Malays will have to eat shit and die if they follow what Perkasa says

If the Malays were continue to follow the Perkasa way ... They can only hope to eat shit and die
Abu Sadr Abu Bakr

Before I venture further in this issue, I would like to share some of my background when I was an ordinary young Malay boy.

My father worked in a private bank as a clerk while my mother was teaching at a primary school. I just graduated from a polytechnic and a diploma in business administration. Educational opportunities given to me is the result of the affirmative policy of the Barisan Nasional and Umno's struggle to help the Malays.

I hope the efforts of government to help the Malays will continue. This is because the Malays are the majority of the people who are poor and low income.

Without the opportunity provided by the government, the Malays will continue to be backward and poor. This situation may invite problems for the stability of the country when the majority is are poor people, tension will exist and will forge the risk of riots and bloodshed.

Although I agree and support government policies that would like to continue to help the Malays, I believe that drastic changes be made to approach this policy.

I do not deny the success of the New Economic Policy (NEP). Many Malay professionals have progressed as a result of this policy. We were pleased with there are now many Malay millionaires. But can NEP can succeed in its mission?

For example, the NEP set a target for 30 per cent Bumiputera equity share achieved in 1990. Now, 20 years after the target date, we have not managed to achieve the NEP.

What was the cause of this failure?

Is the failure due to leakages, where the Malays are given the opportunity to buy shares in certain companies only pursue quick profit and sell their shares to non-Malays? Is this failure due to ineffective implementation of policy by the government?

Recently, I was told this is because UMNO under Mahathir has stolen RM52 billion.

Is this the cause?

For young people do not have any interest or position in any political party, the NEP simply does not benefit them.

Many of my friends are young Malays who live in the city living on salary that can not cope with the rising costs of living in a growing city. Their salary will not raise and if there is any, it's just minute.

My friends do not want the 'tongkat'. They realize that to succeed, the Malays must fight on their own merits. But at the same time, they argued that many government policies benefit only a handful of people who may have political cable with certain dignitaries. Is that fair?

Is this the true NEP?

Do they have the chance to pull themselves along on the cable if they do not care about politics? Especially Malay people who want to work hard but were not at all given the opportunity by the branch head or the head of Umno?

On this awareness I would like to express my objection to Datuk Ibrahim Ali, President of the mighty Perkasa.

For me, Ibrahim does not understand the real problems of the Malays. His ideas centered more on issues of pressing the government for bad economic distribution of wealth to the Malays.

He did not touch on the question of ability and effort of the Malays themselves, and still hold the Tongkat subsidies mentality that hindered the progress of the Malays.

In fact, such mentality can become cancerous and deter us from becoming competitive and independent, which finally resulted in the Malay melukut gantang along with the culture of hope and lack of confidence in their own ability and dignity.

Even more serious was Ibrahim's refusal to look at the NEP critically and admit the weaknesses in government policies to help the Malays.

He just scream and scream for continuing affirmative policy for the Malays without questioning its effectiveness.

Did Ibrahim know that there are studies showing that the income gap for the Malay race is the highest compared to all other community?

From active questioning and slammed those who touches the NEP, I suggest that he should be spending time to re-examine the purpose and intention of the NEP itself among others with the objective of public benefit or return for a small group rather than exclusive.

If the intention and objectives of the NEP was to bear fruit, it would not divide the income of the Malays as the largest as compared to other races.

Lats but not least, he also uses a lot of rhetoric and language of the Malays reset to argue with the non-Malays.

Such a narrow view not only embarrassing but also make people look down on us with suspicion. Success based on the rake of hostility and conflict with other community is plain bullshits, and sowing the seeds of hatred and negative thinking in the head of the Malays is simply wrong.

For me and my friends, this approach is bad and sinful.

The Malays can no longer fear the emotional rhetorics. Now is the time for us to change our ways.

Prime Minister's approach is precisely where the Malays are poor and needy should be helped regardless of political beliefs. While, talented Malays should be supported on the principle of merit that meet market demands.

This is a paradigm shift in their efforts to develop the nation by helping the destitute and needy, and at the same time meet the demand for building competitiveness and excellence for those who have the potential and ability.

In short, if we follow the way of Ibrahim and his Perkasa, a belief that will cause the Malays to continue to retreat. This is because we would feel comfortable with the tongkat, with racist rhetorics, but ultimately we will not be developed.

In the meantime, some of you are of the opinion that I was a young Malay delirious, ingrate and like to bite the hands that feed. No, I want to stress that it is our responsibility to the future and direction of the race to ensure that the hands that feed could continue to eat and feed into the real hungry mouths and not those who are fat fat cat!

MACC: Stop Persecuting the Innocent and We will Work with You

July 19, 2010

MACC: Stop the Persecution of the Innocent!

by Din Merican

Last week was the anniversary of Teoh Beng Hocks death. Teoh Beng Hock died while in the custody of the MACC. Teoh Beng Hock was found dead flung outside the office of the MACC at Plaza Masalam. He died in the process of an investigation although he was not a suspect. Teoh Beng Hock died although he was just a witness in an investigation over an allegation of abuse of a wakil rakyats allocation of RM 2,400. Teoh Beng Hock died over a meagre RM 2,400. That is the value of life to the MACC!

Beng Hocks Spirit haunts MACC

Teohs family is still in mourning over his death. Teohs child is born into this world without knowing his father. Teohs spirit must be restless that it cannot leave Plaza Masalam. That was the suspicion and superstition why the Selangor MACC moved out of Plaza Masalam. MACC must think that by moving out of a place or building or changing its name and slogan will stop the hauntings. MACC must realize that until Teohs killer is found and punished, the haunting will not stop. Having a Coroners Inquest to whitewash Teohs death will not erase the eternal stain that a witness had died in the hands of the MACC.

The Inquest is getting nowhere

Unfortunately, the Inquest is now seen as involving the Courts to be complicit in the whitewashing of Teohs death. The Judiciary ended up being implicated. The Inquest ended up losing credibility when the expert witness, the forensic expert from Thailand, Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand was vilified by the Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister in charge of Parliament. That is what happ! ens when our vital institutions do not act as a check and balance to the excesses and abuses of the executive arm and its instruments. The Courts must do more to restore confidence in its independence and dignity.

Tun Salleh Abas, Sodomy 1 and Sodomy 2

There are many more things that have happened that make the public question the independence of the judiciary. Already the Tun Salleh Abbas saga has battered the image of the judiciary. Then strange court rulings were made in Anwar Ibrahims prosecution in Sodomy I and now Sodomy II. The latest Court of Appeals decision which reversed the High Courts ruling on the interviewing of witnesses beyond office hours was a direct spillover of Teohs case. That decision did not make sense despite being delivered by our own law lords of the superior courts. It does not take a genius to know when a decision is unfair or idiotic. That was how the public perceived many of the the superior courts decisions in over turning more logical and reasonable decisions of courts lower to it. Common sense is not the exclusive property of judges of the superior courts. In the end, the Judiciary is looked upon with scorn and ridicule.

Sessions Court Judge Abu Bakar Katar to continue with the Lawyer Dahlan Case

Last week also, I received a facebook message from a very senior DPP who had just left the Legal Service and is now in private practice. He wanted to tell me that the Chief Registrar of the Federal Court had directed that Sessions Court Judge Abu Bakar Katar shall continue to hear Rosli Dahlans case to its conclusion. He also said to me that civil activists should not undermine independent public institutions like the courts.

While this was certainly good news to Rosli and to Malaysians, the message that the former senior DPP wanted to convey to me was clear enough that we should trust the Courts and our Judges. That all the suspicion circulated about our Courts and our Judges as being just anothe! r instru ment of a repressive regime should stop. That attacks on the independence of our judiciary should stop. That our Chief Justice Tun Zaki Tun Azmi shoud be given a chance to rebuild the tattered reputation of our judiciary.

After all that I have said above, do you blame the Malaysian public for looking at the courts with grave suspicion? I felt that this former senior DPP was hitting back at me for the previous articles that I wrote criticising the courts for being complicit in changing the goal posts to favour the MACC in the Trial of Rosli Dahlan.

