SakmongkolAK47 on Leadership

July 5, 2010

www.sakmongkol.blogspot.com

SakmongkolAK47: We need a strong, determined and serious leadership.

We trivialise things when we say we shouldnt believe what the opposition says because they are the opposition. This line of thinking means that as the opposition they will always lie about facts and the truth. The opposition is driven by one aim that of denigrating its opponents.

How valid is such a proposition?

If its true, then whatever UMNO says in Kelantan, Penang, Kedah, the Federal Territory, Selangor and even Perak should not be believed at all. It is drivel. Why? Because in these places they ARE the opposition. And the opposition will always politicise facts and truth, and that they are twisted and demented people.

What do we have then? We have a political Mexican standoff. We cant move because to do so would place us at a disadvantage. The reasons why we are at this stage are because we did not address the issue head-on when it was a minor problem.

When Balasubramaniam surfaced and talked about how the carpet-seller Deepak and the PMs brother corrupted him by offering RM5 million, everyone says that was just a lie. He was even able to produce a cheque or something, how did we refute that? We refuted it dismissively, saying it was not true and its all a fabrication and a figment of the imagination of a heinous person.

No one took up the issue seriously. The person most affected by the allegation, the PM, repeated a mere statement, saying that it was a lie. What would a serious leader do? He would haul the person alleging a very serious thing to court and have the court deal with the accuser and liar seriously. At the very least, sue the accuser for defamation or something.

Ge t hold of the carpet-seller and charge him in court for abetting people out to defame and overthrow a legitimate PM and his government. Maybe even a charge of treason punishable by death. The allegations brought by this Bala are not a walk in the park which can be treated in a most cavalier and dismissive manner.

We shouldnt be dismissive about things such as this. Balas allegations should be confronted with our own clear and firm denial. The veracity can only be established by an independent team of verifiers and adjudicators.

Wrong move number one.

We should fire the PMs advisers. In the United States, a sitting president would be impeached and testimony taken from him. That is the only way to exonerate him or to have him removed.

Our objective should be to prove that what Bala and his conspirators say are untruths. The facts and stories they produced must be matched by equally convincing refuting facts and story. Its never sufficient and much less convincing to brush them off by saying these are just politically motivated stories.

Wrong move number two.

By repeating this defective manufactured story linking what Bala or RPK want to say as machinations of the opposition and therefore they MUST be lies. Fire your stupid minister or ministers who suggest this storyline because of a perceived link between RPK and Bala and PKR, then these are all lies.

Why should anyone be prevented from meeting up with RPK? He hasnt committed any crime and if he has, then the long arm of the law should be sufficient to bring him back. The inability of our own law-enforcing agency to bring him back from the UK would suggest that we have not got sufficient standing to have RPK extradited. We havent got a case against him. If we have, then the UK law-enforcing agency must be the stupidest in the world for not working alongside to enforce valid laws.

This the home minister hasnt answered but he is! busy te lling stories about the link between RPK and PKR. Probably some UMNO people will even say these people are the same because the syllables in their names are the same.

Whats so saddening about allowing the MACC to go to London and expose the vicious lies and innuendos that this Bala is doing? And we can also expose the possibility that RPK and Zaid and PKR are the people behind the plot to overthrow the legitimate government through an extra judicial means.

We need a strong, determined and serious leadership.

* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de plume of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz. He was Pulau Manis assemblyman (2004-2008).

See What Barisan Nasional Gotta Say?

Lakonan komedi ala P Ramlee

Mula-mula, kita dengar PM Najib kata beliau penuh yakin polis akan menangkap Raja Petra; tapi dah 12 bulan polis tak buat apa-apa. Dan betul lah saperti kata Khairy, Raja Petra selalu ada di khalayak ramai, di London dan Manchester. Kalau saya dan ratusan rakyat Malaysia tahu dan dah pun bertemu dengan Raja Petra, takkan Polis tak tahu. Mustahil.

Begitu jugalah Bala. Dia pun ada di London. Minggu depan, dia akan ka Paris untuk bertemu dengan pihak penyiasatan Perancis. Tapi Polis Malaysia tak berminat bertemu dengn kedua-dua manusia ini. Persoalannya mengapa? Yang dihebohkan oleh Menteri Hishammuddin, MP Zahrain dan Utusan Malaysia ialah apa hubungan saya dengan Raja Petra. Soalan yang patut ditanya: mengapa tidak ada tindakan terhadap Raja Petra kalau dia ada membuat kesilapan? Beritahulah kepada rakyat apa dia kesalahan itu. Ada waran yang dikeluarkan untuk menangkapnya? Setahu saya, tidak ada. Jadi kalau Raja Petra tidak membuat apa-apa kesalahan, mengapa pula saya tak boleh tengok bolasepak dengannya?

Sebenarnya, PM Najib takut kapada kedua-dua manusia ini. Lalu berlakonlah mereka, kononnya Raja Petra dilaporkan berada di Brisbane, Australia dan di mana saja. Mereka sebenarnya tahu dimana Raja Petra dan di mana Bala. Malah Polis telah pun bertemu Bala di Bangkok, tetapi setakat ini, membisu sahaja. Inilah yang rakyat mahu tahu, mengapa tidak ada siasatan terbuka terhadap kedua-dua mereka ini. PM Najib berkata kita tidak boleh percaya kepada Raja Petra; tetapi kita juga tak boleh percaya buta tuli kepada PM Najib. Jadi buatlah satu penyiasatan yang bebas dan terbuka, dan beri jaminan kepada kedua-dua mereka tentang keselamatan diri dan keluarga mereka, dan jaminan mereka tidak akan ditahan dibawah ISA. Saya percaya mereka akan pulang ke Malaysia untuk mempertahankan kenyataan mereka yang dibuat tempoh hari. Dan jika mereka benar-benar kaki penipu dan memalukan pemimpin negara, maka hukumlah mereka. Itu cara pemimpin yang reformis dan baik, bukan berlakon menggunakan Polis dan akhbar me! nimbulka n buruk sangka setiap hari terhadap orang lain.

