists and journalists originally filed the law suit but seven withdrew and one passed away.

Among the plaintiffs are:

1) Then PRM vice-president Sanusi Othman
2) PKR deputy president and senator Syed Husin Ali
3) Batu parliamentarian Tian Chua
4) Malaysiakini chief executive officer Premesh Chandran
5) Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan
6) Malaysian Trade Union Congress president Syed Shahir Syed Mohamad.

Other high-profile plaintiffs include Subang MP R Sivarasa, Parti Sosialis Malaysia president Dr Nasir Hashim and former New Era College principal Kua Kia Soong.

HRP at DBKL demolish Indian estate houses

Human Rights Party at intended DBKL demolishment of more then 3 generations of Indians at Kampong Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur.

The DBKL notice stated that they will demolish today at 9am. Human Rights Party Information Chief S.JAYATHAS and HRP members were at location to stop any demolishment of these estate houses. According HRPs’Captain Bala there is still ongoing negotiation with the assistance of the National Union of Plantation Workers(NUPW) who are in talks with the Human Resource Ministry and the Wilayah Ministry and they were shocked that DBKL sent them a notice and causing alarm, tension and distress.

The Wilayah Minister and DBKL should fine a permanent solution for these former plantation workers who were the backbone of Malaysian economy, before demolishing their houses.

S.JAYATHAS

HRP Information Chief

Photo above Special Branch

UPSR Tamil School 7As’: PKR mandore’s school bag politics

It was reported that in Selangor alone 236 Tamil school pupils had scored 7As’ whereas the maximum As’ in a national school can only be 5As’. But the Selangor state government plays “school bag” politics through their Indian Exco mandore and rewards these 236 students with school bags, RM50.00, a certificate and some basic stationary. (22/12/09 TN page 7, MO page 11 and MN page 4)

But what ever happens to the cream of these students after this school bag “mega fanfare” Mandor politics.

Similarly what ever happens to the cream of the Indian PMR, SPM and STPM top scoring students whose results are amplified and glorified in especially the three Tamil dailies on a daily basis and lasting for a few weeks after their results are announced? In reality they are excluded from entering the elite schools, MRSM, fully residential schools, Institute Aminuddin Baki, Malay College Kuala Kangsar, Matriculation courses and denied foreign and local government scholarships besides being denied local government University places albeit to a lesser extent. The Tamil dailies does not report these ‘rewards’ as almost none are given to the Indians.

We hereby call upon the Selangor State government to instead forthwith build a fully residential MRSM Tamil College to cater for the 817 7As’ high achieving elite Tamil school pupils nationwide to pave the way to end UMNO’s racism in Malaysia. In the meantime the Selangor State government is also to undo the injustices done by UMNO to the poor but elite Indian students for over the last 52 years should award these 236 7As’ Tamil school pupils full Yayasan Selangor Scholarships for them to study at elite schools in Singapore until our proposed MRSM Tamil Selangor is completed. These 817 7As’ Tamil schools pupils and the 110,000 Tamil school pupils in the 523 Tamil schools nationwide would be motivated to further excel in their studies and also help contribute to the nation’s brain power. Why exclude these Indian pupils in the first place?

We note that there is MRSM for PDRM (police), ATM (army) and Felda Why not MRSM (Tamil) in Selangor as in Universiti Industri Selangor (Unisel) that was built by the Selangor State government.

Your Faithfully,

________________________

P.Uthayakumar.

Secretary General (pro-tem)

Hadi says it’s up to RoS to decide on Pakatan

By Adib Zalkapli - The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 — PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said today the formal registration of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition is in the hands of the government.

His statement was made to clear the confusion over his remarks last Sunday which suggested that PAS was unwilling to be part of a formal coalition.

“The formation of the Pakatan Rakyat party as agreed mutually by all PR members cannot be formalised as it is still under the consideration of the Registrar of Societies (RoS),” said Hadi (picture) in a one-paragraph statement made through his political secretary Dr Samsuri Mokhtar.

