Mudah dapat gelaran ulama dalam PAS — Ibrahim Abu Bakar

9 JUN — Dewan Ulama dalam PAS sudah lama wujud tetapi dalam Perlembagaan parti itu ia hanya setaraf Dewan Pemuda dan Dewan Muslimat. Majlis Syura Ulama ditubuhkan ketika PAS di bawah kepemimpinan Yusof Rawa dan ditempatkan dalam Bab Ketiga Perlembagaan PAS, manakala tiga dewan lain iaitu Pemuda, Ulama dan Muslimat ditempatkan dalam Bab 10.

Perlembagaan PAS memberikan takrif ulama ialah mereka yang dipanggil "tuan guru" atau siswazah lulusan bidang pengajian Islam daripada mana-mana institusi pengajian tinggi (IPT) atau mana-mana orang yang berlatar belakangkan pengajian Islam yang menjadi ahli PAS.

Pindaan Perlembagaan PAS pada 2001 lebih ringkas iaitu ahli bagi Dewan Ulama ialah tuan guru atau/dan siswazah daripada mana-mana IPT Islam dan menjadi ahli PAS. 

Berdasarkan definisi ulama dalam Perlembagaan PAS ini, maka Datuk Seri Hadi Awang dan Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat layak menjadi ahli Dewan Ulama PAS kerana mereka berdua dipanggil tuan guru atau tok guru. 

Demikianlah juga "tuan guru" yang lain, tanpa mengira sama ada mereka lulus atau tidak dalam bidang pengajian Islam di IPT Islam (IPTI). Kelayakan "tuan guru" ini diperlukan oleh PAS kerana pada peringkat awal PAS disokong oleh guru pondok dan mereka itu dipanggil tuan guru atau tok guru. 

Berdasarkan definisi ulama dalam Perlembagaan PAS, ia tidak mengkategorikan lulusan diploma, sarjana muda, sarjana dan doktor falsafah dalam bidang pengajian Islam. 

Justeru, definisi ulama bagi PAS amat mudah — sesiapa saja yang dipanggil "tok guru" dianggap layak untuk menjadi ahli Dewan Ulama PAS (DUP), asalkan mereka menjadi ahli PAS. 

Kalau dibandingkan definisi ulama yang berada dalam DUP dan ulama yang berada dalam Majlis Syura Ulama (MSU), maka ulama dalam MSU lebih tinggi martabat atau hierarkinya kerana ulama dalam MSU mestilah: 

● Mengetahui masalah pokok dalam syariat Islam dan hukum-hukumnya. 

● Dapat merujuk masalah pokok itu kepada Quran, sunnah, ijmak dan qias dengan faham maksud dan maknanya yang muktabar. 

● Hendaklah seorang yang adil yakni tidak melakukan dosa besar atau terus menerus melakukan dosa kecil dan hendaklah terpelihara maruahnya. 

● Hendaklah menjadi ahli PAS. 

Meneliti syarat adil ini, maka timbul isu senarai dosa besar dan kecil yang disenaraikan PAS kepada ulama dalam MSU. PAS perlu menyenaraikan dosa besar dan kecil untuk ulama dalam MSU kerana ulama Islam tidak ada kata sepakat dalam menentukan jumlah dosa besar dan dosa kecil. 

Malah, ada pendapat menyatakan bohong adalah satu dosa yang membawa kepada munafik kalau didasarkan kepada hadis yang menyatakan tanda atau alamat munafik ada tiga iaitu — apabila bercakap berbohong, apabila diserahkan amanah dikhianati dan apabila bergaduh sampai tahap fujur (fasik). 

Orang PAS "bergaduh" dengan orang Umno sejak dulu hingga kini masih belum berbaik, kecuali beberapa tahun ketika PAS berada dalam Barisan Nasional (BN) yang dipimpin Allahyarham Tun Abdul Razak Hussein selepas 13 Mei 1969. 

Apakah pergaduhan PAS dan Umno ini tidak termasuk dalam pergaduhan fujur? 

Kalau diambil pendapat tokoh yang menyatakan "politicians are liars" (ahli politik adalah pembohong), apakah ulama dalam MSU tidak berbohong dalam hidupan seharian mereka? 

Pernahkah ulama dalam MSU diambil tindakan kerana dituduh melakukan satu dosa besar atau kerana dituduh berterusan melakukan dosa kecil? 

Dalam sejarah umat Islam pada zaman Khalifah Ali bin Abi Talib, baginda dituduh melakukan dosa besar oleh puak Khawarij dan dijatuhkan hukuman bunuh. Beliau dibunuh kaum Khawarij yang menanti baginda keluar dari masjid selepas bersolat Subuh. 

Dalam isu permusuhan antara kaum Khawarij dan Khalifah Ali, kumpulan Muslim tidak menghukum Khalifah Ali sebagai pelaku dosa besar, apa lagi sebagai kafir yang mesti dibunuh. 

Dalam konteks ahli politik PAS yang menjadi ulama MSU, apakah mereka yakin bahawa mereka sendiri tidak pernah melakukan dosa besar atau tidak melakukan dosa kecil berterusan untuk melayakkan masing-masing terus berada dalam MSU? 

Pada 1979, pernah seorang "tok guru" sebuah sekolah pondok di Kelantan yang fanatik dengan PAS mengeluarkan hukum haram memakan daging sembelihan orang Umno kerana Umno berbaik dengan orang kafir. Tok guru berkenaan dalam ceramahnya juga pernah mengeluarkan beberapa hukum lain seperti tidak sah perkahwinan yang dilakukan jurunikah Umno dan tidak sah berimamkan imam yang dilantik Kerajaan Umno. 

Akibatnya, wujud fenomena dua imam di kawasan tertentu di Kelantan dan Terengganu. "Tok guru" berkenaan didakwa di mahkamah di Besut dan kesnya masih belum diputuskan dan "tok guru" itu juga sudah meninggal dunia. 

Oleh itu PAS perlu menyenaraikan senarai dosa besar dan dosa kecil semua ulama dalam MSU. Mahu atau mampukah PAS berbuat demikian? 

Ini adalah antara beberapa isu yang termasuk dalam polemik, etos dan mitos kepemimpinan ulama dalam PAS dari dulu hingga kini. PAS perlu mengakui hakikat zaman sudah berubah, ia kini sekadar sebuah parti politik — fatwa yang pernah "mengkafirkan" Umno suatu masa dulu, kini memakan diri sendiri. — Berita Harian

* Penulis ialah Prof Madya di Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.

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

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Komitmen Najib demi masa depan masyarakat India — Anbumani Balan

9 JUN — Keihklasan, kejujuran dan kelangsungan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak untuk menangani permasalahan masyarakat India secara inklusif dapat diperkasakan lagi sekiranya semangat "nambikei" (kepercayaan) ini dapat dijadikan satu formula dan pegangan yang kuat untuk mara ke depan bersama beliau oleh lebih dua juta masyarakat India negara ini.

Najib amat komited untuk mendengar permasalahan semua lapisan masyarakat termasuk dalam menangani dilema kaum India yang masih jauh ketinggalan dalam proses pembangunan negara.

Ketika menjadi Timbalan Perdana Menteri, beliau telah menyatakan komitmen kerajaan dalam membela nasib masyarakat India yang merangkumi isu ekonomi, pendidikan, sosial dan agama semasa berucap merasmikan Konvensyen Khas MIC pada February 2008 di Pusat Dagangan Dunia Putra (PWTC) selepas gerakan Kumpulan Hindraf menggegarkan arena politik negara.

Najib turut mengusahakan pembentukan Jawatankuasa Khas Kabinet Mengenai Masyarakat India selepas Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-12 (PRU-12) pada 2008 bagi mendalami, menyelami, mendekati dan menyelesaikan masalah-masalah kritikal yang membelenggu masyarakat India.

Malah beliau jugalah pemimpin pertama negara yang sanggup turun padang untuk melawat dan mendengar rintihan peniaga India di Little India, Brickfields serta perkembangan sosio-ekonomi di sana, dan tidak sampai 24 jam selepas dilantik sebagai Perdana Menteri Ke-6.