Saya terpaksa berhenti disini. Nak ka Holiday Villa London dalam masa sejam lagi nak bertemu Bala. Bukan apa. Kerana Polis dan MACC tak mahu dan takut bertemu Bala dan Petra, saya dan kawan kawan akan belanja mereka ais kacang.

Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

Keep some for us lah ... DAP to UMNO for Pakatan

DAP wants Petronas to keep half its profits

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

July 05, 2010

Pua said Petronas could not afford to maintain “sky-high” dividend payments to the government. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 — The DAPtoday demanded that the Najib administration drafts legislation for Petronas to retain at least 50 per cent of its profits for future reinvestments.

DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua accused the government of “milking” Petronas dry to “top up the coffers of the federal treasury” for the past six years, which has resulted in a sharp decline of Petronas profits available for reinvestment.

“We call upon the prime minister to protect Petronas... by legislating that Petronas retain at least 50 per cent of its profits for future reinvestments,” said Pua.

Last Friday, news reports stated that profits of Petronas Malaysia had dropped 24.5 per cent to RM67.3 billion in the 2010 financial year, and that Petronas’ financial contributions to the government had declined RM16.4 billion to RM57.6 billion.

“It was also announced that Petronas had maintained a dividend of RM30 billion to the government, the same amount as in 2009, despite the sharp decline in profits.

“The dividend payable by Petronas, as per any other company must be dictated by the needs of the company and not by the wants of the shareholders, in this case the Malaysian government.

“Given that Petronas is in need of substantial investment in capital expenditure to ‘[increase] recoverability from existing oil and gas fields’, a greater proportion of profits should be retained by the company to invest and ensure higher profits in the future.

“A company should only have a high dividend payout ratio when it no longer has utilisation of the profits to generate additional future profits, which is clearly not the case for the capital intensive oil and gas industry,” explained Pua.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP provided reporters with a table on the “utilisation of Petronas profits from the years 2005 to 2010.”

Based on the figures given, the amount of profit for Petronas reinvestment declined from 42.5 percent in 2008 to 13.5 percent in 2010.

Meanwhile, the dividend payout ratio reached 74 per cent in 2010 compared to 57 per cent in 2009.

“In 2005, the dividends to the government was only RM9.1 billion, before it was increased to RM13 billion (2006), RM 20 billion (2007), RM 24 billion (2008) and RM30 billion (2009). The company clearly cannot afford to maintain sky-high dividends for the government despite the sharp drops in profits,” added Pua.

Pua also demanded that the government legislates that at least 20 per cent of dividend payouts be saved in a National Stimulus Fund, to be used during “economically challenging times if economic growth exceeds three per cent per annum.”

“The windfall revenue should only be invested in economically productive and necessary sectors such as human capital, renewable energy and green technology,” said the DAP man.

Khalid Ibrahims Vision and Action Plan for Selangor Darul Ehsan

July 5, 2010

Khalid Ibrahims Vision and Action Plan for Selangor Darul Ehsan

by Dr. Ong Kian Ming*

COMMENT This week is Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahims first full week back at work after the supposed coup attempt against him. It was also announced at the end of last week that Khalids office would coordinate and lead the effort to produce a vision and action plan for Selangor for the next three years.

What should the different stakeholders expect from this plan? More importantly, can this plan be sufficient to ensure Khalids survival as Selangor MB in the next six months or so? And if so, can it help shore up the already flagging support, especially among the Malays, for the Pakatan Rakyat government in Selangor?

Finally, would the unveiling and subsequent execution of this plan be sufficient to placate Khalids rival Azmin Ali as well as the other disgruntled party leaders within PKRs ranks?

It would be a mistake to say that this new vision and action plan is only window dressing and hence, does not hold much policy or political implications. As the previous Malaysian plans have shown, at the very least, these plans have structured the spending decisions and priorities on the part of the federal government, even if they were not strictly adhered to. In the case of Selangor, the shortened timeline due to the heightened political stakes only increases the significance of this plan.

What would I, as a political analyst, look for in such a plan? I would look for the presence (or the absence) of four major components, most of which are explicitly spelt out but some of which can be implicitly implied.

The first component I would look out for are the actionable items. If I were to quickly wade through the hi! gh-level spin and grand-sounding vision statements, I will look for any specific action plans which can be quickly implemented, perhaps even as the details of this plan are being discussed and debated at the committee level as it is being unveiled.

Khalid simply does not have the luxury of time to sit idle while a high-level policy committee (made up of academics, politicians and NGO representatives) deliberates on the plan. While these actionable items should cover a broad constituent, I would look to see if there are any interesting ideas emerging from the MBs office and the policy committee in regard to reaching out to the rural Malay voters, which are slowly but surely slipping out of the grasp of Pakatan in Selangor (and in other states too, I might add).

The second component I would look out for is how Pakatan plans to market this plan. Of course, the marketing strategy itself would not be outlined in this plan. But if some of the components are designed with the intention of already using them to market to specific constituents i.e. the rural Malays for example, then it would be a sign that the drafters of the plan had already considered the marketing and communications strategy, much of which has been poorly executed under the current team in the Selangor state government.

How different will it be from 10MP?

The third component I would look out for is to see how much or how little this plan tries to differentiate itself from the 10th Malaysia plan.

It would be a mistake for the policy drafters to distance itself completely from the 10th Malaysian Plan and even the ideas which are emerging from the National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) labs, coordinated and headed by Pemandu, with the help of many young, motivated and energetic Malaysians from within the ranks of Pemandu and from the ranks of the various industry players (and some expensive foreign consultants).