I reported almost verbatim about the lies by MACC DPP Kevin Morais. Just when the Investigating Officer Saiful Ezral was being grilled and began to contradict himself and Kevin Morais, DPP Dzulqarnain behaved in a most dsepicable way to disrupt the trial time and and again. And the final straw was when they attempted to change Judge Abu Bakar Katar. Do you blame me in reporting all these injustice?

However, as a civil activist, I accept that I must be impartial. I must commend the good that is being done. For that reason, let me now produce the letter by the Chief Registrar Tuan Hashim Bin Hamzah:Acrobat Document

Hope for Justice

Yes, I must admit that this direction from the Chief Registrar lifts some hope that the Courts can be the last bastion of justice. That the Courts will not allow the goal posts to be seen as being moved in the middle of a game just to favour the MACC. But the problem is, this is not game. This is about someones dignity, honour and livelihood and about someones life. The MACC must not be allowed to do as it pleases regardless of the consequences.

This is all the more pertinent when I read Bernamas report that the MACC Chief, Datuk Abu Kassim had said that the public must fight corruption, not fight with MACC. It becomes all the more pertinent when the Parliamentary Special Committee on Corruption (SCC) is requesting that the MACC must have prosecutorial powers, more manp! ower and a sufficient budget so it could be more effective.

It is all the more pertinent when the MACC is seeking an additional budget allocation of RM324,114,492.00 in 2010. It all the more pertinent when presently the MACC is spending RM156,845,500.00 of our tax payers money to prosecute the innocent like Lawyer Rosli Dahlan whereas they should be going after the real crooks in our society.

As a matter of contrast to Roslis case, on July 14, 2010, it was reported that Judge Abu Bakar Katar acquitted an ACA officer, Rahiman Selamat 52, for receiving a Rolex Oyster Perpetual watch in a graft case involving BN Selangor executive counsillor Datuk Saidin Thamby in 1998. The case ended only now in 2010 i.e. after 11 years!

Is Lawyer Rosli Dahlan wrong to defend his client?

There were appeals and retrials and yet after all that, the prosecution still failed to prove a prima facie case.
Did Rosli receive any corruption? Did he do anything wrong? No! All Rosli did was to defend his client Dato Ramli Yusuff who was being fixed by the IGP and A-G Gani Patail. The evidence is there staring at us when Kevin Morais and all the MACC witnesses now admitted that Rosli was just a witness. And yet they brutalised and humiliated him. Fortunately, and Thank Almighty Allah, Rosli did not die like Teoh Beng Hock.

Abu Kassim, Do the Honourable Thing: Withdraw the Case Against Rosli Dahlan and Apologise

Is it not time then that the MACC withdraw the charge against him and apologise for all the wrongs they did to him? Or is it the MACCs birdbrained strategy to drag this case for 11 years more? To Abu Kassim, I say that you are wasting public money in persisting to prosecute an innocent man. To Abu Kassim I say, do not ask for more money and more power unless you and the MACC can regain public trust. The trial and ! tribulat ions of Rosli Dahlan is hurting more the image of MACC than it is Roslis image.

The Courts may yet be the last bastion of Justice

A new hope has been lifted that the courts may yet be the last bastion of justice. We must continue to have faith that the Courts would do the right thing just as what Chief Registrar Hashim Hamzah had done in directing Judge Abu Bakar Katar to continue with Rosli Dahlans Trial. We must believe that Chief Justice Tun Zaki Tun Azmi will set the right direction for the judiciary. We must give our Chief Justice a chance to show the impartiality of the courts since he has been honoured by Lincolns Inn by publishing him as an Honorary Bencher.

To the MACC Chief I say, have you paused to ask why the public seems to be fighting the MACC? Stop asking for more money and more power until you can show the MACC can be trusted to do the right thing. Stop persecuting the innocent, like Lawyer Rosli Dahlan and others, if you want the public to be with you in the fight against corruption!

See What Barisan Nasional Gotta Say?

Kesan Kurang Subsidi dan Negara Bangkrap(Baik Buang UMNO).

Artikel saya sebelum ini mendedahkan bagaimana UMNO memberikan kontrak LCCT kepada syarikat yang menawarkan Rm1 billion sedangkan ada syarikat lain yang menawarkan perkara yang sama tetapi dengan harga RM750 juta.

Ia bererti perangai UMNO tidak berubah dan tidak akan berubah. UMNO akan terus menerus menghabiskan kekayaan negera demi mengkayakan UMNOPUTRA dan kroni2 mereka. Jalan keluar UMNO tidak lain hanyalah mengurangkan subsidi kepada rakyat Malaysia.
Pengurangan subsidi dan negara bangkrap mungkin satu konsep yang sukar untuk difahami oleh rakyat biasa yang tidak mempunyai pendidikan dalam matapelajaran ekonomi. Oleh sebab itu saya ingin membawa contoh hidup dari pengalaman saya yang hidup di Jakarta sekarang ini.

Kita semua tahu Indonesia telah bangkrap pada tahun 1997 dan terpaksa membuat pinjaman IMF (yang sehingga hari ini belum habis dibayar) kerana hutang mereka pernah sampai 200% dari pendapatan kasar mereka.

Akibat dari ekonomi Indonesia yang bankrap kerana dirompak Suharto dan kroni-kroni beliau, maka pendapatan negara terpaksa digunakan untuk membayar hutang. Lebih-lebih lagi wang minyak Indonesia telah kering kontang 3 tahun sebelum Suharto jatuh.

Akibat dari itu, Indonesia terpaksa memberhentikan banyak dari subsidi yang mereka bayar selama ini kerana terpaksa membayar hutang luar yang bertimbun-timbun. Akibatnya Indonesia terpaksa memotong subsidi makanan, minyak, gas dsbnya.

Harga-harga barang semuanya naik melambung-lambung kerana kerajaan Indonesia tiada duit untuk menampung kos subsidi yang mampu membantu rakyat mereka.

CONTOH BETAPA PERITNYA BILA SUBSIDI DIPOTONG: MAKAN TENGHARI

Contoh paling kecil yang saya ingin bawa adalah kos makan tengahari di luar. Oleh kerana saya bekerja dalam pejabat, maka saya terpaksa makan tengahari di luar.

Kos untuk makan luar sahaja, di gerai-gerai tepi jalan, mencecah IDR25 ribu = RM9. Biasanya, makan tenghari ini terdiri dari sepinggan nasi, seketul ayam atau seketul ikan serta sayur! dan min uman segelas. Kalau di Malaysia, harga RM9, kita boleh menikmati makan tengahari di restoran dengan dua jenis lauk pauk. Kalau makan di gerai di Malaysia, kosnya tidak akan sampai RM9.

Gerai yang selalu saya makan ni pun, kalau orang tak biasa sudah tentu mereka tak masuk kerana rupanya yang begitu daif dan kebersihan yang tidak berapa baik.

Bagi orang-orang miskin di Jakarta ini, mereka cuma makan sehari sekali. Itupun makan nasi berlauk tempe sahaja semata-mata untuk menyambung nyawa. Tiap kali harga barang naik, keluarga-keluarga miskin terpaksa menarik anak2 mereka dari sekolah untuk membantu mencari makan bagi menanggung kos keluarga.

Itulah bahananya apabila negara bangkrap dan kroni dibela. Akhirnya rakyat terpaksa melacur diri mereka semata-mata mahu menampung kos makanan yang sering kali naik.

Itulah dia nasib Malaysia sekiranya UMNO terus memerintah. UMNO tidak akan berubah perangai mereka yang suka merompak kekayaan negara. Contoh di atas yang saya bawa tu cuma satu contoh kecil sahaja. Kita tak cerita lagi benda-benda lain yang naik yang menyebabkan kehidupan menjadi seperti neraka di dunia.

Di Malaysia, UMNO terpaksa memotong subsidi pada waktu yang sama perangai membazir mereka terus berjalan. Apabila dikritik, mereka kata kita pro IMF. Padahal, mereka perompak kelas satu.

Kalau kita tidak mahu hidup menderita seperti di Indonesia, maka wajiblah kita mencampak UMNO ke Laut Cina Selatan dengan kadar segera.

Tulang Besi

See What Barisan Nasional Gotta Say?

The changing mental landscape of the Malays?

Ariff Sabri

Dear Dato, I am 65 and have no stable job. I have been following your blog for quite sometimes and I find it informative, direct and dare to point out weaknesses in Umno, the government and the Malays in general.


