The list goes on for branding gurus of 1Malaysia.
This time, 1Malaysia's product extension is where you pee.
The Terengganu state government will introduce a “1Toilet” policy in a move to liberalise education, The Star reports today.
Under 1Toilet, teachers – and even principals – will soon have to share toilets with their students... "and to mingle freely", the country's top-selling English paper says.
Even little-use chameleon is ever consistent -- in changing colours whenever it suits the occasion.
I was just reading an Op-Ed without byline in Malaysian Insider about rhetoric and consistency of race-laced politicians.
As if it takes a chameleon to greet another chameleon, and for the chameleon to crawl the path of fellow chameleon, there is this piece in Malaysiakini on the same day, titled: The 'chameleon' will never reach Putrajaya.
If anything, the audio of the YouTube chameleon clip SFXly clicks.
More headache for branding gurus I challenged on October 7.
From I Malaysia to 1 Region to 1 World... now they take 1 Malaysia Banana Leaf to London.
The PKFZ Scandal has caused Ong Tee Keat to embarrass the BN government on (the lack of) good governance, and for him to be ultimately out-voted in the MCA EGM on October 10.
One of the key players in the PKFZ public spat with Tee Keat is the chairman of the BN Backbenchers Club (BNBBC), who is also the MP for Bintulu.
Both the BN men became the spices that made PKFZ a hot issue in and outside the media circles and their readers.
But, will it be as hot in the Parliament when it reconvenes October 19, when Tee Keat and Bintulu appear in the same august hall of legislature?
Chances, as far as the agenda for Day 1 of the coming sitting of the Parliament is concerned are extremely slim. PKFZ failed to feature on the agenda for Day 1, October 19. At least not the Top 12 questions that normally receive prime-time live telecast.
Here's the Day 1 Agenda (Oral Question Time) issued by the Secretariat of Dewan Rakyat and received today:
QUESTION 1: Bangsa Malaysia - I People
MP: Dr Marcus Majigoh (BN-Putatan)
MINISTER TO RESPOND: Prime MinisterQUESTION 2: Economic impact on Malaysia in relation to the recent G20 Summit
MP: Dr Tan Seng Giow (DAP-Kepong)
MINISTER: Finance MinisterQUESTION 3: Shortage of skilled medical personnel in Sarawak
MP: Tiong King Sing (BN-Bintulu)
MINISTER: Health MinisterQUESTION 4: Ways to arrest negative image of MACC, Police and the Attorney-General's Chamber.
MP: Anwar Ibrahim (PKR-Pematang Pauh)
MINISTER: Prime MinisterQUESTION 5: Current status for the defunct Bernama TV.
MP: Halimah Mohd Sadique(BN-Tenggara)
MINISTER: Ministerof Information, Communications and CultureQUESTION 6: Breakdown of civil servants by race and possibility of hiring contract workers without prior consent from the Civil Service Dept (JPA)
MP: Lim Guan Eng (DAP-Bagan)
MINISTER: Prime MinisterQUESTION 7: Is Program Kejiranan Lestari successful in handling social problems in Johor, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Penang.
MP: Dr Mohamad Shahrom bin Osman (BN-Lipis)
MINISTER: Minister of Women Development, Family and SocietyQUESTION 8: Has the government managed to regain control of Bernas which has now fallen into foreign hands?
MP: Haji Taib Azamudden bin Mat Taib (PAS-Baling)
MINISTER: Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based IndustryQUESTION 9: Tense relationship between Malaysia and Indonesia.
MP: Haji Ismail bin Haji Muttalib (BN-Maran)
MINISTER: Minister of Foreign AffairsQUESTION 10: Current updates for H1N1
MP: Fong Poh Kuan (DAP-Batu Gajah)
MINISTER: Minister of HealthQUESTION 11: The 3-year Road Safety Campaign and possibility of including it into pupils' curriculum.
MP: Lilah bin Yasin (BN-Jempol)
MINISTER: Transport MinisterQUESTION 12: Implication of delayed decision to control influx of illegal immigrants.
MP: Nasharuddin Mat Isa (PAS-Bachok)
MINISTER: Minister of Human Resources
I remember Kit Siang volleying 3 questions per day at Tee Keat to not let all stones unturned on PKFZ.
Thus far, MPs have yet to receive the PwC report on PKFZ with full appendix that Tee Keat promised us before the last Parliament sitting.
Come to think of it, I wonder, will Tee Keat still be Transport Minister when the Parliament resits?
UPDATED VERSION, 6.20pm Oct 12. Mohd Isa Samad may measure a petite 5-feet-2 from the ground, he now stands taller than BN-Umno combined.
Without an official footing in national level politics, will Isa get his quid pro quo and be made a state Exco?
The record shows he has won the Bagan Pinang by-election with a 5,435-vote majority, defeating PAS candidate Zulkefly Mohamad Omar by more than doubling the margin of 2,333 votes BN-Umno scored during GE2008.
Significantly, BN-Umno managed to recapture the three voting centres that fell to PAS in 2008, namely Pekan Silliau, Ladang Atherton and Sua Betong. There is also obvious erosion of Chinese votes to the BN's favour, notably in Kampung Bagan Pinang and Teluk Kemang.
Even the 40% block of postal votes, the key contention of a lop-sided contest, were solidly delivered to favour BN-Umno. The majority this time has increased to 2,920 votes from 1,891 in 2008. BN-Umno's score in postal votes improved to 3,521 from 3,080 in 2008, while that for PAS worsened from 1,189 votes to 601 yesterday.
1 Malaysia, 2 Moral Systems
In a way, Isa is vindicated.
Despite his party having slapped him with a 6-year political jail sentence and later with a parole for proven money politics, he has been recycled, reused, and has survived the severe test of political resuscitation that Soi Lek failed to get.
Both Isa and Soi Lek have been exemplary examples of political taboos for many a Malaysian who despise moral decadence among public figures who hold and wield power while they last.
However, in Najib's 1Malaysia, it's glaring that Umno and MCA practise two different sets of moral compass for people who walk the corridors of power, and they are showered with different fate.
All these happened one day after the other within the last two days. I can expect Malaysians to debate this issue actively in the days to come -- 1 Malaysia, 2 Moral Systems for communal politics.
Samy vindicated too
In another way, MIC chief S. Samy Vellu should feel vindicated too.
One day before voting in Bagan Pinang, on October 10, BN chief Najib Razak tried to subvert MIC -- and by default plant a vote of no-confidence in Samy -- by officiating the launch of another race-based political entity by the name of Malaysian Makkal Sakti Party.
According to MIC sources quoted in Malaysiakini, out of the 1,870 Indians who voted in Bagan Pinang, BN got a whopping 1,387 votes while PAS only managed 483.
Isn't MIC still holding fort? MIC can now proclaim that with Samy at the helm, it is still the only power representing the Indians in Malaysia.
But other minor components in BN, minions such as Gerakan and PPP, are crying foul of the BN taiko's new crusading agenda -- shape up or ship out.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS... The Bagan Pinang results are also a false vindication for the Pakatan Rakyat and voters who turned away from BN.
With Isa's landslide win, they can safely say: 'Umno has legitimised corruption'. But don't forget the changing dynamics in bread-and-butter politics.
I have participated in 6 out of 8 by-elections and campaigned for PR in Peninsular Malaysia thus far, and I had been observing. It's a lesson yet-to-be learned by many political hopefuls who are found in dereliction of their duties to reform the country.
In Bagan Pinang, the candidate was from PAS. I noticed DAP under the leadership of Negeri Sembilan chief Anthony Loke had gone all the way to provide ground support to the local PAS leadership which saw wobbly logistics playing haunt on them throughout the 7-day campaign.
DAP, through the initiative of its sole state assemblyman -- Au Yong Tin Sin (Lukut) -- in the 4-state-seat Teluk Kemang parliamentary constituency, had chosen a strategic, visible location along the Jalan Pantai trunk road to place its operation centre and bore all the costs incurred for manpower, and campaign essentials. PAS showed its appreciation by having the announcement of the candidate at the DAP Ops Room, and held the finale rally at the same premises.
Causal Campaigners vs Casual Campaigners
However, the same cannot be said of PKR in terms of ground presence and real logistics support. Most PKR leaders relied on the so-called magic of Anwar Ibrahim and offered their oratory skills at the ceramahs. Ground presence and campaign leadership were abundantly absent.
In Bagan Pinang, its a clear case of Causal Campaigners contrasting the Casual Campaigners among the PR component parties that decided the outcome. Some came for ceramah sight-seeing and treated themselves as mere "By-election Tourists"
Those outstation PR YBs -- we have 82 MPs to count on nationally, and over a couple of hundred of state assembly persons on register -- seemed to think that they don't have to go work the ground to ensure a victory.
A handful of PR YBs used press statements, not even blogs in the digital age, to remotely campaign at large.
Many other PR YBs thought they needed just to show up only during the last laps of the campaign and to squeeze their ways onto the same stage that Anwar speak on the finale super rally -- and steal a camera opportunity or two for good Press.
These free-rider PR YBs had better be prepared for more landslide defeats in their respective homegrounds, far worse than the one we saw in Bagan Pinang yesterday.
Mohd Isa Samad has just proved that there's no replacement for consistent solid legwork on the ground to win the hearts and souls of the electorate.
Whether he made a pile for himself in between the money trains of development, or whether he should unfairly inherit a big stash of victory-guaranteed postal votes is entirely a different matter, though.
Fear of more Hasan Ali in PAS?
For now, PAS has to do some soul-searching to determine if the Hasan Ali factor in Selangor has contributed to the tremendous erosion of support to PR among the non-Malays/non-Muslims alike.
The Hasan Ali problem is like a pregnancy that grows and grows. A good midwife must be found to grab the baby soon. Confidence on PR as a viable option for the overhaul of Malaysian government will evaporate if more Hasan Ali are to rear his ugly face on the march to capture Putrajaya.
The NST today runs an interesting story on the outcome of MCA EGM by Eileen Ng, titled: Party rejects 'kangkung' duo.
Interesting, it's because of the paragraphs on some sort of tribal jinx, if Eileen's story is anything to go by:
The EGM's results showed that the biggest loser was Ong, whose loss set tongues wagging that the Hainanese jinx had struck again.
In the party's long history, no Hainanese president had fared well. Tan Koon Swan's reign as president in the mid-1980s came to an end seven months later when he was jailed for criminal breach of trust.
Ong, meanwhile, is a week shy of his one-year anniversary as president.
Screenshots takes no position on this, though.
Many a wish come true
To be frank, I have to salute MCA delegates for displaying a high degree of conviction to the democratic spirit and process in determining the fate of the party, and its leaders.
By their votes, both Tee Keat and Soi Lek have had their wish come true -- Tee Keat will not have Soi Lek as his deputy, and Soi Lek can for sure die an MCA man.
But the biggest winner is Umno. The BN taiko can now remove a thorn in the PKFZ flesh without having to move a finger.
U, Must Not Oppose. Hadn't Koon Swan learnt it well from Mahathir before?
This October is quite meaningful for me.
All in all, I pray that I will gain His compassion in guiding me to success, and keep me healthy and on-target while I try to perform my duties the best I could.
Gain some, lose some...
Regrettably, due to the hectic schedule, I had to skip the return visit to Jakarta for the Pesta Blogger Indonesia 2009.
Nevertheless, sampaikanlah salam ku, Indonesia.
Oh yes... I hope to upgrade my trusty Nikon D300 to D300s through a trade-in. It will continue to be my resident camera for long zoom, but it now comes with HD video recording. Launched in Amsterdam in late July, I was told auto-focus has improved tremendously.
Barely have I exhausted the crass list of IMalaysia Ini & Itu, Najib now talks of 1Region and 1World.
He calls that the 1Malaysia concept for the world, and money must flow out of the country in perpetuity.
The Paris Price-tag: US$5 million (launching fund) and US$1 million annually (open-ended).
Objectives (Tersurat): South-South Co-operation.
Objectives (Tersirat): Instant international recognition can be earned bought nowadays.
What's that pepatah Melayu again?
Kera di hutan disusu,
anak di pangkuan mati kelaparan.
Remember the story of Isrin Basitul I highlighted in Screenshots during my visit to Pitas and Kudat in Sabah with Professor Jeffrey Sachs last January?
I am talking about Resource Curse, and I am thinking of the likely impact on the abject poor in Sabah and Terengganu despite having God endow them with petroleum for decades.
You mean the new thinking is to donate to UNESCO every year so that they can help our own people like Isrin in return? You mean charity must not start from home anymore?
You mean this is Najibnomics?
With this much awaited book, at last, I want to see the defining distance between "non-compliance with procedure" and "outright crime". Nothing else should come in between the two.
Citizen-Nades' 5-year trail on the PKFZ Scandal is now being bound at the printers, and it will be available officially on October 15, just in time before Parliament reconvenes October 19.
Note: The book is available strictly via online purchase. Details on Citizen-Nades.com.
Grab a copy!
The third Parliament sitting for the year will resume October 19, 2009, and PM cum Finance Minister Najib Abdul Razak will table his debut Budget on October 23.
We treat national budgetting very seriously. In view of that, my party, DAP, will be officially launching tomorrow our Alternative National Budget for 2010, themed: Democratising Malaysia's Economy.
You are welcome to join us for the launch and the press conference. It will be helmed by DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng together with our Members of Parliament and state assemblymen.
Date: 7 October 2009 (Wednesday)
Time: 11.00 am
Venue: Rocket United Cafe (1st Flr), 18 Jalan SS2/63, Petaling Jaya
RSVP details here.
In the spirit of Pakatan Rakyat, our Alternative Budget will be forwarded to the coalition's Top Leadership Council for consideration and adoption, and the views and opinions of our coalition partners will be taken into due account.
We also welcome Najib to borrow our budget proposals and make some last-minute changes to his Budget Speech to cater to the needs of Malaysians' Malaysia.
For those who are interested, a copy of our Alternative Budget will be made available for download from the DAP website after the launch. Hard copy of the Alternative Budget can be purchased at RM15.
Branding gurus must speak up if the current branding of 1Malaysia will erode its brand equity steadily.
What have we now?
1Malaysia Earthquake Fund for Asia.
But reality check: What we don't have now for all Malaysians?
Sharing of national wealth, equitably.
Why has Najib been so totally silent on a number of socio-economic issues that have torn Malaysian fabrics apart, for example, the politics of poverty and equitable distribution of national wealth?
Currently, the bottom 40% of the Malaysian population only get to own 13% of the country's wealth.
Whereas, the top 10% -- you know who -- have grabbed almost 40% of national wealth -- and you know why.
Let us ask these, perhaps, as per Article 153 of the Federal Constitution...
Where's the 1Malaysia Budget for Race-Neutral National Talent Pool?
Where's the 1Malaysia Trust Fund for Modernisation of National-type Schools?
Where's the 1Malaysia Equal Opportunity Trust Fund for the Minority Bumiputras?
In fact, branding gurus shouldn't sit still but to get Najib to answer one very core question: What's your 1Malaysia all about after one full year of hot air and hogwash?
If the crass list of 1Malaysia ini, 1Malaysia itu goes on, will 1Malaysia Nasi Kandar be next?
I was campaigning for PR-PAS in Bagan Pinang again last night.
This time, I related to a real joke just transmitted from Paris.
Umno chief Najib defended Mohd Isa, who was punished by Umno for money politics (read: corruption related to vote buying), by saying that his "crime" was merely a technical matter in the party.
"In our system, even a criminal gets a second chance," he told a group of students at a hari raya open house in Paris yesterday.
However, in Malaysiakini, readers are saying technical or otherwise, a record of offence is still an offence.
More pungently, to date, Umno has not even cleared Mohd Isa of his crime.
BY THE WAY... The Star today reported that actress Michelle Yeoh and her fiancé, former F1 Ferrari boss Datuk Seri Jean Todt, flew in from Malaysia to attend Najib's open house in Paris.
June 24, MCA vice president and Tourism Minister admitted that Najib's government has allocated RM1 million for Jean Todt to spend over two years as Malaysia’s Tourism ambassador.
To add spices to the French-styled hari raya do, Altantuya’s father released a statement to coincide with Najib’s Paris trip yesterday.
Yesterday, I began campaigning in Bagan Pinang alongside PAS candidate Zulkefly Mohd Omar, Kit Siang, Penang DCM 1 Mansor Othman and the local DAP leaders.
Heard a new round of political jokes in Port Dickson. It's about the dilemma of the Negeri Sembilan menteri besar, Mohamad Hassan.
Tolong PAS, Umno mampus.
Tolong Umno, aku yang mampus.
(If I help PAS, Umno will die.
If I help Umno, I'll die.)
That's because Mohamad Hassan is faced with a million-dollar question now: Should Umno candidate Mohd Isa Samad win, will he be made an Exco?
There are 10 Exco posts provided for under the state constitution, but Mohamad had only filled 8 vacancies after GE2008.
In theory, Mohd Isa can at least be made Exco No. 9, but Mohamad is tight-lipped when reporters posed him that question incessantly yesterday.
Mohamad made it into the second term as the Negeri Sembilan menteri besar with a much reduced majority in GE2008. The PR coalition has narrowed the gap into a 6-seat margin. Should Bagan Pinang fall, the BN majority will be further reduced to 4 seats.
So, the next headache for Mohamad is Umno No. 1, Najib, actually.
It's too precarious for BN to sustain its effectiveness in the state with a slim majority while PR continues to make significant inroads. A replacement MB is on the card for Najib since Mohamad had never been his man of choice anyway.
"Mohd Isa can't be returning to active politics at 59 without a quid pro quo," pundits of Umno local politics said.
Whereas, Mohd Isa is a seasoned hand in local politics and in the running of the state as he had been a menteri besar for 22 years. It was only fate that Abdullah Badawi made him a federal minister after GE2004, and had his political career killed just months thereafter due to graft-related disciplinary action sanctioned by the party.
Upset is imminent
Thus far, Umno's campaign machinery has yet to kick in full-steam, while PAS, too, is fumbling with basic logistics and still struggling to find a strong footing at the local grassroots level. Both opponents are neutralised on this same terrain.
However, how Umno's internal squabbling is going to get more intense by voting day on October 11 will decide whether who will ultimately mampus in the race, Umno or Mohamad Hassan.
Noticeably, Mohd Isa was never the state assemblyman for Bagan Pinang though he resides there. Born in Melaka, his former constituency throughout his stance as the Negeri Sembilan MB was in Linggi.
For now, it's a battle-ground like most Umno-held constituencies. Non-Malay voters comprising 31.5% of the electorates will be the deciding factor as the 63% Malay voters -- inclusive of the 34%+ of postal votes -- will give BN-Umno the upperhand advantage though a split-in-the-middle is brewing.
Furthermore, the racism-laced Umno campaign tactics had not gone down unnoticed by the Chinese (1,458 votes) and Indian (2,834) voters combined.
But given the intra-party conflicts within Umno, an upset is very much on the card.
Just came back from the nomination for Bagan Pinang by-election. It's a straight fight of ISA (BN-Umno) versus ZULKEFLY (Pas).
Heard two amusing things and saw one ugly face.
Taking the cue from a newscaster who announced that Umno had chosen I-S-A as the candidate, the popular Anti-ISA badges will be delivered in huge supply in Port Dickson. The Malay versions say: Mansuh ISA. Tak Nak ISA.
Meanwhile, efforts are being made to declare a particular room in a particular hotel of regency as a heritage site. ZZ... it's a place to sleep soundly but to have lingering nightmares when awake.
The ugly? Racists reign again.
UPDATED VERSION. Computer records tell no lies -- Not just one, but all 12 officers in the same shift plus their Head of Department are transferred.
Following the expose by Screenshots, more Immigration officers are to shape up or ship out of Penang International Airport for showing up late at their workstations and causing flight delay.
Tonight, the evening edition of Guang Ming Daily reported that a total of 13 Immigration officers stationed at the Penang International Airport are to be disciplined and transferred to the agency's other offices in George Town and the Penang Port.
Little Birds told Screenshots that computer records indicated the first passenger bound on Monday's flight AK5052 was only cleared by the Immigration at 05.57am, barely 3 minutes before the scheduled take-off time at 06.00am .
There could have been relaxed security procedure as the Immigration officers rushed through the border clearance process for the 99 passengers and 6 crew members within 12 minutes.
The last passport stamped for the flight was digitally captured at 06.09am, Little Birds said.
Transfers ordered by D-G, Putrajaya
Earlier today, Screenshots confirmed that Fatimah Binti Hashim, the Assistant Director of Immigration heading the operations at the Penang International Airport, had been transferred on a 24-hour notice, effective October 1.
