MACC: What more evidence you need ?

by dinobeano

Video expose implicates Sarawak CM, kin in alleged land graft

A new video implicates Taib and his family in shady land deals.KUALA LUMPUR, March 19 — An international activist organisation provided today video proof of shady land deals in Sarawak that implicates the state’s Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and his family, with parts of the clip aired on the Al-Jazeera news channel at 10am.

In a covert investigation, Global Witness (GW) captured on video dealings with Taib’s cousins and several other intermediaries to acquire thousands of hectares of forest land that the London-based activist said revealed the systematic corruption and illegality that lay at the heart of Malaysia’s biggest state.

“This film proves for the first time what has long been suspected — that the small elite around Chief Minister Taib are systematically abusing the region’s people and natural resources to line their own pockets,” said Tom Picken, forest team leader at Global Witness, in a statement released today.

“It shows exactly how they do it and it shows the utter contempt they hold for Malaysia’s laws, people and environment.”

In a 16-minute video clip, GW investigators, who posed as foreign investors, recorded snippets of their conversation with Taib’s cousins and lawyers, to purchase the land for hefty profit and which the environmental campaigner said would displace thousands of the indigenous people living there.

A recorded conversion with sisters Fatimah Abdul Rahman and Norlia Abdul Rahman — who are the daughters of the state’s former Chief Minister Tun Abdul Rahman Ya’akub and first cousins with the incumbent CM — provided a very telling glimpse into the means of how business is conducted in Sarawak to enrich the ruling elite.

Fatimah: Ample Agro belongs to my family, but my sisters, the four elder ones are in the company. The Land and Survey Department, they are the ones who issue this licence... Of course it’s from the CM’s directive but I can speak to the CM very easily.

GW: Can you?

Fatimah: Yes.

GW: And you think he’ll agree?

Fatimah: Yeah, he was the one who gave us the land. He’s my cousin [laughs]. His mother and my father are sisters and brothers, siblings. He’s my cousin so it’s quite easy.

The sisters said they were owners of 5,000 hectares of land given to them for a nominal sum by Taib, and which they were looking to sell under their company, Ample Agro, which they admitted to be a shell company.

GW: You’re proposing basically, Ample Agro, which is your company OK, sell your company, rather than the land. And your company owns the land?

Norlia: Yes... I bought that company as a shell company for this land.

Their lawyer, Alvin Chong, was also recorded in the video telling the GW “investors” how to evade real property gains taxes.

Another lawyer, Huang Lung Ong of Huang & Company Advocates, was also recorded trying to sell land for his uncle, a prominent businessman in Sibu, Datuk Hii Yii Peng, said to have close ties with Taib, saying that at least 10 per cent of the sale price would have to go to the chief minister as commission.

In its statement, GW alleged that senior government officials and a timber company executive said it was standard practice in Sarawak for companies to pay a personal fee to Abdul Taib in return for approval of timber and plantation licences.

London lawyers representing the chief minister have denied the allegations, the NGO reported.

“The Government of Sarawak issues licences for land in very controlled circumstances,” the law firm, Mishcon de Reya, was quoted as saying. “This is an administrative exercise, not political patronage.

“Our client never demands or accepts bribes for the grant of licences and leases.

“He has not issued any ‘directive’... illegally to benefit his cousins.”

Taib, 76, has been Sarawak chief minister for 32 years, having taken office in March 1981.

His personal wealth has stirred much controversy, with detractors alleging he gained much of it through dubious means.

Dr M targets emergency rule?

Free Malaysia Today 

Awang Abdillah | March 8, 2013

Having established a legacy of fame and fortune, Dr Mahathir Mohamad is not going to stand aside and watch his work destroyed. 

COMMENT

 

Dr Mahathir Mohamad is a worried man facing a mother-of-all-elections that “threatens” his 22-years of national development legacy, an extensive personal and commercial network and his personal wealth speculated to run into billions.

He is not going to take any chances.

In the aftermath of the 12th general election in 2008, Mahathir established an organisation called Perkasa whose existence is to launch the brinkmanship tactic with or without the approval of the powers-that-be.

He does not have the confidence that his successor-by-appointment Najib Tun Razak can execute radical measures to contain the rise of Anwar Ibrahim-led Pakatan Rakyat.

Therefore he has chosen to partner with Muhyiddin Yassin (Deputy Prime Minister). Together they are scheming to take on Najib before the general election. The duo will go to any and all lengths to plan radical strategies to beat the opposition using all available avenues.

Should Muhyiddin fail to dislodge Najib as prime minister and the latter refusing to take his orders, then Mahathir will go it alone.

With Perkasa as his running dog he believes he can still unleash a lethal force against the opposition. Already, Perkasa has issued warning signals to the opposition and the other races to toe the line.

These people are capable of triggering disturbances in the country compelling Najib to declare a state of emergency. As this strategy serves Najib’s agenda, too, he will take it from there.

Do or die battle

Mahathir fears his own safety and the threats to his family business empire.

With these fears egging him, Mahathir will take the general election as his personal war with Pakatan, thereby forcing Najib to step aside. It will be a do or die battle for him.

Should Najib quit, then Mahathir has three arsenals at his disposal.

Muhyiddin as his front man would then forge a reciprocal arrangement with one of the major partners in Pakatan.

In the event of a neck-and-neck contest, any minor changes towards the finishing line may have profound consequences on the contesting teams, favourable or otherwise.

With money at his disposal, Mahathir can execute his vote-buying tactic before the GE and candidate-buying tactic before and after the GE to ensure victory for Umno-BN.

If these tactics don’t work, then Mahathir will turn to Perkasa.

Being Mahathir’s brainchild, it will take orders from him. It is believed that Perkasa’s members are ready to trigger chaos in specific parts of the country and blame it on the opposition.

However, the disturbances will be a controlled and superficial one as he won’t want to jeopardise the financial market and scare investors away.

Aiming for emergency rule?

Mahathir then will instruct frontman (either Najib of Muhyiddin, depending) to declare a state of emergency to arrest and prosecute the opposition leaders for good.

Election and Parliament will be suspended and the country will then be put under the control of a National Operations Council.

Mahathir will then turn his attention to confront the might of people’s power using the full force of the police and army.

If he dares to do this, chaos and anarchy may set in.

But will the police and army act on Muhyiddin’s order? Mahathir is also constantly underestimating the full force of people’s power. If the people rise, then the whole nation could be paralysed.

The nation as such cannot be sacrificed to save one man, who isn’t worth an honest penny.

Awang Abdillah is a political analyst, writer and FMT columnist.

Tian Chua becomes Najib’s fall guy

Free Malaysia Today

Mariam Mokhtar | March 8, 2013 

No one is dishonouring the memory of the brave men who died defending Sabahans from invaders, but our leaders appear to be largely responsible for the debacle.

