'Speaker, you're a dictator': Red card for Karpal

By Rahmah Ghazali - Free Malaysia Today

FMT ALERT KUALA LUMPUR: DAP stalwart Karpal Singh was given the marching orders when he called Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia a “dictator”.

The drama unravelled when Tian Chua's (PKR-Batu) emergency motion to debate Apco Worldwide's contract termination was shot down by Pandikar on the grounds that the matter has been explained.

He also said there would be insufficient time for all the MPs to debate on the ongoing Supplementary Bill.

Pandikar was referring to Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim's explanation last Tuesday on Apco's alleged link to Israel and that 1Malaysia was inspired by One Israel.

The speaker was then embroiled in a lengthy argument with Chua.

At one point, Karpal interjected and argued that Pandikar himself set a precedence by allowing Barisan Nasional's deputy chief whip Nazri Abdul Aziz's request under Standing Orders 17(2) for the House to debate on the possibility of Anwar facing the Rights and Privileges Committee.

The senior lawyer insisted that there is no way for Pandikar to violate his own precedence.

"If I have set this precedence, I could make other precedences as well," retorted the irritated speaker.

"But according to the court of law, you cannot set another precedence. You have to follow the precedence," exclaimed Karpal, to which Pandikar replied that the House was "not a court of law".

Pandikar then warned Karpal that he would taken action if the DAP MP refused to cooperate.

"You are a dictator, don't be a dictator!" shot back Karpal.

"If you keep saying that, I will suspend you for 10 days," replied Pandikar, but Karpal continued to call the speaker a dictator.

Pandikar then instructed the sergeant-at-arms to assist Karpal out of the House.

Najib uses NGOs to target Hulu Selangor’s Indians

By B Nantha Kumar - Free Malaysia Today

KUALA KUBU BARU: Whilst infighting tears through Umno and the MIC, Barisan Nasional chairman Najib Tun Razak is not leaving the Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat to chance.

Irrespective of who BN ultimately fields in the April 25 by-election and regardless of the oppositions shenanigans, Najib is already working the ground, focussing on every possible avenue to ensure that the 19 percent Indian votes stay with the party.

For the Indians in Hulu Selangor, quick solutions to their problems is enough reason to vote for BN whether they like the candidate or not.

“There is no room for sentiments,“ said an observer. “We only want solutions.”

Engineered to deliver, a Klang Valley based non-governmental organisation Mynadi, is BN’s latest strategy to woo constituents.

Overriding MIC in Hulu Selangor, Mynadi’s main task is to provide Najib with unglossed data on the Indian community’s challenges in the constituency.

Mynadi volunteers are clearly focussed on listening.

When FMT attended their recent people-and-problems sessions, discussions were occasionally interjected with “ if you want your problem solved, you should vote for BN. Because if BN wins only then can we take your problem to PM and find a solution."

Organised by another local NGO, Persokemas, the session with 50 participants was moderated by volunteers from Mynadi.

Despite three elected BN state assemblymen and MIC’s longstanding foothold here – at least until the March 2008 shocker when PKR’s Dr Zainal Abidin beat incumbent G Palanivel by 198 vote majority - the issues among Indians prevail.

Their needs are simple - identity cards, birth certificates, red identity cards and micro credit financing for petty and small business traders.

“There is a group of Indians who are far behind the rest. They don’t have documents for loans from Tekun or banks.

“The people that we meet are looking for start-ups, sometimes as small as RM1,000,” said Maniam, a Persokemas volunteer.

Persokemas and Mynadi go where MIC does not, so there is no conflict, added Maniam.

Set up in 2009, Mynadi first popped up during the run-up to the Bagan Pinang by-election, which BN’s Isa Samad won with a 5,345 vote majority.

Mynadi, founded by Dr S Jeyaindran, head of Hospital Kuala Lumpur’s Pulmonary and Critical Care unit, is closely associated to Najib and first lady Rosmah Mansor.

MyNadi was also reportedly responsible for Najib and Rosmah’s visit to Batu Caves in August 2009.

Take up Ku Li's advice on oil and gas, Jeffrey dares Sabah

By Luke Rintod

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah politician Jeffrey Kitingan has upped the ante on Sabah's oil and gas row by accusing the state government of giving up state rights.

The PKR chief for Sabah and Sarawak said he was distressed to learn that the Barisan Nasional state government was downplaying the matter.

"They should take up the advice of former Finance Minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to push for a review of the oil and gas royalty," he said in an interview today.

He said it was disappointing to hear Masidi Manjun, a senior minister in Chief Minister Musa Aman's cabinet say that increasing the oil royalty payable to Sabah "is not an easy issue because it has gone on for too long".

Masidi said the government had to look at it (funds) in totality and not just focus on oil revenue (because) funds to develop Sabah do not depend on oil alone.

Kitingan however said this was naive thinking.

"How could they forego a review on oil royalty in lieu of a supposed increase in federal development allocation to Sabah?

"Ku Li has said the state government can ask for a review, but why is this state government keeping quiet?" he asked.

"The issue is this; the federal development fund is based on development requirements, while oil royalty is what goes direct to the state coffers, and Sabah's leaders must fully comprehend this if they are to give any credence to their positions."

Masidi, who is the state Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister, had sought to justify the 5 percent oil royalty agreement by arguing that the state also had to "look at the wider aspects of the federal-state relationship where there are existing arrangements (where) perhaps Sabah got more than the other states, other than Sarawak...".

But Kitingan said this was nonsense.

Deep fissures

"The argument made by Masidi is not correct ... to give up a review of oil royalty over the allure of a supposed increase in federal development for Sabah is unacceptable and will never be acceptable to right-thinking Sabahans," he warned.

Kitingan, the chairman of CigMa (Common Interest Group Malaysia), an ad hoc apolitical NGO dedicated to “reversing the re-colonialisation of Sabah and Sarawak since 1963”, also said a review on the oil and gas agreement involving Sabah and the federal government, signed in 1976, is necessary because the state needs to know the real situation, for instance how many oil wells does it have and also other pertinent data.

"Are we getting what is due to us? The state government doesn't know. This is the right time to push for a review not only on oil and gas royalty but as well as the state's participation in the industry and business," Kitingan told FMT.

Razaleigh's disclosure last week on the background to the signing over of Sabah's oil and gas rights has come at a sensitive time for the BN-led Sabah government.

Deep fissures have been exposed in Umno by the issue with Masidi scornfully saying that as Razaleigh was the architect of the (oil royalty) agreement between Sabah and the federal government he should have voiced this out when he was still in the government”.

EC drops local polls watchdog in Hulu Selangor

By G. Manimaran - The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — The Election Commission (EC) has dropped the local election watchdog, Malaysians for Free and Fair Elections (Mafrel), as official election monitors in the Hulu Selangor by-election as it has not sent reports for the previous nine by-elections since Election 2008.

Mafrel is the only election watchdog recognised by the EC but it was slammed by Selangor Umno deputy chief Datuk Seri Noh Omar who called them “mouthpieces of the opposition” two days ago for saying the coalition broke election rules ahead of the April 25 vote.

“We won’t appoint Mafrel as independent election monitors for the EC at the Hulu Selangor by-election,” EC deputy chairman Datuk Wira Wan Ahmad Wan Omar told The Malaysian Insider last night.

It is understood that Mafrel could lose EC accreditation but still operate as election watchdog for the by-election when campaigning starts after nomination on April 17 .

But Wan Ahmad said the EC decision is not related to Noh’s criticism of Mafrel, adding its decision was made earlier.

The EC’s appointment of Mafrel in since Election 2008 has allowed the watchdog to monitor and report on everything related to the conduct of elections.

Wan Ahmad also stressed that Mafrel’s statements had nothing to do with the EC as it was done in their own capacity.

“The statements by Mafrel is not linked to the EC,” he said.

He added the EC has repeatedly asked for reports after each by-election but Mafrel had ignored the requests.

“We have given reminders after reminders to Mafrel to send in their reports but after nine by-elections starting from Permatang Pauh, we have not received even one.

“That is the the condition of appointment, to send monitoring reports... since the Permatang Pauh by-election (in August 2008) until the Bagan Pinang by-election last year, Mafrel has not sent a report although asked to do so,” Wan Ahmad said, describing Mafrel as “going against the conditions of appointment”.

Mafrel chairman Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh had earlier told The Malaysian Insider that no one, including the EC or politicians like Noh, can stop it from monitoring the elections.

But he expressed optimism that the relationship between Mafrel and the EC will continue to ensure a free and fair election for all.

“What Datuk Noh say is his right and we have a right to express our views too,” he added, commenting on Noh’s call to the EC to review Mafrel’s role as election watchdog.

Noh, who is Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, said if Mafrel wanted to slam BN for going to the ground, campaigning and giving allocations to the people of Hulu Selangor before the campaign period started, it should be “fair and unbiased” about it as Pakatan Rakyat had done the same.

Mafrel had criticised the federal government for approving various housing and school projects in Hulu Selangor although the campaign period had not officially started yet.

“What has this got to do with Mafrel? The election has not started yet, Mafrel doesn’t understand their jurisdiction. They also don’t understand the EC’s regulations on the authority of the police and local government.