It has now been confirmed that the 13 ordered on immediate transfer comprised assistant director Fatimah, and the entire shift of officers who were placed on the same duty roster with the handful of culprits who showed up late for work on September 28, causing the popular 6.00am AirAsia AK5052 direct flight to Hong Kong to be delayed by 31 minutes.
Penang state Immigration Director Abdul Rahman Harun (picture left), who evidently retracted from his defensive stance earlier, told Guang Ming that the directive for the immediate transfer was ordered by Dato' Abdul Rahman bin Othman, the Director-General of Immigration stationed at Putrajaya.
In an another development, effective from today, the Immigration Dept will be running a 24-hour service at the Penang International Airport.
The round-the-clock service will be manned by three groups of 6 officers each, who will change shifts at 07.00 am, 03.00pm and 11.00pm daily.
For the record, Penang is the largest international airport outside KLIA in terms of aircraft movements and passenger and cargo volumes in the country.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS... I had dispatched immediate accolades to the Immigration Dept for taking swift action on the culprits.
I also suggested that all agencies involved in the front-line services at all international airports should rekindle customer-care and courtesy campaigns to enhance travellers' perception about Penang and Malaysia.
Read it in Guang Ming online.
Poll strategists say the numbers must add up in planning for a battle... any battle
So I took a look at the winning chances for PR-PAS in the forthcoming by-election in Bagan Pinang.
Apart from the task to win over the 30% postal voters in the Army Town, we have to battle in wooing the 2,800 Indian voters too.
Facing off the pro-BN Indian clusters gathered from stats published in the Press, PR-PAS will be doomed:
If you add them up, wow! There would be 9.5 million pro-BN Indian supporters -- which add up to about 40% of the national population of 25 million -- ready to be mobilised in Bagan Pinang, or in the next general election.
In what language do we teach our kids Maths and Science nowadays, I wonder?
UPDATED VERSION. Screenshots was informed that Fatimah Binti Hashim, the Assistant Director of Immigration heading the operations at the Penang International Airport, has been transferred out on a 24-hour notice, effective October 1.
September 28, Screenshots highlighted the late arrival of Immigration officers at their work station that caused the delay for the scheduled passenger flight AK5052 timed for departure at 06.00am.
The blog entry, which called for the head of Immigration at the airport to bear full responsibility for the delay, was picked up and published prominently by Guang Ming Daily the next day. [ Read here and here. ]
The early morning Penang-Hong Kong direct flight on AK5052, which operates on every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, is immensely popular since service started on July 31, 2009.
On September 28, a total of 99 passengers and 6 crew members were held up as the Immigration officers did not show up on time to process their passports as late as at boarding time at 05.40am.
The Immigration officers reportedly showed up at 05.55am and the aircraft finally took off at 06.31am, causing unhappiness among the passengers, including foreign travellers.
Defensive state Immi head and factual errors
However, in his haste to react to Guang Ming Daily on the issue, the state Director of Immigration Abdul Rahman Harun (picture below) made several factual errors in his defensive stance.
Read his quotes in the Guang Ming story, here.
Revealingly, too, the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) was quoted by Guang Ming as saying that the Immigration Dept's "not-on-time" work ethics had occurred many times prior to the September 28 incident.
Evidently, Abdul Rahman is a stereotype of the "Deny-and-Blame-It-On-Somebody-Else" syndrome common among the civil servants.
Speaking to Guang Ming reporters, Abdul Rahman denied that his staff were late for duty, and blamed it on AirAsia for a communication breakdown that caused the flight delay.
And he slipped up further by giving the Press the wrong facts.
I don't think I can take the nonsense from this Immigration chief, and I want to rebuke him point by point.
IMMIGRATION'S CLAIM: Abdul Rahman told Guang Ming that AirAsia had failed to update his office on the low-cost carrier's flight time for all early morning dpartures.THE FACT: However, the fact remains that AirAsia's Penang-Hongkong direct flight AK5052 was designated as a Scheduled Passenger Flight on every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday of the week since the service took off two months ago on July 31, 2009. The Immigration Department had been duly notified in black-and-white and no daily notification from the carrier running scheduled flights are required once they are gazetted, and immigration support for all scheduled flights became a standard operating procedure (SOP).
In fact, the four weekly AK5052 flights on 1-3-5-7th days of the week was originally run on the Penang-Macao direct route since it was launched on March 1. However, the slots had since been taken over by the Penang-Hongkong flight to due demand and load factor. AirAsia now runs Penang-Macao on scheduled direct flights on the 2-4-6th days of the week, departing at 06.30am with flight number AK5072. Abdul Rahman being the state Immigration chief can't plead ignorance over SOP matters.
IMMIGRATION CLAIM: Abdul Rahman claimed that the Immigration Dept at the Penang International Airport was only required to work from 06.00am to 10.00pm daily.
THE FACT: False. The Penang Airport was pronounced an international airport over three decades ago way back in 1977, and it has since grown into Malaysia's second biggest international airports next to KLIA -- running on a 24-hour basis, and in terms of aircraft movements and traveller volume.
For an airport to be ratified as an international airport operating around-the-clock, there must be 24-hour ground support in airspace control, airport management, CIQ services (Customs, Immigration & Quarantine), health services and security. Immigration is no exception as the Penang International Airport also handles cargo flights which normally arrive around 3.00 to 4.00am.
In fact, as the current state government is facilitating for more regional inter-city direct flights into Penang, more aircraft movements at the Penang International Airport are expected soon, and some may arrive and take-off in the wee hours.
Nevertheless, these critical services related to the operations of the international airport are allowed to stand down their staff during the lull hours of the day, with the provisio that they must immediately spring back into their respective work stations when situations like flight diversions occur.
IMMIGRATION CLAIM: Abdul Rahman also blamed that the September 28 delay of flight AK5052 was due to some passengers nabbed for carrying forbidden item.
THE FACT: Let's call s spade a spade. The Immigration must adhere to its KPIs and not encroach into other authority's jurisdiction.
The screening of forbidden items carried into the country or into the aircraft has never been the duty of the Immigration officers. For items with unpaid duties, the job belongs to the Royal Customs under the Finance Ministry. Whereas, for forbidden items such as drugs and weapons, the authority belongs to the Airport Security.
Abdul Rahman must be taught his KPIs to adhere to strictly clearing the travel documents of travellers who enter and exit the gazetted sovereign boundaries of the country. Nothing more nothing less.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS... Since the state Immigration chief serving in Penang is not hands-on and proven factually deficient, I will write to his ultimate boss, the Home Affairs Minister, and Najib's KPI ministers to have his tenure reviewed. This has been reported in Guang Ming Daily today.
PKR's Balik Pulau MP Yusmadi Mohd Yusuff, who reportedly demanded for the Penang Chief Minister's post to be rotated among all races, went through his own rotating door yesterday.
This time, he accused the press for fabricating a piece of false news, and blamed it on Berita Harian, the Umno mouthpiece he chose to talk to over the controversial suggestion.
"No, I did not make the rotation demand. I just talked about how Hari Raya was celebrated by all races," he told vernacular newspapers China Press and Kwong Wah Jit Poh yesterday.
Damage has been done, nonetheless.
Karpal: "Don't let PKR junior rock the boat"
Both Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider carried a public tick-off by DAP chief Karpal Singh on someone whom he called as a "minor official in PKR" to rock the boat using the party youth's platform.
Karpal, who is the MP for Bukit Gelugor, questioned if Yusmadi had been given the “mandate” to speak for Anwar Ibrahim’s party, PKR.
As such, he wanted Anwar, who is the MP for Permatang Pauh and Opposition Leader, to step in and “clear the air” over this issue.
Karpal insisted that Anwar must “make sure that no minor official in PKR” makes any further claims that would strain the ties among the three PR partners.
Karpal also supported the stand of Penang DAPSY, DAP's youth wing, and emphasised that since DAP had the majority in Penang, it deserved to be the chief minister of the state.
He pointed out that DAP had likewise not tried to demand for the Selangor mentri besar’s post because PKR deserved to hold it by having won the highest number of seats in Selangor in the general elections last year.
However, the Rashomon versions of the truth can't be established as clearly as black and white.
Media sources told Screenshots that the Berita Harian story was a one-on-one telephone interview between Yusmadi and Berita Harian's Faiza Zainudin, a Penang-based journalist newly transferred to KL. Either one can deny to his/her advantage.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS... Instead of pressing the denial button, the right things for the PKR man to do are: ( 1 ) to proactively inform and clarify to all Pakatan Rakyat leaders about the "misreporting" before mistrust arises; and ( 2 ) to demand his right of reply from Berita Harian to make a retraction or a correction.
Or, the easiest, simply zip up the loose cannon.
PKR calls it the "new formula" -- to allow all races to get a taste of being the Chief Minister of Penang.
The idea came from Pemuda PKR's Penang Chief, Mohd Yusmadi Mohd Yusuff, who is the Member of Parliament for Balik Pulau.
If it is of any significance, Yusmadi chose Umno mouthpiece Berita Harian to articulate his idea, hurling it at all and sundry of the public.
To stretch the imagination further, why stop short at being just the Chief Minister of Penang?
Rotate Penang CM. How about Selangor MB?
How about the Chairman and CEO's posts for public-listed Perbadanan Bekalan Air (PBA), the Chairman and CEO's posts for Penang Development Corporation (PDC), the president's posts for the two municipal councils at MPPP and MPSP.
Once Anwar Ibrahim captures Putrajaya, there's the federal posts in Penang, that of the chairman of Penang Port Commission (PPC), the chairman and CEO of the soon-to-be-listed Penang Port Sdn Bhd (PPSB).
And more, if you care to count the eggs before they are hatched. All can be rotated among all races.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS... If it's a "new formula", Selangor may want to start having a rotational Menteri Besar. (I am not arguing for the case of Hasan Ali, though.)
Continue reading "PKR: 'Let's rotate Penang CM's post among all races'" »
Don't put the cart before the horse, and don't count the eggs before there are hatched.
That's the way Umno No. 2 has publicly rebutted Gerakan No. 1 on how BN should prepare for the next general election expected anytime before March 2013.
However, the news of Umno censuring Gerakan only appeared in Sin Chew Daily, the top-selling Chinese newspaper in the country.
September 27, Dr Koh (backdoor minister) Tsu Koon announced in Batu Pahat that Parti Gerakan has initiated a talent-scouting exercise nationwide to prepare for a pool of winnable candidates to be fielded in the next general elections.
The potential candidates shall include current and retired elected representatives and those who stood but lost in GE2008, Tsu Koon said.
However, Deputy PM and Umno deputy chief Muhyiddin Yassin disagreed with the idea.
'Reform now, candidates later'
On September 28, Muhyiddin announced in Putrajaya that it was too premature to draw up the candidate list at this juncture.
What is more pertinent, Muhyiddin said, is for all BN parties to hasten the pace of reforms, besides holding more people-oriented activities.
"After GE2008, everyone without exception had expected all-round change for BN component parties," said Muhyiddin.
"This is very important," he added. "If the BN component parties don't reform, I fear the people will perceive that BN is incapable of change, and they will no longer have confidence in BN and the government."
Muhyiddin clarified that it was not wrong to start preparing early for the candidates, but he felt it was still too premature to do so at this juncture.
He advised Gerakan to better leave the matter for internal deliberations by the coalition's highest leadership.
'Umno should be Penang BN chief'
Umno sources told Screenshots that Muhyiddin took to putting cold blanket on Tsu Koon because the Umno hawk felt he hadn't seen the current Gerakan leadership initiate any effective reform programmes within the party. Nor was there any strategic direction from Gerakan or Penang BN to chart the re-capture of the state from Pakatan Rakyat.
In fact, Umno Penang had voiced its desire to drop Tsu Koon as the state BN Chief, and to have the post passed on to Umno.
In Penang, Umno is the sole Opposition with 11 seats in the State Assembly. On the other hand, with all 13 candidates it fielded in GE2008 annihilated, Gerakan is zero for now.
MCA lost all 9 state seats it contested in 2008. Thus far, Penang MCA has echoed in support of Umno's demand.
AirAsia's 6.00am direct flight from Penang to Hong Kong is a popular choice for travellers in the region.
The Immigration Dept at the Penang International Airport has handled many such travellers since the service was launched end July.
However, early this morning, AirAsia passengers bound for this 6.00am flight were in for a rude shock.
No Immigration officers were at the counter as late as 05:45hr, or 15 minutes away from scheduled departure time!
The aircraft, with 99 passengers and 6 crew members onboard, did not take off until 06:31hr this morning.
Here are SMSes I received from two passengers whom I know personally who were affected by the Immi-triggered delay:
05:48hr, September 28, 2009
Selena Ooiflight scheduled at 6am, it's 5.45am now but there's no one at the immigration counter.
06:22hr, September 28, 2009
Judith Ewe, former-chairperson of Malaysians' Association in Hong Kong:Hi I'm flying off w airasia to hk at 6am this morning. Surprised to see immigrations not open at 5am so all paxs were stranded untl now! No immigrations to start work when there's flight can only happen to boleh land! What a joke! See u next in hk. Regards. Judi.
For the sake of travellers who bothered to fly in-and-out of Penang, in which my parliamentary constituency is located, I have alerted the Department of Civil Aviation on the incident. The preliminary report I received at 09:29hr is as follows:
Flight AK5052 PEN-HKG. ETD 06:00. Aircraft off-blocked at 06:24 n took-off at 06:31. Pax boarding time at 05:40 but pax reported at 05:50 that no immigration officers were on duty. Total pax 99 plus 6 crew.
These international passengers were agitated because most of them had to get up as early as 4.00am in order to reach the gate early and to catch the flight. Travellers have no KPIs but they follow the regular check-in time set by the airlines.
So, in these days of KPI-speak, where's the KPIs for our Immigration Dept at the Penang International Airport? Can the Home Minister explain for the "No Show" by his boys and girls at their work station?
Will the CEO Minister for KPIs, who is an ex-CEO of an airline, please stand up and be counted?
Talk of KPIs, you must know why I still love Aniza Damis.
This blog was started on January 2, 2003. Socio-Political blogging has never been more interesting in Malaysia ever since.
After six-and-a-half long years, it's time to move on to another dimension.
Come October 15, Jeff Ooi's Screenshots will embark on another experimental journey on the Internet.
It's a network of over 50 selected writers from 13 countries, with experienced editors located in Thailand, Australia, India and China... It's to reach more eyeballs and touch more hearts in places that matter for the near future.
In Malaysia, it's also to coincide with the next session of the Parliament sitting when Budget 2010 will be delivered and debated.
You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
Stay tuned.
UPDATED VERSION. Months ago, a non-partisan lawyer friend SMS-ed me that if Pakatan Rakyat (PR) didn't rein in Hasan Ali, PAS Commissioner for Selangor who leads the party's representation in the state government, the fledgling coalition will ultimately pay a hefty price in the next general election. Selangor, or even Malaysia, will eclipse and escape PR when push comes to shove.
Of late, there had been more Hasan Ali headlines in the local press, all for the wrong reasons.
Politically sinful
From his holier-than-thou stance in fanning the beer-banning self-campaign to his recent unilateral empowering of non-enforcement officers from mosques to nab Muslims for consuming alcohol, and now, openly ordering the dissolution of Selcat (Select Committee for Competency, Accountability and Transparency) that was formed via the very legislative process he took part in and approved at the Selangor Legislative Assembly -- these are indisputable proofs that Hasan Ali belongs philosophically more to Umno than PAS and Pakatan Rakyat combined.
While it is arguably acceptable for Hasan Ali to seek to defend the religious expediency aspects of politics by clamouring for a ban of alcohol consumption among muslims, he has to submit to the fact that he could only get away with it by obtaining consensus among the PR component parties before he came up with a public stance.
However, it is politically sinful for him to subvert and undermine Selcat as the body is a Select Committee sanctioned by the state assembly which he, as a member of the state legislative, must uphold. His public outcry to denounce Selcat showed that he has not only betrayed the practice of democracy, but had provided ammunition for Umno to shoot at the ruling state government, and destroy it.
As a leader of a component party of the coalition, Hasan should work from within the PR framework, communicate and articulate on inter-party platform, and gain consensus from his peers before he shoots from the hip.
On this count, Hasan has gone wrong too far.
Look. Klang District Officer (DO) Bakhtiar Husin overtly reared his ugly warlordism by accusing Selcat of political opportunism and shaming him in an inquiry into misused state allocations.
Look. Hasan Ali swiftly jumped in to lend his support to Bakhtiar.
Embolden, Bakhtiar and a few other DOs collectively boycotted the state government’s Malaysia Day celebrations last Wednesday.
To put Selcat in context, its recent deliberations involved the ongoing public inquiry into the misuse of state allocations by former Barisan Nasional state assemblymen where a year's annual allocation was used up within weeks ahead of the March 8 general election.
Through the testimonies of five Selangor DOs called up at the Selcat inquiry, it has been established that Barisan Nasional state reps had used up RM500,000 annual state allocations in two months before the March general election last year.
Evidently, in attempts to rid Selangor of corrupt political practices, Hasan had misadventured to protect the corrupt.
It's now a foregone conclusion that Hasan Ali is not a solution but a part of the problem for the PR state government.
Nobody will discount the possibility Hasan will help Umno stage a Perak-like coup d'etat that Najib had openly called for.
Why Hasan must go
Hasan Ali's superficial but over-indulgence in the Islamic State overtures will do nothing to resolve the after-effect of a corruption-ridden government under Khir Toyo, which now continues to fester even among the top echelon of the civil service.
Hasan Ali's Islamic overtures, be it a munāfiq posturing or otherwise, has even aroused the anxiety of the investor and the non-Muslim communities. A large cluster of the electorates who voted in PR -- lock, stock and barrel -- to deliver total revamp of BN-styled governance is feeling rudely unsettled. Can PR can't rule the Selangor state, can it do the whole country?
If Hasan Ali thinks he can be made the BN-plus menteri besar by bringing the 8-member PAS representation in the Selangor state assembly to cross-over to join Khir Toyo, he must have had wet dreams. Nobody would ever think local PAS leaders like Saari Sungip shared Hasan's wavelength.
Even PAS vice-president Mahfuz Omar said Hasan should not have kicked up the matter in the open as it was tantamount to attacking the principle of separation of powers enshrined in parliamentary democracy.
Here, we should ask a pertinent question: What and who is Hasan manoeuvring for if not to destroy the new political baseline PR has garnered against BN?
What should DAP and PKR, and even PAS leaders, do when we find ourselves no longer able to condone Hasan's misdemeanour, and we refuse to be associated with him in the coalition?
The options are limited for a runaway train who defies the spirit of Pakatan Team that aspires to wrest Putrajaya in the next general election. Hasan has to be asked to leave Pakatan Rakyat for the larger good.
Hasan Ali is not an asset for PAS nor PR. He is neither a trained ulama, a technocrat, nor a economist. He but camouflaged himself as a motivational speaker who took a free ride on the political tsunami of GE2008.
Hasan Ali is not indispensable. He is not even a consequence of Pakatan Victory in Selangor. Talking about political baseline, Hasan Ali only managed to return a meagre 8-seat contingent into the state assembly, whereas PKR delivered 15, and DAP 13.
The 28-seat collateral secured by PKR and DAP combined shouldn't be cowed by a minion that Hasan leads with dissents from within his rank. Hasan should, instead, learn to communicate within the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat.
A recalcitrant bent on destroying the fledgling PR like him should be sacked if welcome is overstayed.
PAS chief Hadi Awang should rest in comfort that the Gombak Setia seat can be retained if the cancer of Hasan Ali is to be ridden off.
A by-election forced in Gombak Setia willbe the next best thing to appease the angry electorates who colossally supported PR.
Nothing less than that.
UPDATED VERSION. It can only be mutually exclusive. Either the National Police Chief or the National News Agency had screwed up nationally.
In an about-turn within six hours, at 23:05hr today, Bernama over-ruled its own 17:08hr story by stating that there's no such thing as "a minister or ministers would be called up to assist in the probe on the leakage of the Cabinet Paper on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) issue" that it had earlier claimed.
The original Bernama story was picked up and distributed to thousands of readers by two major online news portals, Malaysiakini and Malaysian Insider. However, both had made swift corrections after the cock-up was confirmed.
Flip-flop or cover-up? It's eggs-on-the face for two national-level authorities as the nation now has to grapple with the burden of trusting the right source of information related to a big national scandal.
ORIGINAL POSTING
Let's assume the national news agency is accurate in its report about the behaviour of ministers in Najib's Cabinet.
