Special rights cant be erased unless the Malays agree to it, says Khoo Kay Kim

(Bernama) - The people, irrespective of race, who question Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, which spells out the special rights and privileges of the Malays and Bumiputeras, are blind about history and the constitution, an analyst said.

Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Khoo Kay Kim said the special position of the Malays was recognised way back since the British era.

When the British came to Malaya, they found that there were already Malay governments in several parts of the peninsula, and the British recognised these governments.

These governments took care of a large number of people (the Malays). For the British, these people had their special rights. But those who came and lived in Malaya were not subjects of the Rulers and therefore, did not enjoy the same rights enjoyed by the Malays, he told Bernama.

He said the non-Malays in the peninsula at that time were not citizens or subjects of the king, saying they only had the opportunity to apply for citizenship when the Federation of Malaya was formed on February 1, 1948.

When the British planned the formation of the Malay Federation as a nation state, it was an extension of what already existed then, and by 1957, the Federal Constitution was formulated, incorporating the prevailing arrangement at that time, he said.

The people, especially those from other races, should therefore respect the rights and privileges of the Malays as enshrined in the constitution because when it was first formulated, the various races had already agreed to what needed to be incorporated in it, he said.

The special position of the Malays started since a long time ago and based on the system of government existed then. In the peninsula, nine Malay kingdoms existed since 1895, and continue to exist until today, he said.

The Federal Constitution was formulated based on the recommend! ations of the Reid Commission. It took effect soon after the independence on August 31, 1957.

Article 153 spells out powers vested upon the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in safeguarding the special position of the Malays and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak, as well as the legitimate interests of other communities.

It also spells out in detail the functions of the King in ensuring quotas for the Malays and Bumiputeras in the public service, scholarships, public education as well as the provisions of permits and business licences.

Khoo said the reason why there were groups questioning the rights and privileges of the Malays was because the society of today was blind about history.

They dont understand (the constitution) and are ignorant of what they can or cannot do. There shouldnt be any debate on the constitution because what is important is to follow what has been in use for so long, he said.

He said that if the constitution was to be amended, it would require the agreement of two-thirds of MPs in Parliament and should be consented to by the King.

He added that anyone wanting to abolish or amend Article 153 should obtain the agreement of the Malays and Bumiputeras, the agreement of two-thirds of MPs in Parliament and the consent of the King.

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Umno warlords tells Najib to go slow on snap polls

Umno warlords tells Najib to go slow on snap polls

from Malaysians Must Know the TRUTH

Umno warlords and key aides are telling Datuk Seri Najib Razak to delay any idea of snap polls to secure his personal mandate, saying he should not assume his personal popularity means that the party is more acceptable to the people.

The Umno president met the Johor Umno liaison committee members on Friday where some leaders shared their concerns over the party’s popularity.

“Datuk Seri Najib (picture) is popular, no doubt about it. But the party isn’t that popular in some states like it is in Johor,” an Umno official told The Malaysian Insider on condition of anonymity.

The prime minister’s approval ratings rose to 72 per cent in May, according to the last Merdeka Center survey, which said it was bolstered by a sense that the nation was headed in the right

direction. The country’s economy grew 9.5 per cent in the first half of the year and the Najib administration believe that Malaysia can exceed its 6 per cent growth target for 2010.

The stronger economy has fuelled speculation that he might call for snap polls by the first half of 2011 although an Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) report last week dismissed such talk, saying

the results of recent by-elections suggest that the electorate has become much more volatile especially with non-Malay voters.

Non-Malay voters have been turned off by calls from Malay rights groups such as Perkasa for Najib to keep affirmative action measures from the New Economic Policy (NEP) in his New Economic Model (NEM) which envisions an open high-income economy. Najib received the NEM

final report last week and is due to release it next month.

The Malaysian Insider understands that Najib told the Umno leaders to cut the race rhetoric as Barisan Nasional (BN) has to be fair to all races in order to win the elections.

“He said the target is simple. BN has to be fair to win the elections,” the Umno leader added.

It is understood that the prime minister told the Umno leaders to “work the ground” and ensure that the BN lynchpin can get the votes to carry the ruling coalition through the 13th general elections which must be called by 2013.

“He knows the problems and told us to work the ground and added that Johor is fortunate to have many strong leaders,” said the leader from the Umno birthplace.

“He even said that other states are complaining why Johor has many leaders in the Cabinet,” he added. Johor has five representatives in the federal cabinet, four from Umno and one from MIC.

Three others are in the 29-member Cabinet are senators. There are also a total of 11 deputy ministers who are senators.

The BN lost four states and its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority in Election 2008, four years after Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi secured a 91 per cent mandate. Abdullah resigned as prime minister in April 2009 to make way for Najib.

In June, the Merdeka Center reported that it had polled 1,028 randomly selected voters in Peninsular Malaysia by telephone between May 6 and 16, just ahead of the Sibu by-election which BN lost.

Merdeka Center chief Ibrahim Suffian said that there is a sense that the public appreciates his efforts but they are also waiting to see if his initiatives, such as the government transformation programme, will be implemented successfully.

“The public is still of two minds but they do acknowledge that he’s trying,” Ibrahim told The Malaysian Insider then.

Najin started as prime minister in April 2009 with a dismal 44 per cent rating but had jumped to 69 per cent one year later.

He enjoyed the highest approval among Indians, of whom 80 per cent expressed satisfaction, followed by Malays at 77 per cent and Chinese at 58 per cent. Confidence levels in the Najib administration’s initiatives, however, were limited, with only 50 per cent confident that the Government Transformation Programme, 1 Malaysia and the NEM will be able to achieve their goals.

The Merdeka Center said that indications are that the public is becoming increasingly cynical, with 58 per cent agreeing with the view that “the federal government was good in planning but weak in implementation”.

A majority of respondents were also dissatisfied with efforts to combat corruption (61 per cent) and combating crime (57 per cent).

More than half (53 per cent) said that fighting corruption was the most important issue the government should address. Slightly more than 50 per cent felt the country was headed in the right direction compared with 34 per cent who said it was heading the wrong way and 14 per cent who were uncertain.

The number of respondents satisfied with their personal income, meanwhile, dropped from 52 to 46 per cent while 47 per cent felt that economic conditions were favourable compared with 52 per cent in April.

courtesy of Malaysian Insider

Sarawak PKR is for all, says Bian

By Joseph Tawie

KUCHING: Sarawak PKR chairman Baru Bian has reiterated that the party is fighting for the rights of all races and that includes the Chinese.Reacting to Sarawak United People Partys (SUPP) comment, he said: We are different from George Chan (SUPP president) and SUPP in that we do not look at the racial background when we fight for peoples rights.

We fight for all races -- Ibans, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulu, Malays, Chinese.