Syed Ibrahim said Mafrel has carried out its role since 2001 including the Sarawak Election in 2006 and the series of by-elections in the country.

“We monitor outside and within the campaign periods. The EC has acknowledged us and have asked us to monitor polling days too. So we work throughout time and during polling day. We censure what is wrong and report what is right,” he added, saying they are an impartial organisation.

Samy-Subra feud a distraction for BN in Hulu Selangor

By Baradan Kuppusamy - The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, April 7 — The nearly life-long feud between MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu and his former deputy Datuk S. Subramaniam has escalated into an open war and as usual they are using their respective Tamil newspapers to fire salvos at each other.

The real victim of their never ending feud seems to be the Barisan Nasional which is facing a major battle with the Pakatan Rakyat for the Hulu Selangor constituency on April 25.

More specifically Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who wants to win the constituency in a big way to show that national political momentum is behind him, is left holding the adverse results of their never ending feud.

In a statement yesterday Subramaniam attacked Samy Vellu and his Tamil Nesan newspaper in a uncharacteristic and frontal attack, blaming the party president for the ills in the community and accusing him of being a major handicap for BN.

He criticised Samy and Tamil Nesan for implying that he and his supporters were not backing deputy president Datuk G. Palanivel as the Hulu Selangor parliamentary by-election candidate.

“These articles in Tamil Nesan were written with a sinister and ulterior political motive to sow seeds of hatred and animosity among MIC and Barisan Nasional supporters,” Subramanian said.

He said the by-election should be used as an opportunity to unite the different factions in MIC and to bring them together to win the seat.

“The articles falsely implied that I was behind the move for the seat not to be given to MIC or Palanivel,” he said.

He said the newspaper had also alleged that he was plotting to defeat of Palanivel by instigating some independent candidates to stand against Palanivel.

Tamil Nesan in articles last week implied that Subramaniam was behind the independents — four mid-level MIC leaders — and said Subramaniam was continuing his feud with Samy Vellu and Palanivel by fielding these independents.

“He lost in a free and fair contest to Palanivel and should be man enough to admit the defeat,” Tamil Nesan managing director Vel Paari told The Malaysian Insider.

“He should know when to fight and when to close ranks,” he added. “We are fighting for Barisan victory now and must close ranks.”

Samy Vellu supporters told The Malaysian Insider that the Makkal Osai newspaper, owned by supporters of Subramaniam, had been constantly harping on alleged problems in Hulu Selangor, implying that Palanivel did “nothing” as MP for four terms.

They also give prominence to the independents and any anti-Samy Vellu news, the supporters said.

The accusations were denied by Subramaniam supporters who said the newspaper was merely giving space to the legitimate grouses of the Hulu Selangor’s Indian constituents.

“It is a fact that Samy Vellu is unpopular and that Indian voters in Hulu Selangor don’t want Palanivel to contest,” said a diehard Subramaniam loyalist who declined to be named for fear of a backlash from the MIC.

Subramaniam fought Palanivel twice for the deputy president’s post and lost both times because of strong support for Palanivel from Samy Vellu.

In the 2009 contest Najib, when opening the MIC congress and election, gave a sterling speech for change that brought the delegates to their feet.

The animosity between the two camps run deep and have surfaced in the run-up to the Hulu Selangor battle.

For Subramaniam, who faces political oblivion, the by-election is a chance to smear his opponents but carefully without hurting BN or Najib.

For Samy Vellu the priority is to ensure that the MIC and Palanivel gets to contest and to win big to erase the humiliation of defeat and possibly retire with honour on a big win in Hulu Selangor.

Why fight?

thenutgraph.com

(Boxing gloves by januszek / sxc.hu)

DOES it matter if the MCA stops fighting after the 28 March 2010 party election? On one level, I don't think so. After all, just 10 days after its elections during which Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek made a remarkable comeback as party president, the MCA's newsworthiness has already faded.
On another level, however, I believe MCA offers us a good opportunity to reflect on one issue that concerns all political parties and all of us as citizens: political competition.
Why fight?
Why do MCA leaders need to fight? While you may point a finger to one or more leaders, allow me to offer you a structural analysis.
They fight because the MCA is part of the Barisan Nasional (BN). And as part of the BN, the MCA will have to keep fighting for so as long as the BN maintains its current political paradigm.
For decades, the MCA has been given four ministerial positions. That was the case when the MCA did very well in 1982, when DAP president Dr Chen Man Hin was defeated by MCA president Tan Sri Lee San Choon. It was also the case in 2004, when the MCA won 31 out of the 40 parliamentary seats it contested.

Former DAP president Chen
(chenmanhin.blogspot.com)But no performance is good enough for the MCA to get even one more ministerial position, even though the cabinet's size has grown over time. Perhaps the good news is that, conversely, no performance is too bad that the MCA would be punished with one less ministerial post. In 1990, the MCA won 18 out of 33 parliamentary seats it contested. In 2008, it did even worse, winning only 15 out of 40 seats. It nevertheless still got four cabinet portfolios.
The road to ambition
What does that mean to any ambitious MCA politician? It means if you want to reach the peak of your political career — becoming a minister — you eventually have to train your gun on your party senior. Defeating an opposition politician will not necessarily guarantee you a ministerial post. But defeating the party's top leader will.
Hence, how can MCA leaders not fight against one another? They must fight among themselves if they are ambitious for power, and they do this from top to bottom.
If you are a grassroots MCA leader, your political goal is probably to be a local councillor or a village head. This would give you certain political influence, and, almost without fail, some business opportunity, too.
Now, how do you get that dream position? By making the MCA more popular, so that the villagers or your fellow townsfolk vote for you? No, that wouldn't work, since we haven't had local elections for 47 years now.
Grassroots positions are all by appointment, based on a senior party leader's recommendation. This may be the division or state liaison chief. So, to get the local councilor or village head position, you have to get that senior leader's support.
And what do you do in return to thank your dear leader? You support him or her — as a central delegate, perhaps — in his or her bid for higher positions in the party, and perhaps later in government.
Generally, this is how factions in patronage-dependent parties like the MCA would form. They clique together not because they have different ideological outlooks, but often simply because they need buddies to win group fights — not unlike street gangs.
Healthy competition
I will not lament the lack of idealism among MCA politicians. It is all right for politicians to compete for power, position, and, within legitimate means, perks. It is just like businesspersons competing for profit; job applicants competing for work; men and women competing for love; siblings competing for parental attention.
As long as we are mortals with human desires, we compete. What is wrong with the MCA is not that they compete, but that they compete destructively.

Obama and Clinton (Public domain)

Look at the Democratic and Republican party elections in the US. Hillary Clinton competed bitterly with Barak Obama, but that bitter fight only produced a stronger Democrat party to take on the Republicans. The same thing happened with the Republican primary. American politicians compete by serving their boss — the electorate — better.
In the MCA, the party elections did not result in concrete policy debates within the party. Nor did it allow the MCA to contribute to a more rigorous political debate at the national level.
Why? Because competition in MCA is suppressed at a higher level, and the MCA elites have to fight within the given quota of four ministerial positions in the cabinet, X number of seats in an election, and Y number of appointed councilors in a local authority.
And suppression of competition, or politicking, is exactly what the BN political paradigm idolises. If you introduce local elections and allow BN parties to compete freely, the MCA grassroots leaders would be less dependent on their senior leaders, and the heat of party infighting may dissipate. After all, it is likely that the extra fuel of local factionalism in the MCA produces more prolonged infighting and politicking than three weeks of campaigning for local elections.
What is evil?
For many, the evil of Umno's electoral one-party state is that the ruling coalition has produced too many corrupt leaders. The solution, then, is to elect in cleaner leaders.
For me, the evil is the fundamental anti-competition philosophy inherent in the ruling coalition's politics, which may be traced back to Tunku Abdul Rahman.
Both competition from opposition parties and competition among the ruling coalition's component parties are suppressed because our multiethnic nation, we are told, cannot afford politicking.

MCA president Chua (left) and former president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat

Has the suppression worked? No, politicians will always be politicians. They compete, not because they are bad, but because they are human, like us. Suppression of open competition only channels their competitive energy to infighting, or corruption when there are enough resources to be abused to placate opponents, critics and losers.
And who loses when politicians don't compete to serve us better, but instead compete to destroy one another? We citizens.
If we don't reject anti-competition in our politics and reform our system, even if we vote out the BN and vote in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) one day, the PR parties will soon be fighting like the MCA.
That's why while the MCA does not matter, the lesson of its infighting does.

Perisik Israel Dalam PDRM Calar Maruah Raja-Raja Melayu

Dari Harakah Daily
Oleh Abdul Aziz Mustafa

Zionisasi dalam jentera kerajaan termasuk kewujudan perisik Israel dalam pasukan Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) mencabar dan mencalar maruah Raja-Raja Melayu, kata Naib Presiden PAS, Datuk Mahfuz Omar (gambar).

“Pasukan polis dikurniakan gelaran diraja sejak tahun 1958 lagi, oleh sebab itu tindakan membawa perisik Israel ke dalam pasukan tersebut dengan sendirinya mencabar dan mencalar maruah Raja-Raja Melayu.

