Tuesday, November 29, 2016

"Keeping the Rage" on 1MDB: PART 28

Desi proudly declared his support by attending the Bersih protest on BERSIH chief Maria Chin's arrest, and I believe the nationwide protests did help in forcing the authorities to "free" her YESTERDAY (when all our troubles seen'd so far away, I used to sing wit' some Karaoke kakis in Butterfly Varrey, Furong...)after 10 days in jail, mostly under solitary confinement. Most of us supporters even in her absence organised Vigils from town to town, and Desi contributed a small share by his presence and a li'l poster and a li'l speech (see previous post...},

I focused on the daylight robbery occurring the past few years of some RM40 to 50billion (TO DATE, and still RISING!...) from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, and we all know who's the One who should be held Reesposible and Accountable, don't we? That's WHY Desi says "MO1 Bukan PM Saya! MO1 is NOT my.PrimeMinister". Note my. can stand for MAlaysia, YES!

From the ever-reliable Sarawak Report cometh this update:~~~~

Sarawak Report

chongyl2000@yahoo.com

Today at 9:06 AM

"Malaysians Underestimate The Trouble Their Country Is In" - The Economist Spells It Out Over The 1MDB Issue

29 November 2016

Tainted analysts with vested interests in managing Malaysia’s corruption, like the ‘Asia Wealth Management’ boss for the bank UBS, have been putting themselves about the media in recent days, trying to talk up the ringgit.

But, it isn’t working. Excuses are being made for the continuing decline of the currency, such as ‘The Trump Effect’, when everyone knows the real problem is ‘The Najib/1MDB Effect’.

For the past fortnight the true dire state of the ringgit has been disguised by Najib’s tame new Central Bank Governor, who has been wasting the country’s reserves by throwing huge sums at buying up the currency, which everyone else is sensibly getting out of.

He has made it fundamentally worse by lecturing banks that they must stop the frantic selling, thereby proving the desperate nature of the crisis.

The fact of the matter is that no one wants to invest in a country which is run by a coven of criminals, who are locking up people left, right and centre in an arbitrary fashion for complaining that the rule of law is not being upheld.

No one wants to invest in a country where all respectable people from all sides of the political divide have been forced to unite in condemnation of a thief Prime Minister, who refuses to quit office.

It is particularly telling for observers of Malaysia that this is a country where it remains possible for a man to remain in office, despite having been exposed as a kleptocrat billionaire – who on earth can consider their money safe under the jurisdiction of such a man and his bought and corrupted cohorts, who are making up the rules as they go along to slap down anyone who points out the truth?

Because the UMNO leadership control the local media, these goons are still living in a mental bubble, telling themselves that they can keep up their crackdown and eventually obedience and order will reassert itself in their favour. But, this is not Operation Lalang, not least because Mahathir was competent and everyone can see that Najib is not.

Najib may succeed in continuing to hold on to power by attacking protestors, locking up the opposition, encouraging extremism and violence and then cheating the election, but the price will be a tumbling ringgit and poverty for all. Malaysians are used to a better life and they will not thank UMNO for this.

Hard copy version

See the leader below in the UK’s respected ECONOMIST magazine – followed by its financial comment:

Malaysians underestimate the damage caused by the 1MDB scandal

Nov 26th 2016

FORTY thousand people wearing yellow shirts gathered in Malaysia’s capital on November 19th, to protest against corruption and impunity in government. The rally was orderly and restrained; the response of the authorities was not. On the eve of the protest, police arrested Maria Chin Abdullah, leader of a coalition of human-rights groups that organised the event. She was placed in solitary confinement, and can be held there for 28 days. Even by Malaysia’s dismal recent standards this marked a fresh low. Ordinary Malaysians should not stand by while their leaders undermine the rule of law so casually.

