8th century temple site in Bujang Valley demolished

NGO is urging the Tourism and Culture Ministry to stop a housing developer from demolishing remnants of ancient temples in Bujang Valley and to preserve the area.

PETALING JAYA: A housing developer has demolished several temples sites, including an 8th century heritage site, in Bujang Valley, Kedah, and the authorities are not taking any action to stop the act.

Non-governmental organisation Bujang Valley Study Circle chairman V Nadarajan has urged the Tourism and Culture Ministry to stop the developer from further destroying the area and preserve the site.

Nadarajan said several ancient temples, called Candi, had been demolished in the last few years to make way for development.

He said the developer had now demolished the most famous 8th century temple remnants known as Candi Sungai Batu estate or Bujang Valley site 11.

Nadarajan, who is a lawyer, urged Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz to stop the demolition process.

“The temple in Sungai Batu estate is the most famous tourism spot in Bujang Valley, but now it is gone,” he said.

Nadarajan, who has written a book on the Bujang Valley heritage site, said the authorities had failed to stop the demolition.

“The National Heritage Department, Museum, Kedah state tourism committee and Sungai Petani Municipal Council should have protected the sites but they have turned a blind eye to the demolition work,” he added.

Area is packed with historical artifacts

He said that he was not sure when the Candi Sungai Batu was demolished but believes it was done earlier this week. He only realised it was demolished when he visited the Candi two days ago.

“This entire area is packed with historical artifacts. Most of them are hidden away from our view. This particular temple site is famous with tourists.

“The developer is greedy and willing to pay the fine for the demolishing the temples (and its remnants) because they will make a huge profit from the housing project.

“I am surprised why the Malaysian government is so careless in Bujang Valley when countries like Indonesia and Cambodia are proud of their heritage sites,” said Nadarajan.

The Bujang Valley is an archeological site and excavation had revealed jetty remains, iron-smelting areas and a clay-brick monument dating back 110AD making it the oldest man-made structure to be recorded in South-east Asia.

“It is the most important entry port before Malacca (15th century) and Singapore (19th century). Bujang Valley has been a mid-way hub to Arab nations, India and China,” said Nadarajah.

“We should be proud of the heritage and not give the site to profit-minded individuals,” he added.

Nadarajan urged the ministry to issue a stop-work order to the developer and preserve the remaining sites.

Nepal Election. At least Hindu people of Nepal rejected Anti Hindu Prachand and Maoist politics.

BBC |  KATHMANDU | 28 November 2013:: The centrist Nepali Congress party won the most votes in last week’s general elections, latest results announced on Thursday show.

The Maoists – who formed the single largest party in the previous Constituent Assembly – have been relegated to third place.

They have complained that the results have been systematically rigged.

The vote is seen as vital in moving Nepal towards political stability after a 10-year Maoist revolt ended in 2006.

Final results in the vote – conducted through a mixture of direct voting and proportional representation – are expected over the weekend.

The previous assembly – elected in 2008 after the abolition of the monarchy – was won by the former rebels. But the Constituent Assembly (CA) was bitterly divided and failed to write a new constitution.

The Congress party has said that it may now form a government of national unity that would include the Maoists and the Communist Party of Nepal (UML) which came second in the vote.

On Thursday, the Election Commission said counting of votes under the proportional representation system had been completed. It said that the Nepali Congress party had won more than 2.4 million votes while the Maoists had won about 1.4 million votes.

Experts say that the Nepali Congress has won about 200 seats in the 601-member CA while the Maoists will only get about 80 seats.

The UML has won about 175 seats, ahead of the pro-monarchy Rastriya Prajatantra Party Nepal and about nine parties which represent the Madeshi community in the south.

Officials said that more than 70% of the 12 million eligible Nepalese voters cast their ballots in the elections held on 19 November.

They said Nepal might have to wait for least at another two months to get a new government. Click Here>>Complete Reading Courtesy: BBC.

Egypt: Muslims burn down Christian homes over relationship between Muslim girl and Christian boy

Islamic law forbids Muslim women from marrying Christian men. When the "reports surfaced of a relationship between a Muslim girl and a Coptic boy," the two families "held reconciliatory talks," but they "fell through after 'Muslims burnt down the house of the boy’s father and an adjacent house.'" Now that's "dialogue."
"Sectarian violence in Minya leaves five dead," by Hend Kortam for Daily News Egypt, November 29:

Two separate incidents of sectarian violence in villages in the governorate of Minya on Thursday claimed several lives. One of the incidents took place in the village of Badraman where reports surfaced of a relationship between a Muslim girl and a Coptic boy. Ishak Ibrahim, a researcher with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said the families of the girl and the boy held reconciliatory talks but the talks fell through after “Muslims burnt down the house of the boy’s father and an adjacent house.”

