Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah admitted failure

Tengku Tan Sri Razaleigh Hamzah Umno member of parliament for Gua Musang castigated the current Barisan Nasional government's management of the economy in a stinging speech at today's 11th annual Malaysia Strategic Outlook Conference 2009.

He talked about how the government had failed to respond to the needs of the poor. He talked about how the education system crippled the youth of the nation, allowing them to grow up without the necessary skills needed to be competitive.

Of the socio-economic strategies he said: “We cannot comfort ourselves that we have sacrificed growth for social equity. If there is a trade off between growth and equity, we have not made it. We are failing on both counts.”

“Even if we manage to coast through this downturn, we will emerge with an economy that has failed to gear itself up to the demands of the global economy, fallen yet further behind the developmental path and locked ourselves tighter into a pattern of low growth.”

Asked by the audience what can be done to change the present political leadership to one better suited to guide Malaysia through the rocky times ahead, Razaleigh replied: “I tried but I failed.”

Read Lee Wei Lian's full report at Malaysia Insider's Has Ku Li gone rogue?

Azilah testimony confirmed Balasubramanian Statutory Declaration

Here is statement number 5 of Private Investigator's first Statutory Declaration:

5. I was however re-employed by Abdul Razak Baginda on the 05-10-2006 as he had apparently received a harassing phone call from a Chinese man calling himself ASP Tan who had threatened him to pay his debts. I later found out this gentleman was in fact a private investigator called Ang who was employed by a Mongolian woman called Altantuya Shaaribuu.

Here is the testimony of Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri:

After contacting him through a phone number given to him by Musa, Azilah and Abdul Razak met the next day in the latter’s office.

During the meeting, Azilah testified, Abdul Razak told him that he was being blackmailed by a Chinese man and a Chinese woman.

Azilah said he was not told why Abdul Razak was being blackmailed and neither was he told the amount being demanded.

But Abdul Razak let Azilah listen to a voice message, allegedly from the “Chinese man.” In the message, the “Chinese man” said in Malay that “kasi pecah you punya muka,” which can be loosely translated as “I will smash your face.”

KT Election Officer resigned abrubtly

English translation of a report in Malaysiakini:

Kuala Terengannu Election Officer resigned abruptly
Jan 15, 09 8:40pm

With only 1 day left to the Kuala Terengganu by-election, the Election Officer Datuk Mat Razali Kassim resigned after being accused (heavily) by PAS.

He who is also the Mayor of Kuala Terengganu resigned abruptly today after PAS accused him of asking the Kuala Terengganu City Council (MBKT) to support the BN candidate Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh.

In a statement by the Election Commission (SPR) early tonight, Mat Razali is replaced by the Assistant Election Officer Wan Mustafa Wan Hassan, who is also the secretary of MBKT.

"SPR agree to receive Mat Razali resignation as Election Officer of P036 Kuala Terengganu by-election with immediate effect." said the SPR Secretary Datuk Ngah Senik.

In addition, in compliance with the provision of Section 3(c) and 5(1)(a) of the General Election Act appoint the assistant of Mat Razali as the new General Election Officer with immediate effect.

Other than PAS accusation, a police report was made by the Head of PKR Youth Mohd Fariz Musa accusing Mat Razali threaten about 590 staff of MBKT in a meeting di the Tunku Abdul Rahman Hall yesterday morning.

From Malaysiakini:

Pegawai p'raya KT tarik diri mengejut
Jan 15, 09 8:40pm
Tinggal satu hari lagi pengundian pilihanraya kecil Kuala Terengganu, pegawai pengurusnya Datuk Mat Razali Kassim menarik diri selepas didakwa berat sebelah oleh PAS.

Beliau, yang juga datuk bandar Kuala Terengganu, meletakkan jawatan mendadak hari ini selepas PAS menuduhnya meminta kakitangan Majlis Bandaraya Kuala Terengganu (MBKT) menyokong calon BN Datuk Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh.

Dalam kenyataan Suruhanjaya Plihan Raya (SPR) awal malam ini, Mat Razali digantikan oleh penolong pegawai pengurus pilihanraya parlimen ini Wan Mustafa Wan Hassan, yang juga setiausaha MBKT.

"SPR bersetuju menerima penarikan diri Mat Razali sebagai pegawai pengurus pilihanraya kecil P036 Kuala Terengganu berkuatkuasa serta-merta," kata Setiausaha SPR Datuk Ngah Senik.