“Ancaman tersebut semakin menakutkan apabila perisik-perisik Israel berkenaan terlibat dalam sistem komunikasi polis,” kata beliau.

Ahli Parlimen Pokok Sena itu memohon agar diadakan segera Mesyuarat Majlis Raja-Raja Melayu bagi membincangkan ancaman keselamatan ke atas negara ini.

“Kita memohon jasa baik Raja-Raja Melayu untuk bertindak segera kerana tidak mungkin Perdana Menteri akan mengambil inisiatif membincangkan ancaman keselamatan tersebut kerana perisik-perisik Israel tersebut dibawa masuk oleh pihak yang dilantik oleh kerajaannya sendiri untuk menaiktaraf sistem komunikasi analog PDRM kepada sistem digital,” katanya.

Mahfuz melihat apa yang berlaku itu sebagai ancaman kepada negara ini kerana institusi keselamatan negara seperti polis telah ditentukan hala tuju mereka dan ia terdedah kepada penguasaan Israel yang disifatkannya sebagai entiti haram pengganas.

“Ini sangat merbahaya kepada masa depan negara. Sepatutnya kerajaan perlu menjelaskan hal tersebut bukannya mengambil tindakan mengheret (Datuk Seri) Anwar yang mendedahkan perkara itu ke Jawatankuasa Hak dan Kebebasan Parlimen bila beliau mendedahkan penglibatan tersebut, mengheret Anwar bukannya satu penjelasan.

“Pendedahan yang dibuat oleh Anwar itu merentasi persoalan 1Malaysia ataupun One Israel tapi ini soal maruah dan kedaulatan negara yang dipelihara bukannya dijual kepada pihak luar, lebih-lebih lagi pihak zionis.

“Perdana Menteri perlu berani memberi penjelasan bukannya menjadi seorang yang penakut berhadapan kenyataan sebenar kerana perlantikan itu atas keputusannya sendiri,” katanya lagi.

Beliau juga menyifatkan apa yang berlaku itu sebagai semakin rancaknya proses zionisasi ke atas negara ini melalui proses ‘mengIsraelkan’ jentera-jentera kerajaan di bawah Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, yang sudah pun bermula dalam bidang komunikasi melalui pengambilan Apco Worldwide dan juga di dalam pasukan polis.

Beliau juga meminta rakyat membuat penilaian sama ada ahli-ahli Umno akan memilih kesetiaan dan patriotisme kepada negara tercinta ini atau kepada pemimpin mereka ‘mengIsraelkan’ jentera-jentera kerajaan.

Anwar semalam mendedahkan di Dewan Rakyat tentang kewujudan perisik Israel dalam PDRM.

Katanya, perkara berkenaan sebelum ini telah disahkan sendiri oleh cawangan khas Bukit Aman.

Bercakap ketika membahaskan bajet tambahan Kementerian Dalam Negeri di Dewan Rakyat semalam, Anwar turut mengemukakan beberapa dokumen bagi menyokong dakwaannya itu.

Beliau yang juga Ahli Parlimen Permatang Pauh menamakan syarikat terbabit, Asiasoft Global PLC yang berpangkalan di Israel.

Katanya lagi, ini membuktikan maklumat negara telahpun dijual kepada ejen asing.

Beliau menyifatkan apa yang berlaku itu menunjukkan sikap kerajaan yang bermuka-muka.

“Tak iktiraf Israel tapi bersekongkol dengan rejim zionis yang kejam,” katanya.

Five issues for Najib to prove he is serious about “inclusive growth” to Sabahans

By Lim Kit Siang,

Finally, I want to end with a special reference to Sabah as ordinary Sabahans feel that they had been marginalised and left out of the national development and progress for since the formation of Malaysia some five decades ago.

If the Prime Minister is serious and sincere about inclusive growth, the Federal government should make Sabahans feel a full and equal part of 1Malaysia,and I recommend five priority areas for its immediate attention and action:

1. Satisfactory resolution to the long-standing problem of illegal immigrants in Sabah, causing the Sabah population to multiply from some 400,000 during the formation of Malaysia in 1963 to over three million today. During his visit to Sabah last September, the Prime Minister had promised resolution of the illegal immigrant problem and this seems to have been completely forgotten.
2.

Eradication of poverty in Sabah. Barisan Nasional had promised to eradicate poverty in 2000 but it is now 2010 and Sabah has the highest poverty rate in the country.
3.

Massive development of basic infrastructure in Sabah to provide roads, piped water, electricity and broadband to Sabahans.

4.

Raising the 5% oil royalty payment to Sabah government to 20%.
5.

Re-opening of the inquiry into the “66” air-crash in Kota Kinabalu on June 6, 1976 which killed Sabah Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens and State Ministers, Datuk Salleh Sulong, Datuk Peter Mojuntin and Chong Thien Vun to address the many questions and doubts of Sabahans about the true cause of the Double Six tragedy 34 years ago.

Lowest Chinese and Indian representation in the civil service in the 53-year history of Malaysia – 5.8% Chinese and 4% Indians as at end of 2009

The other two factors which can cause the failure of NEM as identified by the NEAC are:

*

Reform programmes have often met with strong resistance from powerful and vested interests, which subsequently forced their derailment; (Perkasa the extremist right-wing racist organization is one such “vested interests”) and
*

The implementing authorities failed to stay the course, either due to a lack of political will or inherently administrative weaknesses.

Although NEM proposes a “big push” in policy actions and initiatives to kick-start the transformation process, what ‘big results” have been achieved in the 1Malaysia concept in the past one year?

How can the public have confidence in the Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) when there is no seriousness or commitment by Barisan Nasional leaders in the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (GTP), as demonstrated by the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who had declared himself “Malay first and Malaysian second”?

It is sad and tragic that despite my challenge, not only Umno Ministers ran for cover, Ministers from MCA, Gerakan, MIC and other BN component parties also dare not declare that they are Malaysians first and their race whether Malay, Chinese, Indian, Kadazan or Iban second in keeping with the 1Malaysia concept.

I am not asking anyone to do what I dare not do, as I had declared in Parliament that I am Malaysian first and Chinese second.

I am also not asking anyone to forget or be ashamed of his or her ethnic identity. I am Malaysian first and Chinese second and I am also proud of my Chinese ethnicity.

However, something is very wrong when Umno and Barisan Nasional MPs are not prepared to come forward to declare that they are Malaysians first and their race second.

The episode in Parliament last Thursday where the Minister responsible for 1Malaysia GTP Roadmap, Senator Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon dared not respond to my challenge to declare that he is Malaysian first and second was most disgraceful for two reasons: firstly, Tsu Koon would have no hesitation previously in declaring that he is Malaysian first and Chinese second and secondly, Tsu Koon dared not declare that he is Malaysian first and Chinese second solely because he was afraid of stepping on the toes of UMNO leaders!

The NEM has admitted that the failure to restore public confidence in the independence and professionalism of national institutions is a major cause in the erosion of our international competitiveness.

For instance, although lip-service is given to a 1Malaysia Government, the latest answer from the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz to my question on the latest ethnic composition of the civil service show that we continue to go backwards instead of forwards in 1Malaysia nation-building.

As of 31st December 2009, the racial breakdown of the Malaysian civil service comprising 1,247,894 employees are:
Malays 78.2%
Other Bumiputras 7.7%
Chinese 5.8%
Indian 4.0%
Others 4.2%

This the worst multi-racial composition of the government service, with the lowest Chinese and Indian representation in the public service in Malaysian history of 53 years.

This is clearly seen from the three sets of comparative figures of the racial breakdown of the civil service in the past four decades:
Malay Chinese Indian Others
Before NEP 1971 60.80% 20.2% 17.40% 1.6%
June 2005 77.04% 9.37% 5.12% 8.47%
Dec. 2009 78.2% 5.8% 4.0% 4.2%

It is clear that the Government is setting the worst example of a 1Malaysia Government.

One major upshot of the lack of confidence in government policies is the exodus of human capital, where the country is losing the skilled talent needed to drive future growth.

Since the March 2008 general election, 400,000 best and brightest Malaysians have emigrated overseas, comprising not just Malaysian Chinese and Indians, but more and more Malays.

I do not see any effort by the government in the past year since Najib became Prime Minister aimed at ending the exodus of Malaysian talents abroad.

The Deputy Prime Minister cum Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said in Paris yesterday that the government through the Public Services Department (PSD) will offer 1,500 scholarships to top Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) students under the overseas undergraduate scholarship programme.

This is a far cry from the 2,100 scholarships for students to study abroad last year.

Several years ago, I had already proposed that the Government give the top 200 SPM students full scholarships to appreciate and retain talents in Malaysia.

I am disappointed that the government has awarded only 30 national scholarships for top SPM students last year when the government should have no problems in awarding the top 200 or even top 500 SPM students full scholarships awards – as all it needs to do to find the money by just cracking down on corruption or leakages in government procurements and tenders.

The press has reported the case of the top SPM student in Penang, Bukit Mertajam girl Edwina Tang from Convent Light Street, Penang who scored 13A+ but who was not selected for the 30 national scholarships.