According to Bernama, timelined 17:08hr, Musa Hassan -- the expired Inspector-General of Police validated on second extended time -- disclosed that a minister is expected to be among several individuals to be hauled up by police for questioning in connection with the leaked Cabinet papers on the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.
The purported 18-page 'Cabinet Paper' was posted on the RPK-run Malaysia-Today website last week.
It was claimed to be a memorandum issued by the Finance Ministry in June 2007, advising the Abdullah Badawi's cabinet to retrospectively approve a RM4.6 billion soft loan to fund the PKFZ project, making Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd the end-term beneficiary.
However, Musa did not reveal the name of the minister, or the individuals, who will be hauled up for investigation.
'Gua dah tahu!'
Interestingly, on September 19, Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat was quoted in Kwong Wah Yit Poh as saying that he had already known of the Cabinet leaks way before he became a minister. Read here.
Frankly, everybody's life on earth is on borrowed time. So, I thought we should rather be a musafir of diverse worldviews than being a munāfiq gift-wrapped as the most pious man on earth.
But on the day of Aidil Fitri, when one rises from a month of madrasah during Ramadan, and when Malaysians extend to one another the greetings of maaf zahir dan batin, this Utusan Malaysia article by Ridhuan Tee Abdullah rang like a battery of alarm clocks. Malaysia's future is in trouble when democracy is despised, and dissent crucified, like this.
Quote from 'Orang Melayu mudah ‘cair’ bila dipuji', which sounded no different from the regurgitated regular F-grade Umno propaganda:
KADANGKALA saya musykil kenapa orang Melayu mudah menjadi ‘cair’ apabila mendengar orang bukan Islam bercakap pasal Islam atau memuji Islam atau memetik satu dua ayat Quran untuk dijadikan hujah sandaran. Misalnya, ucapan beberapa pemimpin pembangkang bukan Islam yang memetik beberapa ayat suci al-Quran dan mahu mengambil pendekatan urus tadbir negeri mengikut cara pemerintahan Umar Abdul Aziz.
Benar, dari satu segi nampak orang bukan Islam cenderung kepada Islam. Tetapi kita perlu ingat adakah mereka ini benar-benar mahu beriman atau percaya kepada al-Quran atau sekadar lakonan semata-mata untuk mengaburi mata orang Melayu Islam? Saya cukup yakin bahawa golongan ini sudah dapat membaca dan memahami psikologi orang Melayu. Mungkin orang Melayu boleh memberikan jawapan apakah mereka sebenarnya sudah memahami psikologi mereka? [...]
Kita tidak pernah belajar atau mahu belajar dari sejarah, bila berhadapan dengan golongan seperti musang berbulu ayam ini. Pengalaman telah banyak mengajar kita. Mereka ini tidak pernah bersetuju dengan Islam apatah lagi agenda untuk menegakkan negara Islam dan hukum Islam. Penolakan mereka selama ini amat jelas. Tidakkah kita pernah mendengar kata-kata “Langkah mayat aku dulu jika mahu menegakkan negara Islam”, " Malaysia mesti kekal menjadi negara sekular”, “Negara Malaysia bukan kepunyaan orang Melayu”, “Melayu adalah juga pendatang” dan berbagai-bagai kenyataan yang menyakitkan.
Tidakkah orang Melayu sedar akan agenda mereka? Apakah kita tidak takut dengan ancaman golongan ini terhadap agama kita? Tidakkah kita terfikir bahawa parti ini amat baik dengan parti yang memerintah negara Singapura yang merupakan pecahannya? Bagaimana suatu hari nanti, mereka berpakat-pakat untuk melemahkan kita? [...]
Jika perjuangannya adalah Malaysian Malaysia seperti mana yang diperjuangkan oleh Parti Tindakan Rakyat (PAP), sampai bila-bila saya tidak akan percaya.
As you know, the yearning dream for a Malaysian Malaysia, and the adulating admiration of the governance style of Khalifah Umar Abdul Aziz, had been often times referred to by Guan Eng and many of us in DAP.
However, by the stroke of a pen, DAP are deemed a bunch of demons in the eyes of many a saudara baru and bigots harping on religious divide. And incredulously Utusan Malaysia, the Umno mouthpiece that sings Najib's 1Malaysia, is ever ready and willing to print those anti One-Nationhood propoganda to divide Malaysia's peoples on the day of Aidil Fitri, the first day Syawal.
All men are on borrowed time, as I recall. A biological reminder often alerts me that, we should submit ourselves to rather be a musafir of diverse worldviews than be a fanatical munāfiq that spits venom on an auspicious day and on all days.
And Ridhuan Tee appears less a munāfiq than a consummate practitioner of political Islam. He currently earns his keeps as a senior lecturer, remunerated by taxpayers' money collected sinfully or otherwise, to teach at the Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia, the cradle that breeds many a soldier of our land.
Muslim friends taught me that the fasting month of Ramadan offers a chance to enrol oneself in a madrasah, a university course that should see an elevation of personal grooming after a period of abstained desires.
It's a level of purification hard to attain if self-discipline is feeble. Yet, there's tremendous sense of fulfilment beyond Saṃsāra the way I understood it.
This Ramadan in Jelutong, like last year's, I was showered with opportunities to immerse in a learning environment to understand this delicate thing in life that Man is minute when submitted to his Creator.
With the guidance from my brothers and sisters from PAS Jelutong and support from my Jelutong DAP Service Team, the Ramadan, just like last year's, also enabled me and my party to touch the OKUs (the physically challenged), and single mothers in seven kampungs in my parliamentary constituency, and to extend our worldly greetings. That we want to follow our Muslim friends to graduate from the madrasah with flying colours every Ramadan.
Selamat Aidil Fitri. Maaf Zahir dan Batin.
The Penang State Government observed Malaysia Day today with a contribution of RM30,000 to help seek justice for the Penan teenage girls raped by loggers in the interiors of Sarawak.
The contribution was pledged by the Penang Chief Minister during a special congregation of civil servants at the Dome, Komtar, this morning.
Among the observers were Kota Sentosa state assemblyman and MP for Bandar Kuching, YB Chong Chien Jen (DAP) and state assemblyman for Ngemah, YB Gabriel Adit (PKR). Pakatan Rakyat YBs from Sabah could not make it to Penang but did send their regards.
The highlight of the event was a 50-minute theatre performance scripted by Kedah-born Dinsman in conjunction with the fasting month of Ramadhan, titled: Menunggu Kata Dari Tuhan.
The play is based on a lengthy hadis of Riwayat Bukhari & Muslim, depicting the inner struggle of Nabi Muhammad's senior aide, Ka'ab bin Malik, who had refused to follow the Prophet to the Battle of Tabuk.
I reproduced the text of the speech delivered by Guan Eng at the event.
MERDEKA and A Happy Malaysia Day to all of you!
The NST reported today that Pahang-based syariah court judge Abdul Rahman Mohd Yunos had sentenced a second person to caning for drinking alcohol.
This time, the convicted man is an Indonesian, Nazarudin Kamaruddin, 46.
Recently, Indonesian descendant Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a 32-year-old mother of two, was sentenced to caning for drinking beer by the same syariah court judge. [ See over 1,700 items on the subject in Google News. ]
However, after public outcry especially from human rights advocates and the global media, Kartika’s case is being reviewed by an Islamic appeals court judge and her caning could be carried out after the fasting month of Ramadan is over.
Interestingly, both sentences were meted out in Pahang, which is the home state of Prime Minister, Najib Razak.
August 27, Malaysiakini carried an Op-Ed from Agence France Presse (AFP) that highlighted the seeming rise of political Islam in Malaysia, and that the nation's secular status is under threat.
On one hand, PAS Youth has called for a ban on the sale of alcohol in Muslim-majority areas in all Pakatan Rakyat-held states and Perak. The caveat is: PAS Youth will not call for a total ban because "we respect the rights of non-Muslims to consume alcoholic beverages".
To facilitate that, PAS Youth said sale of alcohol will be banned in Muslim-majority areas. (NB: We really have to define how the statues had defined Muslim-majority areas without dispute.)
'Send Me A Gal'
On the other hand, it was revealed September 10 that Mirzan Mahathir, the eldest son of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was recently appointed to the board of San Miguel Corp, the biggest food and beverage conglomerate in the Philippines and the owner of San Miguel Brewery Inc.
Takbir or take-beer as the controversy went on both sides of the political divide, today, Mirzan had to surface to defend his investment company’s stake in San Miguel Corp that "it's just plain business". He argued that the San Miguel was well on the way to diversifying substantially from its brewery business.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS... My first taste of fresh San Miguel drought was in Hong Kong during the early 80s, in between feasts on the famous Shum Chan roast goose （ 深井烧鹅 ）and right in front of the brewery in the same county. Folks there, with their funny-slang English, ordered me "Send-Me-a-Gal" as the amber lubricant.
Utusan Malaysia recently had a protracted polemic with Sin Chew Daily and Nanyang Siang Pau where the Umno-owned mouthpiece accused the Chinese press for being racially and religiously partisan.
Today, an Utusan Malaysia opinion piece started to accuse Malaysia's English press for "fanning racial issues".
The writer, pseudonamed Tan Melaka, vilified The Star as "a newspaper supported by the Chinese that is pro-DAP and pro-Malaysian Malaysia and opposed to 1Malaysia" (akhbar ini adalah akhbar yang didukung oleh orang Cina yang pro-DAP dan juga pro-Malaysian Malaysia serta menentang 1Malaysia).
Is The Star still run by Chinese, staffed by Indians and worked for DAP? Isn't it Operasi Lalang was through, and (long live journalists but) journalism is dead?
I never dreamed DAP can cast such a magic spell over The Star till this day.
Two editors-in-chief put a same thing in context.
The 12 charged under Sedition Act, more relevant for religious instigation, related to the August 28 cow’s head protest at the state secretariat building in Shah Alam seem all have political affiliations of their own.
"Seven of them were from Umno, four from PAS and one was from PKR." The Star reported September 9, the day the daily was born 38 years ago and now in search of new strategies.
Star EIC Wong Chun Wai spotted it, and Malay Mail EIC Rocky's Bru echoed in tandem.
But Rocky's Bru was inaccurate by saying colossally it was "Barisan 7, Pakatan 5".
My party DAP, though in Pakatan Rakyat, did NOT join any of the fanatics to step on the cow head and hurl profanities at the Malaysian community.
Neither did we see other Barisan component parties, eg. MCA, MIC and Gerakan members, join Umno in the cow head incident.
Nevertheless, I do hope PAS and PKR will sack their members who violated the sanctity of this peaceful country in this ugly episode of Malaysian infamy.
Umno can die on its own device.
Does the name Abdul Kayum Syed Ahmad ring a bell? How about Aksavest Sdn Bhd?
Or is this a re-enactment of the Pakistani Express that rocked Scomi in an alleged black-market link to nuclear arms brokers in 2004?
Friends in Australia alerted me to a story in two Fairfax-owned dailies today -- The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald -- that said Austrade, the Australian Federal Government's trade agency, had warned the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) about using a Kuala Lumpur arms broker to help win currency printing deals in Malaysia.
The Malaysian businessman was identified as Abdul Kayum Syed Ahmad, who is said to have been a broker for a Pakistani weapons operation suspected of playing a key role in that country's nuclear arms program.
According to The Age, an Austrade background check on Abdul Kayum was done in July 2007. Its findings prompted the Reserve Bank to audit all foreign agents used by two of its currency suppliers, Securency and Note Printing Australia (NPA).
By late 2007, the Reserve Bank had ordered NPA to sever ties with Abdul Kayum and its other overseas middlemen due to integrity concerns.
However, Securency is believed to have continued its association with Abdul Kayum for some time after NPA stopped dealing with him.
NPA is wholly owned by the Reserve Bank while Securency is a 50-50 partnership with a British private equity firm. Both companies are chaired by RBA assistant governor Bob Rankin.
The Age said the two Australian companies had won currency printing contracts in Malaysia in 1998 and 2004.
High-level political connections
Abdul Kayum's former business associates had told The Age that the man claimed to have high-level political connections in Malaysia that he could use to help strike deals for foreign companies.
Securency and NPA engaged Abdul Kayum in the late 1990s to lobby Malaysian government and banking officials to adopt the Australian-made polymer banknotes.
The Sydney-based daily also said Abdul Kayum was the second arms trader to be used as an agent by one or both of the mentioned RBA's currency firms.
The Age disclosed that Abdul Kayum's Kuala Lumpur investment company Aksavest is alleged to have received hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions from Securency and NPA. Quote:
Sources aware of the RBA companies' dealings in Malaysia have told The Age that the commissions paid to Mr Ahmad were exceptionally high. They also said the deals with Malaysia's central bank could have been done without the involvement of a middleman.
Earlier last month, The Age exposed Securency's use of an arms dealer suspected of supplying guns to Latin American drug gangs as its agent in Paraguay.
RELATED STORIES:
Follow the money.
Last night, Jobs came back with a new liver, and grotesquely trim. He is a survivor of pancreatic cancer.
“I now have the liver of a mid-20s person who died in a car crash and was generous enough to donate their organs. I wouldn’t be here without such generosity,” an emotional Jobs told the audience, exhorting them to all become organ donors.
iPhones now runs on 3.1, and iPod Nano comes with a video camera. No Beatles.
What's the outcome of today's Cabinet deliberation on the special report on the PKFZ Scandal prepared by Skrine & Co. on behalf of Port Klang Authority (PKA)?
According to The China Press tonight, the Cabinet deemed it incomprehensive, and has ordered Chief Secretary Mohd Sidek Hassan to head another inquiry committee to especially follow through with the investigations currently conducted by the MACC and the Police.
Quoting Cabinet sources, The China Press said the PKA-Skrine report merely focussed on the shortcomings of the PKFZ management and did not provide a comprehensive coverage on the entire sequence of happenings that led to the scandal.
The paper added that, apart from the PKA-Skrine report, the Government has managed to unearth other information related to the scandal from various avenues. As such, the Chief Secretary was tasked to head the special committee to follow through the case in due course.
Most importantly, the paper added, the Cabinet did not deliberate on the roles played by former Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy and former PKFZ chairman OC Phang. Instead, MACC and the Police have now taken over investigations on the PKFZ Scandal.
On the other hand, the evening edition of Sin Chew Daily reported tonight that the authority will make first arrest of the "key culprits" in the scandal soon.
Meanwhile, Bernama reported that former Transport Minister Chan Kong Choy, who is currently abroad, may take legal action against several media organisations for publishing reports which allegedly implicated him in the PKFZ Scandal.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS... With the Chief Secretary, the MACC and the Police all stepping in, does this mean Ong Tee Keat has lost his carte blanche to see through the scandal that all culprits will be dealt with accordingly?
Or simply, is it the end of the road for Tee Keat in Najib's Cabinet?
Finally, for inciting religious tension in Shah Alam, six were charged under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act, or alternatively under Section 298 of the Penal Code.
Namely ( 1 ) Ibrahim Sabri, 42, and Ahmad Mahayuddin Abd Manaf, 36, were charged with stepping on the cow's head; ( 3 ) Eyzva Ezhar Ramly, 35, for bringing the cow's head into the protest; and ( 4 ) Mohd Azmir Mohd Zain, 35, ( 5 ) Ahmad Suhairy Zakaria, 39 and ( 6 ) Mohd Hilmi Ni, 40, for both bringing and stepping the cow's head.
Under the cited section of the Act, they can be punished up to three years jail and/or a fine of up to RM5,000.
The cow head appeared not a ploy planted by unknown infiltrators, but a planned instrument of religious ridicule from within the group.
Let's see the law takes its course.
After the expose in theSun about a woman's hand in the PKFZ Scandal, Singapore Straits Times (ST) has stepped up the ante.
Claiming that it has read the confidential report by a government-appointed task force led by senior lawyer Vinayak Pradhan of Skrine & Partners, it says the culprit is not just OC Phang.
Rather, it's OC Phang, a former Transport Minister from MCA, and the whole shebang. Quote:
A confidential report by a government-appointed task force probing one of Malaysia’s biggest financial scandals has identified serious breaches on the part of several government officials, including a former minister. [...]
The yet-to-be-released report, which will be discussed at the weekly Cabinet meeting tomorrow, singles out former transport minister Chan Kong Choy; Madam O.C. Phang, the former general manager of the Port Klang Authority; and board directors of the port agency, for not carrying out their duties with adequate care.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS... New expose, but the problem remains very much related to high officers from MCA. Will Kong Choy ape OC Phang by saying: "I have retired... I can't remember?"
Screenshots has started tracking OC Phang and her political masters' trail since 2007. Sit back for show time.
The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism & Taoism wants the police to be consistent, fair, just and rational in carrying out their duties, regardless of religion, ethnicity, culture, gender or political connection.
“There must be one rule for all Malaysians,” its president Rev. Dr Thomas Philips said in a statement picked up by theSun today.
The council is concerned over different treatment taken by the police over two incidents related to the "3 days before Merdeka" (August 28) Cow Head Controversy in Shah Alam.
In the first incident, police stood by while the demonstrators desecrated a cow head and made seditious speeches in connection to the relocation of a Hindu temple to a predominately Malay-Muslim area. That was August 28.
In the second incident, police acted strongly against would-be candlelight vigil in the vicinity of Dataran Merdeka on Sept 5.
Meanwhile, Malaysiakini is being "interviewed" -- again -- by MCMC (Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission) and asked to take down from its website two videos, one showing the seditious acts in the Shah Alam incident, and the other catching the Home Minister with the pants down for harbouring the trouble-makers.
“We must surely first prevent the act and the video would not have existed,” Rev Philips said.
Cows are considered sacred by Hindus. With the vivid videos from Malaysiakini, the Home Minister, the AG and the Police have no reason not to charge the trouble-makers, especially those who carried and spoke while stepping on the cow’s head.
Cow head vendor identified
And if AG Gani Patail refused to charge the trouble-makers, or agreed to the Home Minister that the cow-head was planted by a hidden hand, the alibi may collapse.
According to theSun, the vendor who sold the cow head used in a protest by residents of Section 23 Shah Alam two weeks ago has been identified, revealed Segambut DAP MP Lim Lip Eng.
“So, if the police refuse to charge the protesters, then we will ask the vendor to identify the person who bought the cow head,” added Lim.
Yesterday, PM Najib Razak reminded all Muslims to respect other races and religions as dictated in the Quran.
He also reiterated that there won't be Internet censorship as laid down in Section 3(3) of the Communications & Multimedia Act 1998.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS... So, Malaysiakini editor Steven Gan must stick to his gun and not take down the videos as demanded by the MCMC.
Both the videos are news events which are of public interest, and journalists must be allowed the latitude and space to do their job by reporting news the way it happened, so that incidents like this will not happen again in Malaysia.
It's a reminder to all and there must be only one rule for all Malaysians.
UPDATED VERSION. Kit Siang gave an exclusive interview in Sin Chew Daily today.
He reaffirms some of my worries for Pakatan Rakyat's (PR) future after the sterling performance in GE2008. There is a finite cost in managing success before PR can breed further successes in Malaysian politics.
In the interview, Kit Siang expresses his frank views about the ineffective governance within PR component parties, the thorny issue of PAS unwavering stand on the Islamic State, the wobbly scenario in the Selangor state government and its non risk-averse outlook, the tenability of Anwar Ibrahim as the PM-in-waiting (and what-if), the learning curves for PR elected representatives, racial relations, and PR's undefined objectives in capturing Putrajaya in the next general election.
He also talks about his future in DAP.
Don't miss it if you read Chinese papers.
If not, feel second-hand and wait for excerpts of translation in the English papers and news portals.
UPDATES: Translation in English:
Will there be a D-Day for the Najib Cabinet on Wednesday, with private-jet free-rider Ong Tee Keat in attendance? Will someone ultimately go to jail for fleecing taxpayers' money by the billions?
According to theSun today, the cabinet will be told on Wednesday that several parties -- including former Port Klang Authority (PKA) general manager O.C. Phang and turnkey contractor Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) -- were named as "possible conspirators" who have harmed or injured PKA in the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) project.
Cabinet ministers will be given details of alleged deceit, fraud, double-billing and non-existent claims that were submitted for which payment was made with Phang's tacit approval. theSun said.
These findings, theSun added, appear to corroborate contents of a police report lodged by PKA chairman Lee Hwa Beng last month which accuses KDSB, its CEO Tiong King Sing, Phang, BTA Architect and consultant Bernard Tan Seng Swee of "alleged conspiracy in the scandal".
To whet your reading appetite, this latest revelation was penned by theSun's award-winning investigative journalists R. Nadeswaran and Terence Fernandez, who exploded the PKFZ Scandal on the Malaysians' face two years ago.