Tambahnya, selaras dengan peruntukan Seksyen 3(c) dan 5(1)(a) Akta Pilihan Raya 1958, suruhanjaya itu melantik penolong Mat Razali sebagai pegawai pilihanraya baru berkuatkuasa serta-merta.

Selain dakwaan PAS, satu laporan polis dibuat oleh ketua Angkatan Muda PKR Mohd Fariz Musa dengan mendakwa Mat Razali mengugut kira-kira 590 kakitangan MBKT dalam satu pertemuan di Dewan Tunku Abdul Rahman pagi semalam.

Kuala Terengannu by-election vote buying antidote

Sim Kwang Yang of Malaysiakini wrote of vote buying in the Kuala Trengannu buy-election in which voters are paid RM400 to vote for BN (Barisan Nasional) and the voter have to use a mobile phone (with digital camera) to take a photo of their ballot paper to prove that they actually voted for BN. I hope the KT voters would not succumb to this temptation and reject the offer. Otherwise if they want to take the money, what they can do is to first mark the ballot paper for BN, take a photo, then spoil the vote by marking for PAS as well. Any ballot paper with markings for more than 1 candidate will be considered as spoilt vote:

A vote for RM400

I read an account on the Internet by a Chinese youth in KT who is too young to vote. He has an uncle who is a longstanding member of the local MCA. Having been saturated with political education by DAP ceramah speakers, the uncle went to BN meetings and asked questions raised in the campaign. He was hushed down immediately.

So now the uncle has decided to vote for PAS, though he was offered RM400 by the BN for his vote. The wise nephew advised him to take the money and vote for PAS. The older man told him that he must photograph his vote inside the polling booth on his mobile phone, and send the picture of his actual vote to the paymaster, or else he would not be paid. If he does not have an expensive mobile phone, one would be provided for him. If he is found to have voted for PAS, all kinds of punishment will descend upon him after the by-election.

Having been at the receiving end of many campaigns of money politics, I find this story believable. This device of using the mobile phone to monitor voter's actual vote violates the secrecy of the vote, and is obviously against the election laws. But in a small town where everybody knows everybody, the uncle is unlikely to lodge a police report over it.

The obvious thing for the Election Commission to do is to ban all voters from bringing their mobile phones into the polling centre. The opposition election agents must also object vehemently to the use of the mobile phone inside the voting booth.

Altantuya Shaariibuu murder - who is Musa Safri?

Look at the difference in reporting between MSM (main stream media) The Star's report of the trial of Altantuya Shaariibuu murder and that of online news portal Malaysia Insider and Malaysiakini:

The Star:

Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri told the High Court that a higher ranking police officer DSP Musa Safri had asked him to help political analyst Abdul Razak Abdullah Baginda.

Note: no mention of the position of Musa Safri and his relation with Najib Abdul Razak, just a high ranking police officer.

Malaysia Insider

Tantalising details emerged about how the two accused policemen got involved in the case on the instruction of Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s aide-de-camp Musa Safri, including the emergence of a new character, identified as a “Chinese man,” in the saga which has gripped the nation.



Malaysiakini

Azilah, 32, who is taking the witness stand for the first time, told Shah Alam High Court that the Deputy Prime Minister's aide-de-camp Musa Safri had given Abdul Razak's handphone number to him to help resolve the political analyst's problem.

Prime Minister and the 3 pillars of democracy

Mohd Ezam the turncoat has made public a letter purported to be from Anwar Ibrahim to Dr. Mahathir offering a message of love and gratitude to Dr. Mahathir a few days after Anwar Ibrahim was sacked as Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia by Dr. Ibrahim.

Anwar Ibrahim and responded with "So? What's the problem? Saya tak berdamai dengan siapa (Who am I not at peace with)? What is the problem? What is the problem in making peace with anyone?"

Source: Malaysiakini

I still have some lingering suspicions of Anwar Ibrahim. However, between BN (Barisan Nasional) and PR (Pakatan Rakyat or the People's Coalition comprising DAP, PKR and PAS), I would take PR anytime. My choice is based on this:

As long as PR can put in place a system of checks and balance between the 3 pillars of democracy - Executive (Prime Minister and the Cabinet), Parliament and Judiciary (the courts and the judges), the person acting as Prime Minister will become less important as currently as all his actions and decisions will be subject to checks and balance by the other 2 pillars of democracy - the Parliament comprising all the elected Members of Parliament and the Judiciary.