Beliau turut mengumumkan pembangunan Brickfields sebagai Little India dengan kos RM35 juta yang telah dilancarkan oleh Perdana Menteri India, Manmohan Singh. Perasmian penuh bersejarah tersebut telah meletakkan Brikfields sebagai lokasi tumpuan dunia ketika ini.

Malah seorang pemilik Restoran Kordumalai Pillayar menamakan sebahagian ruang di kedainya sebagai "Najib's Corner" setelah Perdana Menteri singgah di sana untuk minum teh tarik sambil menjamu makanan.

Beliau juga menghadiri perayaan Thaipusam di perkarangan Batu Caves tiga tahun berturut-turut serta beberapa program lain termasuk anjuran MIC umpamanya Pesta Ponggal, sambutan Tahun Baru Tamil, sambutan Deepavali dan beberapa program dari semasa ke semasa untuk bertemu masyarakat India.

Dalam tempoh tiga tahun ini kerajaan Najib telah memperuntukkan RM440 juta untuk pembangunan dan menaik taraf sekolah Tamil di negara ini serta kelulusan lesen untuk membina enam sekolah Tamil yang baru.

Malah kerajaan juga telah memberikan persetujuan secara dasar memberikan kontrak menaik taraf dan pembinaan sekolah Tamil untuk kontraktor India di Malaysia.

Beliau turut mencipta sejarah sebagai Perdana Menteri pertama Malaysia yang melawat Chennai ibu kota Tamil Nadu di selatan India pada Januari 2010 serta mengadakan perjumpaan dengan Ketua Menteri Tamil Nadu ketika itu Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi — seorang pemimpin yang disegani dan dihormati oleh masyarakat India di seluruh dunia.

Perlantikan Presiden MIC Datuk Seri G. Palanivel sebagai Menteri Peneraju (lead minister) untuk memimpin usaha kerajaan bagi membangunkan taraf sosio ekonomi masyarakat India merupakan satu lagi pendekatan kukuh.

Inilah pertama kali seorang pemimpin masyarakat India daripada MIC dilantik sebagai Menteri Peneraju dalam sejarah negara.

Pelantikan tersebut muncul beberapa bulan selepas Najib mengumumkan satu lagi jawatan Menteri Kabinet untuk MIC selepas hampir 31 tahun parti berjuang.

"Pelantikan itu juga merupakan pengiktirafan bagi MIC dan juga masyarakat India. Ini merupakan satu lagi proses transformasi kerajaan dalam menentukan penglibatan masyarakat India dalam proses pembangunan negara menjelang 2020", kata Aktivis Sosial Datuk R. Chandrasekaran.

Chandrasekaran berkata, sudah tiba masanya masyarakat India merapatkan perpaduan dan bergerak di bawah satu payung bersama Perdana Menteri untuk menikmati "kemakmuran" yang lebih terjamin.

Masyarakat India di negara ini bakal menyaksikan satu lagi episod bersejarah hari ini dalam menentukan satu hala tuju yang lebih "selamat" dalam bidang sosio-ekonomi.

Hari ini Najib akan menghadiri satu lagi majlis iaitu Konvensyen Ekonomi India Malaysia yang julung kali dianjurkan oleh Unit ETP Komuniti India Jabatan Perdana Menteri dan Gabungan Dewan Perniagaan dan Perindustrian India Malaysia (MAICCI).

Inilah juga buat pertama kali satu program melibatkan masa depan masyarakat India dalam proses pembangunan ekonomi negara diadakan. Sepuluh Rancangan Malaysia sudah berlalu, lima Perdana Menteri sudah bersara, banyak kertas kerja sudah dibentangkan, banyak perbincangan serta laporan media telah dibuat sebelum ini dan inilah buat pertama kali satu konvensyen diadakan secara komprehensif susulan daripada perjumpaan yang dianjurkan oleh Unit ETP Komuniti India JPM dan MAICCI di seluruh negara bersama masyarakat India berhubung dilema ekonomi kaum India.

Difahamkan pihak penganjur akan menyampaikan satu kertas konsep mengenai hala tuju masyarakat India dalam bidang ekonomi dalam bentuk blueprint bagi membentuk satu pelan transformasi ekonomi yang lebih baik dan berwibawa bagi memastikan penglibatan masyarakat India dalam segala program ekonomi negara.

Bagi memastikan satu kesinambungan — sebuah jawatankuasa perundingan ekonomi yang dinamakan Majlis Perundingan Ekonomi India Malaysia boleh ditubuhkan untuk membantu mempertingkatkan nilai ekuiti sebanyak tiga peratus menjelang 2020 dan menjadikanya satu badan pemantau yang dapat membantu kerajaan dengan kerjasama Unit ETP, MAICCI untuk mencapai aspirasi dan objektifnya dalam memperkasakan misi ekonomi masyarakat India.

Najib cukup prihatin untuk membela nasib masyarakat India termasuk soal dokumen pengenalan diri khususnya kad pengenalan, status warganegara dan sebagainya.

Beliau memberi jaminan bahawa kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN) akan sentiasa memberi keutamaan menangani permasalahan masyarakat India di negara ini.

Dalam tempoh tiga tahun ini, pentadbiran Najib telah melakukan perubahan drastik untuk menyelesaikan segala kelemahan dan kekurangan yang wujud sebelum ini khususnya melibatkan isu masyarakat India.

Malah pihak pembangkang juga semakin terdesak selepas "faktor Najib" berjaya mengembalikan semula harapan dan keyakinan baru kepada masyarakat India.

Mungkinkah akan ada satu lagi pengumuman penting dari Perdana Menteri untuk masyarakat India hari ini? — Utusan Malaysia

* Penulis ialah penganalisis politik dan perunding media.

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

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Cracking open the fixed deposits

Long house in need of short wave?

A THOUSAND or so kilometres east of what is called Peninsular Malaysia, across the South China Sea, lies the other bit of Malaysia, the states of Sabah and Sarawak. The two form the northern part of the island of Borneo, encircling the oil-rich mini-kingdom of Brunei. Most Malaysians know little about the remote territories (11 of Malaysia's 13 states lie on the peninsula). Yet Sabah and Sarawak, out of all proportion to their small populations, contribute two essential ingredients to the running of Malaysia under the long-standing national government in Kuala Lumpur: oil and votes.

Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, first started pumping oil out of the ground in Sarawak in 1910. Since Sarawak and Sabah joined Malaysia in 1963, they have sent an outsize share of oil revenues to the federal government's coffers. That the petro-charged government has remained in the hands of the same political coalition, the Barisan Nasional (BN), since independence is also largely thanks to the same two states.

On the peninsula voters have gradually forced the coalition, led by the United Malays National Organisation and dominated by ethnic Malays, to loosen its grip. On Borneo, by contrast, the BN has maintained an electoral stranglehold. Indeed, Sabah and Sarawak are known as the BN's "fixed deposits". With the prime minister, Najib Razak, expected at any moment to declare a general election, the opposition coalition must find a way to raid those deposits if they are to oust the BN from power. As ever, the task looks daunting for the opposition and its leader, Anwar Ibrahim. Yet this time round, Mr Anwar's foot soldiers have a secret weapon, a clandestine radio station.

The electoral arithmetic is simple. At the previous election, in 2008, which produced the best-ever result for the opposition, Mr Anwar's coalition of parties, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR), won 82 out of 222 parliamentary seats. To take power this time, Mr Anwar needs to gain about 30 more seats. In just Sabah and Sarawak alone, 56 seats are up for grabs, a quarter of the total. In these states, the BN's grip is near-total. In 2008 it lost two seats on Borneo (although an opposition party has since picked up another in a by-election in Sarawak). Tian Chua, an MP and strategist for the PR, acknowledges that to win the election his side must add ten or more seats in each of Sarawak, Sabah and the state of Johor, facing Singapore at the tip of the peninsula. In Johor, at least, the prospects look fair, but in Sabah and Sarawak the task is daunting. There, away from the cosmopolitan lights of Kuala Lumpur, the darker political arts hold sway.