And I quote the juicy parts about the role of OC Phang and KDSB in theSun today:
According to one source, the task force also found that Phang had varied the interest rate of a contract without consulting the board which caused the authority to incur additional costs of RM49 million.The task force found that Phang had placed the interests of KDSB above those of PKA and defied Government General Orders and Treasury guidelines on a variety of issues related to the project.
Phang had earlier been implicated in PriceWaterHouseCoopers’ (PWC) audit report released three months ago which pointed out, among others, that she had used the Common Seal without approval and had exceeded her authority of entering into contract exceeding RM50,000.
Police are investigating the activities of Phang, who is also alleged to have:
- approved fraudulent claims from KDSB;
- accepted only advice favourable to KDSB, sidelining employees who consistently raised costing and budgetary concerns;
- refused to heed legal and professional advice of PKA officers in the appointment of quantity surveyors where she had also delayed the appointment of surveyors, while restricting their role;
- insisted that Perunding BE Sdn Bhd be appointed sole quantity surveyor although she knew that there was a clear case of conflict of interests since the firm was also appointed by KDSB for the same project;
- appointed Perunding BE without approval from the Finance Ministry;
- issued various consents and undertakings, as well as unilateral decisions committing PKA without approval from the board;
- committed PKA knowing very well that it was under budget constraints to fulfil its obligations although the government had agreed that PKA would fund the free zone from its own funds.
The task force findings accuse KDSB of:
- requesting a revision of the infrastructure plan for drainage and piping works claiming that it was unaware of the specifications of these works when the Legal Agreement had specifically spelled them out;
- double-billing PKA for drainage and piping works;
- billed PKA RM55.7 million for electrical infrastructure works which had yet to start.
Just last Wednesday, OC Phang "enlightened" members of the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing on PKFZ by saying she did not remember certain key issues regarding the deal, and she did not understand the basic financial term “cash flow projections”.
[ READ Citizen Nades' column today: No cash, no flow, it's Oscar time. ]
We may now want to probe who were the puppet-masters that induced OC Phang's behaviour while making those alleged fiscal decisions unsanctioned by the Board? She can't be an operative working all alone.
Again, for the BN government now and then, you reap what you sow.
NAJIB RAZAK: It's easy to be Opposition. Solve the Indian Temple issue in Shah Alam.
PEOPLE (Hindu Sanggam): It's easy to be Prime Minister. Solve the Indian Temple issue in Shah Alam.
You reap what you sow.
It's worse, when herd mentality ruled the day, casting a spell even on the Two Cousins.
The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), now parked under Rais Yatim's Ministry of Information, Communications & Culture, has asked independent news portal Malaysiakini to remove two 'provocative' videos, including the footage of the controversial cow-head protest, from its website.
The affected videos are:
"These videos contain offensive contents with the intent to annoy any person, especially Indians," said Abdul Halim Ahmad, MCMC's monitoring and enforcement division senior acting director, in a letter dated Sept 3.
"This is an offence under Section 211/233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998," added MCMC.
Under the communication and multimedia law, any individual found guilty of publishing content "which is indecent, obscene, false, menacing, or offensive in character with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person" is liable to a fine of up to RM50,000 or a jail sentence.
Editor: Our intention was not to offend
Commenting on MCMC's request, Malaysiakini editor-in-chief Steven Gan said both the videos are news events which are of public interest.
"Our intent in putting up the videos was not to 'annoy' anyone, but to do our job as journalists to draw attention to the protest and to ensure action is taken so that incidents like this will not happen again in Malaysia."
Gan said that there was no plan for Malaysiakini to take down the videos and the news website was seeking legal advice on the matter.
Late this afternoon, MCMC made an appointment with Gan for his statement to be recorded at the Malaysiakini office in Bangsar Utama tomorrow.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS... Through the lens that tells no lies, we came to know the message of this cow-head lesson. To Malaysiakini, just don't be cowed by it.
Come September 9 to the date, the late Penang-born journalist KS Choong will be remembered again for giving birth to The Star at Weld Quay 38 years ago.
Sadly, the People's Paper is now a Party's Paper.
So I look forward to another September 9. For Apple.
Will iPod upgrades come with camera?
Will Apple go Apple, and Beatles go iTunes?
Will Apple TV be upgraded and HTTP Live Streaming be available worldwide?
Last week in Japan, Sony Walkman outsold iPod for the first time in 4 years!
Ahhh... Five more days!
There are no better cops in the entire police force than Musa Hassan.
So, his term as the IGP was extended by another year -- the second extension after his age-inflicted retirement in 2007. His shelf-life has been re-tagged to September 13, 2010.
This Raya angpau was gift-wrapped yesterday. On the advice of the prime minister (Najib Razak) and with endorsement of the Police Force Commission, which is headed by the home minister (Hishammuddin Hussein, Najib's cousin), constitutional monarch the Yang di-Pertuan Agong had given his consent to extend Musa's tenure.
Crime index up by 35.5%
If track record is a criteria to Musa's extension of service, here is one.
It was revealed at a recent parliamentary round-table on the the tenure of the IGP that in the seven years from 1997 to 2004, crime index increased by 29%; but in the four years from 2004 to 2008 -- when Musa was in office as the IGP -- crime index increased by 35.5%!
In 2005, the Dzaiddin Police Royal Commission recommended that the PDRM should target a minimum of 20% decrease in the number of crimes committed for each category "within 12 months of this Report’s acceptance and implementation.”
As a context, the Dzaiddin Commission referenced that there were 156,455 incidents of crime in 2004, which was an increase of 29% from 121,176 cases in 1997.
The slide did not stop after the Dzaiddin Commission was released.
According to official statistics given in Parliament, and cited by Kit Siang in his blog, crime index have galloped to break the 200,000 mark, with the incidence of crime shooting up to 209,582 in 2007 and 211,645 in 2008.
So I repeat: In the seven years from 1997 to 2004 (pre-Musa days), crime index increased by 29%, but in the four years from 2004 to 2008, crime index increased by 35.5%.
That's what we will kongsi raya with all fellow Malaysians.
Yesterday, Screenshots mentioned that, to date, MACC has yet to query Ong Tee Keat on the RM10 million political fund allegedly donated by KDSB boss Tiong King Sing, who is embattled with the former in a "washing dirty linen in public" game over the PKFZ Scandal.
Well, things moved a little faster. News broke just now that Tee Keat was questioned for three hours by MACC today.
I was told that a new book on the PKFZ scandal -- written by independent, non-politicians -- will be launched soon. Stay tuned!
Screenshots outed OC Phang as early as August 13, 2007, when theSun first exposed the PKFZ Scandal.
Today, she was called in by the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for queries.
PAC chairperson Azmi Khalid has this to sum up about the woman: "She doesn't even know what we mean by cash flow projection."
Azmi said the financial management of Phang and her team were 'weak and poor', and that no cash flow projection was made for the project.
"Such a projection could have ensured there was enough income to repay the loan," Azmi said.
According to Oriental Daily, OC Phang evaded questions on her management team's responsibilities over the issue of financial debacle by reiterating that she is now retired.
Malaysians should know that OC Phang has been the general manager of the Port Klang Authority since 1997, during the time retired MCA chief Ling Liong Sik was the Minister of Transport.
Her position as the Chairman of Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) was also appointed by the Minister of Transport.
OC Phang, however, "retired" last year when the PKFZ Scandal really blew up.
She was succeeded in June 2008 by lawyer Lim Thian Shiang, who was tasked to oversee the management of the controversial PKFZ project as a going concern.
However, Lim was later removed in shrouded mystery in the midst of the PKA making final preparations to release a detailed report on the PKFZ Scandal.
The Edge Financial Daily reported May 20, 2009, quoting sources, that Lim had a falling out with Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat on several issues related to PKFZ. Quote:
“A few weeks ago PKFZ gave a briefing to Barisan Nasional (BN) backbenchers on the project."
"It is said that the briefing was held without approval from the higher-ups. There were also several other instances which have caused some differences in opinion between Lim and ministry officials,” said the source.
The present PKA general manager is Kee Lian Yong.
Jafza pull-out
The role of OC Phang on the PKFZ Scandal first hit the headlines when award-winning investigative journalists R. Nadeswaran and Terence Fernandez ran the expose two years ago.
According to theSun in 2007, OC Phang was the key person at PKFZ when Dubai-based Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza) decided to pull out of the management of PKFZ for "strategic purposes", but in an acrimonious manner. Quote:
Noel Gulliver, Jafza's man acting as PKFZ general manager, was escorted from his office to the Immigration Department for "being in gainful employment without a work permit" - although the agreement between Jafza and Port Klang Authority (PKA) indicates that it is PKA's responsibility to obtain a permit for Gulliver.
theSun quoted an e-mail from Gulliver to Jafza International senior vice-president (international operations) Chuck Heath last October 30, stating that Phang had given him (Gulliver) three months to "toe the line", ordering Gulliver to report to PKFZ and not Jafza.
theSun had cited a host of documents, which include strongly-worded e-mails, revealing that Jafza bailed out because of bureaucracy, interference by politicians and others with vested interests, and deliberate incorrect minuting of meetings.
"The dossier, which borders on deceit and lies, points the cause of the collapse of the deal between Jafza and PKFZ at the government machinery and one woman, O.C. Phang," theSun says.
PKA wants MACC probe on OC Phang's ties
August 26, 2009, OC Phang was named, among four parties, responsible for the PKFZ Scandal in a report lodged with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) by Port Kelang Authority (PKA) chairman, Lee Hwa Beng.
Lee said PKA had requested MACC to investigate OC Phang, and the relationship between Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB), its President/CEO Tiong King Sing, BTA Architect and/or Bernard Tan Seng Swee as the Consultant appointed for the development works in the PKFZ Project, and OC Phang.
Lee stated that, based on the instances set out in his report, PKA has strong reason to believe that there is a possible conspiracy between these 5 parties.
As for Malaysians at large, we are anxious to know whether OC Phang acted entirely on her own, or just a lame chess piece dictated by her masters?
Critical sideshow
As a sideshow, KDSB and the current Transport Minister, MCA president Ong Tee Keat, are embroiled over a RM10 million political fund, exposed on August 12, that went unaccounted for between the donor and the supposed recipient.
Malaysiakini today reported the details of the RM10 million political fund purportedly contained in a police reported lodged on August 26 by KDSB's Tiong King Sing.
According to the police report, said Malaysiakini, the money was delivered to Ong on three different occasions, amounting to RM5 million, RM1 million and RM4 million respectively.
The dispatch points were at the Petaling Jaya Hilton, the car park opposite Armada Hotel, Petaling Jaya, and at Carcosa Sri Negara, respectively.
However, we haven't seen any action from MACC on Lee's request for investigation on OC Phang, or the roping in of Ong over Tiong's allegations.
Perhaps, MACC is too busy with efforts to overthrow the Selangor state government right now.
Or there are two sets of law for Malaysians. They and us.
Damage control.
Upon swearing-in as a Senator, new minister Idris Jala dispelled media confusion that implied he's, effectively, a sub-minister reporting to a backdoor minister:
"I know the blogs have been quite confused about it. There is no minister reporting to a minister. There is only one minister in charge of KPIs and that is Koh, and I am the CEO of Pemandu, reporting to him."
Idris also clarified his dual role as a minister and as a CEO for a government agency:
"As the CEO of Pemandu, I am not working in the capacity of a minister, as I report to one minister (Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon). There is no duplication of ministerial roles.
However, we are not too sure if Idris will be just a part-time minister with a full-time pay -- if what theSun reported implies something outlandish but fiscally outrageous:
Idris said his duties as a minister without portfolio will be assigned to him (only) from time to time.
On the other hand, in The Star, Idris was quoted as saying that Dr Koh is his “boss” in charting the specifics of the KPIs.
Idris was also quoted in the MCA-owned paper as saying that his first task is "to establish what the Government has done so far in its efforts to implement Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)".
I suggest Idris read Aniza Damis (May 2009) to fathom what his "boss" has had in mind. Pick out the excess baggage before he could fly.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS... Anyway, Idris's appointment as a minister has robbed another Umnoputera's chance of becoming a member of Najib's bloated cabinet, the same way Idris was seen as having robbed another Umno's endorsee the chance of helming MAS three years ago.
In marketing-speak, the same RON97 has been "upgraded as a premium product" and its price has increased from RM1.80 to RM2.05 as people counted down to Merdeka.
And... on Merdeka Day, Utusan Malaysia's Chan Sow Lin office was burglar-ed -- the second time in less than a month.
Compared with the PKFZ Scandal, the amount was paltry, just cheques worth about RM600,000 and RM8,000 in cash.
"However, there was no sign of forced entry,” Cheras OCPD Asst Comm Ahmad Amir Mohd Hashim was quoted as saying. He added that police have not ruled out the crime as an inside job.
Inside job. That's the key phrase.
Dina Zaman wrote in her opinion piece, Jalur Gemilang, starting with this to greet Malaysia's 52nd National Day:
“Who’s that minister? Tu... yang MCA tu... Ong Kee Tiat? Tat?”
“Tee Keat,” I say.
“What the hell. He keeps harping and harping on Chinese rights...
Then, she gave a 52nd Merdeka poser:
Among the dominant race in Malaysia, the Malays are facing an identity crisis: be a Muslim first or Malay? They may be synonymous with each other, but there is a marked difference between the two.
[...]
In another survey conducted by the Merdeka Center for MyFuture Foundation, Zaid Ibrahim’s youth-based non-profit organisation, in January 2009, young Malays polled saw themselves first as followers of a religion (Islam), while young Chinese and Indians were very patriotic and saw themselves as Malaysians first.
Hence the question of national pride and unity: since young Malays (at least the ones polled for the survey) saw themselves as Muslims first, why is nationalism not high on their agenda?
We are regressive as a nation. Where is your Malaysia?
To commemorate a nationhood so soon forgotten by its children, I am wearing black for Merdeka, this year. It was decided long before Dina got her piece published.
Is this One Malaysia? We are but 3 days away from the 52nd anniversary of Merdeka!
In a statement picked up by Malaysian Insider, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism & Taoism (MCCBCHST) called for calm to enable the authorities find a “peaceable agreement and understanding”.
“Nothing can be gained by provocative action on the part of any side. MCCBCHST regrets that a severed cow’s head was brought along in the demonstration,” said president Reverend Dr Thomas Philips, noting the cow is sacred to the Hindu religion.
Didn't Najib Razak say "nip it in the bud"?
This is, after all, the holy month where all fires are doused, emotions moderated and controlled.
Continue reading "Holy cow! Man shouldn't have lost his head!" »
UPDATED VERSION. It's a mouthful of alphabet soup. But tell me, what's the Key Performance Indicator for all these?
Now, will that invalidate what backdoor Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon was slated for, as the original KPI minister? Another round of alphabet soup:
So, what will Tsu Koon and Idris be doing -- one and together, alphabet soup or otherwise?
In another words, Idris is the driver at Pemandu, though Tsu Koon will be the chairman of the board, and effectively a puppet figure by any organisational design (OD) model.
Net net, if BN bureaucracy sets in, and it's sure to set in with or without Najib, it's going to be KPIs driven by Management by Bureaucratic Lethargy.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS... It's obvious to me that this "KPI Minister within a KPI Minister" dilemma is because Tsu Koon cannot deliver and Najib is impatient. With a fell swoop, the second-in-command is in place should anybody anytime get the boot.
But for the sake of the country, Tsu Koon should seriously consider resigning from the KPIs portfolio so that he -- in the lingo of airlines business -- does not become an excess baggage to Idris, who has proven to be a better man with a rock-solid track record in managing organisational turn-around.
To say the least, Najib didn't want to be rude to Tsu Koon, and this backdoor minister should have the right amount of EQ to realise that that he shouldn't overstay the welcome.
With Idris on board, Najib's cabinet has now bloated to 29 ministers, just three short of Abdullah's XXL-sized one previously.
I still love Aniza Damis.
Even the best-selling English daily chose to glorify an anonymous blog that attacks the enemy of its political master.
If you have anything to say about the PKFZ scandal, why don't you dare yourself to unmask, stand up, and be counted?
Truth can't be unveiled by someone hiding behind veils.
Or else, Internet will become 95% rubbish.
Right from the start, I had warned in this blog that someone needed public caning in Permatang Pasir.
And public caning it was. There wasn't a repeat of the 65-vote verdict in Manek Urai that Umno preached.
Rather, it's like a good soccer season and BN was trounced 7-0 in all by-elections held in Peninsula Malaysia since March 2008.
This time, in Permatang Pasir, it was more of Umno which gave us its own goal.
The record shows Umno lost by a majority of 4,551 votes which went to PAS despite a 9% reduced turn-out rate. Umno's blunder was obvious. READ Joceline Tan's hindsight on this.
Umno tactics back-fired
BN's racism-laced campaign backfired. The voting pattern showed Malay voters continued to support PR despite Anwar Ibrahim -- he runs the parliamentary constituency where-in Parmatang Pasir lies -- being labelled "traitor to the Malays".
Umno's racism-stoking mouthpiece also backfired. The voting pattern clearly showed Malay voters didn't buy the venom that DAP is anti-Islam, and that a vote for PAS is a vote for DAP. Rather, the voters agreed with me -- something which I said throughout my ceremahs -- that a vote for PAS is a vote for Pakatan Rakyat because that's the coalition that is to take Putrajaya the next general election.
Even the Son-in-Law's batu api campaign stance backfired. He challenge Guan Eng to vow to appoint Salleh Man an Exco for Penang state government should PAS win [ READ MY BLOG ]. Guan Eng gave a statesmanly reply but didn't cow. Obviously, the Malay voters didn't even bother the Son-in-Law who alienated his grand-standing.
In the 8-day campaign, I was assigned to speak at the Chinese-majority areas of Tanah Liat, Cross Street and Kolam Ikan, and the Malay-majority areas of Kubang Semang and suburb of Tanah Liat. On voting day, I was assigned to station at the Samagagah polling centre. The efforts were well worth it.
In Samagagah, where Umno, MCA and Gerakan spent most of their efforts campaigning -- and distributing goodies and mooncakes -- PAS scored higher with 1,397 votes against Umno’s 594.
In Cross Street, where DAP supporters are obviously strong and present, Umno lost by 642 votes.
The juxtaposed scenario is that, in this by-election, PAS' popular votes among Malays dropped by 3 percentage points, but its Chinese support rose by some 6 percentage points, edging BN-Umno in due process.
In the end, in total, PAS secured 65% of the total votes cast compared with 66% in GE2008 -- a marginal erosion that requires some pondering no doubt.
Umno sabotage from within?
Verily, the entire BN campaign dominated by imported Umno leaders backfired.
Think, BN-Umno's Rohaizat Othman received 5,067 votes. Tell me, of the 20,350 voters in Permatang Pasir -- 73% Malays and 26% Chinese by demographics in the constituency -- how many BN members were there in who came out to vote for their candidate?
That's why, if Malaysian Insider's report is accurate, immediately after official results were announced, the vanquished BN candidate was quick to finger the Chinese voters for "not fulfilling their vow of support" to him.
And now, who you think had been a humiliating public caning in Permatang Pasir? Many, not just Rohaizat Othman.
There might have been BN and Umno sabotage from within that resulted in the paltry basket of 5,067 votes. Umno and BN campaigners had far out-numbered that figure!
And now, even Najib Razak and his cousin wanted to avoid a self-inflicted humiliation of public caning of another kind.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS... Umno tanked because it failed to vet the candidate properly. The same lesson should equally apply in Pakatan Rakyat. Think of the quality of some candidates in PKR (Cangkat Jering, Behrang, Lunas) and DAP (Jelapang). They make us vomit till this day.
OMG... campaigning in Permatang Pasir gave me such a good sun-tan, and a better-toned body.
Come to think of it, I have unknowingly helped campaign in 6 out of 8 by-elections so far. I only stayed out in Batang Ai (logistically too far and politically irrelevant) and Penanti (it was a walk-over).
Enough of by-elections, though. I'd rather go to gym to tone the body, and the streets to get a good tan.
Did Najib Razak meet Anwar Ibrahim in secret last month to foster BN-Opposition cooperation?
Hawks within Umno didn't show it. Racism-stoking Umno mouthpieces didn't report it.
But then again...
Market rumblings.
Around May this year, a month after Najib became Prime Minister, an obscure company by the name of Asas Serba Sdn Bhd was rumoured to have submitted a proposal to the Works Ministry to buy all the toll concessionaire companies in the country for a hefty RM50 billion.