Ms Chin Abdullah’s detention was justified by an anti-terrorism law which the government had promised would never be used against political opponents. The true motivation was to stifle outrage over 1MDB, a state-owned investment firm from which billions have gone missing. In July American government investigators said they thought that $3.5bn had been taken from the firm and that hundreds of millions of dollars went to the prime minister, Najib Razak (who says he has never taken public funds for personal gain). The investigators’ findings corroborated exposés written by local and foreign journalists, who have been unravelling the saga for several years.

Elsewhere the scandal would have sparked a swift change in government. But the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) has held power for six decades and enjoys broad support from Malaysia’s ethnic-Malay majority, some of whom resent their ethnic-Chinese and Indian compatriots. The party has devised many ways to protect its leaders from internal revolts, so Mr Najib found it easy to purge critics, delay a parliamentary investigation and replace an attorney-general said to have been preparing charges against him.

No one in Malaysia has been charged over 1MDB’s missing money. But a court has handed a prison sentence to an opposition politician who frustrated efforts to hush up the affair. The editor and publisher of one of Malaysia’s last independent news organisations face jail under a rule which forbids certain content published with “intent to annoy”. A competitor closed in March after authorities ordered its website blocked.

Mr Najib’s party is carelessly widening Malaysia’s ethnic and religious splits. Seeking to bolster support among conservative Malay Muslims, it is toying with a proposal to intensify the whippings which may be meted out by sharia courts. It has failed properly to condemn pro-government gangs that last year menacingly gathered in a Chinese part of the capital. Their leaders paint ethnic Malays as victims of sinister conspiracies—dangerous rumour-mongering in a country where politics is still defined by the racial violence of the 1960s.

Easily broken, hard to fix

Until now foreign investors have been fairly sanguine about the economy. But they are growing rattled. The ringgit has depreciated faster than other emerging-market currencies (see article). Last week the authorities asked foreign banks to stop some ringgit trading abroad, raising fears of harsher controls.

Rural ethnic Malays, a crucial constituency, feel that the scandal is a remote affair. Even some educated urbanites still favour Mr Najib’s government over the opposition, underestimating the damage being done by the scandal. If change is to come, the disparate opposition needs to do a better job of winning such people over; its fractious parties must overcome their divisions and present a plausible candidate to replace Mr Najib in a general election that could be held as soon as next year. Malaysia has always been an imperfect democracy, but the rot eating at its institutions is harming its international standing and its economic prospects alike.

Forward and backward

Malaysia’s central bank tries to stem a slide in the ringgit

The ringgit is underperforming other emerging-market currencies

Nov 26th 2016

“THERE is no new policy on capital flows. There is no proxy capital control either,” insisted Muhammad Ibrahim, governor of Malaysia’s central bank, in a dinner speech on November 18th. This echoed a similar central-bank promise 15 months ago. For those hoping to bring money in and out of Malaysia, the commitments are reassuring. The frequency with which they need reiterating is less so.

It is no secret that the central bank is worried about the sharp drop in Malaysia’s exchange rate. Like other emerging-market currencies, the ringgit has suffered from China’s slowdown in the past two years and Donald Trump’s upset victory on November 8th. But, like Malaysia’s politics, beset by lurid tales of financial malfeasance, the currency has been unusually skittish (see chart).

Mr Muhammad blames what he calls “the arbitrary and unpredictable devices of the offshore markets”. Whereas China has been keen to “internationalise” the yuan, Malaysia’s central bank has an equally determined policy of “non-internationalisation”. It prohibits the trading of ringgit assets outside of its jurisdiction.

International investors can nonetheless bet against the currency offshore, settling the bets in dollars rather than ringgit. These “non-deliverable forward” contracts (NDFs) allow foreign investors, who own over a third of Malaysia’s government bonds, to hedge their exposure to the currency. But the NDF market can also be turned to speculative ends. And this speculation, Mr Muhammad believes, is contaminating the onshore markets as well.