My favourite newspapers used to be Utusan and the New Straits Times. I have stopped reading them. And now I also stop watching TV3 and RTM news. I just cannot stand it anymore.


I am not a member of any political party. As an ordinary citizen, like most other citizens of this country, I want a Malaysia which is progressive, modern and tolerant and most importantly a government which practices fairness, justice, etc. I want to see the government fight corruption whole-heartedly, practice transparency and stop cronyism.


The government says they are doing all these. What I can see is all talk and no action. I sometimes cannot comprehend the reasoning and logic given by judges, including those sitting in the highest court. DS Najib has been talking non-stop of everything that can bring good to the country. But I didn't see any result, as if he forget everything he said once he finished talking.


Our DPM has a brain more like a 17-year-old. And I didnt hear anything worth listening from the Umno vice-presidents, and what more senior ministers, especially Rais Yatim. When I think of the countrys future I feel hopeless. I dont think Umno, under the present leadership, can lead the country forward. I hope your writings will be more forceful and cover wider subjects especially on reinventing the Malay minds.


Actually, the Malays has nothing to be proud of. We have to understand and accept our weaknesses. We are lacking in so many things. As I see it, the Malays are going backward. The Malay mind has to be revamped and re-programmed. We cannot go forward using the current mind-set. What can people like Ibrahim ! Ali help to advance the Malays?


What happen to our government servants? Every decisions, however minor, has to be brought and decided by committees. Whats the use of sending them to Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, etc. Where is the delegation of duties in the government? Even buying stationeries has to go to the committee.


You can see the quality of Malay university professors talking on TV talk shows. They talk to please their hosts and to protect their positions, rather than truth and facts.


Another sore point for me. When a problem occurs in our society most Malay leaders point out the lack of religious education as the main cause. To me this is too simplistic and sometimes irrelevant. But the Malays in general can accept this line of reasoning, which doesnt requires THINKING.


Anything bad that happen in society is blamed on the lack of religious education. We know that societys problems are very complex and cannot be solely attributed to religious factors. But the Malays seem to think that religion is everything, at least a large majority of them.

The above was a letter I received over the e-mail from a Malay gentleman. I have chosen not to reveal his name. What if this gentlemans personal perceptions represent what the typical Malay now thinks of?

Our government needs to recognise this. The way we govern may no longer be sustainable. We govern with the belief that our population stays in villages, shut out from information waves and excluded from rising awareness.

So we think, we secure peoples blind trust when we give free houses to a certain number of applicants. For 100 people who got free houses, there may be 1000 people cursing the government why they didnt get the houses. They blame the penghulu, they blame the ketua kampong, they blame the district office they blame the ADUN for skewed selection process. The sad truth is, they are probably right.

In a few years, most of our population will live in cities. Villages and kampongs change! in char acter, as the old give way to the young. People develop different expectations.

Children who are better educated tell parents a different story. Thats reverse counsel. Parents arent equipped to tell children whats good for society. Educated children at various levels tell parents whats good for society things like right to a decent living because government exists to manage the economy properly.

And standards of assessment such as what the above gentleman is saying good governance, fair, free from cronyism, free from corruption. People no longer want to accept the arguments of democracy tax whereby democratic countries have to tolerate certain levels of inept bureaucracy, certain levels of nepotism and cronyism, certain levels of corruption. Why? Because people are better informed and this agitates and move them into action.

A government that sits stubbornly refusing to adapt to a changing political landscape, is simply pushed to the back seat. If Umno doesnt adapt to these changes, it loses relevance.

How does the government reach out to the people? I was listening to the talk given by Robert Fisk yesterday. He was talking about Palestine mainly but he also touched about journalism in general. People all over the world, and not just the gentleman above no longer believe and even read mainstream journalists any more. They believed that mainstream journalists no longer report the truth. They just earn a living from the owners of newspapers.

So in Malaysia if the mainstream papers are actually owned by the government, eventually the government will not be believed. Bob Fisk was telling, tongue in cheek I hope, that you have to start a new newspaper.

Click here to read more
Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

Sodomy II: What Anwar's trial means for Malaysia

John Malott, Wall Street Journal

The trial of Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysias opposition leader and his nations best-known and most respected international figure, is scheduled to resume this week in Kuala Lumpur.

The Malaysian press dubs the affair Sodomy II, for it appears to be a repeat of the Muslim democrats 1998-99 trials, when he was convicted on corruption and sexual charges. Sentenced to 15 years in prison, Anwars conviction later was overturned, and he was released after six years in solitary confinement.

As the U.S. ambassador to Malaysia when Mr. Anwar first was arrested and put on trial, everything I knew then and know now leads me to conclude that this trial also is an attempt to sideline him politically.

Already convicted by the government-controlled media, Anwar and his defense team have been denied access to the evidence that the government possesses, including police and medical reports, surveillance tapes, and even the witness list. Malaysia does not have a jury system. The verdict will be rendered by one judge, appointed by the same government that wants to remove Anwar from the political scene.

While a handful of human rights groups and some Australian parliamentarians have condemned the trial, there has been little interest at the broader international level. The Obama administration has been silent.

When I visited Malaysia last month, it was clear that not just Anwar but also most observers expect a guilty verdict in August. At that point, the question is whether he remains free on bail during his appeal or is jailed immediately.

A charismatic campaigner, Anwar led his coalition to near victory in Malaysias last parliamentary elections in 2008, when the opposition took 47% of the popular vote and gained 62 seats. The governments new political game plan seems to be to put Anwar in jail and the opposition in disarray, call snap el! ections, and ride to victory.

Today Malaysia gets little attention in the world press. The lingering image is of an Asian economic success story, a moderate Islamic country and aspiring democracy, and a multiracial society where harmony prevails. Unfortunately, that is not the case today. Malaysia is a nation adrift.

Once one of the worlds dynamos, Malaysias economy has underperformed over the past decade, with an average annual growth rate of 4.5%. Much of that growth was the result of government spending, which has pushed Malaysias debt level to 54% of GDP. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has remained relatively flat over the past 15 years, while flows into Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam have soared. To make matters worse, Malaysia experienced a net outflow of $6 billion in FDI capital in 2008.

Malaysia desperately needs to upgrade its skills base and innovation capabilities, but almost 500,000 Malaysiansnearly 2% of the entire populationleft their country for good between 2007 and 2009. Malaysian experts believe most of these migrs were skilled ethnic Chinese and Indian Malaysians, concerned by economic decline and growing racial and religious tensions.

Worried about losing political support, the ruling party has responded by appealing to the more base instincts of the countrys Malay Muslim majority. For example, it told Malaysias Christians that they may no longer use the word Allah for God, even though the word existed in Arabic long before Islam arose. A new militant group called Perkasa, which claims that Malay rights are under threat from the Chinese and Indian minorities, has won backing from former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed and other members of the ruling party.

For Malaysia and the world, there is more at stake in Anwars trial than whether one person is convicted. Malaysia is at a crossroads in its history. The road that it chooses matters not only for some 30 million Malaysians, but for the entire world. The country could be a model for the 600 million peopl! e of Sou theast Asia and for the entire Muslim world, if it returns to the promising course it was on 15 years ago. But a guilty verdict for Anwar means that the corruption and cronyism that now pervades Malaysia, its lack of political freedom and its economic decline, will continue. The countrys non-Malay citizens will continue to seek a better haven overseas.

In 1998, Anwar said, If this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. That is no less true today. If Anwar is denied his freedom, then Malaysia will continue to be denied her freedom and her promise.

Jonh Malott was the U.S. ambassador to Malaysia from 1995 to 1998
See What Barisan Nasional Gotta Say?

INTERNET GUARANTEE

Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

1.When we appointed an International Advisory Panel of prominent IT personalities from around the world, we gave a guarantee that Malaysia would not censor the Internet.

2.We thought at that time that even if we wanted to, we couldn't. The technology was not available for us to do this. And so Malaysiakini and other sites flourished.

3.Now that I have retired I feel glad that we made the decision not to censor. I have benefited much from the blogs as have very many bloggers. There may be a few who have abused this blogging privilege but by and large it has served the public well. The mainstream media in Malaysia need no censoring as they censor themselves. So the blogs can report what really happens. It can be the alternative source of news. And there is a need for this other source for the mainstream media will always be guarding their behind.