One obvious way that the system works in favour of the ruling coalition is through the gerrymandering of constituencies. Throughout Malaysia, seats are skilfully carved up along ethnic lines to benefit the ruling party, but the practice is particularly strong on Borneo. Constituencies there tend to be rural and cover huge areas, but hold relatively few voters, usually ethnic Malays or other, local ethnic groups friendly to the BN. Potentially hostile voters such as ethnic Chinese, on the other hand, are lumped together into a smaller number of populous urban seats, where they are still often swamped by BN stalwarts. This way the BN maximises its number of seats with a minimum of voters. A local academic, Andrew Aeria, in a report submitted to the Sarawak parliament last year, underlined how the 16,000-odd voters in one rural constituency had as much clout as 67,000 voters in a semiurban one. Other countries attempt to equalise the number of voters in each constituency. The Malaysian constitution sanctions the gerrymandering.

In Sabah, which lies near the Philippines, there is a further refinement. Critics claim that hundreds of thousands of mainly Muslim Filipino immigrants have been given identity cards as an inducement to vote for the BN.

The BN-controlled governments of both Sabah and Sarawak operate well-funded patronage machines. In Sarawak, which has been run by the same chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, since 1981 (when he succeeded his uncle), government funding is often linked to political affiliation. This can be quite brazen. One minister recently stopped welfare payments to a disabled man after he voted for the opposition. On the eve of elections, BN officials dole out cash to as many voters as they can find—"lunch money", as it is known in Sabah.

Opposition politicians cannot match the cash, so instead they promise that the people of Sabah and Sarawak will in future keep a larger slice of their oil revenues. Currently, the states get only 5% of revenues, with the balance going to the federal government. The opposition offers a 20% share should it get into power. The PR's promise to cut corruption is a message that also goes down well.

In this respect, the opposition is being greatly helped by the broadcasts of Radio Free Sarawak (RFS). Whereas most of the local media are controlled by government—and it shows—RFS, broadcasting on short wave from London, attacks the chief minister and his "cronies" for maladministration and alleged corruption. The station was founded in 2010 by a Sarawak-born British woman, Clare Rewcastle, who also happens to be the sister-in-law of a former British prime minister, Gordon Brown. A softly spoken and heavily tattooed disc jockey, Peter John Jaban, does most of the talking in a two-hour show every evening. Thousands of Iban and other ethnic groups now gather around radios in their longhouses in the forests to listen to him, which infuriates the state government. Radio Free Sarawak gives the PR a bit more hope. The opposition should pick up some urban seats in Sabah and Sarawak at the coming election. But to win it still has a mountain to climb.

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Anwar’s maths may just add up

Political analysts say that although it is not impossible for Pakatan Rakyat to win 122 seats, the opposition coalition still has a lot of work to do.

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has spoken of forming a government with a 10-seat majority but some analysts say it will not be that easy.

Going by Anwar's calculations, Pakatan Rakyat, which currently holds 82 seats, will need an additional 40 seats to form a simple majority of 122 seats.

Given the current political climate, some political analysts say that this may be achievable. However, they are of the opinion that Pakatan does have its work cut out if it wants a simple majority.

Speaking to FMT, analysts say that if Pakatan can retain its 82 seats, the additional seats will most likely come from seats in Sarawak, Sabah and Johor.

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak's professor Faisal Syam Hazis said that based on a purely numbers-game, the additional seats needed to form a simple majority was achievable.

"To give an optimistic estimate, in Sarawak it was clear to see from the state elections that the opposition has been making inroads. I would say Pakatan can gain at least six to eight or 10 parliamentary seats in Sarawak. But it will be difficult for them to clinch more than six seats,

"These seats will be the urban Chinese seats [such as Bandar Kuching, Sarikei, Lanang, Sibu, Miri] and some from the non-Malay Bumiputera seats such as the Dayak majority seats,

"The Dayak seats may be won because of the infighting among the Barisan Nasional parties there. So because of this, Pakatan may be able to gain more seats," he said.

He added that although the situation is Sabah is extremely fluid at the moment, hence making it difficult to predict, there is a chance that the fluidity may settle in favour of Pakatan.

"There have been rumours going on for a while now that the leaders in Sabah will jump ship to Pakatan. However, that remains to be seen. But if that happens, then Pakatan is set to gain," he said.

There has been much talk that BN-allied local leaders were not pleased with the state leadership. This has been causing much uncertainty in the state's political climate.

Patronage still strong

Chinese seats in Johor are also likely to go to Pakatan, he said. However, Faisal warned that the Malay votes will swing back to the ruling government.

"Patronage is still very strong in the Malay community and the Malays will not forget the people who have helped them. The handouts given by BN and the element of fear BN has played up with the community has some impact, " he said.

Universiti Teknologi Mara associate professor Shaharudin Baharuddin also said the additional numbers Pakatan needs were quite achievable.

"Besides the seats in Sabah and Sarawak, they need to break through in Johor and Malacca. They need one or two additional seats from Pahang, Terengganu and Perak,

"But this theory is based on the assumption that BN is not working at all. The fact is that BN will be working hard, so that needs to be factored in. However, there is definitely a possibility of Pakatan getting its numbers," he said.

Shaharudin, however, said the Malay votes were still very much split between the government and the opposition.

Lose some, gain some

He said that based on his previous research there was no need for any party to win a 100% Malay support.

"The maximum Malay support that can usually be attained is about 62% to 65%. If Pakatan has about 70% Chinese support, then logically speaking they do not need all the Malay support.

"If you ask me, the Malay vote is still 50-50," he said.

When asked what will be the determining factor in the coming election, Shaharudin said that a lot of it depends on the enthusiasm generated during the campaign period.

"It is who can work up the crowd, their party machinery and generate the most enthusiasm," he said.

Merdeka Centre project manager, Tan Seng Kiat, said that in order for Pakatan to achieve its desired numbers, it needed to further engage the people on the ground as many groups of voters are still fence-sitters

"It is not impossible but it will be tough for them to achieve.

"Out of the 82 existing seats, I would say that they may retain the status quo… they may lose some and gain some seats," he said.

He said the centre could not venture a prediction for Sabah and Sarawak as it does not conduct much research there.

However, he said that there was a split between the older and younger generation Malay in the peninsula whose votes may sway towards the opposition.

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Anwar: Saya cabar Muhyiddin turut dedah akaunnya

PETALING JAYA: Ketua Pembangkang Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim hari ini mencabar Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin mendedahkan semua akaunnya (Muhyiddin) kepada Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM).

"Saya cabar beliau dedahkan akaunnya. Saya akan buka setiap dokumen saya untuk disiasat oleh SPRM," kata Anwar yang pernah dituduh mempunyai 20 akaun dalam tahun 1999.

Beliau berkata begitu ketika mengulas tohmahan Muhyiddin terbaru bahawa dirinya mempunyai 20 akaun.

Sebelum itu, beliau berucap dalam sesi dialog bertajuk Anwar Ibrahim berkenaan Agenda Ekonomi Malaysia anjuran Persatuan Syarikat

Perniagaan dan Perindustrian Selangor di Dewan Sivik Majlis Bandaraya Petaling Jaya.

Antara perubahan ekonomi yang beliau rancang ialah penswastaan syarikat berkaitan kerajaan (GLC).

"Urusan kerajaan bukan berkaitan perniagaan atau mengambil alih perniagaan. Peranan kerajaan hanyalah untuk memerhati dan membantu urus sahaja.

"Sekarang negara ini mempunyai kemampuan maka kita seharusnya menggalakkan sektor swasta dalam perniagaan. GLC sepatutnya diperkecilkan atau diswastakan," jelas Anwar kepada lebih kurang 1,000 hadirin.

Majlis ini turut dihadiri para pemimpin PKR seperti Presiden PKR Datin Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Naib Presiden PKR merangkap Ahli Parlimen Lembah Pantai, Nurul Izzah Anwar; bekas Timbalan Presiden PKR Syed Husin Ali; ahli exco kerajaan Selangor Elizabeth Wong dan Ahli Dewan Negeri Sri Andalas, Dr Xavier Jayakumar.