This is most unfair and I call on the Cabinet to reconsider and to increase national scholarships for top SPM students to at least 500 receipients.

Restoration of public confidence in the key institutions in the country has made little progress in the past year.

If there is going to be meaningful restoration in the confidence of the judiciary, then the country cannot have a well-known Umno lawyer as the Chief Justice. The first step, therefore, on the road to national and international confidence in the judiciary must start with a new Chief Justice.

Public confidence in the police remains at an all-time low. One of the benefits promised to the people in 2020 outlined by the New Economic Model is to enable Malaysians to live, work and play in safe locations without the fear of crime.

This is outrageous as the core function of any government is to ensure that its people can live, work and play in safe and secure environment, not haunted by rampant crime and the fear of crime.

Three decades ago, Malaysians can go about free from crime and the fear of crime was an unheard-of concept. It is an indication of the failure and even breakdown of the Barisan Nasional government to deliver its its most fundamental duties to society that today, Malaysians suffer from the double curse of high crime index and the fear of crime.

Corruption is another major factor of public confidence as well as determining international competitiveness. Hardly any progress had been achieved in the battle against corruption in the past year of Najib premiership.

1Malaysia GTP Roadmap demarcates three areas most prone to corruption and should be the of focus of the anti-corruption activities of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, viz:

*

Regulatory and enforcement agencies;
*

Government procurements;
*

Grand Corruption (Political corruption).

What has the MACC to show in the campaign against “grand corruption” in the past year? How many top political leaders had been arrested and charged in court for corruption?

Why have no top political leaders been arrested and charged for corruption in the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone scandal, as no one believes that a few officials and functionaries could be wholly responsible for the scandal without “green light” from their political superiors.

The second Finance Minister, Husni had stated publicly that Malaysia could have lost RM28 billion from “leakages” in government procurements and contracts.

The Prime Minister had himself admitted that only RM2 billion remained in the hands of bumiputeras out of the RM54 billion shares allotted to bumiputeras since the NEP.

Easily some RM50 billion would have been lost to the national treasury from the issue of APs for vehicles since the eighties.

How is the NEM to ensure that these NEP abuses of power and corruption would not recur under the NEM?

In his biography of the fourth Prime Minister, “Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times”, Barry Wain openly alleged that at least RM100 billion were wasted or burned in the 22 years of the Mahathir premiership.

Why was there no Royal Commission of Inquiry into such a serious allegation and why is the Home Ministry still withholding the release of the book to the bookshops?

Let me stress that Najib must be Prime Minister of all races and regions in the country.

The NEM made specific mention of focussing on Penang to establish it as “leader on sustainability and liveability”, proposing as “measures for action” (i) improve security for both the living and business environment; (ii) enhance the Georgetown conurbation; and (iii) redevelop the waterfront and ensure seamlessness like Hong Kong-Kowloon. There is also the proposal to “adopt a city strategy to reinvent Penang as a leader for sustainability”.

In his speech on March 20 unveiling the NEM, Najib mentioned the Klang Valley and Johore Bahru but omitted reference Penang. This is like cutting one’s nose to spite one’s face and should not be the conduct of a Prime Minister for all Malaysians.

[Speech (2) of DAP Parliamentary Leader and MP for Ipoh Timor Lim Kit Siang in Parliament on the 2009 Supplementary Estimates on Tuesday, 6th April 2010]

Magnitude 7.7 Quake Shakes Indonesia's Sumatra

Residents sit outside their house shortly after an earthquake
hit in Medan, North Sumatra province

REUTERS/Tarmizy HarvaBy Ahmadi

SINABANG, Indonesia, April 7 (Reuters) - A major earthquake of 7.7 magnitude struck off the coast of Aceh on the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Wednesday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

A Reuters photographer in Sinabang on Simeulue island, south of Aceh, said there was panic and electricity was cut off after the quake. Metro TV reported that people rushed to higher ground in some areas.

Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf said there had not been reports of damage or casualties so far.

"I am on the coast now, some people had gone to take refuge on higher ground but now they have returned to their homes," Yusuf told Metro TV.

The quake, which struck around 5:15 a.m. (2215 GMT), was centred 200 km (125 miles) west-northwest of the coastal town of Sibolga and was at a depth of 31 km, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicentre was around 215 km from Medan, the largest city on Sumatra.

The Reuters witness said there were at least three aftershocks.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center initially warned the quake could generate a local tsunami, but later canceled its tsunami watch, saying: "Sea level readings indicate that a significant tsunami was not generated."

An official from Indonesia's meteorology agency said a tiny tsunami of only 3 cm (1 inch) had been detected at Sinabang and lifted its own tsunami warning.

A Metro TV reporter in the Sibolga area of North Sumatra said that he fell off his motorbike when the quake struck and the force left electricity poles swaying for minutes afterwards.

In December 2004, a magnitude 9.15 quake off the coast of Sumatra's Aceh province triggered an Indian Ocean tsunami that killed about 226,000 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and nine other countries.

Putrajaya vying to rejoin UN Human Rights Council

Malaysia Kini

Malaysia is all set to rejoin the United Nations' Human Rights Council based in Geneva.

She has offered herself as a candidate to fill one of the four places reserved for Asia that are up for election for the 2010-2013 term.

The other Asian countries in the running are Iran, Maldives, Qatar and Thailand.

The election, by the General Assembly of the United Nations, takes place on May 13.

If successful, this will be the second time for Malaysia to serve on the 47-member Human Rights Council.

She was a member from 2006 to 2009.

Malaysia has yet to announce her voluntary pledges and commitments that she will undertake if elected.

This is a list of goals or targets which a country agrees to set itself to achieve if elected to the Human Rights Council.

Thus far, of the five Asian countries contesting the four seats reserved for Asia this year, only the Maldives and Thailand have published their voluntary pledges and commitments.

Nothing can be taken for granted

Some parties see Malaysia's election victory as a sure thing, given that there may not be any appetite among members of the United Nations to vote in support of Iran's membership of the Human Rights Council.

Nevertheless, Malaysia should not take her election for granted. She will still need to convince members of the United Nations General Assembly that she is serious about advancing human rights both within Malaysia and in the international arena.


The international community is well aware of the recent controversies surrounding Malaysia's human rights record: the dispute over the use of the term 'Allah' by The Catholic Herald, the caning of women under Shariah law, the attempt to ban a book about women living in Muslim-majority countries published by Sisters In Islam, and now a court challenge over the very name of Sisters In Islam.

It all points to a hardening of Malaysia's position with respect to freedom of religion, and gives cause for concern for the international reputation of Malaysia as a moderate Muslim-majority country.

Additional international concerns have also been raised about Malaysia's treatment of arrested persons and the approach taken by the Royal Malaysian Police in systematically denying arrestees the right of access to legal counsel.

The arrest of lawyers has also been criticised.

An international observer was present during the recently-concluded inquiry by the Malaysian Human Rights Commission or Suhakam into the arrest of the lawyers at Brickfields Police Station on May 7 2009.

Dragging feet over reform

They were also present at the sedition trial of Karpal Singh MP and the sodomy trial of Anwar Ibrahim MP.

All this goes to show that what happens in Malaysia is being noticed and scrutinised by the international community.

Western countries will no doubt want to see commitments from Malaysia to sign up to several more international covenants on human rights.

Malaysia herself indicated in her 2009 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) by the UN's Human Rights Council that she was considering ratifying the Convention Against Torture and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

This is in addition to giving serious consideration to the removal of reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Malaysia was also asked to look into ratifying two important international human rights conventions, namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Based on last year's UPR, Malaysia has as promised launched a comprehensive review of the Internal Security Act and attempted to bolster the credibility of the selection process for commissioners of Suhakam.

However, the results of the former have yet to be seen, and the process of nominating and selecting a new set of commissioners for the latter has continued to be mired in opaqueness and lack of transparency.

Even the names of the selection committee members have not been officially announced.

Although Suhakam's "A" status was recently renewed by the International Co-ordinating Committee (ICC) of National Human Rights Institutions, the joy may be short-lived.

The ICC's Sub-Committee on Accreditation will once again review the Malaysian Government's mechanisms for making the appointment process of Suhakam open and transparent when it meets in November this year.

The way this has been conducted thus far is unlikely to earn Malaysia many brownie points.

Coincidentally, if elected, Malaysia will end her term in 2013, which will also be the year in which Malaysia will be up for review once again under the UPR process, which takes place once every four years.

It remains to be seen whether by then Malaysia's human rights record will have improved in any appreciable way.

ANDREW KHOO is chair of the Human Rights Committee, Malaysian Bar Council.

Anwar: Israeli 'moles' in Bukit Aman

PERKASA umum tindakan terhadap MCA, Gerakan esok

Defence Ministry suit: Witnesses not required

PKR youth lodges report over APCO

Najib on the high wire with NEM

Batu Estate residents: We are still waiting

UMNO RM 2.44 billion overseas and local scholarships for 12,000 students.,0.1% for Indians. Make public PSD Scholarship List

 

Utusan Malaysia in their headlines today (6/4/10) reported that the government is offering RM 2.44 billion for 12,000 high achieving students, ie., RM 1.2 billion for 1,500 SPM students to do first degrees overseas and RM 42.4 million for the preparatory course.