COMMENT

 

Many lives might have been saved if Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had apprehended the armed Suluks in Lahad Datu, with the same speed as taking legal action against the vice-president of PKR, Tian Chua.

On March 1, Tian Chua allegedly defamed Umno in an article on KeadilanDaily.com, entitled, “Shooting Incident in Lahad Datu Umno’s Planned Conspiracy — Tian”. Four days later, on March 5, Najib instructed Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor to take legal action against Tian Chua for linking Umno to the armed intrusion in Lahad Datu.

Tengku Adnan said, “This is because the accusation is baseless and very serious with the evil intention of damaging Umno’s image, reputation and credibility.”

Malaysians are already aware of Umno’s tarnished image, its terrible reputation and questionable credibility. Will Umno go after every individual who speaks ill of the party?

No one is dishonouring the memory of the brave men who died defending Sabahans from invaders, but our leaders appear to be largely responsible for the debacle.

It is common knowledge that our shores and borders are porous, but the government appears to have no remedy.

In the past weeks, illegal immigrants who are accustomed to living and working without hindrance throughout Malaysia are exercising more caution. In Sabah, they are staying away from their usual stalls and the corners where they normally trade. This security crisis has forced the police and immigration staff to be more conscientious in the checking of Identity Cards and other identification papers – in the past, they were very lax.

Marine patrols were increased following the kidnap of two Malaysians last November. It is a fact that there are several layers of intelligence and security surveillance, so how could more than 100 armed and uniformed militants enter Lahad Datu unchallenged? The apparent lapse in security lends credence to a conspiracy theory.

The timing

Another factor which goes against Umno is the timing. The breach in security happened in the critical days before the announcement of GE-13. Najib’s popularity has dropped recently and it is widely believed that his intelligence services have predicted a crushing defeat for Umno.

A declaration of emergency rule would suspend elections and in that period, some political pundits claim that Najib would initiate all measures, both legal and illegal, to ensure a win.

Can anyone blame the talk of an Umno drama? Even the Election Commission (EC) chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof has warned of a postponement of elections in selected areas.

Details of Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s “Project M” were disclosed in the Sabah Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI), and confirmed the suspicions of many Malaysians. Sabahans began to look on each other with fear, apprehension and mistrust.

Mahathir’s admission is tantamount to treason, but no Umno leader has censured him. Tian Chua may have been guilty of insensitivity, but Sabah’s predicament was caused by one power-hungry, crazed former PM, Mahathir, who gave the nation away.

Najib ordered a probe into Anwar Ibrahim’s alleged links with this incursion. He is trying to discredit the opposition, so why is Tian Chua being sued for defamation?

Mahathir caused outrage when he intimated that the slow response of the armed forces was because Muslim militants were involved and Muslim blood should not be spilt.

When news of 100 armed and uniformed men first broke, Malaysians feared the worst, but Najib continued his electioneering in peninsular Malaysia. Najib preferred to play politics and disregard the escalating hostilities.

Najib erred but did not dare admit his guilt and apologise for taking weeks to act. He and his ministers travel with security cordons; their homes are well guarded. They have no sense of urgency and are totally disconnected from the man on the street.

Najib ordered a news blackout and journalists were prevented from entering the area. So we sourced the papers in Manila for details about the incursion. Why should Najib blame people for incriminating Umno? Najib is to be blamed for hiding the truth.

To this day, we are not privy to the demands of the Suluk militants. There have been allegations that Najib had promised the militants land for resettlement. When he allegedly reneged on his deal, Lahad Datu was invaded. It is ironical that Najib was on a BN propaganda drive in Perlis promoting another “Janji-ditepati” stunt, whilst in Sabah, the Suluks invaded because Najib allegedly broke his “janji” to them.

Horrible truth

In the end, the RMAF’s weapons were unleashed on the hide-out. These well-armed, trained and disciplined militants are adept at guerilla warfare and disappeared into the undergrowth, much like the Vietcong in the Vietnam war. At the end of the firestorm, around 50 bodies were recovered. Some people have expressed scepticism about the captured militants who were paraded for the press.

One person said, “The detainees wore gleaming white shirts with no marks or tears. One even wore a BN shirt. The men did not show any signs of being holed up for four weeks. They did not appear to be disheveled, unkempt or even battle weary. They do not fit the picture of seasoned mercenaries.”

Another observer said, “The Tourism Minister Ng Yen Yen did not deter tourists from Sabah and claimed that the Sabah Tourist Board was getting 12 hourly updates. What about relaying this news to the rakyat? Many of us have family and friends in that part of the world. Yen-Yen’s announcement goes against the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office warning to stay away from the east coast of Sabah, unless for essential travel.”

Najib has only himself to blame for making people believe that Umno is linked to this incursion. He ordered a news black-out. His ministers were slow to act. Tony Blair took his country into the Gulf War on the strength of a lie – Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.

The militants’ presence was revealed a month ago but Najib did not see fit to boost troop and police morale, or more importantly, reassure the Sabahans with a visit. One political observer has alleged that Najib thought a visit was not necessary because it was a put-up job that he arranged.

Najib did not think the matter was of sufficient moment to discuss in parliament. It was only after hell was unleashed on the Felda settlements, and seven battalions dropped into the area, that Najib came for a photo-opportunity with the soldiers.

Najib would like to think that the image of a conquering hero is enough to boost support for BN in GE-13.

His optimism is premature because when the smell of propellant has gone, he would still have to answer some simple questions: Who did not take care of national security? Who allowed illegal immigrants in? Who distributed MyKads and citizenships as freely as BR1M handouts? Whose prevarication cost the lives of many security personnel?

There is much about this incursion that Umno has hidden from public scrutiny but the horrible truth would eventually emerge, no matter how hard Najib may strive to hide it.

Mariam Mokhtar is a FMT columnist.

Puak Hitler dan Propaganda Goebbels

by SAKMONGKOL AK47

Saya harap rakyat kita memelihara kewarasan mereka dari dijangkiti penyakit gila babi pemimpin UMNO. Dalam sejarah politik negara kita, menggilakan seseorang pernah terjadi bila seorang pemimpin mahu mengahwini seorang wanita yang ketika itu isteri seorang lain.

Jangan tutup kelemahan dan kelembapan dengan mengalih pandangan dari isiu yang sebenar nya.
Berapa anggota keselamatan kita yang sudah terbunuh? Setakat ini dilapurkan 8 orang. Jika semua mereka orang Melayu yang beragama Islam kita ucapkan takziah dan sedekahkan Al Fatihah. Kalau ada yang gugur bukan beragama Islam, intensity kesedihan kita tetap sama. Merasa sedih dan simpati kepada mereka yang gugur adalah perasaan yang bukan dimonopoli oleh orang UMNO dan penyokong mereka. Janganlah berlagak sombong merasakan hanya puak UMNO sahaja yang boleh merasakan demikian.