4.I had always assumed that the Western press is free. Certainly they have never been in any way constrained when writing about the third world including Malaysia.

5.Now, I know better. Robert Fisk, one of the great Western journalists has revealed that when writing about their own countries and about the West in general they adhere to official sources and use clichs which masked the truth. They too indulge in self-censoring. I recommend that everyone interested in the so-called freedom of the press should read his book - The Age of The Warrior.

6.Press freedom is supposed to be an essential part of the practice of Western Democracy. The assumption is that with press freedom truth will prevail. But the freedom is also about telling lies, about promoting evil agendas, demonizing individuals, twisting facts, hounding people to death and all other kinds of evil.

7.The Internet has now! given n ot just journalists but given just about anyone the same capacities to tell the truth, to lie and twist facts and do all the good and evil things. There is no censoring the Internet.

READ MORE HERE

Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

Najib’s Ill-Disciplined Leadership

Najib is unaware of the cost of his monthly assemblies. He thinks it is expense-free, as the government already owns the facility and those civil servants and ministers are not paid extra to be there. He could not be more wrong. Like his ministers and staff, Najib spends his entire career receiving a steady paycheck. He has never run a business and thus is blissfully unaware of what it would take to deliver regular paychecks. The concept of overhead or wasteful spending of time and resource is beyond him.

By M. Bakri Musa

Prime Minister Najib continues his predecessor’s practice of monthly departmental assemblies where he addresses his staff in the manner of a headmaster to his school children. His latest session on Monday, July 5th had him exhorting them to create “an ecosystem [to] recognize top performers.”

You can tell much about a person by the way he behaves in familiar surroundings. Likewise, a leader reveals his true persona when he is in the comfortable presence of his followers. By that measure, Najib’s performance at his monthly departmental gatherings exposes his ill-disciplined leadership.

His delivery was hardly smooth. There were awkward pauses, inarticulate bellowing of his voice, and irritating gesturing with his hands, all to feign emphasis and profundity. While the occasion was flashy, grand and elaborately planned, his speech betrayed his lack of preparation.

There he was in his dark suit, this time outside under the morning but still blistering Malaysian sun, with his ministers and senior bureaucrats standing dutifully on stage in a neat straight row behind him. They too were similarly formally dressed in dark suits with flawlessly matched red ties and kerchiefs, seemingly in rapt attention. They looked more like pall bearers at a funeral, except for their red ties.

More typically these assemblies would be held in one of the maximally air-conditioned and minimally utilized auditoriums in Putrajaya. Then his ministers and senior bureaucrats would be seated comfortably in the front row. At least they would not be sweating in their thick suits, with their faces glistening as they were that Monday.

It is hard to discern the purpose of this monthly ritual. I presume it is an opportunity for Najib to announce major policy initiatives, but there was nothing new or substantive that Monday. For the civil servants however, it was an opportunity to ponteng, to be away from their desks. They were like schoolchildren excited to be away from class. No wonder those civil servants were singing and waving flags! How juvenile!

Najib however, fancies himself not as a headmaster rather a Steve Jobs addressing a grand media gathering. Some fantasy! Najib forgets that when Jobs has his, it is to introduce a new product; an ingenious and effective marketing strategy to create buzz.

Obviously Najib is unaware of the cost of his monthly assemblies. He thinks it is expense-free, as the government already owns the facility and those civil servants and ministers are not paid extra to be there. He could not be more wrong. Like his ministers and staff, Najib spends his entire career receiving a steady paycheck. He has never run a business and thus is blissfully unaware of what it would take to deliver regular paychecks. The concept of overhead or wasteful spending of time and resource is beyond him.

With the assembly held in the morning, those civil servants are unlikely to spend the time interval before and after to do any meaningful work. If you think that they would rush back to their offices after the assembly, then you do not understand the mentality and culture of our civil service. The afternoon too would be wasted in rehashing the morning event.

Functionally, the whole day was a washout as far as effective work was concerned. Those bureaucrats were essentially makan gaji buta (lit. eating a blind salary; fig, not earning their keep) on that day. So much for efficiency! I pity those who had any business to transact with the Prime Minister’s office that day.

With all the talk of “transforming” the government, I would have thought that Najib could think of other cheaper and more effective ways of communicating with his staff.

Pidgin English and Bazaar Malay

The only thing prime ministerial about Najib during the assembly was his attire. As for his speech, he could not utter a complete sentence in either comprehensible English or proper Malay. He would begin in Malay and then without any hint switch into English, and then back to Malay, or endless combinations thereof. Listeners had to switch mental gears frequently and without warning. Najib’s monotonous mumbling with his own peculiar brand of mangled “Manglish” made him sound like a third-rate Filipino politician.

Consider this: “Sistem kita ini mesti kita lihat the entire ecosystem ini, mesti recognize potential high performance, ….” Another, “Kalau kita recognize potential high performance, … kita recognize sumbangan yang luar biasa, those who are prepared to go the extra mile, ….” Such boring and repetitious mumbo jumbo defies translation!

Najib set a bad example especially for our students. How could we criticize them when our Prime Minister could not even string together a complete sentence in either Malay or English? Najib’s mangled “Manglish” was incongruous in such a formal setting. This manner of speaking is disrespectful of his audience. Thank God he did not degenerate into his usual colloquialism as with “Lu tolong gua, gua tolong lu” (You help me, I help you!) mode as he did in the recent Sibu by-election.

Only Zee Avi with her sultry voice could make the mixing of Malay and English sound cute and captivating. Those less talented should stick to one language only, and that includes Najib.

Najib’s favorite buzzword at this last assembly was “ecosystem.” He probably came across that in one of the “pop” business books or articles. I doubt very much whether he fully understands its meaning. An ecosystem is a functional unit where one participant influences and in turn being influenced by the other participants. Altering one could have unpredictable consequences on others as well as the whole.

What Najib meant was culture or environment. Either word would have been more accurate and readily understood, but to Najib they were too ordinary and not as sexy as “ecosystem.”

Another of his choice word is “transformation.” In biology the term refers to the phenomenon where the genetic material is altered, and the organism consequently transformed. It means change at the core (nucleus), and from there to the rest of the cell. The consequent change is thus permanent, profound, affects the whole system, and transmissible to the next generation. Socially, it means profound and irreversible change that begins with the leadership, and then spreads out.

To state it differently and more bluntly, it is Najib who has to change first before he could even dream of transforming Malaysia. For example, to streamline the government, Najib must begin with his own bloated department.

Another of Najib’s favorite buzz word is “quantum,” as in his declaration, “Civil servants would get bonuses, only the quantum is to be determined.” Again, he must have looked that word up and found its meaning to be “quantity” or “amount.” So he simply substituted the more sexy and scientific sounding “quantum.”

“Quantum” as in quantum physics refers to the discrete energy levels associated with electronic orbitals around the nucleus. Thus a quantum increase is a pre-defined or discrete and stepwise increase, and not just any amount. Non-scientists love these big words for their vicarious association with modern science. It only makes them sound stupid.

The Man Is His Performance

My purpose here is not to critique Najib’s vocabulary, syntax or delivery, rather that those reflect the man and his leadership. His fondness for flashy and impressive sounding words rather the more mundane but precise and readily understood is also reflected in his policies. His “1Malaysia” slogan is a ready example – high sounding and introduced with great fanfare. However when he had a chance to demonstrate its core meaning as with repudiating the racist theatrics of Perkasa and the likes of Ibrahim Ali, Najib backtracked. He was easily gertak (scared).

Najib’s mangled syntax with its rojak mingling of Malay and English betrays his lack of mental discipline. Again this is reflected in his leadership. He announced with great flourish the “transforming” of his economic policy, with his NEM supplanting his father’s NEP. At the first resistance, he retreated.

Najib’s gibberish sentences and gabbled delivery also reflect his lack of preparation. Again, that is disturbing. The assembly was planned, not an off-the-cuff press conference. As such I would have expected him to be better prepared. That he was not showed the low regards he had for his audience.

My reaction to Najib’s performance at these assemblies and elsewhere can best be summed up by singer-songwriter Zee Avi’s lilting refrain in “Kantoi:”

Sudah lah sayang, I don’t believe you

I’ve always known that your words were never true

Why am I with you? I pun tak tahu

No wonder lah my friends pun tak suka you!