Some of the ideas emerging from the Greater KL NKEA lab will require the cooperation and input of the Selangor state government. (It is interesting to note that no one from the MBs office was invited to participate as one of the stakeholders in the Greater KL NKEA).

The extent to which the ideas from this specific lab and others such as the education and healthcare labs are incorporated into the Selangor vision and action plan and the extent to which new ideas are demonstrated in this plan are interesting markers because they indicate the presence or absence of strategic thinking in this dimension of policy making and policy implementation.

For example, the 10th Malaysia Plan emphasises the role of the private sector in driving future economic growth in the country. It would be a nice contrast if the Selangor vision and action plan has a much more inclusive driving force behind growth in the state which includes all of the stakeholders government, private sector, NGOs, private citizens in a economically and socially inclusive manner, even in the manner in which their opinions are sought, processed and then included in the final plan.

Finally, I would examine the comprehensiveness and coherence of such plan. While it would be unrealistic to expect such a committee to come up with a very extensive and comprehensive plan in three months or so, it would be a mistake to just focus on three or four main areas since the stakeholders who have been left out would criticise the plan (and perhaps rightly so).

While some of these ideas may only appear as a footnote or in the appendix, at least the stakeholders in these areas would feel that they were part of the process of creating this policy and hence would be more inclined to support it. And once these ideas are on the table, so to speak, the likelihood ! of them appearing again in a future document and hence, the likelihood of it being implemented would be higher as well.

Opportunity for Azmin to prove himself

What would, or should, newly appointed Selangor PKR chief Azmin Ali then do? The conventional way of doing things would be for him to distance himself from such a plan. If it doesnt work, then Khalid gets the blame and Azmin can swoop in for the rescue.

In fact, Azmin would be perfectly justified in not wanting to get involved, if lets say, Khalid asked him to be part of the steering committee for this plan since Azmin is now in charge of political affairs of PKR in the state of Selangor.

Azmins political skills are very well suited for this task especially since Khalid does not or cannot deal with the issues related to building the institutional and financial capacity of the party. If Azmin can do this job well, leave Khalid alone on the policy front and protect Khalid from being attacked from within, then he would be on the way to proving himself as a national leader.

Of course, Khalid also has to play ball with Azmin since he, in his capacity as MB, holds the key to the coffers of the state government, so to speak. But if I were Azmin, Id go a step further. Accept Khalids invitation, if one was forthcoming, to join this committee and find ways to contribute ideas to this committee. In fact, he should use his position on this committee to demonstrate his own vision of what Selangor can and should look like.

For example, he can always use his blog or other alternative channels to publish short concept papers on specific policy areas in which he has or in the process of recommending to the committee to adopt, and so on and so forth. This way, its a win-win situation for both Azmin and Khalid.

Both! leader s share the blame, but hopefully, and more likely, both share the credit as well. This would be the way for Azmin to truly make his mark as a national leader to show that he is capable of managing the political as well as the policy aspects of the state and by extension, the country.

*ONG KIAN MING holds a PhD in political science from Duke University. He is in the process of setting up a Masters in Public Policy (MPP) course at UCSI University, formerly known as Sedaya. The views expressed here are his own.

Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

Muhyiddin should explain whether 1Malaysia is meaningless slogan or serious policy ... Ah Kit

No need to worry, Daddy of DPM wannabe, Mr. Ah Kit.

Muhyiddin Yassin is a non-factor, what he said is never important. He is just a mouthpiece for the pariah camp. Read my latest column: FuckYeahMalaysia to find why ...? And for the record, you are the least qualified person to talk about Malaysia Malaysian or whatever people power concept you may have ciplak from the People Power Portal.

Don't forget, you are traitor of the Chinese community, and you remain so. NB: Anwar and Nik Aziz never betray the Chinese, you did.

Muhyiddin should explain whether 1Malaysia is meaningless slogan or serious policy to make Malaysia more competitive by creating a nation where every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first and race second?

Deputy Prime Minister and UMNO Deputy President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin is getting very defensive.

In Parit Sulong yesterday, Muhyiddin accused me of being more “racist” than him and defended his earlier statement that he is Malay first and Malaysian second, and he asked:

“Tanya Lim Kit Siang sama dia akan mengaku Cina atau bangsa Malaysia.”

It will be tragic if after 53 years of nation-building since Merdeka in 1957, Malaysian politics is reduced to political leaders exchanging allegations of who is more racist.

Firstly, let me state that I have not called Muhyiddin an “ultra”. However, he owes a full accounting to all Malaysians as to whether he really supports the 1Malaysia policy advocated by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and whether Najib’s 1Malaysia is a meaningless slogan or a serious policy to make Malaysia more vibrant, productive and competitive where every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first and race second?

I did not invent this definition of 1Malaysia. This definition is clearly spelt out in the official documentation on 1Malaysia, the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme Roadmap released by the government in January this year, which states:

“The goal of 1Malaysia is to make Malaysia more vibrant, more productive and more competitive – and ultimately a greater nation: a nation where, it is hoped, every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first, and by race, religion, geographical region or socio-economic background second and where the principles of 1Malaysia are woven into the economic, political and social fabric of society.”

Muhyiddin again challenged me to state whether I am Chinese or Malaysian first.

I had already stated in Parliament that I am a Malaysian first and Chinese second. I am proud of my ethnicity but I have always believed that all Malaysians must rise above their ethnic, cultural, religious and geographic differences to seek a common bond with the Malaysian identity transcending all ethnic, cultural, religious and geographic identities.

The question Muhyiddin should answer is why despite Najib’s 1Malaysia policy, not only he but there is not a single Barisan Nasional Cabinet Minister who is prepared to stand up in Parliament to declare that he is Malaysian first and his or her race second?

In fact, I have a question in the current meeting of Parliament asking the Prime Minister to state how many Cabinet Ministers, and to name them, who regard himself or herself as Malaysian first and race second in line with the 1Malaysia policy and definition.