Kerajaan Pulau Pinang dan Selangor memperuntukkan sebahagian dana untuk keluarga yang meninggal. Gesture ini tidak dapat mengembalikan nyawa yang sudah hilang, tapi sedikit senbanyak mengurangkan kepedihan yang ditanggung melalui memperlihatkan kepedulian dan kepekaan.
Apa yang menyebabkan perajurit dan rakyat kita terdedah kepada ancaman nyawa dan harta benda? Tentu sekali bukan kerana tuduhan dan cerita dongeng yang Tian Chua menghina tentera kita. Yang menyebabkan nya ialah kelembapan dengan kepentingan sempit kerajaan UMNO. Lembab kerana membiarkan masa 3 minggu untuk tentera Sulu menyesuaikan diri dalam hutan Sabah yang sudah menjadi taman permainan bagi mereka. Kepentingan kerana, ratusan ribu rakyat Filipina dari suku Tausug dan lain2 sudah pun ada dalam negeri Sabah dan mungkin menjadi sleepers yang akan bangkit pada suatu masa yang ditentukan.Mereka ada fixed deposit UMNO yang sejak tahun 1995 memberi kemenangan kepada UMNO dan BN di Sabah.

Tidak ada orang yang siuman yang akan mengecilkan kematian perajurit kita. Kerana lojik asas ini, maka kita mesti waspada dengan kegilaan yang UMNO anjurkan. Mana mungkin ada warga negara Malaysia yang memperkecilkan pengorbadan tentra dan polis kita bila berdepan dengan musuh kita? Mana bukti misalnya, Tian Chua melakukan demikian? Bila masa dia kata VAT69 mati katak? Atau bila masa dia menghina tentera kita?

Ini semua UMNO dan penyokong UMNO yang kata. Mereka ini patut dijel kerana menghasut. Tujuan nya mengalih pandangan dari kegagalan pemimpin UMNO. Jangan kita lupa Hishamudin kata penceroboh orang tua, kain sarong dan slipper, tidak bersenjata dan tak cukup makan. NGO patut mendesak Hishamudin meletakkan jawatan! ini standard menteri kita?

Rakyat Malaysyia kena ingat- isiu nya bukan sama ada Tian Chua menghina atau memperkecilkan perajuriit kita. Isiu nya ialah mengapa kerajaan UMNO membiarkan pencerobohan? Mengapa pengawalan keselamatan negara ini begitu rapuh? Kita nak tanya kerajaan kita mengapa setelah berbelanja berbiliun Ringgit, logistics support kita begitu lemah sehingga kita terpaksa menggunakan pengangkutan Air Asia untuk mengangkut tentera kita?

This is not an all out war tapi hanya pertempuran di suatu theatre sahaja yakni di Lahad Datu dan sebagian kawasan khusus di Sabah. Kalau perperangan yang menyeluruh, kita boleh terima mungkin kita tak cukup kapal terbang dan terpaksa sewa kapal terbang lain.

Tiba2 isiu rekaan mengenai kenyataan Tian Chua menggerhanai isiu pencerobohan akibat kelembapan pemimpin negara dan UMNO. sekarang mengikut propaganda media milik UMNO- isiu nya menjadi isiu Tian Chua menghina tentera Malaysia. Setengah kelompok xenophobic UMNO naik gila babi dan menuntut penghukuman keatas Tian Chua. Bila Tian Chua berkata demikian? Dimana? Ada ditulis dan dicitak? Atau ianya cerita karangan puak UMNO?

Sepatutnya NGO2 buat lapuran polis keatas puak UMNO kerana mengeksploitasi kebimbangan rakyat dan naluri2 terkebawah rakyat.( baser instincts) Puak UMNO menanam kebencian kaum dan menganjurkan rusuhan kaum.

Sekarang kita lihat semua pemimpin UMNO membohongi rakyat. Pemimpin UMNO kecil dan besar rupa2 nya menjadi pengamal propaganda ala Joseph Goebbels. Gobbels ialah menteri propaganda Nazi Germany. Pemimpin UMNO nampaknya mempunyai sifat2 Hitler.

Dalam berita TV3 kita mendapat perkhabaran beberapa NGO membuat lapuran polis terhadap Tian Chua. Tuan Chua dikatakan menghina tentera. Bahkan Tian Chua dikatakan menyebut yang anggota keselamatan kita mati katak.

Dari mana NGO2 ini mendapat cerita bohong ini? Jawapan nya tidak ada di mana2 kerana ianya tidak pernah disebut oleh Tian Chua. Ianya hanya bohong dan tipu yang diulangi oleh pemimpin UMNO kecil dan besar. Prinisp propaganda yang diajar oleh Goebbels ialah:- “If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. ” “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”

Pemimpin2 UMNO melakukan kerja klasik Goebbels si Nazi itu- yakni mengeksploitasi seperti yang di lakukan oleh Goebbels, naluri2 paling bawah bangsa Melayu- faham perkauman, prejudis, hasad 

Author:

Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de guerre of this blogger. His name is Dato' Mohd.Ariff Sabri bin Hj. Abdul Aziz. He was ADUN of Pulau Manis, Pekan.( 2004-2008) From 2000-2004, he was Ketua Penerangan UMNO Bahagian Pekan, under Dato Sri Najib. Studied Economics at University Malaya and University of Manchester(Owens). Sakmongkol was a legendary Muay Thai fighter. AK 47 is the Russian made firearm. He can be reached at the following e mail: ariff.sabri@gmail.com

Pro-Pakatan blogs link Najib to Sulu Sultan

FREE MALAYSIA TODAY

G Vinod | March 6, 2013

Several pro-Pakatan Rakyat blogs posted pictures in their blogs; one being the sultan attending the Umno annual general assembly and the other, Najib posing with Jamalul's brother.

PETALING JAYA: With several mainstream media linking Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim to the instrusion in Lahad Datu, several pro-opposition blogs posted pictures linking Umno and Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to the Filipino intruders.

Greenboc.blogspot.com posted a picture of the self-styled Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, the leader of the Sulu intruders, attending the 2012 Umno general assembly.

“He was guest at the Umno annual general assembly. Jamalul was invited as a sign of friendship. What are you going to say now?” reads the post in the blog.

Blogger Tulang Besi, who runs the Malaysian Waves site, posted a picture of Najib posing with Sultan Eslam Kiram II, brother of Jamalul Kiram.

“There are many other Umno leaders who took pictures with Eslam but it’s not out yet,” he said.