Ibrahim said tensions escalated when a Muslim man was killed in “unknown circumstances,” possibly in a security chase.
State-run Al-Ahram reported that in addition to one dead person, six were injured in the violence. It added that two people were arrested.
The other incident broke out between residents of the predominantly Coptic village of Nazlet Ebeid and the predominantly Muslim village of El-Hawarta. A statement by the Diocese of Minya and Abu Qurqas said a Coptic landowner whose land is close to El-Hawarta village was being prevented from building a house on his land.
The Coptic landowner had filed a complaint with the police regarding the issue but tensions escalated when he and others who were with him were shot at while building a fence around his land. Clashes which started on Wednesday continued until Thursday. People from both villages gathered as a result and the ensuing violence left four dead, according to Bishop Makarios of Minya who spoke to private channel ONTV. He added that around 55 people were injured....
Sectarian tensions had earlier flared in another Minya village, Delga. Of the five churches in the village, three were attacked after the 3 July ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi. Two people had reportedly died.

Stray animals as gift for DAP duo

Members of Malay Sons of Penang Association hold a protest after Friday prayers against Jeff Ooi and Tony Pua.

GEORGE TOWN: A Malay NGO plans to present DAP parliamentarians Jeff Ooi and Tony Pua a stray cat and dog each as tit-for-tat for their recent damning remarks against civil servants.

Malay Sons of Penang Association president Jahangir Abdul Sukkur also called on other Malaysians to do the same to both the DAP elected representatives.

“We will make an appointment to meet the MPs and present the animals as gifts to them.

“We want to show them how stray cats and dogs look like,” he told newsmen after leading a brief post-Friday prayers demonstration against the MPs Jeff Ooi of Jelutong and Tony Pua of Petaling Jaya Utara outside Masjid Melayu Jamek Lebuh Acheh here today.

A association committee member Wan Shahriwal Salim told the crowd Chief Minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng’s deafening silence on the issue confirmed that the DAP was a “racist, anti-Malay and anti-Islam” party.

Some 30 association members took part in the high noon demonstration.

The demonstrators also held up anti-Jeff Ooi, anti-Tony Pua and anti-DAP banners, streamers and placards to express their displeasure and anger against the parliamentarians.

They also chanted ”Allahu-Akbar’ several times.

Last week, Ooi courted controversy when he described low-ranking municipal council officers as “kucing kurap” (stray cats).

Previously Pua described the officers of Registrar of Societies (ROS) as Umno’s running dogs, which Jahangir claimed was equivalent to “anjing kurap” (stray dogs).

Remarks by both Ooi and Pua drew flaks from various parties, including from DAP.

A check during on-going Penang assembly sitting revealed many Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat lawmakers, and civil servants were upset with Ooi’s remarks.

“He is a parliamentarian but he blatantly uses an un-parliamentary word,” said a Pakatan legislator, while his colleague slammed Ooi as being “arrogant and mulut celupar (trouble shooting mouth)”.

A civil servant summed up general feelings among his colleagues when he said: “Just because he is an elected rep does not mean he can use any words he like. Kucing kurap is strong word. We are also humans, we also have feelings.”

Tubuh Suruhanjaya Diraja siasat kekalahan Batu Putih

Pendedahan yang dibuat Mat Zain itu amat serius melibatkan kepentingan dan maruah negara.

PETALING JAYA: Perkasa mencadangkan supaya kerajaan menubuhkan Suruhanjaya Diraja menyiasat kekalahan Malaysia kepada Singapura dalam kes tuntutan Pulau Batu Putih.

Menurut Presiden Perkasa, Datuk Ibrahim Ali, kerajaan perlu membuat rayuan segera kepada Mahkamah Antarabangsa (ICJ).

Sehubungan dengan itu beliau meminta bekas pegawai kanan polis, Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim membuat laporan polis terhadap Peguam Negara, Tan Sri Gani Patail.

“Susah sangat ke beliau mahu buat laporan polis?” soal beliau dalam satu kenyataan kepada FMT.

Beliau mengulas kenyataan Menteri Dalam Negeri, Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yang mengatakan polis tidak boleh menyiasat kecuali Mat Zain buat laporan polis sedangkan menurut Mat Zain beliau tidak perlu buat laporan polis kerana polis boleh siasat mengikut peruntukan undang-undang polis yang ada mengenai akuan bersumpahnya.

Dalam akuan bersumpahnya, bekas Pengarah Siasatan Jenayah Bukit Aman itu mendakwa kekalahan Malaysia kepada Singapura dalam tuntutan Pulau Batu Putih kerana Peguam Negara ditawarkan rasuah berjuta ringgit.