On Sunday, Hadi had suggested that the PR coalition was in no hurry to be formally registered, in remarks that appear to indicate PAS’s ideological differences with its political partners remained an obstacle.

“We do not want to act in a hurry to register Pakatan,” Hadi had said.

“Pakatan does not necessarily have to become a single party. What is important is for us to bring out what we have in common, and to put off things which we do not agree on,” he was quoted as saying after a special meeting with political bloggers yesterday.

Hadi’s remarks came just a day after the PR coalition held its first-ever convention. A common policy framework was also tabled at the convention.

Yesterday, opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said Hadi might have been misunderstood as the Marang MP had consented to the formation of the PR.

Anwar claimed that Hadi’s contention was that the detailed plans of the formalisation had not been agreed to yet and would take time.

The application to register PR was made in early November and Datuk Zaid Ibrahim was named the coalition chairman.

DAP leads Umno, PAS in race for new voters

By G. Manimaran - The Malaysian Insider

Bahasa Malaysia Editor

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 — DAP has taken the lead among more than two dozen political parties in the country in the race to register new voters, especially among younger Malaysians, since Election 2008, according to the Election Commission.

EC deputy chairman Datuk Wira Wan Ahmad Wan Omar told The Malaysian Insider that DAP had registered the most number of new voters, followed by Umno, with other parties like PAS, MCA and Gerakan trailing them.

But he did not reveal the exact breakdown of new voters registered respectively by all the political parties.

It is understood that despite the push by DAP and other parties, a total of four million Malaysians, a majority of them under 30, remain unregistered.

"I feel it is DAP that has been the party which has taken advantage of the opportunity given (to appoint assistant voter registrars) and the mood of the public especially among the younger Chinese.

"It is clear from the increase in new voters that it is from the efforts of DAP, compared with Gerakan and MCA which should also take advantage," said Wan Ahmad.

DAP, which received the lion's share of Chinese votes in Election 2008, appears to have taken advantage of the internal problems MCA and Gerakan are facing to register more new voters.

"MCA is facing problems, so MCA has no time to do this work (to register new voters)," said Wan Ahmad while pointing out that party voter registration exercises usually contributed to better electoral results.

"It is common for them to put across their political stand when registering new voters. If they succeed in registering new voters this means they will attract more support during elections. That is the advantage."

DAP is said to be focusing its efforts on west coast states such as Malacca, Perak, Selangor and Penang.

Behind DAP in the voter registration race is Umno which is concentrating its efforts nationwide.

PAS is in third place with its focus on the east coast states of Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu and also Kedah.

“Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) has not registered many. They are just average," said Wan Ahmad.

While he did not reveal how many new voters have been registered respectively by the various parties, he said: "Out of 10 new voters in Malacca, as an example, five are registered by DAP."

Since 2006, political parties have been allowed to appoint assistant registrars, with commissions paid out for each new voter registered.

Such assistant registrars are said to contribute up to 30 per cent of all new voters registered every year.

Recently, the EC revealed that under the latest voter rolls up till September this year, there are now 11,085,863 voters.

In the third quarter of this year, from July until September, there were 67,502 new voters and 14,123 applications to change constituencies because of a change of address.

School bus age extended to 30 years

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 22 — The Commercial Vehicle Licensing Board (CVLB) has agreed to extend the age limit of school buses from 20 years to 30 years effective next year.

Its chairman, Datuk Halimah Mohamed Sadique, said the move was to enable school bus operators with vehicles which had exceeded the current 20-year age limit to continue to operate and provide transport service for schoolchildren.

"However, they are required to send their buses for periodical checks at the Computerised Vehicle Inspection centre (Puspakom) to ensure the vehicles are road worthy," she said in a statement today.

She said it would be up to Puspakom, depending on the bus condition, whether or not to allow the vehicle to continue to be on the road.