Sementara itu Bernama melaporkan ketika di Muar Muhyiddin menggesa Anwar menjelaskan segera dakwaan berhubung pemilikan 20 akaun induk induk membabitkan aset, saham dan wang bernilai RM3 bilion seperti terkandung dalam akuan berkanun bekas Penolong Gabenor Bank Negara Datuk Abdul Murad Khalid, 13 tahun lepas.

"Angka (RM3 bilion) yang disebut adalah besar. Jadi, ia merupakan tanggungjawab Ketua Pembangkang untuk memperjelaskannya.

"Apakah benar atau tidak. Rakyat hendak tahu…pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) yang membuat tuntutan supaya penjelasan dibuat pun mewakili kumpulan rakyat yang bukan sedikit.

"Kalau tidak betul, Anwar harus mengambil tindakan terhadap pihak yang membuat dakwaan termasuk bekas Penolong Gabenor Bank

Negara," katanya kepada pemberita selepas majlis pelancaran program Kasihi Pekebun peringkat negeri di Dataran Sarang Buaya, di Muar hari ini.

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Anwar kepada Muhyiddin - "I tunjuk akaun bank I, you tunjuk akaun bank you"...

 Ketua pembangkang Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim berkata beliau sedia mendedahkan akaun banknya untuk menjelaskan dakwaan bahawa beliau mempunyai aset dan wang tunai bernilai RM3 bilion.

Bagaimanapun, perkara itu hanya akan dilakukannya sekiranya timbalan perdana menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin juga berbuat demikian.

Katanya, beliau sedia untuk disiasat sepenuhnya berhubung dakwaan tersebut dan menyerahkan semua akaun terbabit.

Sekiranya Muhyiddin setuju berbuat demikian, maka siasatan itu perlu disegerakan, katanya lagi dalam satu dialog ekonomi di Petaling Jaya hari ini.

Anwar mengulas gesaan Muhyiddin hari ini yang mahu beliau menjelaskan dakwaan yang dihadapinya 13 tahun lalu, dan dilaporkan secara meluas oleh akhbar milik Umno, Utusan Malaysia. - malaysiakini

Anwar: I'll show mine if Muhyiddin shows his...

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim today said he was prepared to bare all his bank accounts following allegations that he has RM3 billion worth of assets and cash.

This, he would do, on the condition that Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin too makes public his accounts.

"I challenge him - I will open up every single of my accounts and that Muhyiddin must do likewise.

"I am prepared to be investigated fully. I'm prepared to submit everything. If he accepts, then done (deal), but do it quickly," he told journalists after an economic dialogue in Petaling Jaya today.

Anwar was responding to Muhyiddin who today urged the PKR supremo to explain a 13-year-old allegation which has been extensively covered by Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia.

'Despicable and desperate' attempt

Elaborating further, Anwar said this allegation had surfaced in 1998 and he has since been cleared.

"If there is a case, they (then Anti-Corruption Agency) should have charged me in 1998. I was cleared by the ACA," he said.

He added that reviving the more than decade-old issue was a "despicable and desperate" attempt by Muhyiddin.

At the height of the reformasi movement, the then Bank Negara deputy governor Abdul Murad Khalid had alleged that Anwar, during his tenure as deputy prime minister, had some 20 master accounts containing RM3 billion in assets, shares and cash. - malaysiakini

Anwar says will reveal bank accounts if Muhyiddin does the same

How about member kita ini...

Nak debat pun tak berani, nak tunjuk akaun,

saja cari penyakit...

cheers.

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Unity Consciousness & Bi-Polar Politics (reprise)

Some of us feel drawn to the noble notion of Unity Consciousness - which I define as a transcendent perspective wherein one is increasingly aware of a greater, more inclusive context of our existence. Indeed, Unity Consciousness implies a pluralistic view of reality that reconciles, redeems and integrates apparent conflicts and contradictions.

Fashionable phrases like "unconditional love," "non-judgment," "loving allowance" and "oneness" get bandied about in New Age circles, making some of us feel unworthy every time we experience a bad hair day and find ourselves using foul language on people or situations that irk us and impinge on our sense of justice.

Meanwhile, within the 3D Matrix, atavistic and recalcitrant egos descended from fallen angel bloodlines with pronounced criminal tendencies continue to call the shots in economics and politics by setting themselves up as the ruling elite. It's all very well to acknowledge that these destructive and diabolical elements are ultimately an aspect of our greater self - but does this mean we remain passive in the face of their virulent abuse of power and tyrannical exploitation of the semi-conscious masses?

Fortunately I've learned how to dance between the third and fifth dimensions, occasionally venturing beyond to catch a glimpse of existence beyond the semantic universe. This frees me from being overly attached to outcomes on the 3rd dimension and allows me to build energetic links between these realities. In the third, we are conditioned to think in terms of either/or, win or lose - but in the fifth we begin to intuit the beauty of both/and situations and the possibility of win-win scenarios.

The 3rd dimension creates a great divide between hero and villain, white hat and black hat. Looking at events from the 5th dimension, we easily perceive the transitional effect of various behaviors. For instance, what appears to be a vile and vicious act on the 3rd dimension reveals itself as a catalytic incident with positive precessional effects (90-degree spin-offs that trigger evolutionary transformations).

Expressed in simple terms, no matter how evil one's intentions may be, the outcome of one's misdeeds invariably results in some unexpected good - the silver lining that offsets even the darkest cloud.

What good came out of Mahathir's megalomanic 22-year misrule? Firstly, he politicized and activated a few million previously apathetic citizens like myself with his excesses. Secondly, he equated the Internet with accelerated progress and installed the very mechanism that would soon reveal Umno/BN to be a monster of Dr M's own miscreation.

And, thirdly, his ruthless, vindictive and violent retaliation against his erstwhile deputy Anwar Ibrahim's rebellion effectively planted the seeds of a two-party parliamentary system that would germinate ten years later as the 8 March 2008 political tsunami.

Similarly, Najib Razak's inevitable rise to power in accordance with the Umno Agenda would fulfil the "RAHMAN prophecy" and mark the end of Umno misrule. And since Umno has always equated itself with Malay vested interests, the warlords can only spin the end of their era as an unbearable loss of political power to the pendatang or "immigrant races."

The more xenophobic fear the bigots whip up amongst the ignorant and illiterate, the stronger the desire for radical transformation will grow in the hearts and minds of the intelligent, the young and free-spirited. Indeed, the crude and imbecilic rantings of political troglodytes like Ibrahim Ali only serve to enhance the appeal of enlightened cosmopolitanism and universal, rather than local, values.

It took an Adolf Hitler and his Third Reich to liberate the German people forever from narrow-minded racism and cultural insularity. I'm counting on Ibrahim Ali and his ilk to force the more intelligent and honest Malays from under their monolingual, monocultural coconut shells... and into the light of a far greater vision of unity that totally transcends race and religion.

Perhaps we will emerge as a nation of truth-speaking justice-lovers from our collective nightmare of being saddled for more than a decade with moral anomalies like Abdul Gani Patail as Attorney-General and Musa Hassan as Inspector-General of Police.

Bear in mind, nevertheless, that all those who have tacitly or overtly endorsed this obscene state of affairs - from the despatch rider to the Yang Di Pertuan Agong himself - bear equal responsibility for allowing the nation to be dragged into the depths of depravity.

In 1998, at the height of Dr M's vicious campaign to destroy Anwar Ibrahim (his No. 1 political threat), Gani Patail (then a senior prosecutor with the AG's Chambers) was exposed by veteran lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon as a blackmailer who attempted to force a false statement from Nallakaruppan (an erstwhile Anwar ally arrested and charged with possession of live ammunition) who was offered a token sentence in lieu of death by hanging if he agreed to testify to having procured the services of prostitutes on Anwar's behalf.

Now that is indeed a very serious offence punishable by at least 10 years' jail - particularly so when the blackmailer is doing so in his formal capacity as a senior officer in the Attorney-General's department. That is a clear-cut case of betrayal of the public interest and gross abuse of power. And yet, Gani Patail was never indicted for this dastardly act. Instead, he was promoted to Attorney-General after Mohtar Abdullah suffered a stroke. This was undoubtedly on Dr Mahathir's recommendation, with the Agong's silent acquiescence.