According to Singapore Business Times today, which quoted various reports, the people behind Asas Serba argued that they would cut toll rates by 20%, and keep it that rate forever. In return, they wanted the concession periods extended.
As the record goes, such toll concessionaire companies mushroomed to 22, thanks to the Mahathir regime. Most of these companies are BN-friendly but privately-held.
The take-over of privatised toll concessionaire companies resurfaced recently when Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Minister in the PM's Department in charge of the Planning Unit (EPU), said the proposal to take over PLUS Expressways Bhd by the government was now in the final stages before it could be tabled to the Cabinet.
The present market value of PLUS is estimated at RM10.5 billion.
Currently, Khazanah Nasional Bhd directly owns 23.66% of PLUS, and an additional indirect stake of 40.21% via wholly owned unit UEM Group.
And we know, highway tolls had been a pain in the butt for the consumers, and the premises for mass demonstration of protests.
The question is: Who is behind Asas Serba with this wet dream of a fixed toll rate with an almost perpetual contract?
The old boys of MCKK again? Works Minister Shaziman, and the maestro of the former 4th Floor Boys aren't talking.
UPDATED VERSION. The Son-in-Law said this, according to Malaysian Insider:
“I dare Lim Guan Eng to appoint the PAS candidate as an exco if he wins,” he added followed by a loud roar from the audience.
I say this:
"I dare Najib Razak to appoint the Son-in-Law as a cabinet minister. He has already won the Ketua Pemuda Umno seat, why wait?"
Also look at the number of empty seats when the Son-in-Law spoke in Permatang Pasir, here.
UPDATES: And the Son-in-Law replies as, again, spotted in Malaysian Insider:
Usahlah YB “Jeff” Ooi dan konco-konconya dalam DAP mengaburi mata rakyat; tak jemu-jemu mengungkit isu saya selaku Ketua Pergerakan Pemuda UMNO Malaysia tidak dilantik sebagai Menteri sebagai alasan untuk PAS tidak diwakili dalam Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang. Kanak-kanak di bangku sekolah pun boleh membezakan antara seorang individu seperti saya ini, dan sebuah parti besar seperti PAS yang diketepikan dan diaibkan oleh DAP yang berperanan seakan buli dalam Pakatan Rakyat.
The Son-in-Law should be smarter than the two he defeated in the Ketua Pemuda Umno race, and yet he didn't cut the cloth in Najib's Cabinet -- the vanquished did, and his deputy did.
Well, by right, charity should start from home with Umno's backyard.
Two interesting lessons that Umno No. 2 may need some education on.
And two interesting things happened today.
ONE: Yusri Isahak -- if Umno's version is to be believable -- is supposedly the former legal firm partner that caused Permatang Pasir's BN candidate Rohaizat Othman to be struck off the Bar Council's list of practising lawyer.
Today, he came out in the open and vehemently refuted claims by Umno leaders that Rohaizat was the 'hero' innocent from any wrongdoings.
TWO: Responding to the statement made by the Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, implying that the Bar Council had an ulterior motive in raising this issue, council secretary George Varughese said:
As such, the Bar Council's intention in issuing a press release entitled “Clarification regarding Rohaizat Othman” on Auguat stakest 18, 2009 was to respond to media inquiries on the matter related to Rohaizat.
The Bar Council stated that it regretted Muhyiddin's statement implying that the Bar Council had an ulterior motive in raising this issue.
Reading the two pieces as a whole, it's obvious that someone's credibility is seriously at stake.
By stating that a lawyer getting penalised for mishandling of client's fund is regarded as routine as getting a parking ticket is a dangerous position to take.
I look forward to some public canning in Permatang Pasir.
Following a link from Malaysiakini, it's now an open secret even if it isn't authentic.
After all, coroner Azmil Muntapha Abas had not ordered a gag order on the matter.
Last Sunday, as I was attending the closing ceremony of a motivation course for UPSR students in Jalan P. Ramlee in my constituency, it suddenly dawned on me that she, too, will be facing the same exam early next month.
I have neglected much of her and the family since becoming a full-time Parliamentarian. Often times, I would remind myself to try to spend more quality time with her to make up. Promises of a D90 or new smart-phone can't ever replace the bonding with a growing smart kid a dad must have.
I know, she had been writing her own blog and reading my blog some four years ago.
"No offence, but you politicians are like mummy's kids, fighting over lame issues. I won't find a career in politics when I grow up," she blasted in a plain natural flair over snacks a few days ago. I was stunned.
On 1 Malaysia, she said we should tell Najib to do something different.
"Not 1 Malaysialah. He should heal Malaysia (instead), and make it a better place (for us)," she said.
Yes, you may say she has been listening too much to Michael Jackson lately.
But I am still stunned at her curt comments about the Malaysia that she is slowly beginning to understand.
It's a reality check for me. No kidding for a 12-year plus, and her generation will form part of the silent majority who can think.
Permatang Pasir folks deserve basic dignity.
How could BN disrespect the voters by fielding a fraudulent lawyer disbarred by the Advocates and Solicitors Displinary Board of the Bar Council to be their potential elected representative in this 8th by-election since March 2008?
Yesterday, the Malaysian Bar Council confirmed that Rohaizat Othman, BN's candidate for the Permatang Pasir by-election, was found guilty of misconduct and had already been struck off the rolls on March 7 last year.
It has also been revealed that Rohaizat had failed to refund some RM161,000.00 to his client after a property transaction was aborted. A complaint was lodged with the Bar Council, and he was struck off the list after investigations.
Lousy alibis
However, alibis defied facts, and two lies don't tell a truth.
There was, in fact, glaring inconsistency in the alibis put up by BN leaders up till the eve of nomination day.
August 16, Penang Umno chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had claimed that it was Rohaizat’s partner who had taken off with the client’s money.
August 18, Bar Council secretary George Varughese clarified that the finding of misconduct was personal to Rohaizat as the disciplinary board would not hold a lawyer liable for the actions of his partners.
Read Varughese's statement in full the Bar Council official website.
Earlier, Bar Council chairman Ragunath Kesavan had confirmed that Rohaizat was guilty and bore personal liability under the Legal Profession Act.
All these official statements from the Bar Council merely mean that it's Rohaizat the syariah lawyer -- not his partners or the legal firm he worked for -- had been fingered as the fraudulent party in the cheating case.
Integrity above all, candidate must be encumbrance-free
Umno, the party to which Rohaizat belongs, must display basic moral guardianship by withdrawing from the by-election because Permatang Pasir folks deserve basic due respect that they must be honoured with at least a clean candidate.
Furthermore, Bar Council also stated that said Rohaizat had tried to seek redemption by appealing to the High Court against the decision of the disciplinary board, and the appeal was dismissed by the High Court last Wednesday, August 12, 2009.
And counting backwards, the High Court judgment came just 5 days before nomination for the Permatang Pasir by-election. This shows Umno's blatant disregard for the voters' right to an honest YB as their elected rep when it had five full days to pick a more honest, untainted candidate!
By Malaysian convention, a candidate must be encumbrance-free at the time of nomination. Umno had ignored that to its own peril.
If Umno didn't withdraw Rohaizat from the by-election, Permatang Pasir voters should punish it by giving PAS a trouncing, humiliating majority. I am confident of this.
Let Umno lick the wounds by punishing the leaders who had succumbed to the wants of the Jalil faction in Permatang Pauh, blundered and made a wrong choice candidate.
It was Ahmad Zaid and Muhyiddin Yassin who shot themselves in the head. They have to pay the price for their mistakes in fielding a court-proven dishonest person as the candidate, and not do it at the expense of the Permatang Pasir voters.
To the electorate of Permatang Pasir, their late state assemblyman Datuk Hamdan was a clean man throughout his tenure.
We should keep it that way for the legislative of Penang. It's afterall my family's home state.
Today, I approved the draft of Notice of Demand (NOD) to Utusan Melayu (M) Berhad and the editor of Utusan Malaysia it publishes. I have solid grounds to show that they have maliciously defamed me.
The NOD was sent out by my lawyers at Karpal Singh & Company.
To prevent manipulation of facts by the Umno-owned mainstream media, this is the full text of my media statement released from Penang today [ UPDATES: Contrast it against the story in The Star, August 17 ]:
MEDIA STATEMENT“DAP Hina Islam” allegations:
MP Jeff Ooi to sue Utusan Malaysia for defamation[ JELUTONG, Saturday, August 16, 2009 ] – Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi will join fellow DAP national leaders to sue Utusan Malaysia for carrying false reports that maliciously defamed him as having insulted Islam.
He said all DAP leaders throughout the country will follow the directive by the party’s secretary-general Lim Guan Eng to immediately file civil suits against any newspapers that had defamed them.
“I did not insult Islam. Obviously, Utusan Malaysia’s reports are politically motivated,” Ooi said in a statement.
“As such, I have instructed my legal team to proceed with the legal action immediately in order to uphold my rights as a legislator and a Malaysian citizen under Utusan’s malicious attacks.”
So far, at least three other DAP MPs had initiated legal suits against Utusan Malaysia for defamation, namely party chairman Karpal Singh, secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and party organising secretary Teresa Kok.
Referring to an Utusan Malaysia story dated February 24, 2009, which carried a frontpage lead story under the headline: “DAP hina Islam?”, Ooi said the Malay daily has established a consistent pattern to defame DAP and its leaders as anti-Islam in order to arouse hatred among the Muslims against them.
“We filed a police report in Kuala Lumpur on the same day the false report appeared,” Ooi said. “However, apart from a statement taken from me by the Sentul police station, there was no action taken against the newspaper.”
He said the newspaper’s reports had since developed into persistent religious profiling of DAP leaders, with the latest targets being Rasah MP and DAP Youth chief Loke Siew Fook, and him.Utusan Malaysia pursued the pattern by carrying a series of articles over days, branding DAP leaders as anti-Islam, and on August 13, 2009, it published a frontpage story to trigger a series of police investigations on the two members of parliament.
“Using the headline ‘Syor dakwa Siew Fook, Ooi’, Utusan Malaysia obviously had passed the judgment that both are guilty until proven innocent,” Ooi said.
Loke was interviewed by the police at his service centre in Seremban on August 14, while Ooi had his statement taken (as a witness) at his Jelutong service centre on August 16.
Ooi is a member of DAP central executive committee, the deputy director of political education as well as the Chief-of-Staff at the Penang Chief Minister’s Office. He is also instrumental in starting the social-political blogging movement in Malaysia.
END
R.S.N. Rayer, a member of my legal team who accompanied me throughout the police interview this morning, told the media that a letter of demand will be sent to Utusan Melayu (M) Berhad, the publisher of the Utusan Malaysia daily, tomorrow.
If correction and apology are not forthcoming within 7 days, full-scale defamation suit shall follow.
Are there credible witnesses for Malaysian courts?
First, we had the Utusan reporter who mistook 'ultra vires' to mean 'to insult'.
Now, we have an RTM reporter, Eliana Mazlan, who admitted that she does not know which party Karpal Singh belongs to. Nor does she know who Anwar Ibrahim is, save for her ability to only describe him as the president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).
Young at 26 years old and had only been on the job for two months, Eliana was entrusted by RTM to cover Karpal Singh's March 17 press conference.
Her testimony is crucial to the introduction of an RTM video recording of Karpal’s statement to the press which is now a sedition suit that had implicated the DAP national chief under Section 4(1)(b) of the Sedition Act 1948.
By questioning her understanding of what transpired during Karpal's press conference, the defence is attempting to prove she is an unreliable witness.
Full story in Malaysian Insider.
UPDATED VERSION: Tiong and Ong -- which one tells no truth? Or are both lying?
ALLEGATION: Agencies in the BN government tasked to investigate the PKFZ project said this week it had found disputed claims by Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd, which amounted to at least RM500 million.
COUNTER-ALLEGATION: Kuala Dimensi CEO, Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing, exposed that MCA president Ong Tee Keat had received a RM10 million cash donation from him.
"I offered a cheque but Ong asked for cash because it was faster. I am very sincere in my intentions," Tiong was quoted as saying in Malaysian Insider.
COUNTER COUNTER-ALLEGATION: Today, besides lodging a police report against Tiong for alleged criminal defamation, Tee Keat said he was giving Tiong seven days to withdraw his statement and apologise or else face legal action.
By stating that "the real can't be fake, and the fake can't be real" (“真的假不了，假的真不了”), Tee Keat implied that truth shall prevail to clear his name.
So, who between Tiong and Ong is not true? And what if they are both truthfully telling of each other?
Four fellow DAP MPs and I accompanied Kit Siang to file a police report on the Tiong-Ong revelations. We want the case to be investigated, and let the truth be told.
All pictures downloaded from Malaysiakini
In the exchange of fires between the two, there are more revealing quotes, in fact.
For example, this is a quotable quote in The China Press that I may have a hard time translating:
“坦白說，我很失望，指我（在給1000萬令吉方面）沒有證據，話不要講得太大聲，人在做，天在看。”"翁總手上不是戴很大串佛珠？叫他得空拿出來唸一唸，想想自己所為對不對。"
Which one will go down sooner than the other? Ask MACC now.
UPDATES: More quotable quotes from Faizal Abdullah, deputy CEO of the aviation company owned by Wijaya Baru Global Holdings Sdn Bhd -- which is linked to Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd -- who fingered Tee Keat for using the company's Learjet 60 and Gulfstream G450 without paying for the costs:
"He is a minister. I don't see him as Ong Tee Keat. I see him as a minister. He must have some accountability and responsibility..."Dia guna empat kali ini macam, mana boleh tahan (This happened four times, how can we stand it)?" he said.
Nevertheless, Faizal said the company will not pursue Ong for the arrears. "He is a minister. We can't ask him to pay. That is very rude. Mati lah!"
GO disallows hiring private jets
In another related story in The China Press, which was carried by Malaysiakini, a case surface: Ministers fying on private jets.
Question: Can ministers use private jets to commute and let the government pick up the tap using taxpayers' money?
The China Press story reported that the government's Perintah Am (General Order) stated that all officials including ministers can only fly Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia and use government owned cars.
Quoting an anonymous government source, the report added that at no time are ministers allowed to use private aircraft.The source said all external expenses must be given prior approval by the chief secretary of the ministry because the ministry treasury will issue a 'local order'.
"Thus, the transport minister and his secretary's statement that they have not received an invoice is misleading the public.
"Under the local order, post-dated invoices or bills cannot be claimed," said the source.
Interestingly. Faizal also disclosed that there were several other ministers and MCA politicians who 'borrowed' the planes but they have paid for the cost of using them.
Who were them other ministers and MCA politicians? Ask MACC now.
This is a sentence from a press statement from Karpal Singh.
“Although the orders have been confirmed by the Sultan... If the decision is ultra vires then the decision can be adjudicated by the court.”
At the Kuala Lumpur High Court today, Utusan Malaysia reporter Mohd Nizam Mohd Yatim was asked by defence counsel, Jagdeep Singh Deo, to explain to the court what he thought the phrase “ultra vires” actually meant.
Looking confused, Nizam replied: “To insult.”
In context, by the phrase ultra vires, the Utusan reporter actually meant Karpal Singh was insulting the Perak Sultan.
However, Mohd Nizam argued that it was not his story, but Bernama's, that had a retorted understanding of the phrase ultra vires.
Notably, having been a reporter for 8 years for Bernama, and another 8 years in Utusan, Mohd Nizam obviously didn't get a good upbringing to practise good English in journalism.
But aren't the Utusan editors' command of English just as bad?
Is Ong Tee Keat a NATO, no action, talk only, on the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) debacle?
Yesterday, the phrase "possible fraud" came up for the first time from official-speak.
Kit Siang, and the Opposition on the larger scale, must be vindicated with this confession.
The "possible fraud" was linked to PKFZ main developer, Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd, which has been found to be either over-charged, unsubstantiated or even possibly fraudulent, running up to hundreds of millions of ringgit -- and possibly as much as RM1 billion.
And more! The Star, the MCA-owned English paper, says it learned that what was revealed yesterday was only the “tip of the iceberg" and "many more revelations of wrong doings are expected in the days ahead”.
Port Klang Authority chairman Lee Hwa Beng was quoted as saying: “Our lawyers will henceforth deal with Kuala Dimensi chief executive officer Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing and its deputy Datuk Faisal Abdullah."
Tiong, if your memory fails, is currently the chairman of BN Backbencher Club of the Dewan Rakyat.
Life-threatening
Is Tee Keat still feeling it life-threatening -- by the underworld or above world -- over the debacle?
In an interview with Sin Chew Daily published July 15, Tee Keat has revealed that several forces had ganged up to try, by all means, to stop him from making public the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit report on PKFZ.
In the story, he said the forces included people involved in the case, politico-business forces with connection to these people and certain quarters within the ruling coalition. There were threats on his personal safety and those in the form of applied internal pressure, he said.
(Read archive in the Bar Council website.)
Today, The Star describes Tee Keat’s stance had been done by way of "progressive and comprehensive explanation", and that he is gradually dispelling the public’s negative perception over the scandal. And it's only now that he wants action taken against the culprits.
We'll pray for Tee Keat's safety. After C4 and Beng Hock, anything can happen in Malaysia.
What happens when Umno is feeling politically feeble? Beat up the drums of uber race.
So, is it any wonder that the 52nd Merdeka celebrations are being heralded by Umno's pumping up hardline racism-laced stories in print and online space -- and bury Malaysian unity?
We have sen Umno using party-owned Utusan Malaysia as the mouthpiece to spews racism, soon starting from Najib's first 100 days.
How did the non-Umno ministers behave when the issue was raised in the BN Supreme Council meeting held on August 10?
The backdoor-in minister in charge of National Unity, Dr Koh Tsu Koon, reportedly highlighted a series of incendiary commentaries in the Utusan, and said he was troubled by the effect it was having on race relations.
However, Umno No. 2 Muhyiddin Yassin, justified the racism-laced pitch taken by Umno and Utusan by saying that Malays believe that Umno is weak and giving in too much to the demands of non-Malays.
It is understood that none of the leaders of BN component parties challenged this view. That's what Malaysian Insider said.
Merdeka 52? Be cheerful but be careful.
Again, I want to contrast the report in The Star today pertaining to Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) and MPPP Councillor Mohd Razali Abdullah.
For clarity, I reproduce the press statement verbatim which was issued at the press conference held in Jelutong on my return from overseas.
MEDIA STATEMENT
THE FINAL PRESS CONFERENCE:
JIM is not extremist group,
but Mohd Razali Abdullah must be removed from MPPP OSC
JELUTONG, 09 August 2009 – This is my final press conference on the issue related to Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) which has been manipulated in the Media by certain parties.MOHD RAZALI ABDULLAH MUST GO
I want to put the perspective right by stating that the core problem is ( 1 ) the circumstances in which MOHD RAZALI ABDULLAH was nominated as a Councillor in MPPP to originally represent JIM but was ultimately made a PKR representative; and ( 2 ) his disruptive and out-of-jurisdiction behaviour in the Majlis Jawatankuasa One-Stop-Centre (MJOSC) that had caused grave concerns to major investors and developers who threatened to pull out from the Penang state.
On August 06, I mentioned that the complex circumstances leading to the appointment of Mohd Razali Abdullah into the One-Stop-Centre (OSC) of MPPP his behaviour during OSC meetings had now become a political burden for the state government; and that we will now deal with him and his continued presence in the OSC through the political avenues.
Today, I maintain that -- in the best interests of the Penang state which needs continuous support from the business and investors community – Mohd Razali must be removed from the OSC committee of MPPP.
Here are the facts.
(YB Jeff Ooi to read to the Media excerpts of official complaint from a public-listed investor, whose identity is withheld to prevent it from being vindictive victimisation.)
JEMAAH ISLAH MALAYSIA (JIM)
On August 06, while I was still on a study trip overseas, I announced that I have been advised and assured by DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister YAB Lim Guan Eng that JIM is not an extreme organisation, and that it is appropriate to withdraw my statement published in The Star, August 2, and move on.
I have also announced on August 06 that, with the advice and assurance from the Chief Minister, I should fully oblige with the directive to withdraw the statement and consider the matter closed.
JIM is a registered society, and as a public entity, it must accept the fact that it is not exempted from public scrutiny of its vision, mission, official statements and activities. It must also accept the fact that every individual is entitled to his/her basic right to dissent on views and opinions.
As such, I shall have continuous dialogues with JIM leadership in the presence of DAPSY Penang Secretary YB Ng Wei Aik, who is also the CM’s Political Secretary to prevent any further misunderstanding in the future.
Meanwhile, I have consulted fellow DAP Members of Parliament who are practicing lawyers on the fundamental issues sensationalized in the Media.