Last Saturday, Chan had said that the Chinese community could not remain silent anymore about their unhappiness with issues that affected them.

We must not be afraid to speak our minds anymore. We must correct any injustice and unfairness and not remain silent, Chan had reportedly said, adding that he would be calling for a meeting of SUPP leaders to discuss their next course of action to fight for the rights of the Chinese and their position in the local political scene.

Bian said Chan had finally seen the light but it smelt of racial politics.

Chans demand for Chinese rights and James Masings (Parti Rakyat Sarawak president) for Ibans' rightsthat is racial politics.

We (PKR) fight for all. We dont compartmentalise our demand based on race. I think that is not right. We do not do that.

Overall people must realise that (Chief Minister) Taib (Mahmud) has been dividing us along racial lines where SUPP is to fight for the Chinese, PRS and SPDP (Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party) for the Dayaks and PBB for the Malays.

But we in PKR are different from SUPP. We want to fight not only for the Dayaks and natives, but also for the Chinese.

We fight for the rights of the poor Sarawakians regardless of racial and religious background; we demand for these rights, especially the wealth that has been taken away as evident by the reports that billions of ringgit had been stashed overseas.

And we demand all th! ese be r eturned to the people, Bian said.

Meawnhile, Masing said he preferred a soft approach and would speak to Taib and relevant authorities in private to tell them of the needs of the communities.

We do not demand for our rights publicly and through the newspapers.

We discuss our demands within the four walls of the Barisan Nasional, Masing said, adding that that they all belong to the same family (BN).

SPDP deputy president Peter Nyarok, however, refused to make any comment.
Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

PM: Let's censor the web like the communists?

PEKAN: There are laws governing Internet use and the Prime Minister wants the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to act on those who abuse it.

“I hope the commission will take strict action against these culprits as they are creating mischief and this we cannot tolerate,” said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

He added that those who abuse the Internet by putting up content with racial and religious slurs could spark off tension.

He said the commission, tasked with monitoring such activities, has the power to take action.

Najib was speaking at a press conference after handing out alms and contributions to some 4,000 recipients comprising single mothers, the handicapped, the poor and the needy here yesterday.

Earlier, the Pekan MP received RM1.2mil in tithe contributions from Bank Rakyat (RM500,000); Tabung Haji (RM282,000), Uda Holdings (RM200,000), Amanah Raya Berhad (RM200,000) and Yayasan Harmoni (RM50,000).

In Kuala Lumpur, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also said enforcement authorities had been instructed to take stern and immediate action against those igniting racial or religious tension.

“There must be a basis and solid evidence for such an act,” he said.

Muhyiddin was asked to comment on a media report yesterday on a police report lodged by Gerakan Pemuda Prihatin Putrajaya regarding a Facebook account which allegedly insulted Islam although the account had since been deactivated.

The Deputy Prime Minister said there were means to investigate the authenticity of an account and to identify the person or persons responsible.

He said this after launching the integrated road safety campaign in conjunction with Hari Raya.

In Johor Baru, Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said students in public and private universities should be responsible when using social networking sites.

Mohamed Khaled was commenting on reports that fake or unofficial Facebook accounts had been created under the names of several leaders including Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.

He spoke to reporters on the issue after presenting tithes to low-income families as well as single mothers yesterday.

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Mosques: Barring non-Muslims portrays negative image

The issue of non-Muslims entering mosques has received wide media coverage when Serdang member of parliament, Teo Nie Ching visited Surau al-Huda in Kajang to deliver Ramadan's aid in her constituency.

Some view non-Muslims to be 'un-clean' to enter such a place and their presence is a form of desecration of such a holy place. Subsequent to it, the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) and the Selangor Religious Islamic Council (Mais) have issued directives disallowing non- Muslims from entering mosques.

We, the Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF) are of the opinion that there should never be any denigration of another human being based on gender, race or creed. God has honored all human being irrespective of beliefs.

The Qur'an established this very fact in the verse 'Now, indeed, We have conferred dignity on the children of Adam' [17:70].

Religiously speaking, Islam teaches vying each other with respect and in good causes. To each is a goal to which God turns him; then strive together towards all that is good [2:148].

Conscientious and sensible people, of course, would lean toward an approach based on cooperation and empathy than toward an approach based on needless confrontation and unwarranted hostility.

We strongly feel that disallowing non-Muslims from entering mosques only portrays a negative image of Islam and is not in line with the examples set by the Prophet. It is well-known from the tradition that the Prophet allowed Christians from Najran to pray in his mosque in Madinah.

In a multi-religious country such as Malaysia, adopting views that disallow non-Muslims from entering mosques, which are established in some school of thoughts, is inappropriate.

Nobody from other faiths should be barred from entering mosques or any place of worship for Muslims, as long as their purpose is good, they respect the sacredness of the place of worship and are modestly dressed.

They should also be allowed to deliver speeches, provided that the speech is in line with the spirit of enjoining what is good and forbidding what is evil.

It is in the interest of maslahah or common good of Islam that non-Muslims should feel welcomed and not intimidated from visiting mosques.

Calls to ban non-Muslims from entering mosques or any knee-jerk reaction by the Islamic authorities to bow to certain political pressure in preventing the commendable attitude of cooperation and mutual respect is regrettable and uncalled for.

While Islam may have been a vanguard of freedom and progress evidenced by the magnificent civilisations throughout history, this traditional and orthodox position by the Islamic authorities remain seriously at odd with the notion of the universalism of Islam.

The sensible path forward should be guided by the true Islamic values enshrined in the Qur'an and by the spirit of brotherhood of mankind, mutual respect and empathy.

The writers are analysts, Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF).

正妹租男友 - 朱梓珈正妹租男友 - 朱梓珈 (一)

《現 代快報》報導，23日中午，朱梓珈在網上發佈了一篇日誌，題目叫《租男友一枚，2500元每天加獎金，包吃住，應徵從速！》，並附上多張美照。朱梓珈說： 「我是個外地女孩，在北京打拼多年，事業 小有成就。無奈父母之命難違，多次催我帶男友回家。昨天聽朋友們的建議，我打算租一個男友帶回家。」

正妹租男友 - 朱梓珈正妹租男友 - 朱梓珈 (二)

事 實上，租男友已經不是什麼新鮮事，但朱梓珈提出的要求讓人傻眼。朱梓珈指出：「會說或者能聽懂天津話，懂音樂或者什麼別的藝術(父親很有藝術修養)。經常 看家庭生活類的電視 劇，對電視劇裡的各種人物關係爛熟於胸(老兩口有這個愛好)。好友數在500以上，每月至少一篇日誌(說明你的人際關係和性格都比較好)。必須是左撇子 (媽媽說左撇子人聰明)。」

正妹租男友 已經不是什麼新鮮事

另外，朱梓珈也列出租來的男友要做的5件 事，分別是「陪我回家，幫我拎東西」、「陪我父母拉家常，看電視劇，晨 練」、「幫我父母洗腳」、「陪我父母逛街」、「陪我走親訪友」。不僅如此，在實戰之前還要經過培訓。朱梓珈說：「做我的男朋友，必須對我的生活有所瞭解， 所以我們先進行磨合培訓，培訓為期 2-3天。」

My Constitution head laughs off sedition claim

By Debra Chong, The Malaysian Insider

Lawyer Edmund Bon, who heads the Bar Councils My Constitution campaign, said today he was surprised and tickled by a youth groups claim that its public awareness booklets were seditious.