Can we simply shrug and say, "Let bygones be bygones"? Most certainly not when self-serving, morally compromised flunkeys like Gani Patail and Musa Hassan are put in charge of law enforcement in this country.

We might as well appoint a cold-blooded murderer as prime minister!

No amount of Unity Consciousness can ameliorate the absurdity and utter insanity of such a situation. We have to surgically remove the bullets from our gunshot wounds before we can begin to speak about healing from acute trauma.


[First published 7 August 2010]

Some rights reserved © Antares/Magick River You may borrow and/or modify content for your own blog but please credit and backlink, thanks.

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“Malaysia has fallen off the investment map”

Extract from book review of Ruchi Sharma's "Breakout Nations: In pursuit of the next economic miracles" by John Loh published in StarBizWeek today

In his chapter on Malaysia, Sharma has a more stark prognosis.

"Malaysia's economy slowed dramatically after the Asian crisis," he writes, adding, "There is a widespread sense in Kuala Lumpur that the economy has been growing because of extensive government spending and fortunate circumstances rising global commodity prices have been a huge boost to its rubber and palm oil exports not from smart choices."

The dramatic reforms taking place in Indonesia, Sharma argues, have "no parallel" in Malaysia, putting it at risk of sliding backward.

Malaysia, he points out, is the only Asian country where FDI is declining as at the last quarter of 2011, it was flowing out at a rate of 2.5% of GDP.

Sharma also tells SBW that the country is obsessed with central planning and grand schemes, but has often fallen short on execution.

"This is the biggest difference with other South-East Asian markets such as Indonesia: Malaysia has fallen off the investment map," he writes.

"Malaysia needs to move on and rebuild the institutions damaged during the later stages of Mahathir's rule. Nearly a decade after his retirement, Mahathir should not be casting such a long shadow on the country."

This entry was posted on Saturday, 9 June 2012, 1:24 pm and is filed under Economics. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0.  

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Gruesome reminders of failure of Najib premiership in one of its most important tasks – to reduce crime and eradicate the fear of crime

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Correcting the civil service racial imbalance

Dr Lim Teck Ghee
CPI

Can the government promise that all young Malaysians will be given fair treatment, and racial or regional discrimination will not be tolerated in order to encourage non-Malay recruitment into the civil service?

Once more the government appears to be clueless and befuddled as to why the non-Malay young do not want to take up civil service jobs. Once more, there will be a taskforce and a high-level committee at work to produce yet another report on how to attract non-Malays to join the service.

Once more the almost obligatory letters are appearing in the mainstream papers applauding the government (in this case) the Public Service Commission new chairman for his bold initiative in proposing a study "to nail down…the reasons for the poor number of applications from non-Bumiputeras for public and civil service jobs".

Do we need more studies?

Come on, we already have a plethora of research and studies on the subject. We have more than enough figures and data showing that the severely racially imbalanced civil service is not a recent problem but one going back more than 30 years. Do we need some more studies?

Everyone – well – just about, everyone knows the reason why non-Malays are avoiding joining what one of the top Barisan Nasional leaders has described as the best civil service in the world. As one cynic in the blog world recently remarked,

"Even the … office boys in those departments can see the unfairness [in promotions], and we have top civil servants wondering why. Please, just practice fairness and they (non-Malays) will come."

Rampant racial discrimination

The most important reason why disparity in civil service participation amongst the races exists is the discrimination against non-Malays in recruitment and promotion exercises. This explains why the numbers applying have dropped dramatically. If there is going to be an uneven playing field and if others less qualified or less capable than you are promoted ahead of you – and this is perceived to be a standard practice – why stay in the job, even if it may be a well paying or secure one.

Factors of pride, dignity and self-respect also come into play which explains why non-Malays refuse to remain in the service even when they have a good position. After a few years of frustration and alienation with racially structured obstacles when they apply for promotion or other career opportunities, many see the writing on the wall and opt to strike out for the private sector or self employment even though they may have to make sacrifices.

This game of pretending not to know why non-Malay recruitment and enrolment is so low in the civil service has been going on for so long that many of its practitioners appear to believe their own fairy tales and prejudices about non-Malays being less patriotic (explaining their low enrolment in the military and police); or more grasping and calculating (hence, less attracted to teaching or other service occupations); etc.

Solution

Let's do away with the pretense and acting dumb on this long-standing blot in our societal make up. The steps to ensure higher non-Malay (and East Malaysian bumiputera) participation in the civil service are simple:

1. Firstly, there must be a solemn declaration and promise by the prime minister and government that racial intake as well as all treatment after recruitment in the civil service will be fair and transparent and that racial or regional discrimination will not be tolerated.

2. Secondly, the Public Services Commission and Public Services Department must be a party to this declaration and should mainstream this declaration into all service manuals and directives. It is a fact that some of the major obstacles to making the civil service more racially representative comes from within the civil service itself.

3. Thirdly, all recruitment, appointment, promotion and other service related committees and boards should have full multi-racial representation. Inclusion of token non-Malays as we have seen in the past does not work.

4. Fourthly, a new civil service quota system – in this case specifically used as a temporary affirmative action tool to increase non-Malay numbers and reduce marginalization – should be formulated. This can be done in a way as to meet with the constitutional provisions providing for the special position of the Malays and bumiputera groups of Sabah and Sarawak. A 60-40 recruitment system would be relatively easy and painless to implement. It would guarantee Malay dominance but not over-dominance and help to bring about a gradual increase in the number and proportion of non-Malay civil servants in the country.

5. Finally, we need a civil service ombudsman to act on cases of racial discrimination within the service as well as to respond to allegations of racially biased policies and programmes.
Make or break the nation

It is a truism that the civil service can make or break a nation, more especially in the case of multiracial societies such as ours where neutral stake players are necessary to play a critical role in balancing complex and contentious racial demands.

Democratic norms call for a representative, impartial and neutral bureaucracy to ensure that public policies are responsive to the needs of all citizens in a fair and equitable fashion. A genuinely multi-racial civil service is also necessary to ensure that there is an absence of racial bias in the individual or collective manner in which civil servants formulate policies and conduct their work.

Unfortunately, we have moved away from these democratic norms for so long that nothing but a radical change in the mindsets and actions of our politicians and civil service elites can stop the rot. A mono-ethnic civil service – which is what we are fast moving towards – is the single biggest obstacle to the goal of 1Malaysia.

This entry was posted on Saturday, 9 June 2012, 3:58 pm and is filed under Lim Teck Ghee, public service. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0.  

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ABU now on reverse gear like RPK? What does ‘Anything’ in ABU mean anyway?

I usually brush off people who complain about my poor English because1Malaysia has the best education system in the world, so how can my 'England' be that bad.

But today I realised that my 'England' may really be that bad because I do not understand the meaning of the word 'anything'. So far, I have blindly followed the meaning as taken from the dictionary. But to some Malaysians, this interpretation is wrong.

Definition from dictionary: Anything – any thing whatever; something, no matter what

But to 'some' people …

Let me try to understand the meaning of 'Anything' as perceived by some people. Let's use an anecdote.

An organiser is promoting the biggest fruit fair in the country, a fair that everyone who goes to must buy 1 type of fruit. Pamphlets were distributed widely with the first paragraph boldly highlighted in red,"You can buy and eat anything but the big red apple" with explanation that the big red apple has been poisonous from the day the seed was planted right up to the bearing of the fruit itself.

The planter of the apple trees did not bother to find out what was wrong and kept producing the fruit for more than 5 decades. All in all, the advice and warning is clear – to NOT eat the poisonous big red apple

On the day of the fruit fair huge, a crowd was seen at stalls selling bananas, papayas, durians, etc with only a handful of people wandering around the big red apple stall.

Suddenly the organiser shouted out to the people 'Do not buy nor eat the bananas, papayas, durians etc because of speculation that those trees were poisoned 14 years ago'.

The sellers were caught in a bind! They tried to explain that the trees that were poisoned 14 years ago had already been uprooted, replanted and well taken care of and now the fruits on sale are not poisonous anymore. But the organizer wouldn't listen and insisted that the fruits were still poisonous and must be rejected at all costs.