To put the record straight, I had NEVER in any occasion attacked or insulted Islam as a religion throughout the issue was played up.
I challenge all those who had accused me as such to substantiate with proofs. Failing which, whoever and whichever parties that attempted to publicly label me as being anti-Islam will stand the risk of facing legal actions that I will not hesitate to undertake to protect my integrity.
RELIGIOUS PROFILING AGAINST DAP LEADERS
For clarity over the issue, it is imperative to establish the relevant context to the matter arisen.
It is also imperative that all parties concerned should immediately stop the usual religious profiling accorded unto DAP leaders.
My fellow comrade, the Tiger of Jelutong -- DAP chief Sdr Karpal Singh -- had been the target of such religious profiling in the recent past. Now, they have come after me.
For the benefit of onward progress of Penang, I shall continue to speak up on governance issues as the voice of conscience for Penang, like what many before had done for Penang in the past, as well as fulfilling my responsibility as an elected representative and a national legislator on behalf of Jelutong people.
END
Malaysiakini Chinese Edition has a detailed story of my press conference yesterday. The NST story by Keng Fatt is concise.
I couldn't update my blog while in Hong Kong most part of yesterday. Access totally denied from PCCW's 10Mbps line and Starbucks.
It turned out to be a case of Denial-of-Service (DoS) attacks on some social network websites that had snarled up the parts of cyberspace I depended on -- Google, Twitter, Facebook and even Flickr.
Subsequently, both Twitter and Facebook confirmed that the attacks were aimed at a single user -- an anti-Russian blogger named Cyxymu.
Twitter blog co-founder Biz Stone has some updates, though he does not say much about how good Twitter's defence system is.
This is the dark side of Internet. I had thought Najib/Rais' state-run Internet censorship regime had kicked in.
I want to contrast the report in The Star today pertaining to Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) and MPPP Councillor Mohd Razali Abdullah.
For clarity, I reproduce the press statement verbatim which was issued from Hong Kong via DAP Jelutong Service Centre.
.MEDIA STATEMENT‘JIM not extremist,’ said Guan Eng.
Appropriate to withdraw statement.HONG KONG, 06 August 2009 – I have been advised by DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister YAB Lim Guan Eng that Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) is not an extreme organisation, and that it is appropriate to withdraw my statement published in The Star, August 2, and move on.
As such, I shall fully oblige with the directive.
However, for clarity, it is imperative to establish the relevant context to the matter arisen.
The complex circumstances leading to the appointment of Mohd Razali Abdullah into the One-Stop-Centre (OSC) of MPPP – particularly as a JIM member nominated under the PKR banner, and his behaviour during OSC meetings -- had now become a political burden for the state government.
We will now deal with him and his continued presence in the OSC through the political avenues.
Hence, it is also imperative that all parties concerned should immediately stop the usual religious profiling accorded unto DAP leaders.
For the benefit of onward progress of Penang, I shall continue to speak up on governance issues as the voice of conscience for Penang, like what many before had done for Penang in the past, as well as fulfilling my responsibility as an elected representative and a national legislator on behalf of Jelutong people.
END
Now that Council President Tan Cheng Chui, who had barely held the post for 100 days, has suddenly fallen sick, it means MPPP will not have a full-time YDP for sometime. See Bernama and Guang Ming Daily.
Is this the perfect recipe for chaos? The business community who depended on the OSC decisions must tell us.
So , pseudo-liberal Rais Yatim now thinks of setting up an Internet filter, similar to China's delayed "Green Dam" project, to stifle dissent?
A state-run Internet censorship system. Just like Falungong and Jiang Zemin cannot be web-searched with China's great firewall, what would be the likely key words and phrases a-taboo in Malaysia? (Ya, you've got it.. A, Mongolia and probably R?)
How about CapEx and OpEx?
I gave a brief response to Reuters while in Hong Kong, several miles from mainland China.
ONI (OpenNet Initiative), formed by Harvard University, University of Cambridge and University of Toronto, must look into Malaysia.
In Malaysiakini, here.
438 arrested from a crowd of over 20,000.
What a shameful comedy.
First, it expressed concurrence with the objectives of the Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA (GMI), which wanted the Internal Security Act (ISA) abolished, though, it's actually something it had only wanted "reviewed", not repealed.
It first said it would participate in the August 1 Anti-ISA Rally, which would culminate in the submission of a memo to the Agong at the Palace.
It later said it would not join the August 1 Anti-ISA Rally (see video of GMI Press Conference).
Today, it attempted to submit a memo to the Agong ahead of the August 1 Anti-ISA Rally.
However, according to Malaysiakini, it was not only stopped at the Palace gate, but was further "schooled on palace protocol".
Meanwhile, Malaysiakini Chinese edition said it was originally planned as a marching-on to the Palace, but it precipitated into a few-car convoy to abide by Police order.
在过程中，相信是第一次率队游行的民青团长林时彬，对警方的指示言听计从，包括打消游行的原意，改乘汽车到皇宫呈备忘录。[...]当被告知只能乘车前往皇宫时，林时彬甚至反问该名警官：“皇宫前面是否有地方泊车？”
“我们带20名团员前往，是否OK？不过我也要带着记者一起去。”
The comedy is a bunch of Gerakan Youth led by its chief.
“I don't want to argue with them, get into your cars,” Lim was heard telling his men in Cantonese.
No guts then don't do. Buat malu manusia.
Mysterious deaths while in government's custody -- Kugan Ananthan in police complex, and yes, Teoh Beng Hock in MACC premises.
Lawyer N Surendran was quoted in Malaysiakini as saying the following, today:
“We say it openly - the police killed Kugan. We have no doubt about it. If it is not true, they can charge us for criminal defamation...“The death occurred because of murder and torture which happened in January but now it is now July, and we ask why are the murderers and torturers in uniform allowed to walk free in this country,” expressed Surendran.
Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom today, Surendran also lambasted attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail for not taking speedy action to identify and prosecute Kugan's murderers.
Post-mortem samples confiscated
Meanwhile, the High Court will announce next Tuesday, August 4, its decision on the preliminary objection from the prosecution over the return of A. Kugan's post-mortem samples which were confiscated from the University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) by the police.
The items that were seized include bodily fluids and tissue samples, photographs, documents and other materials relating to the second post-mortem done on Kugan by UMMC pathologist, Dr Prashant N Sambekar Prashant.
The initial post-mortem, conducted by Dr Abdul Karim Tajuddin of Serdang Hospital, stated that the Kugan had died from “fluid accumulation” in his lungs. It was rejected by Kugan's family.
And... kitchen cloths and taps being dirtier than toilet flushes and toilet door handles.
That's the highlight of the fourth annual Dettol Global Hygiene Survey conducted by the Hygiene Council on Malaysian Homes.
What the survey didn't say is the hygiene condition in public eateries.
I like the tastiness of nasi kandar at Line Clear at the Chulia Street and Penang Road junction -- and many other places -- for obvious reasons.
Very funny, but cruelly true...
The ReporterI would like to report a death,
An unfortunate suicide I must confess,
The newspaper fell from the 14th floor,
Now it tells the truth no more.
Gone is The Storyteller 1. Gone is The Storyteller 2.
Her last blog was July 22, about a song of longing she was hoping to use for the ending in Wasurenagusa.
It was a fitting "forget me not".
Yasmin Ahmad the Filmmaker passed away due to massive bleeding in the brain at the Damansara Specialist Hospital at 11.25pm last night. Then, I was on my way back from Lukut, Port Dickson, after a party function.
She had undergone surgery after she collapsed at the TV3 headquarters on Thursday.
She was 51.
We knew each other not through the advertising fraternity but through the blogosphere, which broke years of barriers as mere two strangers fighting on our different causes that, somehow, the twain should still meet someday.
I last met her in Kuala Terengganu in 2007, on the eve of my joining active politics. She naughtily tested her Cantonese skills on me. Her chuckles are still vivid, and I will truly miss that.
For those who don't know Yasmin before, this is who she was, the intro she used in all her blogs:
I am optimistic and sentimental to the point of being annoying, especially to people who think that being cynical and cold is cool. Everyday, I thank Allah for everyday things like the ability to breathe, the ability to love, the ability to laugh, and the ability to eat and drink.
Thank you, Yasmin, for all the films you created to knit the Malaysian social fabrics together. My generation will remember you fondly for the Anak Malaysia Petronas TV ads you made, and your many films that depict how racial harmony should breathe in Malaysia. Tributes are streaming in on Star Online:
Hembusan naluri, semburan akal;
Menusuk jiwa peminat yang tinggal;
Memujuk semangat watan yang kental;
Buat negara - impian tiada kesal...Sepet, Gubra merintih meminta;
Merintis budaya bersandarkan cinta;
Agarkan kita melanyak sengketa;
Walau bahasa dan kaum berbeda.
Goodbye, my friend. We'll miss you.
Learn the stark difference between a Royal Commission of Inquiry and an Inquest of Death, from Loyar Burok.
The late Beng Hock's family today expressed their disappointment and rejected the Cabinet's "Inquest + Royal Commission of Inquiry" decision as being “neither here nor there” to guarantee justice for Beng Hock.
They wanted to meet the PM soon to tell him that they had expected a Royal Commission of Inquiry to find out the truth behind Beng Hock's death in its entirety.
Beng Hock’s youngest sister Teoh Lee Lan, 29, who spoke for the family and cried the most, said:
“We were elated when we first got the news but then later felt disappointed when it became clear that the Royal Commission would only investigate MACC’s procedures while the inquest would be carried out to probe my brother’s death.
“This is not what the family wanted as we had made our request known to several ministers, including Najib’s political secretary (Dr Oh Ei Sun), when they visited us last week.”
This is the Teoh Family's statement in its original form, in Chinese:
“对于首相昨天宣布的内阁决定，我们起初听到会成立皇家委员会，感到很欢迎，但是，现在我们知道了整个内容，我们很失望没调查明福的死因。这不是我们家属要的，我们要的是，全面的皇家委员会。为什么明福会死在MACC总部，我们全家不能接受内阁的决定，只是成立皇委会调查MACC的盘问程序。
我代表家人，要求首相及内阁改变决定，来设立一个全面的皇家委员会，特别是来查出明福的死因。"
Yesterday, immediately after Najib announced the Cabinet decision, this blogger was among the first in the country to state the reasons why Beng Hock has been short-changed and cheated. Read here.
This is what Zaini Hassan, Utusan Malaysia Assistant Chief Editor I, wrote and published on July 22:
Cuit - Bersama Zaini Hassan
Selangor Oh Selangor 2: Apa ada dalam notebook Beng Hock?Sepanjang tempoh siasatan itu, Beng Hock bekas wartawan Sin Chew Daily itu dikatakan telah memberi komitmen dan kerjasama sepenuhnya. Banyak dokumen yang perlu disemak satu persatu. Beliau turut dikatakan membantu menyusun dokumen-dokumen di atas meja. Malah beliau berjanji akan membawa lagi dokumen untuk diteliti di pejabat SPRM itu. Tapi semua itu tidak sempat, beliau kemudiannya ditemui mati.
Difahamkan Beng Hock, yang merupakan seorang pemuda yang bercakap lembut dan kaki buku mulai gelisah apabila komputer ribanya mula dibuka. Ia dikatakan berlaku sekitar pukul 1 pagi. Tidak pasti apa ada dalam komputer itu yang menyebabkan beliau terlalu gelisah. Tapi yang jelas bahan-bahan dalam komputer itu amat penting untuk siasatan.
What did Zaini know about Beng Hock's laptop that the Selangor CPO nor the IGP hadn't revealed? What was Utusan trying to imply by framing a hearsay into mainstream journalism? Ask Umno.
Zaini is a recent winner of Anugerah Wartawan Utama, and the same journalist who fingered Teresa Kok in an article that developed into a controversy about a mosque, which became a RM30 million defamation suit pending settlement.
Also read Zaini's Selangor Oh Selangor 1: Ia kalut dengan Underworld to check his consistency in spinning hearsay into print.
UPDATED VERSION. Justice for Beng Hock? He is short-changed and cheated!
Collectively, Najib and his Cabinet had cheated Beng Hock a full Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate into his suspicious death!
Today, Najib announced his Cabinet's decision that implied that there will NOT be a a Royal Commission of Inquiry to look into Beng Hock's death.
Beng Hock's death will now be investigated by an inquest that will be presided by a magistrate, meaning a junior officer of the Malaysian Judiciary, and Correct Correct Correct, you know its track record.
The Cabinet has only agreed to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry to look into the interrogation methods used on him by the MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission).
With the inquest, police papers and evidence will be depended upon heavily by the magistrate in conducting the investigation.
Worst of all, in an inquest, family members could be denied legal representation if the magistrate so desires, or is intimidated with his/her chances of promotion in the judicial system.
This is a huge deficit of the People's trust and public expectations.
That is because, going by track records, our magistrate-presided inquests are wholly deficient to look into cause of death.
That was the reason for the Select Committee and the Bar Council to recommend in 2006 for specialised Coroner's Court to deal with such death cases which, hitherto, has yet to be passed.
I personally met Beng Hock's aggrieved family and attended Beng Hock's funeral. I could sense their devastating loss, their expectation for justice, and their rights to redress.
However, the decision of Najib's Cabinet is unsatisfactory and totally unacceptable.
The ins-and-outs that caused Beng Hock's death within the MACC HQ must be an integral part of the same Royal Commission of Inquiry that will look into the interrogation methods used on him by the MACC. Only a Royal Commission of Inquiry with wider terms of reference than that of an inquest can determine the causes of Beng Hock's death.
Tee Keat & Tsu Koon agreed?
When MCA's Ong Tee Keat and Gerakan's Koh Tsu Koon told Malaysians they will press for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate into Beng Hock's death, did they follow through with their promise during the Cabinet meeting today?
BN used to boast all Cabinet decisions are by consensus.
Did Tee Keat, Tsu Koon, and all BN ministers press for a RCI into the causes of Teoh’s death?
Or are they out-voted by the rest of the Cabinet?
Or all along, they had agreed to only have a RCI into the investigative techniques of MACC, but not into Teoh’s death?
We don't need another Royal Commission of Inquiry to investigate how Tee Keat and Tsu Koon -- and all other BN ministers -- had voted to short-change Beng Hock in telling the truth.
We just need to tell them to resign.
Resign or Not To Resign?
I SMSed a friend who sits in one of the many committees and panels under MACC, in the aftermath of Teoh Beng Hock's tragic death at the premises of MACC Selangor HQ.
JEFF: Will u resign as a member of MACC Corruption Consultation and Prevention Panel?ADVISOR: R Tan Seng Giaw and Sallehuddin quitting?
JEFF: We r getting them to quit.
ADVISOR: That's interesting!
Obviously, knowing that I am from DAP, the particular advisor was asking if my party deputy president Dr Tan Seng Giaw and PAS vice president Sallehuddin Ayub had led by example to quit MACC's advisory panel -- without having to declare his own position.
It is fine by me even if none of them quit as each individual is at his free will to pursue his personal conviction. However, my personal view is that when we ask that MACC should be dissolved, and its chairman Ahmad Said Hamdan should be sacked, those in glass houses should cast the first stone.
For the record, this blogger-Lesgislator and Dr Lim Teck Ghee, director of think-tank Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI), have consecutively asked if the advisors felt it imperative to disassociate themselves from MACC -- here and here.
2009 is not a good year for Chip.
The Prime Minister's wife Ho Cheng is going to stay on at Temasek Holdings, Singapore's investment agency.
So, CEO designate, American Charles “Chip” Goodyear, will have to polish his resume and look for job else where.
The news of the Temasek flip-flop was reported by Wall Street Journal (WSJ) today.
According to WSJ, Temasek blamed the decision on "differences regarding certain strategic issues." The board and Goodyear agreed to terminate the transition process and his role as CEO-designate and board member effective August 15. He was to have become CEO on October 1.
Goodyear had been introduced as the man to helm Temasek early this year. He was made a board member on February 1, and CEO-designate a month later.
‘We hired the best,” Lee Kuan Yew still said it as recent as last month. He was referring to Chip Goodyear. See WSJ: Temasek and Transparency II.
Goodyear was formerly chief executive of BHP Billiton Ltd.
According to a quoted WSJ report, Goodyear ran a tight ship at Temasek and tried to instill a tighter sense of discipline within the organisation.
For example, said the WSJ report. those who did not turn up on time for internal meetings were fined for every minute they were late, and fiddling with BlackBerrys during meetings was strictly prohibited.
Damage control
Singapore Straits Times was seen attempting a damage control effort as news broke.
Meanwhile, corporate Singapore and industry watchers are wondering what could have gone wrong with Temasek's CEO selection process and what transpired to cause Goodyear to depart less than six months after accepting the top post.
According to Bloomberg, which also reported on the news, the value of Temasek’s assets fell 31% to S$127 billion in the eight months to November 30 as the credit crisis drove down the value of stakes in Merrill Lynch & Co., Barclays Plc and Standard Chartered Plc.
As a context, the MSCI World Index fell 38% in the same period.
In the first quarter this year, Temasek sold its 3.8% stake in Bank of America Corp., which bought Merrill Lynch, at a loss that may have totaled US$4.6 billion.
Earlier, according to a Reuters source report on June 3 which Bloomberg quoted, Temasek sold its stake in London-based Barclays at a loss in December and January this year. However, Temasek responded by issuing a statement saying that it wasn’t its policy to respond to “media reports based on unnamed sources claiming to be familiar with certain situations, or other speculative market reports.”
Journalist SC Chan, passed away early this morning after undergoing a heart surgery at the Normah Medical Specialist Centre in Kuching.
Chan is recognised by his pen-name Tony Thien, who has been stringing for Malaysiakini since 2000.
I regard him as Malaysian journalism's eyes and ears on Sarawak politics, and was looking forward to consulting him as DAP prepares the ground for the coming state election in the Taib-Mahmud-in-twilight environment.
Chan, 61, was survived by two children.
RIP.
Putrajaya must be viewing this YouTube.
Someone uploaded it July 18. Over 14,000 viewers now. Ban the YouTube!
Dear Sirs & Madame, will you stay if Ahmad Said Hamdan decided to stay on at MACC?
That's my question to the members of the Lembaga Penasihat Pencegahan Rasuah:
1. Y.A.Bhg Tun Abdul Hamid bin Haji Mohamad
2. Y.Bhg Tan Sri Datuk Amar Haji Hamid Bugo
3. Y.Bhg Prof. Tan Sri Dr. Mohd Kamal Hassan
4. Y. Bhg Tan Sri Mohamed Jawhar Hassan
5. Y.Bhg Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Simon Sipaun
6. Y. Bhg Tan Sri Dato' Seri Megat Najmuddin bin Haji Megat Khas
7. Y. Bhg Puan Sri Zaiton Zawiyah Puteh
8. Y. Bhg Datuk Rashpal Singh a/l Jeswant Singh
9. Y. Bhg Tan Sri Yong Poh Kon
10. Y. Bhg Profesor Dato’ Anwar Fazal
11. Y.Bhg Profesos Emeritus Tan Sri Dr. Khoo Kay Kim
12. Y.Brs Encik Chelvarajah Ramasamy Reddiar
Would you condone MACC's interrogation methods on Beng Hock leading to his death, or would you just resign and disassociate yourselves with such a body of total discredibility?
Read my latest blog entry. Please reply soonest. Justice delayed is justice denied.
Large image files. Broadband recommended for a better viewing experience.
We are sad. We are equally angry.
It's silent outrage enveloping all around us. There's no vengeance, but we want justice.
Beng Hock died at MACC compound, July 16, in very suspicious circumstances. He was buried yesterday.
The beloved Beng Hock left behind, including his wife and their unborn child, will have to face the grim reality that the killers are still roaming free at large.
For Beng Hock's family, it's a cruel, tormenting torture of a life time that Ahmad Said Hamdan can't possibly empathise.
For Malaysians irrespective of race, as can be vividly seen from pictures of silent outrage at Beng Hock's funeral yesterday, justice cannot be delayed. Justice cannot be denied.
Malaysians will not allow MACC to be a Malaysian Agency for Cover-ups and Conspiracy, or a licensed Syarikat Pembunuh Rakyat Malaysia, or SPRM in Malay.
Najib should know MACC is parked under the Prime Minister's Department. Give us the truth now.
The wife... and the unborn child
The siblings... not that many, but survived
The last rites
Farewell, Comrade
A moment of silence... and silent outrage
Hian Wah lost a close aide
The final journey
The silent outrage
We will get down to the truth for this tragedy -- the first Death in Custody under the Najib Regime.