Bon was responding to a police report lodged yesterday by the 1 Malaysia Youth Graduands Club in Serdang, calling on the authorities to take immediate action against the campaigners for allegedly advocating the changing of provisions in the Federal Constitution, especially those touching on the special position of Malays and Islam.

Were amused they are saying its seditious, Bon told The Malaysian Insider.

He defended the contents of the booklets, explaining that they were written in a simplified form but were an accurate guide to the provisions of the highest law of the land, and denied the campaign was aimed at changing the Constitution.

The campaign does not seek to amend the Constitution, only to educate the public on what is in the Constitution, Bon stressed.

Theyre confusing the theoretical aspect of the Constitution with the facts, he added, referring to the allegation by the youth groups secretary-general Ezaruddin Abdul Rahman, that people had the right to amend the Federal Constitution if they voted for members of parliament capable of doing so.

Bon pointed out that some 90,000 booklets had been distributed nationwide to date with the support of the federal government and in partnership with several state governments including Sarawak, Selangor and Kedah.

He also highlighted that senior members of each arm of government have graced the campaign since it took off on November 13 last year, notably Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia; Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum; and Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, the minister in the Prime M! inisters Department charge of integration and national unity.

READ MORE HERE

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Don't question social contract, says Najib

PUTRAJAYA: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak reminded the people today against questioning provisions in the constitution, particularly those related to the social contract, saying they had been agreed upon by the nation's forefathers."We should uphold what has been agreed upon by our forefathers, by the past generations, which have enable us to reach where we are today," he said at the Prime Minister's Department's monthly gathering, here today.

He said that to safeguard race relations, society should be mindful of one another's sensitivities and refrain from engaging in acts that could hurt the feelings of other communities.

"If we can refrain from doing these two things, we can cool off a lot of heat and I believe it can contribute towards strengthening the country's national unity and political stability," he said.

Najib said both aspects were also important in managing the country's politics and racial relations.

"We have been saying that the country's pillar of stability is national unity; if we don't manage race relations properly, it can affect the country's stability," he said.

He also called on civil servants to fully understand and internalise the 1Malaysia concept and set examples for others to emulate.

"Please remember that it is our responsibility to care for the country for our future generations. Let us not damage what is already in good condition," he said.

He also wished the staff of the department a Happy Aidilfitri.

- Bernama
Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

Blatant disregard for native customary rights

By Joseph Tawie

SEBUYAU: A group of villagers have accused the Sarawak forestry department of blatant disregard of their native customary rights (NCR) over their communal forests.

Activists Nicholas Mujah and Numpang Anan Suntai who are helming the group said the department was refusing to suspend the license issued to logging company, Quality Concrete Holding to stop harvesting of timber in their pulau galau (communal forest).

The department has been informed by the land and survey department through a letter that the area is confirmed to be native customary rights land.

Yet the department does not want to take action against Quality Concrete Holdings, which continues to log trees in the communal forest, said Mujah, who is the secretary general of Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia) in a letter of complaint to Suhakam.

The logging activities have destroyed a large number of our rubber and fruit trees and cash crops, he said, pointing out that such activities will also disturb their shrines, graveyards and their sources of incomes.

He added that the the logging activities was also polluting the peoples source of drinking water as well as disturbing the habitat of some of the protected animals such as the proboscis monkeys, orang utan, hornbills, deer and peacock.

The area is also the home of some of the rarest species of timber such as belian (iron wood) and selangan batu which fetches up to RM4,000 a tonne.

Five longhouses namely Kampung Entangor, Kg Sungai Ijok, Kg Arus, Kg Tungkah Dayak and Kg Ensika are directly affected by the logging activities.

All these are clear violations of the rights of the villagers and environmental hazards, he said, calling on Suhakam to carry out an immediate investigation into the violation of human rights by the forest department and the company.

Longhouse chiefs getting 'kickbacks'

Meanwhile, Sadia has also received complaints that certain Penghulu and longhouse chi! efs had allegedly received 'kickbacks' from the company for their cooperation.

If this is true, then both the company and longhouse chiefs have committed corruption, he said and urged the resident office of Kota Samarahan to investigate the claim.

His group, he said, would lodge a report with the MACC over the 'kickbacks' as well as against the forest department for refusing to suspend the licence it issued to the company.

The trouble between Quality Concrete Holdings and the natives began in April this year when the company received a licence from the forest department.

It allowed them to log timber in 3,305 ha of communal forests in Bukit Salbu, Bukit Birut, Bukit Bederi, Bukit Bekutu, Bukit Ijok and Bukit Sandong.

Despite their protests and blockades, the company and the forest department continue to bulldoze their way to the communal forest.

The licence is expected to expire by the end of the year.

Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

Fighting the good fight for Lembah Pantai VIDEO

Fighting the good fight for Lembah Pantai in Kuala Lumpur.

Watch this video to know more:

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Racism: Quick resolution needed

By FMT Staff

ALOR STAR: The federal government has been urged to put in place quickly a mechanism to counter race issues in the country, particularly in relation to teachers and racist politicians.Bukit Selambau assemblyman S Manikumar said Malaysians were becoming overly-sensitive and traumatised by recent incidents, which should not have occurred in the first place.

We must think quickly of a mechanism to strengthen racial harmony. Malays, Chinese, Indians and Siamese must collectively think about the successes we have achieved since independence 53 years ago. It will all be a waste if we continue to carry on like this on a day-to-day basis, he said

Manikumar was commenting on reports that the principal of Bukit Selambau Secondary School, Ungku Aznan Ungku Ismail, would not be penalised for mouthing racial slurs at his non-Malay students who were eating in the school canteen during the Ramadan month.

He said in the past, when racial ties among Malaysians were at its best, a statement such as the one made by Ungku Aznan would be overlooked.

But the situation is different now. I want to ask the Chinese and the Siamese community here in Bukit Selambau not to magnify the issue because there are many other good and wise Malays here who are there for us, he said.