Tulang Besi also said that Umno supporters were upset with Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) supremo Nur Misuari as the latter blamed Najib for the mess in Sabah.

“Before this, these Umno supporters didn’t even say a word about Nur Misuari. Now they are trying to link the MNLF leader to Anwar,” he added.

However, the most intriguing part of the story comes from Philippines-based media, Manila Bulletin Publishing Corporation, quoting Nur Misuari on Feb. 22 that the intruders were there on “invitation”.

 

Nur Misuari claimed that he heard that the group led by Crown Prince Rajah Muda Agbimuddin Kiram, younger brother of Jamalul, went to Sabah because they were allegedly promised to be settled there by Najib himself.

Yesterday, the Royal Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) launched an assault on areas of Sabah held by the Filipino intruders.

The police and the military called the operation a success and said that no Malaysians were harmed in the assault.

MNLF’s former propaganda chief, Hadji Acmad Bayam had since threatened to send in his guerillas to aid his fellow Filipinos if the Malaysian military did not cease its attacks.

Also read:

Malaysian-trained MNLF fighters join Sulu army

More intruders arriving in pump boats

‘Najib must explain millions paid for US writers’

Anisah Shukry | March 6, 2013

The prime minister must explain the government’s dealings with US writers paid to besmirched Anwar Ibrahim, says Nik Nazmi.

VIDEO INSIDE

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak must respond to claims that his administration paid RM1.2 million to US columnists to write editorials painting Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim in a bad light, said PKR.

The party’s communications director, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, pointed out that although the revelations had attracted global interest and was now a “major international news scandal”, the Barisan Nasional government had yet to respond.

“Najib has to answer questions arising from this scandal: How much taxpayers’ money has his administration paid PR [public relations] consultants, particularly overseas, to write anti-Pakatan Rakyat and Anwar Ibrahim pieces?” asked Nik Nazmi at a press conference today.

“Other than APCO in the US and FBC in the UK, where else has the BN paid PR consultants to damage the opposition’s image?”

He was referring to the BN government’s media strategist APCO Worldwide, which contracted right-wing American journalist Joshua Trevino to write anti-Anwar articles from May 2008 to April 2011.

Trevino’s writings were published in US news websites such as Huffington Post, the San Francisco Examiner, Washington Times, National Review and Redstate, as well as websites MalaysiaMatters and MalaysiaWatcher.

According to Buzzfeed, Trevino’s belated filings to the US Justice Department revealed that the interests paying him were the government of Malaysia, “its ruling party or interests closely aligned with either”.

FBC or Fact-Based Communications was another firm also involved in the contract. Trevino had reportedly subcontracted the work to 10 writers, and told Buzzfeed that it was a “fairly standard PR operation”.

Taxpayers’ money spent on propaganda

Nik Nazmi today demanded to know who was involved in the hiring and coordination of the “PR consultants”.

“What instructions were given as to how the consultants should deal with Anwar as the bulk of the work by the consultants are solely about attacking Anwar?” said Nik Nazmi.

But according to Trevino, neither he nor “the client” knew what the writers were going to write before it was published, Buzzfeed reported.

“I provided a stipend to support their work in this area and they would just ping me whenever something went up,” he reportedly said.

 

Nik Nazmi also hit out at the government for dealing with “Islamaphobic” writers, including Trevino, who he said was US former president George W Bush’s speech writer.

“Is the government aware that many of the consultants hired are known for their extreme right-wing and Islamaphobic views, who deride Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood and American Muslims?

“Is the government aware that many of the consultants hired are staunch and avid supporters of Israel to the detriment of the Palestinians?” he asked.

He added that if the prime minister refused to respond, he would resort to other avenues, such as writing a letter to him.

“It is significant that while Najib spent millions of taxpayers’ money for spin and propaganda, he continues to evade Anwar’s call for a policy debate for the benefit of Malaysian voters,” said Nik Nazmi.

Also read:

Govt paid US writers for covert campaign

Lahad Datu Incursion: Our Leaders have failed not just Sabahans

by Din Merican

Yesterday afternoon, my wife and I had tea with a Semenanjung (West Malaysia) man with his wife who is a Sabahan lady. He was seething with anger over what is happening in Lahad Datu. Come to think of it, I am now not sure if he was angry or was just expressing utter disappointment in the state of our country.

Our tea conversation started with our worry over the high incidents of street crimes and the failure of the Home Ministry to curb it. It is now almost a daily occurrence that someone gets snatched, slashed and snatched, and crashed and snatched even in locked cars at traffic lights. This is manifest that the Police have failed in upholding their pledge under the Police Act - the protection of life and property.

Then the topic became more heated when my friend’s wife, the Sabahan lady, said that our leaders have failed us in more ways than one. She said Malaysians in Semenanjung no longer feel safe within the borders of the country, and,as a Sabahan, she is now petrified that her home state can be so easily “invaded” by a ragtag army from Southern Philippines.

Hishamuddin-The Bird Watcher2

She recalled that some three weeks ago, the Home Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, expelled an Australian Senator Nick Zenophon because he was a threat to the national security of the country, but defended the presence of the Sulu gunmen as somewhat of a peaceful delegation. And now what has happened?

Zaid Hamidi She then asked rhetorically – Where is our Malaysian army? Where is our Malaysian Navy? Where is our Scorpene submarine? We spend billions in defence and we can’t even ward off a rag tag unsophisticated group of criminals from across the border.

It is meaningless for Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi (left) to appear on the front page of national newspapers dressed in army fatigues, whereas we have allowed one hot spot in Lahad Datu to expand to Sampoerna and Kunak. And yet our Ministers say it is only 3 locations. ONLY?

We were then joined by another couple from Sabah, the husband is a former Policeman turned private sector lawyer and the wife a former magistrate in Sabah. Both of them were very certain of whom they hold responsible - our government leaders. All were very sympathetic to the policemen who were killed and their families. “We grieve for them but their deaths could have been avoided if the politicians had taken things more seriously and are not busy politicising this matter” said the lawyer husband.

He pointed out the multiple crimes committed by these Filipino criminals - illegal entry, bearing and using firearms, kidnapping, murder etc etc, all these latter crimes punishable with capital punishment. He mocked our Foreign Minister, Information Minister and all government Ministers for falling into the trap of characterising these criminals as the Sulu Sultanate army. They are not even recognised by the Philippines Government and yet we are ever too eager to treat them as if they are a legitimate army.

On the night the 2 Policemen were killed, the country’s InformationRais Yatim Minister, Rais Yatim, was on national TV at the Malaysian Film Festival receiving an award of his own creation, insensitive to the fact that the nation’s security personnel are battling their lives for the country.