Everyone else too was shocked but they still needed to buy 1 type of fruit and so, which should they buy? All the fruits were now poisonous, so what the heck, let's go for the poisonous big red apple!

Is it logical?

We, Malaysians are really bad, we do not like to give people a chance to prove their worth even if they have changed their ways and now show good credentials compared with their wrongdoings decades ago.

The fact that we are not giving a chance to the poisonous big red apple is simply because it has proven to be poisonous till today after 5 decades and is not willing at all to look into how to rid of the poison in its own system.

The other fruits may have been poisonous decades ago but they have proven lately that they have been cleansed of their poison. They are even willing to prove it by encouraging you to take a taste.

BUT the organizer – the one who promoted the 'Anything but the big red apple' – now wants to sell you a different meaning of the word 'anything'.

The moral of the story…

The rakyat (Malaysian populace) is rising up against an evil and corrupt regime. A certain NGO recently set up is telling the people they should go for 'Anything but the evil corrupt regime'.

The war plan is being put into place with the generals taking charge of the assault against the enemy – the evil regime. And it is no easy fight. The evil enemy has already put out their latest war equipment at the doorstep to be used to annihilate this uprising.

Yet, the generals are working and planning hard, using whatever ancient weaponry they have at hand to help the rakyat fight against the enemy's modern weaponry.

Coincidentally a few of these generals were previously aligned with the enemy but it was decades ago and they have recently changed sides to be with the rakyat, fighting side by side to win this war.

Meanwhile, the enemy can sense that they are losing the war and have begun spreading all sorts of speculation of misdeeds, corruptions, sex stories of a few generals to create a civil war between these generals and the rakyat.

Amid the speculation, the NGO that promoted the 'Anything but the evil corrupt regime' suddenly started to call upon the rakyat to turn their guns and kill off the generals instead.

To the NGO, a general must be pure and still a virgin in order to lead the war and now it becomes 'Anything but the generals must die', even if the the war is lost because of their past sins that were speculated to have happened decades ago.

From 'Anything But Umno' to 'Nothing But Umno' – WHAT A JOKE!

For God sake, we are now at war and not winning is not an option. So why now, why suddenly the questioning of the generals of their past misdeeds, true or otherwise.

Why are they not assessed based on their present performances with the four states under their rule. Are these generals still practising the misdeeds they were speculated to have decades ago?

Giving the excuse that we do not want to replace the evil corrupt regime with another is just lame without giving the generals a chance to prove their capability. How worst or corrupt can a new regime be compared to the present one?

When ABU or 'Anything But Umno' was launched, it was very clear about the path that it would be taking. No excuses, unless ABU (co-founded by Haris Ibrahim) is now on reverse gear just like RPK. That is my fear!

So hence, my query. What does 'Anything' in ABU mean? Any and all hidden clauses or exceptions must be revealed so that the rakyat can decide whether they can accept ABU right at the outset. Not when we are halfway through fighting a VERY SERIOUS WAR.

If ABU or anyone can provide facts and figures that Pakatan Rakyat is performing worse than Umno-BN in the states under Pakatan rule, I will give my vote to UMNO-BN without hesitation.

BUT please don't try to act like an angel, free of sins with the right to dig out decades-old speculated misdeeds just to spice up your good-friend-turned-enemy's accusations. SPEAK UP and DON'T TALK 'HEN'!

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Ku Li’s testimony on ‘Project M’ vital

KOTA KINABALU: Former Umno vice president Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah (Ku Li) who was privy to 'written and unwritten' federal policies during the 70s and 80 must testify in any investigations into the presence of legalised illegal immigrants in Sabah.

Yayasan Islam Sabah (YIS) said Ku Li, who had held several important portfolios in the federal cabinet including that of Finance Minister was 'in the know' of the government's direction at the time.

Sabah's exponential increase in the legalised illegal population has been has been traced back to the era of former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Ku Li served in Mahathir's cabinet from 1976-1987.

YIS secretary-general OKK Yahya Ahmad Shah said: "Razaleigh is a very important person. He was for a number of years the (country's) Minister of Finance and he also held many other portfolios and knows federal government policies."

Yahya said Ku Li's recent statement that illegals in Sabah were being issued Mykads by the federal government was greatly welcome by activists who have long since been calling for the immediate halt to the exercise seen as a bid by ruling Umno to retain his hold to power.

Ku Li had on June 3 reportedly expressed frustration at the fact that he – a  bona fide Malaysian – had to show his passport on arriving at the Kota Kinabalu immigration when illegals with Mykads traveled freely inter-state (from Sabah to West Malaysia).

"Razaleigh's comment is indeed good news for the (pro-RCI) activists. Let's not forget he was also for a number of years an Umno vice president and in the know of written and unwritten policies.

"Therefore he must be subpoenaed to give his evidence (on the issue)," he said.

It is a commonly known fact that Umno agents were pivotal in the exponential rise in Sabah's legalised illegal immigrant population. The influx is allegedly linked to a bid to nuetralise the Christian majority in Sabah and consolidate Umno-Barisan Nasional's continued 'rule'.

The legalised illegals soon become BN's much touted 'fixed deposit'

'Umno Sabah polluted by immigrants'

Despite past documented evidence and testimonies of fraudulent disbursement of Malaysian citizenships to these illegals, the Umno-run federal administration have refused to acknowledge their role.

But BN's shocking losses in the 2008 General Election, a bouyed nationwide civil society demanding electoral reforms has brought Sabah's new voters and the government's allegedly fraudulent exercise to boost its 'fixed deposits' in the state into focus.

Earlier this year it was reported that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had himself been 'reminded' by Sabah Umno warlords – during a visit to Sabah – on the importance of this 'group' who had over the past elections been 'loyal' voters of BN.

So terse was the warning that Najib turned tail and returned to Kuala Lumpur without announcing a much anticipated Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) into the legalised illegal immigrant issue, leaving his Sabah BN native-majority partners red-faced.

Since then much has happened at the grassroot levels in Sabah.

Sabah opposition riding on its Sarawak brethren's success in last April state elections have widely flogged Umno's villainous role in the scheme to marginalise native Sabahans.

Sabah already has a 1.2 million-strong legalised immigrant population which is eating into every aspect of the Sabahan lives. Today genuine Sabahans compete with these immigrants for jobs, scholarships and even political positions.

Young locals who are in Umno claim that most of their leaders are "either Suluks or Bajaus."

"Umno in Sabah is polluted by immigrants. Some their parents are from the Phillipines or Indonesia but they are born here. Now they are our leaders," said one lawyer recently.

Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman in acknowledging surging resentment of these immigrants and a rising opposition front accusing state BN leaders of being either traitors or spineless convinced the various Umno division heads to support calls for an RCI.

With Musa's promise of a BN win in the 13th General Election come-what-may, Najib has since belatedly announced the RCI,  subject to a terms of reference that is being drawn up.

But it's unlikely to impact a already shifting political landscape here.

'Nativity certs also an issue'

Meanwhile, the opposition has also called for RCI investigations to include the indiscriminate issuance of bumiputera certificates to non natives – Kadazan Dusun and Murut – in Sabah.

Sabah State Reform Party official Frederick Lonjinki said it was vital that the RCI also look into the Native Certificate issue.

"I know of cases where native certificates have been issued to non natives, pure Chinese in order for them to be qualify to buy Native Title lands.

"There is even talk that foreigners from Hong Kong and Taiwan have managed to acquire this Bumiputera certificate through dubious means.

"The matter must be put under RCI investigations because it also affects the sovereignty of Sabah," he said.

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Schoolboy antics over PTPTN — The Malaysian Insider

JUNE 9 —  Are schoolboys in charge of education in Malaysia? It sure seems that way when Putrajaya's education czars decide to sulk and pull back scholarships for those studying in Selangor's Universiti Selangor (Unisel) this past week.

Only to flip flop, be wishy-washy, do a volte-face and overturn that emotional decision a day later. Is that how a government runs things? Aren't these ministers — Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Khaled Nordin — an embarrassment to Datuk Seri Najib Razak?

