Wikipedia founder says Malaysia should ditch censorship
Tue, 28 Sep 2010
KUALA LUMPUR, AFP: A co-founder of online encyclopedia Wikipedia said on a visit to Malaysia today that the country should ditch censorship which is a damper on economic growth.
Jimmy Wales said censorship was counter-productive for Malaysia, which ranked 131 out of 175 nations on the 2009 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index because of its tight controls on print and broadcast media.
"This is a country that has a fairly mixed record... there is still some censorship in this country and I think we are beginning to see that it is no longer an effective strategy, certainly not an effective strategy when we think about economic growth," he said.
"When you think about making sure that the people have the information they need, make good decisions in their lives, it's absolutely important that we have a very open flow of information," he told a financial conference.
"I want to write that information (on sites like user-generated Wikipedia) so that my fellow citizens have the knowledge they need so they can't be oppressed."
Lively forum
Prime Minister Najib Razak, who took office in the mainly Muslim country in April last year, promised to promote openness and transparency but has since faced accusations that his administration is trying to silence critics.
Yesterday, British tycoon Richard Branson told a different conference in Kuala Lumpur that the ongoing sodomy trial against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was discouraging investors from coming to Malaysia.
Anwar, a former deputy premier who was sacked and jailed on separate sex and corruption counts a decade ago, has said that the new allegations -- of illicit relations with a young male aide -- have been concocted to end his career.
Major newspapers and broadcasters are closely linked with the ruling coalition, so the Internet has become a lively forum for dissent and debate in Malaysia.
Unlike the mainstream press, the web and online media have remained relatively free, despite occasional raids, bans and government criticism.
Last Friday, police detained political cartoonist Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque -- better known as Zunar -- over his new comic book, which has a caricature of Najib's wife on the front cover and contains cartoons on numerous controversial issues such as Anwar's sodomy trial and police shootings.
- AFP
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
PM Najib caught by his doublespeak...?
ONE woman writer whom I hold in high esteem has the honour of being placed at Desiderata'sblog for a maiden appearance;Mariam Mokhtar is her name, and her latest colmn at the Malaysian Mirror has somewhat caught our Prime Minister abroad with his emperor'sclothes a little worn out so the hide is showing. Desi gives Najib Tun Razak some benefit of the doubt -- hence that question mark! MM did that too, though it says at the end of the commentary piece the writer's views do not represent MM's. But I can avow she does represent Desi's mostly.Thanks, MM, and MM here/hear does not stand ofr a previous prime minister's initials! -- YL, Desi
Reject extremism: Is Najib walking the talk at home?
13Share
Mariam Mokhtar
Tuesday, 28 September 2010 14:52
najib-un-2COMMENT It is all very well for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to say that ‘the moderates’ should ‘reclaim the agenda for peace and pragmatism’, in his maiden speech at the United Nations General Assembly. But shouldn’t he be cleaning up his own backyard first?
He maintained that all faiths needed ‘to work together’ and that extremists ‘held the world hostage with their bigotry and bias’. He suggested that “we must choose moderation over extremism”.
Ten days earlier, Najib had already lectured to us about extremism. But his message then was vague and non-committal.
At the 65th session at the UN headquarters in New York on Sept 27, Najib expanded his views on extremism and said, “We must urgently reclaim the centre and the moral high ground that has been usurped from us. We must choose negotiations over confrontation. We must choose to work together and not against each other. And we must give this effort utmost priority for time is not on our side.”
Why dare tell the world to reject extremism, when at home, he refuses to censure the ‘extremists’? If he cannot even act in his own territory, then he shouldn’t be patronising others on the world stage.
Najib said the real issue “is not between Muslims and non-Muslims but between the moderates and extremists of all religions, be it Islam, Christianity or Judaism. Across all religions, we have inadvertently allowed the ugly voices of the periphery to drown out the many voices of reason and common sense.”
He praised the efforts of some American Evangelical Christians who prevented the threatened burning of the Quran: “This is a clear example of what can be achieved when moderates in each faith stand up to the extremists who are trying to hijack the universal values of our religions.”
So why are his reactions and responses very muted when it comes to the religious intolerance by Muslims at home?
Many people will recall the ugly scenes popularly dubbed ‘the cow-head’ incidents or the incendiary reaction of Malaysian Muslims with the use of the word “Allah”.
Why can he not interfere and propose that laws dealing with issues of ‘conversion’, be it conversion to Islam (eg. automatic conversion of minors) or conversion from Islam (persecution of various individuals for apostasy) are fair, just and speedily executed rather than allowed to drag on causing those who are affected, including their families, added trauma?
Najib commended both President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for supporting Cordoba House, a mosque and multi-faith community centre, which will be built near the site of the World Trade Centre.
He said, ““We must support the objectives of the Cordoba Initiative, an organisation that focuses on promoting peace, understanding and moderation, both between Muslims and non-Muslims and within the Muslim communities.”
And yet at home, state governments are slow to give their approvals for the construction of churches or temples despite the federal government’s ruling that non-Muslims have a right to worship.
It has not gone unnoticed how churches of old in Malaysia, built at a time of greater interaction and before the creeping tide of fundamentalism, have more character, exhibit greater architectural definition and look less like shop-lots or factories.
Najib says that Malaysians observe the various religious and cultural celebrations of the various religions.
So what? That is nothing new as other nations do too. Moreover, Malaysians just love any excuse to have a good time. Many are well aware that one slip by the non-Muslims is enough to make the Muslims cry out that they are ‘offended’, their religious sensitivities bruised - an escalation in tension is the result.
Najib boasted about how he had “introduced a philosophy known as 1Malaysia. . .to bring all people together in a just and harmonious relationship” and “we celebrate our multi-ethnic and multi-religious society for strategic strength and harmony”.
Again, we note his reticence in spelling out who he was referring to, when he lashed out against the forces of extremism at home.
The levels of aggression and intolerance shown by some Malays towards non-Malays and non-Muslims have risen. When Malays who make racial slurs go unchecked, Najib is not practicing what he preaches.
He may defend his ‘1Malaysia’ concept, but he cannot excuse the terrible religious intolerance of the holier-than-thou Muslims who have no qualms about disrespecting people of other faiths.
Perhaps Najib is trying to touch too many bases at one time. He is trying to appeal to the moderates at home but then, he refuses to punish those extremist politicians, religious leaders and individuals in a responsible position, who revel in stoking racial and religious disharmony.
Part of the problem is that members of his cabinet have their own, conflicting views of 1Malaysia. Another part of the problem is how the former Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is egging on the Malay extremists. Najib appears unwilling to condemn their inflammatory views.
Malaysians would prefer he restored racial and religious stability at home rather than try and take centre stage at the UN before putting his own house in order.
Rhetorically, Najib is correct. But by refusing to name and shame whom he considers extremists, his views about rejecting extremism run hollow. Until he comes down hard on those who harm our country, he will only make a mockery of the ‘1Malaysia’ concept. The cost in human and economic terms will remain high. Therefore, Najib’s domestic challenge to tackle extremism must be more focused.
* The views expressed herein are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysian Mirror and/or its associates.
Reject extremism: Is Najib walking the talk at home?
13Share
Mariam Mokhtar
Tuesday, 28 September 2010 14:52
najib-un-2COMMENT It is all very well for Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to say that ‘the moderates’ should ‘reclaim the agenda for peace and pragmatism’, in his maiden speech at the United Nations General Assembly. But shouldn’t he be cleaning up his own backyard first?
He maintained that all faiths needed ‘to work together’ and that extremists ‘held the world hostage with their bigotry and bias’. He suggested that “we must choose moderation over extremism”.
Ten days earlier, Najib had already lectured to us about extremism. But his message then was vague and non-committal.
At the 65th session at the UN headquarters in New York on Sept 27, Najib expanded his views on extremism and said, “We must urgently reclaim the centre and the moral high ground that has been usurped from us. We must choose negotiations over confrontation. We must choose to work together and not against each other. And we must give this effort utmost priority for time is not on our side.”
Why dare tell the world to reject extremism, when at home, he refuses to censure the ‘extremists’? If he cannot even act in his own territory, then he shouldn’t be patronising others on the world stage.
Najib said the real issue “is not between Muslims and non-Muslims but between the moderates and extremists of all religions, be it Islam, Christianity or Judaism. Across all religions, we have inadvertently allowed the ugly voices of the periphery to drown out the many voices of reason and common sense.”
He praised the efforts of some American Evangelical Christians who prevented the threatened burning of the Quran: “This is a clear example of what can be achieved when moderates in each faith stand up to the extremists who are trying to hijack the universal values of our religions.”
So why are his reactions and responses very muted when it comes to the religious intolerance by Muslims at home?
Many people will recall the ugly scenes popularly dubbed ‘the cow-head’ incidents or the incendiary reaction of Malaysian Muslims with the use of the word “Allah”.
Why can he not interfere and propose that laws dealing with issues of ‘conversion’, be it conversion to Islam (eg. automatic conversion of minors) or conversion from Islam (persecution of various individuals for apostasy) are fair, just and speedily executed rather than allowed to drag on causing those who are affected, including their families, added trauma?
Najib commended both President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for supporting Cordoba House, a mosque and multi-faith community centre, which will be built near the site of the World Trade Centre.
He said, ““We must support the objectives of the Cordoba Initiative, an organisation that focuses on promoting peace, understanding and moderation, both between Muslims and non-Muslims and within the Muslim communities.”
And yet at home, state governments are slow to give their approvals for the construction of churches or temples despite the federal government’s ruling that non-Muslims have a right to worship.
It has not gone unnoticed how churches of old in Malaysia, built at a time of greater interaction and before the creeping tide of fundamentalism, have more character, exhibit greater architectural definition and look less like shop-lots or factories.
Najib says that Malaysians observe the various religious and cultural celebrations of the various religions.
So what? That is nothing new as other nations do too. Moreover, Malaysians just love any excuse to have a good time. Many are well aware that one slip by the non-Muslims is enough to make the Muslims cry out that they are ‘offended’, their religious sensitivities bruised - an escalation in tension is the result.
Najib boasted about how he had “introduced a philosophy known as 1Malaysia. . .to bring all people together in a just and harmonious relationship” and “we celebrate our multi-ethnic and multi-religious society for strategic strength and harmony”.
Again, we note his reticence in spelling out who he was referring to, when he lashed out against the forces of extremism at home.
The levels of aggression and intolerance shown by some Malays towards non-Malays and non-Muslims have risen. When Malays who make racial slurs go unchecked, Najib is not practicing what he preaches.
He may defend his ‘1Malaysia’ concept, but he cannot excuse the terrible religious intolerance of the holier-than-thou Muslims who have no qualms about disrespecting people of other faiths.
Perhaps Najib is trying to touch too many bases at one time. He is trying to appeal to the moderates at home but then, he refuses to punish those extremist politicians, religious leaders and individuals in a responsible position, who revel in stoking racial and religious disharmony.
Part of the problem is that members of his cabinet have their own, conflicting views of 1Malaysia. Another part of the problem is how the former Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad is egging on the Malay extremists. Najib appears unwilling to condemn their inflammatory views.
Malaysians would prefer he restored racial and religious stability at home rather than try and take centre stage at the UN before putting his own house in order.
Rhetorically, Najib is correct. But by refusing to name and shame whom he considers extremists, his views about rejecting extremism run hollow. Until he comes down hard on those who harm our country, he will only make a mockery of the ‘1Malaysia’ concept. The cost in human and economic terms will remain high. Therefore, Najib’s domestic challenge to tackle extremism must be more focused.
* The views expressed herein are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysian Mirror and/or its associates.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
CSM for Kim Quek, and he's a dedicated reformist writer...
after Desi'sheART!:)
Nurul Anwar’s unanswered challenge to Mahathir and Ibrahim Ali
By Kim Quek
27.09.2010
Amidst the recent heightening of racial rhetoric, mainly originating from the incumbent ruling power Umno, former premier Mahathir Mohamad created a minor sensation when he warned that Malays will lose their power and a Chinese or an Indian may become prime minister, if opposition Pakatan Rakyat were to come to power.
This statement was immediately rebutted by Nurul Izzah Anwar, member of parliament for Lembah Pantai at Kuala Lumpur and eldest daughter of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
In a hard-hitting statement on Sept 24, Nurul accused Mahathir of playing the race card to incite racial animosities and to perpetuate the “Politics of Fear”. The cornerstone of this age-old, race-centric strategy of Umno was Article 153 of the Constitution, which Nurul said Umno has used as a “political instrument of deceit and despair”. Through mass indoctrination that constantly plays the victim mentality that “degrades, confuses and paralyses the community”, Umno has caused the Malays to be “enslaved intellectually and emotionally”. Nurul said the purpose of all this is to maintain political hegemony so that the few ruling elite can continue to enrich themselves “through corruption, abuse of power and undermining the Constitution relentlessly”.
To counter such politics, Nurul offered the “Politics of Hope and Liberation” which would transform the Malay mind from misguided fears to one that would “create a confident and liberated community”. She then “humbly offer” to debate with Mahathir to “clarify if his ‘fear’ for the Malays is really about loss of power or in reality loss of wealth for the chosen few”.
Not unexpectedly, Mahathir has maintained his ‘elegant silence’ to this offer.
Malaysia or Malaysaja?
Interesting, shortly before this incident, Nurul also suggested an “honest constructive dialoque” with Ibrahim Ali, head of Umno’s ultra racist wing Pekasa which is under the patronage of Mahathir Mohamad. Nurul’s offer was contained in her article dated Aug 31, titled “The ultimate Malaysian debate: Malaysia or Malaysaja?” (Malaysia or Malays Only?) which was actually written to quell Perkasa’s seemingly endless championing of ‘Malay rights’ which had escalated racial tension and raised political temperature by many notches. Perkasa’s vocal spokesmen Ibrahim and Mahathir seem hell bent – through such vociferous bickering – to stop Prime Minister Najib Razak from implementing his New Economic Model which is supposed to liberalise the economy from the clutches of the economically stifling, much corrupted and skewed New Economic Policy that heavily plays on ‘Malay rights’.
Nurul’s article of Aug 31 is in fact an important document that probes deep into the current Malay dilemma that has confronted so many Malays, and by extension, the entire country.
In her article, she explores, analyses, as well as answering some of these crucial questions:
* · What exactly are ‘Malay rights’? What is the constitutional basis of these rights? What exactly is stated in the famous Article 153 upon which the entire clamour for all kinds of racial privileges seems to have been built? What sort of racial preferences are included and what are excluded in this Article 153?
* · What is the nature of Malay discontent? What are they unhappy about?
* · What are the true causes of failure to uplift the Malay standard of living despite heavy dosage of the New Economic Policy?
* · What are the real solutions to overcome these predicaments?
* · What are the serious consequences to the country if racial bigotry were to triumph over rational solution if ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ advocates win the next general election?
Nurul proposes, in her article, to have an “honest constructive engagement or dialoque” with Perkasa to reach better understanding on key issues and to jointly look for real solutions.
By all measures, Nurul’s article is an outstanding achievement, for having accurately dissected Article 153, distinguished facts from myths, analysed ambiguous notions, pin-pointed real causes and solutions, and above all, shone with earnest sincerity and honesty to work out common ground for the benefit of all.
Wanton police acts defamed the nation
But alas, what did she get in return for such gallant effort? Instead of being heaped with accolades and positively reciprocated, she was summoned to a police station where she was subjected to investigation for alleged breach of the Sedition Act based upon a police report lodged by Perkasa earlier accusing Nurul of ‘questioning’ the Constitution in her article!
What a great joke! The one who should be hauled up in the police station for questioning should be the complainant, Perkasa representative Zaira Jaafar, for having made such an unfounded accusation. The latter should have been punished or at least warned on the serious consequences of making a false police report and falsely defaming others.
Of late, there has been an alarming increase in police wantonly abusing its power to harass the opposition and dissidents, by subjecting them to investigation on frivolous grounds, confiscating their books illegally, and even arresting them arbitrarily, such as the most recent case of cartoonist Zunar, who were arrested and shuffled around from one police station to another for not less than six times while all the time unable to make up their mind what law to use to charge him.
By such disgusting display of illegitimate political partisanship and lawlessness, the police have defiled the image of the country and further lowered our grade (which has already reached rock bottom) as an investment destination. And needless to say, such fragrant trampling of the people’s fundamental rights has caused their political masters BN to lose more electoral support than they could ever imagine.
Now, turning to Mahathir and Ibrahim Ali’s shyness to at least make a decent response to the reasoned proposition of Nuruh Izzah Anwar, we can only conclude that the hue and cry they have been making over the alleged peril to the Malay race cannot withstand the test of rational scrutiny. They know the truth but are only pretending not to know it. And their refusal to engage in any public debate or dialogue only means that they are not prepared to have their masks taken down.
Kim Quek
Nurul Anwar’s unanswered challenge to Mahathir and Ibrahim Ali
By Kim Quek
27.09.2010
Amidst the recent heightening of racial rhetoric, mainly originating from the incumbent ruling power Umno, former premier Mahathir Mohamad created a minor sensation when he warned that Malays will lose their power and a Chinese or an Indian may become prime minister, if opposition Pakatan Rakyat were to come to power.
This statement was immediately rebutted by Nurul Izzah Anwar, member of parliament for Lembah Pantai at Kuala Lumpur and eldest daughter of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
In a hard-hitting statement on Sept 24, Nurul accused Mahathir of playing the race card to incite racial animosities and to perpetuate the “Politics of Fear”. The cornerstone of this age-old, race-centric strategy of Umno was Article 153 of the Constitution, which Nurul said Umno has used as a “political instrument of deceit and despair”. Through mass indoctrination that constantly plays the victim mentality that “degrades, confuses and paralyses the community”, Umno has caused the Malays to be “enslaved intellectually and emotionally”. Nurul said the purpose of all this is to maintain political hegemony so that the few ruling elite can continue to enrich themselves “through corruption, abuse of power and undermining the Constitution relentlessly”.
To counter such politics, Nurul offered the “Politics of Hope and Liberation” which would transform the Malay mind from misguided fears to one that would “create a confident and liberated community”. She then “humbly offer” to debate with Mahathir to “clarify if his ‘fear’ for the Malays is really about loss of power or in reality loss of wealth for the chosen few”.
Not unexpectedly, Mahathir has maintained his ‘elegant silence’ to this offer.
Malaysia or Malaysaja?
Interesting, shortly before this incident, Nurul also suggested an “honest constructive dialoque” with Ibrahim Ali, head of Umno’s ultra racist wing Pekasa which is under the patronage of Mahathir Mohamad. Nurul’s offer was contained in her article dated Aug 31, titled “The ultimate Malaysian debate: Malaysia or Malaysaja?” (Malaysia or Malays Only?) which was actually written to quell Perkasa’s seemingly endless championing of ‘Malay rights’ which had escalated racial tension and raised political temperature by many notches. Perkasa’s vocal spokesmen Ibrahim and Mahathir seem hell bent – through such vociferous bickering – to stop Prime Minister Najib Razak from implementing his New Economic Model which is supposed to liberalise the economy from the clutches of the economically stifling, much corrupted and skewed New Economic Policy that heavily plays on ‘Malay rights’.