Manikumar said the Kedah government took serious note of the issue and had directed the state education department to look into the matter.

I have raised the issue with Menteri Besar (Azizan Abdul Razak) and he has directed the state education department to investigate the matter and take firm action.

The investigation will take time as it involves the department and legal provisions which must be studied, he said.



See What Barisan Nasional Gotta Say?

MPs back Azmin for No 2: 'Cartel' at work?

PETALING JAYA: Azmin Ali has yet to announce his decision to contest for the PKR deputy president post but party leaders have already come out to express support for him.

According to them, the current vice-president was the right choice for the job.

However, some party sources wondered if this was an attempt to ensure that control of PKR remained in the hands of a select few.

Speaking to reporters at the PKR headquarters here this morning, supreme council member Kamarul Bahrin Abbas said Azmin had gone through many rough patches since the reformasi days.

He said 20 MPs and senators were backing Azmin for the number two slot.

Also present at the press conference were MPs Zuraidah Kamaruddin (Ampang), Loh Gwo Burne (Kelana Jaya), Johari Abdul (Sungai Petani) and Amran Abdul Ghani (Tanah Merah).

Questioning the timing of the press conference given that nominations had not concluded, the sources asked if Azmin's camp was rattled by the prospect of supreme council member Zaid Ibrahim entering the ring.

Azmin, who is a close associate of PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim, was always said to be uncomfortable with Zaid's presence and meteoric rise.

"So is this a move by the Anwar-Azmin 'cartel' to make sure that the party remains in the hands of a privileged few instead of having an 'outsider' like Zaid move up the ranks?

"Zaid has been getting tremendous support in the party, especially in Sabah and Sarawak, and this has left some leaders in PKR squirming uncomfortably in their seats," said a source.

The source also questioned why PKR was averse to allowing new leaders to rise up the ranks compared to its Pakatan Rakyat partners PAS and DAP.

"This does not happen in the other parties, only in PKR. Like when (former MCA vice-president) Chua Jui Meng joined, it took him such a long time to go up," he said.

Certain forces< /span>

Meanwhile, Zaid himself indicated in his blog that certain forces were at work to undermine him and drew a comparison between his position and with what happened to Umno stalwart Ghafar Baba in the past.

Zaid said when he joined the opposition party a year ago, he was hailed as a hero, but now he was being branded as an Umno agent on a mission to destroy PKR.

He also revealed that his rivals had paid a popular blogger to tarnish his name.

"The blogger was asked to write that I will pay RM20,000 to the branch that nominates me, and that I was tasked by (former finance minister) Daim Zainuddin to destroy PKR," he said.

"My loyalty has been questioned, but loyalty to whom? Perhaps, I am not loyal to the party's cause or to the highest leadership, I don't know.

"Perhaps these MPs will come forward and explain why my nomination will not be supported at their press conferences to show support for the great Anwar-Azmin combination," he added.

MORE TO FOLLOW

Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

Improve Our Schools, Not Tinker With Examinations

Keeping ... young folks with raging hormones (as those Fifth Formers are) not occupied for over six months only invites trouble. Idleness is the root of mischief; we ignore that at our peril. That is quite apart from the learning attrition that inevitably occurs during the long hiatus.

By M. Bakri Musa

In about two weeks nearly half a million Malaysian school children will be sitting for their UPSR, the national examination taken at the end of Year Six. Today there is raging debate on abolishing this as well as the PMR (taken at Year Nine) examination. A decision is expected within weeks. There is however, minimal discussion on the timing of these examinations, administered as they are so early in the school year.

This year UPSR will be on September 20th, with PMR two weeks later. From then till the year-end holidays in late November, there will be no effective teaching or learning at these schools. With the examinations out of the way, the entire school students and staff will already be in holiday mode. The staff will effectively be makan gaji buta (paid but not working).

Come January when these students begin their classes, they would have already suffered through considerable attrition in their learning skills as a result of the three-month hiatus. The first few weeks if not months would be diverted to re-learning lessons of the preceding grade.

The problem only gets worse when they sit for their SPM examination (at Year 11). Although that is held in mid November, the results would not be out till late March. Visit Malaysia at the end and at the first half of the year and you will see thousands of these young boys and girls loitering. Query them and the typical answer would be, Waiting for exam results!

The next public option for those ! wishing to continue their formal schooling would be either matrikulasi or Sixth Form. Both however would not start till June.

When they were sitting for their UPSR and PMR, these students wasted away only three months; with SPM they would be fritting away over half a year, a substantial period in a young students life.

This terrible wastage of time escapes the attention of policymakers. They should be addressing this more pertinent and pressing issue instead of the non-productive controversy over abolishing UPSR and PMR.

Better Timing of Examinations

I fail to see why UPSR and PMR have to be set so early in the third term. Delaying it to mid or even late November would greatly extend the students instructional time by at least a couple of months.

Similarly I cannot comprehend why the Examination Syndicate takes such an inordinately long time to process the SPM examination. The Syndicate should ban its staff from taking holidays from October till the results are out so it could devote fully to processing the examination. Additionally we could reduce the number of subjects tested to a few core ones like language, science and mathematics. As for the rest, rely on the teachers assessments.

Even with the core subjects, have the final examination contribute only about 60-70 percent to the total score, with the rest made up of the students year-round work. With modern statistical techniques we should be able to reduce inter-school variations in teachers assessments.

After Form Five I see no reason why students could not proceed directly to matrikulasi or Sixth Form come the following January. In the 1960s there was a special entrance examination whose only function was to select students into Sixth Form. Alternatively, use the SPM trial examination as the basis for selection. That would certainly give the examination some clout! An even better proposal would be to make Form Six an integral part of secondary schooling, wit! h everyo ne expected to continue on.

Keeping these young folks with raging hormones (as those Fifth Formers are) not occupied for over six months only invites trouble. Idleness is the root of mischief; we ignore that at our peril. That is quite apart from the learning attrition that inevitably occurs during the long hiatus.

Rich parents of course have wider options for their children, like enrolling them in the many excellent private pre-university programs. Those are expensive, beyond the reach of the poor. In the context of race-conscious Malaysia, this means Malay and Indian children.

By June when Sixth Form and the other public pre-university programs begin, those children of the rich who are accepted there would have a head start since they had spent the past six months in private pre-university programs. That gives them a substantial advantage in what typically is a one-to-two-year program.

I recently met a group of students enrolled in such a program, this one meant to prepare them for American universities. There was an incentive put into it whereby if the students were to perform well in the first six months, they would be sent abroad earlier.

Guess what? Of the students who excelled and thus sent abroad earlier, the vast majority were non-Malays. Those poor Malay students left behind were confounded. In the poisonous sociopolitical landscape where race considerations are never far from the surface, those poor Malay students not unnaturally felt their acute sense of deficiency, feeding the already ugly stereotype they have of themselves.