What I am looking forward to is a change of Federal Government and the new Federal Government put in this crucial check and balance and we need worry less on who the Prime Minister is as power will become less concentrated in the PM unlike the situation now even after the recent cosmetic reforms put in place by the current lame duck Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi.

Karpal Singh hopes Council of Rulers will review Zaki Azmi's position as Chief Justice

Photo of Chief Justice Zaki Azmi courtesy of Malaysiakini

On November 18, 2008, Karpal Singh, in his capacity as the chairperson of the newly-formed parliamentary caucus on judiciary independence and integrity, challenged Zaki Azmi to resign as Chief Justice of Malaysia within 7 days. "In the event Zaki does not step down as CJ within seven days from today, I will have no alternative but to move a motion against him under Article 127 of the federal constitution for having misled the country with his so-called clarification," said Karpal further. "There is an audio recording (to prove that he lied), I think you can take my word for it what has been quoted in Kuching. There is no doubt about it."

The above was related to a report in the New Straits Times which quoted Zaki Azmi as having committed corruption. Zaki delivered a speech at a convention in Kuching on Nov 7 which he recalled an incident in 1987 and allegedly said the following:

"It took me six months to be nice, to bribe each and every individual to get back into their good books before our files were attended to. That was my personal experience, and I am telling this to all the clerks and all the registries to stop this nonsense".

Zaki however issued a clarification later, saying the reporter has misinterpreted him. Karpal Singh claimed to have an audio recording of Zaki Azmi's speech and now challenged the Chief Justice to sue him for defamation. Karpal Singh had moved a motion in the Parliament to debate the matter but was turned down twice by the Speaker. Now Karpal Singh has resorted to appealing to the Agong and the Council of Rulers to remove Zaki Azmi as Chief Justice of Malaysia.

Source: Malaysiakini

Hudud Muslims only Abdul Wahid Endut

Here is one more quotation from PAS candidate for the Trengganu Parliamentary by-election, Abdul Wahid Endut:

"And I have been telling the Chinese that Hudud does not affect them, and they are not afraid, so it is not an issue here. We have explained it well to the people of Terengganu."

HUDUD to apply to Muslims only

I am putting this on record so that hopefully, PAS will be bound by what they said:

PAS national integration chairperson Mujahid Yusof Rawa was reported to have said: "I would like to emphasise that if hudud law is implemented, it would be only on Muslims. Non-Muslims will not be affected. In Islam, we are taught to respect the rights of not only Muslims but also non-Muslims."

PAS Supporters’ Club chairperson Hu Pang Chaw was also reported to have said: "Unlike Chinese in other parts of the country, those in Kelantan and Terengganu understand Islam better. We know hudud only applies to Muslims."

HUDUD, if ever implemented in Malaysia, will only apply to Muslim and not non-Muslim.

Based on this, I call on all the voters in Kuala Trengganu to vote for the PAS candidate Mohd Abdul Wahid. Send a strong message to BN and Najib that we no longer wants BN to "misrule" us any longer.

Source: Malaysiakini

Police brutality boiling water victim B Prabakar

Police poured boiling water on police detainee B Prabakar at the Brickfields Police Station:

Photo courtesy of Malaysiakini

Look at the poor fellow's peeling skins. The authorities must really do something. Atrocities like that cannot be allowed in Malaysia. The authorities must charge those police who are responsible for this.

Plea to fair minded Muslim - please don't impose Hudud on us non-Muslim

This is a plea to all fair-minded Muslim. Please do not impose Hudud on us non-Muslim. You can live by your law if you want but please do not impose Hudud on us.

Islamic State: Can PAS speak for PR?

PAS is at it again. PAS spiritual leader, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat and state exco member Datuk Husam Musa has said PAS will implement HUDUD (Islamic laws) if PR (Pakatan Rakyat) gains federal power. PAS has shown its ugly face again on this issue. Before the March general elections, PAS has toned down and campaigned on the basis of a welfare state. Now that PAS is strong, it has again unilaterally brought up the Islamic State issue again. Does PAS deserve our support for the Kuala Trengganu election? I say no. Let us work for the downfall of PAS in this case. Let PAS fail. Show PAS that they cannot unilaterally make decisions on behalf of others without consultations.

Abdullah Badawi sleepy disease is contagious

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi had slept on his job as Prime Minister for over 4 years. He promised much but delivered little. Here are photos of current Malaysian Prime Minister sleeping on the job:





sleepy Abdullah Badawi Resting his sleepy head





Abdullah Badawi dreaded sleepy head syndrom is contagious. See, it has spread to his deputy Najib, UMNO Youth Chief and Education Minister Hishammudin, botak Home Minister Syed Albar and an unknown:

Lying CPO Khalid Abu Bakar

The Selangor CPO (Chief Police Officer, not crude palm oil) Khalid Abu Bakar is a habitual lier.