Nurul’s article of Aug 31 is in fact an important document that probes deep into the current Malay dilemma that has confronted so many Malays, and by extension, the entire country.
In her article, she explores, analyses, as well as answering some of these crucial questions:
* · What exactly are ‘Malay rights’? What is the constitutional basis of these rights? What exactly is stated in the famous Article 153 upon which the entire clamour for all kinds of racial privileges seems to have been built? What sort of racial preferences are included and what are excluded in this Article 153?
* · What is the nature of Malay discontent? What are they unhappy about?
* · What are the true causes of failure to uplift the Malay standard of living despite heavy dosage of the New Economic Policy?
* · What are the real solutions to overcome these predicaments?
* · What are the serious consequences to the country if racial bigotry were to triumph over rational solution if ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ advocates win the next general election?
Nurul proposes, in her article, to have an “honest constructive engagement or dialoque” with Perkasa to reach better understanding on key issues and to jointly look for real solutions.
By all measures, Nurul’s article is an outstanding achievement, for having accurately dissected Article 153, distinguished facts from myths, analysed ambiguous notions, pin-pointed real causes and solutions, and above all, shone with earnest sincerity and honesty to work out common ground for the benefit of all.
Wanton police acts defamed the nation
But alas, what did she get in return for such gallant effort? Instead of being heaped with accolades and positively reciprocated, she was summoned to a police station where she was subjected to investigation for alleged breach of the Sedition Act based upon a police report lodged by Perkasa earlier accusing Nurul of ‘questioning’ the Constitution in her article!
What a great joke! The one who should be hauled up in the police station for questioning should be the complainant, Perkasa representative Zaira Jaafar, for having made such an unfounded accusation. The latter should have been punished or at least warned on the serious consequences of making a false police report and falsely defaming others.
Of late, there has been an alarming increase in police wantonly abusing its power to harass the opposition and dissidents, by subjecting them to investigation on frivolous grounds, confiscating their books illegally, and even arresting them arbitrarily, such as the most recent case of cartoonist Zunar, who were arrested and shuffled around from one police station to another for not less than six times while all the time unable to make up their mind what law to use to charge him.
By such disgusting display of illegitimate political partisanship and lawlessness, the police have defiled the image of the country and further lowered our grade (which has already reached rock bottom) as an investment destination. And needless to say, such fragrant trampling of the people’s fundamental rights has caused their political masters BN to lose more electoral support than they could ever imagine.
Now, turning to Mahathir and Ibrahim Ali’s shyness to at least make a decent response to the reasoned proposition of Nuruh Izzah Anwar, we can only conclude that the hue and cry they have been making over the alleged peril to the Malay race cannot withstand the test of rational scrutiny. They know the truth but are only pretending not to know it. And their refusal to engage in any public debate or dialogue only means that they are not prepared to have their masks taken down.
Kim Quek
Monday, September 27, 2010
Many UMNO minisers in the PM's 'tokkok', but Nazri can SIRprise...
And what is reported today in The Star page N17 is worth reproducing for my ER -- many who don't buy MSM anymore, but Desi sometimes does, will explain later! -- to keep abreast.
Monday September 27, 2010
Awang Selamat’s views are more suited for the 60s, says minister
KUALA LUMPUR: The tirade between Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz and a columnist has persisted, with the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department accusing the writer of “having a long way to go” in accepting that Malaysia is a country belonging to Malaysians of all races.
“To be a Malaysian does not necessarily mean to be anti-Malay,” he said.
Nazri, in his second open letter to Awang Selamat over what the latter wrote in Mingguan Malaysia yesterday, said:
“If I am a Malaysian leader today, a lot of credit must be given to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. I hold him responsible for what I am today and I owe him a lot.
“I just want my ‘sifu’ to continue to help me and the others to be good leaders of this blessed country of ours and not to divide us by race, creed, cult and gender.”
Yesterday, Awang wrote in his column that it was short-sightedness of anyone to accuse the newspaper of being racist, saying that Utusan was a Malay institution which had made many sacrifices.
At another event in Taiping later, Nazri described Awang as a narrow-minded person whose views were more suited for the 60s.
On Awang’s assertion that the minister was too close with the Opposition, Nazri said Opposition politicians should also be respected because they were voted in by the people, too.
Nazri said that after 53 years of independence, Malaysians should not be talking about tolerance. Instead focus on accepting the differences of the other races, he said.
“I should be told where I have done wrong when I said that I’m a Malaysian first and a Malay second. If they are not happy, then kick me out,” he said at a press conference after launching compressed natural gas powered commercial vehicles assembled by Super Coach Assembly Plant Sdn Bhd at the Kamunting industrial estate here.
Nazri said he was willing to be “a sacrificial lamb” if his stand on the 1Malaysia concept was in collision with Umno’s struggle.
He said Umno had been the backbone of the then Alliance, where parties representing the other races were brought together to fight for a common cause.
“I may be in conflict if Umno is racist and I believe in what I am doing. Unless Umno tells me it’s not fighting for multi-racialism, then throw me out,” he added.
Nazri said he only worked for his boss – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who appointed him with the consent of the King.(Copied from thestaronline.com.my)
DESIDERATA: It'sgood once in a while to have an UMNO old guard speaking out "independently" -- especially those who are at the wrong end of the stick of former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad -- so he/she can give a contrarian view of the mostly-toe-the-line old UMNO politics, including from ex-UMNO ministers/deputy ministers-cum-froggies like Perkasa head Ibrahim Ali, who I must remind he was elected an MP on a PAS ticket. I too digress a byte reminding MPS like Wee Choo Keong and Tan Tee Beng they were elected into Parliament on PKR tickets, and the electorates won't forget this factor cometh the GE13!
Meanwhile, I will continue elaborating on WHY someimes I but either the New Straits Times or The Star and share some nuggets from my doctor-brother-migrant-DownUnder back in Furong for a Eat-Sleep-n-ENJOY NegaraKu's better sides. Yes, NOT all is bad and bleak in Malaysia, and NOT all is bad in UMNO as Nazri proves. Once in a w'ile:)-lah, YL, Desi,knottyaSsusual
Monday September 27, 2010
Awang Selamat’s views are more suited for the 60s, says minister
KUALA LUMPUR: The tirade between Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz and a columnist has persisted, with the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department accusing the writer of “having a long way to go” in accepting that Malaysia is a country belonging to Malaysians of all races.
“To be a Malaysian does not necessarily mean to be anti-Malay,” he said.
Nazri, in his second open letter to Awang Selamat over what the latter wrote in Mingguan Malaysia yesterday, said:
“If I am a Malaysian leader today, a lot of credit must be given to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. I hold him responsible for what I am today and I owe him a lot.
“I just want my ‘sifu’ to continue to help me and the others to be good leaders of this blessed country of ours and not to divide us by race, creed, cult and gender.”
Yesterday, Awang wrote in his column that it was short-sightedness of anyone to accuse the newspaper of being racist, saying that Utusan was a Malay institution which had made many sacrifices.
At another event in Taiping later, Nazri described Awang as a narrow-minded person whose views were more suited for the 60s.
On Awang’s assertion that the minister was too close with the Opposition, Nazri said Opposition politicians should also be respected because they were voted in by the people, too.
Nazri said that after 53 years of independence, Malaysians should not be talking about tolerance. Instead focus on accepting the differences of the other races, he said.
“I should be told where I have done wrong when I said that I’m a Malaysian first and a Malay second. If they are not happy, then kick me out,” he said at a press conference after launching compressed natural gas powered commercial vehicles assembled by Super Coach Assembly Plant Sdn Bhd at the Kamunting industrial estate here.
Nazri said he was willing to be “a sacrificial lamb” if his stand on the 1Malaysia concept was in collision with Umno’s struggle.
He said Umno had been the backbone of the then Alliance, where parties representing the other races were brought together to fight for a common cause.
“I may be in conflict if Umno is racist and I believe in what I am doing. Unless Umno tells me it’s not fighting for multi-racialism, then throw me out,” he added.
Nazri said he only worked for his boss – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who appointed him with the consent of the King.(Copied from thestaronline.com.my)
DESIDERATA: It'sgood once in a while to have an UMNO old guard speaking out "independently" -- especially those who are at the wrong end of the stick of former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad -- so he/she can give a contrarian view of the mostly-toe-the-line old UMNO politics, including from ex-UMNO ministers/deputy ministers-cum-froggies like Perkasa head Ibrahim Ali, who I must remind he was elected an MP on a PAS ticket. I too digress a byte reminding MPS like Wee Choo Keong and Tan Tee Beng they were elected into Parliament on PKR tickets, and the electorates won't forget this factor cometh the GE13!
Meanwhile, I will continue elaborating on WHY someimes I but either the New Straits Times or The Star and share some nuggets from my doctor-brother-migrant-DownUnder back in Furong for a Eat-Sleep-n-ENJOY NegaraKu's better sides. Yes, NOT all is bad and bleak in Malaysia, and NOT all is bad in UMNO as Nazri proves. Once in a w'ile:)-lah, YL, Desi,knottyaSsusual
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Zunar is among brave Malaysians who zero in on The Truth...
and my dear ER(Esteemed Readers) are kindly asked to rate how he compares with our MACC deputy head...For the latter, I only have many Qs with the crying out loud, still allowed, REALLY?-- YL, Desi
#1 from the Malaysian Mirror:
Cartoonist Zunar arrested, new book seized
3Share
Friday, 24 September 2010 20:17
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysiakini cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, better known as Zunar (picture), was arrested Friday under the Sedition Act for publishing books considered ‘detrimental to public order’ and that could ‘influence the people to revolt against government policies’.
The Star reported that police raided his office premises in Brickfields about 4pm and seized about 70 copies of his latest book, Cartoon-o-phobia, due to be launched Friday night.
City police chief DCP Muhammad Sabtu Osman confirmed the arrest and seizure of the items.
The new book, Cartoon-o-phobia, features a collection of political cartoons that have appeared on the Malaysiakini website as well as unpublished cartoons and fresh artworks.
Published by Malaysiakini, Cartoon-o-phobia was to be launched at 8pm Friday at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall by former Perak mentri besar Nizar Jamaluddin.
On Malaysiakini’s website, Zunar said that despite his arrest, the launch would proceed Friday night.
According to The Star, Zunar said that Cartoon-o-phobia was chosen as the title to illustrate and reflect the fears of certain parties to cartoons.
“I am thinking of registering the term ‘Cartoon-o-phobia’ as a new word that carries the definition of ‘individuals or parties who are afraid of cartoons and use political power to act against cartoonists’,” he said.
The cartoonist said that the content of this latest book had more bite compared to his previous books.
Zunar’s three previous books - 1 Funny Malaysia, Perak Darul Kartun and Isu Dalam Kartun were banned by the Home Ministry but he had earlier told Malaysiakini that he was willing to take the risk in releasing this new book.
#2 From the NST:
NOTE: The "Really?'s are inserted by Desi:) or :( depending on your viewpoint!
Malaysia a role model in fighting graft'
2010/09/25
By Adrian David
news@nst.com.my
Share |
KUALA LUMPUR: The inconsistent interpretation of corruption by different countries has made the task to combat social ills even more difficult.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission deputy chief commissioner (prevention) Datuk Sutinah Sutan said greater efforts were being made globally to standardise and streamline the understanding and procedures linked with corruption so that it could be tackled effectively.
"Many lesser developed countries are still learning from the experience of others and are attempting to adopt their initiatives.
"Malaysia is seen as a role model as a nation successful in combating corruption. Many countries look at how we have rapidly progressed and developed since achieving Independence in 1957. (REALLY?)
"They say we have managed very well to control corruption with our strong political will," she said at the close of the three-day "15th ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific" and "Regional Seminar on the Criminalisation of Bribery" at the Palace of Golden Horses in Seri Kembangan, Selangor yesterday.
Sutinah, who is also the event's secretariat chairman, said the delegates agreed that corruption was a big threat among lesser developed countries and greater initiatives were being put into place by their respective governments.
She said Malaysia had measured up to international standards like those laid out in the "Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act" and other United Nations laws and regulations.(REALLY??)
"We have learnt that minimising bureaucracy and delays can reduce corruption. The idea is to promote business without corruption by enhancing confidence-building measures for businessmen and foreign investors." (REALLY (as done in Malaysia)???)
She said the message was clear -- one does not have to bribe officers; there is no "extra cash" required to do business in Malaysia. (REALLY????)
"We are also pushing for matters concerning extradition, asset recovery and other new action plans in a systemic manner with the cooperation of other countries."
The event saw 28 countries and over 200 representatives involved, including representatives from the Asian Development Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Transparency International, World Bank, German Training Institution, American Bar Association and the United Nations Development Programme.
The speakers presented international standards and national approaches to issues concerning international instruments on the criminalisation of bribery, challenges in establishing and applying domestic and foreign bribery offences, corporate liability for bribery, investigative techniques, and sanctions and confiscation.
Read more: 'Malaysia a role model in fighting graft' http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/7aad24/Article#ixzz10WI1XGFa
#1 from the Malaysian Mirror:
Cartoonist Zunar arrested, new book seized
3Share
Friday, 24 September 2010 20:17
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysiakini cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque, better known as Zunar (picture), was arrested Friday under the Sedition Act for publishing books considered ‘detrimental to public order’ and that could ‘influence the people to revolt against government policies’.
The Star reported that police raided his office premises in Brickfields about 4pm and seized about 70 copies of his latest book, Cartoon-o-phobia, due to be launched Friday night.
City police chief DCP Muhammad Sabtu Osman confirmed the arrest and seizure of the items.
The new book, Cartoon-o-phobia, features a collection of political cartoons that have appeared on the Malaysiakini website as well as unpublished cartoons and fresh artworks.
Published by Malaysiakini, Cartoon-o-phobia was to be launched at 8pm Friday at the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall by former Perak mentri besar Nizar Jamaluddin.
On Malaysiakini’s website, Zunar said that despite his arrest, the launch would proceed Friday night.
According to The Star, Zunar said that Cartoon-o-phobia was chosen as the title to illustrate and reflect the fears of certain parties to cartoons.
“I am thinking of registering the term ‘Cartoon-o-phobia’ as a new word that carries the definition of ‘individuals or parties who are afraid of cartoons and use political power to act against cartoonists’,” he said.
The cartoonist said that the content of this latest book had more bite compared to his previous books.
Zunar’s three previous books - 1 Funny Malaysia, Perak Darul Kartun and Isu Dalam Kartun were banned by the Home Ministry but he had earlier told Malaysiakini that he was willing to take the risk in releasing this new book.
#2 From the NST:
NOTE: The "Really?'s are inserted by Desi:) or :( depending on your viewpoint!
Malaysia a role model in fighting graft'
2010/09/25
By Adrian David
news@nst.com.my
Share |
KUALA LUMPUR: The inconsistent interpretation of corruption by different countries has made the task to combat social ills even more difficult.
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission deputy chief commissioner (prevention) Datuk Sutinah Sutan said greater efforts were being made globally to standardise and streamline the understanding and procedures linked with corruption so that it could be tackled effectively.
"Many lesser developed countries are still learning from the experience of others and are attempting to adopt their initiatives.
"Malaysia is seen as a role model as a nation successful in combating corruption. Many countries look at how we have rapidly progressed and developed since achieving Independence in 1957. (REALLY?)
"They say we have managed very well to control corruption with our strong political will," she said at the close of the three-day "15th ADB/OECD Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific" and "Regional Seminar on the Criminalisation of Bribery" at the Palace of Golden Horses in Seri Kembangan, Selangor yesterday.
Sutinah, who is also the event's secretariat chairman, said the delegates agreed that corruption was a big threat among lesser developed countries and greater initiatives were being put into place by their respective governments.
She said Malaysia had measured up to international standards like those laid out in the "Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Act" and other United Nations laws and regulations.(REALLY??)
"We have learnt that minimising bureaucracy and delays can reduce corruption. The idea is to promote business without corruption by enhancing confidence-building measures for businessmen and foreign investors." (REALLY (as done in Malaysia)???)
She said the message was clear -- one does not have to bribe officers; there is no "extra cash" required to do business in Malaysia. (REALLY????)
"We are also pushing for matters concerning extradition, asset recovery and other new action plans in a systemic manner with the cooperation of other countries."
The event saw 28 countries and over 200 representatives involved, including representatives from the Asian Development Bank, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Transparency International, World Bank, German Training Institution, American Bar Association and the United Nations Development Programme.
The speakers presented international standards and national approaches to issues concerning international instruments on the criminalisation of bribery, challenges in establishing and applying domestic and foreign bribery offences, corporate liability for bribery, investigative techniques, and sanctions and confiscation.
Read more: 'Malaysia a role model in fighting graft' http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/7aad24/Article#ixzz10WI1XGFa
Friday, September 24, 2010
Perkasa from a Down Under Perspective
Desiderata has not written much on Perksa and its clown of its head Ibrahim Ali as he feels the NGO has been over-rated in its impact and function. I have made some snide remarks that IB should go back to the last millennium until his kids woke him up again when the PR took over the federal government.
TODAY I make an exception reprising an outsider viewpoint on the NGO somewhat -- perceived rightly or wrongly -- linked by its umbilical cord/chord to former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, not much besotted with our neighbours Down Under. Desi earned some 13 years income from serving the Oz diplomatic mission near KLCC then non-existent; I have wonderfool memories, but I won't writHe much as I did sign a "secrecy" document when I joined.
So here's a less unbiased stance on Perkasa seplt without an ending "r". To err is human: I believe it deserves that "r", and Ib complained too much when a former Ambassador to Malaysia described it as "militant"! I would have used stronger expletives, but my training at the AHC also taught me to hold my tongue against wild boor, or is it ....? -- YL, Desi, knottierTHANusual!:(
Perkasa feels like a supremacist movement, something a Pauline Hanson might recognise.
(FROM The Age)
ONE of Australia's key partners in Asia is struggling. Given the way its leaders have taunted Australia over the years, schadenfreude at its plight would be understandable. But this should be resisted, for if Malaysia stumbles, the effects may ripple across the region.
Erstwhile sponsor of the Carlton Football Club, a cash cow for the Australian education sector, Australia's 10th largest trading partner and a champion of ''Asian values'' - whatever they are - Malaysia seems to be brimming with sky-is-falling Chicken Littles. And their analyses are alarmist; ''failed state'', ''deep pit'', ''national decay'', ''ocean-going corruption'', ''useless mega-projects''.
While some of these could be used to describe the Delhi Commonwealth Games - a massive undertaking Malaysia successfully pulled off 12 years ago by the way - it is about a country oft-regarded as an Asian success, whose rampant economy inspired a cockiness among its leaders to take racially tinged potshots at the ''decadent and immoral'' West, and at Australia in particular.
delayedAds.push(function(){ FD.addExternalReferralsAd($merge(FD.baseAd, { id: "adspot-300x250-pos-3", iframeId: "adspot-300x250-pos-3-iframe", params: $merge($merge(FD.baseAd.params, { pos: 3, aamsz : "300x250" }),getAdParams("300x250")) ,addSmall: true ,smallText: "Advertisement: Story continues below" }) ); } );
And then there was the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to demonise, indeed anyone its mercurial then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad didn't like on any given day. And there was 23 years of it, the Mahathir monopoly on Malaysian power.