However, when I asked them what they were doing in the interim between sitting for their SPM and enrolling in the program, to a person they all replied that they did nothing! They idled the time away while waiting for their results. In contrast, those non-Malay students who did well were already ahead of them at the time of enrolment as they had been in private pre-university classes while wait! ing for their SPM results.

Read more at: http://www.bakrimusa.com/archives/improve-our-schools-not-tinker-with-examinations
See What Barisan Nasional Gotta Say?

Karpal: Enact Race Relations Act

By Athi Shankar, Free Malaysia Today

GEORGE TOWN: The DAP has demanded the federal government to take immediate steps to legislate the long pending Race Relations Act to curb growing racism in the country. Citing the recent racial slurs uttered by high-ranking public officers as syndromes of disharmony, DAP national chairman Karpal Singh warned that the situation could become chaotic and lead to violence if the government does not initiate steps to curb it.

He recalled that Rural and Regional Development Minister Shafie Apdal, when in charge of Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage portfolio, had announced a few years ago that the government would legislate the Race Relations Act.

He chided the government for failing to pursue the matter further.

The veteran politician now wants the government to issue directives to the Attorney-General Chambers to immediately draft the bill pertaining to the Act.

He said the bill should be tabled at Parliament, preferably in the next session, to enable the government to obtain public feedback, including the opinions of both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat MPs, to refine and strengthen the proposed Act.

He added that the proposed Act should be a comprehensive, punitive and deterrent legal mechanism against all types of offences related to racism and utterance of racist remarks, which, sadly, have become the order of the day.

When government officers utter racial slurs on a routine basis, it is a serious matter. The need for a Race Relations Act has become urgent, the two-term Bukit Gelugor MP told reporters in his office today.

He was commenting on recent racial slurs uttered by two headmistresses in Kulai, Johor, and Bukit Selambau, Kedah, respectively against non-Malay pupils.

Pre-planned plot!

Press reports today exposed another incident in Kuala Lumpur where an ethnic Malay police inspector told off a local elderly ethnic Chinese snatch theft victim to go back to China because she could not speak in Bahasa Malaysia.

Given the similarities in the racial remarks, Karpal hoped that it was not a pre-planned plot by the National Civic Bureau (Biro Tata Negara).

Calling on the A-G's Chambers to prosecute racist officers, he expressed reservation that mere suspension and transfer would not be effective to deter future racist statements.

Karpal said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak should put into practice his zero tolerance to racism agenda by legislating the proposed Act soon.

He said Najib should also be partly blamed for the growing trend of racial slurs by government officers because he let his former aide Nasir Safar go scott-free after making racist attacks on ethnic Malaysian Indians and Chinese early this year.READ MORE HERE.

Letter & Opinion From Joe Public

Will "Not Being Able To Speak BM" Becomes Seditious Or A Crime Next?

They will question her why as a Malaysian she is not able to speak BM. Is she a citizen of Malaysia or is she an illegal immigrant? They will give her a hard time checking through her background. They may even charged her for provocation against the police inspector.

By Malaysia For All

They insist, persist at every opportunity to twist and turn each and every good deeds, be it racial or religious performances by Pakatan Rakyat into chargeable offences.

You have read the past few weeks about how the Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng got entangled with the mosque sermon issue, where certain groups were trying to pin the CM involvement, the Komtar traders creating ruckus out of their own wrong doing and doctored photos of the CM slaughtering cow. They have to bring down the CM before the 13th GE.

Teo Nie Ching's surau visit by invitation to bring aides from the Selangor Government had being turned into a holier than thou episode. Till today they are still finding ways on how to charge her, with the latest salvo coming from the PM himself insisting that Teo Nie Ching violated fatwa with the surau visit. Yes, the non muslim will always be wronged when it involves the Islamic religion but the PM yet again conveniently forget about the two individuals without permission from church authorities entered a church and received Holy Communion which is most sacred to Catholics and then spat it out.

Fighting for the rights of all races can also be twisted and spin into questioning Article 153 of the Federal Constitution as the case for Lembah Pantai Member of Parliament Nurul Izzah Anwar's invitation to Perkasa to a Constructive Engagement for a new beginning for Malaysia.

An anti-racist rap video by Namewee had the police and MCMC questioning him for hours in which they have the intention to charge him for sedition but the two school principles who openly make racist remarks were left untouched. Many had viewed the video and found not! hing rac ist or seditious but with some vulgarity mix in the rap.

Khairy, the umno youth leader is hell bend that it is very racist by his own interpretation of the phrase "You tak baca? Siapa buat Malaysia kaya?" Now what can we do or say, they are the leaders of the country and the fear of losing power makes their mind go bonker and they can just charged you for what you are doing right to correct their wrong doing.

What do we expect to hear from Perkasa, malay NGOs, Khairy or the PM of another racist case from a police inspector who allegedly told a 51-year-old snatch theft victim to balik China (return to China) if she could not speak Bahasa Malaysia.

Read more at: http://ousel.blogspot.com/2010/09/will-not-being-able-to-speak-bm-becomes.html

See What Barisan Nasional Gotta Say?

Sabah - Leaders and Followers

Some people think it is sufficient to use intellectual debate to persuade the other side. This is silly to the extreme. When a person grows up in his community, he absorbs everything within his community as part of himself. Intellectual debate is not going to persuade him that all that he is and all that he loves and all that he believes in is wrong or inferior.

By batsman

Needless to say, a discussion on leaders and followers alone is too narrow and does not do justice to the huge problems facing Sabah. Other matters such as relations between communities, between states and between the state and the centre will be discussed as well.

Secularists like to pretend that their ideology is purely based on ideas and intellect. They are in denial. Although secularism may be said to have started as an idea, over time, this has merged into the emotions and has become just as emotional as religion can be. It is now as dependent on faith as any religion. Over the next centuries, secularism cannot be guaranteed to be any more successful as a method of organizing humans as religions were over the same amount of time. The success of secularism is therefore based on faith alone. In fact the stubbornness and tenacity of religion may outlast secularism after all, just as faith eventually conquered communism which claimed to be the latest and the mostest in scientific thought.

How is it possible that base emotions can triumph over the higher stratosphere of human intellect and thought? I submit that human emotions and faith is more basic to humans than reason, intellect and scientific thought and is therefore more tenacious and lasts longer because essential human life and basic human experience is not much changed with the centuries while reason and philosophy is too often based upon circumstance and assumptions which go obsolete too easily and too quickly.

All this has a lot to do with relations between people, belief systems and institutions which is why it served as an introduction to this discussion.