There is a news blanket on what is happening in Sabah whereas entertainment programs continue to lull the public into complacency, into a false sense of security oblivious to the fact that the security forces are facing clear and present danger from this highly explosive situation.

When 911 happened in New York, all TV stations in the USA made live reporting hour by hour as if the whole of USA was under attack. The incident received worldwide attention and sympathy. Here in Malaysia, we have an invasion-type criminals terrorising the state of Sabah, and yet our leaders make it appear as if it does not affect the country. Is Sabah a hinterland of no significance to the Federation of Malaysia? What does being part of a federation mean if the central or federal government cannot protect Sabah as part of its sovereignty? This is the central issue in this incident.

“It is also a mistake to keep on harping about these criminals being Sulus” said the Sabahan wife. “Just as Malaysia is a multiracial country that we are proud of, Sabahans too consist of many indigenous groups including Malay, Chinese,Kadazan, Murut, Bajau and Sulu. Thus, focusing on the Sulu will isolate the Sulu people to feel uneasy and forced to take sides” she said. In Sampoerna, it was the Sulu community that disarmed the infiltrating criminals. So, there are good patriotic Malaysian Sulus just as there are patriotic Malaysian Indians, Chinese, Kadazan, Murut and others.

On the other hand the country’s leaders from Semenanjung seemed ignorant in not involving the TYT of Sabah who is a Sulu, or for that matter the Sabah UMNO Chief Shafie Afdal who is also a Sulu, in seeking a resolution to this problem. The best asset available in Sabah are not used, instead the Semenanjung Ministers are busy posing for photographs!

Then the lawyer husband made an interesting comment that this incident would not have happened in the time when Dato Ramli Yusuff was Police Commissioner Sabah and Brig-Gen Yasin was Army Commander Sabah. I asked him why he said that. He then narrated a fact unknown to most Malaysians that after the Sipadan hostage incident in 1999-2000, Dato Ramli became Commissioner Sabah from 2001- 2004. At the request of the then Chief Minister Chong Kah Kiat, Dato Ramli formed a special Task Force with the Army Commander of Sabah to rid the state of illegal Indonesian and Filipino immigrants. Hundreds of thousands illegal immigrants were driven out of Sabah. Ramli was so successful that the then State Government of Sabah awarded him the Dato’ Pahlawan Sabah for truly taking care of Sabah’s territorial borders.

But little did Dato Ramli realise that he was digging his own grave by doing that because those whom he drove out of Sabah were not just illegal immigrants. These were illegal immigrants issued with NRIC masterminded in a BiroTataNegara project to secure Sabah votes for BN. This is now revealed in the on-going RCI on the NRIC issue. It is a surprise that neither Chong Kah Kiat nor Dato Ramli are asked to give evidence in this RCI.

So, for doing that “good deed” for Sabah, Dato Ramli was summoned back to KL on a lateral transfer as CPO Pahang. In 2006, when Dato Ramli became the Director CCID, he was aware of the fragile coastal line around the Tanjung Tebian area. To prevent illegal human traffic and arms flow, he conducted an aerial survey over the area called Den Haven in Tanjung Tebian in full uniform escorted by 4 other uniformed police personnel. For doing that, then IGP Musa Hassan and A-G Gani Patail charged Dato Ramli for unlawfully using a Police Cessna for personal use. That was how insidious A-G Gani Patail behaved towards Dato Ramli in order to bring him down.

Dato Ramli was protecting the Sabah borders and yet he was charged just because A-G Gani Patail couldn’t find enough things to charge Ramli for in that infamous RM 27Million Cop Story. After that, no Commissioner Sabah dared to do a similar aerial survey and that explained the intrusion into the Sabah borders that we see today undetected by our security forces.

Life has a strange way of turning a full circle. Today, we know that Dato Ramli was cleaning up and saving Sabah while A-G Gani Patail, a Sabahan, was and is preoccupied saving crooks and criminals close to the corridors of power. Today we know some truth, not all, but some truth about how the NRIC project in Tun Mahathir’s time and perpetuated by other BN leaders have proven costly to Sabah.

We mourn for the loss of lives of our security personnel. They are indeed heroes and should be honoured as such. Malaysians should be united in that. However, we cannot absolve our leaders for the mistakes they committed in causing these losses. We cannot forgive the Home Minister Hishamamuddin Hussein, the Defence Minister Zahid Hamidi and the Information Minister Rais Yatim for all their bungling acts. Ultimately, the buck must stop with the Prime Minister and the government of the day that he leads that has caused our sovereignty to be trifled with and violated.

As we approach GE 13, the likes of Dato’ Ramli and other former military leaders must come forth to seek election as the people’s representative. These are the people whom we can trust to protect our country and our sovereignty when our current leaders have failed not just Sabahans but all Malaysians!

Gun Begins to Smoke in Malaysian Sub Scandal

by John Berthelsen

Money may have been funneled to UMNO officials through Hong Kong incorporated company

French investigating magistrates probing the US$1.2 billion sale of submarines to the Malaysian Defense Ministry are targeting, among other things, a Hong Kong-based company called Terasasi (Hong Kong) Ltd., whose principal officers are Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s close friend and the friend’s father.

Investigators believe that at least some of the €36 million funneled through Terasasi ended up in the pockets of Najib, who was Malaysia’s defense minister and deputy prime minister when the two Scorpene submarines were purchased from Thales International or Thint Asia. The state-owned defense giant DCN, later known as DCNS, and Thales established a joint company named Armaris to manufacture the submarines in 2002.

The two Armaris Scorpenes, named for the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, and Najib’s father, Tun Abdul Razak, are on duty in Malaysian waters.

Abdul Razak Baginda, the former head of a Malaysian think tank who was at the center of a 2006 investigation into the death of Mongolian translator and party girl Altantuya Shaariibuu, is listed as one of the two directors of the company, which was previously incorporated on June 28, 2002 as Kinabalu Advisory and Support Services Ltd according to the Hong Kong Companies Registry. The other director is Abdul Malim Baginda, Baginda’s father.

The Terasasi offices are located on the 19th floor of an office at 3 Lockhart Road in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong. There is no indication in Hong Kong government records of what Terasasi’s business is. It is only listed as a “local company.” However, French authorities say Terasasi apparently received regular payments from Thint Asia. One payment was for €360,000 accompanied with a handwritten note saying “Razak wants it to be paid quickly.”

The magistrates have documents that show that the money was funneled from Thint Asia to Terasasi -- €3 million of it when Terasasi was still domiciled in Malaysia, and €33 million after it was incorporated in Hong Kong. There is no indication at this point where the money went. French investigators, however, theorize that it was part of €146 million that may have been funneled to officials of the United Malays National Organization and Najib, who traveled with Abdul Razak Baginda several times to France as defense minister at the time the Malaysians purchased the submarines from DCNS.