So what's prompted such painful hand-wringing from a tigerish economy that likes to boast how it ditched traditional models to virtually promise endless riches? The answer is some of the nastiest foreign direct investment (FDI) statistics an Asian economy has served up in a generation.
FDI into Malaysia slumped dramatically last year, falling a whopping 81 per cent. In 2009, Malaysia took in just $1.38 billion of new investment, barely enough to build a half-decent bridge in a land where pork-barrelling infrastructure projects are de rigueur. By contrast, India averaged almost double that in any given month. Malaysia's FDI take was even less than that lured by the Philippines, long the region's economic basket case.
This worries Malaysians greatly. For all of Mahathir's bluster, he was careful to suck up to big business, and his less-poisonous successors since 2003 have done much the same. Foreign investment underpinned the Malaysian ''miracle'', transforming sleepy Penang into an Asian Silicon Valley and industrialising the Klang Valley that surrounds Kuala Lumpur to OECD levels, with $40,000 a year average incomes to match.
So has the sky fallen in? Some of the fall can be explained by the 2008 ''trans-Atlantic financial crisis'', as many like to call it in Asia. Malaysia's reliance on foreign investment made it one of Asia's most globally connected countries. So when Europe and North America tightened their belts after the subprime meltdown, Malaysia naturally was jolted. But the same external dramas affected just as connected Thailand - which endured a crippling political crisis to boot - and more so globalised Singapore, and both far outperformed Malaysia in ongoing FDI, as did Indonesia.
Malaysian fingers point at Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his on-again, off-again will to reform a lop-sided economy Mahathir tilted to favour his bumiputra franchise, the ethnic Malays who comprise about half Malaysia's 28 million people.
Mahathir advantaged Malays with an aggressive ''new economic policy (NEP)''. Mahathir's thinking went that Malays were less commercially inclined than their compatriot Chinese and Indian Malaysians and thus needed the state's help. The NEP's affirmative action aimed to lift Malays out of poverty, but many analysts have likened it to economic apartheid, a meal ticket that many Malays have got too used to.
The NEP anchored Mahathirism and helped keep him in power for two decades. Malays were lifted but NEP side effects are many and cancerous; corruption, cronyism and an oversized sense of entitlement. Much of Malaysia's economy is controlled by ethnic Chinese, who pragmatically chummed up to Mahathir. To some, the NEP meant simply installing well-paid and influential Malay placemen on boards to fulfil quotas.
Anti-NEP rancour has been building for years and in 2008, five years after Mahathir retired, voters registered disgust by handing his Malay-centric United Malay National Organisation-led coalition its worst result in history, losing its two-thirds parliamentary majority in a gerrymandered assembly. The UMNO faithful toppled Mahathir's successor, Abdullah Badawi, and now, as support wavers, his successor, Najib, says he wants to replace the NEP with a ''new economic model'', which he pledges to ''execute or be executed''. There's a rising fin de regime tint about the UMNO empire, which has never been out of office and has absorbed Malaysia's critical facilities of state; the civil service, military, media and the education system. Abolishing the NEP is a particular cross for the aristocratic Najib to bear; it was conceived in the early 1970s by his then prime minister father Tun Abdul Razak.
Najib has a big problem, and it is not just the allegations of corruption and even murder that swirl around his circle. Like Julia Gillard, Najib doesn't have a popular mandate to govern. Also like Gillard, he got handed office when his party's faceless men knifed an elected PM, Badawi, in office. Malaysians expect Najib to go to the polls soon to get that mandate, but he doesn't seem sure it's a good idea, as a confident opposition calls him to account.
In shades of Gillard's Labor still, party hardliners are in revolt. While most moderate Malays accept the NEP needs tweaking, if only to keep UMNO breathing and in power, a virulent core of party heavies has organised under the banner of a movement called Perkasa, which means ''mighty'' in Malay.
Perkasa claims to be defending the Malaysian constitution, which guarantees Malay ethnic primacy. It says it is fighting for Malay rights against the rising challenge of minorities. But Perkasa feels like a supremacist movement, something a Pauline Hanson might recognise. A former US ambassador to Kuala Lumpur has described Perkasa as ''militant'', while non-Malays condemn it for racial divisiveness. That's emotive language in a country where people still define themselves by ethnicity over nationality and where the deadly race riots of the 1960s are never far away in thinking and policy - not just in Malaysia but among neighbours alert to ethnic tension.
As he dithers over rolling back the NEP and over an election timetable, Najib seems to think he can spend his way to popularity. Last week, he outlined a Mahathir-esque $500 billion investment plan to transform the economy with mega-projects. He appealed to foreign investors to help. But as China, India and Indonesia boom, they will need convincing it is money well spent.
TODAY I make an exception reprising an outsider viewpoint on the NGO somewhat -- perceived rightly or wrongly -- linked by its umbilical cord/chord to former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad, not much besotted with our neighbours Down Under. Desi earned some 13 years income from serving the Oz diplomatic mission near KLCC then non-existent; I have wonderfool memories, but I won't writHe much as I did sign a "secrecy" document when I joined.
So here's a less unbiased stance on Perkasa seplt without an ending "r". To err is human: I believe it deserves that "r", and Ib complained too much when a former Ambassador to Malaysia described it as "militant"! I would have used stronger expletives, but my training at the AHC also taught me to hold my tongue against wild boor, or is it ....? -- YL, Desi, knottierTHANusual!:(
Perkasa feels like a supremacist movement, something a Pauline Hanson might recognise.
(FROM The Age)
ONE of Australia's key partners in Asia is struggling. Given the way its leaders have taunted Australia over the years, schadenfreude at its plight would be understandable. But this should be resisted, for if Malaysia stumbles, the effects may ripple across the region.
Erstwhile sponsor of the Carlton Football Club, a cash cow for the Australian education sector, Australia's 10th largest trading partner and a champion of ''Asian values'' - whatever they are - Malaysia seems to be brimming with sky-is-falling Chicken Littles. And their analyses are alarmist; ''failed state'', ''deep pit'', ''national decay'', ''ocean-going corruption'', ''useless mega-projects''.
While some of these could be used to describe the Delhi Commonwealth Games - a massive undertaking Malaysia successfully pulled off 12 years ago by the way - it is about a country oft-regarded as an Asian success, whose rampant economy inspired a cockiness among its leaders to take racially tinged potshots at the ''decadent and immoral'' West, and at Australia in particular.
delayedAds.push(function(){ FD.addExternalReferralsAd($merge(FD.baseAd, { id: "adspot-300x250-pos-3", iframeId: "adspot-300x250-pos-3-iframe", params: $merge($merge(FD.baseAd.params, { pos: 3, aamsz : "300x250" }),getAdParams("300x250")) ,addSmall: true ,smallText: "Advertisement: Story continues below" }) ); } );
And then there was the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to demonise, indeed anyone its mercurial then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad didn't like on any given day. And there was 23 years of it, the Mahathir monopoly on Malaysian power.
So what's prompted such painful hand-wringing from a tigerish economy that likes to boast how it ditched traditional models to virtually promise endless riches? The answer is some of the nastiest foreign direct investment (FDI) statistics an Asian economy has served up in a generation.
FDI into Malaysia slumped dramatically last year, falling a whopping 81 per cent. In 2009, Malaysia took in just $1.38 billion of new investment, barely enough to build a half-decent bridge in a land where pork-barrelling infrastructure projects are de rigueur. By contrast, India averaged almost double that in any given month. Malaysia's FDI take was even less than that lured by the Philippines, long the region's economic basket case.
This worries Malaysians greatly. For all of Mahathir's bluster, he was careful to suck up to big business, and his less-poisonous successors since 2003 have done much the same. Foreign investment underpinned the Malaysian ''miracle'', transforming sleepy Penang into an Asian Silicon Valley and industrialising the Klang Valley that surrounds Kuala Lumpur to OECD levels, with $40,000 a year average incomes to match.
So has the sky fallen in? Some of the fall can be explained by the 2008 ''trans-Atlantic financial crisis'', as many like to call it in Asia. Malaysia's reliance on foreign investment made it one of Asia's most globally connected countries. So when Europe and North America tightened their belts after the subprime meltdown, Malaysia naturally was jolted. But the same external dramas affected just as connected Thailand - which endured a crippling political crisis to boot - and more so globalised Singapore, and both far outperformed Malaysia in ongoing FDI, as did Indonesia.
Malaysian fingers point at Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his on-again, off-again will to reform a lop-sided economy Mahathir tilted to favour his bumiputra franchise, the ethnic Malays who comprise about half Malaysia's 28 million people.
Mahathir advantaged Malays with an aggressive ''new economic policy (NEP)''. Mahathir's thinking went that Malays were less commercially inclined than their compatriot Chinese and Indian Malaysians and thus needed the state's help. The NEP's affirmative action aimed to lift Malays out of poverty, but many analysts have likened it to economic apartheid, a meal ticket that many Malays have got too used to.
The NEP anchored Mahathirism and helped keep him in power for two decades. Malays were lifted but NEP side effects are many and cancerous; corruption, cronyism and an oversized sense of entitlement. Much of Malaysia's economy is controlled by ethnic Chinese, who pragmatically chummed up to Mahathir. To some, the NEP meant simply installing well-paid and influential Malay placemen on boards to fulfil quotas.
Anti-NEP rancour has been building for years and in 2008, five years after Mahathir retired, voters registered disgust by handing his Malay-centric United Malay National Organisation-led coalition its worst result in history, losing its two-thirds parliamentary majority in a gerrymandered assembly. The UMNO faithful toppled Mahathir's successor, Abdullah Badawi, and now, as support wavers, his successor, Najib, says he wants to replace the NEP with a ''new economic model'', which he pledges to ''execute or be executed''. There's a rising fin de regime tint about the UMNO empire, which has never been out of office and has absorbed Malaysia's critical facilities of state; the civil service, military, media and the education system. Abolishing the NEP is a particular cross for the aristocratic Najib to bear; it was conceived in the early 1970s by his then prime minister father Tun Abdul Razak.
Najib has a big problem, and it is not just the allegations of corruption and even murder that swirl around his circle. Like Julia Gillard, Najib doesn't have a popular mandate to govern. Also like Gillard, he got handed office when his party's faceless men knifed an elected PM, Badawi, in office. Malaysians expect Najib to go to the polls soon to get that mandate, but he doesn't seem sure it's a good idea, as a confident opposition calls him to account.
In shades of Gillard's Labor still, party hardliners are in revolt. While most moderate Malays accept the NEP needs tweaking, if only to keep UMNO breathing and in power, a virulent core of party heavies has organised under the banner of a movement called Perkasa, which means ''mighty'' in Malay.
Perkasa claims to be defending the Malaysian constitution, which guarantees Malay ethnic primacy. It says it is fighting for Malay rights against the rising challenge of minorities. But Perkasa feels like a supremacist movement, something a Pauline Hanson might recognise. A former US ambassador to Kuala Lumpur has described Perkasa as ''militant'', while non-Malays condemn it for racial divisiveness. That's emotive language in a country where people still define themselves by ethnicity over nationality and where the deadly race riots of the 1960s are never far away in thinking and policy - not just in Malaysia but among neighbours alert to ethnic tension.
As he dithers over rolling back the NEP and over an election timetable, Najib seems to think he can spend his way to popularity. Last week, he outlined a Mahathir-esque $500 billion investment plan to transform the economy with mega-projects. He appealed to foreign investors to help. But as China, India and Indonesia boom, they will need convincing it is money well spent.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
A GOoD Read on Globalisation...II
UPDATED 23 Sept 2010:
I CopyNpaste from The Star today to show how updated some of the MCA leaders are!
By Lester Kong, The Star
PETALING JAYA: The Government is monitoring the way Malaysians use social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, says Deputy Home Minister Datuk Lee Chee Leong.
He said there were cause for concern as there was a growing trend of using such sites irresponsibly.
“This growing trend of racial and religious insensitivity has created feelings of anxiety, anger and hatred in the country,” he said after witnessing a donation of a motorised wheelchair to a disabled businessman last night.
Lee said the Government was reviewing relevant laws relating to the responsible use of social networking sites, but declined to specify the laws.
He said a committee chaired by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz involving the Prime Minister’s Department, Home Ministry, Information, Communications and Culture Ministry, and the Attorney-General’s Chambers was set up two months ago to check on the networking sites.
He said some politicians also used them to gain political mileage at the expense of racial and religious harmony.
“Some have gone overboard and crossed the borders of the laws. There is a growing trend of utterance or irresponsible statements that may be seditious. Racial and religious sensitivities have been trampled on,” he said.
Lee said Facebook and Twitter should instead be used to promote the merits of the newly unveiled Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
“With understanding, dedications, commitment and with the people’s cooperation, the objective of the ETP will be achieved,” he said.
DESIDERATA: That's why Desi believes some of these socalled leaders should go back into the 1990s and don't wake up until their children's generation resurrect them ONCE THE PR takes over the federal government. Sooner the better before these leaders take us to Hell with their good intentions!:( God bless progressive Malaysians non-associarted with MCA's Lee... Amen, YL, Desi
***********************
The followingpost appeared here on Sept 20, 2010 as
A GOoD Read on Globalisation
Desi likes to read the works of Malaysians resident abroad, for somehow they are not caught up so much with the local politics which can easily colour one's objectivity because of one's partisanship. One such writer is a surgeon based in the US, and today's read is important because of the topic -- GLOBALISATION.
Many leaders here don't even know that we have entered a new millennium ten years ago for they continue to play politics of the 1970s to the 1990s -- prominent are the PERKASA and its many clones, Hindraf and its many offspring, ah,leading the pack of the originals is UMNO ...entrenched in Ketuanan Melayu concept, tongkat economics while the world outside has moved on for three to four decades by leaps and bounds, and they continue to KONSTAN GEAR... God save us from these socalled national leaders, they may have good intentions, as they keep reminding the Rakyat that their policies are for the good of the nation! --- BUT REMEMBER, the path to hell is paved with many good intentions. God save us from such good intenders! Desi always believes that the polititics of the future will largely hinge on the country's economic status, and unless Malaysian leaders wake up from their stupour, neighbours like Thailand, Indonesia and Vietname are going to outstrip us pretty soon in economic stature. Don't even talk about India and China, and there are still oud mouths like Ibrahim Ali playing the Jaguh Kampong dance and they don't realise the whole wide world is laughing at us. Their sandiwara and outOFtime steps are magnified and circulated superfast a hundred times by one of Globalisation's tools, The Internet, so much so even the authorities are baffled as some misguided Minister maketh pronouncements that other media like Facebook are western evils hat should be filtered before they endanger young Malaysians, and people like NameWee should be sut up for their own good. God save us indeed! Amen, YL, Desi
Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #32
September 15th, 2010
By Dr Bakri Musa
Chapter 5: Understanding Globalization
There is no doubt that globalization is an idea whose time has come….[But] the fact that [it] has come…does not mean we should sit by and watch as the predators destroy us.
—Mahathir bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia
The one dominant force shaping the world today is globalization. That is, the increasing integration of markets, economies, infrastructures, and other institutions into one world standard. As a consequence, there is increasingly free movement of goods, capital, services, and ideas across borders.
Globalization, observes the World Bank, is not just an economic phenomenon. While the accounting of benefits and costs of globalization depends very much on one’s perspective, there is no question that it is a relentless and inevitable tidal wave. And like any tidal wave, one is more likely to survive and even thrive, if prepared. A non-swimmer will be swept away and drowned, but a skillful surfer will exhilaratingly ride the crest.
The choice then is simply whether you should prepare yourself to be a skillful surfer if not at least a passable swimmer, or let yourself be swept by the tidal flow. Stopping the flood is not one of your options.
While many clamor to join this global mainstream, just as many resist. Globalization is enthusiastically embraced by those steeped in the ways of the new economy and modern technology. Its detractors include such “America first” advocates as Pat Buchanan, as well as the Mahathir’s of the Third World. Such bewildering alliances and confluences reflect the complexity of this phenomenon.
One of the reasons for these diverse coalitions is that globalization is perceived differently by the various constituents both in the West and in the developing world. To American factory workers, it means the loss of their jobs to such places as China and Mexico; to their executives, an opportunity to reduce costs of production. Third World leaders view globalization as surrendering their nation’s sovereignty to multinational corporations; those citizens meanwhile look forward to the job opportunities afforded by these foreign companies. Such conflicting perceptions are understandable as there is no consensus what globalization actually means. That notwithstanding, there is at least a general agreement on what globalization is not.
What Globalization Is Not
Globalization does not mean a single all-powerful world government along the line of a vastly expanded United Nations issuing edicts from New York to remote corners of the world. This is a particular paranoia of American right wing groups who are forever on the look out for black UN helicopters ready to take over their country. Similarly, globalization is not another form of regional cooperation in the fashion of a strengthened Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Nor is it a political and economic entity along the lines of the European Union or a common market like Nafta (North American Free Trade Agreement).
Globalization will not mean the decline or end of the nation-state, as some exuberant advocates proclaim and some nationalistic leaders like Mahathir fear. As Peter Drucker, the management guru and respected futurist noted, it will be a greatly changed nation-state that will survive globalization. In particular, totalitarian states that have a tight stranglehold on their citizens will have difficulty maintaining their grip. With the free flow of ideas and information across borders, the state’s propaganda machinery would be effectively neutralized. [Author’s updated note: We are certainly seeing this in Malaysia where the government-controlled mainstream media are losing their credibility and the accompanying rise of independent blogs.]
Globalization will definitely result in major changes in the power relations between and within nations. This can be disorientating to those comfortable with or dependent on the status quo.
Globalization does not mean a decrease in international regulations and rules. This would disappoint those advocates for a minimalist government, On the contrary, in many cases there will be increased rules with respect to human and labor rights, pollution and environmental laws, and international crimes, as the various national agencies will get increasingly coordinated with those across their borders. Thus polluters in Indonesia for example, will face the wrath of not only their countrymen but also neighboring countries. Environmental groups like Greenpeace are now forging global alliances that transcend national and political boundaries.
Lastly, to those who fear that the universe would be turned into a dull monotonous cultural landscape filled with the Madonnas, Michael Jacksons, and other icons and artifacts of the McWorld, globalization will not mean cultural homogenization. The fear of globalization being just another form of Western hegemony or neocolonialism is simply delusional. On the contrary, globalization provides a much-needed leveling of the playing field and gives small fringe cultural groups hitherto isolated in their remote villages or ashram an avenue to expand its influence worldwide.
It is significant that through globalization, the 13th Century Persian poet Jallaludin Al-Rumi is now the most widely read in America. Similarly Sufism, which once was relegated to the margins of Islam and presented to the world only at exotic cultural festivals, is now fast becoming chic in the West. The public library in my small California town now carries at least a dozen books on the subject. And they are always being signed out! The Internet enables Sufism to reach a much wider audience globally.