From the moment a human baby is born, it is reliant on its parents. We are not reptiles which can fend for themselves the moment they hatch. We therefore need a more sophisticated emotional arsenal and not just reptilian instinct – both as parents and as babies. It is part of our nature to rely on faith and on love. When this faith or love which bonds parents to children is broken, the child often turns into a dangerous social misfit. Even parents turn into monsters. One is reminded of the Korean couple who would rather look after their cyber baby than their real life baby which starved to death.

In normal human society, the child grows up in a family within a community. Its faith teaches it to depend on this community and its belief systems, values and traditions. These are part of what identifies the child as a member of its community and also partly as an individual. When the bond of faith and love between the individual and his community is broken, the individual becomes a dangerous monster.

Capitalism which promotes the individual above the community inherently seeks to break this bond because the strength of the community often frustrates capitalism in making profits. Capitalism would rather deal with isolated, powerless and marginalized individuals rather than with a united and strong community to extract the maximum profits in the easiest way in the shortest time.

This is where the discussion about leaders and followers need to diverge a little and treat this relationship that exists in the powerful west and that which exists in the weak east as 2 different things.

The west is powerful and predatory. Its leaders and their followers often have commonality of interest in subjugating weak nations of the east. Both enjoy in the loot and rapine. Even if there is no war and no invasion, the west’s superiority in finance, technology and systems is enough to give it an edge in exploiting super profits from the east. Leaders in the western world therefore are closer to their followers even if for this reason alone – the followers are more easily seduced to tag along with the hope of enjoying in the loot and rapine.

The situation in the east is different. Eastern communities are seen as inferior and uncivilized. Living conditions within the communities are primitive. Leaders in primitive communities therefore can be subverted and seduced more easily, especially when they are offered more civilized, comfortable and advanced styles of living compared to their followers. When they are seduced by being given the chance to rub shoulders with the rich and powerful, they often abandon their followers and become monsters in the process.

The bond between the leader and his followers is broken, but the converse is not true. The followers sadly often see their leaders who rub shoulders with the rich and powerful as their hope of becoming civilized themselves. Their faith in their leaders actually becomes obsessive and fanatical. They are turned into super victims and super mercenaries at the same time.

I submit therefore that any leader in the east who has a lifestyle that is far above those of his followers is suspect. One only has to compare some of the UMNO leaders whose bonds with the Malays can be said to be stretched to the breaking point with PAS’s Nik Aziz of whose lifestyle and whose bond with his people can be said to be unbroken.

In other countries of the east, great leaders come to mind whose lifestyles are simple and in tune with those of their followers’ e.g. Gandhi and even Mao during his early years as a revolutionary.

As for relations between communities, some people think it is sufficient to use intellectual debate to persuade the other side. This is silly to the extreme. When a person grows up in his community, he absorbs everything within his community as part of himself. Intellectual debate is not going to persuade him that all that he is and all that he loves and all that he believes in is wrong or inferior. Relations between communities need time and practice to work and be mutually beneficial. To start off, respect and humility are necessary to even make the first contacts. All these escape the secularists who think that endless repetition of their ideology and taking on the airs of someone superior is sufficient to persuade the other side. They need to be cut down a peg or 2.

Sabah has a great many different communities almost all of which feel threatened. Some communities are themselves internally split and feel threatened and betrayed by their own. E.g. the Kadazan-Dusuns appear to be split as are the Chinese and even PKR. All these desperately look for decent and good leaders who will not betray them to pursue individual selfish interests and in their desperation often place forlorn hopes on unsavoury (mainly rotten secularist) characters.

In the meantime, outsiders look at this great confusion and do not know who to trust since the locals cannot even trust themselves. So distrust moves up the ladder and builds up between the state and the centre. Any moves by the centre to ensure reliability and discipline are seen as suppression of the locals. Perhaps they are suppressing the locals. Perhaps the mainlanders are taking advantage of the confusion and imposing brutal rule adding some of their own spanners in the works to foul up the situation even more.

Whose fault is it? I think the situation is so complicated and so confused that there is no point putting blame on anyone. More blame means even more confusion. Discipline, organization and solutions are needed. More than these, time and practice are needed. Decisiveness is needed. Good leaders are needed. Sabahans, please supply these before the confusion spreads to the mainland as well, not that the situation here is any better. Heeheehee.

Hahaha ... Is there such thing as professional political censorship?

MCMC must be professional in monitoring the Internet

Malaysia Chronicle

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang joined Prime Minister Najib Razak in expressing concern about the rise of racial and religious slurs on the Internet, but urged industry regulator MCMC to maintain the highest standards of professionalism when helping the government to curb the abuse.

“The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission can be assured of public support for any strict action against abuses of the Internet as putting up content with racial and religious slurs which could spark off tension in our country,” Kit Siang said in a statement.

“The MCMC must, however, jealously protect its credibility and legitimacy by never losing public confidence in its independence, integrity and professionalism as a key institution to protect the national interests and not to be the tool of any sectional or partisan political interests or even the government-of-the-day.”

Neutralizing the Pakatan's main communication channel

Indeed there are fears of an impending crackdown on cyberspace following several warnings from Najib, his deputy Muhyddin Yassin, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Information minister Rais Yatim in the past few weeks.

Lim Kit Siang

The concerns are based on the expectations that the BN federal government will try to shore up its own political power ahead of general elections that must be held latest by 2013.

Most of Malaysia’s urban population are ardent ‘netizens’ and make no bones about how they feel about the country’s leadership on the Internet. As such, pundits had expected the government's early groundwork to neutralize the dissemination of any information that is not pro-BN in cyber space and to deny the political opposition its main channel of communication.

Last week, in an early blitz that is expected to intensify soon, a blogger Irwan Abdul Rahman was charged for posting an article satirizing energy firm Tenaga Nasional Bhd. Irwan works for an Umno-linked news paper Malay Mail, but he still got into trouble for poking fun at the bigwigs in the government-controlled utility.

Irwan's prosecution underscores Malaysia's increasingly authoritarian regime as Najib's coalition pulls out all stops to maintain its 53-year monopoly on power and keep at bay Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and his Pakatan Rakyat alliance.

“Recently, MCMC prosecuted a blogger for a satirical post although the posting clearly indicated that it was only a work of fiction. But the photo is worse, it is a crime,” DAP information chief Tony Pua told reporters.

Tony Pua

Policies must be consistent

Tony was referring to a doctored photo of Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan slaughtering a cow as part of a Muslim ritual. The picture was posted on several Umno-linked blogs to incite unhappiness amongst the Malays for Guan Eng. Tony lambasted the MCMC for inconsistency in not tackling the Guan Eng photo with the same alacrity as with the Irwan case.

Meanwhile, Kit Siang urged the MCMC to act in good faith.