Rest in Peace, Comrade.
We shall soldier on.
All pictures by Paul Choo. The full set of 66 pictures can be viewed at his Picasa Web Album.
I am rushing back to Penang for the Memorial Service in Honour of Beng Hock at Wisma Masyarakat Penyayang, 8pm tonight. C U there.
An impromtu call attracted more than 3,000 people to the Kelana Jaya stadium this afternoon, or what ought to be a lazy Sunday. It was a two-hour gathering to mark the political murder of Teoh Beng Hock in the MACC Selangor HQ.
It wasn't about the death of a Chinese Malaysian.
Rather, it was about the death of an Anak Malaysia, as evident from the diverse demographics of the crowd, and the speakers who offered their eulogies.
“How can a bright young man walk into MACC office as a witness, only to return as a dead body?” Kit Siang asked the crowd.
Kit reiterated the party's demand for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to be formed to investigate Teo's death, and he wanted Umno, MCA and Gerakan to support the call.
He also asked for the cabinet to take responsibility and demanded that MACC chief commissioner Ahmad Said Hamdan should resign or be sacked over Teoh’s death.
Emphatically, Kit dismissed the suggestion by the two Umno-owned Malay papers that said that Pakatan Rakyat was trying to undermine Malay-led institutions.
“MACC is not a Malay institution, it is a Malaysian institution,” Kit declared to roaring applause of the crowd.
“Beng Hock is our hero,” Datuk Husam Musa, a member of PAS’s central working committee, declared to the stadium crowd. “There is no doubt that Beng Hock was murdered.”
All pictures by Paul Choo, LensaMalaysia
Photographer Paul Choo and I will drive to Alor Gajah, again, to join the mourning masses and attend Teo's funeral tomorrow morning.
You are our Malaysians' Malaysia hero. You will not die in vain.
I was quoted in three separate press statements -- here (in Malacca), here (in Kuala Lumpur) and here (in Malacca).
UPDATED VERSION. This morning, I joined my party leaders to pay our last respect to Teo Beng Hock at his family home in Alor Gajah. Our hearts sank on seeing Teo's weeping mother, and his grim-faced dad.
"Anak saya masuk itu tempat hidup, tapi masa dia keluar sudah mati. Mana boleh ini macam?" Teo's mother asked the speechless Senator, Tunku Abdul Aziz.
All pictures by Paul Choo, LensaMalaysia
I noticed both Umno's Najib and MCA's Ong Tee Keat have sent their wreaths, expressing their condolences to the Teo's family.
However, it's saddening that the Umno-owned Malay papers have started to paint racial innuendos in their Op-Ed pieces, evident as follows:
You may read an English summary of these two devilish Umno-controlled papers's venom in Malaysian Insider.
Verily, what the two Umno-controlled journalists wrote had practically dug the perfect grave to bury whatever goodwill Najib and Tee Keat had wanted to express through the wreaths their money can buy.
As a fact, all Malaysians do read Malay papers and they certainly understand what the two Malay journalists wanted to convey. More, they will remember them like elephants do come the next general election.
Stay calm
Through the Chinese press in Malacca, I called for calm to all mourners expected to turn up for Teo Beng Hock's funeral tomorrow morning
We need to respect the wishes of the deceased's parents who wanted a smooth last ride for their son, despite insisting that they wanted truth -- the whole truth and nothing but the truth -- from a Royal Commission of Inquiry.
They won't take any report from the MACC or the Police for an answer.
I hope the Umno-owned Malay papers who incite more hatred towards Najib. MACC and its chief Ahmad Said Hamdan had done much to sabotage Najib's credibility as the agency is parked under the Prime Minister's Department.
I have also discussed with my comrades in Malacca, YB Sim Tong Him and Saudari Kerk Kim Hock, to ensure all banners for tomorrow's funeral are properly filtered so the Malay papers' racial undertones will not be allowed to incite any untoward incidents.
As we bid farewell to Beng Hock, we want a smooth last ride for him.
Teo's death is a political murder. We shall avenge all wrongs politically and democratically, and within the ambit of law in a lawless country such as this (One) Malaysia.
Continue reading "Farewell Beng Hock.... you won't die in vain" »
Justice for Beng Hock; Answers for the Rakyat!
4.30pm, Sunday July 19, 2009
Kelana Jaya Stadium, PJ.Confirmed speakers:
- Chief Minister Lim Guang Eng
- Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim
- Kelantan Exco Husam Musa
Funeral is at 10.00am, Monday, July 20, @ Beng Hock's family home, Alor Gajah, Melaka.
Please circulate en masse!
Let's use a unified messaging system in our seeking Justice for Beng Hock.
Use this common banner published by Public Department, DAP HQ. Please download freely for your blogs and Facebook. Finished artwork for full-size banners can be downloaded here.
This is the common English version for the key message. We have similar message in BM, Chinese and Tamil.
We want the truth!
We want answers!
MACC must bear full responsibility!
MACC is an agent for BN!
Don't let Beng Hock die in vain
We want Royal Commission of Inquiry!
We want Royal Commission of Inquiry, now!
Today, The Malaysian Bar speaks on the death of DAP man, Teoh Beng Hock, under questionable circumstances while in MACC custody -- the first death in custody 100 days under the Najib Regime.
Bar Council president Ragunath Kesavan says the manner of Teoh’s interrogation is equivalent to torture according to internationally accepted human rights norms.
First death in custody involving MACC -- and the 1st death in custody under the Najib Regime.
I was at the MACC Selangor HQ with senior leaders of the Pakatan Rakyat this morning, demanding an answer on the suspicious death of Teo Beng Hock, an aide to DAP Exco, Ean Yong Hian Wah.
However, MACC officials chose to seal their lips, saying they were under instructions from the top not to say anything. Kit Siang, who was leading the DAP team, called the meeting a waste of time.
Here are some pictures taken with a prosumer point-and-shoot Nikon Coolpix I borrowed:
He jumped? He fell? Or was he pushed to fall to death?
What I gathered from the scene is that MACC is now staffed by ex-police officers who, in theory, can resort to interrogation methodologies that had caused many other deaths in custody involving police detention. The unaccounted death in custody of A. Kugan is one solid example.
Two, there is no equivalent of Criminal Procedure Code that governs MACC investigation -- read interrogation -- the way it governs the Police. MACC staffed by ex-police can do anything to the suspects and witnesses alike once under their custody. The Police used to get away with murders.
Three, the family of the deceased will not be accorded the services of an independent forensic pathologist. The autopsy and post-mortem over Teo's death will be conducted by a pathologist from government hospital, and Dr Prashant of UMMC, whose second post-mortem on A. Kugan was disputed by the government itself.
(Post-mortem reports are expected to be ready by 6pm, media reports say.)
Fourth, I am asking, will Teo's death (and I can't rule out murder at this point in time) be relegated to another episode in the X-Files ala Malaysia? The Police and MACC reportedly said Teo's handphone couldn't be found. (But I believe DiGi, or Maxis or Celcom, can trace the records of Teo's final conversations before he died.)
Post-death activities in the pipeline:
1 ) Sunday July 19: Public Forum at Kelana Jaya Stadium, Selangor 4.30pm.
2 ) Monday July 20: Funeral & Last Respects, Alor Gajah, Malaka.
3 ) Tuesday July 21: Eulogy & Tribute to Teo, Wisma Masyarakat Penyayang, Penang 8.00pm.
4 ) Wednesday July 22: Eulogy & Tribute to Teo, Kuala Lumpur (Details to be advised).
More pictures taken this morning... a familiar Police State ala Malaysia in contrast to a peaceful civil society in mourning.
This is a Malaysiakini video of the on-site scene... Small lens, wide views, no lies.
Malaysians are angry with the 1st Death in Custody under the Najib Regime... when it comes to human rights it's basically One Malaysia but same old shit.
Malaysians are angry, that I sensed. They are demanding a Royal Inquiry to Teo's death while in MACC custody.
But justice must be swift. Justice delayed is justice denied.
I am now in Petaling Jaya. I want to know the reasons why Teo, 30 years old, had died in MACC building, and while in MACC custody.
His fiance wants to know why he had to die in the MACC building, and while in MACC custody. His family wants to know why he had to die in MACC building, and while in MACC custody.
The whole country wants to why know he had to die in MACC building, and while in MACC custody.
Teo is supposed to get married today.
The coffee-shop crowd is very angry. The restaurant crowd is very angry. The whole town is very angry.
Is MACC conducting investigation or interrogation if Teo, hauled up at 5.00pm yesterday, was only reportedly relieved by the anti-corruption agency at 3.45am this morning... and found dead at MACC premises by the afternoon?
Teo Beng Hock was to get married tomorrow, July 17!
Expressing disbelief over his death, Lim Kit Siang said: "No one in his right senses will imagine to commit suicide a day before he is slated to be married."
UPDATES: DAP comrades and supporters in Penang will gather in front of the MACC Penang HQ, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, at 11.00am Friday morning to stage a protest over the death of Teo Beng Hock.
A candle-light vigil will be held at the same venue at 9.00pm Friday night.
IN KLANG VALLEY, DAP and Pakatan Rakyat leaders will hold a press conference at the Selangor MACC HQ at Plaza Masalam, Shah Alam, at 10am Friday morning.
Please keep everybody informed.
From Kit Siang's Twitters:
1. MACC now says TeohBengHuat merely a witness,why was he treated like criminal n interrogated from 7pm till 4am? What happened 2criminals?about 1 hour ago from web
2. Flowers candles and pictures of TeoBengHock. Assemblywoman for Subang Jaya Hannah Yeoh weepingabout1 hour ago from web
3. Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud: MP Kota Raja speakingabout 1 hour ago from web
4. Crowd getting bigger. Klang MP Charles Santiago spoke. State Assemblyman Weng San speaking. Asked MACC on Khir Toyo.about 1 hour ago from web
5. MB Khalid, Excos Teresa Auyong, Ronnie,MPs Gobind Tony, Nie Ching SAs Jenice Nik Nazmi at the demo. Police light strike force just arrivedabout 1 hour ago from web
6. An instant peaceful multiracial demonstrations by hundreds against unusual death of TeoBengHock at MACC going on now at Shah Alam MACC hqrsabout 2 hours ago from web
7. Nazri said don't blame MACC for TeoBengHock's death at MACC. Should blame b directed at Nazri as Minister in charge or PM Najib himself?about 2 hours ago from web
8. Will MACC Chief Commissioner Ahmad Said visit TeohLengHwee family 2explain how BengHock died in MACC? Can MACC disclaim responsibility?
about 2 hours ago from web
9. Arrogant MACC officer on TV said innocent will be freed n wrongdoers charged. Why not 1 BN Minister Dy Min, MB, CM, Exco treated this way?
about 2 hours ago from web
10. Spoke 2 aggrieved father, Teoh Leong Hwee taxi driver in shock He wants to know what actually happened - like all Malaysians.Blackday 4Malaysia
about 3 hours ago from web
11. As 1st MACC n unusual death, acid test 4 MACC, Police n PM Najib. Will Najib order public inquiry inline with "People 1st. Performance Now"?
about 3 hours ago from web
12. BenHock family/relatives demand justice which is the demand of all justice-loving Malaysians regardless of race/religion. MACC in the dock
about 3 hours ago from web
13. Kerk in Alor Gajah w BengHock's parents. BengHock's mother crying non-stop since told of his death at 5 pm. Family n relatives in shock
about 3 hours ago from web
14. Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo phoned from MACC Shah Alam. Police have brought in second forensic team. We r asking 4independent forensic exam
about 3 hours ago from web
15. Ronnie Liu still at Selangor MACC hqrs.4 3 hrs Selangor DAP Excos MPs Speaker SAs n BengHock's brother not allowed 2have sight of body.
about 4 hours ago from web
16. Kerk Kim Hock, exDAP SG n MP is related to BengHock. Phoned n expressed his disbelief n shock. Nationwide outrage. How come MACC!
about 4 hours ago from web
17. Spoke 2 BengHock elder brother BengKee 33 who rushed over from his workplace in ShahAlam. BengHock from Alor Gajah is 2register 4wedding tmr
about 4 hours ago from web
18. Imagine MACC investigating "corruption" over cars n cows n a death in MACC custody takes place! Is this acceptable?Let there be no cover up!
about 5 hours ago from web
19. Anwar n other Pakatan Rakyat leaders will also be at Selangor MACC Shah Alam hqrs at 10 am MACC must prove it has not become another monster
about 5 hours ago from web
20. Will take 1st flight from Penang tmr n be at Selangor MACC Shah Alam hqrs 10 am to find out more about TeoBengHock's death in MACC custody
about 5 hours ago from web
Subang MP R Sivarasa said Teo's death was under very suspicious circumstances. "At this point, we are holding MACC responsible until we get a better explanation."
DEATH IN CUSTODY. It used to be in police lock-ups. Now, it's in MACC.
It happened a while ago. An aide to a DAP's Selangor Exco was found dead at the office complex of MACC Selangor. Reasons unknown.
Former journalist Teoh Beng Hock (picture left), 30, a political secretary to Exco Ean Yong Hian Wah, was hauled in by MACC yesterday for marathon interrogation over alleged abuse of constituency development funds..
DAP's lawyers and party leaders are now trying to verify whether he jumped over the 20-storey Plaza Masalam building in Shah Alam... or was he being pushed to fall to his death.
While doubts flourish, one thing is certain: Teoh did not die of natural death at the MACC building.
Now, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) is trying to determine if any Penang Municipal Council (M)PPP) officer is involved in the RM350,000 alleged graft case involving the arrest of a senior consultant commissioned to the RM11 million upgrading works of the Free Trade Zone in Bayan Baru, funded by a federal agency.
Screenshots gave a context to the issue on July 10.
Have got sick and tired of the seemingly corrupt MPPP Heads of Departments -- women included -- I am all ayes if the rotten fish could be punished.
But in this case, I can't help sensing fishy stinks as a sting cannot be ruled out at this point in time.
Watch this space.
A video clip from Citizen Journalist Chan Li Lian (5x Mom):
Some 20,000 copies of the (BN-Umno ex-DCM) Rashid's officiating of the sale of the High Chaparral site has been ordered for local distribution to provide a perspective as to who sold off the Kg Buah Pala residents' rights.
According to Malaysiakini, Kampung Buah Pala residents overwhelmingly decided that lawyer Darshan Singh Khaira must be brought along when they attend the meeting with the Penang Chief Minister Thursday night.
The resident committee also decided that they will always take their legal adviser Darshan Singh to any meeting with the state government officials.
This Darshan Singh looks familiar to me, now that I am rooted in Penang... and had just shared a bottle of Australian shiraz at The Penang Club.
Since the Kg Buah Bala residents had chosen a lawyer, I checked The Malaysian Bar Council website. It revealed something that The Star reported on August 23, 2007.
Meanwhile, my colleague Komtar state assemblyman Ng Wei Aik has launched a poll on the Penang DAP website asking for public opinion on whether the state should use Penangites' money to acquire the 2.6ha village land that Kg Buah Pala resides.
As at 8:15pm Tuesday, 87% of the 356 respondents said “no” when asked whether the state government should acquire the land even if it costs more than RM100mil.
All the best, High Chaparral. Good night and good luck.
Al-Hadi or Al-Khairy at Manek Urai? Was it RM300 per pop this time?
By 9.01pm: the Election Commission announced the results of Manek Urai by-election as follows:
PAS: 5.348 votes
Umno: 5,283 votes
Majority: 65 votes
Margin: 0.61%
Turn-out rate: 87%
Manek Urai is a seat that PAS has won five out of six times since 1986. During GE2008, PAS defeated Barisan Nasional (BN) by 1,352 votes.
Days ago, political analyst Ong Kian Ming said a PAS loss may be good for Pakatan.
I believe PAS must be doing a lot of soul-searching to account for the vastly reduced majority. They have to figure out the near defeat was due to Nik Aziz Nik Mat's leadership in Kelantan, and his political postures as the moderate voice within PAS and Pakatan? Or was it due to Hadi and Terengganu faction advocating for unity talks with Umno that weakened their political standing in the eyes of the voters, where PAS-Umno's Malay Supremacy overtures only go to make Umno seem more credible in the eyes of the swing-voters?
Or was it Najib's advancing approval ratings that had forced a narrowing of the margins, albeit BN having been trounced 5-0 in all the by-elections in Peninsular Malaysia since GE2008.
Chameleon tweets
According to Malaysiakini:
7.20pm: Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin tweets: Tuan Aziz Tuan Mat of BN wins by 38-vote margin.
Contrast this, a subsequent update from Malaysiakini:
7.59pm: According to inside sources, the final tally has PAS winning by 65 votes after recount. There will be no more recount but it is learnt that Umno is seeking another recount.
Recounts? Yes recounts, fighting for recounts...
Recounts? Wasn't that the way to beat Mukhriz and Khir Toyo? A reprise?
Thanks Chameleon Catcher for the screenshots.
Only those who know Hokkien, or who go in-and-out of Taiwan, may be abIe to help me in this case.
You see, I particularly like the full orchestra arrangement of the Hokkien song 爱拼才会赢 sung by 黄乙玲 from Taiwan. I don't know who wrote the score but, believe me, it is real superb!
Somehow, very frustrating, all the downloadable MP3s are of poor audio quality, and I have been in exhaustive search for a bona fide CD all around town, but to no avail.
The track is included in the album titled: 1人1首成名曲I I -不如甭熟识 (see screenshot on the left).
Can someone please point me to the right places? I don't mind getting an original issue of the MTV/video or karaoke version as well.
My other search is her cover version of 心事谁人知, which is as haunting as A-Mei's version, which has a piano lead backed by full orchestra, very heart-pulling.
I need the materials for a project I have in mind. Please help. Thanks heaps.
UPDATED VERSION. The Star's frontpage story today carries this headline online: 11 goodies at 11.11am on July 11.
Not forgetting that Najib rode to deliver his 100th Day speech in an official car bearing the numberplate 11.
Hence, Kit Siang enthused whether Najib will call for a snap general election on 11.11, or November 11.
To me, Najib still needs to face off with himself whether he could turn around Malaysia's economy by the 11th hour, this year.
(After scooping some RM10 billion in sukuk bonds and trust funds from the saving public subsequent to the so-called Stimulus Package II in March, Najib has again leveraged Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) to establish a new unit trust fund, Amanah Saham 1Malaysia, with a size of 10 billion units. The Treasury, like a company's cashflow, is as dry as dry can be.)
I can recall the last time a Prime Minister chose 13 for all his everything, he tanked. That's because when one succumbs to feng shui and superstition, he has evidently lost all self-confidence and let metaphysics take over man.
Whatever it is, we all have been putting in 7-11 everyday since GE2008... rising by 7am and will not think of rest before 11pm by night.
It's not the good old Kee Huat's Fantastic Facts and Fancies radio show on a regular Sunday. But Patrick Teoh is giving out the Moron of the Day award.
And the winner is... (drum-roll)... Niamah!!!
Marina (from her Twitter) bought him two polo shirts, Tun's friends threw him a dinner, and sang him Widuri. Tun replied:
"It’s not often that a politician is at a loss for words.“Old generals do not retire but simply fade away.
“Trust me. I’m trying my best to fade away but you keep inviting me,”
he said in jest, quoting World War II General Douglas Mac- Arthur.
May you rock on, Tun!
Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) moves in on a Penang shark!
According to The Star today, by-lined senior crime reporter Lourdes Charles, the Penang State MACC director Latifah MD Yatim has confirmed the arrest of a senior consultant "acting for the Penang state government" for alleged graft involving RM350,000.00.
The modus operandi is simple, or so it seems.
From The Star again, the consultant was said to have demanded RM400,000 from one of the contractors involved in the RM11 million upgrading works of the Free Trade Zone in Bayan Baru. The contractor initially refused to pay the consultant but when the man refused to sign any acknowledgment for works done and for payments to be made, the contractor gave in and negotiated the amount.
Once the amount had been agreed upon, the contractor lodged a report with the state MACC. Several MACC officers were immediately assigned to probe the report. The MACC reportedly placed the man under surveillance for several weeks and moved in on him on Wednesday after he was alleged to have collected the money and gone back to his office.
Meanwhile, The Star says, the state MACC is also monitoring several others involved in the project and they will be called up to assist in investigations.
A sting?
According to The Star, the said upgrading project is being carried out by the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP).
However, my sources said the project was funded by the federal government, and the contractor -- whose name I shall withhold -- was appointed by a federal agency.
MPPP is involved in the coordination aspects on the work site, as well as the various stages of local council approvals. The consultant was engaged by MPPP through an open tender to oversee the project.