As more nations adopt and benefit from globalization, the present cultural, economic, and other dominations of the West would gradually be eroded. For example, once China becomes prosperous, it too will contribute its share of talent onto the world stage to challenge the supremacy now enjoyed by Americans. Further, once China has the market power comparable to America, manufacturers and marketers will cater to the Chinese tastes and market. And then by sheer momentum, that taste or trend will become universal. The reason America now enjoys supremacy (at least in popular consumer taste) is purely the consequence of it being the largest and most lucrative market. Producers and manufacturers everywhere cater to it. Thus by sheer mass dynamics, the American taste and style become universal.
I CopyNpaste from The Star today to show how updated some of the MCA leaders are!
By Lester Kong, The Star
PETALING JAYA: The Government is monitoring the way Malaysians use social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook, says Deputy Home Minister Datuk Lee Chee Leong.
He said there were cause for concern as there was a growing trend of using such sites irresponsibly.
“This growing trend of racial and religious insensitivity has created feelings of anxiety, anger and hatred in the country,” he said after witnessing a donation of a motorised wheelchair to a disabled businessman last night.
Lee said the Government was reviewing relevant laws relating to the responsible use of social networking sites, but declined to specify the laws.
He said a committee chaired by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz involving the Prime Minister’s Department, Home Ministry, Information, Communications and Culture Ministry, and the Attorney-General’s Chambers was set up two months ago to check on the networking sites.
He said some politicians also used them to gain political mileage at the expense of racial and religious harmony.
“Some have gone overboard and crossed the borders of the laws. There is a growing trend of utterance or irresponsible statements that may be seditious. Racial and religious sensitivities have been trampled on,” he said.
Lee said Facebook and Twitter should instead be used to promote the merits of the newly unveiled Economic Transformation Programme (ETP).
“With understanding, dedications, commitment and with the people’s cooperation, the objective of the ETP will be achieved,” he said.
DESIDERATA: That's why Desi believes some of these socalled leaders should go back into the 1990s and don't wake up until their children's generation resurrect them ONCE THE PR takes over the federal government. Sooner the better before these leaders take us to Hell with their good intentions!:( God bless progressive Malaysians non-associarted with MCA's Lee... Amen, YL, Desi
***********************
The followingpost appeared here on Sept 20, 2010 as
A GOoD Read on Globalisation
Desi likes to read the works of Malaysians resident abroad, for somehow they are not caught up so much with the local politics which can easily colour one's objectivity because of one's partisanship. One such writer is a surgeon based in the US, and today's read is important because of the topic -- GLOBALISATION.
Many leaders here don't even know that we have entered a new millennium ten years ago for they continue to play politics of the 1970s to the 1990s -- prominent are the PERKASA and its many clones, Hindraf and its many offspring, ah,leading the pack of the originals is UMNO ...entrenched in Ketuanan Melayu concept, tongkat economics while the world outside has moved on for three to four decades by leaps and bounds, and they continue to KONSTAN GEAR... God save us from these socalled national leaders, they may have good intentions, as they keep reminding the Rakyat that their policies are for the good of the nation! --- BUT REMEMBER, the path to hell is paved with many good intentions. God save us from such good intenders! Desi always believes that the polititics of the future will largely hinge on the country's economic status, and unless Malaysian leaders wake up from their stupour, neighbours like Thailand, Indonesia and Vietname are going to outstrip us pretty soon in economic stature. Don't even talk about India and China, and there are still oud mouths like Ibrahim Ali playing the Jaguh Kampong dance and they don't realise the whole wide world is laughing at us. Their sandiwara and outOFtime steps are magnified and circulated superfast a hundred times by one of Globalisation's tools, The Internet, so much so even the authorities are baffled as some misguided Minister maketh pronouncements that other media like Facebook are western evils hat should be filtered before they endanger young Malaysians, and people like NameWee should be sut up for their own good. God save us indeed! Amen, YL, Desi
Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #32
September 15th, 2010
By Dr Bakri Musa
Chapter 5: Understanding Globalization
There is no doubt that globalization is an idea whose time has come….[But] the fact that [it] has come…does not mean we should sit by and watch as the predators destroy us.
—Mahathir bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia
The one dominant force shaping the world today is globalization. That is, the increasing integration of markets, economies, infrastructures, and other institutions into one world standard. As a consequence, there is increasingly free movement of goods, capital, services, and ideas across borders.
Globalization, observes the World Bank, is not just an economic phenomenon. While the accounting of benefits and costs of globalization depends very much on one’s perspective, there is no question that it is a relentless and inevitable tidal wave. And like any tidal wave, one is more likely to survive and even thrive, if prepared. A non-swimmer will be swept away and drowned, but a skillful surfer will exhilaratingly ride the crest.
The choice then is simply whether you should prepare yourself to be a skillful surfer if not at least a passable swimmer, or let yourself be swept by the tidal flow. Stopping the flood is not one of your options.
While many clamor to join this global mainstream, just as many resist. Globalization is enthusiastically embraced by those steeped in the ways of the new economy and modern technology. Its detractors include such “America first” advocates as Pat Buchanan, as well as the Mahathir’s of the Third World. Such bewildering alliances and confluences reflect the complexity of this phenomenon.
One of the reasons for these diverse coalitions is that globalization is perceived differently by the various constituents both in the West and in the developing world. To American factory workers, it means the loss of their jobs to such places as China and Mexico; to their executives, an opportunity to reduce costs of production. Third World leaders view globalization as surrendering their nation’s sovereignty to multinational corporations; those citizens meanwhile look forward to the job opportunities afforded by these foreign companies. Such conflicting perceptions are understandable as there is no consensus what globalization actually means. That notwithstanding, there is at least a general agreement on what globalization is not.
What Globalization Is Not
Globalization does not mean a single all-powerful world government along the line of a vastly expanded United Nations issuing edicts from New York to remote corners of the world. This is a particular paranoia of American right wing groups who are forever on the look out for black UN helicopters ready to take over their country. Similarly, globalization is not another form of regional cooperation in the fashion of a strengthened Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). Nor is it a political and economic entity along the lines of the European Union or a common market like Nafta (North American Free Trade Agreement).
Globalization will not mean the decline or end of the nation-state, as some exuberant advocates proclaim and some nationalistic leaders like Mahathir fear. As Peter Drucker, the management guru and respected futurist noted, it will be a greatly changed nation-state that will survive globalization. In particular, totalitarian states that have a tight stranglehold on their citizens will have difficulty maintaining their grip. With the free flow of ideas and information across borders, the state’s propaganda machinery would be effectively neutralized. [Author’s updated note: We are certainly seeing this in Malaysia where the government-controlled mainstream media are losing their credibility and the accompanying rise of independent blogs.]
Globalization will definitely result in major changes in the power relations between and within nations. This can be disorientating to those comfortable with or dependent on the status quo.
Globalization does not mean a decrease in international regulations and rules. This would disappoint those advocates for a minimalist government, On the contrary, in many cases there will be increased rules with respect to human and labor rights, pollution and environmental laws, and international crimes, as the various national agencies will get increasingly coordinated with those across their borders. Thus polluters in Indonesia for example, will face the wrath of not only their countrymen but also neighboring countries. Environmental groups like Greenpeace are now forging global alliances that transcend national and political boundaries.
Lastly, to those who fear that the universe would be turned into a dull monotonous cultural landscape filled with the Madonnas, Michael Jacksons, and other icons and artifacts of the McWorld, globalization will not mean cultural homogenization. The fear of globalization being just another form of Western hegemony or neocolonialism is simply delusional. On the contrary, globalization provides a much-needed leveling of the playing field and gives small fringe cultural groups hitherto isolated in their remote villages or ashram an avenue to expand its influence worldwide.
It is significant that through globalization, the 13th Century Persian poet Jallaludin Al-Rumi is now the most widely read in America. Similarly Sufism, which once was relegated to the margins of Islam and presented to the world only at exotic cultural festivals, is now fast becoming chic in the West. The public library in my small California town now carries at least a dozen books on the subject. And they are always being signed out! The Internet enables Sufism to reach a much wider audience globally.
As more nations adopt and benefit from globalization, the present cultural, economic, and other dominations of the West would gradually be eroded. For example, once China becomes prosperous, it too will contribute its share of talent onto the world stage to challenge the supremacy now enjoyed by Americans. Further, once China has the market power comparable to America, manufacturers and marketers will cater to the Chinese tastes and market. And then by sheer momentum, that taste or trend will become universal. The reason America now enjoys supremacy (at least in popular consumer taste) is purely the consequence of it being the largest and most lucrative market. Producers and manufacturers everywhere cater to it. Thus by sheer mass dynamics, the American taste and style become universal.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Reform-Minded? INVITE to book launch on Monday...
INVITATION: 8pm Monday, 27 Sept:
Book launch of The Road to Reform: Pakatan Rakyat in Selangor
Dear friends and colleagues,
Strategic Information and Research Development Centre (SIRD) cordially invites you to the launch of the book The Road To Reform: Pakatan Rakyat In Selangor in Petaling Jaya.
The Road to Reform is the first comprehensive introduction to the reform experience in Selangor following from the general election of March 2008 in which Pakatan Rakyat took over from the Barisan Nasional state government. Organised around four core aspects of change – politics, economics, society and culture – the authors focus on both the achievements and the enduring difficulties in delivering on Pakatan Rakyat’s ambitions. This concise and accessible book should be compulsory reading for anyone concerned with the policies and politics of change and the state of Malaysia at a critically important crossroads.
The contributors confirmed to attend this book launch are: Abdul Aziz Bari, Wong Chin Huat, Andrew Khoo, Syed Husin Ali, Tony Pua, Gurmit Singh, Barjoyai Bardai, Fahda Nur, Colin Nicholas, Ong Kian Ming, Ahmad Farouk Musa, Sivin Kit & Mavis Puthucheary.
Date: Monday, 27 September 2010
Time: 7.30pm – 10.30pm
Venue: Hotel Singgahsana, Persiaran Barat, off Jalan Sultan, Petaling Jaya (next to Taman Jaya LRT Station)
Programme:
Welcome by Tricia Yeoh (Research Officer to Menteri Besar Selangor)
Speech by YAB Tan Sri Dato' Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (Menteri Besar Selangor)
Official Book Launch and Presentation
Panel Discussion
Moderator: Ismail Gareth Richards (SIRD)
· Dato' Ambiga Sreenevasan (Chairperson of BERSIH & Ex-President of Malaysian Bar)
· Edmund Terence Gomez (Professor of Faculty of Economics & Administration, UM)
· Ibrahim Suffian (Director of Merdeka Center for Opinion Research)
· Jacqueline Ann Surin (Founder and Editor of The Nut Graph)
Book sale and signing
Please see the attached file for the flyer.
For queries please contact Chong Ton Sin 016 379 7231 or SK Chua 019 352 3864
Feel free to circulate this invitation to your friends and colleagues.
_________________________________________________________________________________
In Bahasa Melayu :
Majlis Pelancaran buku The Road to Reform: Pakatan Rakyat in Selangor : 8:00 malam Isnin, 27hb Sept
Salam sejahtera,
Strategic Information and Research Development Centre (SIRD) menjemput anda ke majlis pelancaran buku The Road To Reform: Pakatan Rakyat In Selangor di Petaling Jaya.
The Road to Reform merupakan buku pengenalan tentang pengalaman reform Selangor yang pertama lagi menyeluruh, berikutan Pilihanraya Mac 2008, dengan Pakatan Rakyat mengambil alih kerajaan negeri daripada Barisan Nasional. Dengan susunan sekitar empat aspek teras perubahan – politik, ekonomi, sosial dan budaya – Para penulis fokus pada kedua-dua pencapaian dan kesukaran ketika merealisasikan cita-cita Pakatan. Buku yang ringkas, padat lagi mudah diperolehi ini wajib dibaca bagi sesiapa yang prihatin terhadap dasar dan politik perubahan Malaysia pada persimpangan yang penting serta genting ini.
Antara penulis-penulis yang hadir pada majlis pelancaran buku ialah: Abdul Aziz Bari, Wong Chin Huat, Andrew Khoo, Syed Husin Ali, Tony Pua, Gurmit Singh, Barjoyai Bardai, Fahda Nur, Colin Nicholas, Ong Kian Ming, Ahmad Farouk Musa, Sivin Kit dan Mavis Puthucheary.
Tarikh: Isnin, 27 September 2010
Masa: 7.30mlm – 10.30mlm
Tempat: Hotel Singgahsana, Persiaran Barat, off Jalan Sultan, Petaling Jaya (Sebelah Stesen LRT Taman Jaya)
Program
- Kata-kata aluan oleh Tricia Yeoh (Pegawai Penyelidik Menteri Besar Selangor)
- Ucapan oleh YAB Tan Sri Dato' Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (Menteri Besar Selangor)
- Pelancaran Rasmi dan Penyampaian Cenderamata
Diskusi Panelis
Penyelaras: Ismail Gareth Richards (SIRD)
* Dato' Ambiga Sreenevasan (Pengerusi BERSIH & Bekas Presiden Majlis Peguam Negara)
* Edmund Terence Gomez (Profesor Fakulti Ekonomi & Administrasi, UM)
* Ibrahim Suffian (Pengarah Merdeka Center for Opinion Research)
* Jacqueline Ann Surin (Pengasas dan Editor The Nut Graph)
Penjualan buku dan tandatangan (sila rujuk pada risalah lampiran)
Sebarang persoalan sila hubungi Chong Ton Sin 016-379 7231 @ SK Chua 019-352 3864
Tolong sebarkan jemputan ini kepada rakan sekerja anda.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GB Gerakbudaya/SIRD
11 Lorong 11/4E
46200 Petaling Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia
T: +60 (0)3 7957 8343
F: +60 (0)3 7954 9202
W: www.gerakbudaya.com
Book launch of The Road to Reform: Pakatan Rakyat in Selangor
Dear friends and colleagues,
Strategic Information and Research Development Centre (SIRD) cordially invites you to the launch of the book The Road To Reform: Pakatan Rakyat In Selangor in Petaling Jaya.
The Road to Reform is the first comprehensive introduction to the reform experience in Selangor following from the general election of March 2008 in which Pakatan Rakyat took over from the Barisan Nasional state government. Organised around four core aspects of change – politics, economics, society and culture – the authors focus on both the achievements and the enduring difficulties in delivering on Pakatan Rakyat’s ambitions. This concise and accessible book should be compulsory reading for anyone concerned with the policies and politics of change and the state of Malaysia at a critically important crossroads.
The contributors confirmed to attend this book launch are: Abdul Aziz Bari, Wong Chin Huat, Andrew Khoo, Syed Husin Ali, Tony Pua, Gurmit Singh, Barjoyai Bardai, Fahda Nur, Colin Nicholas, Ong Kian Ming, Ahmad Farouk Musa, Sivin Kit & Mavis Puthucheary.
Date: Monday, 27 September 2010
Time: 7.30pm – 10.30pm
Venue: Hotel Singgahsana, Persiaran Barat, off Jalan Sultan, Petaling Jaya (next to Taman Jaya LRT Station)
Programme:
Welcome by Tricia Yeoh (Research Officer to Menteri Besar Selangor)
Speech by YAB Tan Sri Dato' Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (Menteri Besar Selangor)
Official Book Launch and Presentation
Panel Discussion
Moderator: Ismail Gareth Richards (SIRD)
· Dato' Ambiga Sreenevasan (Chairperson of BERSIH & Ex-President of Malaysian Bar)
· Edmund Terence Gomez (Professor of Faculty of Economics & Administration, UM)
· Ibrahim Suffian (Director of Merdeka Center for Opinion Research)
· Jacqueline Ann Surin (Founder and Editor of The Nut Graph)
Book sale and signing
Please see the attached file for the flyer.
For queries please contact Chong Ton Sin 016 379 7231 or SK Chua 019 352 3864
Feel free to circulate this invitation to your friends and colleagues.
_________________________________________________________________________________
In Bahasa Melayu :
Majlis Pelancaran buku The Road to Reform: Pakatan Rakyat in Selangor : 8:00 malam Isnin, 27hb Sept
Salam sejahtera,
Strategic Information and Research Development Centre (SIRD) menjemput anda ke majlis pelancaran buku The Road To Reform: Pakatan Rakyat In Selangor di Petaling Jaya.
The Road to Reform merupakan buku pengenalan tentang pengalaman reform Selangor yang pertama lagi menyeluruh, berikutan Pilihanraya Mac 2008, dengan Pakatan Rakyat mengambil alih kerajaan negeri daripada Barisan Nasional. Dengan susunan sekitar empat aspek teras perubahan – politik, ekonomi, sosial dan budaya – Para penulis fokus pada kedua-dua pencapaian dan kesukaran ketika merealisasikan cita-cita Pakatan. Buku yang ringkas, padat lagi mudah diperolehi ini wajib dibaca bagi sesiapa yang prihatin terhadap dasar dan politik perubahan Malaysia pada persimpangan yang penting serta genting ini.
Antara penulis-penulis yang hadir pada majlis pelancaran buku ialah: Abdul Aziz Bari, Wong Chin Huat, Andrew Khoo, Syed Husin Ali, Tony Pua, Gurmit Singh, Barjoyai Bardai, Fahda Nur, Colin Nicholas, Ong Kian Ming, Ahmad Farouk Musa, Sivin Kit dan Mavis Puthucheary.
Tarikh: Isnin, 27 September 2010
Masa: 7.30mlm – 10.30mlm
Tempat: Hotel Singgahsana, Persiaran Barat, off Jalan Sultan, Petaling Jaya (Sebelah Stesen LRT Taman Jaya)
Program
- Kata-kata aluan oleh Tricia Yeoh (Pegawai Penyelidik Menteri Besar Selangor)
- Ucapan oleh YAB Tan Sri Dato' Abdul Khalid Ibrahim (Menteri Besar Selangor)
- Pelancaran Rasmi dan Penyampaian Cenderamata
Diskusi Panelis
Penyelaras: Ismail Gareth Richards (SIRD)
* Dato' Ambiga Sreenevasan (Pengerusi BERSIH & Bekas Presiden Majlis Peguam Negara)
* Edmund Terence Gomez (Profesor Fakulti Ekonomi & Administrasi, UM)
* Ibrahim Suffian (Pengarah Merdeka Center for Opinion Research)
* Jacqueline Ann Surin (Pengasas dan Editor The Nut Graph)
Penjualan buku dan tandatangan (sila rujuk pada risalah lampiran)
Sebarang persoalan sila hubungi Chong Ton Sin 016-379 7231 @ SK Chua 019-352 3864
Tolong sebarkan jemputan ini kepada rakan sekerja anda.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GB Gerakbudaya/SIRD
11 Lorong 11/4E
46200 Petaling Jaya
Selangor, Malaysia
T: +60 (0)3 7957 8343
F: +60 (0)3 7954 9202
W: www.gerakbudaya.com
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Quoting Malaysian Chronicle today:) OR :(
"Many PKR members believe the four – Soh, Salehuddin, Jeffrey and Zaid - have grouped together to seize the party from Anwar and Wan Azizah. Some have even accused the four men of being BN moles. Zaid and Salehuddin are former Umno members, while Jeffrey was a former BN leaders and Soh was once with MCA."