And RM 1.2 billion for high achieving students for degree programmes locally. Including 1,900 top students to study at branch campuses of the University of Nottingham, Monash University, Swinburne University of Technology and Curtin University of Technology.

In all the previous years the UMNO government has refused to make public the scholarship list. Last year at about this same time after the almost yearly public outcry that non Malays did not get these PSD scholarships, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Aziz stated publicly and in Parliament that the (UMNO) government would not make public the PSD scholarship list. Instead he gladly announced that the Bumiputeras were granted 55% and the non Bumiputeras 45%. In the absence of transparency our estimate is that only 0.1% of these PSD scholarships were awarded to the Malaysian Indians however deserving or academically qualified they are.

The real figures would never be known and would become Official Secrets and UMNO has actually got away scot free for 53 long years.

Indians lumped with economically far superior Chinese

Even if 45% of these scholarships were given to the non Malays, yet again for political expediency purposes the Indians are categorized and are to compete with the economically far superior Chinese community.

The net effect of this would mean that the poor Indians would not have benefitted from this government affirmative action plans for poor Malaysians poor Malays, poor orang asli, Iban and Kadazan to get to benefit from the UMNO government’s affirmative action plans.

Yet again 99.9% of the poor Indians are excluded from this RM 2.44 billion Public Services Department scholarships vis a vis the RM 191.5 billion 2010 national budget. UMNO very successfully implements their racist, religious extremist and supremacist agenda vide their 1,016,799 (UM (B) 21/6/09 at page 19) Bito Tatanegara racist “graduates” who are mostly in the civil service.

Even the supposedly “multi-racial” Opposition parties PKR, DAP and PAS leadership would not speak up against these injustices.

Thus the critical Indian problems today especially as per our “Human Rights Violations Against the Ethnic Minority Malaysian Indians. HRP Briefing for

foreign and diplomatic missions in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia on 26/3/2010”.


http://www.humanrightspartymalaysia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/HRP-Briefing-for-Foreign-Diplomatic-Missions-in-KL-Malaysia-26.3.20101.pdf

P. Uthayakumar

UMNO: Kulai Besar Hindu Temple should be preserved

The Johor HRP Chairman Mr. Y. Mohan and his committee are questioning why the ancient plantation Kulai Besar Estate Maha Mariamman Hindu Temple has to move out to some two kilometers away where there are very few Hindus. And even then the land title to the new site as usual is not granted and this is meant to be another temporary arrangement. This would mean that when there is another development in a few years time, this temple would again have to move out again.

The UMNO authorities know very well of the existence of this Hindu temple but yet had approved a housing project on the said Hindu temple site. In every housing development there is supposed to be a Hindu temple, mosque, church, Chinese temple, etc. So why can’t this existing temple be preserved in the new housing estate.?Isn’t this a very shrewd and ruthless way of UMNO “ethnically cleansing” this and hundreds of other such Hindu temples?

This is just the tip of the iceberg of how Hindu temples nationwide have been demolished to make way for “development” with no or very little regard for the pre existing temples.

But why does this hardly ever happen to any suraus, masjids, Chinese temples, churches, etc? Why is it always the Hindu temples that are being targetted by UMNO? Indians are soft targets?

P.Uthayakumar

UMNO denies Indian contractors government projects and tenders

UMNO denies Indian contractors government projects and tenders

In any country the government is the biggest spender. Every year the UMNO led Malaysian government dishes out hundreds of thousands of government projects and tenders.

But almost all, perhaps to the tune of 99.9% of the Indians are denied government projects and tenders. UMNO grants almost of these projects and contracts to Malays or Chinese backed Malay companies and exclude the Indians from sharing this part of the nation’s wealth however competent or deserving they are.

But the Indians pay the rent seeking Malays and get to do jobs on a sub or sub-sub or sub-sub-sub from the Malay and/or the Malay and Chinese Tuans and Towkays.

We have received complaints that even for an Indah Water Sewerage Treatment Plant, the Indians end up doing the dirty sub contract jobs but the rent seeking Malays sit back in their air conditioned rooms, shake legs and just reap the lucrative “pickings” from what is otherwise a dirty job.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of such of UMNOs’ racist, religious extremist and supremacist policies in the area of awarding government contracts and projects.

UMNOs’ DBKL and Federal Territories Minister says “that not all contracts would go to bumiputras as the contract awarding mechanism should emulate the 1Malaysia concept. (Starmetro 21/2/2010 at page M4).

To start of with 90% of the Alam Flora Workers with DBKL are the Indians. Why can’t this One Malay-sia UMNO at least start of at the very least by awarding the rubbish collection contracts to these their very own poor Indian workers by giving them loans and a crash course. This way we do not even have to “import” millions of foreign workers as the Indians will do this dirty job and reap the fruits of their labour themselves.

A similar initiative could be organised for the poor Indian workers and office maintainance cleaners both in the government and private sectors.

P. Uthayakumar

UMNO Indian business mandores expediency in bringing in foreign workers

UMNO Indian business mandores expediency in bringing in foreign workers

This UMNO Indian business mandore was given RM2 million to sing the Indian praises for Najib’s One Malaysia (See The Star 27/3/2010 at page N26).

In their greed and in order to maximise profits this very tiny group of Indian businessmen pay peanuts and expect the local Malaysian Indians to work for long hours and with no weekly rest days.

Why can’t the local Indians be paid a minimum monthly salary of RM1,500.00, shift work, yearly minimum of RM100 increment, KFC, McDonald like training and upward mobility opportunities and bonuses, profit sharing, etc?

But they find the easy way out and “import” these foreign cheap labour for their personal gains but at the expense of the local Indian poor.

P.Uthayakumar

UMNO Policy – 55% of Tamil schools to be wiped out and ‘ethnically cleansed’, refuses to build Tamil schools in Indian neighbourhoods and lets former plantation Tamil schools die natural death

UMNO Policy – 55% of Tamil schools to be wiped out and ‘ethnically cleansed’, refuses to build Tamil schools in Indian neighbourhoods and lets former plantation Tamil schools die natural death

This has been UMNOs’ unwritten policy has been ably implemented largely by it’s 1,016,799 Biro Tata Negara racist “graduates” who are about 97% malay muslim civil servants. The policy is to ‘cap and roll back’ vernacular schools.

In any country in the world especially primary school education is compulsory. In Malaysia, by the Child Act, a parent can be imprisoned for up to six months if they do not send their children to primary school.

Poor Indian neighbourhoods like Kg Lindungan, Klang and Kapar for instance, have been appealing (begging) for a local Tamil school in their neighbourhoods but UMNO plays dumb. Poor Indians cannot even afford to pay the RM50 bus fare to go to the nearest schools, so the need for a local Tamil school (Malaysiakini.com 26/3/09).

289 or about 55.26% of the Malaysia’s 523 Tamil schools are in the plantations which are hardly inhabited by Indians any more. Going by this UMNOs’ racist policies, about 55% of the Tamil schools would be wiped out, “ethnically cleansed” in the near future.

UMNO through their mandore MIC party creates an illusion that they are trying to transfer the “licenses” of these low enrolment Tamil schools to Indian neighbourhoods. But there is no such rule or law. It is as simple as the UMNO government building a Tamil school on a needs basis and not racist basis.

Article 12 of the Federal Constitution provides that “Rights in respect in education: (1) Without prejudice to the generality of Article 8, there shall be no discrimination against any citizen on the grounds only of religion, race, descent or place of birth – (a) in the administration of any educational institution maintained by a public authority, and, in particular, the admission of pupils or students or the payment of fees, or (b) in providing out of the funds of a public authority financial aid for the maintenance or education of pupils or students in any educational institution (whether or not maintained by a public authority and whether within or outside the Federation).

Conclusion

The net effect of this UMNO’s racist policy is that some 55% of the total of 110,000 Tamil school pupils, ie., some 60,500 Tamil school pupils are made to cramp up in the 45% sub-urban and urban Tamil schools which itself only has the barest minimum of six classrooms, ie., one classroom for each standard. Thus the cramped up studying conditions in Tamil schools, and as usual another temporary solution, ie., claustrophobic steel cabins are donated by these UMNO and MIC mandores. Why not a permanent solution, a permanent block of bigger and larger and additional six classrooms to ease the present congestion and for the future expansion?

P.Uthayakumar

DAP Penang: 56 years for all 28 Tamil school land! Fanfare at world’s only basement primary school to six classrooms on 0.9 hectre land!

DAP Penang: 56 years for all 28 Tamil school land! Fanfare at world’s only basement primary school to six classrooms on 0.9 hectre land!

Why go far. Even the Penang DAP government has caught up with this spillover effect of UMNOs’ racist policies. Last week (Malaysiakini 1/4/10) The Assad Tamil school the world’s only basement primary school was “liberated” by the Penang DAP by alienating a mere 0.9 hectare land and again like in the colonial days only a six classroom school is to be built. At least the colonial masters were not so cruel so as to deprieve children from a school field. Almost all Tamil schools built during the colonial era had a football field as they knew that children had to play.