The exception is that I do not sayang Najib nor am I with him.

Come to think of it, Najib had been up to quite a bit of mischief in his career. However, his position effectively protected him from kena kantoi (busted), at least thus far and in Malaysia. With the French authorities now stepping up their investigation on the scandal-ridden Scorpene submarine deal, this “protection” may soon break from overuse.

For Najib, getting rid of that monthly assembly ritual would be easy, but overcoming all those other deficiencies of his leadership would be far more challenging. Meanwhile we get to ‘enjoy’ his monthly and other spectacles, at least until he kena kantoi!

Price hike reasons laughable says opposition Senators.......

Opposition senators found the reasons for the recent price hike in essential goods "laughable".

"What ever we may call it, the fact is, prices have gone up," said PKR Senator Syed Husin Ali.

One of the reasons cited for the cut in sugar price subsidy - health concerns - was mocked by him.

"Meat can cause high blood pressure, eggs and butter can cause an increase in cholesterol levels - so is the government going to increase the price for these things on grounds of health concerns?" he asked.

He pointed out that the withdrawal in subsidies, especially for essential goods such as petrol and sugar, only burdened the underprivileged. Yet the independent power producers, get a subsidy of RM19 billion.

"The rich are benefiting but the poor have to suffer," he told reporters at the Senate lobby today, demanding better justification for the recent price hikes.

The argument that the prices of essential items in other countries are higher is also nonsensical, said Syed Husin, who is also the PKR deputy president.

"There are countries where their rice is cheaper than ours, there are countries where the price of meat is cheaper than ours, and there are countries where their fruits are cheaper than ours," he exclaimed.

Government waste

Last week, the government had increased the prices of three types of fossil fuels, sugar and cooking gas. Also at the press conference were senators Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim (DAP), S Ramakrishnan (DAP) and Mustafa Kamal Mohd Yusoff (PKR). Ramakrishnan said the government should avoid wastage which is rampant, and stop white elephant projects rather than increasing consumer good prices.

"Besides the subsidy for the IPPs, Approved Permits (APs) are still been given to cronies.

"The government can get a lot of revenue from the APs but they! are giv en out for free," he said.

source:malaysiakini

cheers.
See What Barisan Nasional Gotta Say?

Sand industry: Do not bow down to UMNO.........

A body representing sand entrepreneurs, contractors and buyers in Selangor has today urged the Selangor Pakatan government not to bow down to pressure from the state BN who are targeting the dissolution of the state-owned sand mining company Kumpulan Semesta Sdn Bhd (KSSB).

The group's chairman, Raja Kamarudin Raja Abd Wahid,fears that if KSSB is dissolved, the licences which they have received from the company will also be revoked.

We will be suffering huge losses as a result of this. Will Umno/BN (the opposition in Selangor) pay for the losses? he said when handing over a memorandum to Selangor Pakatan exco member for modern agriculture, natural resources and entrepreneur development Yaakob Sapari.

What is even more frightening is that the opposition has also called for Selangor not to issue any more sand dredging permits on state land, he said.

Raja Kamarudin, along with 50 supporters, handed over the memorandum to Yaakob at the lobby of the Selangor state secretariat office in Shah Alam today.

Umno left only 'holes'

He also asked for more permits to be issued to mine sand on private land.

Most of the private land in Selangor have been sapu (hoarded) by the BN and Umno cronies.

What is left for the Pakatan administration are holes in the ground excavated by the BN and Umno when they were in power, said Raja Kamarudin.

After accepting the memorandum, Yaakob gave an assurance that the Selangor Pakatan government will not bow down to pressure. He said the state government will maintain KSSB to ensure that revenue from sand mining in the state goes back to the government, and that competitiveness and opportunities for contractors continue to exist.

In the past, there was only one company (allowed to mine sand in the state). Now there are 18 companies which have e! ntered ( the business) through open tender with KSSB, he said.

Yaakob said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has, since detaining one of the company's assistants, not found any evidence of wrongdoing by KSSB. He also reminded sand operators to abide by the specifications of their licences and stay within the law.

source:malaysiakini

cheers.
Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

Najib admits Vision 2020 tough amid calls to quit as Fin Min

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

In the first official sign of defeat, Prime Minister Najib Razak finally admitted that Malaysias ambitious goal of becoming a developed nation in 10 years time was unlikely to be achieved, underscoring accusations that have flown that he had acted too slowly in keeping the economy on track.

Since taking over as the Finance Minister in 2008, there has not been any achievement or change in the financial direction of the country at all. This is because he has been too busy politicking and trying topple the Pakatan Rakyat state governments, especially in Perak and Selangor, Kuala Krai MP Hatta Ramli, the PAS treasurer-general, told Malaysia Chronicle.

Pass the Finance Ministry to full-time professionals

Indeed, financial analysts have in private been echoing what Hatta has said in public. Not only has the economy been directionless, a recent slew of questionable private sector projects including a sports betting license that Najib later U-turned on and tried to hush up have sparked calls for him to make way for a professional and more competent financial administrator.

And the going can be expected to get even tougher in the days ahead as he faces rivals from within his own Umno party. At the halfway to the next general elections as well as the Umno internal polls that pundits say could see him dislodged either as Prime Minister or Umno president or both, Najib is unlikely to spend time on the economy despite its critical need for urgent revamp.

He is already facing challenges from all directions. Of course, his survival will comes first, then only the economy. The only ones paying attention may be some of his former 4th floor boys who have been busy stringing up deals and replenishing his war chest because that is the only currency BN politicians understand, Batu MP Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.

In t! he meant ime, the economy goes down and this is dangerous because there is so much choice not just for foreign investors but also Malaysian investors. Instead putting their money and belief in this country, its institutions and systems, they will go elsewhere. Once they are there, their money wont come back for a long while. So again, we urge Najib to step down as Finance Minister. Be fair to the country - let someone else handle the economy.

Political clout eroded by scandals, price hikes, politicking

Indeed, Malaysia had always separated the functions of the Finance Ministry from the Prime Ministers Office, a move that transparency advocates have recommended Najib to return to. It was only in 1998, when Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim frightened Mahathir Mohamad, who was then the premier, with his growing political clout that Mahathir sacked him and absorbed the role of Finance Minister I.

It was also Mahathir, who recently took a swipe at Najib, suggesting that it might be impossible to achieve the Vision 2020 he had laid out during his 22-year reign that ended in 2003. At Parliament on Monday, Najib admitted as much, saying the prospects were dim if the global financial crisis returned.

I understand what was said by Tun Dr Mahathir. We have to accept the role played by internal and external factors, Najib told Parliament. (But) if we achieve at least six per cent every year until the year 2020, we can attain the status of developed nation.

Malaysias GDP contracted 1.7 percent in 2009. It recorded 10.1 percent growth y-o-y in Jan-March period of 2010, but Najib has already warned of a slower April-June period, and that in the July-December period, the impact of a possible double-dip recession in Europe might be replicated here.

The scandal-plagued Najib has also come under public fire for a slew of subsidy that have resulted in price hikes for a range of essentials like sugar, cooking gas, petrol, diesel and LPG. Consumer groups are already planning a mammoth rally be! fore the fasting month of Ramadhan begins in mid-August.

"There is fear among the Umno elite that he won't be able to deliver a victory for the BN in the 13th general election. The French authorities are probing for irregularities in the submarines he ordered for Malaysia and now the price hikes which ave gone down very badly with the public. What can he do for the economy when his political clout is now so tenous," Hatta said.
Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

Umno free-for-all on the cards as stalwarts hunt for alternatives

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

Infighting among Umno divisions has taken a turn for the worse, as party stalwarts dissatisfied with the leadership offered by both their president Naib Razak and deputy president Muhiyuddin Yassin scrounge for alternatives of their own.

The latest 'sacrificial lamb' in the Umno power tussle that is fast shaping up into a free-for-all brawl was former Selangor strongman Muhammad Muhammad Taib.

Also known as Mat Taib or even Mat Tyson, the former Mentri Besar and Umno Information Chief is a staunch supporter of ex-premier Abdullah Badawi, who was ousted by Prime Minister Najib Razak last year. Mat Taib had challenged but lost to Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin for the Umno deputy presidency.