Mat Zain juga mendakwa akuan bersumpahnya itu sudah diserahkan kepada Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

“Persoalannya kenapa Mat Zain sendiri tidak buat laporan polis?
Kalau sedia buat akuan bersumpah, apa susah sangat nak buat laopran polis/” soal beliau.

Bekas ahli parlimen Pasir Mas itu berkata pendedahan yang dibuat Mat Zain itu amat serius melibatkan kepentingan dan maruah negara.

Katanya, ianya juga tuduhan membabitkan integriti Peguam Negara.

“Sama ada betul atau tidak tuduhan Mat Zain itu tidak ada siapa yang dapat sahkan. Maka cara terbaik Mat Zain kena bertanggungjawab buat laporan polis,” katanya lagi.

Venezuelan envoy to speak at PSM congress

Ambassador Hernandez will discuss the socialism with local activists

PETALING JAYA: The Venezuelan ambassador to Malaysia, Manuel Antonio Guzman Hernandez, will join local activists tomorrow in a panel discussion on socialism as an alternative economic and political system.

The discussion is one of the main items in the programme of Parti Socialis Malaysia’s annual conference this weekend.

PSM has close relations with socialists in Venezuela, but this will be the first time that Hernandez participates in its conference. His discussion partners will include Sungai Siput MP Dr D Michael Jeyakumar and NGO activist Ahmad Fuad Rahmat of Islamic Renaissance Front and Projek Dialog.

Two other panel discussions will follow the one featuring Hernandez tomorrow. Both will be held after the lunch. One of these will concentrate on developments in the Middle East since the Arab Spring. Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad of PAS will be one of the speakers.

The third discussion is on the future of the political left in Malaysia. The speakers include PSM secretary general S Arutchelvan and PKR activist Badrul Hisham Shaharin of Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia.

Sunday’s sessions focus more on Malaysia and the highlight will be a discussion on the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), with Darshan Singh Khaira and Tommy Thomas speaking.

The two lawyers represented CPM chief Chin Peng in his failed bid to return to Malaysia before his death last Sept 16.

The conference is open to the public. The registration fee is RM10 for students and RM25 for others. Everyone who registers will get a T-shirt and lunch tickets for both days of the conference.

Satu lagi aduan kepada ROS terhadap DAP

Saya memohon pihak ROS dapat membantu dan memastikan hak-hak sebagai ahli parti tidak terabai oleh pihak-pihak tertentu

SEREMBAN – Menjelang berlangsungnya Konvensyen DAP Negeri Sembilan di City Kingdom Ballroom, Seremban Sabtu ini, ahli seumur hidup DAP, A David Dass membuat satu aduan rasmi kepada Jabatan Pertubuhan Malaysia (ROS) cawangan Negeri Sembilan petang semalam.

David Dass mendakwa Konvensyen yang bakal berlangsung esok yang turut membabitkan pemilihan Ahli Jawatankuasa peringkat Negeri Sembilan, bercanggah dengan peraturan perlembagaan parti mengikut Fasal XV(9) di mana Setiausaha negeri gagal memberi notis pemberitahuan sekurang-kurangnya lapan minggu kepada semua Setiausaha Cawangan sebelum tarikh ditetapkan untuk konvensyen peringkat negeri.

“Peraturan Perlembagaan Fasal XV(9) amat penting kepada semua cawangan peringkat negeri untuk menominasikan wakil-wakil yang bakal ditandingkan untuk jawatankuasa peringkat negeri.

“Saya memohon pihak ROS dapat membantu dan memastikan hak-hak sebagai ahli parti tidak terabai oleh pihak-pihak tertentu di dalam DAP demi kepentingan peribadi,” kata David Dass.

David Dass juga mendakwa bahawa ada beberapa cawangan DAP yang tidak menerima langsung notis pemberitahuan konvensyen.

“Ada beberapa cawangan DAP yang tidak menerima langsung notis pemberitahuan konvensyen. Contohnya Cawangan Ladang Paroi, Taman Desa Dahlia, Nilai Perdana dan Taman Bukit Emas.

“Selain itu saya juga kecewa apabila daripada 37 calon yang akan bertanding untuk 15 jawatan Ahli Jawatankuasa Negeri , hanya lima calon berbangsa India. Daripada lima calon itu empat adalah Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri iaitu P Gunasekaran (Senawang), J Arulkumar (Nilai), S Veerapan (Repah) dan Mary Josephine (Rahang). Saya tidak mengenali seorang lagi calon berbangsa India.