But in the 0.9 hectares by this DAP state government, where is the school field and space or room for future expension (refer The Star 6/4/2010 at page N38)? And like the UMNO/MIC system no one has seen the “supposed” freehold title for this permanent Tamil School. From our observation in almost all cases the issue of no freehold land title will only come to light when the developer’s bulldozers come to break up the school the latest and most glaring example being the Kg Buah Pala fiasco.

And for this peanuts, the basic educational needs, the Penang DAP state government made a fanfare out of it.

We have never heard of such fanfare when multi storey and multi million ringgit Malay and Chinese schools are actually opened, the latest example being the opening of the RM120 million ringgit almost all malay muslim students Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) in Trolak, Perak. There was no fanfare. It was opened quietly.

Again the Penang state government DCM II mandore under his Chief Minister Towkay’s instructions had said in the Malaysiakini TV interview on 1/4/10 that it is not as simple as a stroke of the pen as some people (HRP) are suggesting. We suggest he seeks legal counsel on land alienation for public purposes by the state government, as he appears to be ignorant of the laws and rights of the state governments.

In the two over years rule of Penang by the DAP they have “succeeded” in alienating land to one Tamil school! Going by this track record it would take a total of 56 years for all the 28 Tamil school in Penang to be alienated land.

This is how “our very own DAP” that we had helped to bring to power in Penang is treating us, fanfare over 0.9 hectares for one school!

Just look at the majestic Chinese schools all around Penang and this peanut 0.9 hectare Assad Tamil school with a mere six classrooms. Of course going by UMNO’s standards we have to be thankful and grateful to the Penang DAP Chief Minister Towkay and his DCM II Indian mandore because they are getting “us out” of the present world’s only basement Tamil school.

P.Uthayakumar

Najib says his head is on chopping block

By Sheridan Mahavera - The Malaysian Insider

SINGAPORE, April 6 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak claimed tonight that he has put his political career on the line by committing to purging rent-seeking and patronage politics in Malaysia’s economy.

He said this is because those who benefit from these practices are powerful and politically connected, and he hinted that they could even exert their influence in Umno, the party of which he is president.

Najib, who has made needs-based instead of race-based affirmative action an important plank of his administration, said that his approach has put him in a “dangerous” position.

“We don’t want rent seekers and the politics of patronage in our economy. I committed to that and it is dangerous because they are politically connected.

“But we have to help the Bumiputeras who need help, the Sarawakians, the Sabahans and the Orang Asli. Not just the Malays.

“Affirmative action has to be market-based, merit-based and needs-based because we want a more equitable society,” he told the audience at the Singapore Foreign Correspondents Gala Dinner here tonight.

“Every single Malaysian who is poor and vulnerable must be helped. If you are earning less than RM1,500 a month, you must be helped and it does not matter if you are Chinese, Indian or Malay.”

The prime minister reiterated that affirmative action policies will continue under the New Economic Model, parts of which he announced last month, but they will target the needy from all communities. This is in contrast to the financial aid and preferential treatment given to Malays which was a main feature of the New Economic Policy and which was practised by previous administrations.

Fighting for and instituting Malay-beneficial aid and policies is also the main struggle for Umno and is often used by the party to cement its presence and influence in the country’s most populous community.

Najib was fairly confident that thus far Umno members and leaders understood the need for the government to re-calibrate affirmative action so that it benefited all communities.

Yet he realised that by doing so, he has made his position in Umno more vulnerable as his presidency could be challenged at the next party elections, which are scheduled in 2012.

“Last year, we amended the Umno constitution so that anyone can challenge the party president. There will be no need for quotas. I had put my career on the line when I changed the constitution but as a leader, you need to lead by example.”

Before the amendment last year, an Umno member needed to be nominated by at least 30 per cent of the party’s 200-over divisions nationwide in order to run for president.

“I could have decided not to amend the constitution and be there for a long time, even more than 22 years,” he quipped to laughter from the audience. Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed held the party presidency and was prime minister for 22 years.

Najib was also confident that his administration could “manage” the demands made by Malay supremacist group Perkasa, which has pushed for Malay-specific affirmative action and economic aid to be continued.

He also fielded queries from the audience who pressed him for details on the New Economic Model (NEM) and his administration’s foreign policy.

Reiterating that he was serious about pushing through painful but necessary measures, Najib said fuel subsidies would gradually but surely be eliminated.

This is despite the government’s decision to scrap plans for a tiered fuel subsidy scheme that was supposed to be done in May. It is understood that the plan was cancelled due to its complexity.

“The important thing (with removing subsidies) is that you must show the public where the savings from these subsidies are going. They don’t understand budget deficits but when you say we saved RM10 million and you show where and how you are going to spend it, then they will understand.”

He also said it was realistically unlikely that Malaysia and Singapore would politically re-merge but hoped that the economic ties between both countries would be strengthened.

A reunification after the 1965 separation, he felt, would be “painful” but closer economic integration made sense due to their shared history and proximity. This was being realised in the Iskandar growth corridor in southern Johor, which is supposed to be a hinterland for Singapore industries to expand.

“For example, the most recent development is that the Raffles Institution of Learning has agreed to set up a university with an initial capacity of 5,000 students.”

At the same time, outstanding issues such as the agreement to supply water to the island republic would still have to be ironed out but he was confident that his generation of leaders was committed to finding solutions.

“As for water, I was told that Singapore doesn’t need anymore of our water.”

Najib denies 1 Malaysia concept originated from Israel

SINGAPORE, April 6 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the 1 Malaysia concept was an original idea and not copied from Israel or anywhere else in the world.

“It is purely mine and some of my colleagues together,” he told over 100 Singapore-based foreign journalists at a gala dinner organised by the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Singapore here tonight.

Najib (picture) said the 1 Malaysian concept was a Malaysian one and he categorically denied claims by some people that it originated from Israel or other countries.

Recently, Pakatan Rakyat adviser Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had claimed that Najib’s 1 Malaysia concept had similarities with the One Israel concept.

The prime minister said although the one concept was not new as many countries such as China used it to promote a sense of belonging or togetherness among its people, the 1 Malaysia concept went beyond that, that it was 1 Malaysia — People First, Performance Now.

Najib addressed the crowd for half an hour before taking questions from the floor for another 45 minutes.

The prime minister, who began by speaking at length on the 1 Malaysia concept, said upon helming the premiership, he realised that the Malaysian electorate wanted a massive transformation, and not in an incremental manner in the running of the country.

Najib said the tsunami in the 2008 general election, when the Barisan Nasional (BN) for the first time lost a two-thirds majority in Parliament, was an indication that the people wanted massive changes politically and economically.

He explained how the 1 Malaysia concept was conceived and its succeeding programmes came into being, such as the Government Transformation Programme, New Key Results Areas and the New Economic Model, which became the main pillars of the concept.

He said the concept was a guiding philosophy for his government to serve the people irrespective of race and culture, emphasising that the ultimate goal of any government was to serve the people. — Bernama

Don’t vote for Pakatan, MMSP Youth chief tells Indians

By Athi Shankar - Free Malaysia Insider

GEORGE TOWN: Malaysian Makkal Sakti Party national youth leader N Ramu today called on Indians in Hulu Selangor not to vote for Pakatan Rakyat candidate in the parliamentary by-election on April 25.

He said Indians should reject Pakatan because the coalition had betrayed the community since achieving electoral success in the 2008 general election.

He cited the Kampung Buah Pala fiasco in Penang, the controversial relocation of a Hindu cemetery in Kuala Ketil, Kedah, and the lack of a comprehensive policy to upgrade Tamil schools in Pakatan states as good reasons for Indians to vote for Barisan Nasional in the forthcoming polls.

“Pakatan has betrayed the Indians, who helped the coalition to capture four additional states apart from denying BN its parliamentary two-thirds majority.

“After securing unprecedented electoral gains in the 2008 general election, Pakatan has ignored and neglected the plight of the Indians,” said Ramu, who heads the Youth wing of a MMSP faction led by Ipoh-based A Vathemurthy.

He was particularly irked by Penang Pakatan government’s decision to demolish Kampung Buah Pala in Gelugor.

Kampung Buah Pala was the last Tamil traditional village in Penang.

It was once popularly known as “Tamil High Chaparral” due to its population of Tamils, cowherds, cattle, goats, livestocks and lively religious cultural festivities.

The village was demolished in September last year to pave the way for a lucrative condominium project, namely the Oasis, undertaken by Nusmetro Venture (P) Sdn Bhd.

Ramu argued that Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s government was lured by “money matters” when it decided to allow the village to be demolished.

“Demolishing a home means tearing apart a family. Flattening a village means destroying a community and cultural lifestyle. But for Pakatan, money was more important than humanity,” said Ramu.

He said while Penang Pakatan was not bothered with living beings, its Kedah counterpart went one step further by not even sparing the dead.

He said a cemetery was the last place one’s soul would find a permanent resting place.

“However, thanks to the PAS-led Kedah government, the Kuala Ketil Hindu burial ground is no longer a resting place for the departed souls,” Ramu told FMT today.