Khalid lied when he claimed that the police did not charge at the candlelight vigilers whilst they were peacefully singing the National Anthem Negara Ku. See proof Khalid Abu Bakar lied. Khalid lied when he claimed that the police "acted to save underaged cyclists" when the police arrested some JERIT cyclists.



Remember how Pinnochio's nose grew longer when he told lies. Well, that will be exactly the fate of lying CPO Khalid Abu Bakar:

Lim Guan Eng "black or white CAT"

Lim Guan Eng at the DAP PJ Utara fund raising dinner at the banquet hall of the Civic Center: "It doesn't matter if it is a black CAT or a white CAT as long as it can catch mice."

CAT stands for Competency, Accountability and Transparency which the Penang state government has adopt as it motto. "It doesn't matter if it is a black CAT or a white CAT" refers to it non-racial stance. The mice represent corruption, lack of competency and accountability. Hip hip hurray for Lim Guan Eng and the Penang state government. May the Malaysian federal government eventually follows Penang state government's example.

Poor report card for UMNO landslide Bukit Antarabangsa

From a message forwarded by email (note that the doctor concerned is a Malay):

Dr Mohamed Rafick Khan Abdul Rahman
Website

Details

Just a simple, ordinary kampong doctor - the 6th Generation Malaysian.

Today is D5 of the Bukit Antarabangsa tragedy. During the highland tower incident, I was part of the medical team assisting in the rescue and support effort but today I am a victim of a similar tragedy. Something that I never thought that would have an impact on me. Relatively in comparison, what happen to those families who loss their love ones is nothing compared to what me and probably 2000 other residents had to endure past 4 days. Many tragedies took place this time around. I am not going to be diplomatic about it. I will say it the way I see it.

Within 2 hour after being made aware of landslide, I and several resident of Taman Bukit Utama activated an Ops Centre (known as TBU Ops Centre). We look at importance issues that we need to tackle mainly water supply, waste disposal, security, food distribution and medical evacuation. What was supposed to be our Taman Ops centre became the Ops Centre to eight "Taman" surrounding ours who were cut off from the outside world. We had no electricity, water, fixed telephone line internet. Most people had limited food in their house as they had already plan to travel for Raya and did not stock up any food.

Within an hour after meeting, we setup and completed a temporary water supply by laying pipes to get mountain water for the resident. Ops centre was up in the next hour and we started communication channel with the outside channel via SMS and arranging food and drinking water supply. We took preventive measures to manage disease outbreak by managing waste. All this was done by a handful of people from Taman Bukit Utama Resident Association (PPTBU). We setup the helipad for the rescue team to come in.

With the help of a friend DSP Kumar, we manage to evacuate by air (Medivac) a total of 39 patients which consist of stroke patients, elderly people, kidney failure patients etc. The patients were evacuated by police air wing which was arranged by DSP Kumar from the UTK through his personal contacts. We did all this independently without the support of any help from the Base station at Ground zero.

Within the first 48 hours, while in darkness several homes was reported to be broken into by unknown people in residential areas adjacent to TBU where there was no or minimal residential coordination among the residents. Food was shortage and cooked food from PBSM (Persatuan Bulan Sabit Merah) did not arrive in timely manner. The longest time was dinner that only reaches us in the morning which was not consumable.

While we are stuck, we had VVIP visitors that come to our area. I would say out of many people that came only a handful was actually helpful. YB Elizabeth Wong, a state Exco came with a working group and arrange generators, fuel, candles, garbage bags and others. She came by foot with very few people and carried the relevant information without empty promises. The IGP came and given me his personal commitment and blessing that, I continue to handle all air evacuation with the support of Police Udara. I was told that the Minister of Information visited only the UMNO relief center at a Condo nearby. He did not come to our place.

The NGO that is worth mentioning is Mercy who gave me some drugs, INSAF who open a small medical clinic for 2 days and MAVFCL (Kapt Bala and his crew) which open a temporary access between Athenaeum condo and a generator set to charge hand phones and Bukit Utama which allows people to leave by foot. It is a regret to note that NO government agency deserves any mention in the first 36 hours of tragedy except for Polis Udara and Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat. I think they forgot about us.