There was huge fight in the Kelana Jaya division meeting recently. Because of that Mat Tyson was very upset at the way his former contributions are no longer valued by the new powers that be, an Umno watcher told Malaysia Chronicle.

Unusually fierce attack

On Sunday, Umno supreme council member Puad Zarkashi publicly lashed out at Mat Taib for not attending division meetings. The ferocity of his attack raised eyebrows, because Mat Taib has long been known as a party man.

"He has shown a bad example as an leader with a lot of experience, as he seems to have no interest in the division which he leads, whether in attending its meetings or carrying out activities," Bernama reported Puad as saying.

Puad, who is also Deputy Education Minister, also accused Mat Taib who was the Hulu Selangor Umno division chief from 1982 to 1998 of deliberately holding back his co-operation during the by-election which took place there in May.

"Don't be extreme over a little disappointment and acting worse than those without any position, but must always be committed to the party's struggles instead," said ! Puad.

Indeed, the buzz at that time was that Mat Taib had wanted to be fielded in the contest. He was Selangor Menteri Besar from 1986 to 1997 and was rural and regional development minister from March 2008 to April 2009. He has also served Umno in varous other positions such as vice-president, state liaison chairman and information chief.

But Mat Taib has been inactive since Badawis retirement and was believed to have been eager to make Hulu Selangor his comeback, much like former Negri Sembilan chief minister Isa Samad had done in the Bagan Pinang by-election.

Two hoots
Nonetheless, apart from personal ambition and divisional squabbling, pundits point to the bigger undercurrent snaking through Umno, referring to the growing power tussle between Najib and Muhyiddin.

They point to a string of recent events that they say was completely contrary to Umno culture. Umno leaders are known for preferring to attack from behind rather than in face-to-face confrontations. Last week, the boldness of four Terengganu assemblymen in boycotting a Setiu division meeting opened by Muhyiddin sent reverberation down the party line.

A shakeup is brewing in Umno and the grassroots can smell it. The division leaders are also plotting and negotiating for their own interest. They are not going simply bow to either Najib or Muhyiddin because these two have not been able to earn their respect, the Umno watcher said.

In the Mat Taib case, on the surface it looks like the Najib faction wants to show who is in charge to the Badawi faction. But it also looks like Mat Taib wants to tell Umno that he doesnt give two hoots about the Najib camp or the Muhyiddin camp. And he is not the only party stalwart who feels this way. This doesnt bode well, and in the months ahead, we may see a free for all because there is nobody who has emerged yet who can show he can really lead Umno forward."
Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

UMNO loves Tamils? Bullshit ... here is the proof

UMNO only love Indians from Kerala, nowhere else ...

Tricked by employers and discarded by police

By B Nantha Kumar

KUALA LUMPUR: Seven months ago 43-year-old Rasiabanu from Tamil Nadu lodged a police report against her employers for failing to pay her wages for 16 months.

Rasiabanu had worked with them as a maid for two years and saw only her first month’s salary.

“Every time I asked them (employers) they said they will give it to me when I return to India.

“I believed them and continued working. After two years I asked to return home, but they refused to let me go. They refused to give me my money,” said Rasiabanu who now has a very low opinion about Malaysian employers. .

Rasiabanu came to Malaysia in 2008 with the ‘great hope’ of improving her family’s financial situation in India.

In India her husband worked as a sales assistant in a shopping complex in Trichy and earned 60 rupees a day.

But it was not enough to take care of the family, including their three children’s daily expenses.

“It was about that time when an agent met me and told me that I could work in Malaysia for two years and earn a lot of money.

"I wanted to help increase my family income. The agent said I had to pay 25,000 rupees to work in Malaysia.

“I managed to borrow the 25,000 rupees and paid the agent,” she told FMT.

On arrival at the Malaysian airport Rasiabanu was taken straight to her employer’s house.

“The employer agreed to pay me RM400 a month. They paid my first month salary and promised to pay up fully when the time came for me to return home.

“I agreed because they seemed like good people.”

But the backdated salaries amounting to RM6,400 did not come. Instead her former employers threatened her.

'Malaysians are mean'

Angry and upset at having been wronged, she sought justice at the Brickfields police station.

According to her the police have only met with her former employers once, but so far nothing has happened and she has not received her money.

“I'm staying in Tenaganita now for more than seven months. I still cannot go home. I miss my family so much...

"When I was in my village in India, I thought Malaysians were very nice people but when I came here I discovered how mean Malaysians actually are.

“They (Malaysians) have a lot of money but they are uncaring and cruel to people.

“Everyday I hope the police will make my former employers pay-up so that I can go back to my husband and children,” said Rasiabanu when met recently.

Raving & Ranting by a Pakatan Taxpayer

Report card for Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat by a tax payer

This tax payer has observed the performance of both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan wakil rakyats since 2008 and hereby assert his right to voice his own opinion on the performance of both side of the political divide, not giving 2 hoots to whatever sketchy KPI maintained and reported by a defeated candidate in the last general election.

By Lee Wee Tak

As we tax payers grind our teeth for another round of lopsided preaching by Barisan Nasional about a “subsidy rationalization” initiative, how many Malaysians realize that elected democratic leaders are suppose to listen to the rakyat and not the other way round?

The Speakers of our Parliament have cemented an impression in me that they are hardly balance and fair minded. Ironically in time of harga barang naik and desperate house wives amongst us, the Speakers who usually reject opposition motions and eject Pakatan wakil rakyats hence silencing the voices of rakyat, get a big fat salary increase. (an extract in English is attached as footnote of this article)

The recent trend I observe in Najib administration is the continuation of the tried and tested monolog preaching to rakyat, but in this era, attempting to ban cartoons, banish opposition newspapers plus meddling in the words of professional editors to describe the thunderbolt price increase, is insulting the rakyat’s intelligence and a damning indication of their opinion on their own education system.

You can’t move towards a high income economy with an ignorant population without the capability of receiving, assessing and forming their own opinion from conflicting and differing views.

This tax payer has observed the performance of both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan wakil rakyats since 2008 and hereby assert his right to voice his own opinion on the performance of both side of the political divide, not giving 2 hoots to whatever sketchy KPI maintained and reported by a defeated candidate in the last general election.

I am looking at 4 sectors and decide on my tax money’s worth:

Economy, social responsibility, political posturing and governance and justice.

Read more at: http://wangsamajuformalaysia.blogspot.com/2010/07/report-card-for-barisan-nasional-and.html

Pakatan is going for Taib's throat

Pakatan to zero in on Taib's wealth

By Joseph Tawie, Free Malaysia Today

KUCHING: Sarawak’s Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud’s leadership and the exposure of his family’s overseas properties will be one of the main campaign issues to be used in the coming state election.

In the past month or so, Taib’s and that of his family’s properties in Canada, America, Australia and England worth billions of ringgit have been exposed by websites and blogs.

“Taib’s rule of Sarawak and his properties overseas have been discussed in detail in our election courses in Kuching,” said Mustaffa Kamil Ayub, chairman of Keadilan Academy.

“These issues will form the core issues of our campaign strategy in the coming state election,” he added.

“Our branch leaders need to know all the issues so that they can inform the rakyat, especially those in the rural areas,” said Mustaffa.

“The rakyat have been fooled and threatened, so it is our duty to inform them about the truth and, at the same time, to instil courage against BN’s culture of fear.

“The people are smarter now and they can judge for themselves. There are a number of ways how we can disseminate this information; some by leaflets and others by conventional methods,” he said.

Mustaffa returned to Kuala Lumpur today after organising election courses in Kuching, which were attended by grassroots and branch leaders of the party.

The academy is tasked with organising 10 principal programmes to build a firmly-grounded and dynamic future for Keadilan, which has the potential and capacity to shape Malaysian political history by promoting the spirit of reform, a new culture and a new style of politics.

'Voters smarter now'

On PKR’s election preparation, Mustaffa said the party is well-prepared to face the election and is likely to contest more than half of the 71 state seats.

“PKR is expected to be the biggest party in Pakatan Rakyat contesting in the polls,” he said.