Lower income bracket

Ramu rebuked the Kedah government for being adamant on plans to build a college on a burial ground as if “there was no other land in the state”.

He also chided the ousted Perak Pakatan government for not providing much assistance to Tamil schools.

He slammed former menteri besar Nizar Jamaluddin’s government for giving away 2,000 acres of land to a particular community, but not to Perak Indians, the majority of whom were living in the lower income bracket.

He said it was the same with the PKR-led Selangor government, which he alleged "has not done anything worthy for Indians”.

He said Pakatan until today had failed to recognise the sacrifices and contributions made by Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), which contributed to its success in the last election.

He recalled that Pakatan MPs walked out of the Dewan Rakyat in protest against the detention of Selangor MP Theresa Kok under the draconian Internal Security Act in September 2008.

But, he pointed out that the same MPs never walked out in protest against the ISA detention of four Hindraf lawyers and another, even though their detention was a major factor behind the Indian vote swing for Pakatan in the March 2008 polls.

“Given that both the Indian community and Hindraf were betrayed, Indians should not back the Pakatan candidate in Hulu Selangor,” said Ramu.

Hulu Selangor has 64,500 registered voters, including 63,701 walk-in voters and 799 postal voters.

Malays make up the majority with 34,020 voters or 52.7 percent, followed by the Chinese with 16,964 voters (26.3 percent) and Indians at 12,453 or 19.3 percent.

Spy thriller: Israeli agents in Bukit Aman

By Rahmah Ghazali - Free Malaysia Today

FULL REPORT KUALA LUMPUR: Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim launched another “Israel-link” salvo in the Dewan Rakyat today.

According to him, the Israeli military intelligence had been involved in the police technology park in Bukit Aman since two years ago.

During the supplementary bill debate, the Permatang Pauh MP claimed that Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan had admitted this in a statement.

He quoted Musa as saying in a news report last year, "Police were aware of the involvement of the Israelis in the communications upgrading system. We informed the home ministry as soon as we learnt about it.”

To back his claim, Anwar also produced several letters which he said were from the senior police officers, namely the police chief, head of logistics and the Special Branch director.

The opposition leader said in October 2008, Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor) had raised the same issue in the House "but this was brushed aside by the home minister then".

"Then between November and December (of the same year), a report was lodged by police officers and the case was investigated by one ASP Sairah. Then Sairah was transferred to Taiping and there was no news after that," he said.

Anwar added that on Nov 25, 2008, the then home minister (Syed Hamid Albar) held a special briefing at the VIP room at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

The briefing, he said, was regarding the alleged involvement of Israeli intelligence in the information technology division of the second and third floors of the Bukit Aman police headquarters.

Letter 'reveals' Israeli involvement

According to Anwar, the matter was first raised by the police's logistic director Mashuri Zainal through a letter dated Dec 1, 2008 to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

The senior police officer alleged that the third phase of the police reporting system (PRS) project did not follow procedure.

The letter, Anwar said, revealed that the project was handed to Masterplan Consultancy Sdn Bhd (MPC) and later subcontracted to AsiaSoft Malaysia Bhd.

Although this appeared normal on the surface, the letter however claimed that in May 2008, a report from the Special Branch director confirmed the involvement of two former Israeli intelligence oficers in the PRS project.

"In August 2008, the Special Branch probed Israeli involvement via Asiasoft as subcontractor and two shareholders of Asiasoft -- B System Sdn Bhd which holds 70 percent and Asia Soft Pte Ltd (30 percent), which was registered in Singapore, and controlled by AsiaSoft Global Pte Ltd based in Tel Aviv, Israel," said the opposition leader.

Anwar said the latest revelation could not be disputed as Israeli nationals Izhak David Nakar and Ido Schechter are both directors for AsiaSoft Global.

"And the letter I mentioned just now suggested that the contract be terminated for two reasons -- national security and not adhering to procedure,” he said, noting that no action was taken.

This was followed by a report lodged by one ASP Suhaimi on Nov 28, 2008 with the Dang Wangi district police headquarters accusing Masterplan Consultancy of false declaration.

On Dec 3, Anwar said Mahsuri (the logistics director) wrote to the home ministry's secretary-general and subsequently to the ministry's legal adviser asking the contract to be terminated.

He added that on Jan 12, 2009, the ministry's legal adviser had answered, replying that the matter had been referred to the relevant authorities and termination of the contract could only take place with "instruction from the top leadership".

Syed Hamid: It's a lie

At this juncture, Syed Hamid (BN-Kota Tinggi) stood up and accused the opposition leader of "lying".

He then challenged Anwar to provide evidence that he was at the meeting mentioned earlier, and this prompted the latter to give specific details of the alleged meeting.

"But I had attended a lot of meetings (when I was a minister) and it was impossible for me to remember every single one," Syed Hamid retorted.

At a press conference later, Anwar denied that he was anti-semitic.

"This is not a Jew issue or anti-semitism. This is an issue of security and espionage, the involvement of Apco (Worldwide). We were fooled until our 1Malaysia concept has big similarities with One 'Israel'," he said.

Previously, Anwar had alleged that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's 1Malaysia concept was a carbon copy of the One Israel concept.

He claimed that the same US-based public relations firm Apco Worldwide had masterminded both concepts, a charge which had been denied by Najib as well as Apco.

Following this, the government sought to censure Anwar for “misleading” the House by referring him to the Rights and Privileges Committee.

IGP: Provide evidence

In a related development, Musa challenged Anwar to provide proof concerning his latest allegation.

He said the police needed concrete evidence, including all information obtained by Anwar, before starting a detailed investigation on the matter.

"Provide evidence on the matter... so that it's easy for us to investigate because we can't start an investigation without any evidence," he told Bernama.

Musa, who declined further comment, said police would open investigation as soon as they received complete information from Anwar.

Let me change my mode

The alternative media does not need to convince Malaysians that the mainstream media is the propaganda arm of the ruling party. The mainstream media has successfully done this without any help from the alternative media.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Rais: Allegations against mainstream media baseless

The opposition and media channels they back, including some websites and blogs, have been pushing for the mainstream media to be sidelined only because their lies had not been entertained.

Information, Communication and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim said allegations that the mainstream media tended to spin its articles to suit the government's agenda were baseless, as truths reported often did not augur well for their own agenda.

"If a mainstream media does not publish or broadcast their point of view in full, it does not mean that democracy is crumbling."

"The opposition now has its own newspapers and blogs and you can see they don't even have one good thing to say about the government of the day."

"They even ridicule something as novel as 1Malaysia," he said when asked to comment about an email circulated widely over the Internet calling for a one-day boycott of the mainstream media yesterday.

The chain email, which appealed for support, claimed that there would be "greater things to come" in the boycotting process.

Universiti Teknologi Mara Faculty of Communications and Media Studies' Professor Dr Mokhtar Muhammad said mainstream newspapers in the country still played the crucial role of nation building via its thorough coverage of the government's agenda and policies that served the interests of the people.

“To say that the mainstream media which joined forces with the nation in the struggle to attain independence is irrelevant today is unacceptable, as they remain the mainstay public reference for information.”

"They are one of the main and reliable channels where the people could learn of what and how the ruling government is charting ways for the country to move forward and so on.”

"Mainstream newspapers play a role of more than disseminating news. They help readers to gain knowledge, including good language."

He said repeated attempts by the anti-mainstream media propagandists to label the mainstream media biased could also backfire as the public would in turn see that the alternative media was on its own, serving their masters in its reporting.

Mokhtar also said the society could not distance itself from the mainstream media as even those disinterested in political reportage would still seek newspapers for other types of news that they believed were reliable. -- New Straits Times

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Rais does not seem to get it. The mainstream media is being boycotted not because it refuses to publish ‘our point of view’ but because it lies. If the mainstream just refuses to publish something then that can be forgiven. But the mainstream media is biased and serves a certain agenda and is not independent, plus it publishes distorted news.

Let us look at the case of the ex-head of CCID, Datuk Ramli. The mainstream media started ‘shooting’ Ramli with the headlines: RM27 million cop. The mainstream media spin is that Ramli is corrupted. He had amassed RM27 million in cash and assets and had failed to declare it.

Later it was proven that it was not RM27 million but just RM1 million or so and that he had in fact declared every penny. For a person who had served the police for about 30 years and ‘played the market’, RM1 million is pittance. Some people can make more than that from the KLSE in just one year.

So what was Ramli’s crime? Was it that he had RM1 million to his name or that he did not declare what he owned? Ramli’s crime is not that he had money. It is that he did not declare his wealth. But then he did declare it, as his trial revealed.

Now, the mainstream media stuck to this story of the corrupt cop who had RM27 million to his name and never declared it. It was the alternative media, however, that set the record straight.

Ramli was the man who arrested Nat Tan, my good friend and fellow Blogger. We should have been delighted that Ramli was now in hot soup. We should have tambah-tokok and added some spice to the issue. Instead, Malaysia Today, Nat Tan, Din Merican, The People’s Parliament, and so on, defended Ramli. We did not celebrate his downfall and delight in his predicament. We stood by him although he could be regarded as an enemy of Bloggers. And it was also the CCID that raided my house, confiscated my computer, and indicted me for sedition. Yet we stood by the CCID chief.