However, this question was ruled out of order on the flimsiest of grounds when the real reason is that the Prime Minister will not be able to answer this question without causing the greatest embarrassment to his 1Malaysia policy – as up to now no Cabinet Minister is prepared to stand up to declare that he or she is Malaysian first and race second.

If this is the position, where no Cabinet Minister is prepared to fully and publicly espouse the philosophy of 1Malaysia, how could the principles of 1Malaysia” be “woven into the economic, political and social fabric of society”?

It is precisely because of this lack of commitment to the goal of 1Malaysia that the New Economic Model (NEM) has met such a quick demise in the 10th Malaysia Plan.

Just to give one example. The NEM drew a picture of Malaysia in crisis, caught in economic stagnation and the middle-income trap for close to two decades.

It admitted: “We are not developing talent and what we have is leaving. The human capital situation in Malaysia is reaching a critical stage. The rate of outward migration of skilled Malaysians is raising rapidly.”

The answer of the Tenth Malaysia Plan is a Talents Corporation but without any political will to address the real problem for the damaging brain drain which has plagued the country for decades which had been rightly diagnosed by the NEM, viz:

“Globalisation has created a fierce competition for talent, forcing companies and government to recognize that people are the most valuable assets. To compete on a regional and global scale, Malaysia must retain and attract talent. Malaysia must be seen by its people and by others as a land of equal opportunity to earn a good living and provide a secure happy life for each individual and the family.”

In other words, 1Malaysia not in sloganeering but in reality – where Malaysians feel that they are Malaysians first and race second in all economic, political and social aspects in the country.

I have suggested a 1Malaysia Royal Commission of Inquiry on how to achieve the goal of making every Malaysian perceive himself or herself as Malaysian first and race second so that Malaysia can become more vibrant, more productive and more competitive.

Is Muhyiddin prepared to support this proposal?

Friends of Pakatan Rakyat???

Ha ha ha ... Friends of Pakatan Rakyat. Why am I laughing? Not too sure, I guess it has something to do with the latest column: FuckYeahMalaysia ... Maybe Anwar should consider to start a FuckYeahPakatan ... Ha, ha, ha

Friends of Pakatan Rakyat

romerz

7/4/2010

As I write this post, I'm watching a live stream of the official launch of Friends of Pakatan Rakyat in London, courtesy of my good friend using Skype to feed the stream for my benefit. Unfortunately the WiFi connection had been intermittent so I was only able to see and hear bits and pieces of the launch and unable to write an accurate narrative of the event. You will have to wait for the recorded YouTube version which I believe will be uploaded soon.

Here are some snapshots (in real time) I took through tools provided for by Skype despite being 10,552km away from the event. (The wonders of technology these days !)

The panel of speakers above consists of seven persons, (from L to R, not including the moderator) Raja Petra Kamarudin, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, Dr Tan Seng Giaw, Dr Hatta Ramli, unrecognizable, Nurul Izzah Anwar and unrecognizable.

Friends of Pakatan Rakyat is intended as an organization with the objective "to harness the global strength of highly qualified Malaysians and former Malaysians living and working abroad to tap into their expertise and financial strength in preparedness for GE 13." Apart from the official launch in London, UK, similar events are being duplicated throughout Europe, Canada, USA, New Zealand, Australia, Asia, etc.

For more information about Friends of Pakatan Rakyat and how you can contribute to a better and just Malaysia, join them on FaceBook - Friends of Pakatan Rakyat.

Malaysia is a beautiful country with many talents but unfortunately scattered all over the world because of you know who and what. There is still time yet to salvage the situation but that can only happen if we walk the talk about how much we love and miss our country whenever we are away. Do something, even if it is just getting a recalcitrant young relative to vote, share ideas with politicians who did not have a chance to experience life overseas, help the politicians from PR change our country and pave the way for your return HOME!

Coalition For The International Criminal Court

Anwar Ibrahim

From http://www.iccnow.org/

Global Coalition Urges Malaysia to Ratify the Rome Statute

Says ICC Accession should be a Priority to Ensure Accountability

The Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC)—a global network of more than 2,500 non-governmental and civil society organizations—called on Malaysia to demonstrate its commitment to international justice and the rule of law by acceding to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The CICC has chosen Malaysia as the target for its July 2010 Universal Ratification Campaign (URC), a monthly campaign launched to encourage countries to join the Court.

In a letter dated 1 July 2010 to Prime Minister The Hon. Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak, the CICC urged Malaysia to accede to the Rome Statute—the founding treaty of the first permanent international court capable of trying perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. With Bangladesh’s ratification in March 2010, 111 states have now acceded to or ratified the treaty, and 139 are signatories.

The CICC advised the Prime Minister to continue prioritizing accession of the Rome Statute in order to ensure that progress towards Malaysian accession to the Rome Statute is not lost. William Pace, Convener of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, encouraged Malaysia to demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law: “Our CICC members in Malaysia have great respect for democracy and the rule of law. We believe the government of Malaysia can advance these principles and continue to set an example nationally and throughout Asia by ratifying the Treaty for the International Criminal Court.” The CICC’s renewed call for Malaysia’s accession follows the conclusion of the first Review Conference of the Rome Statute that took place in Kampala from 31 May to 11 June 2010.

Furthermore, the CICC applauds the remarks of Mr. Mohamed Nazri, Minister of Law and Parliamentary Affairs of Malaysia, during his speech at the Sixth Consultative Assembly of Parliamentarians for Global Action’s ICC and the Rule of Law section on 27 – 28 May 2010, as he expressed, “Malaysia cannot fail in its duty to stand with the rest of the world in ending impunity.” Mr. Nazri further urged Asian countries to “stand in the forefront of this endeavor to transform the ‘culture of impunity’ into a ‘culture of responsibility.’”