If the offshore side-bets all point in one, bearish, direction, the onshore markets tend to follow their lead. And foreign banks that take the other, bullish, side of these offshore trades might try to hedge by selling ringgit in the onshore market. A 2013 study of nine NDF markets by the Bank for International Settlements found that the offshore and onshore markets both influenced each other, except in Malaysia, where onshore followed off.

Malaysia’s central bank has instructed onshore institutions not to take part in the NDF market or help others to do so. Foreign banks with operations in Malaysia seem to be deferring to the central bank’s wishes, notes Stephen Innes of Oanda, a foreign-exchange broker, to preserve their good name in Malaysia. “They are not aggressively selling the ringgit right now.”

But one reason the offshore market is so spiky is because trading is thin. That illiquidity may worsen if banks retreat. And if foreign investors cannot easily hedge their exposure to the ringgit, they will be less willing to buy ringgit assets. That might leave Malaysia with a weaker currency over the long term even if it is more stable from day to day. “No one from the banks is willing to discuss the ramifications,” Mr Innes says. “I find that quite unique.” Others may find it worrying. Silencing the markets is not the same as calming them.

Desi at Vigil 4Bersih Chief Maria Chin

With ORG.C'TEE MEMBER at Dataran Seremban from 8-10pm, which attracted some 200ardent Bersih supporters. This blogger contributed 5min chatter based on d points in d poster made in a quikkie hour. Regards to awe peAce loving Malaysians who DARE TO STAND UP TO FIGHT INJUSTICE ON ALL FRONTS, yl, Desi

Saturday, November 19, 2016

Bersih5 Rally to Go On Despite Arrests: OPTIMISM IS KEY TO SUCCESS!

Desi knows the preemptive strike by the authorities against the key leaders/organisers of Bersih 5 Rally with the day before arrests may dampen some spirits, there are also other Malaysians who are more than ever determined to make sure the RALLY MUST GO ON. And occasionally we pick up a n article even in the mainstream paper, although from a COLUMNIST not on the paper's payroll, that gives HOPE,

For those making their way to the Rally, I wish thee success, take care and Saty Safe. Beware the enemy within -- THE APs or Agents Provocateur! -- YL, Desi

from thestar.com.my:~~~~~~

Nation

Home > News > Nation

DESI: Saturday, 19 November 2016 | MYT 6:51 AM

Rally to go ahead despite arrests

PETALING JAYA: Despite the arrests of Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah, secretariat manager Mandeep Singh and other activists, the planned Bersih 5 rally will go on.

Both Maria and Mandeep had sent out word that the rally should go ahead without them.

The Bersih 2.0 steering committee said the arrests of its leaders changed nothing.

“The rally will go on as planned,” it said yesterday, and urged Malaysians to join the rally to demand for institutional reforms and to protest injustices in the country.

Maria and Mandeep have been transferred to the Kuala Lumpur contingent police headquarters lock-up, and will be remanded today.

Their lawyers Eric Paulsen and Melissa Sasidaran said Maria was being held under Section 124C of the Penal Code for attempting to carry out an activity detrimental to parliamentary democracy while Mandeep was being detained under Section 147 of the Penal Code for rioting.

Both of them were picked up when the police raided the Bersih 2.0 office yesterday evening.

Bersih 2.0 media and communication officer Yap Pik Kuan said the raid was carried out at 3.15pm.

Others who were in the office then included deputy chairman Shahrul Aman, treasurer Thomas Fann, steering committee member Jay Jay Denis and advocacy officer Zoe Randhawa.

The police, she said, rounded up everyone and took their mobile phones and MyKads.

Melissa and another lawyer, R. Sivarasa, were initially allowed into the office during the raid but were later asked to leave while others, including lawyers Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, Robyn Choi and N. Surendran, were prevented from entering.

Ten laptops, pen drives, hard discs and documents, including bank statements, were seized in the two-hour raid.