Najib Razak

“The rise and frequency of instances of racial and religious slurs in the public domain particularly on the social media and the Internet must be a matter of grave concern to all Malaysians,” said Kit Siang.

“All right-thinking Malaysians regardless of political affiliation should join hands to call and work for a return of civility, reason and rationality in public discourse and an end to any form of racial or religious slurs particularly on the social media and Internet.”

On Saturday, Najib reiterated his instruction to the MCMC to monitor the Internet and take action against those who put up content with racial and religious slurs that could spark off ethnic tensions.

“I hope the commission will take strict action against these culprits as they are creating mischief and this we cannot tolerate,” Najib told reporters during a visit to his hometown in Pekan.

Karpal: Enact Race Relations Act

By Athi Shankar - Free Malaysia Today

GEORGE TOWN: The DAP has demanded the federal government to take immediate steps to legislate the long pending Race Relations Act to curb growing racism in the country. Citing the recent racial slurs uttered by high-ranking public officers as syndromes of disharmony, DAP national chairman Karpal Singh warned that the situation could become chaotic and lead to violence if the government does not initiate steps to curb it.

He recalled that Rural and Regional Development Minister Shafie Apdal, when in charge of Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage portfolio, had announced a few years ago that the government would legislate the Race Relations Act.

He chided the government for failing to pursue the matter further.

The veteran politician now wants the government to issue directives to the Attorney-General Chambers to immediately draft the bill pertaining to the Act.

He said the bill should be tabled at Parliament, preferably in the next session, to enable the government to obtain public feedback, including the opinions of both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat MPs, to refine and strengthen the proposed Act.

He added that the proposed Act should be a comprehensive, punitive and deterrent legal mechanism against all types of offences related to racism and utterance of racist remarks, which, sadly, have become the order of the day.

“When government officers utter racial slurs on a routine basis, it is a serious matter. The need for a Race Relations Act has become urgent,” the two-term Bukit Gelugor MP told reporters in his office today.

He was commenting on recent racial slurs uttered by two headmistresses in Kulai, Johor, and Bukit Selambau, Kedah, respectively against non-Malay pupils.

Pre-planned plot

Press reports today exposed another incident in Kuala Lumpur where an ethnic Malay police inspector told off a local elderly ethnic Chinese snatch theft victim to “go back to China” because she could not speak in Bahasa Malaysia.
Given the similarities in the racial remarks, Karpal hoped that it was not a pre-planned plot by the National Civic Bureau (Biro Tata Negara).

Calling on the A-G's Chambers to prosecute “racist” officers, he expressed reservation that mere suspension and transfer would not be effective to deter future racist statements.

Karpal said Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak should put into practice his “zero tolerance to racism” agenda by legislating the proposed Act soon.

He said Najib should also be partly blamed for the growing trend of racial slurs by government officers because “he let his former aide Nasir Safar go scott-free after making racist attacks on ethnic Malaysian Indians and Chinese early this year”.

Nasir had allegedly said that ethnic Indians were beggars while ethnic Chinese were whores.

Karpal said the proposed Race Relations Act should never protect anyone from prosecution, “no matter how high the person's position is”.

On controversial rapper Wee Meng Chee, or popularly known as Namewee, Karpal said the rapper should be spared prosecution under the Sedition Act 1948 or any other draconian law.

Namewee is under investigation for producing an allegedly seditious video recently.

The rapper first ran into trouble with the authorities with his controversial “Negaraku” video clip in 2007.

“Namewee was only reacting to current trend of racial slurs being uttered by government officers.

"If Namewee were to be charged under the Sedition Act, the government officers too should be charged under the same Act,” Karpal said.

Well Spoken And Charming...

Compare this...

...to this:

One talks direct and the other talks down. Who would you be inclined to trust?

How playing golf with the Prime Minister can earn you billions

Tan Kay Hock is the low-profile controlling shareholder of Johan Holdings Berhad, a public-listed investment holding company. He is also the golf buddy of Najib Tun Razak and this relationship has made him hundreds of millions. Kay Hock recently caused ripples in China when he asked the Chinese for RM500 million and told them that RM200 million is for Najib’s family.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

Raja Petra Kamarudin

For about ten years and over three Prime Ministers, the current Prime Minister included, the contract for the double-tracking electric train from Gemas to Johor Bahru has been ding-donging. Despite what was agreed between the leaders of China and the three Prime Ministers, which was later confirmed by the issuance of a Letter of Intent to China Railways Engineering Corporation (CREC), the government is again backtracking.

Najib now wants to award the contract to China Harbour Engineering Co. Ltd. (CHEC) instead, the company that is building the Second Penang Bridge -- which shot up from RM1 billion to RM4.5 billion and now to RM22 billion (read more on the matter below).

The man behind this is Tan Kay Hock, Najib’s golf buddy. He is brokering the deal on behalf of CHEC.

The Chinese say that Tan Kay Hock is demanding RM500 million from CHEC and he told them that RM200 million is for Najib's family. And this is making the Chinese very unhappy because, in China, both the givers as well the receivers of bribes will be sentenced to death with a bullet in the head plus the cost of the bullet is charged to the family of the deceased.

When the Chinese government offered the Malaysian government a loan to construct the Gemas to JB railway they indicated that CREC should be the contractor. CREC is one of the biggest specialist contractors for electric trains while CHEC has not constructed even one kilometer of electric railway (more details below).

A Letter of Intent had already been awarded to CREC. Now the government wants to cancel this Letter of Intent and issue a new Letter of Intent to CHEC. But for the new Letter of Intent to be issued to CHEC they must fork out RM500 million, which Kay Hock claims RM200 million will be paid to the Prime Minister of Malaysia’s family.

This is not only a violation of the terms of the loan from China but CREC is the company with the experience in constructing electric railways, not CHEC, the company already involved in the construction of the Second Penang Bridge. Added to the withdrawal or cancellation of the Letter of Intent to CREC and a new one issued to CHEC, with a RM500 million ‘price tag’ attached, it puts the Chinese government in a dicey spot when the risk would be a bullet in the head for those who approve the payment.

The Chinese are wondering whether it is worth the risk to pay Kay Hock the RM500 million he is demanding. If the Letter of Intent to CREC can be withdrawn after issuing it, what guarantee is there that the new Letter of Intent to CHEC will also not be withdrawn after they pay the RM500 million?

The Chinese are very aware that Vincent Tan also received a Letter of Approval for his gaming licence, signed by the Deputy Minister of Finance. However, after he paid RM170 million ‘under the table’, Najib denied in Parliament that Vincent Tan had been given a gaming licence and subsequently the Letter of Approval was withdrawn.