On at least one trip in 2004, Altantuya, then Razak Baginda’s lover, accompanied him to France as a translator. He later jilted her, impelling her to come to Kuala Lumpur to demand US$500,000 from him. In a handwritten letter found after her death, she wrote that she was attempting to blackmail him, although she didn’t say why. Two of Najib’s bodyguards were convicted of shooting her in the head and blowing up her body with plastic explosives in September 2006, possibly to hide the fact that she was pregnant when she was killed. Because her killing does not appear to be connected to the scandal, French investigators are not looking into the causes of her death or the reasons behind it.

Although Razak Baginda was charged with abetting her murder, he was released without having to put up a defense and fled to the UK, where he remains. Najib’s former bodyguards remain on death row in Malaysia. Their appeal against the death penalty has been delayed, presumably until after national elections expected in May or June this year.

It was previously revealed on the floor of the Dewan Rakyat, Malaysia’s parliament, that Perimekar received another €114 million as a commission on the sale of the vessels. Perimekar at the time was wholly owned by another company, KS Ombak Laut Sdn Bhd, which in turn was also controlled by Razak Baginda and Mazalinda. Perimekar is now 20 percent each owned by the military retirement system LTAT and Boustead Holdings.

Two years of police investigation at the behest of the Malaysian NGO Suaram into the sale of the submarines culminated recently with the appointment of investigating magistrates Roger Le Loire and Serge Tournaire at the Paris Tribunal de Grande Instance, according to Agence France Press, which said the probe involves three contracts for the submarines which were signed on June 5, 2002.

According to the documents, the contracts had two components: the sale of two submarines built by Thint and the Spanish shipbuilding firm Izar, for €920 million; and the delivery of “logistical support” from Perimekar Bhd – the €114 million -- to train the first 200 Royal Malaysian Navy personnel although there is no indication that the company had the wherewithal to train them.

Under the bribery conventions of the 32-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the French defense contractors could be liable for criminal sanctions if it is proven that no real services were delivered by the companies. Under French law, violators are liable for up to 10 years in prison.

Joseph Breham, a lawyer with Solicitors International Human Rights Group which was engaged by Suaram, said in October last year that DCNS often budgeted as much as 8 to 12 percent of its total receipts as "commissions" to grease sales of armaments in third-world countries. Breham said Perimekar had received the commission for "supporting the contract," which he said was a euphemism for unexplained costs, and also for "housing the crew" of the submarines in France.

In France, before 2002, any money used to bribe foreign officials was tax deductible. When the former finance director of DCN made a claim for €31 million allegedly used to bribe the Malaysians for the purchase of the Scorpenes, Breham said, the Minister of Budget questioned such a large bribe, although he did eventually authorize the tax break.

The contracts cited by AFP included the €114 million one paid by the Malaysian government to Perimekar. The second, called “C5 contract of engineering business,” was concluded in August 2000 between DCNI, a subsidiary of DCN, and Thales International Asia worth some €30 million. The third was the “consulting agreement” signed in October 2000 between Thint Asia and Terasasi.

The French investigators are also studying one of the invoices issued by Terasasi in August 2004 for €359,450 sent to Thint Asia. For investigators, “it appears that… the amounts paid to Terasasi ultimately benefited Najib, the defense minister, or his adviser Razak Baginda.”

Olivier Metzner, a lawyer for Thales, told the French daily Le Parisien that “we have already demonstrated to investigators that there was no corruption in this case.” However, a confidential memorandum made available to Asia Sentinel and the Malaysian website Free Malaysia Today states that: “The beneficiaries of these funds are not difficult to imagine: the family clan and Razak Baginda relations. In addition, these funds will find their way to the dominant political party (UMNO).”

John Berthelsen is the editor of Asia Sentinel

The A-G Chambers practises selective prosecution, says MACC

by Kuek Ser Kuang Keng@www.malaysiakini.com

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission investigates all allegations of corruption made to it, but it is the Attorney-General's Chambers that refuses to file in court some of the cases the MACC deems valid.

"Come, show me which case has not been investigated by MACC. There is not even one case that we did not investigate," its Deputy Commissioner (Operations) Mohd Shukri Abdull (left) told a forum in Shah Alam today.

"The problem is, many people want the cases to be charged in court, but if you ask me on this issue, you are asking the wrong person. To us, there are valid cases (to be charged in court), but to the Deputy Public Prosecutor, there is no case to answer, so what can we do?" Shukri told the participants, who responded with loud cries of lawan (fight).

Giving the audience a dry smile, Shukri replied: "How to fight? MACC has no (prosecution) power."

The articulate senior officer who has 27 years of combating graft behind him, was trying his best to convince the excited audience that MACC was free from political interference and doing its best to haul up corrupt politicians to face the music.

The cheers and applause from the floor suggested that his explanation was well received by the hundreds at the forum titled "Political Bribery: Reality or Perception", organised by Malay daily Sinar Harian.

"If my officers and I were to act according to our hearts, we would arrest all! But we can't, because the charges must be based on evidence, not sentiment," Shukri said, attracting another round of applause from the floor.

The other three speakers at the forum were PKR Strategy Director Rafizi Ramli (right), BN’s Kota Belud MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan and Political Analyst Chandra Muzaffar.

The forum's moderator was International Islamic University of Malaysia lecturer Maslee Malik. Responding to Shukri’s ‘complaint’ Rafizi quickly came to his defence.

“MACC has no prosecution power"

"If you want to blame, don’t blame Shukri but blame Abdul Rahman because he is the member of Special Parliamentar yCommittee on Anti-Corruption,” said Rafizi. And Shukri who was sitting beside him immediately extended his hand and shook with Rafizi, sending the audience into fits of guffaws.

Rafizi then took potshots at Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s earlier promise that MACC will be given more power should BN retain two-thirds parliamentary majority in the next general election.

“If I were the Prime Minister, no need to amend the constitution just replace the attorney-general with someone who can work with the MACC,” he suggested.

Abdul Rahman (right) then criticised Rafizi for not respecting the principle of separation of powers, pointing out that should the MACC be given both the power to investigate and prosecute, it would create another problem.

Rafizi quickly corrected Abdul Rahman that he was suggesting to change the A-G, not to give MACC prosecution power, but Abdul Rahman claimed that it was the stance of Pakatan Rakyat representative in the parliamentary committee.

Earlier, Shukri also stressed that his officers in the commission, though having different political inclinations are very professional when it comes to carrying out their duties.

“I have to be very transparent here. My dad and mum are green colour, but people don’t know what colour I am, even my parents don’t know, that is my right. “When it comes to investigation, I’m professional, I’m colour-blind,” he added.