“Apa yang mengejutkan ialah tidak ada seorang pun calon berbangsa Melayu di dalam senarai 37 calon untuk jawatan Ahli Jawatankuasa Negeri. Perkara ini mengejutkan saya walaupun ada pemimpin dan ahli DAP berbangsa Melayu di peringkat cawangan di Negeri Sembilan.

“Ada sesuatu yang tidak kena dengan perkara ini. Ini perkembangan yang tidak sihat untuk sebuah parti yang mencanangkan sebagai parti berbilang kaum,” ujar David Dass.

Sementara itu Setiausaha DAP Negeri Sembilan, Cha Kee Chin apabila dihubungi FMT pagi ini berkata beliau mencabar David Dass untuk meneruskan tindakan beliau.

“Beliau bukan lagi ahli DAP dan beliau telah dipecat. Saya mencabar beliau meneruskan tindakan beliau tersebut (membuat aduan kepada ROS),” kata Cha dengan ringkas.

Malays have too much power

Zaid Ibrahim, The Malay Mail

It’s a common saying from the elderly and the wise: too much of anything is harmful. Now, I think the Malays have too much power and it’s gone to their heads.

At the last general election, Utusan Malaysia and Umno actively lambasted the Chinese by casting doubt on their loyalty to the country and asking them to go and live elsewhere.

When the Chinese, hurt by these accusations, understandably rejected the Barisan Nasional at the polls, Utusan had the temerity to ask, “what more do the [ungrateful] Chinese want?”

Only people who have too much power will conduct themselves in the way Umno and Utusan have. To them, the idea of being sensible and reasonable is unreasonable and weak.

Of course, organisations like Perkasa will tell you that the Malays are losing political power and “enemies” are circling in for the kill. This narrative is attractive to some people, especially retirees like Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman who once headed the Election Commission.

Rashid said he’d signed up with Datuk Ibrahim Ali (they are both from the famous state of Kelantan) to make sure that Malays don’t lose power. I cried with laughter when I read this.

Surely the dear Tan Sri knows only too well that the problem with the Malays and their leaders is not that they are losing power, but that they have so much of it that they can no longer appreciate it.

Powerful Malays today do as they like without care for consequence. They don’t think about national policies nor do they try to persuade and engage others. They simply impose their will and threaten those who disagree with them.

Right now, PAS and Umno are apparently forging a closer relationship and, to top it all off, the Malay Rulers are more vocal and assertive than they have ever been. Listening to all of them, you’d think that Malays and Islam are under serious daily attack and everyone must get together to defend the race and religion or perish.

The problem is that we know the fears are just imaginary. This is why, besides the rhetoric, none of these “champions” has ever bothered to spell out the accusations or to give hard evidence of what terrible things the Chinese/Christians/Jews/Liberals and so forth are actually doing.

Not only do these self-created fears exist entirely in the heads of leaders in Umno, Utusan and Perkasa, Malay power is actually reaching its zenith under the present Prime Minister. We will have to wait and see what this new power will do to Malays in general.

We can already see some of its effects: Malaysia is the only Muslim country in the world who can claim proprietorship to God’s name . This can only happen when the Muslims have too much power for their own good. Even for weekend rest days we keep changing them; because no one can questioned us.

In such an important portfolio as education, we have two Ministers, two Secretaries-General and two Directors-General and over 50 separate departments. Only a group with too much power will organise things this way—and it is this same group that sends its children to private international schools or public schools in England but asks the rest of their people to learn Arabic and Bahasa Melayu.

Now, coming back to the historic meeting between two of the largest Malay-Muslim political organisations in the country: PAS and Umno. What do you think they will talk about?

I don’t think it’ll be how to improve education for the people or about enhancing skills and improving English for the global economy. In fact, I don’t think the economy will feature at all. There will be no talk about increasing development funds for Kelantan ‘ or returning the oil royalty to the state coffers ;or helping them solve the water problem.I don’t think they’ll even talk about improving state religious education.

No.

They just want to talk about hudud (which neither party will implement), Islam (which the Holy Quran has declared to be perfect and protected by Allah—therefore nothing needs to be done, right?), and the threat of liberals, NGOs and alliances like Comango. That’s what too much power does to you.

Moving on to better things, I was fortunate yesterday to have been a guest of Bank Negara Indonesia at a Forum in which the various political parties assembled to talk about important issues for the Indonesian general election in 2014.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made an excellent presentation. He urged Indonesians to think about economic issues and urged both all political leaders to work together to bolster the country’s performance.

He spoke about enhancing capacity building and overcoming administrative gridlocks. He warned about decreasing imports from large economies and the tightening of money flows from the United States, which has helped Indonesia over the past four years.

He spoke about the need for infrastructure enhancement, especially in the provinces, and challenged presidential aspirants (from his own party and the opposition) to put forward good policies.