On the application for new licences and vehicle replacement, the age of the buses to be licensed should not be more than 20 years from the registration date, she added. — Bernama

Round one: the truth surfaces

Under cross-examination, Kevin admitted that there was bad blood between Ramli and the IGP. The IGP had blocked Ramli’s Pingat Polis award on grounds that he is under investigation, thus unqualified to be the Deputy IGP -- and therefore also not suitable to succeed as IGP.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Rosli Dahlan's trial kicked off in the Criminal Sessions Court 10 in Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur, with the cross-examination of the Prosecution’s first witness, MACC officer Azmi Ismail, by Dato' Kumaraendran.

Azmi testified that Rosli was served a notice to declare his assets although he was not the subject of any investigation. The subject of the investigation was the ex-CCID Director, Ramli Yusuff.

Azmi further testified that Ramli was under investigation because of a report (Report Number 098/2007), which he (Azmi) made against him (Ramli). The basis of the report was information he (Azmi) received through another report that Ramli was involved in corruption.

Azmi admitted that he has no knowledge whatsoever whether Ramli had committed any crime. Nevertheless, he still made the report against Ramli and launched the investigation under instructions from higher up resulting from another report (Report Number O75/2007) made by another officer, Saiful Ezral.

In fact, Saiful's report (the first report) made no mention of Ramli’s name. Azmi, however, mentioned Ramli in his report (the second report) even though his report was based on another report that made no mention of Ramli.

In Ramli’s trial that was held simultaneously in the Criminal Sessions Court 2, Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur, Dato' Shafie Abdullah, Ramli’s lawyer, cross-examined DPP Kevin Morais who admitted that Report Number 075/2007 lodged by Saiful Ezral was based on a complaint made by an underworld operator named Moo Sai Chin.

It was further revealed that:

1) On 9 September 2006, Musa Hassan became the IGP.

2) On 9 October 2007, Moo was detained under the Emergency Ordinance.

3) On 9 December 2007, Moo's detention under the Emergency Ordinance was converted to Restricted Residence under RR0 and he was restricted to Tampin, Negeri Sembilan, for one year until December 2007.

4) On 23 January 2007, Moo was released.

Apparently, to secure his release, Moo had cut a deal with the IGP to implicate Ramli in this fabricated charge.

5) On 7 March 2007, the police brought Moo to the ACA office where he gave a statement implicating Ramli. Moo's statement said that he paid several police officers a bribe to cover up two murder cases.

6) Kevin admitted that Moo's statement was not sufficient to implicate Ramli because the murders occurred in 2002 whereas since November 2001 Ramli was already posted to Sabah as the Police Commissioner.

7) Kevin further admitted that Moo's statement implicating Ramli only related to protection money allegedly given in 1999. However, Moo’s allegation was made eight years later on 7 March 2007 -- that means only after the IGP had released him from Restricted Residence on 23 January 2007.

This contradicts the whole thing because the notice to Ramli was to declare his assets from 2000-2007 and not for the alleged corruption in 1999.

Kevin actually issued the notice on 17 July 2007. Just a few days later, on 27 July 2007, the New Straits Times ran a ‘leaked’ story about a senior police officer being investigated for not declaring RM27 million in assets. Everything seems to point to Kevin as the source of this leaked story.

Under cross-examination, Kevin admitted that there was bad blood between Ramli and the IGP. The IGP had blocked Ramli’s Pingat Polis award on grounds that he is under investigation, thus unqualified to be the Deputy IGP -- and therefore also not suitable to succeed as IGP. Kevin’s testimony seems to point to the real issue -- to block Ramli from becoming the next IGP.

Let us see what more gets revealed as the trial continues later today. Thus far, however, what Malaysia Today has said is beginning to unfold. Now do you know why the IGP is looking for me all over the world? He is worried that Malaysia Today will reveal what a slime-ball and scum-bag he really is.