TAGS / KEYWORDS:

________________________________________________

AN OPTIMISTIC ARTICLE on page 21 of the Star print edition today; yes, sometimes the MSM carries more independent OPINION pieces NOTY written by their Editors who are constrained. This columnist does offer HOPE! -- YL, Desi

Columnists

Home > Opinion > Columnists

naturalLy

Saturday, 19 November 2016

Having the audacity to hope again

BY LYANA KHAIRUDDIN

We must engage with current issues and we must fight hatred with kindness and compassion.

WHEN Bersih announced that they would hold the fifth instalment of the Bersih rally today, a part of me was relieved.

This was purely for selfish reasons, as I had been planning for the past year to hold an event which I hoped would remind Malaysians that there is strength in diversity and that Malaysia is what we ourselves make it to be, regardless of what politicians and some religious leaders tell us.

The event was held last week, thankfully allowing it not to clash with Bersih. I wish to share two comments on the event that are highlights for me.

The first came from an American woman, who was devastated that their President-elect Donald Trump is a misogynist and a racist, who told me that “in times like these, we need to be together, among beautiful people and beautiful things; to remind ourselves that there are bigger things than the politics (of hate)”.

The second actually happened when I visited The Star’s executive editor, Soo Ewe Jin. He could not attend the event due to health complications but I visited him wearing my kebaya and sarong, and showed him photos from the event.

He commented that he grew up watching the women around him in kebaya and sarong. That Malaysia was more “together” back then.

Following the news the past fortnight filled me with anxiety and concern about what the world is turning into.

While I do not have children, I do feel responsible for the kind of future that we are leaving for our future generations. More importantly, would I want to grow old in such a world?

Trump’s win in the United States demonstrated that for elections to be won, hatemongering, intolerance, unsavoury comments about women and violence are acceptable.

For voters to have chosen such a man as their leader and force upon the rest of us such a man as the leader of the free world is beyond me.

Closer to home, I had to reflect on the current events involving the Red Shirts movement. While I am for democracy and freedom of expression, the actions of the Red Shirts should be dealt with firmly by the police following existing laws.

There are similarities between the Trump campaign and what is propagated to be the Red Shirts movement. Both campaigns have no respect for women, both not only allow but encourage violence and hate, and both campaigns can be succinctly summarised according to one of the famous lines from George Orwell’s Animal Farm, “all (animals) are equal, but some are more equal than others”.

I think I am not alone in wanting a harmonious Malaysia and a country where I can live the best life I can, professionally and personally, and to be allowed to just be and live my life the way I want to. I have no political ambition, and yet I also do not believe that ignorance is bliss in this matter.

When we turn a blind eye to harassment (be it “misconstrued” comments), threats of violence (be it only silat demonstrations) and hatemongering (despite the parties crying foul and claiming that the media misquoted them) we are paving the way for such hatred to be allowed and propagated.

As a democracy, Malaysians enjoy the privilege to make our own decisions – whether to don a yellow, red, or black t-shirt, to join or abstain from the rallies or to simply be keyboard warriors.

We enjoy the privilege to completely ignore the current issues in the country and simply binge-watch episodes of Black Mirror on Netflix today and on other days.

Yet while enjoying such privileges, we must reflect on what has allowed us that privilege in the first place. Even if we are disenchanted by rallies, come the next election, we must cast our vote.

In order to be informed voters, we must engage ourselves with current issues and policies affecting our lives. We have to, in one way or another, be involved.

Whether we are for yellow or red (or black), we must live our lives with integrity. If we do not believe in hate, we must encourage love and compassion in our daily lives through simple yet profound acts.

When we feel hopeless, we must reminisce on the ideals that we believe in, in order to have the audacity to hope again. Personally, I believe in a Malaysia (and a world) that is inclusive, just and progressive.

I pray that nothing untoward will happen today. Yet, just like my American friends, even if hate “wins” – I will fight back the only way I know how, that is with kindness and compassion.

I still believe in Malaysia, and from what I witnessed last Saturday at #bringbackthekebaya – we are still very much Malaysians at heart.