Not once did he speak of “enemy forces” working against Indonesians, Islam or the Pancasila. Not once did he rely on false paranoia to gain cheap political capital. Instead, he urged his people to unite to make Indonesia a world economic power.

That is my kind of leader: honest and inspiring. My kind of leader knows that power is limited so he must govern with care because his days are numbered from the moment he takes office.

He or she believes that political power may be used only to discharge the sacred duty to the people while maintaining the principles of democratic government.

It’s a tough job to govern responsibly. Umno and other Malay leaders have yet to learn this.

Malaysia’s Pakatan Rakyat Loses its Luster

Time for Pakatan to pack it in on Anwar?

Why the opposition doesn’t deserve to take over the federal government

The last general election is almost six months behind us, in which the narratives of Malaysian politics have been defined. The Pakatan Rakyat may have won the popular vote, leading some to believe that the opposition coalition is owed a moral mandate. However under a "first past the post" electoral system, the game is about winning seats, not aggregate votes.

Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), one of the three legs of the opposition stool, has ruled Kelantan well for many years within the social and cultural contexts of the state and has shown it understands the aspirations of the Kelantanese. Selangor has been prudently run as a corporation by Parti Keadilan Rakyat's Abdul Khalid Ibrahim despite the current controversy over salaries, and Penang's finances have been restructured with great fiscal skill, where industrial investment has been revived through relentless promotion by the Democratic Action Party's Lim Guan Eng.

However, even with these achievements, the PR doesn’t have the pedigree needed to form a federal government, given the existing inconsistencies and weaknesses. As a multi-dimensional party, PAS doesn’t speak with a unified voice, given its divisions between the fundamentalists and the so-called Erdogans.

The DAP has shown its failure to provide ideologically sound and loyal candidates for political office, causing the downfall of one state government. The coming DAP party election in Penang shows the mad scramble for positions of influence among party stalwarts. To date, PKR has shown itself to be opportunistic, with very little in the way of its own thought-out ideological based policies. In fact some of its views like the one on salary hikes for politicians are even contradictory.

The culmination of these problems, the failure to take tactical initiatives, and electoral blunders have cost the Pakatan Rakyat the grand prize of Malaysian politics, the federal government.

Prime Minister Najib Razak has been grossly unappreciated for his job of holding the line for UMNO in the recent election. He was written off before the election by some who expected great losses. Many felt there was a real possibility that Terengganu and Negeri Sembilan would fall to Pakatan and that it would win back Perak. However Najib held all these states and took back Kedah as well. We will never be sure whether it was Najib's strategic brilliance or Anwar's strategic blundering that made the final result what it was.

The taking back of Terengganu from PAS in 2004 and the recent return of Kedah to the Barisan Nasional indicates that voters won't accept incompetence by any Pakatan government, although they may not apply the same standard to the Barisan, which historically has been riddled with corruption and incompetence. The taking of Kedah by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed's son Mukhriz will be extremely difficult to reverse next election.

Pakatan, and in particular PKR has made a major blunder in Sabah, wanting to run candidates under its own banner rather than work with the existing opposition forces in the state, leading to a number of three-cornered fights. As a result, the opposition is divided into a number of groups which played straight into the hands of UMNO's strong man and Chief Minister Musa Aman, allowing UMNO to dominate the state's political landscape. This cost the opposition forces four federal and eight state assembly seats. In addition PKR itself seems to be disintegrating in the state, with eight to 12 leaders having quit the party over the last few days.

Although the DAP has made inroads into Sarawak’s towns, the rural regions of the state remain the bastion of Taib Mahmud's Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu-dominated government. Pakatan appears to have grossly underestimated the political mastery and respect Taib Mahmud carries in the rural heartlands of Sarawak despite credible reports of vast corruption. He has the qualities of a leader, rather than the administrative mold of many other national leaders, making him a very strong adversary. It's not the work of Pakatan that has made small inroads into PBB support but rather the work of Radio free Sarawak and other independent local activists.

In both Sabah and Sarawak, it is difficult to see where Pakatan can make gains unless it can change its understanding of the political dynamics of both states. From the rakyat or people’s perspective this may be even more difficult as PAS, PKR, and DAP are considered by many as "peninsulacentric", as Lim Kit Siang himself said in a recent article on his blog. Sabah and Sarawak are mathematically critical in deciding which side of politics forms the federal government.

In the last election campaign, Pakatan focused on preaching to the converted. This didn't win new voters. The inroads into Johor were good for the coalition but city campaigns were largely wasted, with perhaps the exception of Anwar's daughter Nurul Izzah in Lembah Pantai where she was challenged by the then UMNO Federal territories minister Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin. If the Pakatan leaders had not run the mass rallies in Johor, conveying a syok sendiri or chauvinist manner, the UMNO rhetoric after the election might have been much more conciliatory and inclusive than the current divisive narrative coming out of the party.