Finally revealed - secret PKFZ documents that will net the Big Fish

Pop quiz: Who is the Big Fish the Attorney-General promised he will drag to court over the PKFZ fiasco? Those who think pictures of Tiong King Sing, Chan Kong Choi and Ling Liong Sik in handcuffs will grace the front pages of newspapers might as well wish for full-frontal nudity in Malaysian mainstream media. Everyone knows they are Political Untouchables.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

I Love Malaysia

Besides, if the AG had wanted to, these big-time sharks would have been charged together with ikan bilis like OC Phang and others whose names you cannot even remember. The thing is, the AG is not so silly as to raise public expectations about netting a Big Fish (http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsgeneral.php?id=461498) without actually doing it. That would be politically-suicidal. Very few people know that the A-G's Chambers is now working overtime to build a case against a senior BN leader following the recent emergence of some damning documents.

The first series of the said documents was deposited at the AG's Office in Precint 4, Putrajaya, on a Sunday morning by a Bangladeshi worker who thought no one was in the office (the staff were then rushing through the GST bill). The 2-volume documents implicate a man, whose involvement in the RM12 billion fiasco was only spoken in hushed tones before this, due to lack of evidence. But now, documented evidence has started to surface about the involvement of Deputy Education Minister Wee Ka Siong in the PKFZ mess.

The latest daming documents show that Hijau Sekitar Sdn Bhd (240539-X) did consultancy work for Wijaya Baru Sdn Bhd (205953-X) on "the feasibility of a new port facility on reclaimed land at the mouth of Selat Lumut in Port Klang" in 2006. Hijau Sekitar, established in 1992, is owned by WKS, who has 49,998 shares. The remaining shareholders are one Lim Kit Siong (50,001 shares) and Wong Woon Ping (1 share). Wijaya Baru, as we all know, is the parent company of Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd, the turnkey contractor which made PKFZ its own goldmine. (Please refer to the documents, including a company search).

Here's the background and some lowdown: Back when PKFZ was starting to take shape and when no one could ever imagine it would become the biggest financial scandal in Malaysian history, two prominent businessmen wanted to make some quick bucks. Westport boss Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam and Tiong King Sing each bought a piece of land adjacent to PKFZ, a project modelled after the highly-rated Jebel Ali Free Zone.

Being privy to the information about the massive infrastructural developments that would take shape in next door PKFZ, the duo had wanted to piggy-back on what they then thought would be a foundry for golden eggs-laying geese. The duo was aided and abetted by WKS through his little-known consulting firm, Hijau Sekitar, which headed four other consulting firms.

Had PKFZ succeeded, the port facilities would have been leased to the Port Klang Authority on a long-term basis for a price more handsome than the love-struck Bung Mukhtar. And let's not forget the windfall from price appreciation of the two plots once PKFZ was in full-swing. Tiong King Sing and WKS would have made billionaire golfer Tiger Woods (who was recently Chua Soi Lek-ed) look like a pauper.

In other words, WKS, through his buddy TKS, wanted to have a second milking of the cash cow (the first being PKFZ proper). It was a plan so well thought out, the duo could have just carted away in broad daylight whole military aircrafts, not just its engine parts like how some corrupt Mindef officials did. Credit must be given to Mastermind Wee (as lead consultant) for a plan so ingenious, it could only have been inspired by sheer greed.

Alas, Ong Tee Keat messed up their Grand Design by opening the can of worms that is the PKFZ. Now, not only are the crooks not getting the second bite of the cherry, they are going to need to bite the bullet. The A-G's Chambers and the MACC are now poring through 7 boxes of documents seized from Port Klang Authority's office on Dec 4 to determine the extent of which WKS breached the Official Secrets Act by acting on classified information. Highly-placed sources said WKS will also be charged for economic plunder and grand larceny in the first two weeks of 2010.

But legal problems aside, the political fallout for the MCA Youth chairman following the surfacing of such documents would even be greater. The documents clearly show that WKS is closely linked to Tiong King Sing, who is gunning for Ong Tee Keat over the PKFZ issue. His denial of links with Tiong (http://www.sun2surf.com/articlePrint.cfm?id=39583) is now proven to be a blatant lie.