I would amend Sdri Wong CM's write by one byte: OMIT SALEHUDDIN's name, and you have got a Trio. Always working in THREE, read RPK's latest also on the TRILOGY of...you fill in the blanks OK, I not pampers salesman!:(
The common denominator the remaining triumvirate -- is this synonymous with Trio? -- of Zaid, Jeffrey and Soh is Vitamin M, BIG MONEY, normally associated with BN members, so the obvious link is these were also past BN component moneybags.
I did not need to give my "insider piece" I hinted at from working four months plus at FMT -- my fellow newsdod CM bit me to it!:( __ Desi,knottierTHANusual:)
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Zaid burning his bridges with PKR
Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle
It looks like the writing is on the wall for Zaid Ibrahim, who joined PKR last year amid huge fanfare. Already, the word on the grapevine is that he may resign either out of ill-will or disgruntlement or even to avoid being sacked for indiscipline. But whichever door he exits through, it is clear it would be extremely difficult for him to stay on in the party that had pinned such high hopes on him.
His sympathizers say it is a waste of talent but few would deny he asked for it. The cause of his downfall in PKR – his rivalry with vice president Azmin Ali that has turned uncontrollable to the extent that he has publicly ridiculed his own party and its de-facto head, Anwar Ibrahim.
Tian
“We would like to help but we can’t reach him. Not physically but mentally. He appears to have hit the self-destruct button whether on his own or on the advice of those close to him. He is no longer communicating with the top leaders nor does he seem to be in sync with the party’s aspirations at all,” PKR strategic director Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.
“We were shocked when he accused PKR of being a second Umno. When you are angry and you want to wake up the party, we can still understand. But this was to gain advantage for himself against Azmin. For me, this is not acceptable. Like it or not, we are a party and we sink or float together. Whether Zaid realizes it or not, the impression he has given is that he is completely intent on being No. 2 so much so that he seems to have lost all sense of judgment or proportion.”
Loose canon
Tian is not the only one who has spoken out against Zaid. Many PKR members are starting to realize that Zaid has feet of clay after all. They are bewildered by his latest statement that he will be a loyal deputy to president Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, while in the same breath, he hit out at Anwar.
Despite the cloaked words, they smelt an insult directed at both Wan Azizah and Anwar. To them, it now appears that Zaid may not be just an over-enthusiastic contestant for the No.2 post but could instead be harboring grand ambitions of taking over PKR, and they don’t like it.
Nik Nazmi - among those who have spoken out
“Too often do I hear that Wan Azizah is not the real leader. Some say she has no power. This happens because some party leaders don't respect the position of party president. “(Some of these) leaders are more comfortable giving their full trust in the de facto leader. I, too, trust and fully support Anwar, because he is the party founder and opposition leader. But in the party structure, he is just an ordinary member,” Zaid had said in his blog.
His comments drew immediate fire from communications director Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, who blasted him for indiscipline and disrespect towards Anwar and PKR as a whole.
“Now, the latest gimmick is to return the president's power. Hopefully he will also have more organisational discipline and collective responsibility,” said Nik Nazmi on his Twitter page.
“If only he checked with the members who were at the 2007 PKR congress who understood why the exceptional position was created for Anwar. I forgot - he (Zaid) was still in Umno at the time. Now he criticises Umno culture! Well done.”
Casting a cloud on PKR polls
In 2007, Anwar was in a three-corner fight for the party presidency against Wan Azizah and Abdul Rahman Othman. Anwar and Abdul Rahman later withdrew, paving the way for Wan Azizah to win uncontested. The Opposition Leader did so after he was warned that he would be in violation of the Societies Act 1966, which prohibits anyone who has been in jail in the preceding 5 years from holding a party post. Anwar was only freed from jail in 2004.
Azmin and Anwar
Zaid’s over-ambitiousness has also cast a cloud over the PKR polls, which many members had looked forward to with pride because it is the first time that a political party of its size in Malaysia has ever allowed each of its members to decide whom they wanted to lead their party.
Despite the attacks launched by Zaid against Azmin, he has not garnered as many nominations as he may have wished. His score of 19 is about half of Azmin’s 39. Another vice president Mustaffa Kamil Ayub has 6 nominations while Tian has 2, elections director Fuziah Salleh and Selangor Mentri Besar Khalid Ibrahim have one each.
In PKR, Zaid is seen as aligned to Sabah vice president Jeffrey Kitingan. Jeffrey has also been unhappy with Anwar and Azmin. So too are businessman Soh Chee Wen and former secretary-general Salehuddin Hashim, who have already fallen out with Anwar.
Many PKR members believe the four – Soh, Salehuddin, Jeffrey and Zaid - have grouped together to seize the party from Anwar and Wan Azizah. Some have even accused the four men of being BN moles. Zaid and Salehuddin are former Umno members, while Jeffrey was a former BN leaders and Soh was once with MCA.
The only divisions that have not cast their nominations yet are in Selangor, Johor, Sarawak and the Federal Territories. These will do so next weekend onwards. Closing date for nominations is on Oct 3. Voting takes place from Oct 29 to Nov 21. The results will be announced on Nob 27.
Sharing a Malaysia Day birthday is Lee Kuan Yew at 87...
Here's a story reprised when the Minister Mentor of our neighbouring country was 84.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Lee Kuan Yew at 87, the fire still burns
Kuan Yew celebrates his birthday on Sept 16
Ahmad Mustapha
Singapore's Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore 's founding father, has always been very direct in his comments. This was the man who outsmarted the communists in Singapore (with the innocent help of Malaya then and the willing help of the British) and who later outwitted the British and outpaced Malaysia in all spheres.
Singapore practices corrupt-free meritocracy and Malaysia affirmative action. The former attracted all the best brains and the latter chased out all the brains. The Singapore cabinet consists of dedicated and intelligent technocrats whereas Malaysia has one of the most unwieldy cabinets. Not only that, brain wise it was below par not even good for the kampong.
With that kind of composition, one that is very brainy, naturally Singapore , with no natural resources could outstrip Malaysia in every aspect of development. Malaysia, on the other hand, was too much preoccupied with its Malayness and the illusory 'Ketuanan Melayu' and was also more interested in useless mega iconic development rather than real social and economic development.
Whenever Kuan Yew utters anything that deemed to be a slight on Malaysia, voices were raised admonishing him. Malaysia would never dare to face reality. That Singapore had shown that it could survive was a slap on those who believed that Singapore would fold up once it left Malaysia. Therefore it was natural that these doomsayers would try to rationalise their utterances to be in their favour to combat on whatever Kuan Yew commented. Its political jealousy.
Singapore achieved its development status without any fanfare. But here in Malaysia, a development that was deceptive was proclaimed as having achieved development status. It was trumpeted as an achievement that befits first world status. This was self delusion. Malaysians are led to believe into a make believe world, a dream world. The leaders who themselves tend to believe in their own fabricated world did not realise the people were not taken in by this kind of illusion.
Lee Kuan Yew believed in calling a spade a spade. I was there in Singapore when the People's Action Party won the elections in 1959. He was forthright in his briefing to party members as to what was expected of them and what Singapore would face in the future. Ideologically, I did not agree with him. We in the University of Malaya Socialist Club had a different interpretation of socialist reconstruction. But he was a pragmatist and wanted to bring development and welfare to the Singaporeans. Well! He succeeded.
Malaysia was so much embroiled in racial politics and due to the fear of losing political power, all actions taken by the main party in power was never targeted towards bringing wealth to all. Wealth was distributed to the chosen few only. They were the cronies and the backers of the party leadership to perpetuate their own selfish ends.
Seeing the efficiency and the progress achieved by Singapore caused the Malaysian leadership to suffer from an inferiority complex. That Malaysia should suffer from this complex was of its own making.
In a recent interview, Kuan Yew said that Malaysia could have done better if only it treated its minority Chinese and Indian population fairly. Instead they were completely marginalised and many of the best brains left the country in drove. He added that Singapore was a standing indictment to what Malaysia could have done differently. He just hit the nail right there on the head.
Malaysia recently celebrated its 50th year of independence with a bagful of uncertainties. The racial divide has become more acute. The number of Malay graduates unemployed is on the increase. And this aspect can be very explosive. But sad to see that no positive actions have been taken to address these social ills.
Various excuses were given by Malaysian leaders why Singapore had far outstripped Malaysia in all aspects of social and economic advancement. Singapore was small, they rationalised and therefore easy to manage. Singapore was not a state but merely an island.
There was one other aspect that Malaysia practises and that is to politicise all aspects of life. All government organs and machinery were 'UMNO-ised'. This was to ensure that the party will remain in power. Thus there was this misconception by the instruments of government as to what national interest is and what UMNO vested interest is.
UMNO vested interest only benefited a few and not the whole nation. But due to the UMNO-isation of the various instruments of government, the country under the present administration had equated UMNO vested interest as being that of national interest. Thus development became an avenue of making money and not for the benefit of the people. The fight against corruption took a back seat. Transparency was put on hold. And the instruments of government took it to be of national interest to cater to the vested interest of UMNO. Enforcement of various enactments and laws was selective. Thus a 'palace' in Kelang, APs cronies and close-one-eye umno MPs could exist without proper procedure. Corruption infested all govt departments, the worse is the police and lately even in the judiciary.
Singapore did not politicise its instruments of government. If ever politicisation took place, it is guided by national interest. To be efficient and to be the best in the region was of paramount importance. Thus all the elements like corruption, lackadaisical attitude towards work and other black elements, which would retard such an aim, were eliminated. Singapore naturally had placed the right priority in it's pursuit to achieve what is best for its people. This is the major difference between these two independent countries.
Malaysia in its various attempts to cover up its failures embarked on several diversions. It wanted its citizens to be proud that the country had the tallest twin-tower in the world, although the structure was designed and built by foreigners. Its now a white-elephant wasting away. It achieved in sending a man into space at an exorbitant price. For what purpose? These are what the Malays of old would say "menang sorak" (hollow victories).
It should be realised that administering a country can be likened to managing a corporate entity. If the management is efficient and dedicated and know what they are doing, the company will prosper. The reverse will be if the management is poor and bad. The company will go bust.
There are five countries around this region. There is Malaysia, and then Indonesia. To the east there is the Philippines and then there is that small enclave called the Sultanate of Brunei. All these four countries have abundance of natural resources but none can lay claim to have used all these resources to benefit the people. Poverty was rampant and independence had not brought in any significant benefits to the people.
But tiny Singapore without any resources at all managed to bring development to its citizens. It had one of the best public MRT transport systems and airlines in the world and it is a very clean city state. Their universities, health care, ports are among the best in the world.
It is impossible to compare what Singapore has achieved to what all these four countries had so far achieved. It was actually poor management and corruption, and nothing more. Everything is done for the vested interest of the few.
Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines and the Sultanate of Brunei need good management teams. They would not be able to do this on their own steam. I would advise that they call on Kuan Yew to show them what good governance is. Why look East to Japan when it is just next door across the causeway.
(The writer is a nephew of Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad. The article is published the way we received it by email from another source. It first appeared under the title Lee Kuan Yew at 84, the fire still burns on the Internet last year, but the message is still as powerful this year. And maybe that is why the story is being re-circulated now as the grand old man of Singapore chalks up another year. Btw, LKY was born on Sept 16, 1923. Many happy returns and good health to him! - Malaysia Chronicle)
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Lee Kuan Yew at 87, the fire still burns
Kuan Yew celebrates his birthday on Sept 16
Ahmad Mustapha
Singapore's Minister Mentor, Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore 's founding father, has always been very direct in his comments. This was the man who outsmarted the communists in Singapore (with the innocent help of Malaya then and the willing help of the British) and who later outwitted the British and outpaced Malaysia in all spheres.
Singapore practices corrupt-free meritocracy and Malaysia affirmative action. The former attracted all the best brains and the latter chased out all the brains. The Singapore cabinet consists of dedicated and intelligent technocrats whereas Malaysia has one of the most unwieldy cabinets. Not only that, brain wise it was below par not even good for the kampong.
With that kind of composition, one that is very brainy, naturally Singapore , with no natural resources could outstrip Malaysia in every aspect of development. Malaysia, on the other hand, was too much preoccupied with its Malayness and the illusory 'Ketuanan Melayu' and was also more interested in useless mega iconic development rather than real social and economic development.
Whenever Kuan Yew utters anything that deemed to be a slight on Malaysia, voices were raised admonishing him. Malaysia would never dare to face reality. That Singapore had shown that it could survive was a slap on those who believed that Singapore would fold up once it left Malaysia. Therefore it was natural that these doomsayers would try to rationalise their utterances to be in their favour to combat on whatever Kuan Yew commented. Its political jealousy.
Singapore achieved its development status without any fanfare. But here in Malaysia, a development that was deceptive was proclaimed as having achieved development status. It was trumpeted as an achievement that befits first world status. This was self delusion. Malaysians are led to believe into a make believe world, a dream world. The leaders who themselves tend to believe in their own fabricated world did not realise the people were not taken in by this kind of illusion.
Lee Kuan Yew believed in calling a spade a spade. I was there in Singapore when the People's Action Party won the elections in 1959. He was forthright in his briefing to party members as to what was expected of them and what Singapore would face in the future. Ideologically, I did not agree with him. We in the University of Malaya Socialist Club had a different interpretation of socialist reconstruction. But he was a pragmatist and wanted to bring development and welfare to the Singaporeans. Well! He succeeded.
Malaysia was so much embroiled in racial politics and due to the fear of losing political power, all actions taken by the main party in power was never targeted towards bringing wealth to all. Wealth was distributed to the chosen few only. They were the cronies and the backers of the party leadership to perpetuate their own selfish ends.
Seeing the efficiency and the progress achieved by Singapore caused the Malaysian leadership to suffer from an inferiority complex. That Malaysia should suffer from this complex was of its own making.
In a recent interview, Kuan Yew said that Malaysia could have done better if only it treated its minority Chinese and Indian population fairly. Instead they were completely marginalised and many of the best brains left the country in drove. He added that Singapore was a standing indictment to what Malaysia could have done differently. He just hit the nail right there on the head.
Malaysia recently celebrated its 50th year of independence with a bagful of uncertainties. The racial divide has become more acute. The number of Malay graduates unemployed is on the increase. And this aspect can be very explosive. But sad to see that no positive actions have been taken to address these social ills.
Various excuses were given by Malaysian leaders why Singapore had far outstripped Malaysia in all aspects of social and economic advancement. Singapore was small, they rationalised and therefore easy to manage. Singapore was not a state but merely an island.
There was one other aspect that Malaysia practises and that is to politicise all aspects of life. All government organs and machinery were 'UMNO-ised'. This was to ensure that the party will remain in power. Thus there was this misconception by the instruments of government as to what national interest is and what UMNO vested interest is.
UMNO vested interest only benefited a few and not the whole nation. But due to the UMNO-isation of the various instruments of government, the country under the present administration had equated UMNO vested interest as being that of national interest. Thus development became an avenue of making money and not for the benefit of the people. The fight against corruption took a back seat. Transparency was put on hold. And the instruments of government took it to be of national interest to cater to the vested interest of UMNO. Enforcement of various enactments and laws was selective. Thus a 'palace' in Kelang, APs cronies and close-one-eye umno MPs could exist without proper procedure. Corruption infested all govt departments, the worse is the police and lately even in the judiciary.
Singapore did not politicise its instruments of government. If ever politicisation took place, it is guided by national interest. To be efficient and to be the best in the region was of paramount importance. Thus all the elements like corruption, lackadaisical attitude towards work and other black elements, which would retard such an aim, were eliminated. Singapore naturally had placed the right priority in it's pursuit to achieve what is best for its people. This is the major difference between these two independent countries.
Malaysia in its various attempts to cover up its failures embarked on several diversions. It wanted its citizens to be proud that the country had the tallest twin-tower in the world, although the structure was designed and built by foreigners. Its now a white-elephant wasting away. It achieved in sending a man into space at an exorbitant price. For what purpose? These are what the Malays of old would say "menang sorak" (hollow victories).
It should be realised that administering a country can be likened to managing a corporate entity. If the management is efficient and dedicated and know what they are doing, the company will prosper. The reverse will be if the management is poor and bad. The company will go bust.
There are five countries around this region. There is Malaysia, and then Indonesia. To the east there is the Philippines and then there is that small enclave called the Sultanate of Brunei. All these four countries have abundance of natural resources but none can lay claim to have used all these resources to benefit the people. Poverty was rampant and independence had not brought in any significant benefits to the people.
But tiny Singapore without any resources at all managed to bring development to its citizens. It had one of the best public MRT transport systems and airlines in the world and it is a very clean city state. Their universities, health care, ports are among the best in the world.
It is impossible to compare what Singapore has achieved to what all these four countries had so far achieved. It was actually poor management and corruption, and nothing more. Everything is done for the vested interest of the few.
Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines and the Sultanate of Brunei need good management teams. They would not be able to do this on their own steam. I would advise that they call on Kuan Yew to show them what good governance is. Why look East to Japan when it is just next door across the causeway.
(The writer is a nephew of Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad. The article is published the way we received it by email from another source. It first appeared under the title Lee Kuan Yew at 84, the fire still burns on the Internet last year, but the message is still as powerful this year. And maybe that is why the story is being re-circulated now as the grand old man of Singapore chalks up another year. Btw, LKY was born on Sept 16, 1923. Many happy returns and good health to him! - Malaysia Chronicle)
Sunday, September 19, 2010
In silences, remember the forget-me-nots...
sometimes we can be there physically with a friend, and yet unable to console in his/her times of grief. Yet some times, when one is not there beside the suffering human, one is able to reach -- via words and a caring heart -- the innermost depths of the recipient because of the depth of one's feelings and familiarity wrought by sincerity, concern and hope for that traveller in this transient world as some common bond binds, like the different coloured strands that tie a rainbow from one end to the other.Amidst the dawn or twilight sky, the rainbow always lifts heaven wards, and ascends, and ascends, towards eternity.
This poem is dedicated to mGf down under, the sweetest spirit of spirits;
God bless sweets and her dearly departed Dad, Amen, YL, Desi
In the silence of last night's reverie
Cometh a plea from a forget-me-not
For a shoulder to cry on
Of sadness born of a dearly loved just departed
Desi's words of comfort
"Go placidly amid the noise and haste
Remember what peace there may be in silence..."
In the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people maybe more
I feel, therefore I know:
Funny,familiar, forgotten feelings
Walkin' all over my mind...