They can't even be gracious and admit their mistake. Take Khaled's statement that Unisel's appeal for National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) loans to be restored showed that Pakatan Rakyat (PR) could not deliver its promise of free education.

Is that how a Barisan Nasional (BN) minister behaves? Use state facilities to prove a point? And let students seeking a better future be at his whim and fancy?

Does he think these students will think highly of him? Or be "grateful" to the federal government? If anything, Khaled has pushed Selangor to prove it can fund these students with RM30 million from the sale of UniSel land. And if Selangor can do it, why the need for PTPTN? Or a BN government minister who is vindictive?

One would expect a better performance from Khaled. He isn't some junior minister out to impress his superiors or his followers with such an emotional response to PR's promises.

In a marketplace of idea, Khaled and those of his ilk should try to out-think PR, not resort to a schoolyard scrap over who is better or stronger and the loser walking off in a huff vowing not to friend the victor.

Why has politics in Malaysia gone down to just being mean spirited, grumpy and sulking in a corner by some of the BN chaps? Especially these two from Johor, the birthplace of Umno. One expects a lot more from a state that gave Umno its founding president, Datuk Onn Jaafar.

Perhaps Khaled might think he won this round against PR. In reality, its a fiasco, an own goal for BN. This childish decision and about-turn is the latest in a long line of blunders that won't endear some of these ministers to the people. What more students who will vote in the future and can influence their parents to vote for the opposing side

These BN ministers are undermining the prime minister's strategy of winning back support for his personal mandate to make a better Malaysia. They are petty-minded and just fumbling in scoring points at the expense of goodwill.

What a pity. If this is how they see "1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now.", then they have gone opposite of the concept's tagline, like schoolboys who don't understand anything and make it up as they go along.

We don't need schoolboys in the Cabinet. We need real men, and gentlemen at that with the nation's interests in their hearts.

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Correcting the civil service racial imbalance — Lim Teck Ghee

JUNE 9 — Once more the government appears to be clueless and befuddled as to why the non-Malay young do not want to take up civil service jobs. Once more, there will be a task force and a high-level committee at work to produce yet another report on how to attract non-Malays to join the service. 

Once more the almost obligatory letters are appearing in the mainstream papers applauding the government, (in this case) the Public Service Commission new chairman for his bold initiative in proposing a study "to nail down… the reasons for the poor number of applications from non-Bumiputeras for public and civil service jobs".  

Do we need more studies?

Come on, we already have a plethora of research and studies on the subject. We have more than enough figures and data showing that the severely racially imbalanced civil service is not a recent problem but one going back more than 30 years. Do we need some more studies?

Everyone — well — just about, everyone knows the reason why non-Malays are avoiding joining what one of the top Barisan Nasional leaders has described as the best civil service in the world. As one cynic in the blog world recently remarked:

"Even the … office boys in those departments can see the unfairness [in promotions], and we have top civil servants wondering why. Please, just practice fairness and they (non-Malays) will come."

Rampant racial discrimination

The most important reason why disparity in civil service participation amongst the races exists is the discrimination against non-Malays in recruitment and promotion exercises. This explains why the numbers applying have dropped dramatically. If there is going to be an uneven playing field and if others less qualified or less capable than you are promoted ahead of you — and this is perceived to be a standard practice — why stay in the job, even if it may be a well-paying or secure one.  

Factors of pride, dignity and self-respect also come into play which explains why non-Malays refuse to remain in the service even when they have a good position. After a few years of frustration and alienation with racially structured obstacles when they apply for promotion or other career opportunities, many see the writing on the wall and opt to strike out for the private sector or self employment even though they may have to make sacrifices. 

This game of pretending not to know why non-Malay recruitment and enrolment is so low in the civil service has been going on for so long that many of its practitioners appear to believe their own fairy tales and prejudices about non-Malays being less patriotic (explaining their low enrolment in the military and police); or more grasping and calculating (hence, less attracted to teaching or other service occupations), etc. 

Solution

Let's do away with the pretence and acting dumb on this long-standing blot in our societal make-up. The steps to ensure higher non-Malay (and east Malaysian Bumiputera) participation in the civil service are simple:

Firstly, there must be a solemn declaration and promise by the prime minister and government that racial intake as well as all treatment after recruitment in the civil service will be fair and transparent and that racial or regional discrimination will not be tolerated. 

Secondly, the Public Service Commission and Public Service Department must be a party to this declaration and should mainstream this declaration into all service manuals and directives. It is a fact that some of the major obstacles to making the civil service more racially representative come from within the civil service itself. 

Thirdly, all recruitment, appointment, promotion and other service-related committees and boards should have full multi-racial representation. Inclusion of token non-Malays as we have seen in the past does not work.  

Fourthly, a new civil service quota system — in this case specifically used as a temporary affirmative action tool to increase non-Malay numbers and reduce marginalisation — should be formulated. This can be done in a way as to meet with the constitutional provisions providing for the special position of the Malays and Bumiputera groups of Sabah and Sarawak. A 60-40 recruitment system would be relatively easy and painless to implement. It would guarantee Malay dominance but not over-dominance and help to bring about a gradual increase in the number and proportion of non-Malay civil servants in the country.

Finally, we need a civil service ombudsman to act on cases of racial discrimination within the service as well as to respond to allegations of racially biased policies and programmes. 

Make or break the nation

It is a truism that the civil service can make or break a nation, more especially in the case of multiracial societies such as ours where neutral stake players are necessary to play a critical role in balancing complex and contentious racial demands.  

Democratic norms call for a representative, impartial and neutral bureaucracy to ensure that public policies are responsive to the needs of all citizens in a fair and equitable fashion. A genuinely multiracial civil service is also necessary to ensure that there is an absence of racial bias in the individual or collective manner in which civil servants formulate policies and conduct their work.   

Unfortunately, we have moved away from these democratic norms for so long that nothing but a radical change in the mindsets and actions of our politicians and civil service elites can stop the rot. A mono-ethnic civil service — which is what we are fast moving towards — is the single biggest obstacle to the goal of 1 Malaysia.

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

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Polis patut siasat kebocoran dokumen sulit Scorpene...

Mantan Pengarah Jabatan Siasatan Jenayah (CID) Kuala Lumpur, Mat Zain Ibrahim polis perlu menyiasat dakwaan dokumen rahsia dibocorkan dan dijual kepada negara asing.

Mat Zain berkata siasatan seperti itu sepatutnya dilaklukan oleh pegawai kanan polis, terutamanya timbalan ketua polis negara Datuk Seri Khalid Abu Bakar.

Beliau memberitahu Malaysiakini bahawa siasatan seperti itu sepatutnya dilakukan pada 2006 apabila kes pembunuhan wanita Mongolia, Altantuya Shaariibuu berlaku.

Polis sepatutnya menubuhkan jawatankuasa tertinggi yang sekurang-kurangnya diketuai oleh Khalid untuk menyiasat perkara itu, katanya.

Mengikut Seksyen 3 Akta Polis, 1967, polis tidak semestinya menunggu sehingga laporan polis dibuat untuk menyiasat dakwaan tersebut, katanya lagi.

Beliau menyatakan demikian ketika mengulas pendedahan peguam Suaram, Joseph Breham di Bangkok pada 31 Mei bahawa sebuah syarikat pertahan Perancis membeli laporan penilaian Malaysia ke atas kapal selam kelas Scorpene dan membayar 36 juta euro (RM142 juta) kepada Terasasi (Hong Kong) Ltd), kononnya untuk "kerja-kerja kejuruteraan komersial."

Dalam wawancara eksklusif itu, Mat Zain enggan gambarnya dirakam sepenuhnya atas sebab keselamatan.

Ex-top cop: ! Police s hould probe naval document leak...

The police should investigate allegations of secret documents being leaked and sold to a foreign country. And a senior officer should lead it, preferably deputy inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar.

Former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Mat Zain Ibrahim told Malaysiakini taking into account the nature of such an allegation, the probe should have been initiated in 2006 when Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu was murdered.

The police, he said should form a high-powered team led by no less an officer than Khalid (left) himself.