Our Government promotes "ignocracy"

by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah*

There are many interesting implications inherent in the topic of my address to you today: Malaysia: The Future is in Our Hands.

When I say the future is in your hands, I am not referring to the lines on your palm. I am saying the future is in your hands because it is with these hands that you are going to elect the people who will represent your best interest in the government.

Some people told me that we are poised on the cusp of change, and the choice that you make is significant, perhaps not so much for you as for your children, grand children and great-grand children. To put it another way, the future of innocent children yet unborn for generations to come is in your hands.

In other words, it is not the King who will decide the future for us, it is not what the Prime Ministers want that will be of any consequence. It is not the VVIPs or the so-called political analysts who are going to decide the future of our land. It is you, and here I include the ordinary citizens of the country, meaning the farmer, the teacher, the petty trader, stall keeper, the trishaw puller, the watchman, the bread man and even the unemployed vagrant who is going to decide the destiny of our children.

The issue of choice is sacrosanct to human beings who have been endowed with free will. You are born to be free. It is not for the government or the opposition to decide whether you should be free or not. Remember, nobody can dictate your choice unless you let him.

Therefore, more sacrosanct than any other day is the day of election. It is a day when you will hold the country’s future in your hands. In fact, no other election has been so much talked about and anticipated with as much anxiety and expectations as the forthcoming elections. The coming election appears so important that it may be likened to the ‘battle of the century’ for our country.

There are many Malaysians who complain about the government but are not registered voters. They make loud comments but lack the will to make a difference. They do not commit themselves wholeheartedly to seek change and to exercise their voting rights to choose a better government.

Your future is in your hands and if you fail to treasure the right, and exercise the right with wisdom, then you and no one else is to blame for your own destiny.

As the Qur’an says in chapter 13, verse 11: “Truly, God does not change the condition of a people unless they change what is in themselves”.

Now the next issue is, are we able to exercise our mind with wisdom? Unfortunately, as a people and as a nation, we are not able to do so. We are born free, but our minds have become captive.

In our country, the problem of the captive mind has its origins in the race dilemma to an extent that we have become incapable of devising an analytical method independent of current stereotypes about Malays, Chinese, Indians and the others. Our thinking is based completely on a racial world view when it comes to matters of politics, education, economics, planning, and so forth.

Needless to say, we promote a racial world view that thrives on the policy of divide and rule. The citizens of the land are exiting the country in large numbers, and the gap is filled, not by people with equivalent skills and potentials, but by unskilled labour from abroad. Public universities have no places for locals, but they are absorbing large numbers of foreign students. It is sad that our own people should be deprived of the benefits of a good education – a resource that has been described as the global currency of 21 economies.

And yet education is seen as the best solution to the economic uncertainties of the times, as it enables our people to compete, collaborate and connect in a way that drives our economies forward.

And today, we have the captive mind, the product largely of our education system, which has failed to generate its opposite, the creative mind. The captive mind feeds on trivia and fragmented knowledge, and students are not taught to be philosophical, universal or intercultural.

Our educational curricula do not encourage the moral and intellectual reform of the mind. If we look west, we find that the development of education took place as part and parcel of the evolution of society and civilization as a whole. But in our own case, the education system has failed to impart the fundamentals of scientific thinking and reasoning in relation to our own society.

Captive minds tend to avoid major issues such as the concept of good governance, meaning of development, the effect of corruption on society and the rule of law.

Again, as it stands today, in the area of economy, there is no honest intellectual inquiry to find out why, despite many years of implementing the New Economic Policy, inequitable distribution of income continues to plague the people, and why we are lagging behind countries that do not have as much resources.

To this very day, the electorate has not understood the implications of the New Economic Policy which has produced results that are diametrically opposed to the original intention of bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots. The longer we try the policy, the further we are from the original goal.

If the doctor keeps on prescribing the same medicine which produces opposite results, then something must be wrong with the doctor, and something more serious must be wrong with the patient who keeps on trusting the same doctor.

Today, the discrepancy between vision and reality has taken on an alarming turn. It has gone far beyond economics into the realm of ethics and morality. In numerous instances it has taken the form of corruption and decadence which has pushed the economy further down the drain.

Today, we are saddled with a spiraling national debt brought to exist by wanton corruption and wasteful spending. It is feared that in relation to Singapore which is free of foreign debts, if we are not careful, it won’t take us long before we become another Greece. The problem continues to escalate, despite being highlighted by the Auditor General year after year in his annual reports. It has been estimated that we can easily save RM25-30billion without changing any of the deliverables if only we can get rid of corruption and cronyism.

Professor Alatas once said that we have different types of governments such as democracy, autocracy, theocracy, and so forth, and now we need to describe our government as one that keeps the people ignorant. According to him, we need to use new terms such as “ignocracy” to describe a government that wants to keep the people ignorant.

And yet for a democracy to succeed it is of cardinal importance for us to make informed choices. We have the power to cast away our misfortune by casting our votes for the right candidates. But our captive minds are unable to guide our hands in making the right choices for our future and the future of our children.

When I say that the future is in your hands, it is not merely a reference to your individual role as a voter. I must add that the future is in your hands in a larger collective sense. In those days, the duty to educate and inform was left to educators and writers, as well as the government. Today we can no longer trust them to act as purveyors of truth. It has become our responsibility to hold the future in our own hands. In this effort, we are thankful for the new technology which has flung open the doors of democracy, making it easier for us to organize and share information.

Therefore, through our efforts at educating and promoting political consciousness, let us hope that the people of this country, in the rural and urban areas alike, will cast away their slumber, and wake up to greet the dawn of a new day, as we did fifty five years ago when the Tunku called this nation into being in the name of God, the Compassionate and the Merciful, a nation that “ever seeks the welfare of its people”.

*Speech by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah at the “Road Map For Achieving Vision 2020” Book Launch Ceremony at Syuen Hotel, Ipoh, April 1, 2012

Only Captive Minds hang on to the NEP, says UMNO's Ku Li

by Shannon Teoh@www.themalaysianinsider.com

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah resumed his attack on the New Economic Policy (NEP) today, stating that “captive minds” continue to support it despite Malaysia moving further from its objective of redistributing wealth through pro-Bumiputera policies.

The UMNO veteran said there has been “no intellectual inquiry” into why “despite many years of implementing the NEP, inequitable distribution of income continues to plague the people” as “we have become incapable of devising an analytical method independent of current stereotypes about Malays, Chinese, Indians and others.”

“If the doctor keeps on prescribing the same medicine which produces opposite results, then something must be wrong with the doctor, and something more serious must be wrong with the patient who keeps on trusting the same doctor.