People talkin' without speaking
People hearin' without listening
And in the silences of
the roaring waves by port dickson beach
of the shores of passionate love
or afar at redhead beach
Someone sweet wiping silent tears
of a dear one just departed
heavy on the heart
with no comforting hands to hold
Lose not hope
for there's some forget-me-not
whispering
I'm that bridge o'er troubled water
I will lay me down
So that sadness shared is hope raised
heart broken is partly repaired
Tears streaming down one's face
Washes away the cold inside
And the heart beings to glow again
And Vincent's starry, starry nights
visit us humans again
Reminding us that there is still alight
that shines
In the darkness that is despair
in the human condition that fails fellow men
For as surely as each man/woman goes away
Another child or two is/are born anew
And there is yet hope
and message of l've forever
From a forget-me-not
Buried in the envelopes of time
To be unfolded at midnight
at moments such as thes
among the silences of the graveyard of the gone
the cobble-stoned road of the undead
Unspoken words of sadness
Undelivered messages of hope
Till one remembers someone
A*Forget-me-not
PS: Added on Sept 23, 2010 to raise your Vocab if you believe in life-long learning,even after your loved ones like Desi has moved on:)...Desi,solemnly today borrowing from:)
Wordsmith.org
The Magic of Words
Sep 23, 2010
This week's theme
Letter-words
This week's words
emanate
deify
extenuate
elegy
Discuss
Feedback
RSS/XML Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg
elegy or L-E-G
PRONUNCIATION:
(EL-i-jee)
MEANING:
noun: A poem composed as a lament for the dead.
ETYMOLOGY:
Via French and Latin from Greek elegos (a mournful poem or song).
USAGE:
"Frederick Septimus Kelly wrote his best-known work, an elegy for string orchestra, in memory of his friend, poet Rupert Brooke."
Matthew Westwood; Lament for Fame's First Victim; The Australian (Sydney); Aug 18, 2006.
Explore "elegy" in the Visual Thesaurus.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is. -Thomas Szasz, author, professor of psychiatry (b. 1920)
This poem is dedicated to mGf down under, the sweetest spirit of spirits;
God bless sweets and her dearly departed Dad, Amen, YL, Desi
In the silence of last night's reverie
Cometh a plea from a forget-me-not
For a shoulder to cry on
Of sadness born of a dearly loved just departed
Desi's words of comfort
"Go placidly amid the noise and haste
Remember what peace there may be in silence..."
In the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people maybe more
I feel, therefore I know:
Funny,familiar, forgotten feelings
Walkin' all over my mind...
People talkin' without speaking
People hearin' without listening
And in the silences of
the roaring waves by port dickson beach
of the shores of passionate love
or afar at redhead beach
Someone sweet wiping silent tears
of a dear one just departed
heavy on the heart
with no comforting hands to hold
Lose not hope
for there's some forget-me-not
whispering
I'm that bridge o'er troubled water
I will lay me down
So that sadness shared is hope raised
heart broken is partly repaired
Tears streaming down one's face
Washes away the cold inside
And the heart beings to glow again
And Vincent's starry, starry nights
visit us humans again
Reminding us that there is still alight
that shines
In the darkness that is despair
in the human condition that fails fellow men
For as surely as each man/woman goes away
Another child or two is/are born anew
And there is yet hope
and message of l've forever
From a forget-me-not
Buried in the envelopes of time
To be unfolded at midnight
at moments such as thes
among the silences of the graveyard of the gone
the cobble-stoned road of the undead
Unspoken words of sadness
Undelivered messages of hope
Till one remembers someone
A*Forget-me-not
PS: Added on Sept 23, 2010 to raise your Vocab if you believe in life-long learning,even after your loved ones like Desi has moved on:)...Desi,solemnly today borrowing from:)
Wordsmith.org
The Magic of Words
Sep 23, 2010
This week's theme
Letter-words
This week's words
emanate
deify
extenuate
elegy
Discuss
Feedback
RSS/XML Bookmark and Share Facebook Twitter Digg MySpace Bookmark and Share
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg
elegy or L-E-G
PRONUNCIATION:
(EL-i-jee)
MEANING:
noun: A poem composed as a lament for the dead.
ETYMOLOGY:
Via French and Latin from Greek elegos (a mournful poem or song).
USAGE:
"Frederick Septimus Kelly wrote his best-known work, an elegy for string orchestra, in memory of his friend, poet Rupert Brooke."
Matthew Westwood; Lament for Fame's First Victim; The Australian (Sydney); Aug 18, 2006.
Explore "elegy" in the Visual Thesaurus.
A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is. -Thomas Szasz, author, professor of psychiatry (b. 1920)
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Soh Chee Wen having one leg in two boats?
It is partially exposed in a "teaser" interview done by Merdeka Review with outgoing PKR deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali who I respect a lot. The story is carried in malaysia-chronicle.com, and I reproduce it below for sharing. I hope someone would translate it into English; YL may just do a summary of the part involving the ertswhile blue-eye boy well known to one Ling Jnr that's popularly called John Soh by his inner circle, of former MCA head Dr Ling Liong Sik's circus two. Well, Ling Jnr is also former billionaire at an ancient age all of 27centureis -- oops! change centuries to years, my Saturday blues! Maaf, ia, it's still the spirit of Hari Raya Aidilfitri and I'm fasting until 300PM rumah buka at a Pas friend's...-- Desi, knottyaSsusual
PS: I served some four months at freemalaysiatoday.com from Day 1 and precedent planning weeks -- thinking hard if I should writHe an "insider" acc'unt. Will check how much/mush --MC or it should be CM?-- is willing to pay for an XXCLUSIF!:(
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Anasir lunturkan semangat perjuangan PKR...
Soh Chee Wen
Lim Hong Siang
(MerdekaReview) "Sekarang tak ada. Sekarang tidak boleh lagi." Apabila wartawan mendesak, beliau dengan lantas menjawab, "Saya tidak tahu". Bagaimanapun, akhirnya beliau memberi bayangan, "Baca Free Malaysia Today, kaji siapa di belakangnya... Adakah ia menganggap parti sebagai kawan, atau lawan?"
"Kita terus menerbitkan Suara, walaupun cara ini melanggar undang-undang. Kita terus mengedarkan Suara walaupun banyak pengedar yang diugut. Kita tidak ada pilihan lain. Pihak berkuasa menuduh kita melanggar undang-undang. Akan tetapi, dengan menafikan hak kita untuk bersuara, sebagaimana yang dijanjikan oleh Perlembagaan Persekutuan, Kerajaan sebenarnya menggalakkan kita melakukan aktiviti di luar undang-undang. Ini tuntutan masa dan keadaan." --
Dipetik daripada ucapan perasmian Syed Husin Ali, selaku Timbalan Presiden dalam Kongres Nasional Tahunan AMK dan Wanita PKR, pada 1 September 2006.
Suara Keadilan, lidah rasmi PKR selepas penggabungan antara Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) dengan Parti KeADILan Nasional, tidak memperolehi permit sejak terbitan sulungnya pada Jun 2005. Bagaimanapun, terbitan diteruskan biarpun berdepan dengan tekanan dan ugutan dari Kementerian Dalam Negeri (KDN).
Seandainya diimbas, ia mungkin detik saat yang paling sukar untuk PKR, dengan hanya tinggal seorang ahli parlimen, iaitu Presidennya, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail setelah dibadai "gelombang biru" dalam PRU ke-11. Namun demikian, semangat perjuangan pimpinan dan anggotanya menjadi obor yang menerangkan kesuraman ini.
Ia tidak terhenti setakat pada ucapan Syed Husin Ali, atau seruan Ketua Penerangan ketika itu, Tian Chua semasa sesi penggulungan perbahasan dalam Kongres Nasional Tahunan, untuk berdemonstrasi menuntut hak penerbitan lidah parti. Kata-kata diterjemahkan kepada tindakan, apabila pimpinan dan anggota PKR turun gelanggang untuk berkumpul di bawah pejabat SUHAKAM pada 24 November 2006.
Protes hangat-hangat ayam?
Adegan tersebut tidak kelihatan lagi, biarpun PKR kini ditimpa nasib yang sama - permit Suara Keadilan tidak diperbaharui. Tindakan protes agak hangat sebermulanya, apabila PKR mengambil langkah untuk menerbitkan lidah partinya dalam bentuk edisi tidak berkala, bermula dengan Keadilan (12 Julai 2010), Obor Keadilan (19 Julai 2010), Sinar Keadilan (26 Julai 2010), Utusan Keadilan (2 Ogos 2010), Berita Keadilan (9 Ogos 2010) dan kemudiannya berhenti di Metro Keadilan (16 Ogos 2010).
"Saya rasa ini sedang diperjuangkan..." Syed Husin Ali, Timbalan Presiden PKR cuba mempertahankan partinya, dalam satu wawancara bersama MerdekaReview, yang diadakan di pejabatnya, semalam.
Jawapan beliau ditemukan dengan soalan susulan, "Tetapi mengapa ia diberhentikan?"
"Ada perubahan dalam Suara Keadilan..." Beliau akhirnya mengakur, menceritakan bagaimana organ parti ini diambil alih oleh "golongan yang dianggap profesional", dari tangan "orang yang bersemangat tetapi dianggap tidak profesional".
Pengambil-alihan ini berlaku selepas tsunami politik, apabila PKR dilambung dengan harapan tinggi daripada rakyat. Babak ini menyaksikan bagaimana Zunar, Ketua Pengarang dengan kakitangannya dalam Suara Keadilan, terpaksa memberi laluan kepada pasukan editorial baru.
"Test (ujian) yang pertama ialah golongan profesional ini, misalnya kali pertama, dua tahun lalu, (Suara Keadilan) dihentikan, (selepas tsunami), sudah dihentikan. Suara Keadilan tak ada permit, mereka berundur. Yang profesional takut."
Syed Husin Ali (gambar kiri) menyambung, "Dan saya kata waktu itu, keluarkan (terbitkan), buat atas nama saya. Dan mereka teruskan. Tapi yang meneruskan ialah golongan yang bersemangat dan berani itu. Tetapi, apabila golongan yang profesional ini mengambil alih, walaupun saya katakan nama permit tu nama saya, saya ambil tanggungjawab, tapi mereka kurang berani."
Profesional tetapi tak berani?
Di sini ia memperlihatkan satu perubahan dalam sikap, yang berlaku di kalangan anggota mahupun pimpinan parti. Syed Husin Ali mengakuinya, "Tapi, itu tak bererti terus mengalah begitu sahaja. Sebab sekarang, salah satu sebab, golongan profesional ini dia memikirkan soal kewangan, untung-rugi, kan? Dan bila tak ada wang, dia tak berani nak keluarkan."
Apakah fenomena ini membimbangkan Timbalan Presiden, yang bakal berundur? "Ada, ada kemungkinannya nilai-nilai kebendaan dan kewangan mendominasi dalam parti. Kebimbangan itu ada. Ini bukan masalah parti. Ini masalah seluruh masyarakat. Seluruh dunia. Dan sangat susah untuk kita menongkah arus... Orang yang bodoh-bodoh macam saya sahaja..."
Beliau ketawa bersama wartawan, untuk jawapan yang tidak perlu dijelaskan lagi. Tetapi, bukankah ia satu sindiran yang sinis, apabila PKR mampu mengharungi rintangan ini pada zaman yang paling sukar buat partinya, tetapi kini dengan segala syarat atau kelebihan yang ada, misalnya kuasa kerajaan negeri, bilangan wakil rakyat yang bertambah, ia pula senang mengalah?
Syed Husin Ali terpaksa mengakuinya, sambil meluahkan apa yang terpendam, "Ini satu fenomena yang kurang baik, kerana lebih sibuk sekarang ini dengan soal-soal kerajaan, dengan soal jadi wakil rakyat, dengan soal jadi ADUN, daripada memikirkan kerja-kerja dan sumbangan terhadap rakyat."
Melihat kepada senario ini, mungkin ada yang menganggap teguran ahli politik veteran ini masih diperlukan dalam PKR. Tetapi, secara terus-terang beliau berkata, "Walaupun saya berada di situ, ataupun tak ada di situ, perkara ini akan berlaku..."
Peranan Soh Chee Wen
Jelas, sesuatu yang "tidak kena" berlaku dalam PKR itu sendiri. Kemasukan "golongan yang dianggap profesional, tetapi tidak bersemangat" ke dalam parti selepas tsunami politik pada tahun 2008, harus diteliti. Wartawan seterusnya menyebut nama "Soh Chee Wen", yang dibangkitkan oleh Zaid Ibrahim secara terbuka baru-baru ini dalam kenyataannya.
Soalannnya berbunyi, "Sejauh manakah peranan Soh Chee Wen (gambar kanan) dalam parti?"
"Sekarang tak ada," jawab Syed Husin Ali.
"Dulu ada?" tanya wartawan.
"Dulu ada, dari segi kewangan..." Syed Husin Ali jelas teragu-ragu, mungkin dikhuatiri sama ada dirinya membongkar rahsia parti, yang sebenarnya sudah menjadi rahsia terbuka.
"Sekarang tak ada. Sekarang tidak boleh lagi." Apabila wartawan mendesak, beliau dengan lantas menjawab, "Saya tidak tahu". Bagaimanapun, akhirnya beliau memberi bayangan, "Baca Free Malaysia Today, kaji siapa di belakangnya... Adakah ia menganggap parti sebagai kawan, atau lawan?"
Namun, jelas Syed Husin Ali terusik dengan kenyataan Zaid Ibrahim, Pengerusi Majlis Pimpinan PKR Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, yang mempersoalkan, bukankah Soh Chee Wen sahabat Anwar? 【Siapakah '"Musuh Parti" dalam PKR?】
"Saya akan kata, satu waktu dulu..." Syed Husin Ali menjelaskan, "Anwar (gambar kanan) pun sahabat baik dengan ramai orang yang telah keluar daripada parti. Sama ada anggota parlimen, ataupun orang yang pernah aktif dalam parti. Tetapi bila mengambil satu sikap yang tertentu, takkan boleh katakan mereka tu bekerjasama ataupun sepandangan."
"Sudah berubah, sudah berubah..." Demikianlah yang diulangi oleh ahli politik yang berusia 74 tahun ini. Beliau menambah, perhubungan antara orang dengan keadaan sentiasa berubah dalam politik, sehingga orang mengatakan "tiada yang tetap dalam politik".
"Maka tak usahlah dibangkitkan bahawa hubungan mereka yang baik seketika dahulu, apabila keadaan sudah berubah sekarang," kata Syed Husin Ali.
Soh Chee Wen dikatakan memainkan peranan yang aktif seketika dahulu di ibu pejabat PKR. Bagaimanapun, beliau kini telah meninggalkan pejabatnya, kebetulan tidak lama selepas bekas Setiausaha Agung, Salehuddin Hashim meletak jawatan.
Soh Chee Wen, bekas pemimpin yang berkecimpung di antara dunia politik dan korporat, terkenal sebagai orang kanan Ling Liong Sik ketika Ling menerajui pimpinan MCA. Namun, hubungan Soh Chee Wen dengan Ling Liong Sik menjadi tegang semasa kemelut ekonomi pada tahun 1997, malah Soh melarikan diri ke luar negara setelah disabit dengan tuduhan jenayah komersial.
"Dana sumbangan" merupakan sesuatu yang lumrah dalam operasi parti politik. Dalam dunia realiti, udang tetap akan bersembunyi di sebalik batu. Dana sumbangan tidak datang secara percuma.
"Ada, " Syed Husin Ali cuba menafikan, menjelaskan bahawa "ada yang menderma dan tidak begitu demanding (permintaan yang banyak)". Beliau menambah, tanpa merujuk kepada siapa-siapa, "Dia (penyumbang dana politik) tidak boleh menggunakan wang sebagai leverage (pengaruh) untuk menentukan dasar."
"Mana-mana parti politik tidak akan keberatan untuk menerima sumbangan yang ikhlas, tetapi bukan dikenakan syarat, misalnya siapa yang hendak diangkat (menjadi pimpinan), rancangan apa yang dijalankan, atau dasar apa yang perlu dilaksanakan..." tegas beliau.
Sementara mengalu-alukan sokongan kebendaan dan moral, Syed Husin Ali berterus-terang, "Sebenarnya parti tidak seharusnya bergantung kepada orang-orang tertentu. Sama ada dari segi kewangan ataupun dari segi organisasi. Ataupun dari segi politik. Tak boleh. Bahkan parti tak boleh bergantung hanya pada Anwar."
"Parti harus bergantung kepada organisasi, dasar dan sebagainya..." tegas Syed husin Ali. (Bahagian pertama, bersambung)
PS: I served some four months at freemalaysiatoday.com from Day 1 and precedent planning weeks -- thinking hard if I should writHe an "insider" acc'unt. Will check how much/mush --MC or it should be CM?-- is willing to pay for an XXCLUSIF!:(
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Anasir lunturkan semangat perjuangan PKR...
Soh Chee Wen
Lim Hong Siang
(MerdekaReview) "Sekarang tak ada. Sekarang tidak boleh lagi." Apabila wartawan mendesak, beliau dengan lantas menjawab, "Saya tidak tahu". Bagaimanapun, akhirnya beliau memberi bayangan, "Baca Free Malaysia Today, kaji siapa di belakangnya... Adakah ia menganggap parti sebagai kawan, atau lawan?"
"Kita terus menerbitkan Suara, walaupun cara ini melanggar undang-undang. Kita terus mengedarkan Suara walaupun banyak pengedar yang diugut. Kita tidak ada pilihan lain. Pihak berkuasa menuduh kita melanggar undang-undang. Akan tetapi, dengan menafikan hak kita untuk bersuara, sebagaimana yang dijanjikan oleh Perlembagaan Persekutuan, Kerajaan sebenarnya menggalakkan kita melakukan aktiviti di luar undang-undang. Ini tuntutan masa dan keadaan." --
Dipetik daripada ucapan perasmian Syed Husin Ali, selaku Timbalan Presiden dalam Kongres Nasional Tahunan AMK dan Wanita PKR, pada 1 September 2006.
Suara Keadilan, lidah rasmi PKR selepas penggabungan antara Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) dengan Parti KeADILan Nasional, tidak memperolehi permit sejak terbitan sulungnya pada Jun 2005. Bagaimanapun, terbitan diteruskan biarpun berdepan dengan tekanan dan ugutan dari Kementerian Dalam Negeri (KDN).
Seandainya diimbas, ia mungkin detik saat yang paling sukar untuk PKR, dengan hanya tinggal seorang ahli parlimen, iaitu Presidennya, Wan Azizah Wan Ismail setelah dibadai "gelombang biru" dalam PRU ke-11. Namun demikian, semangat perjuangan pimpinan dan anggotanya menjadi obor yang menerangkan kesuraman ini.
Ia tidak terhenti setakat pada ucapan Syed Husin Ali, atau seruan Ketua Penerangan ketika itu, Tian Chua semasa sesi penggulungan perbahasan dalam Kongres Nasional Tahunan, untuk berdemonstrasi menuntut hak penerbitan lidah parti. Kata-kata diterjemahkan kepada tindakan, apabila pimpinan dan anggota PKR turun gelanggang untuk berkumpul di bawah pejabat SUHAKAM pada 24 November 2006.
Protes hangat-hangat ayam?