KTM is being used as Najib’s new cash cow. The EMU coach was a deal involving Rosmah Mansor (Najib’s wife), Mumtaz Jaafar (Saiful Bukhari Azlan’s ‘godmother’) and Cindy (Desmond Lim's wife). Desmond, in fact, handled the deal where KTM coughed out RM1.4 Billion for coaches that cannot function. According to KTM, the coaches are not even worth RM300 million.

The saga gets more interesting with Najib and Rosmah holidaying in Monaco as guests of Jho Low -- who told everyone that the yacht belongs to the Prince of Qatar. It was later revealed that Jho Low rented the yacht for Euro 90,000 per day to allow Najib and Rosmah to rub shoulders with Hollywood Starlets.

That brings us to a very crucial question. Where did Jho Low get that kind of money? Well, you see, afterMalaysia Today exposed Deepak Jaikishan -- Rosmah’s carpetman cum bagman cum toyboy -- she was forced to dump him. So now Jho Low is Rosmah’s new Mister Fixit and Collector of Commissions.

Let us see how the CHEC-Tan Kay Hock saga is played out. Now that the Chinese government knows that we know about the RM500 million deal would they dare still proceed with it? And does Tun Dr Mahathir Mahathir know that Najib has hijacked his pet electric train project?

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

Mr Tan is said to be a golf buddy of Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak

He is the low-profile controlling shareholder of Johan Holdings, a public-listed investment holding company, and said to be a golf buddy of Najib Tun Razak.

The Financial Times had reported that Tan Sri Tan, 61, was the owner of the 607ha Guiana Island, which is now at the centre of a fraud case brought by the United States authorities against Texan billionaire businessman Allen Stanford. -- The Straits Times (Singapore)

Read: The crooked faces of Najib Altantuya’s Cronies and their Related Companies(http://ckcounterpunch.wordpress.com/2009/04/04/the-faces-of-najib-altantuya-cronies-and-their-related-companies/)

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

CREC is the third largest civil construction enterprise in the world, and the Asian and Chinese largest railway, road and tunnel construction contractor. It has a leading position in China's construction market, and participates in many large-scale infrastructure projects overseas (especially in countries in the Southeast Asia and Africa). Fortune magazine in the United States reported that CREC ranked 342 in the 500 world's largest enterprises in 2007.

CREC consists of 31 member enterprises including:

- 16 super-large construction enterprises

* China National Overseas Engineering Corporation

* China Railway Resources Co., Ltd.

* China Railway First Group Corporation

* China Railway Erju Group Corporation (China Railway Second Group Corporation)

* Third Engineering Group Co. Ltd

* China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group Co. Ltd (China Fourth Group Civil Engineering Group Co. Ltd)

* China Railway Wuju Group Corporation (China Railway Fifth Group Corporation)

* China Railway Sixth Group Co. Ltd

* China Railway Seventh Group Co. Ltd

* China Railway Eighth Civil Engineering Group Corporation

* China Railway No. 9 Group Co. Ltd

* China Railway No. 10 Group Corporation

* China Zhongtie Major Bridge Engineering Group Co. Ltd (China Railway Major Bridge Engineering Group Co. Ltd)

* China Railway Tunnel Group

* China Railway Electrification Bureau Co. Ltd

* China Railway Construction Engineering Group

- 3 large or super large surveying and designing enterprises

* Second Survey and Design Institute of China Railway

* China Railway Engineering Consultants Group

* China Major Bridge Survey and Design Institute

- 3 large R&D enterprises

* Northwest Research Institute

* Southwest Research Institute of CREC

* Engineering Machinery Research and Design Institute

- 5 large manufacturing enterprises

* China Railway Shanhaiguan Bridge Group Co. Ltd

* China Railway Turnout Bridge Inc.

* China Railway Bus. Co. Ltd.

* Wuhan Engineering Machinery Works of CREC

* Hengping Trust and Investment Co. Ltd.

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

The Second Penang Bridge

The Second Penang Bridge is a new bridge under construction in Penang, Malaysia. It will connect Batu Kawan on the mainland Seberang Perai and Batu Maung on Penang Island. It will be the second bridge to link the island to the mainland after Penang Bridge.

READ MORE HERE: http://www.penang-traveltips.com/second-penang-bridge.htm

The total length of the RM4.5 billion bridge is 24 km and will become the longest bridge in Malaysia and Southeast Asia. China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd (CHEC) expected to start work on the second Penang bridge in November 2007 for completion in 2011, but it had to be postponed for completion in May 2012, as the construction started late in November 2008, due to Umno-owned United Engineers Malaysia Berhad’s demand for a higher contract price. (Read more below).

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

Second Penang bridge: 'UEM making outrageous demands'

UEM Builders Bhd has been making “outrageous” demands for financial assistance for the construction of the second Penang bridge, a state assemblyman charged today.

And the federal government is bowing to this government-linked company, said Sim Tze Tzin, Pantai Jerejak PKR state assemblyman.

He said the matter came to light after a “whistle-blower” produced a confidential letter from UEM to the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) soon after Pakatan Rakyat took over Penang two years ago.

Sim, who showed the letter to reporters in Parliament, said the letter, dated Aug 8, 2007, was signed by UEM chief executive officer Ahmad Pardas Senin and was addressed to EPU's director-general Dr Sulaiman Mahmod.

Sim said the contents of the letter revealed, among other things, that UEM has asked for financial assistance to the tune of RM22 billion to build the bridge although the actual cost of the project is only RM4 billion.

"This is a very outrageous demand and the federal government has complied with it. We are afraid that the federal government would blindly agree to all other kinds of assistance requested by UEM,” he said.

"The letter is genuine. So far, any request from UEM has been complied with by the federal government," he added.

In the letter, UEM has also asked for a concession period of 45 years, including seeking government soft loan and grant.

Something 'amiss'

According to Sim, UEM has also requested that the toll rate be fixed at RM9.40 for the second Penang bridge. It also wants the toll price for the first bridge, currently at RM7, be increased to RM9.40, with the maximum tagged at RM11.50. This price structure will go on till 2051.

The toll collection is expected to amount to RM7 billion.

But Sim said the concession for the first bridge expires in 2018 and “so why did the letter state that it (toll price) will go on until 2051?”

He said UEM had also asked the government to scrap the 20% discount for the Touch 'n’ Go cards.

"Lately, the government had announced it would abolish this discount, which goes to show that what the letter had stated is true. But due to public pressure, the government backed down and said the discount would only be for Penangites.

"Last week, the prime minister has said the toll price for the second bridge will be at RM9.40. Now, we are worried if the government had given in to UEM's demand," said Sim.

He added that there is something amiss in the second Penang bridge project, as the federal government is providing a huge amount of financial assistance to UEM. -- Free Malaysia Today, 22 June 2010