“Our thinking is based completely on a racial world view when it comes to matters of politics, education, economics, planning, and so forth. Needless to say, we promote a racial world view that thrives on the policy of divide and rule,” the Kelantan prince said at a book launch in Ipoh this morning.

Tengku Razaleigh, popularly known as Ku Li, had in February said “as a former Finance Minister, let me emphasise that it was never the intention of the NEP to create an incubated class of Malay capitalists.”

His statement further fueled scrutiny of former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s policies after the Najib administration decided to settle out of court the RM589 million debt owed by former Malaysia Airline System Bhd (MAS) chief Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli.

The settlement sum was undisclosed, prompting intense public criticism and attacks from the opposition over the right of taxpayers to know the amount of public funds recovered.

Tajuddin, 65, had served as the airline’s executive chairman from 1994 to 2001 and was a poster boy of former finance minister Tun Daim Zainuddin’s now-discredited policy of nurturing a class of Malay corporate captains on government largesse during the Mahathir administration.

Ku Li, one of the greatest critics of the NEP and Dr Mahathir’s handling of the policy, had challenged the long-serving prime minister for leadership of UMNO in 1987, which he subsequently lost by a narrow margin.

He said in his speech today that the country’s education system does “not encourage the moral and intellectual reform of the mind” resulting in a lack of debate on major issues such as good governance, corruption and rule of law.

“To this very day, the electorate has not understood the implications of the NEP which has produced results that are diametrically opposed to the original intention of bridging the gap between the haves and the have-nots. The longer we try the policy, the further we are from the original goal.

“The discrepancy between vision and reality has taken an alarming turn. It has gone far beyond economics into the realm of ethics and morality. In numerous instances it has taken the form of corruption and decadence which has pushed the economy further down the drain,” he said.

He said “wanton corruption and wasteful spending” had resulted in spiraling national debt that now amounts to RM456 billion or 53 per cent of the GDP, which “if we are not careful, it won’t take us long before we become another Greece.”

GE-13 Outcome Difficult to Predict, says Dr. UMNO

by Melissa Lee, Malaysia Chronicle

Former Prime Minister (Tun) Mahathir Mohamad admitted that it would be difficult to predict the results of the 13th General Election due to the "confusing" signals received from the ground.

"What is certain, it won't be easy for BN to get two-thirds majority this time. The Opposition now is not like that of the past, and the current situation is rather confusing," Bernama reported Mahathir as saying.

Such an acknowledgement must have been hard for Mahathir to make, given that the Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition is led by Anwar Ibrahim, who he has tried hard to chop down to size and even oust from the political arena completely.

In 1998, fearing Anwar's popularity and growing clout with the Malays, Mahathir threw trumped-up sodomy and corruption charges at his his former Deputy and succeeded in jailing Anwar for 6 years. It was only after Mahathir retired that the Federal Court could summon enough courage to overturn the charges and acquit Anwar.

Now 64, Anwar is poised to lead the Pakatan into its second General Election as a coalition. Although denied formal registration by the Registrar of Societies, the Pakatan parties of PKR, PAS and DAP have signed a Common Policy Framework and agreed on a joint manifesto - the Buku Jingga - for GE-13 which is expected to be held before the end of this year.

Gaining strength

Since the 12th General Election in 2008, the Pakatan has been gaining from strength to strength, with two of the four states it governs - Selangor and Penang - praised by the Auditor-General as being the best managed. Both Penang and Selangor have also drawn most FDIs, trouncing the BN-ruled states.

A resurgent Anwar and Pakatan are now rated as having an even chance on improving on their 2008 electoral performance, with many pundits predicting they might even wrest the Federal Government from Prime Minister Najib Razak. Mahathir apparently shares this view, saying that the various assumptions made about the support for BN were fluid, with some people saying it was increasing and others saying otherwise. Mahathir did not point the finger at anyone, but a day ago, he called on Najib to allow 'outsiders' to contest for seats under the UMNO ticket.

Mahathir lamented the shortage of 'smart' Malays in UMNO, for which perhaps he is most to blame due to his refusal to soften his hardline stance during his 22-year rule from 1981 to 2003. Indeed, during his tenure, Malaysia experienced huge 'brain drain'' including from the Malay community, but Mahathir had always dismissed the issue as minor and with a 'let them leave if they wish' stance.

"None of Mahathir policies contributed to building a succession line in UMNO, so what is there to say now. And the damage was not only to UMNO but extended to the overall economy, where Malaysia lost talent beyond what it could afford. The effects on the economy are being played out now and if not reversed soon by fresh policies and reforms, we can expect further all-encompassing deterioration," Ramon Navaratnam, the Chairman of the Centre for Public Policy Studies, told Malaysia Chronicle.

Najib failed to deliver

In recent weeks, former Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin had predicted BN would easily win in only three states - Johor, Melaka and Pahang. A large portion of the blame has been directed at Najib for failing to lead UMNO-BN out of its quagmire.

UMNO appointed Najib as its President in 2009 after forcing his predecessor Abdullah Badawi into early retirement for losing 5 states out of 13 to the Pakatan as well as the BN's long-held two-thirds majority in Parliament. Mahathir and other UMNO leaders had hoped that Najib would reverse the slide and regain the crucial two-thirds majority, which would allow them to amend key laws to stay in power for perhaps a few more decades. But Najib's clumsy political maneuvers were soon rejected by the people, who now see him as a fraud.

In his comments, it was telling of Daim to point out that if Najib failed to improve on Badawi's results, he would have to step down in favor of either his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin or a 'new challenger'. So far, no dark horse has emerged but bets are on that it could be Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who has lambasted Najib for his haphazard policies and weak leadership.

During Najib's tenure which began in April 2009, Malaysia suffered its worst bouts of racial and religious intolerance. Extremist groups such as PERKASA and JATI were sponsored and allowed to flourish. At the same time, Najib preached policies of moderation to the West. But it looks like even they have found him out, with the influential Washington Post slamming him as a "champion of double-talk".

Nonetheless, even with his mandate to rule expiring in March 2013, Najib has continued with the same strategies of gutter politicking against Anwar, using racism and religious bigotry to scare the Malays into voting for UMNO so that it can 'protect' them from the non-Malays.

Economy soft and Corruption rampant

Meanwhile, the economy remains neglected and soft due to Najib's frequent overseas trips which have been criticized for burning a hole in taxpayers' pockets. Corruption remains at a record high, with Malaysia slipping 4 spots to 60 in the 2011 Transparency International Corruption Perception Index. Malaysia scored 4.3 compared to New Zealand, the least corrupt at 9.5, and Somalia and North Korea who each scored 1.0, making them the two most corrupt nations in the survey. In ASEAN, Singapore scored 9.3 and Brunei 6.3.

Malaysia Chronicle