Evelyn Serrano, CICC Asia Regional Coordinator, stressed that “Malaysia’s accession to the Rome Statute can have a significant impact on other countries in the region, particularly in the ASEAN and other inter-governmental bodies such as the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), where Malaysia plays an active role.”

Once Malaysia joins the Court, the under-represented Asia/Pacific region will have a much stronger voice at the ICC and can participate in a more meaningful manner. Currently, only seven Asian states—Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mongolia, and Timor-Leste—are member states of the Court. Malaysia’s accession will spur other states in the region to join the growing global movement for accountability for the most serious crimes.

As a state party, Malaysia would be able to actively participate in the annual Assembly of States Parties (ASP) of the ICC during which states make important decisions in relation to the administration of the Court, including the election of judges and prosecutors.

There are currently 111 ICC States Parties. Central to the Court’s mandate is the principle of complementarity, which holds that the Court will only intervene if national legal systems are unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. There are currently five active investigations before the Court: the Central African Republic; the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Darfur, the Sudan; Uganda, and Kenya.

Is this supposed to be a joke? According to "FuckYEahMalaysia", it seems this must be a joke ...

Jui Meng tipped to take over as Johor PKR chief amid GE talk

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

For those who have been wondering why Umno-BN pushed the Johor Sultan into revoking the two datuk titles of PKRs Chua Jui Meng, now they know.

The former Health Minister is widely tipped to be appointed chairman of Johor PKR, in a move aimed at strengthening the partys machinery in the state ahead of national polls widely speculated to take place soon.


Jui Meng left the BN to join PKR in 2009. A top leader in the Chinese community, Jui Meng was among the five most powerful men in the MCA during his heyday, respected for his suave and refined oratory.

Although, the MCA did not select him to contest in the 2004 general election, the former Bakri MP still wields considerable influence, prompting his ex-BN colleagues to try and discredit him as much as possible before PKR formally announces his appointment.

MCA president Chua Soi Lek, whose son Tee Yong is the MP for Labis, is believed to have been among those who plotted the Sultan's withdrawal of the datukships. Their aim was to disgrace Jui Meng, but the plan backfired and instead helped the PKR leader to gain nationwide publicity and voter sympathy.

This is a Johor power play. But it is not just Soi Lek. Frankly, he doesnt have the guts to move alone without the backing of top Johor Umno leaders. Muhyiddins name has also been mentioned, an MCA watcher had told Malaysia Chronicle.

He was referring to Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

Related Stories:
Chua Jui Meng mangsa Umno?
Of Jui Meng and Karpal: Another blot on the Sultan...
Jui Meng a victim of Johor power play by Soi Lek, Umno...
See What Barisan Nasional Gotta Say?

Prime Minister Najib and the Murder Case of Mongolian Model, Altantuya, the alleged Mistress of Najib and Baginda

Read here in MALAYSIA CHRONICLE for more

Related Articles on the murder of Altanatuya: Read HERE and HERE and HERE



Najib, Rosmah and Altantuya

In a defensive move aimed at pre-empting calls for his resignation ahead of lurid details that are bound to emerge next week highlighting his role and relationship in the Altantuya murder and submarines graft case, Prime Minister Najib Razak has warned Malaysians not to believe top blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who operates the popular news portal Malaysia Today ( http://malaysia-today.net/ ).

If Raja Petra is funded by the opposition, it means that his statements are politically-motivated. We should weigh them carefully and not merely accepting them, Najib was quoted telling national news agency Bernama.

Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor have been implicated in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder as well as a billion-ringgit submarines graft case by a private investigator, P Balasubramaniam, who ironically was hired by the PM's close friend Razak Baginda.

Why disallow MACC from going to London then?



Baginda had instructed Bala, a former police officer, to stop Altantuya from blackmailing him. The 28-year old Mongolian translator had threatened to blow the whistle on his role in receiving alleged kickbacks from the government's purchase of two Scorpene submarines worth RM6.7 billion in 2002. Najib, who was then the defense minister, had ordered the acquisition even though there had been public disquiet about the submarines' effectiveness in patrolling Malaysia's shallow-watered coastline.

Due to the Najib administration's refusal to initiate any graft probe, civil rights groups led by SUARAM have earlier this year lodged a complaint with the French police. They are trying to claim back on behalf of Malaysian taxpayers the alleged kickback ! from Fre nch naval firm DCNS, who sold the Scorpenes to the defense ministry.

Batu MP Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle:
"If Najib is serious about his credibility and the reputation of the country, he would have ordered the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission to go to London and take down Balas statement next week.

But he didnt. Instead, the indications are that he ordered the MACC, no doubt through the Attorney-General, to not go to London. If Bala reveals all the details, it will go on public record. Somehow, sometime, somewhere, someone will eventually dig out the case and the truth will be revealed to the world.

This is what the Najib administration wants to avoid. So it is not Raja Petra or Balasubramaniam, it is Najib himself that Malaysians should be wary of and think carefully about before they believe anything he says."In the past few days, a busy stream of Umno supporters including Bayan Baru MP Zahrain Mohd Hashim have been hurling accusations at PKR co-ordinator Zaid Ibrahim for having links to Raja Petra. Zahrain even warned he had photos of the two men together and urged the MACC to investigate who was funding Bala, who now lives overseas in self-exile for fear of his safety and that of his familys.

Najibs cousin Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein too has joined the chorus seeking to highlight the link between the Pakatan Rakyat and Raja Petra in an apparent attempt to deflect public attention and create suspicion for what Bala may reveal at his press conference next week.

Hishammuddin even went so far as to suggest that it was wrong for anyone to have any contact with the fugitive blogger.

Like Bala, Raja Petra lives overseas in self-exile. He was prosecuted for criminally defaming Najib and Rosmah, but says the charges were maliciously trumped up by the Attorney-General, Gani Patail.