Many perceive the PKR to be a dynasty with husband, wife, and daughter holding high profile positions. This is one reason why the Azmin Ali influence is so strong within the party, to the point of being bitterly divisive. His recent comments over a pay increase announced for Selangor lawmakers make Azmin look more like an opposition leader in Selangor than a member of the government.
There is more to Azmin Ali's antics than just naked ambition. He has a point that many in the party agree with. One Sabah PKR leader Jelani Hamden upon his resignation from the party a couple of days ago said that there was too much central control. This is a rift that could paralyze the party, particularly when the rank and file membership are needed on the ground during elections.
The current disagreement about how funds in treasury funds in Selangor should be utilized show the policy malaise of PKR. There is also a wider dimension to policy issues where the PR has not been able to deal with the issue of hudud, or Islamic law, and an Islamic state. The concept of an Islamic state is ill explained. The issue could have been easily resolved through adopting the concept of governance through Islamic principles rather than going all out for an Islamic state. The best advantage for UMNO is for PAS to continue focusing on hudud. For as long as PAS promotes Islamic law, UMNO will stay in power.

It's time for the PR to eradicate ego from the coalition leadership and make a serious attempt to regroup under a new guard for the next election. To do that would shed the usual to allow a new vanguard of Malaysian politicians to emerge who are younger and more energetic than the Barisan. This doesn't mean that the old guard of Anwar Ibrahim, Lim kit Siang and Singh withdraw totally, but rather give others room to move in the generational transition.

The best thing for the PKR might be Anwar to declare that he had no more ambition to become Prime Minister and stand aside. This would go a long way in winning over voters who mistrust his intentions. As long as Anwar clings to the hope of one day becoming PM, Pakatan is doomed to remain in opposition. The myth that Anwar is a vote winner must be overturned. His immense international popularity doesn't equate to winning new voters within Malaysia.

When looking closely at PAS, there is an almost perpetual struggle going on between the Ulama, or religious leaders and the professionals, technocrats, Anwaristas, and other progressives within the party. Occasionally members of the Ulama within PAS make pronouncements which lead to many voters developing a fear of the party due to its interpretation of Islam. This costs PAS votes as Malays tend to be moderate relative to many other Islamic societies. This however has generally been kept in check by leaders like Nik Aziz and Mat Sabu over the last few years.

According to PAS research director Dr. Dzulkefly Ahmad, PAS needs to woo the Malay youth and women voters. The youth vote is growing massively and changing the dynamics of elections, and PAS currently only holds around 40 percent of the Malay vote, being only 35 percent among women. UMNO's power house during elections is its women's division UMNO Wanita. If PAS is going to grow its electoral support, it must connect with the women and the younger generation.

Currently PAS is good at preaching to the converted. However its electoral support within the Malay heartland is on the decline. This electoral decline lost Kedah and failed in enabling the opposition to retake Perak. Even in the stronghold of Kelantan, PAS lost six seats although it continues to govern the state. Ironically PAS won in the multi-ethnic areas as a beneficiary of the PR coalition. PAS needs to make up this deficit if the PR is to have any chance of taking over the federal government.
PAS also needs to inspire the multi-ethnic electorate to maintain the support it has gained. Hudud is not going to help with any of these demographics. Many mistake Hudud for Islam because of PAS insistence on the issue. Sometimes PAS mistakes being Arabic for being Islamic , which looks frightening to many voters, particularly urban Malay youth. People don't vote for PAS because of Islam, but rather their dislike for the BN. A vote for PAS is not necessarily a vote for the ideals of the party.

The PAS philosophy that has been so successful in Kelantan cannot be translated nationally. The long premiership of Nik Aziz can be considered an extraordinary example of a leader who had special qualities and was able to appeal to the emotions and aspirations of the Kelantan people. PAS success in Kelantan has little national correlation. With Terengganu and Kedah losses, PAS still has to prove that it can govern.

The rumors of PAS-UMNO talks, fueled by a recent meeting between Kelantan MB Ahmad Yakob and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak continue to undermine and bring insecurity to the opposition, especially when at the closing of the recent PAS general Assembly, President Abdul Hadi Awang didn’t rule out the possibility of discussions.

As we have seen, policy has very little to do with who governs. It's about emotion and sentiment. It's not about exposing corruption and incompetence, but rather making people in rural Malaysia understand the difference between political parties and government. Otherwise the BN will always be the government and the PR be the opposition. It's also about realizing that those who will be the ones that decide who will be the next government in Putra Jaya are not middle class professionals in the cities but Pakchik and Makchik (Moms & Pops) in the rural areas. This is Perak, much of Johor, Pahang, Terengganu, Negeri Sembilan, Perlis, Sabah, Sarawak, and Kedah, which PR lost in the last election.