Rais says that the alternative media spins and distorts facts. In Ramli’s case it was the mainstream media that did this while the alternative media stood by the man who should have been declared the enemy of the alternative media.

Have you watched Malaysian TV news? When they report about the Middle East they use terms like regim ganas Yahudi (the violent Jewish regime). Is this unbiased reporting? Malaysian TV is clearly and unabashedly pro-Muslim extremists and anti-Jew. And the Malaysian TV news reports demonstrate this with no holds barred. Malaysian TV does not report the news. It gives an opinion. And Israel is always presented as the aggressor and the villain. Is this news reporting or spinning?

The alternative media does not need to convince Malaysians that the mainstream media is the propaganda arm of the ruling party. The mainstream media has successfully done this without any help from the alternative media.

Sure, the alternative media is biased. All media all over the world is biased. Even in the UK newspapers take sides. You can detect when a newspaper is pro-Labour when it reports that the Tories are trying to bring Britain ‘back to the dark days’. And the newspaper that supports the Conservative Party would report that it is time Labour is kicked out and is not given a fourth term lest Britain slides further down the slippery slope.

So, yes, all newspapers take a stand, even in Britain. But this is not wrong as long as they ‘spin’ but do not distort the truth. So, yes, the Malaysian alternative media also spins. Everyone does. But the Malaysian mainstream media spins and lies. That is a no-no. And Rais has to understand the difference between spinning and lying.

And Malaysian newspapers lie.

Bukit Aman’s Israeli connection (UPDATED WITH CHART)

On 27 June 2008, Malaysia Today revealed that Israeli intelligence had penetrated Bukit Aman. Malaysia Today said, Izhak David Nakar served in the Israel Air Force and developed the intelligence system for the Israeli Defense Force. Ido Schechter is a captain in the Israeli Air Force. They are both behind PDRM’s computerisation program.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Anwar claims Bukit Aman infiltrated by Israeli spies

Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim continued attacking the government today over what he claimed was its infiltration by Israeli intelligence, by alleging in Parliament that agents working for Tel Aviv had worked as contractors in Bukit Aman Federal police headquarters.

In what seems clearly as an attempt to reduce the Barisan Nasional (BN) government’s credentials among conservative Muslims, Anwar claimed that Israeli agents have worked in Bukit Aman’s communications server room.

He claimed that the agents were working for Asiasoft Malaysia, a sub-contractor engaged by Master Plan Consulting Sdn Bhd to perform an upgrade of communication systems for the police.

Anwar named Police Director of Logistics Mansuri Zainal as the person who had made the allegation in a letter to the Home Ministry which was also signed by an unnamed Special Branch officer.

Anwar did not say how he obtained the information surrounding the allegation.

“On Nov 25, 2008, the then Home Minister was briefed at 4pm in the KLIA VIP room about concerns raised by the police, specifically, the logistics department and the special branch,” he told Parliament when debating the Supplementary Supply Bill.

“Then between November and December, a police report was lodged by the responsible police officers and investigated by one ASP Sairah. Then Sairah was transferred to Taiping and there was no news after that,” he said. -- The Malaysian Insider

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The Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) is in the process of computerising its operations so that it is better equipped to solve and reduce serious crimes such as Bloggers slandering the Deputy Prime Minister’s wife and whatnot.

Three companies have been short-listed to undertake this work -- Master Plan Consulting Sdn Bhd, System Protocol Information Sdn Bhd and D. G. Kom Sdn Bhd. But these three companies were given different phases of these contracts on condition that they all sub-contract the work to Asiasoft (M) Sdn Bhd.

Who are the people behind Asiasoft and how come they wield immense power in the police force? And what is the Israeli link? Let us examine the facts.

Master Plan Consulting Sdn Bhd (357303-V)

The company is owned by Raja Azlina Binti Raja Abdul Jalil (3 million shares) and Ahmad Firdaus Bin Abdul Halim (2 million shares). They are both Directors of the company. The company has RM26 million in assets and RM6.6 million in liabilities with a paid up capital of RM5 million.

System Protocol Information Sdn Bhd (603787-M)

The company is owned by Aswadi Anuar Bin Shamsudin (350,000 shares) and Mohd Supardi Bin Abdul Majid (150,000 shares). The Directors are Aswadi and Raziah Binti Sidek who share the same residential address and therefore could be husband and wife. The company has about RM2.3 million in assets and RM1.8 million in liabilities with a paid up capital of RM500,000.

D. G. Kom Sdn Bhd (87537-V)

The company is owned by Saki Almahdaly Holdings Sdn Bhd (6,075,000 shares), WYN Resources Sdn Bhd (1,215,000 shares), PFB & Anak-anak Holdings Sdn Bhd (405,000 shares) and Prodaya Sdn Bhd (405,000 shares). The Directors are Syed Abd Kadir Bin Ibrahim, Dato’ Mohammad Radzi Bin Salleh and Nor Azman Bin Abdul Karim. The company’s assets are RM26 million against liabilities of RM19 million with paid up capital of RM7.6 million.

Asiasoft (M) Sdn Bhd (150529-H)

The company is owned by Bees System Sdn Bhd (350,000 shares) and Asiasoft (Singapore) Pte Ltd (15,000 shares). The Directors are Toh Kian Hong (Singapore citizen), Lim Tze Kuang and Lim See Hui. The assets of the company are RM4 million against liabilities of RM1.8 million with a paid up capital of RM500,000.

Bees System Sdn Bhd (422358-V)

The company is owned by Lim See Hui (12,500 shares) and Lim Tze Kuang, Lim Mee Yoke, Lim Moi Lan, Lim Mooi Kim and Lim Mee Chin (who own RM2,500 shares each). The Directors are Lim Mooi Kim, Lim Mee Yoke, Lim See Hui, Lim Mee Chin and Seow Bee Ching @ Chee Bee Ching. The company’s assets are RM7.7 million against liabilities of RM4.8 million with a paid up capital of RM25,000.

Asiasoft (Singapore) Pte Ltd

Toh Kian Hong, the Singaporean Director of Asiasoft (M) Sdn Bhd, is also a Director of Asiasoft (S) Pte Ltd. The other Directors are Izhak David Nakar (Israeli), Ido Schechter (Israeli) and Shoshani Eliahou Moshe (Israeli with Singapore PR). The company is wholly owned by Asiasoft Global Pte Ltd.

Asiasoft Global Pte Ltd

The Directors of the company are Toh Kian Hong (Singapore citizen), Izhak David Nakar (Israeli) and Ido Schechter (Israeli). The shareholders are Toh and Top Image System Limited (Israel).

Top Image Systems Limited

You can read about the company in the following link: http://www.topimagesystems.com/

Izhak David Nakar (Israeli passport number 10902695)

Izhak David Nakar founded Top Image Systems Limited and served as Chairman of the Board and CEO from inception until May 2001. In 2005, he was re-elected as the Chairman of the Board and in this position is responsible for TIS’s strategic M&A activity.

Mr. Nakar served in the Israel Air Force from 1970 to 1987, where he led various large-scale highly technical development projects, including leading a development team that worked in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force. He received his B.Sc. in Computer Science from Bar Ilan University in 1982, and an MBA from Tel-Aviv University in 1984. Mr. Nakar is a recipient of the “Israel Defense Award,” bestowed annually by the President of Israel, for the development of high-tech systems in the field of intelligence for the Israeli Defense Force. He also received the “Man of the Year Award” in Business and Management (‘95-’96) in recognition of his business accomplishments and contributions to the growth and development of Israeli high-tech companies.

In 1998, Mr. Nakar founded NIR4YOU Capital, a privately held investment company specializing in early stage investments in high–tech companies. NIR4YOU Capital has 14 companies on its portfolio including: ForesCout, e-mobilis, TopGuard, Matearis, Video Codes, SundaySky, Secur DI, MomSense, etc. Three of the 14 companies were sold to large enterprises, including SAP and Microsoft. In 2004 Mr. Nakar was elected as a Board member of the Israel-Japan chamber of Commerce.

(http://www.topimagesystems.com/IntPage.asp?Par=1&id=9)

Ido Schechter (Israeli passport number 56626252)

Dr. Schechter has been with Top Image Systems Limited for 9 years and is serving as the Company's CEO since January 2002. Prior to that, Dr. Ido Schechter was the Company's Vice President of Sales and Marketing from August 1996. From January 1995 until August 1996, Mr. Schechter served as General Manager of Super Image, an affiliate of the Company; which operates a form processing service bureau.

From August 1993 to December 1994, Mr. Schechter oversaw the start-up of automatic form processing services at Israel Credit Cards, Ltd. From 1991 to 1993, Mr. Schechter was a research scientist at the Horticultural Research Institute of Ontario, Canada. Mr. Schechter is the recipient of eight Honors and Scholarships, has published or presented more than twenty-five articles and is a Captain in the Israeli Air Force. Mr. Schechter received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Plant Physiology from the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada and his B.Sc. from the Hebrew University in Israel.

(http://www.topimagesystems.com/IntPage.asp?Par=1&id=9)