Diva: Nat Aitra - Altantuya Reincarnated

Alam Kulkul Hotel

This boutique resort was designed to reflect the charm of a traditional Balinese village. Recently remodeled, the Alam KulKul Boutique Resort & Hotel is still a symbol of Bali’s unique culture with its thatched roof villas and a decor consisting of antique furniture and local handicrafts all set amidst a series of flower gardens and tranquil pools. The hotel itself offers a wide range of international cuisines at the Bunga Kelapa restaurant and the Jamu Traditional Spa has a variety of treatments for guests who like to pamper themselves. The Alam KulKul is conveniently located across from the Kuta Beach and is very close to local dining and shopping hotspots. When you're ready to book a room at Alam Kulkul Hotel, please enter your travel dates into the secure online booking form and click.

Dr Asri: The Poor Malays Are Raped Again

Dr Asri: Alas, the poor Malays are once again deprived of subsidies ..

Former Perlis mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin expressed regret over rising prices of "five-in-one" for the purpose of cutting subsidies, while at the same time there are numerous waste.

"... There are many more other waste, suddenly civilians become victims, they are deprived of subsidies," he said.

'Always remember those villages which are difficult, the parents of their limited income and children of the poor who will termangsa of each price increase.

"They are not luxurious palaces, no cars, no luxury food."

Midnight yesterday, the government raised the price of petrol, diesel, sugar and Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). Step suddenly appears to invite the anger of many parties, particularly the opposition.

Writing in his blog yesterday, Dr Mohd Asri menempelak "aristocrats and dignitaries who enjoy luxury Being with people who take the subsidy."

Meanwhile, according to the article titled 'prices for his products' again, the poor are now weeping due to higher food prices.

Kena Banged!

Foundation For The Future and Malaysian Opposition Leader

July 19, 2010

Foundation For the Future and Malaysian Opposition Leader

A 42-page report by a Washington DC-based whistle-blower organisation is proving a major embarrassment for Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim by alleging that the Foundation for the Future, which Anwar headed for a time in the middle of the last decade, was actually established and funded by the US Department of State at the behest of Elizabeth Cheney, the daughter of then-Vice President Dick Cheney (below), and the Bush administrations neo-conservatives.

The Government Accountability Project report, titled The Foundation for the Future: What FOIA Documents Reveal, and released July 8, is based on hundreds of documents delivered to the organisation under the US Freedom of Information Act. It says the Foundation for the Future was established and operated in a highly irregular manner by Bush administration officials and employees including Shaha Riza, the girlfriend of Paul Wolfowitz, who was forced to leave the World Bank after it became known that he had promoted Riza to triple the World Banks salary guidelines.

Ostensibly, matching money to fund the Foundation for the Future was supposed to come from 11 countries led by Qatar at US$10 million, and Bahrain, with another US$2 million. Jordan was to put up another US$1 million, Turkey US$500,000 and the rest was to be scattered among several European Union countries including Denmark, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands and the European Union itself. But neither Qatar nor Bahrain ever came through. Of the US$22.26 million pledged, only about US$6.4 million ever materialized. The rest apparently was made up from US State Department funds.

Anwar (left) has previously disavowed any US funding of the organisation , established in 2005 as an essential front on the global war on terror and part of President George Bushs freedom agenda to promote democracy and reform in the Middle East and Africa. Anwar served as chairman and acting president of the organisation s board in the period when he was out of politics following his incarceration on corruption and sexual perversion charges.

The Government Accountability Project report lends considerable ammunition to Anwars opponents in the United Malays National Organisation(UMNO), who have long charged that Anwar was connected to the US Central Intelligence Agency, although neither the CIA nor the US government as a whole has ever exhibited any particular desire to bring down the Malaysian government, and in fact considers Malaysia, as a moderate Muslim democracy, to be one of its staunchest allies in the region.

Foundation a mess

In particular, UMNO Youth chief Kairy Jamaluddin called attention to Anwars statements disavowing US funding of the foundation and demanded that Anwar explain himself. He accused Anwar of misleading the US government in a memorandum of understanding saying the foundation had agreed to get other countries to commit funds to match those the US government was providing.

For me, it is a serious matter that the opposition leader has tried to mislead the US government to get grants for a foundation that he was chairman of, Khairy told the Malaysian newspaper The Star.

An Anwar associate said the opposition leader would decline to comment, adding that there was little to be gained by saying anything about the matter. Nonetheless, he characterised Anwars role as blameless.

There is nothing wrong going on, he said. This is part of the campaign to! get Wo lfowitz (right) out of the World Bank and to do so they threw Anwar under the bus.

The report characterises the Foundation for the Future as part of a vast and tragic misconception among the Bush administration neoconservatives, particularly Wolfowitz, that a slight push the elimination of Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein from power would result in a dramatic change in the Middle East. That of course has resulted in the deaths of more than 4,000 US soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians and a realignment in the Middle East that nobody in the west wanted the growing power of Iran in the region and particularly in Irans influence over the Iraqi government itself.

But the Foundation from the start appears to have been a mess, according to the report. It apparently was the brainchild of Shaha Riza, who was seconded from the World Bank by Wolfowitz to run it. As has been widely reported, Rizas salary increases during external service far exceeded those allowed under World Bank regulations, Wolfowitz allegedly instructed the Department of Human Resources to pay her three times the allowable increase for her grade and circumstances, so that she ended up making more money that Condoleezza Rice, her nominal superior, by about US$7,000, according to the report.

Anwars connection

The foundations first president, an Iraqi named Bakhtiar Amin, who had served in the new interim government set up following the invasion, quit after a short time on the job because he was not up to the task. It appeared that the entire foundation pretty much consisted of Shaha Riza. There was no chief financial officer or chief operations officer.

The Washington Post reported at the time that Though Shaha Riza, who has been romantically linked to Wolfowitz, is not listed as part of the staff on the organisation s website, she is the only person working in the groups offices. It is basically just her running this thing, said Tamara Cofma! n Wittes , research fellow at the Brookings Institution Saban Centre for Middle East Policy, who closely tracks democracy programs in the region. She said the board members had no experience in grant-making and thus had started from zero, with no bylaws or grant-making guidelines.

When Anwar was ultimately selected as board chairman, according to the report, it appeared that it was more because Anwar was a friend of Wolfowitzs rather than for any other reason. Anwar Ibrahimwas not from the region, and the tactics used to position him as the chair were not transparent, the report continued.

Ultimately, the report says, less than half of the US$60 million in initial funding for the Foundation (as envisioned by Elizabeth Cheney) ever materialised, and the major proportion of funding came from the United States, in violation of the spirit of the legislation creating the institution. The great multilateral effort devolved into a unilateral US initiative supported only by Jordan and a smattering of European nations. And the organisation that was promoted as a model and beacon of inspiration for the democratic development of the societies in which it operates represented little more than a nest of sinecures for those people closest to the Vice President: his daughter Liz, Wolfowitzs girlfriend Shaha Riza and Wolfowitzs favoured friend from Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim.

The report ends up by questioning whether the US State Departments representation that Qatar would stump up US$10 million was deliberately perpetrated to circumvent requirements in US law regarding contributions to a Middle East Foundation, whether US law was violated by Shaha Rizas secondment to the State Department, whether future support for the Foundation is even appropriate, and whether the state Department abused freedom of information law by inappropriately classifying documents in an effort to hide them from whistle-blowers. Asia Sentinel and www.malaysiakini.com

Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

BN displays cutting edge fact twisting technology on PRICE HIKE

Subsidies: PR and perception management

It is not surprising to read reports of government media advisors telling newspaper editors how to report about price hikes, following the move to reduce or eliminate subsidies. It seems it is okay to say ‘upward price adjustments’ and ‘subsidy rationalisation’ but not ‘price hikes’ or ‘barang naik’. Ridiculous? It’s all part of the info-war. Increasingly governments are using public relations experts to manage the way the public reacts to controversial new policies and to neutralise dissent.

In public relations circles, this is referred to as “perception management”. Perception management essentially means changing the reality as seen by your target audience so that it corresponds with your reality. I have a feeling this art of managing perceptions has been applied in the approach to scrapping or reducing subsidies. Logically, public perception of the plan to remove subsidies would be largely negative. The task of the public relations folks would be to try and alter the way the public views reality so that it corresponds with the government’s perception of reality. In other words, the government’s public relations people probably aim to try and narrow the “perception gap”.