Despite being forced out of the country, he still is able to operate his website and also keep in contact with his wide network of high-level government sources.
PK R vice president Sivarasa Rasiah told Malaysia Chronicle:
"Of course, Najib and Umno will want to throw the blame back on Pakatan and PKR in particular. But if it seems that Pakatan leaders, for example DAP's Karpal Singh and Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, are frequently involved in the two cases, it is because they have no choice"

It is their job, their duty as the champions of the people. Whoever has been downtrodden and bullied can always approach us and we will try to help them.

Look at Altantuya's family - Najib's judiciary insisted on a security deposit before allowing her father to take up a case against the AG.

If Pakatan wanted to 'buy' them, we would have paid the RM60,000 for them but we did not. In the end, it was the Mongolian government, which gave them the funds.

So, what Najib is trying to do now is to wriggle out from his own dirt."Despite the MACC chickening out on next week's meeting scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, Bala has vowed to conduct a press conference on July 7 to debrief the Malaysian public and the world at large on what has transpired since he re-surfaced in late 2009 after a year in hiding in several Asian countries, including India.

So far, he has revealed that he was offered a RM5 million ringgit bribe by Najibs brother Nazim Razak and Rosmah's friend Deepak Jaikishan to retract a damning statutory declaration he made in 2008. He was also asked to leave Malaysia and keep silent on the case.

In the 2008 statutory declaration , Bala revealed that Baginda told him Altantuya had been Najibs mistress and she had come to Malaysia to claim her US$500,000 share of the commission from the Scorpenes deal. The beautiful 28-year old speaks four languages including Russian and is believed to have helped Baginda in negotiations with DCNS.

It has also been reported by French newspaper La Liberation that a jealous Rosmah put her foot down when she foun! d out he r rival was in town and refused to let Baginda pay her a cent.

The talk in the coffe-shops throughout the nation is that a pregnant Altantuya had asked for a RM10 million settlement. Najib and Rosmah have denied ever knowing her, although Baginda has admitted having an affair with her.

Two former bodyguards of the first couple have been sentenced to hang for Altantuyas murder even though they never met her before the night of her killing. The Altantuya trial has remained fresh in the minds of the Malaysian people, who are intrigued by her haunting beauty and sympathize with the brutal way in which her body was blown to bits with military-grade C4 explosives to prevent identification.

Malaysians also remember because several key question were never allowed to be asked throughout the court case: was there anyone and who was it who ordered her murder?
Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

NY Times Sunday Book Review: The Icarus Syndrome

July 5, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/13/books/review/Gelb-t.html

THE ICARUS SYNDROME: A History of American Hubris (By Peter Beinart)

Review by Leslie H. Gelb*(June 3, 2010)

For all their daily efforts to disembowel one another, American foreign policy experts agree on one thing: the United States needs a new, coherent and practical strategy for the 21st century. Peter Beinarts Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris doesnt attain this policy nirvana. Still, its a highly readable and useful hundred-year account of American ventures abroad that can serve as a path to understanding past failures and uncovering why policy renewal is now proving so elusive.

Thomas L. Friedman tried to provide a new strategy by proclaiming in The World Is Flat that globalization had leveled power among strong and weak. But while he rightly concentrated on economics, he palpably misread a world where international power remains highly tiered.

The journalist Fareed Zakaria provocatively titled his book The Post-American World, which suggested the rise of a new era led by China and others. But in fact his text portrayed a world with America still on top, even if weaker than before. Zakaria was right to place Beijing and economics at the core of any new thinking, yet he offered no strategy for working with a China that now wants everything and offers little in return.

In perhaps the most coherent of recent policy books, The Return of History and the End of Dreams, Robert Kagan of the Carnegie Endowment correctly reminded Americans of the worlds evils. But his answers fell back on neoconservative bromides about prevailing with greater will, more threats and superior military power, seemingly all in the service of promoting democracy.

Beinart, a journalist and an associate profes! sor at t he City University of New York, shifts this search for a new strategy away from the international arena to American society and character. The source of the nations foreign policy woes, he argues, lies not in the stars but in ourselves. His thesis is not new, but it is indefatigably rendered: Americas shortcomings flow entirely from hubris or overconfidence, much as the mythical Icarus perished because he flew too near the sun.

Beinart blames Woodrow Wilsons diplomatic failures on the hubris of reason the belief that a wise America could educate other nations into a permanent peace built on fairness and collective security, as opposed to self-interest. He goes on to chastise Lyndon Johnson for the hubris of toughness the misguided belief that through unyielding force America could halt Communisms march anywhere in the world. Finally, he clobbers George W. Bush for the hubris of dominance, an awkward phrase that he defines as the belief that America could make itself master of every important region on earth.

This is far too much historical water for any single concept to bear. Wilsons misconceptions sprang as much from idealism as from reason the same sort of idealism that today leads to foolish dreams about softening Islamic extremists with understanding and love. And while Johnson was seduced from time to time by toughness, that wasnt the main explanation for the escalation of the war in Vietnam. The United States fought because of a conviction that Vietnam was in danger of becoming the first of many Asian dominoes to fall to Communism. Domestic politics reinforced this notion: losing would be seen as weakness and would cause the fall of the ultimate domino the White House. Johnson was driven less by hubris than by a sense of being trapped: he felt he couldnt win and he couldnt get out.

As for Bushs lu! nge into Iraq, he certainly believed he could vanquish a tin-horn dictator like Saddam Hussein. What drove him to battle, however, was a desire not simply to strut his power, but also to redress what he saw as his fathers greatest mistake, letting Hussein survive the Persian Gulf war of 1991. Even more, the invasion flowed from Bushs view that Hussein was close to developing nuclear weapons. (Its worth mentioning that most foreign policy experts, including Beinart and me, did not dissent from this line of thinking.)