Adegan tersebut tidak kelihatan lagi, biarpun PKR kini ditimpa nasib yang sama - permit Suara Keadilan tidak diperbaharui. Tindakan protes agak hangat sebermulanya, apabila PKR mengambil langkah untuk menerbitkan lidah partinya dalam bentuk edisi tidak berkala, bermula dengan Keadilan (12 Julai 2010), Obor Keadilan (19 Julai 2010), Sinar Keadilan (26 Julai 2010), Utusan Keadilan (2 Ogos 2010), Berita Keadilan (9 Ogos 2010) dan kemudiannya berhenti di Metro Keadilan (16 Ogos 2010).
"Saya rasa ini sedang diperjuangkan..." Syed Husin Ali, Timbalan Presiden PKR cuba mempertahankan partinya, dalam satu wawancara bersama MerdekaReview, yang diadakan di pejabatnya, semalam.
Jawapan beliau ditemukan dengan soalan susulan, "Tetapi mengapa ia diberhentikan?"
"Ada perubahan dalam Suara Keadilan..." Beliau akhirnya mengakur, menceritakan bagaimana organ parti ini diambil alih oleh "golongan yang dianggap profesional", dari tangan "orang yang bersemangat tetapi dianggap tidak profesional".
Pengambil-alihan ini berlaku selepas tsunami politik, apabila PKR dilambung dengan harapan tinggi daripada rakyat. Babak ini menyaksikan bagaimana Zunar, Ketua Pengarang dengan kakitangannya dalam Suara Keadilan, terpaksa memberi laluan kepada pasukan editorial baru.
"Test (ujian) yang pertama ialah golongan profesional ini, misalnya kali pertama, dua tahun lalu, (Suara Keadilan) dihentikan, (selepas tsunami), sudah dihentikan. Suara Keadilan tak ada permit, mereka berundur. Yang profesional takut."
Syed Husin Ali (gambar kiri) menyambung, "Dan saya kata waktu itu, keluarkan (terbitkan), buat atas nama saya. Dan mereka teruskan. Tapi yang meneruskan ialah golongan yang bersemangat dan berani itu. Tetapi, apabila golongan yang profesional ini mengambil alih, walaupun saya katakan nama permit tu nama saya, saya ambil tanggungjawab, tapi mereka kurang berani."
Profesional tetapi tak berani?
Di sini ia memperlihatkan satu perubahan dalam sikap, yang berlaku di kalangan anggota mahupun pimpinan parti. Syed Husin Ali mengakuinya, "Tapi, itu tak bererti terus mengalah begitu sahaja. Sebab sekarang, salah satu sebab, golongan profesional ini dia memikirkan soal kewangan, untung-rugi, kan? Dan bila tak ada wang, dia tak berani nak keluarkan."
Apakah fenomena ini membimbangkan Timbalan Presiden, yang bakal berundur? "Ada, ada kemungkinannya nilai-nilai kebendaan dan kewangan mendominasi dalam parti. Kebimbangan itu ada. Ini bukan masalah parti. Ini masalah seluruh masyarakat. Seluruh dunia. Dan sangat susah untuk kita menongkah arus... Orang yang bodoh-bodoh macam saya sahaja..."
Beliau ketawa bersama wartawan, untuk jawapan yang tidak perlu dijelaskan lagi. Tetapi, bukankah ia satu sindiran yang sinis, apabila PKR mampu mengharungi rintangan ini pada zaman yang paling sukar buat partinya, tetapi kini dengan segala syarat atau kelebihan yang ada, misalnya kuasa kerajaan negeri, bilangan wakil rakyat yang bertambah, ia pula senang mengalah?
Syed Husin Ali terpaksa mengakuinya, sambil meluahkan apa yang terpendam, "Ini satu fenomena yang kurang baik, kerana lebih sibuk sekarang ini dengan soal-soal kerajaan, dengan soal jadi wakil rakyat, dengan soal jadi ADUN, daripada memikirkan kerja-kerja dan sumbangan terhadap rakyat."
Melihat kepada senario ini, mungkin ada yang menganggap teguran ahli politik veteran ini masih diperlukan dalam PKR. Tetapi, secara terus-terang beliau berkata, "Walaupun saya berada di situ, ataupun tak ada di situ, perkara ini akan berlaku..."
Peranan Soh Chee Wen
Jelas, sesuatu yang "tidak kena" berlaku dalam PKR itu sendiri. Kemasukan "golongan yang dianggap profesional, tetapi tidak bersemangat" ke dalam parti selepas tsunami politik pada tahun 2008, harus diteliti. Wartawan seterusnya menyebut nama "Soh Chee Wen", yang dibangkitkan oleh Zaid Ibrahim secara terbuka baru-baru ini dalam kenyataannya.
Soalannnya berbunyi, "Sejauh manakah peranan Soh Chee Wen (gambar kanan) dalam parti?"
"Sekarang tak ada," jawab Syed Husin Ali.
"Dulu ada?" tanya wartawan.
"Dulu ada, dari segi kewangan..." Syed Husin Ali jelas teragu-ragu, mungkin dikhuatiri sama ada dirinya membongkar rahsia parti, yang sebenarnya sudah menjadi rahsia terbuka.
"Sekarang tak ada. Sekarang tidak boleh lagi." Apabila wartawan mendesak, beliau dengan lantas menjawab, "Saya tidak tahu". Bagaimanapun, akhirnya beliau memberi bayangan, "Baca Free Malaysia Today, kaji siapa di belakangnya... Adakah ia menganggap parti sebagai kawan, atau lawan?"
Namun, jelas Syed Husin Ali terusik dengan kenyataan Zaid Ibrahim, Pengerusi Majlis Pimpinan PKR Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, yang mempersoalkan, bukankah Soh Chee Wen sahabat Anwar? 【Siapakah '"Musuh Parti" dalam PKR?】
"Saya akan kata, satu waktu dulu..." Syed Husin Ali menjelaskan, "Anwar (gambar kanan) pun sahabat baik dengan ramai orang yang telah keluar daripada parti. Sama ada anggota parlimen, ataupun orang yang pernah aktif dalam parti. Tetapi bila mengambil satu sikap yang tertentu, takkan boleh katakan mereka tu bekerjasama ataupun sepandangan."
"Sudah berubah, sudah berubah..." Demikianlah yang diulangi oleh ahli politik yang berusia 74 tahun ini. Beliau menambah, perhubungan antara orang dengan keadaan sentiasa berubah dalam politik, sehingga orang mengatakan "tiada yang tetap dalam politik".
"Maka tak usahlah dibangkitkan bahawa hubungan mereka yang baik seketika dahulu, apabila keadaan sudah berubah sekarang," kata Syed Husin Ali.
Soh Chee Wen dikatakan memainkan peranan yang aktif seketika dahulu di ibu pejabat PKR. Bagaimanapun, beliau kini telah meninggalkan pejabatnya, kebetulan tidak lama selepas bekas Setiausaha Agung, Salehuddin Hashim meletak jawatan.
Soh Chee Wen, bekas pemimpin yang berkecimpung di antara dunia politik dan korporat, terkenal sebagai orang kanan Ling Liong Sik ketika Ling menerajui pimpinan MCA. Namun, hubungan Soh Chee Wen dengan Ling Liong Sik menjadi tegang semasa kemelut ekonomi pada tahun 1997, malah Soh melarikan diri ke luar negara setelah disabit dengan tuduhan jenayah komersial.
"Dana sumbangan" merupakan sesuatu yang lumrah dalam operasi parti politik. Dalam dunia realiti, udang tetap akan bersembunyi di sebalik batu. Dana sumbangan tidak datang secara percuma.
"Ada, " Syed Husin Ali cuba menafikan, menjelaskan bahawa "ada yang menderma dan tidak begitu demanding (permintaan yang banyak)". Beliau menambah, tanpa merujuk kepada siapa-siapa, "Dia (penyumbang dana politik) tidak boleh menggunakan wang sebagai leverage (pengaruh) untuk menentukan dasar."
"Mana-mana parti politik tidak akan keberatan untuk menerima sumbangan yang ikhlas, tetapi bukan dikenakan syarat, misalnya siapa yang hendak diangkat (menjadi pimpinan), rancangan apa yang dijalankan, atau dasar apa yang perlu dilaksanakan..." tegas beliau.
Sementara mengalu-alukan sokongan kebendaan dan moral, Syed Husin Ali berterus-terang, "Sebenarnya parti tidak seharusnya bergantung kepada orang-orang tertentu. Sama ada dari segi kewangan ataupun dari segi organisasi. Ataupun dari segi politik. Tak boleh. Bahkan parti tak boleh bergantung hanya pada Anwar."
"Parti harus bergantung kepada organisasi, dasar dan sebagainya..." tegas Syed husin Ali. (Bahagian pertama, bersambung)
Thursday, September 16, 2010
More media guidelines? NO< YOU DON'T NEED THEM!
JUST IMLEMENT THE PRESENT LAW AND REGULATIONS CONSISTENTLY WITHOUT ANY BIAS TOWARDS ANY POLTICAL PARTIES.
No double standards, even triple standards, ONE for Utusan Malaysia and its UMNO ilks, one for The Star and MCA-linked papers, and yet another for what is deemed Oppositionleanig media, both old and new.
In fact, Desi proposes that it's time for the federal Government to repeal the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984; also introduce a Freedom of Information Act that is now being enacted by the Selangor State government. Yes, BIG brother of 53 years can learn from junior of two years old.
The Malaysian Mirror reports:
Home Ministry: Media editors to get new guidelines
Share
Wednesday, 15 September 2010 19:49
lee-che-leong-newspaperPETALING JAYA – The Home Ministry will be drafting new guidelines to ensure that editors understand and are better informed of their roles and responsibilities.
This will be a more comprehensive and up-to-date set of publication guidelines for the media, said Deputy Home Minister Lee Chee Leong in a statement here Wednesday.
He said there would be a clearer definition of the rules and regulations of the publishing permit and the provisions under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
"Such changes will ensure that editors perform their roles better and issues that can affect the country's stability can be overcome at an early stage," he said.
According to him, the guidelines came about following the recent tendency among newspapers to sensationalise news reports, and feature stories and readers' letters that touched on sensitive issues, without considering the effects and consequences to public security and peace.
"The approach by some editors who made racial and religious issues as the basis of their debates and disputes has created unrest and worries among the rakyat.
"If such a situation continues, it will only disturb racial and religious disharmony in the country and affect public security," he said.
He said the attitude of some editors, who were insensitive to the people's reaction towards their publications, especially those that had caused social, religious and racial tension, was most regrettable.
"Editors need to realise that they must return to responsible journalism to ensure the national agenda's success, and play their role in maintaining stability and harmony in the country.
"Even when the Government aims to be open-minded, the freedom given all this while is not appreciated but has caused worries instead among majority of the rakyat," he said.
Lee said the ministry had called up these editors by stages and it would evaluate the insensitive and irresponsible publications.
"With the new guidelines, I hope the ministry can prevent cases involving editors who purposely create tension and worries among people in this multiracial, multi-religion and multi-cultural society," he said.
No double standards, even triple standards, ONE for Utusan Malaysia and its UMNO ilks, one for The Star and MCA-linked papers, and yet another for what is deemed Oppositionleanig media, both old and new.
In fact, Desi proposes that it's time for the federal Government to repeal the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984; also introduce a Freedom of Information Act that is now being enacted by the Selangor State government. Yes, BIG brother of 53 years can learn from junior of two years old.
The Malaysian Mirror reports:
Home Ministry: Media editors to get new guidelines
Share
Wednesday, 15 September 2010 19:49
lee-che-leong-newspaperPETALING JAYA – The Home Ministry will be drafting new guidelines to ensure that editors understand and are better informed of their roles and responsibilities.
This will be a more comprehensive and up-to-date set of publication guidelines for the media, said Deputy Home Minister Lee Chee Leong in a statement here Wednesday.
He said there would be a clearer definition of the rules and regulations of the publishing permit and the provisions under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
"Such changes will ensure that editors perform their roles better and issues that can affect the country's stability can be overcome at an early stage," he said.
According to him, the guidelines came about following the recent tendency among newspapers to sensationalise news reports, and feature stories and readers' letters that touched on sensitive issues, without considering the effects and consequences to public security and peace.
"The approach by some editors who made racial and religious issues as the basis of their debates and disputes has created unrest and worries among the rakyat.
"If such a situation continues, it will only disturb racial and religious disharmony in the country and affect public security," he said.
He said the attitude of some editors, who were insensitive to the people's reaction towards their publications, especially those that had caused social, religious and racial tension, was most regrettable.
"Editors need to realise that they must return to responsible journalism to ensure the national agenda's success, and play their role in maintaining stability and harmony in the country.
"Even when the Government aims to be open-minded, the freedom given all this while is not appreciated but has caused worries instead among majority of the rakyat," he said.
Lee said the ministry had called up these editors by stages and it would evaluate the insensitive and irresponsible publications.
"With the new guidelines, I hope the ministry can prevent cases involving editors who purposely create tension and worries among people in this multiracial, multi-religion and multi-cultural society," he said.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Second Anniversary of an Event Many Have Forgotten?
I just watched CCTV 2.00pm news, and an event that could have slipped many people's memory was that which started the greatest financial meltdown in the United Sates since the 1920s -- that infamous day saw the more than 150=year-old LEHMAN BROTHERS being declared a bankrupt, unleashing a slew of more crises besetting the "Titanics" of American corporate sinkings that could not have entered therealms of possibility in any banker's mindscape until it happened. Today September 15 marked its second anniversary, and the US government resorted to a key feature well used by Malaysia's Dr Mahathir Mohamad, BIG BROTHER to the resucue with financial bailouts.
Yes, a blaiout announced within months of the collapse of LB amounting to US700billion, accompanied by two stimulus packages totalling US1trillion (NOTE: One trillion is 1 followed by 12 zeroes.) I can visualise that "famous" smirk ofn the former PM's face that is his trademark without the expressed "There,I am now vindicated!"
History will have to be the finalarbiter of Mahathir's many initiatives -- and Desi humbly suggests that there are potentially a dozen PhD theses to be won just based on Mahathirian Ecoomics -- will Petronas sponsor Desiderata woth USD1million for the next two years?
I "goggled" and randomly picked up a then relevant item now about two years old to put the topic in context, so here/hear!:)
************************************************
Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, the Bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - Its Impact on You
69
rate or flag this pageTweet this
By successhub
It's a Huge Mistake to Take Lightly What is Happening in the United States Economy
The potential failures of such companies as Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual are in the financial headlines this week. The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is now official. This is the most massive federal bailout in history.
I think that few people in this country understand how dire the situation is with the U.S. economy today. The total of our government's current liability and unfunded entitlement programs is more than $53 trillion. This equates to more than $450,000 per American household.
A few weeks ago I wrote an article on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout. If anything, I probably understated the gravity of the situation. In the article, I spoke of the hyper-inflation we will experience over the next several years because of this bailout. This will hurt us all, but especially those who are approaching retirement age or who have already retired.
I feel that the U.S. economy is currently in a recession despite what our government officials say. I feel that we are in for a long period of sluggish growth at best. We will not come out of this mess for a long time.
What Does This Mean for You?
In addition to a long period of significant inflation, it will most likely cause major problems for many of our country's corporations. Business will be slow resulting in massive lay-offs for many good people. In the past, companies have targeted higher paid employees, especially those in their 50s and 60s for these lay-offs. New jobs will be hard to find. Our federal taxes will most likely increase.
I don't want to sound like an alarmist. I think that most people feel that everything will be ok now that the government has moved in and bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, this will cause major problems for our government, for us, our children, and our grandchildren.
Who is to Blame for the Mess We are in?
Who is to blame for the financial problems related to the mortgage meltdown, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, AIG and Washington Mutual. The blame is placed on the abnormally low interest rates and massive credit availability instituted by Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve.
Blame should be placed on regulators who are responsible for overseeing the mortgage industry and the use of derivatives.
Blame should also be placed on President Bush and all of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats. They should have known what was happening and apparently chose to ignore it since it resulted in growth in the economy. On the other hand, if they didn't understand what was happening, that's pretty scary. Several years ago, people I work with were already talking about the serious consequences of the Fed's actions.
Blame also falls on the greed factor - those who loaned the money for home purchases and those who borrowed it. This includes banks, mortgage companies, and other credit institutions who recklessly loaned money to borrowers who could not afford the homes they were buying.
The greed factor also relates to home buyers. Many knew what they were doing and were in it just to make money as home prices appreciated.
Others didn't know what they were doing. Their emotions of joy and excitement of owning a home or a larger home overwhelmed their responsibility to do their due diligence - to evaluate the pros and cons of making such a large purchase.
I do feel somewhat sorry for that group of people. At the same time, I think that this is a lesson for everyone. We just cannot take lightly a purchase of this magnitude, certainly the purchase of a house.
Who Will Pay for the Greed of the Risk Takers?
What really makes me upset is that the federal government is trying to bail out many of these risk takers. This is sending the wrong message to U.S. citizens and is completely unfair.
Who is going to pay for all of this bailout? It is you and I. We didn't go out and buy homes beyond our means. We may have been tempted but logic prevailed.
You're probably like me. I hate seeing the value of my home go down. But when home prices reach a bottom, the prices of our homes will still probably be far higher than when this price appreciation began.
Many areas of our country did not participate in this home price appreciation event. But yet they suffer from the greed and stupid decisions made by credit institutions and borrowers in other parts of the country. They will experience inflation, higher taxes, and a slow economy like everyone else.
Here is the Action You Should Take
As I stated in my original article on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout, you can't take lightly what is happening in the U.S. economy. Many other countries will also be feeling the effect of this.
Don't just sit back and expect that everything will be ok. I strongly urge you to evaluate your current financial situation and consider the alternatives you have. If you are planning to retire, consider staying on with your company or finding another job. I have found the best way to supplement retirement income is by choosing the best network marketing business.
I wish you the very best.
Scott Hubbard has retired from 25 years as a Chief Financial Officer in Corporate America. He now enjoys teaching corporate professionals and network marketers how to apply attraction marketing online and how to generate free qualified MLM leads on the internet.
He is happy to give a free consultation for those having a serious interest in being an entrepreneur. You can reach him toll-free at 877-878-4036 or by email at Scott.Hubbard3@gmail.com. You can learn more about Scott by going to his blog at http://www.YourGuideToRetirement.com.
Yes, a blaiout announced within months of the collapse of LB amounting to US700billion, accompanied by two stimulus packages totalling US1trillion (NOTE: One trillion is 1 followed by 12 zeroes.) I can visualise that "famous" smirk ofn the former PM's face that is his trademark without the expressed "There,I am now vindicated!"
History will have to be the finalarbiter of Mahathir's many initiatives -- and Desi humbly suggests that there are potentially a dozen PhD theses to be won just based on Mahathirian Ecoomics -- will Petronas sponsor Desiderata woth USD1million for the next two years?
I "goggled" and randomly picked up a then relevant item now about two years old to put the topic in context, so here/hear!:)
************************************************
Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, the Bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - Its Impact on You
69
rate or flag this pageTweet this
By successhub
It's a Huge Mistake to Take Lightly What is Happening in the United States Economy
The potential failures of such companies as Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual are in the financial headlines this week. The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is now official. This is the most massive federal bailout in history.