Thus an elaborate plan seems to have been put in place involving “subsidy rationalisation labs”, displays of superficial but much publicised efforts at “consultations”, and dubious opinion polls apparently showing the public as open or receptive to the idea of removing subsidies. Look at this online poll on the Government Transformation Programme website, for instance: if you vote “No” to the subsidies, you must still vote for a time-frame (1 year, 3 years or 5 years) for the government to reduce the subsidies; otherwise you cannot submit your vote! There was even an attempt to create a sense of impending crisis by highlighting the possibility that Malaysia could face bankruptcy by 2019, if subsidies were not slashed. Why, the slashing of subsidies was touted as one of the key ways to avoid possible bankruptcy. (No mention of cuts in other areas of government spending such as defence.) What is perception management? It has been described as follows:

Perception is a way of seeing, understanding or interpreting. In business, perceptions describe the way stakeholders perceive an enterprise or a brand, based on its actions and the behaviour of its people. To stakeholders, perception is their reality. Perceptions may be good or bad, depending on the experiences that stakeholder groups might have had when engaging with the organisation. We suggest that companies become more sensitive to these perceptions and work to address the perception gap – i.e. the gap that exists between stakeholder perceptions and the company’s ideal perceptions of itself. Hence, perceptions have to be managed to ensure that a sound reputation of the organisation is nurtured. Perceptual assets are intangible but nevertheless valuable. By managing perceptions, an enterprise builds reputational value. How do you manage perceptions? Can perceptions be managed? The answer is yes!

Typically, the process would begin with a Stakeholder Perception Audit to gauge perceptions held by key stakeholder groups towards the organisation. Following from that, the organisation would commit to addressing each key issue of perception, identifying perception gaps where they exist and implementing appropriate change programmes. Meanwhile, the task of communicating messages begins, messages founded on truth and fact. Over time, the leadership succeeds in growing the enterprise into an organisation whose values represent those sought by its key stakeholder groups. Essentially, there must be interest in feedback and a commitment to addressing the issues raised in the interest of changing negative perceptions to positive ones.
The government probably feels the media have a crucial role to play in shaping public perceptions.

Thus the mainstream media are advised against using the term “price hikes” and instead play up the “benefits” of reducing subsidies to get the public to buy into the idea. Why the removal of subsidies for sugar is touted as a health benefit. The problem for the government is the mainstream media have low credibility and thus the proposal to scrap or reduce subsidies is that much harder to sell to a more critical and discerning public, post 8 March 2008. Do you know, the art of perception management was used to sell the Iraq War to a US public that had been wary of major foreign military adventures ever since the debacle in Vietnam. The spin continues. Coffee shops land up shouldering the blame when they raise the price of teh tarik by a few sen f0llowing the government’s price hikes. (On the other hand, you hear little criticism of Pos Malaysia when it implements hefty hikes in postal rates despite making substantial profits.)

Melayu umumnya tak sebodoh Melayu UMNO........

'Melayu liberal', 'Melayu alat' cabaran baru Umno baca di sini.

Sebenarnya tak ada Melayu Liberal atau Melayu Alat. Full Stop.

Yang ada hanyalah Melayu UMNO,Melayu PAS dan Melayu PKR. Setahu aku Melayu PAS dan PKR ini lebih cerdik daripada Melayu UMNO.

Semua orang tahu bahawa Melayu UMNO adalah jenis penyamun,kaki anggok,kaki bodek,yes man dan lagak macam lembu pawah. Apakah tidaknya asyik dok ikut saja apa pemimpin depa cakap. Melayu UMNO ini jenis tak kisah apa pemimpin depa buat. Sama ada pemimpin agong depa balun,curi atau sapu berbilion-bilion atas nama konsultasi dsbnya, mereka tak ambil tahu.

Kini, pemimpin2 ini nak terapkan fahaman yang sama ke atas rakyat,terutama orang2 Melayu,
kononnya kenaikkan harga barang baru2 ini bukan sebenar kenaikkan harga,tapi hanyalah pelarasan harga semata-mata. Kemundian minta akhbar2 jangan hebohkan pasal kenaikkan harga barang!

Ingat rakyat ini bermentaliti macam orang Melayu UMNO kah? Ikut saja apa pemimpin depa cakap? Sorrylah.....gunalah istilah apa sekali pun dan jangan mai dok temberang sini. Kalau harga gula dulu RM1.65 dan kini 1.90, itu kenaikkan harga namanya!!!

Jadi, yang bodoh tu bukan orang Melayu tapi Melayu UMNO.........




cheers.
Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

Protes targets giant anti-price hike rally before Ramadhan

Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

Protes a coalition of Malaysian NGOs, pressure groups and civil society leaders against fuel price hikes will launch a campaign on July 28 to raise public awareness against the governments recent slew of subsidy cuts.

We will be officially launching a nationwide campaign that will include public seminars, ceramahs to inform the citizens of their rights, Protes coordinator Dr Hatta Ramli told Malaysia Chronicle.

Pamphlets and leaflets will be distributed to keep the public informed, and the road shows and tours that we are planning will culminate in a mammoth rally, hopefully in Kuala Lumpur, as soon as we can. Before fasting begins, if possible.

Squeezing the poor

On Thursday Prime Minister Najib Razak had announced a five-sen price increase for RON95, the mostly commonly used grade of petrol, and for diesel as well. He also put the higher-grade RON97 on a managed float that will subject it to price fluctuations in the market.

LPG was raised 10 sen to RM1.85 per kg, while sugar was also hiked by 25sen to RM1.75 per kg. Cooking gas was increased by RM1 to RM18.50 for the 10kg cylinder, by RM1.20 to RM22.20 for the 12kg cylinder and by RM1.40 to RM25.90 for the 14kg cylinder.

According to Najib, the price hikes will save the government RM750 million in subsidies. But consumer groups and opposition leaders have slammed the move, saying it was unjustified because the low-income groups stood to suffer the most.

RM750 million is nowadays peanuts. If Najib wants to raise this amount, he can easily trim some other subsidy, Why not take from the independent power producers or the toll road operators. Why raise sugar, cooking gas? Even the petrol increase of 5 sen will mean a lot to ordinary folk and this is before the multiplier effect. It will result in more costly cooked food and transporta! tion lat er on. But is anyone going to increase the people's gaji (salary), Hatta, who is also PAS treasurer-general, said.

Indeed, the slew of price hikes has drawn lukewarm response from market experts, while many ordinary Malaysians have expressed anger. Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has urged Najib to plow the money back into educational projects or some form of direct aid to the low-income groups.

The public has the right to know what the government is going to do with their money. You cannot simply shift the burden to them or ask them to change their lifestyle because of the governments own financial mismanagement. At least 80 percent of Malaysians will be badly impacted by the price hikes. And from what we know, this is just the first round with more price increases coming very soon.

Giant rally hopefully before fasting begins

Meanwhile, MCA deputy president Liow Tiong Lay has expressed support for Najibs subsidy cuts, saying that it would curb smuggling of resources to neighbouring countries.

MCA hopes that the subsidy policy implemented will focus on the ordinary people and benefit Malaysian citizens as a whole. Subsidies are meant to help poor Malaysians, yet many foreigners continue to take advantage of this price gap, Liow said.

But Hatta shot back.

I hate to be rude but this is bullshit. Is Liow saying that to spite the foreigners, we must kill own people in the process? Hatta said.

In 2008, Protes staged several highly-charged rallies, with turnout easily exceeding 50,000 people. Hatta hopes for a new record crowd size.

"The people are seething their anger. I think for sure we will be able to achieve even better awareness this year. We hope we can work fast enough to hold the rally before mid-August when Ramadhan will begin," Hatta said.
Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

A Pictorial Guide to Najibnomics: Price Hikes - Part 2

Malaysia Chronicle

As the price hikes-subsidy cuts debate rages on, Malaysia Chronicle releases A Pictorial Guide to Najibnomics - Part II, with thanks to animator/artist extraordinaire Umnodokpakka Gawa !






Also read:

• Protes targets giant anti-price hike rally before Ramadhan ...
• Cronies begin baying for the RM750mil raised from price hikes ...
• The 43 billion ringgit Question
• Price hikes:Najib unfazed by public anger, selects Merdeka attire...
• Najibnomics: Price adjustments not hikes, rationalization not cuts...
• Spell out how savings from subsidy cuts will be spent : Anwar ...
• Cut in sugar subsidies not even enough to pay APCO : Anwar...

See What Barisan Nasional Gotta Say?