In his devotion to the explanatory magic of hubris, Beinart touches on, but glides over, the dual nature of the American character, society and politics. Yes, overconfidence can result in excess. Yet its roots rest in the can-do spirit of Americans, a virtue that has led to great ventures like NATO and the Marshall Plan.

Yes, ideology triggers bizarre commitments to bring democracy to countries run by corrupt and ineffective leaders. Yet American principles are also what drove Washington to prevent genocide in Bosnia and Kosovo, even as civilized Europeans averted their eyes. And yes, domestic politics have produced unconscionable losses in lives and treasure. Yet American democracy has always fixed itself and rebounded. So much of what is bad about the United States is the flip side of what is good about the United States. That is why Americas demons dogmatic principles, self-destructive politics and the arrogance of power can never be eliminated, only juggled by great leaders.

When Beinart shelves his Icarus metaphor, he usefully grapples with the practical impediments to making good policy. He explores how presidents have trapped themselves by exaggerating American power. John F. Kennedy pretended that Nikita Khrushchev removed Soviet missiles from Cuba without getting anything in return, when in truth the United States secretly agreed to remove missiles from Turkey. An artful compromise was presented as an outright unilateral triumph, which taught A! mericans a false lesson about the invincibility of toughness, rather than one about the limits of power.

Beinart repeatedly points out the virtues of restraint. He notes that Dwight Eisenhower rejected the militarys advice to try to win the Korean War and unify the peninsula. Instead, Eisenhower vaguely threatened the use of nuclear weapons and negotiated a truce. More broadly, both Harry Truman and Eisenhower strove to contain Communism without committing troops to combat, relying instead on covert operations, enhancing Americas nuclear retaliatory threat and strengthening Western economies.

Ronald Reagan followed suit, Beinart explains, refusing to spill American blood in El Salvador and Nicaragua, and pulling Marines out of Lebanon before that country exploded. He wound down the cold war by embracing cooperation over confrontation with Mikhail Gorbachev. Soviet Communism collapsed, Beinart writes, not because Reagan made America more frightening, but because he made it less so.

The first President Bush also treasured restraint. He refrained from ordering troops into Baghdad to unseat Hussein because he didnt want to assume responsibility for running an Arab country. Moreover, he wished to keep Iraq as a counterweight to Iran.

In the end, Beinart cant resist exhuming Icarus one last time to great excess. He says that his book aims to help President Obama overcome the beautiful lie a series of assumptions about American omnipotence that, if not challenged, threatens to drive our foreign policy deeper into the red. Frankly, its difficult to unearth even one serious foreign policy expert today who believes the United States is omnipotent. To me, the gravest danger is to assert the primacy of American economic renewal and then ignore the tough foreign and domestic choices that must attend this priority. To his credit, Beinart calls for a renewal of American schools, politics and economic vitality. But these good ideas dissipate in a haze of hubris.

Leslie H. Gelb, a former Times columnist and government official, is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

Anwar atau UMNO punca perpecahan orang Melayu......

Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin menyifatkan beberapa tindakan Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim sejak akhir-akhir ini merupakan suatu pengkhianatan kepada bangsa kerana ia telah menyebabkan perpecahan di kalangan orang-orang Melayu.
Muhyiddin yang juga timbalan presiden Umno berkata, orang Melayu perlu sedar tentang tindakan ketua umum PKR itu kerana bukti mengenainya adalah amat jelas.
"Buktinya (tindakan Anwar) adalah amat jelas. Rakyat perlu sedar tentang sikap berdolak-dalik dan pembohongan yang dilakukan oleh beliau, yang telah menyebabkan perpecahan dan keretakan di kalangan orang Melayu," katanya kepada pemberita selepas merasmikan persidangan perwakilan Umno Bahagian Batu Pahat.
Akhbar Washington Post melaporkan, dalam lawatannya ke Amerika Syarikat, Anwar bertemu dan meminta maaf dari rakan-rakannya di negara itu dan menyesal menggunakan istilah seperti 'pencerobohan Zionis '.
Muhyiddin berkata, bukti mengenai hubungan baik Anwar dengan pemimpin Zionis dan Yahudi di Amerika Syarikat juga adalah jelas untuk dinilai oleh rakyat dan orang Melayu.
source:malaysiakini
Apakah Melayu perlu bersatu semata-mata untuk membolehkan UMNO berkuasa dan membenarkan pemimpin2 UMNO membalun khazanah negara? Muhyiddin ni dah keliru kot!!

Orang Melayu tak perlu UMNO untuk bersatu. Melayu Kelantan hidup aman damai tanpa UMNO.
Sebenarnya Melayu dah lama berpecah......
a.Bila Mahathir menulis surat kepada Tunku Abdul Rahman.
b.Bila Hussein Onn pilih Mahathir sebagai timbalannya mengenepikan Tengku Razalaeigh dan Ghaffar Baba.
c.Bila Musa Hitam letak jawatan sebagai timbalan Mahathir kerana tak setuju dengan Mahathir
d.Bila Tengku Razaleigh cabar Mahathir untuk jawatan Presiden UMNO.
e.Bila Mahathir pecat Anwar sebagai timbalannya.
f.Bila Mahathir penjarakan Anwar kerana kes konspirasi Mahathir - sodomy 1.
g.Bila or! ang Mela yu sedar bahawa ramai pemimpin2 UMNO bukan saja sombong dan bongkak tapi adalah kawaq dan penyamun. PRK 2008 adalah sebagai bukti orang Melayu dah meluat UMNO.

Sebenarnya Melayu yang berpecah ini adalah Melayu UMNO, sebaliknya Anwar berjaya menyatukan bukan saja orang Melayu,malah orang Cina dan India yang selama ini UMNO gagal melakukannya.