I think that few people in this country understand how dire the situation is with the U.S. economy today. The total of our government's current liability and unfunded entitlement programs is more than $53 trillion. This equates to more than $450,000 per American household.
A few weeks ago I wrote an article on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout. If anything, I probably understated the gravity of the situation. In the article, I spoke of the hyper-inflation we will experience over the next several years because of this bailout. This will hurt us all, but especially those who are approaching retirement age or who have already retired.
I feel that the U.S. economy is currently in a recession despite what our government officials say. I feel that we are in for a long period of sluggish growth at best. We will not come out of this mess for a long time.
What Does This Mean for You?
In addition to a long period of significant inflation, it will most likely cause major problems for many of our country's corporations. Business will be slow resulting in massive lay-offs for many good people. In the past, companies have targeted higher paid employees, especially those in their 50s and 60s for these lay-offs. New jobs will be hard to find. Our federal taxes will most likely increase.
I don't want to sound like an alarmist. I think that most people feel that everything will be ok now that the government has moved in and bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, this will cause major problems for our government, for us, our children, and our grandchildren.
Who is to Blame for the Mess We are in?
Who is to blame for the financial problems related to the mortgage meltdown, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers, AIG and Washington Mutual. The blame is placed on the abnormally low interest rates and massive credit availability instituted by Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve.
Blame should be placed on regulators who are responsible for overseeing the mortgage industry and the use of derivatives.
Blame should also be placed on President Bush and all of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats. They should have known what was happening and apparently chose to ignore it since it resulted in growth in the economy. On the other hand, if they didn't understand what was happening, that's pretty scary. Several years ago, people I work with were already talking about the serious consequences of the Fed's actions.
Blame also falls on the greed factor - those who loaned the money for home purchases and those who borrowed it. This includes banks, mortgage companies, and other credit institutions who recklessly loaned money to borrowers who could not afford the homes they were buying.
The greed factor also relates to home buyers. Many knew what they were doing and were in it just to make money as home prices appreciated.
Others didn't know what they were doing. Their emotions of joy and excitement of owning a home or a larger home overwhelmed their responsibility to do their due diligence - to evaluate the pros and cons of making such a large purchase.
I do feel somewhat sorry for that group of people. At the same time, I think that this is a lesson for everyone. We just cannot take lightly a purchase of this magnitude, certainly the purchase of a house.
Who Will Pay for the Greed of the Risk Takers?
What really makes me upset is that the federal government is trying to bail out many of these risk takers. This is sending the wrong message to U.S. citizens and is completely unfair.
Who is going to pay for all of this bailout? It is you and I. We didn't go out and buy homes beyond our means. We may have been tempted but logic prevailed.
You're probably like me. I hate seeing the value of my home go down. But when home prices reach a bottom, the prices of our homes will still probably be far higher than when this price appreciation began.
Many areas of our country did not participate in this home price appreciation event. But yet they suffer from the greed and stupid decisions made by credit institutions and borrowers in other parts of the country. They will experience inflation, higher taxes, and a slow economy like everyone else.
Here is the Action You Should Take
As I stated in my original article on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout, you can't take lightly what is happening in the U.S. economy. Many other countries will also be feeling the effect of this.
Don't just sit back and expect that everything will be ok. I strongly urge you to evaluate your current financial situation and consider the alternatives you have. If you are planning to retire, consider staying on with your company or finding another job. I have found the best way to supplement retirement income is by choosing the best network marketing business.
I wish you the very best.
Scott Hubbard has retired from 25 years as a Chief Financial Officer in Corporate America. He now enjoys teaching corporate professionals and network marketers how to apply attraction marketing online and how to generate free qualified MLM leads on the internet.
He is happy to give a free consultation for those having a serious interest in being an entrepreneur. You can reach him toll-free at 877-878-4036 or by email at Scott.Hubbard3@gmail.com. You can learn more about Scott by going to his blog at http://www.YourGuideToRetirement.com.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
RPK even in exile is hounded by the authorities...
During this Merdeka season enhanced by Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations, Malaysians must pause and ponder WHY CERTAIN MALAYSIANS ARE BEING HOUNDED BY THE AUTHORITIES, and THEIR FREEDOM TO SPEAK OUT ARE BEING MUZZLED.
Let's pray for Raja Petra Kamarudin and his family, at home or abroad, as they continue to be icons to all God-fearing Malaysians to stand up and be counted -- above race, religion and gender. Najib Tun Razak's 1Malaysia will remain an empty slogan if law-abiding citizens need to go abroad to "feel safe and secure". In Malaysia, the Home Ministry sometimes uses the ISA to seize Malaysians to put them in detention "to secure their security", in the words of the minister concerned; yes, he's very concerned over a journalist's safety while carrying out her duties.
I hope he shows some sincerity during this festive season of goodwill and independence! ~~ YL, Desi, knottyaSsusual, but seriously spreading the message for a better Mlaysia going into its 54th year of trying to find its own feet, quite misguided by 53 years of BN rule/misrule...
From the malaysia-chronicle.com web portal:
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Fears about RPK's safety as attacks on Malaysia Today continue
RPK, a two-time ISA detaineenow lives in London
Malaysia Chronicle
It has been nearly a week now but the attacks against Malaysia’s most popular political blog run by the controversial Raja Petra Kamaruddin are continuing unabated, raising eyebrows and concern about his safety and his family's.
“Why is there such a concerted effort to shut up RPK? What information does he have that is so ‘sensitive’ that some people are willing to spend a fortune to just keep it away from the Malaysian public and the world at large?” PKR strategic director Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.
“It is time to take stock of what is happening at Malaysia Today. There is more than meets the eye. We also feel concern for his safety but we hope RPK will not give up the fight because corruption is the biggest threat now. There is indeed a group of people draining huge sums from Malaysia and the rakyat are going to end up with nothing if the information is kept hidden.”
Sucked dry by unparalleled corruption
With his wife Marina
Indeed, it may be silly and also futile to keep blocking Malaysia Today. Already, there are calls for RPK to start in the interim an online magazine in the style of Sarawak Report to expose all the dirt and corruption of the ruling elite.
The 60-year RPK went to school at the famous Malay College Kuala Kangsar and rubbed shoulders with many of Malaysia’s leading politicians and civil servants. His network of top-level contacts in the government is vast and there is also no shortage of whistle-blowers who send tips to Malaysia Today, which has been around for 10 years now.
In the weeks leading to the attacks, RPK had begun unraveling the financial debacle at national airline MAS, supplying and explaining the details contained in a 7-page report MAS managers had lodged with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
And when he began naming the people involved in the RM8 billion in losses racked up by former chairman Tajudin Ramli, it must have raised a huge panic in Prime Minister Najib Razak’s administration.
RPK blew the whistle not only on former premier Mahathir Mohamad but also his successor Abdullah Badawi – whom Malaysians had at one time thought of as ‘Mr Clean’.
Malaysia's ruling elite - Najib, Mahathir, Abdullah
RPK also exposed Najib’s “new cash cow” – the national railway firm and how the PM may renege on a Letter of Intent granted by the previous administrations to China Railway Engineering Corp and extend a fresh one to China Harbor Engineering Corp. A new deal would of course imply new negotiations and new benefits for Najib. His close ties with corporate bigwig Tan Kay Hock, the boss at Johan Holdings, was also revealed.
The amounts mentioned are enormous but few Malaysians doubt RPK or think he is exaggerating. MAS' RM8 billion in losses are already on record. The staggering red ink offers a good clue as to why resource-rich Malaysia can face bankruptcy by 2019, and why the government has to go back to the masses for more money by jacking up the prices of consumer essentials.
Tajudin was chairman at MAS from 1994 to 2001. The MAS case is no less shocking than the Port Klang Free Zone financial scandal. PKFZ will be returning to the spotlight soon with several top Umno leaders due to be charged. One of them is believed for be former Selangor Mentri Besar Muhammad Muhammad Taib, with whom RPK had a run-in with in 2007.
Related Stories:
Special MCMC team to handle web threats to security :Rais ...
Pakatan accuses gov't of reneging on its promise to keep off Net...
Bid intensifies to keep graft documents secret, RPK under attack...
Najib's new cash cow
Attention swivels from racial politicking to national plunder..
Illegal arms, Umno Youth paramilitary training : Najib must explain...
Unknown forces block Malaysia Today from huge graft scandal...
The story that got Raja Petra blocked: MAS-Tajudin-Umno...
Even from Sarawak’s sewers – Taib can dig RM78 million ...
Readers shun newspapers for Internet and scandal sheets...
MANDARIN Is Najib, Umno mulling using force to stay in power...
Illegal arms: Is Najib, Umno mulling using force to stay in power...
Why is BN buying pistols, grenades from underground sources ...
Umno-Perkasa fight: More phony, manipulative politics ...
Tajudin's RM500mil suit against MAS a sign of a brokered deal? ...
Was RPK's Malaysia Today hacked because of Tajudin Ramli...
Another blot on MCA, Soi Lek: 988's Jamaluddin, CEO sacked...
MAS's RM8bil losses: Badawi, Dr M, Daim shielded Tajudin...
Mahathir and Badawi in 2 separate abuse-of-power cases..
Tajudin Ramli back in the spotlight over MAS' RM8bil losses VIDEO RM8bil losses in MAS, who is protecting Tajudin Ramli... The NEP and the rich Chinaman - time for the Malays to wise up A Saga of Corruption Ignored: Tajudin escapes, not his accusers... Ex-chairman Tajudin counterclaims RM500mil from MAS...
Let's pray for Raja Petra Kamarudin and his family, at home or abroad, as they continue to be icons to all God-fearing Malaysians to stand up and be counted -- above race, religion and gender. Najib Tun Razak's 1Malaysia will remain an empty slogan if law-abiding citizens need to go abroad to "feel safe and secure". In Malaysia, the Home Ministry sometimes uses the ISA to seize Malaysians to put them in detention "to secure their security", in the words of the minister concerned; yes, he's very concerned over a journalist's safety while carrying out her duties.
I hope he shows some sincerity during this festive season of goodwill and independence! ~~ YL, Desi, knottyaSsusual, but seriously spreading the message for a better Mlaysia going into its 54th year of trying to find its own feet, quite misguided by 53 years of BN rule/misrule...
From the malaysia-chronicle.com web portal:
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Fears about RPK's safety as attacks on Malaysia Today continue
RPK, a two-time ISA detaineenow lives in London
Malaysia Chronicle
It has been nearly a week now but the attacks against Malaysia’s most popular political blog run by the controversial Raja Petra Kamaruddin are continuing unabated, raising eyebrows and concern about his safety and his family's.
“Why is there such a concerted effort to shut up RPK? What information does he have that is so ‘sensitive’ that some people are willing to spend a fortune to just keep it away from the Malaysian public and the world at large?” PKR strategic director Tian Chua told Malaysia Chronicle.
“It is time to take stock of what is happening at Malaysia Today. There is more than meets the eye. We also feel concern for his safety but we hope RPK will not give up the fight because corruption is the biggest threat now. There is indeed a group of people draining huge sums from Malaysia and the rakyat are going to end up with nothing if the information is kept hidden.”
Sucked dry by unparalleled corruption
With his wife Marina
Indeed, it may be silly and also futile to keep blocking Malaysia Today. Already, there are calls for RPK to start in the interim an online magazine in the style of Sarawak Report to expose all the dirt and corruption of the ruling elite.
The 60-year RPK went to school at the famous Malay College Kuala Kangsar and rubbed shoulders with many of Malaysia’s leading politicians and civil servants. His network of top-level contacts in the government is vast and there is also no shortage of whistle-blowers who send tips to Malaysia Today, which has been around for 10 years now.
In the weeks leading to the attacks, RPK had begun unraveling the financial debacle at national airline MAS, supplying and explaining the details contained in a 7-page report MAS managers had lodged with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.
And when he began naming the people involved in the RM8 billion in losses racked up by former chairman Tajudin Ramli, it must have raised a huge panic in Prime Minister Najib Razak’s administration.
RPK blew the whistle not only on former premier Mahathir Mohamad but also his successor Abdullah Badawi – whom Malaysians had at one time thought of as ‘Mr Clean’.
Malaysia's ruling elite - Najib, Mahathir, Abdullah
RPK also exposed Najib’s “new cash cow” – the national railway firm and how the PM may renege on a Letter of Intent granted by the previous administrations to China Railway Engineering Corp and extend a fresh one to China Harbor Engineering Corp. A new deal would of course imply new negotiations and new benefits for Najib. His close ties with corporate bigwig Tan Kay Hock, the boss at Johan Holdings, was also revealed.
The amounts mentioned are enormous but few Malaysians doubt RPK or think he is exaggerating. MAS' RM8 billion in losses are already on record. The staggering red ink offers a good clue as to why resource-rich Malaysia can face bankruptcy by 2019, and why the government has to go back to the masses for more money by jacking up the prices of consumer essentials.
Tajudin was chairman at MAS from 1994 to 2001. The MAS case is no less shocking than the Port Klang Free Zone financial scandal. PKFZ will be returning to the spotlight soon with several top Umno leaders due to be charged. One of them is believed for be former Selangor Mentri Besar Muhammad Muhammad Taib, with whom RPK had a run-in with in 2007.
Related Stories:
Special MCMC team to handle web threats to security :Rais ...
Pakatan accuses gov't of reneging on its promise to keep off Net...
Bid intensifies to keep graft documents secret, RPK under attack...
Najib's new cash cow
Attention swivels from racial politicking to national plunder..
Illegal arms, Umno Youth paramilitary training : Najib must explain...
Unknown forces block Malaysia Today from huge graft scandal...
The story that got Raja Petra blocked: MAS-Tajudin-Umno...
Even from Sarawak’s sewers – Taib can dig RM78 million ...
Readers shun newspapers for Internet and scandal sheets...
MANDARIN Is Najib, Umno mulling using force to stay in power...
Illegal arms: Is Najib, Umno mulling using force to stay in power...
Why is BN buying pistols, grenades from underground sources ...
Umno-Perkasa fight: More phony, manipulative politics ...
Tajudin's RM500mil suit against MAS a sign of a brokered deal? ...
Was RPK's Malaysia Today hacked because of Tajudin Ramli...
Another blot on MCA, Soi Lek: 988's Jamaluddin, CEO sacked...
MAS's RM8bil losses: Badawi, Dr M, Daim shielded Tajudin...
Mahathir and Badawi in 2 separate abuse-of-power cases..
Tajudin Ramli back in the spotlight over MAS' RM8bil losses VIDEO RM8bil losses in MAS, who is protecting Tajudin Ramli... The NEP and the rich Chinaman - time for the Malays to wise up A Saga of Corruption Ignored: Tajudin escapes, not his accusers... Ex-chairman Tajudin counterclaims RM500mil from MAS...
Friday, September 10, 2010
Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri!
On this aupicious day for all practising Muslims and followers of the Islam faith, Desi send best wishes for a Happy Hari Raya, eat, drink and be merry n a aresponsible and fun way. Just keep your two feet planted firmly on Mother GOoD Earth, and things be be alright for everybody.
Cheers, dink one more tehtarik on Desi's good health, rut bir on YL's pampered capitalistic wickedend from tomorrow,but report back to the office on Monday, will ya!
~~ Desi,knottyaSsusual
From malaysia-chronicle.com cometh a sombre but sane voice of REASON from the Vatican against that bastard of a priest calling for burning of the Koran: Desi seldom uses harsh words like bastard, but what the Hell, even Buddha is said to have a limit to his tolerance!
This Blog
Linked From Here
This Blog
Linked From Here
Friday, September 10, 2010
Vatican calls proposed Koran burning `Outrageous and Grave'
Rev. Terry Jones' disgraceful plan
(Bloomberg) - The Vatican condemned a Florida pastor’s plan to burn Korans on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said burning the Islamic holy book is a “disgraceful plan.”
The terrorist attacks “cannot be counteracted by an outrageous and grave gesture against a book considered sacred by a religious community,” the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue said today in an e-mailed statement. Every religion “has the right to respect and protection.”
Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, told CNN yesterday that he’s “weighing” what to do after U.S. General David Petraeus, commander of international coalition forces in Afghanistan, warned the event would endanger U.S. troops. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs yesterday echoed the general’s warning, saying the Koran burning would put U.S. troops “in harm’s way.”
In a video posted on the church’s website, Jones said the event was in response to anti-American sentiment expressed by some Muslims abroad. Sept. 11 is the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York City and the Pentagon that killed almost 3,000 people.
‘Solidarity’
The anniversary calls for “deep sentiments of solidarity” with the victims of the attacks and their families, according to today’s statement from the Vatican.
“We are hoping that the pastor decides not to do this,” Clinton told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington today.
Pope Benedict XVI sparked criticism from the Muslim world after delivering a lecture at the University of Regensburg in Germany on Sept. 12, 2006. He cited a 14th-century text that described Mohamed as a prophet who brought “evil and inhuman” things, “such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”
Benedict hadn’t intended to offend Islam, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said after the lecture. The pope expressed regret twice for his comments, saying he had quoted “a medieval text” that did not “express in any way my personal opinion.”
Cheers, dink one more tehtarik on Desi's good health, rut bir on YL's pampered capitalistic wickedend from tomorrow,but report back to the office on Monday, will ya!
~~ Desi,knottyaSsusual
From malaysia-chronicle.com cometh a sombre but sane voice of REASON from the Vatican against that bastard of a priest calling for burning of the Koran: Desi seldom uses harsh words like bastard, but what the Hell, even Buddha is said to have a limit to his tolerance!
This Blog
Linked From Here
This Blog
Linked From Here
Friday, September 10, 2010
Vatican calls proposed Koran burning `Outrageous and Grave'
Rev. Terry Jones' disgraceful plan
(Bloomberg) - The Vatican condemned a Florida pastor’s plan to burn Korans on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said burning the Islamic holy book is a “disgraceful plan.”
The terrorist attacks “cannot be counteracted by an outrageous and grave gesture against a book considered sacred by a religious community,” the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue said today in an e-mailed statement. Every religion “has the right to respect and protection.”
Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, told CNN yesterday that he’s “weighing” what to do after U.S. General David Petraeus, commander of international coalition forces in Afghanistan, warned the event would endanger U.S. troops. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs yesterday echoed the general’s warning, saying the Koran burning would put U.S. troops “in harm’s way.”
In a video posted on the church’s website, Jones said the event was in response to anti-American sentiment expressed by some Muslims abroad. Sept. 11 is the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York City and the Pentagon that killed almost 3,000 people.
‘Solidarity’
The anniversary calls for “deep sentiments of solidarity” with the victims of the attacks and their families, according to today’s statement from the Vatican.
“We are hoping that the pastor decides not to do this,” Clinton told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington today.
Pope Benedict XVI sparked criticism from the Muslim world after delivering a lecture at the University of Regensburg in Germany on Sept. 12, 2006. He cited a 14th-century text that described Mohamed as a prophet who brought “evil and inhuman” things, “such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”
Benedict hadn’t intended to offend Islam, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said after the lecture. The pope expressed regret twice for his comments, saying he had quoted “a medieval text” that did not “express in any way my personal opinion.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)