My sources also revealed that the consultant, a Penang-based aged 55 whose name I shall also withhold for the time-being, has a track record for being strict in his work.
My questions are:
Only MACC can give us the answer, if it ever comes.
Muslim journalists spying on Catholic churches?
Apparently, an article titled: "Tinjaun Al Islam Dalam Gereja:Mencari Kesahihan Remaja Murtad", which was published in the May 2009 issue of the Al Islam magazine, has become the subject of a Police report in Penang.
Here's the article:
Here's the police report:
I hope the serene religious harmony that we Penangites have endeared all along will not be disrupted by this bunch of Al Islam reporters who seemed to have done a sting on the church.
Meanwhile, I have been contacted by several church people to help call on the Catholic fraternity to mark their actions with patience and not with anger, love and not hate.
There are also some suggestions: for those who are affected:
This is the blog to read for first-hand information: http://www.ksstanley.blogspot.com, which was put up by the person who filed the police report against Al Islam.
Using P1 WiMAX Speedometer, the 4Mbps Streamx line at my Penang residence recorded the following at 8.00am today:
Download Speed: 3978kbps (497.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 422 kbps (52.8 KB/sec transfer rate)
Latency: 25ms
The speedtest was accessed through a dynamic IP on the 218.111.65.xx block, pumped through a home WiFi network, with the laptop located about 15 feet away from the access point. Net metrics solution was from Ookla.
Still, fingers crossed.
Microsoft is looking for a Marketing Director to help build its business in Vietnam, to be based in Hanoi. Anyone?
The 4Mbps Streamyx has been up and running at my Penang home since yesterday. Fingers crossed.
It costs me RM160 per month.
I have also made redundancy redundant.
Finally, I have to retire my first-generation, 16-month old Maxis HSDPA broadband account, a saving of RM138 per month. My locus standi to complain against Maxis is now limited to voice account. (I am returning the personal signal repeater soon. It enhances the signal quality, but I was always hit by Error 619 -- Authentication failure.)
With that, I am also retiring my 15-month old Celcom HSDPA broadband account, a further saving of RM98 per month. My locus standi to complain against Celcom is now limited to the Blackberry account (from which I mobile Twitter), still paying RM128 per month.
DiGi Wireless Broadband (read: Likely Average Speed of 700kbps, but I do get 1.4 to 1.8Mbps in Penang) will now have to carry out the mission critical and always-on tasks whenever I travel as a road warrior. A further commitment of RM108.00 per month.
Current Internet subscriptions: RM268.00
Terminated Internet subscriptions: RM236.00
Net additional Internet costs: RM32.00, for a reasonable enhancement of Internet speed for fixed/Home WiFi and mobile wireless broadband. That's excluding the eat-all-you-can Celcom/Vodafone Blackberry package.
Yeah, freedom to information does come with a cost.
I hope to switch to the 4Mbps Streamyx package for my Subang Jaya home, soon. It's only 1Mbps right now.
How is the stock market reacting to Najib's "quota-free" announcement today... the 2nd day of Q3?
Ong Tee Keat's attempt to kick the PKFZ scandal into the Parliament's basket isn't futile.
Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Ronald Kiandee confirmed, and announced in the House today, that we MPs will not get the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit report and its appendix on the Port Klang Free Trade (PKFZ) -- that Tee Keat promised -- until the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has completed its investigation on the matter.
The deputy speaker also clarified that the 300 copies of the report were being kept by the Parliament Cecretariat on its capacity as the secretariat of PAC, because the reports were required by the PAC, first and foremost.
Unless the PAC finishes its job fast, and unless the Parliament will courier the report to us MPs, this means the earliest date we MPs can obtained the complete report is when the Parliament re-convenes on October 19.
So, what's new Malaysia Boleh, and quote OC Phang, what's new capable Malaysians?
Let me repeat, again: This PKFZ scandal is fast becoming an Agatha Christie mystery murder: You have a stinking corpse with multiple fatal stabs, no killers.
UPDATED VERSION.The Son-in-Law made interesting utterances yesterday that the viewpoints therein cannot reconcile.
On one hand, he lauded intellectual discussions between Umno Youth and PAS Youth. On the other, he condemned Hadi Awang as a political puppet to DAP and PKR.
His friends at the Malaysian Insider say the statements are telling of "more about the political chameleon that Khairy is more than anything else... And adds to the general distrust towards Umno politicians".
The news portal adds:
"For politicians like him always believe that non-Malays must always kow-tow to the Malays. And not vice-versa." [...]
But Khairy, who has alternately spoken about going beyond race-based politics and upholding Malay superiority in the past few years, has been anything but consistent in his beliefs.
And it quotes an infamous quote:
Who can forget his “The internal split within Umno will weaken the party’s position and this will pave way for the Chinese Malaysians to make various demands to benefit their community …”, as quoted by Sin Chew Daily in August 2006?
It's now July 2009. By July 8, it will be sixteen months after GE2008.
The Son-in-Law is evidently still pressing the denial button, dreaming that Umno is still popular, its race-based politico-economic cause still valid.
Which is the perfect recipe for annihilation by GE2013.
UPDATES: And Al-Khairy replies: Insidious Insider - My Reply to Malaysian Insider (Again).
June 15, MCA-owned newspaper The Star quoted a statement on www.pkfznews.com.my and reported that Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat had agreed to provide every Member of Parliament a copy of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Position Review on PKFZ, including the appendices.
Reportedly, 300 copies of the report were to have been sent to the Parliament by June 15, following a request on June 12 from the Parliament Secretary.
June 22, Minister Ong reiterated that the 300 copies of the PwC report had been sent to the Parliament, and it was up to the Secretariat to distribute it to the MPs.
The current Parliament session will end tomorrow. But the said report has not been given to us MPs.
SUMMON TO TESTIFY. Meanwhile, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), an instrument of the Parliament, will summon four personalities involved in the PKFZ scandal to testify in an investigation within the next two weeks.
The foursome are Ling Liong Sik, Chan Kong Choy, Ong Tee Keat -- all are MCA-nominated Transport Ministers at some point in time -- and Tiong King Sing, the CEO of Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) and Barisan Nasional Backbenchers club chairman.
However, one woman was missed out in the PAC summon for testimony.
OC Phang, the chairman of PKFZ cum Port Klang Authority (PKA) general manager who served the said three Transport Ministers (read: MCA Presidents) throughout the material time PKFZ was being cooked, was not called.
Phang is believed to have left the country.
We really want to know through OC Phang if it was Ling, or Kong Choy, who had signed away the government's rights by issuing letters of support, or letters of guarantee, to underwrite risks of the project falling through.
Will Tee Keat hang his two ex-bosses to dry in order to save MCA from the quandary?
Let me repeat: This PKFZ scandal is fast becoming an Agatha Christie mystery murder: You have a stinking corpse with multiple fatal stabs, no killers.
June 30, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said it will reveal several "big" corruption cases involving certain syndicates, soon.
The statement was made by MACC Director of Intelligence Mohd Jamidan Abdullah.
Having learned from past occasions with the defunct Anti-Corruption Agency, which bites without teeth, we ask: How big? How soon?
Now, an ikan bilis like former Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) enforcement director, Kapt (Rtd) Abdul Kudus Ahmad, can get jailed for 11 years and 10 months and fined RM370,000 on 24 counts of bribery involving RM59,000, what's next?
Once upon a time in not too recent years, Rais Yatim used to talk about 18 big fish. Mana dia?
[ Twist 1: June 29 ]
Financial daily The Edge reported that the Port Klang Authority (PKA) has to pay RM660 million to Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd, the turnkey contractor for Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ), by next month.The report also stated that Kuala Dimensi had so far received total payments of more than RM1 billion since 2007.
The fact remains that the RM660 billion owed to Kuala Dimensi is payable in four parts to special purpose vehicles created by Kuala Dimensi, namely Special Port Vehicle Bhd, Transhipment Megahub Bhd, Valid Ventures Bhd and Free Zone Capital Bhd.
A total of RM330 million is due to be paid to Kuala Dimensi by today, June 30, while a further RM300 million will be due in July.
[ Twist 2: Same day, June 29 ]
DAP secretary general Lim Guan Eng urged Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat to stop all payments to Kuala Dimensi.“If Ong is committed to cleaning up the RM 12.5 billion PKFTZ scandal, then he must immediately instruct all payments to KDSB or any other parties be stopped until the culprits responsible are arrested and charged in court,” said Lim.
[ Twist 3: June 30 noon ]
PKA announced that it will withhold payments totalling RM660 million to Kuala Dimensi pending review by taskforce.
This PKFZ scandal is fast becoming an Agatha Christie mystery murder: You have a stinking corpse with multiple fatal stabs, no killers.
A grabshot of two Simanggang kids.
They were so camera-conscious that they hurried inside on seeing the conspicuous me. I, too, sped off before their mum came for me.
* Simanggang is the maiden name for Sri Aman.
This afternoon, I was trekking up the trail I last impressed in 1987. Due to time constraint, I fell short at Sri Aman. My last stop 22 years ago was right up to Lubok Antu, with a detour to Engkilili.
Around the 157km milestone along the Kuching-Sarikei Highway was this Mount Hosanna Chapel, a very eye-catching and unique architecture of three large white candles.
There were steps ascending to the chapel, very much akin to staircase to heaven.
HEAVEN FORBIDS. Regrettably, Paul and I couldn't find our way in. The chapel is only open every Sunday 10am to 1.00pm. Have to wait for my readers to fill us in... why the three huge white candles?
I notice several tasteful frontpages on Michael Jackson's death. Here's sharing some that I like.
RedEye, published in Chicago, USA
Chicago Sun-Times, published in Chicago, USA
Metro, Editions in Boston & Philadelphia, USA
The Virginian-Pilot, published in Norfolk, USA
Personally, I think this frontpage on Boston Herald is awfully distasteful. Isn't 'blacko' borderline racism?
How's the frontpage layout in our local papers today?
Pro-Ong Tee Keat's MCA has an online front, MalaysianMirror.com.
It made a cyber debut June 15, the day the Parliament reconvened, but was officially unveiled only today.
The behind-the-scene mover is believed to be former Borneo Post journalist Clement Hii, who now happens to be Executive Deputy Chairman of Star Publications (M) Bhd, which is indirectly owned by MCA via Huaren Holdings Sdn Bhd.
Earlier, Hii had a stint as the CEO of education group, SEG International Bhd.
Francis Siah, a former deputy editor of the now-defunct Sarawak Tribune, is the Mirror's editor for the time being. He is joined by former MCA staffer Stanley Koh on the news desk.
Both Siah and Koh used to write for Malaysiakini.
Sarawak connections
Interestingly, the arrival of the Malaysian Mirror was announced yesterday by Bernama's Alan Ting, who is also from Sarawak.
Siah was quoted by Tiing as say that the Mirror will be officially launched on June 30 by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Is Dr Mahathir still capable of veto-ing decisions at Petronas?
Najib seems to have suffered a setback.
Termed as one of Najib's "closest political confidants", Omar Mustapha was rejected as a candidate for Petronas director.
The reason? Omar Mustapha allegedly had defaulted on his scholarship loan agreement with Petronas two decades ago.
According to Singapore Straits Times, the decision was made by the board of directors of Petroliam Nasional (Petronas) who raised reservations at its monthly meeting last month. The news was purportedly leaked out by government officials.
Once in a while, The Star does come out with a cheeky headline. This time it's about the political version of 'talak tiga' -- We don’t Huan him, says PKR Youth
The Huan here refers to Gerakan vice-president Huan Cheng Guan. After he was defeated in the Bukit Tambun state constituency in Penang during GE2008, Huan found job as the executive secretary of the Barisan Nasional backbenchers’ club.
Incidentally, the BN backbencher's club is chaired by the MP for Bintulu, who was the key figure behind Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd that is closely linked to land and development deals related to the PKFZ scandal.
'3-year suspension'
Three days ago, it was announced through the press that his membership in the party has been suspended for a three-year period (June 2009 - June 2012). His 'crime' for “openly attacking the party and the party leadership”.
I met Huan face-to-face at the Parliament around 12.50hr a while ago, referring specifically to his press statement earlier on today. Quote Malaysiakini:
"The suspension will effectively bar me from contesting any party posts in 2011, as well as any contest for member of Parliament and state assemblyman."I suspect that some old men in the party are trying their best to kill younger leaders with grass-root support, to clear the path for their princes and princesses to take over the party,"
KEY WORDS: 'Some old men in the party'. I asked several journalists and they pointed me to the same person.
Apparently, the same old man still runs the party from behind the bamboo curtain in order to place his son into the dynasty.
A second Huan story is in Sin Chew Daily today:
被凍結黨籍3年的民政黨副主席范清淵對該黨主席丹斯里許子根的軟弱及講話不算話的作風感到非常失望。他透露6月18日（週四）在國會時，許子根還叫他多寫一次道歉信，並承諾最多僅會凍結其黨籍6個月。
“然而基於原則問題，我拒絕作出第二次道歉，也認為沒有必要，結果卻被凍結3年黨籍。”
“尤其他（許子根）對外像無膽母雞，對內就很勇敢嚴厲的作風，更是讓人不敢恭維。當巫青團高舉海報羞辱他及再納阿比丁當眾撕毀其照片時，許子根哪敢哼一聲？”
范清淵是今日（週日，6月21日）早上親自致電《星洲日報》表達其不滿時強調，民政黨對他作出的指責皆是莫須有的罪名，而且也完全沒有讓他解釋的機會就立刻判刑，相信這僅是民政黨才有的作風。
他也不知為何黨高層如何怕見到他，為何沒有膽量召見他及讓他能夠當面作出解釋。
KEY WORDS: 'A party chief who has no balls facing off minions from Umno, but oppressive against own party members.'
A third story about Huan is on Koh Tsu Koon's response to the issue. He snubbed reporters who raised Huan's name, as in Malaysiakini Chinese edition:
虽然遭到民政党副主席范清渊炮轰软弱及讲话不算话，但是该党主席许子根今日却拒绝做出回应，甚至在记者提及“范清渊”的名字时，便立即打断记者的询问, 说：“我不想回应范清渊的课题”。
A fourth story is how PKR resents embracing Huan into its fold.
News grabber
The problem is, for today, the radar screen in the newsroom is trained on Ong Tee Keat's back-pedalling on the PKFZ scandal, and today's
Wonder if Bank Negara, the PM's Department (EPU & ICU), the Treasury, Khazanah and the Statistics Dept can get together to update us these on one web page, on a Year-to-Date (YTD) basis:
1 ) National Debt - GDP vs. Debt Per Citizen
2 ) Private Debt - Credit Card Debt, Ah Long Debt vs. Private Debt Per Citizen
3 ) Growth & Spending - Tax Revenue vs. Spending Per Citizen
4 ) Budget Deficit - Tax Revenue & Borrowings vs. Expenditures
5 ) Expenditure on Defence, Education & Infrastructure
6 ) Bailouts of all sorts (From Bank Bumiputra x 3 to PKFZ, and all things in between)
7 ) Balance of Trade - Malaysian Debt held by Foreign Countries
etc etc etc
Don't reinvent the wheel. There's already a ticker-tape model of Real Time US National Debt Clock.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs answered my oral question on the rationale of considering the MP for Rompin as the new ambassador with ministerial power to the USA.
The question was answered together with two other but similar questions raised by other MPs -- YB Abdul Hadi bin Awang [ Marang ] which was queued as Question No. 113 for June 16 and delivered as a written reply. Mine was queued as Question No. 107 for June 17. Ipoh Timur was queued for June 30, 2009.
QUESTION PR-022-L19074Tuan Jeff Ooi Chuan Aun [ Jelutong ] to ask the MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS to state the reasons for YB Rompin being nominated for the post of Ministerial level Ambassador of Malaysia to America even though he has no experience of being a senior diplomat.
QUESTION PR-022-L19730
Dato' Seri Abdul Hadi bin Awang [ Marang ] to ask the MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS to state:
- whether the vacant post of Malaysian Ambassador to the US has been filled; and
- if the post is recently filled, the rationale why the Government waited for almost a year for it to be filled and if not, why.
ANSWER:
( 1 ) Izinkan saya menjawab soalan-soalan yang dikemukakan oleh YB Marang (Selasa, 16 Jun 2009), YB Jelutong (Rabu, 30 Jun 2009) dan YB Ipoh Timur (Selasa, 30 Jun 2009) secara serentak kerana didapati soalan-soalan yang diutarakan Yang Berhormat-Yang Berhormat berkenaan adalah berkisar mengenai perkara yang sama dan saling berhubung kait.
[...]
( 5 ) Dalam keadaan tertentu, Kerajaan juga melantik secara 'political appointment' Duta Besar atau Pesuruhjaya Tinggi yang terdiri dari kalangan ahli politik,ahli perniagaan, bekas pegawai tinggi Kerajaan atau personaliti tertentu yang difikirkan mempunyai kepakaran yang khusus dan mampu meningkatkan hubungan dua hala dan diplomasi di antara Malaysia dengan negara sahabat.
( 6 ) Sebagai sebuah Kementerian yang menguruskan dan menentukan hala tuju hubungan dua hala Malaysia dengan negara-negara asing, Wisma Putra perlu meletakkan Duta-Duta Besar dan Pesuruhjaya-Pesuruhjaya Tinggi yang berkelayakan terutamanya di negara-negara strategik seperti United Kingdom, Jepun, China, Arab Saudi dan Amerika Syarikat. Sehubungan ini, sama ada seseorang bakal Duta Besar dan Pesuruhjaya Tinggi itu adalah dari kalangan diplomat professional (career diplomat, dengan izin) atau lantikan politik bukan lagi suatu isu besar sebaliknya Kerajaan lebih menekan aspek merit calon-calon yang layak.
( 7 ) Seperti Yang Berhormat-Yang Berhormat sedia maklum, Malaysia masih lagi belum mengisi kekosongan jawatan Duta Besar Malaysia ke Amerika Syarikat apabila bekas Duta Besar Malaysia ke Amerika Syarikat Datuk Rajmah binti Hussein menamatkan perkhidmatannya pada 20 Jun 2008. Namun begitu, ini tidak bermakna Kerajaan tidak memandang serius dalam menempatkan seseorang Duta Besar yang baru kenegara berkenaan apatah lagi apabila negara-negara asing yang lain berlumba-lumba memperkukuhkan hubungan dua hala masing-masing dengan kepimpinan baru Amerika Syarikat.
( 8 ) Selain itu, tahun 2008 merupakan tahun pemilihan presiden baru Amerika Syarikat yang menyaksikan seluruh jentera pentadbiran Kerajaan Amerika Syarikat menumpukan sepenuh perhatian terhadap pilihanraya negara tersebut. Perubahan besar-besaran pentadbiran Kerajaan Amerika Syarikat selepas pilihanraya sedikit sebanyak mempengaruhi kriteria-kriteria calon Duta Besar yang bakal dilantik malah proses mendapatkan persetujuan penerimaan calon juga memakan masa yang lebih panjang. Oleh yang demikian, adalah wajar pemilihan calon dan urusan pencalonan bekal Duta Besar Malaysia ke Amerika Syarikat perlu dibuat secara lebih berhati-hati dan teliti supaya beliau merupakan personaliti yang dapat diterima oleh pentadbiran baru Amerika Syarikat.
So, after verbose reply, the question remains: Why JJ... and why not JJ?
Available in US from tomorrow.
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Price: US$299 for 32GB, US$199 for 16GB.
The 8GB version for original iPhone 3G is now US$99.
UPDATED VERSION. One minute MP Nizar Jamaluddin was sworn in, the next minute he was thrown out from the house.
Uproar in the Parliament and the Speaker was having a hard time getting decorum to commence the sitting.
Follow my Twitter.
ORIGINAL POSTING
Today is Najib's first day in Parliament as the PM, and Perak's people elected MB Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin will be sworn in as the MP for Bukit Gantang.
Nizar is to be seated at the last row, last block on the Opposition side.
The first oral question is on 1Malaysia raised by Tenggara MP (BN-Umno), the second by Anwar Ibrahim on police actions in the Perak debacle; and the controversial Bintulu MP connected to PKFZ sham will be third, raising question on aid dished out by government agencies. Bagan MP will raised the fourth question on monies managed by the National Heritage Department and allocated to Penang and Melaka.
As at 9.00am, the Parliament network has blocked access to Twitter. Some of us will use wireless broadband to tweet. Expect live updates on these Twitter pages:
- twitter.com/limkitsiang
- twitter.com/Jeff4Malaysia
The bell to convene Parliament sitting rang one minute late at 10.01am.