Cakap pasal agen Yahudi,bukankah Najib 1Malaysia juga agen Yahudi bila dia lantik dan sanggup bayar RM 76 juta syarikat Yahudi APCO bagi menaikkan imejnya........
cheers.
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Making Monsters Out of Our Students - The Lucifer Effect on Our Campuses

Making Monsters Out Of Our Students The Lucifer Effect On Our Campuses
M. Bakri Musa

I commend Defense Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for his swift action in reassigning the commandant of the Royal Military College (RMC) over the death of one of its students, Naim Mustaqim, during a ragging incident. Earlier, the college had expelled the alleged abusers. Likewise, I praise Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin in issuing a stern warning of his zero tolerance for ragging in our public universities.

Ragging is now entrenched in our universities and residential schools, creating monsters out of these students, the Lucifer Effect being operative (more on that later). The ensuing scars and damages are consequential, both physical and psychological. A few like Naim get killed.

Ragging is one of those unsavory traditions of the colonial British that Third World natives have picked up with a vengeance. We denigrate everything associated with the colonials but somehow when it comes to ragging, we have no qualms in quickly adopting it. We have bested the Indians and Sri Lankans in the savagery of our hazing rituals.

The only effective way to end this pestilence that has plagued our schools and colleges is to initiate a shock and awe intervention that would impress everyone on the evilness of this hitherto foreign ritual. We have to do that now before we have other innocent victims.

Strong Individual and Collective Actions Needed

We need aggressive actions at both the individual and system levels.

At the personal level, we must help the family of Naim Mustaqim launch lawsuits against not only his alleged abusers but also the RMC authorities and personnel, including the reassigned commandant. They have been negligent in failing to provide a safe environment for those under their care. The government must also initiate criminal proceedings; those in supervisory positions including the wardens and teachers should also be prosec! uted.

Naims family will not get their young son back, but by instituting civil and criminal actions we would make those responsible pay for their culpabilities. We cannot condone criminal behaviors lurking beneath tradition.

It is reprehensible that those who have been given the awesome responsibility for nurturing our young have neglected their duties, resulting in one promising young man being killed. Naims teachers and wardens had been with him for over six months, literally day and night, and yet they failed to notice the signs of his desperate need for help. I wonder how they would feel if their loved ones had been similarly neglected.

The first order of business for RMCs new commandant must be to impress upon his staff their obligation to look after the safety of those under their charge. His second order of duty would be to punish those who had let this ugly situation occur. Those are his two immediate priorities, and not, as he was quoted, to safeguard the colleges image and moral of students, staff, parents and the public alike.

At the systemic level, the responsible ministers should issue directives to the vice-chancellors as well as principals of our universities and residential schools indicating that they would be held responsible for any ragging on their campuses. Were that to happen, they would suffer the same fate, or worse, as the RMC commandant.

I would like them to draw up specific rules and lists of donts, and the penalties for infringements, be given to student and parent (in the case of residential schools) before these students enroll. They (as well as their parents) would have to sign that document acknowledging their full understanding of the content.

Be strict for a few years and we would effectively get rid of this scourge. When the present generation of students who had been brutalized by ragging graduate (in three or four years), then this odious practice would end. Then our new students could look forward to coming to our campuses for a d! ifferent experience, one more welcoming and nurturing.

I was privileged to be spared from attending our local university and thus had a vastly different college experience. One of the sweetest and most comforting words that greeted me on my arrival on campus in Canada decades ago was an upperclassman extending his hand and saying, You must be Bakri, from Malaysia! Hi! I am Ray, your resident advisor!

Of course during orientation week we still had to wear that silly beanie and were made to steal apples from the nearby orchards, but nothing beyond that. What I remember most was my seniors helping and guiding me. It was to them that I turned to in seeking advice on classes and what was appropriate to wear to campus functions.

That is what orientation week is supposed to be, to help incoming students adjust to their new campus environment.

Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil

While I advocate severe punishment for the abusers of Naim Mustaqim, I am mindful that these kids are not intrinsically evil. On the contrary, what we have learned from the Stanford psychologist Philip Zimbardos famous prison experiment in 1971 is that those students who became torturers (and in Naims case, murderers) were normal human beings. Given a different set of circumstances they could very well become heroes.

Zimbardos Lucifer Effect (after Lucifer, Gods favorite angel who turned evil; the Quranic version is Iblis who, banished by Allah from Paradise to earth for disobeying Him, made it his mission to convert as many mortals to his new evil and Satanic ways) is what made otherwise ordinary soldiers into sadists and murderers in Iraqs Abu Ghraib prison. Those who have read the accounts of Kassim Ahmad, Syed Hussin Ali, Raja Petra and others incarcerated under the ISA would immediately recognize the local variation of this Lucifer Effect. The difference between Kamunting and Abu Ghraib is merely a matter of degree, not kind.

In his experiment, Zimbardo recruited ordi! nary col lege students looking to make a few dollars as subjects in a human psychology experiment simulating the prison experience. What he discovered about human nature from that innocent experiment shocked him, and forced him to prematurely terminate the study.

What Zimbardo discovered was that students who were randomly assigned to be guards soon became vicious, senselessly brutalizing and inflicting gratuitous punishments on their prisoners. Even though those students were aware that they were being monitored and that it was only an experimental situation, nonetheless they persisted in their brutish ways.

There are other experiments along the same vein where the social situation, in short peer pressure, made the subjects do things they would not otherwise do.

The Lucifer Effect illuminates how otherwise good people can turn evil, given the right circumstances. Humans are like pet dogs. In the calm and nurturing environment of a quiet home with a caring master, it is the most docile, playful and obedient pet, indeed almost angelic. It would not bark even if your toddler were to yank its tail. However, let it loose with his canine friends to maraud in the neighborhood as a pack at night, and they would become vicious predators.

We must make sure that the environment in our schools and universities would not turn our promising young students into evil fallen angels. Those in charge, from the ministers down to the teachers and custodians, have an awesome responsibility to make sure that this would not happen. If they fail, then they must be made to pay a stiff price.

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