"Under section 3 of the Police Act, 1967, the police are tasked with maintenance of law and order, the preservation and detection of crime, the apprehension and prosecution of offenders and the collection of security intelligence," Mat Zain said.

In gathering security intelligence, the police must uncover how such information could have been leaked and the force is the right authority for such a task. They should start the investigation on their own initiative, he said.

"It is not necessary for them to wait for a police report to be lodged," added the former top cop.

Mat Zain, who has been trying to keep a low profile since his retirement a decade ago, expressed his views in an exclusive interview at the Malaysiakini office recently. He, however, declined to have his full picture taken for security reasons.

On May 31, Suaram's French lawyer Joseph Breham revealed in Bangkok, that a French ! defence company had bought Malaysia's evaluation report of the Scorpene-class submarine and paid 36 million euro (RM142 million) to Terasasi (Hong Kong) Ltd, ostensibly for "commercial engineering" works.

Terasasi's directors are prime minister Najib Abdul Razak's close ally Abdul Razak Baginda and his father, Abdul Malim Baginda.

Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, was reported in Friday's Berita Harian as having denied such a sale.

Mat Zain's response to this was that the minister has no power to declare such information as baseless, as it is the police's responsibility to do so after having carried out an investigation.

Why Khalid should head probe

Mat Zain's reason for naming Khalid as his choice, follows the example in 2009 when then deputy IGP Ismail Omar (now the IGP) led investigations into the murder of 36-year-old Indonesian maid, Mantik Hani.

"Is the IGP or the Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein trying to say the life of an Indonesian maid is worth more than the security of 28 million Malaysians and the security of our country," he snapped.

He added that Hishammuddin on Mantik's death even declared in Parliament that the cabinet was setting up a special unit comprising various ministries to prevent a recurrence.

"Why is Hishammuddin (left) so silent when it comes to our top secret security documents being sold by a few unscrupulous traitors to quench their greed.

"It's high time that Hishamuddin stopped talking about Bersih video clips and focus instead on the security and! safety of the people," he said.

Mat Zain also wants Ismail to prove his mettle by launching an investigations into the incident.
He said both Najib and Hishammuddin should realise that Malaysians are embarrassed by such an expose.

"People in France, Mongolia, Thailand and now Malta and the rest of the world are talking about about our security and our safety being compromised, while our cabinet is busy with other issues," he said.

On whether the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should also step in, he said there is no doubt that it is the police's responsibility, and that the MACC can be roped in later should any element of corruption be established.

"The police look after the security of the country while MACC concerns itself with corruption.

"The problem here is that of confidential security documents being leaked out, so it should fall under the police. The MACC can trace who gets the money in selling the secrets.

"In fact, the police should have sprung into action when the Altantuya murder case broke as to how she knew so much. 

"This is one of the functions of the police as stated in the Act - gathering of security intelligence. If that has been violated, then you are not doing your job," said Mat Zain frankly.

Blind loyalty not required

In respond to police chief Ismail (left) who said that the police should be loyal to the government, Mat Zain said nowhere in the Police Act does it say that the force needs be loyal, or blindly loyal, to the government.

He said in fact the police should not care who runs the government, which party controls it or whosoever rules.

&qu! ot;The I GP is only 'responsible' to the minister in charge of home affairs and the maintenance of security of the country. 

"You can be loyal but not blindly loyal; even if it is a minister who is committing an offence you should arrest him.

"Nowhere is it stated in the Act that the police or the IGP have to be loyal to the government," said Mat Zain.

Maintaining security, Mat Zain said, remains of utmost importance to the security forces.
He said they need not worry over the election date or when Parliament is going to be dissolved - the police needs to be impartial and independent.

source:malaysiakini

 

 cheers.

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The BN gov't is often guilty of shutting the stable door after the horses have bolted...

And the Director of Centre for Policy Initiatives, Dr Lim Teck Ghee, has some frank and to-your-face views on the Civil Service:~~~

http://english.cpiasia.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2357&catid=228&Itemid=196

Correcting the civil service racial imbalance

Written by Dr Lim Teck GheeSaturday, 09 June 2012 11:31

Commentary

Once more the government appears to ! be cluel ess and befuddled as to why the non-Malay young do not want to take up civil service jobs. Once more, there will be a taskforce and a high-level committee at work to produce yet another report on how to attract non-Malays to join the service.

Once more the almost obligatory letters are appearing in the mainstream papers applauding the government (in this case) the Public Service Commission new chairman for his bold initiative inproposing a study "to nail down…the reasons for the poor number of applications from non-Bumiputeras for public and civil service jobs".

Do we need more studies?

Come on, we already have a plethora of research and studies on the subject. We have more than enough figures and data showing that the severely racially imbalanced civil service is not a recent problem but one going back more than 30 years. Do we need some more studies?

Everyone – well – just about, everyone knows the reason why non-Malays are avoiding joining what one of the top Barisan Nasional leaders has described as the best civil service in the world. As one cynic in the blog world recently remarked,

"Even the … office boys in those departments can see the unfairness [in promotions], and we have top civil servants wondering why. Please, just p! ractice fairness and they (non-Malays) will come."

Rampant racial discrimination

The most important reason why disparity in civil service participation amongst the races exists is the discrimination against non-Malays in recruitment and promotion exercises. This explains why the numbers applying have dropped dramatically. If there is going to be an uneven playing field and if others less qualified or less capable than you are promoted ahead of you – and this is perceived to be a standard practice – why stay in the job, even if it may be a well paying or secure one.

Factors of pride, dignity and self-respect also come into play which explains why non-Malays refuse to remain in the service even when they have a good position. After a few years of frustration and alienation with racially structured obstacles when they apply for promotion or other career opportunities, many see the writing on the wall and opt to strike out for the private sector or self employment even though they may have to make sacrifices.

This game of pretending not to know why non-Malay recruitment and enrolment is so low in the civil service has been going on for so long that many of its practitioners appear to believe their own fairy tales and prejudices about non-Malays being less patriotic (explaining their low enrolment in the military and police); or more grasping and calculating (hence, less attracted to teaching or other service occupations); etc.

Solution

Let's do away with the pretense and acting dumb on this long-standing blot in our societal make up. The steps to ensure higher non-Malay (and East Malaysian bumiputera) participation in the civil service are simple:

1. Firstly, there must be a solemn declaration and promise by the prime minister and government that racial intake as well as all treatment after recruitment in the civil service will be fair and transparent and that racial or regional discrimination will not be tolerated.
2. Secondly, the Public Services Commission and Public Services Department must be a party to this declaration and should mainstream this declaration into all service manuals and directives. It is a fact that some of the major obstacles to making the civil service more racially representative comes from within the civil service itself.
3. Thirdly, all recruitment, appointment, promotion and other service related committees and boards should have full multi-racial representation. Inclusion of token non-Malays as we have seen in the past does not work.
4. Fourthly, a new civil service quota system – in this case specifically used as a temporary affirmative action tool to increase non-Malay numbers and reduce marginalization – should be formulated. This can be done in a way as to meet with the constitutional provisions providing for the special position of the Malays and bumiputera groups of Sabah and Sarawak. A 60-40 recruitment system would be relatively easy and painless to implement. It would guarantee Malay dominance but n! ot over- dominance and help to bring about a gradual increase in the number and proportion of non-Malay civil servants in the country.
5. Finally, we need a civil service ombudsman to act on cases of racial discrimination within the service as well as to respond to allegations of racially biased policies and programmes.

Make or break the nation

It is a truism that the civil service can make or break a nation, more especially in the case of multiracial societies such as ours where neutral stake players are necessary to play a critical role in balancing complex and contentious racial demands.

Democratic norms call for a representative, impartial and neutral bureaucracy to ensure that public policies are responsive to the needs of all citizens in a fair and equitable fashion. A genuinely multi-racial civil service is also necessary to ensure that there is an absence of racial bias in the individual or collective manner in which civil servants formulate policies and conduct their work.

Unfortunately, we have moved away from these democratic norms for so long that nothing but a radical change in the mindsets and actions of our politicians and civil service elites can stop the rot. A mono-ethnic civil service – which is what we are fast moving towards – is the single biggest obstacle to the goal of 1Malaysia.

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