Most political analysts in Westminster systems would argue that governments lose elections rather than oppositions win them. However the Malaysian context may be different where the opposition needs to win the confidence and trust of the rural electorate. The major problem here is that most rural people don't know any other type of government. Issues such as the separation of party and state are difficult for many to understand. One of the beliefs that many Malays hold is that opposing UMNO is opposing the government. Many rural people have been brought up with the belief that only UMNO can protect their religion, way of life, and against Chinese economic domination.
Part of the reason UMNO has returned to the ultra Malay narrative and taken a strong Islamic stance is UMNO's feeling that it must compete with PAS to show it is the party with the best credentials to look after Malay interests. Consequently the current hudud law project has isolated Islam from the wider concept of Tawhid. Islamic proclamations and the strong stances we are witnessing are not benefitting the progression of Islam within Malaysia.

If PAS presented a more balanced Islamic world view, UMNO would have much greater room to move into the middle ground.

The Pakatan agenda has a massive influence on the behavior of the government. If the opposition was truly concerned about the consequences of its own political rhetoric, the leadership might consider changing approach, which no doubt would also benefit them electorally.

Anwar's "September 16" and Twitter message on election night that "PR has won the election" are difficult in being seen as constructive. Many perceive Anwar to be driven by ambition, hate, and a sense of revenge. His pledge to retire if PR didn't win the election has lost him credibility.

There is a segment of the population who have become disillusioned with the opposition over a number of issues. Anwar's antics, internal struggles, a potential political dynasty, lack of policy direction, and basic mistrust is keeping the PR from winning the federal elections. If the PR wants to win, they must take a hard inward look, rather than blame their loss on phantom voters.

Within the current stance, victory for the PR at the next election looks bleak. The members of the PR need to go back to the drawing board and return to the electorate with consistent and united policies and most of all learn how to engage rural communities. It is therefore not the alternative media that will be most important but the rural JKKKK committees, which is still the proven secret weapon of the BN.

In politics it doesn't matter what foreigners think of the present Malaysian government, or Anwar Ibrahim for that matter. It doesn't matter whether there is electoral fraud or not. Elections are not about the moral high-grounds or even what the majority wants. What matters is knowing the hand you are playing and winning the competition by the rules that exist. Otherwise a tired and scandal-laden government would have long been tossed out of office.

Unlike the post 2008 election period, the Malaysian electorate appears to be "burnt out" and has given up expectation and yearning for change. It's now very much suppressed. This is where the BN is likely to make up lost ground next election as the wave of change has reached the peak and will gently subside.

The PR urgently needs good strategists whose opinions are listened to. The PR must advance from being a one man crusade to becoming a true multi-dimensional coalition with a wide and varied intellectual input and consistent message.

Reform of the civil service: The NUCC is its last hope – Koon Yew Yin

To say that the newly established National Unity Consultative Council has been greeted with a big yawn by the public is too kind. Feedback so far especially over the uncensored internet has ranged from scepticism – “a political wayang” to the dismissive – “a waste of taxpayers’ money and time” and “expect NUCC to go the way of the 1Malaysia slogan”.

One reader has already predicted that “it will soon be known as the ‘No Use Consultative Council (NUCC)’”.

Part of the reason for the criticism is that among the group appointed to forge a new direction in national unity are some well-known apple polishers who have risen to where they are because of their prowess in flattering the Barisan Nasional.

On the bright side, those appointed could have been much worse – think of what outcome we will have if the Government had appointed Riduan Tee or Awang Selamat.

Another problem is the restricted terms of reference set up for the Council which can discuss only four subject areas - laws, the federal constitution, values and programmes. Why this limitation if not to prevent discussion of sensitive areas is the obvious conclusion to reach.

Include civil service reform in NUCC agenda

For me, if the Council really wants to be taken seriously, it should include the civil service as one of the areas of examination covering all the four topics. There is no doubt that one of the pivotal players in national unity – perhaps the most pivotal – is the civil service. Unlike the politicians of whom there are only a few tens of thousands, the civil service employs over 1.5 million staff. We have one of the highest if not the highest number of civil servants per capita in the world! Their actions and decisions extend into every area of life and affect all Malaysians – from the time when the child is in the womb until after he or she dies.

Let me put a question to the NUCC. Is it not clear that the drastic decline in national unity has coincided with an increasingly Malay dominated civil service with the non-Malay bumiputera component, increasingly marginalised and reduced to single digit numbers in terms of their participation in key national ministries and agencies?