It shows why WKS is so impatient to topple the MCA president, when it was clear as daylight that the Youth Chief himself, given his credentials, was president-in-waiting. Even WKS's own aide in the Education Ministry used to be a staff of Wijaya Baru and was collecting a salary from Tiong. WKS was also the one who laid the trap for Ong Tee Keat to board Tiong's private jet and then leaked the details in the Internet. (More of WKS's lowdown here: ttp://www.malaysia-today.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28157:wee-ka-siong-the-missing-link-in-the-pkfz-mca-crisis-debacle&catid=71:archives-2009&Itemid=100106).

But crybaby WKS underestimated those who abhor traitors and the reach of closet whistleblowers who can't stand hypocrites and plunderers. The documents below are only the first batch. More will be released in due time. By then, Liow Tiong Lai’s wife run-in with the MACC over the Toyota Alphard scandal will look like a noble deed.

Do subsidies work?

By Shanon Shah
thenutgraph.com

Petrol prices are going up in MalaysiaON 4 June 2008, the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government announced a 40.6% petrol price increase effective at midnight. Pump price went from RM1.92 to RM2.70 per litre. Barely a week later, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) federal opposition launched its Protes campaign. Then PAS vice-president Datuk Husam Musa promised that if the PR managed to wrestle federal power, it could and would lower fuel prices despite a global increase in petroleum prices. Husam said the obvious solution was to increase the use of gas, as opposed to petroleum products, for domestic consumption, including for transportation.

The BN government's decision to decrease petrol subsidies was understandable. In 2007 alone, subsidies for petroleum products amounted to RM16.1 billion — or 37% — out of a total of RM43.4 billion in subsidies allocated to the rakyat. But was Husam's suggestion any more practical than the government's to cut petroleum subsidies? After all, in 2007, the Economic Planning Unit estimated Petronas's gas subsidies to be RM18 billion — or 41% — of the total amount of subsidies. And unlike petroleum subsidies, which are borne by the government and subjected to profit sharing agreements with other oil giants, gas subsidies come directly out of Petronas's pocket. In fact, Petronas says it has borne RM97 billion in gas subsidies alone since 1997.

So many questions arise just from a quick perusal of these figures. Was the PR misleading the rakyat with its call to lower fuel prices? At the same time, was the BN government justified in increasing fuel prices so drastically? Do subsidies harm or benefit the rakyat? What is a subsidy anyway?

Subsidies 101

Universiti Malaya's Prof Dr Edmund Terence Gomez tells The Nut Graph that there are different kinds of subsidies. "We must make a distinction between government subsidies for the poor, and subsidies that are meant to promote and develop domestic enterprises," he says in a telephone interview.

An example of a trade protectionist subsidy is how the US government protects its agricultural sector. Gomez feels that subsidies are necessary for both helping the poor and to nurture certain domestic sectors. "Otherwise, we will be too dependent on multi-national companies which might not operate in the rakyat's best interest," he says.

In the case of gas, it appears as though Petronas's subsidies are meant to be cross-cutting. Subsidies do not only go to natural gas for vehicles such as taxis, and the fishing sector, they also go to the power sector and other large consumers.

(pic courtesy of Piarapakaran Subramaniam)

Water and Energy Consumer Association of Malaysia secretary-general Piarapakaran Subramaniam says: "Cross-cutting subsidies intentionally creates a market that is not real, because the prices are then fake."

In a telephone interview with The Nut Graph, he says this creates a host of other problems. One, it means that in a subsidised environment, people cannot factor in true market prices when they make daily lifestyle decisions. For example, people continue to buy big cars and do not try to reduce fuel consumption. Two, when subsidies are cross-cutting, they tend to benefit larger companies rather than the deserving poor. Three, this could lead to irregularities in how subsidies are disbursed if there is a lack of transparency.

"For example at the moment, gas subsidies going to industry are higher than diesel subsidies going to fisher[folk]," he says.