I feel that what I have experienced personally acts like a vaccine against such hatred, sexism and racism that admittedly do exist in our country and the world.

In the words of the late Leonard Cohen, “There is a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in”.

The Star’s executive editor, Soo Ewe Jin, returned home to God on Thursday. His positive and loving spirit will live on. May he rest in peace.

Lyana Khairuddin is an academic with a local public university who runs to keep being optimistic about Malaysia. The views expressed here are entirely her own.

TAGS / KEYWORDS:Lyana Khairuddin , columnist

________________________________________________

At 9/46AM from The Star Online:~~~

Nation

Home > News > Nation

Saturday, 19 November 2016 | MYT 8:41 AM

Bersih 5: Live reports

KUALA LUMPUR: Supporters of both Bersih 5 and Red Shirts are arriving in large numbers for the rallies here on Saturday.

Several roads, especially those leading to Dataran Merdeka which has been barricaded, have been put out of bounds by the police.

As at 7am, police presence around Dataran Merdeka was evident as Federal Reserve Unit trucks were seen parked close to the vicinity.

Police have said some 58 roads will be closed and traffic would be diverted.

Some areas to be affected by the rallies are Brickfields (Little India), Masjid Negara and Muzium Negara; Sogo and Dataran Merdeka; Parliament House and Bank Negara; Pudu Central and Central Market; Putra World Trade Centre and Chow Kit.

On Friday, police went on a sweep, arresting 12 people, mostly activists or members of opposition parties, ahead of the rallies.

Here is a timelime of the events:

9.20am: Bangsar: The crowd of Bersih supporters gathered at the Bangsar LRT station and Dataran Maybank next door have swelled.

They can be heard chanting and singing phrases like "Selamatkan Demokrasi", "Selamatkan Malaysia", and "Bersih, Bersih!"

There are still no signs of any Red Shirts supporters in the area, and the situation has remained peaceful thus far.

Bersih supporters at Dataran Maybank in Bangsar

9.15AM: Masjid Negara: The situation at Masjid Negara remains calm and quiet. Groups of Bersih supporters are still trickling into the plaza in front of the mosque with the supporters numbering in the dozens.

Those clad in yellow Bersih t-shirts mingle at the stalls or around the central fountain. There is no sign of the Red Shirts here.

9am: Red Shirts supporters are in a group in Masjid Jamek and Jalan Melaka.

8.45am: A slightly larger crowd of ‘Yellow Shirts’ begin gathering on the other end of the Bangsar LRT station. Bersih paraphernalia is seen being sold.

8.40am: A Red Shirts leader tells the group near Masjid Jamek to not do anything until there are instructions. “Wait for instructions,” he says.

8.33am: The atmosphere outside Central Market is relatively calm, with several Bersih supporters seen around the area, many making their way to other meeting points.

There are several vendors selling Bersih t-shirts and scarves.

There is a light police presence in front of the building, but the area from the market square leading into Dataran Merdeka has been blocked by police, who have formed a line preventing access.

8.20am: Bangsar LRT: People in yellow are milling about and taking pictures as they awaited larger numbers to arrive for the rally.

Some of Bersih's supporters are also clad in purple. They represent the voluntary security unit of the rally and will be managing the crowd as they March to Dataran Merdeka later in the day.

A FRU truck was seen earlier entering the cordoned off area along Jalan Bangsar, where it parked briefly by the side of the LRT station before going on its way again.

The situation has remained peaceful so far, with most Bersih supporters either having their breakfast and sitting around.

Some were also selling scarves, T-shirts, and vuvuzelas.

7.30am: Petaling Street: Bersih protestors starting to arrive. Some seen having breakfast

6am: Dataran Merdeka: FRU teams already on standby at several locations around Dataran Merdeka. Jalan Tun Perak, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and Jalan Raja Laut cordonned off at the Dataran Merdeka section.