It will be revealing if the Government can reveal the racial composition of the civil service today. According to one estimate the proportion of Malays in the civil service had grown from 60% in 1970 to 77% for the year 2005. Today nearly 10 years later what is the proportion of non-Malays in the civil service?

Is it 20%? Is it 15%; or perhaps even less? I am happy to see that the Malays have made big strides in participation in the private sector since 1969. But what about the participation of the non-Malays in the public sector which was promised to by the New Economic Policy?

If the Government had upheld the provision of the NEP calling for restructuring of the civil service to increase non-Malay participation, I am sure that the thousands of racially and religiously sensitive or controversial incidents happening almost on a daily basis nation-wide will be dramatically reduced.

A multi-racial and multi-religious civil service is the cornerstone of a united and social cohesive Malaysia. It is also the cornerstone of social and economic development as it ensures a representative system based more on merit.

Suggestions for NUCC

I would like to propose the following steps to be taken by the NUCC when it meets.

1. Request for data on the civil service racial composition and for the number to be broken down by government department – police; land and district offices; Ministry of Education; public universities; local councils; etc. This should be a time series for the past 20 years so they can see the actual situation in each major sector of the civil service.

2. Undertake a thorough and full evaluation of the implications of the trend towards a mono-ethnic civil service and examine whether this trend is desirable in the interest of national unity and social cohesion as well as national socio-economic development.

3. Make use of policy studies on the civil service and their proposals as a basis for a strategy of reform and to make the civil service more multi-racial. The most relevant one is the paper, Towards a Representative and World Class Civil Service. This was part of the studies in the Centre for Public Policy Studies report, Proposals for the Ninth Malaysia Plan, ASLI, Kuala Lumpur, February 2006. It provides a methodology for recruitment of non-Malays and rebalancing towards a multi-racial civil service which protects existing Malay rights. Members of the NUCC should review the methodology which provides a compromise for a more racially representative civil service that can be accepted by all communities.

Civil Service as the key cog of development

Malaysia's poor performance is largely due to the inefficient civil service. For any organization, business or government to do well, they must have good people to manage. The government must employ more non Malays and practice meritocracy in the selection and promotion of the employees.

Malaysians know that we started off in the 1960s well ahead of South Korea, Taiwan and on the same level as Singapore. Today, these countries are in a completely different league of development. The answer to the riddle of why they have moved ahead so quickly is partially due to their civil service. Focused, efficient, based on merit and most of all, united, they have been the engines of growth accounting for the remarkable progress made in their societies.

In contrast, the Malaysian civil service has followed a different trajectory. Unfocussed, inefficient, with merit a secondary factor in recruitment, not representative and hence a dis-unifying factor – it is no surprise that the civil service is a critical blockage to unity and development.

I am confident that the majority of the NUCC members will agree that the present racial composition of the civil service is adversely affecting national unity, social cohesion and economic competitiveness.

I hope the NUCC can rise to the challenge to push for the reform of the country’s civil service which can enable all communities to be represented in reasonable numbers and help Malaysia to rise above race and religion. – November 29, 2013.

*Koon Yew Yin reads The Malaysian Insider.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.

Government Will Continue To Focus On Human Capital Development - Najib

By Ahmad Fuad Yahya

JAKARTA, Nov 29 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak said the government will continue to focus on human capital development to make Malaysia a developed country.

The Prime Minister said the people were Malaysia's greatest asset and that huge investments in human capital development can guarantee a better future for Malaysia.

"I believe in equal access to education, we must create opportunities as wide as possible but we cannot ensure equal outcomes as this depends on our own efforts.

"If we work hard, we will get better results than others (who don't work as hard)," he said at a dinner with Malaysian students in Indonesia at the multi-purpose hall of the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta in Kuningan, South Jakarta here Friday night.

Najib said Malaysia each year gave the largest allocation for the moulding of new generations through education and continued to give scholarships for its students to pursue studies abroad, in almost all corners of the world .

At the event, the prime minister launched the Jakarta iM4u Outreach Centre, the third international outreach centre after London and New York.

He also presented a RP37 million (RM10,000) cheque to the Jakarta iM4U Outreach Centre to organise volunteer activities.

Najib urged Malaysian students in Indonesia involved in the iM4U volunteer movement to provide services to orphanages, old folk homes and mosques so that Malaysia would be held in high regard by locals.

To date, 700,000 volunteers have registered with the iM4U movement which boasted 1,500 projects.

On the Malaysian Medical Association's claim that there are too many medical students graduating every year and not enough hospitals to train them, Najib said the government would ensure that all medical graduates would be able to do housemanship and get jobs.