In figures made available to The Nut Graph, the current subsidised price for diesel for the fisheries and transportation sector amounted to RM38.65 per million British thermal units (MMBTU). However, the subsidised price of gas supplied to the power sector was RM10.70 per MMBTU.

The October 2008 market price for gas going to the power sector, however, was RM38.87 per MMBTU, while the market price for diesel going to fisheries and transportation was RM54.26 per MMBTU. In effect, this means the subsidy for gas to the power sector amounted to RM28.17 per MMBTU, compared to only RM15.61 per MMBTU for fisheries and transportation. So Piarapakaran is right — the per unit amount subsidy given to the power sector is nearly twice the amount given to fisherfolk.

Alternatives and solutions

But does this justify the BN government's removal of subsidies — first of petroleum in 2008 and now of sugar, although there have been conflicting reports about the sugar subsidy? Asst Prof Dr Paul Barter of the National University of Singapore tells The Nut Graph he is not against subsidies in general, but that subsidies must be given more sensibly.

"As it is, with fuel subsidies, the people who benefit the most are the people who use the most fuel, and these are usually high income groups who drive big cars and so on," says Barter, who specialises in urban transport and public policy issues. Therefore, when fuel prices skyrocketed in June 2008, the rich were ultimately able to absorb the shock.

"The Malaysian government subsidises fuel, but in the 1980s and 1990s, they did not subsidise the growing public transport sector. With huge capital costs and potentially good long-term effects, public transport was actually the sector that needed subsidies," he says in a telephone interview.

(pic courtesy of Paul Barter | nus.edu.sg)

Barter also says that income for taxpayers could be used to subsidise healthcare for the poor, if the government's justification for subsidies is to help the underprivileged. "There are positive side-effects to keep people with lower income healthy. But why use taxpayers' money to subsidise people driving around in big cars?" he says.

Piarapakaran believes that a balance can be struck between lifting subsidies and helping the poor. He says subsidies could be more targeted at the poor by using per capita income as the main eligibility criteria.

"And if we want to subsidise certain business sectors, we can structure incentives such that they are given only to businesses that perform," he says. For example, he says promising start-ups can be given tax breaks for their first five years. "But we cannot keep giving incentives forever and ever," he says.

Ultimately, Piarapakaran says that with any economic policy geared towards helping the rakyat, the plan must be to make them independent and empowered. "This is so that when the government finally removes subsidies, they don't hold the rakyat by the neck," he says.

What a way to end 2009 – the missing RM50 million RMAF jet engines which exposes high-level thievery, government topsy-turvydom and sheer lack of prof

What a way to end 2009 and the first uncompleted year of the new Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak – two missing RM50 million RMAF jet engines which exposes high-level thievery, government topsy-turvydom and sheer lack of professionalism in defence, police and Attorney-General’s Chambers, casting a long shadow on Najib’s Government Transformation Programme (GTP).

Many questions cry out for answer on the scandal of the missing jet engines as they are not an unobtrusive object that could be easily squirrelled away, with each explanatory statement by the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the air force and the police raising more questions.

Najib gave the assurance that action would be taken against those responsible for the missing Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) jet engines – the powerplants to the F-5E Tiger II fighter and RF-5E Tigereye reconnaissance jets – saying: “Let us investigate. Whoever is in the wrong will be held responsible.”

Why is the Prime Minister still talking in the future tense, when the action for the missing RMAF jet engines took place in May last year, and RMAF had lodged a report with the police on Aug 4 last year?

Armed Forces Chief Gen Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin said last Friday that the missing RMAF jet engines might just be the “tip of the iceberg” as initial investigations showed that other equipment might have gone missing as far back as 2007.

And Zahid said in Banting on Sunday that the engines went missing “about three years ago” and that “It’s a complicated case with international connections”.

Its speak poorly of the performance, efficiency and professionalism of the defence, police and Attorney-General’s Chambers that no proper account of the missing RM50 million RMAF jet engine could be rendered although the theft took place two or three years ago, with Azizan only able to talk about the theft as “tip of the iceberg” but unable to identify the rest of the iceberg.

On the one hand, Azizan said that the armed forces has launched a full audit of its assets following the loss of the jet engines, but in Banting the Defence Minister said he left it to the police to investigate if there was other equipment missing from military bases nationwide.

Who now is going to be responsible to conduct a full audit of the existence of all the military assets in the country, the armed forces or the police?

It is reported by New Straits Times yesterday that a brigadier-general and 40 other armed forces personnel were sacked late last year over their alleged involvement in the case of the two missing RM50 million RMAF jetfighter engines, following an internal inquiry and disciplinary committee.

Is this all the action to be taken after the two missing RM50 million RMAF jet engines, with no one being hauled to court to face the full force of the law?

This version conflicts with the account in the New Straits Times on Saturday that “Air force officers found the jet engine missing in January when they sent a private contractor to Subang to service the engine”, raising the question how disciplinary action could be taken even before the defence authorities became aware of the missing jet – apart from the question as to how the RMAF could be unaware of the missing jet engine for such a long time, at least one or two years!

Najib was the Defence Minister when the jet engines theft took place, which created a frightening picture of a government of thieves.

Malaysians are entitled to a full, uncensored and unvarnished account of the two missing RM50 million RMAF jet engines, why the various authorities seem to be superslow in their remedial responses, including the Attorney-General Chambers in prosecuting the culprits concerned.

No “ifs” and “buts” – a full statement of the latest government scandal of the two missing RM50 million RMAF jet engines should be made either by Najib or Zahid or public confidence in Najib’s Government Transformation Programme (GTP) would suffer a grievous blow even before its official launch.

MCA Forms New Committee Headed By Dr Chua

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 21 (Bernama) -- MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat Monday announced the formation of a Party Affairs Management Committee for the smooth running of its administration machinery.

He said the setting up of the committee, headed by MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek, had been decided following the meeting of the party's Presidential Council (PC) which lasted more than three hours at the Wisma MCA, here.

Besides Dr Chua, other members of the committee are the four MCA vice-presidents namely Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen and Tan Kok Hong.

"Following a thorough and comprehensive study, a party affairs management committee was set up to mobilise and strengthen further the party's administrative machinery," he said at a media conference which was also attended by Dr Chua, after chairing the Presidential Council meeting.

Besides the formation of the committee, Ong said the PC meeting also decided that the MCA would give more attention to the development of education for poor Chinese students.

"This time, our (MCA) focus is directed at the Chinese students who are very poor, who are studying in private secondary schools. We decided that a mechanism or a fund would be set up to determine the number of such students nationwide who would be given aid," he said.

On the development of the national type Chinese schools (SJKC), Ong said the MCA had obtained an allocation of RM95 million from the federal government earlier, for 20 schools, comprising seven new SJKC and 13 SJKC which would be relocated to sites which had been identified.

"We have to monitor the amount of the allocation so that they can be utilised effectively," he said.

On the update on party election, Ong let his deputy, Dr Chua, who is also the MCA Special Committee for fresh party elections chairman, to answer.

Dr Chua said : "We did (discuss), (but) I didn't table any report because the last date to submit the resignation letter is on Dec 25. So to me, it's a bit premature if I were to table it officially. I would like to hold a meeting after Dec 25, and based on the number of people who resigned, then we will make the necessary recommendation or report to the Central Committee (CC)," he said.

Meanwhile, the PC meeting today was only attended by 10 of the 17 members.

Those who attended were Ong, Dr Chua, Dr Ng, treasurer-general Tan Sri Tee Hock Seng, Datuk Loke Yuen Yow, Datuk Ti Lian Ker, Tan Cheng Liang, Gan Ping Sieu, Wong Hock Aun, and Senator Heng Seai Kie.

Asked on the absence of the seven PC members, including Liow and Tan Kok Hong which could be due to their protest against his leadership, Ong said: "Some of them are on leave and at the same time, there are also others who are now on official duty abroad. You can check with the secretariat, people can speculate in thousand and one ways but this is the truth."