While 2000 people were surviving in the darkness and the absence of proper food, Concord Hotel, Ali Maju restaurant, Burger King and many others donated tons of food. Unfortunately, no one attempted to send the food to us. Residents that were not affected by the tragedy and the rescue workers were enjoying them. The kind of food they get down there was lavish. There was fresh roti chanai, tosai mee goreng etc. The best word to describe the situation down there is "food fiesta". Someone commented that there is so much "Teh Tarik" that you can wash your shoes with it.

The landslide is a major tragedy. The bigger tragedy is that the failure of the government to act fast enough. While multiple agencies went into action fast, most of them work independently. On the 3rd day, we had 10 soldiers from RAMD with two officers with the rank of Major that came to our centre. I ask them a basic question on their role and the officers could not give me a straight answer. He was very blur. To me his presence was a liability to the ops center as we had to feed an additional 10 mouth with our limited stocks.

This is not the first time a tragedy takes place. The disaster relief operation was not well coordinated. The command and control was lacking. Information dissemination to the media was scattered and causes panic among the people. Many friends and relatives outside calls us and we could not entertain them, as our battery power was limited.

In terms of political publicity, I would say UMNO was a clear winner. This is because they control the media. Unfortunately, I would say that in the hearts of the people UMNO loss big time. The high-level conduct of their people on the ground and their selective helps that was given out was too much to bear. In fact, the Putri Umno head that I had known past few months was behaving in such a highhanded manner that really shows her true colours. They were hoarding food and distributing them to "their people". Their action has only reinforced my idea that the Federal and the State Government must be from different parties. This is needed for check and balance.

Malaysian must realize that for the sake of our own lives and our own children lives, we have to have balance of power. It was because of lack of balance of power; the water catchment area that is a state land was given to MBF and is now known as "Bukit Antarabangsa". In my assessment, the government is liable. In this case, the government was led by BN in the state of Selangor and at National level past 50 odd years that is liable for the suffering of the people of Bukit Antarabangsa. They are liable because they alienated unsuitable land for development. They are liable for giving the people the false sense of security by approving development plans and projects. They are liable for hiding information from the people that shows that the area that we are buying is not safe for living.

I will only vote for balance of power in the future and UMNO will not be part of that balance.

Improved Malaysian Parliament?

I have previously blogged about the Barisan Nasional whip which is nonsensical in the sense that BN Members of Parliament have to vote for any bill or proposal coming from the BN and against any proposal originating from the Opposition. Now at least PKR and DAP have signaled conditional approval of the proposed MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission) bill which originated from the BN. Will the BN follow the good examples of PKR and DAP and lift the whip for this bill?

Selangor State Anthem at Candle Light Vigil MBPJ with lyrics

The Selangor State Anthem is sung every Sunday at the Civic Center (MBPJ). Got to admit it was the first time I have heard it sung. Below is a video of the Selangor State Anthem with the lyrics below the video:



Duli Yang Maha Mulia
Selamat di atas takhta
Allah lanjutkan usia Tuanku
Rakyat mohon restu
Bawah Duli Tuanku
Bahagia selama-lamanya
Aman dan sentosa
Duli Yang Maha Mulia

Scam alert: fake Yahoo message

Below is an email I just received. Its a FAKE from YAHOO and they are trying to get your details. A friend of mind received it last week and just replied it and was then locked out of his account. Furthermore, emails went out to everyone in his address book saying he lost all his money whilst in London and asking ppl to send him 1,500 pounds as emergency assistance. Total scam. Best thing is I have no yahoo account!!!
Take note.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: mailalertservice
Date: Sun, Dec 7, 2008 at 12:16 AM
Subject: Yahoo Warning!!!(Verify Your Account Now To Aviod It Suspended)!.
To: mailalertservice4000@yahoo.com


Dear Valued Member,
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!!!

Dear Yahoo Member,
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all yahoo free account owners and premium account
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mail

Reforms my foot - never shall be under BN

Lame duck Prime Minister Abdullah Bodohwi presented two Bills to the Parliament - proposed Malaysian Commission on Anti-Corruption (MCAC) and proposed Judicial Appointments Council (JAC). Both are useless.

The MCAC will not have any prosecution power which will remain with the public prosecutor, who is also the attorney-general which report to the Prime Minister’s Department. So where are the teeth? and where is this "independence"?

Malaysiakini also reported that the JAC will be fully under the thumb of the Prime Minister.

So folks, forget about reforms, not as long as federal power is with the BN (Barisan Nasional). They have no will power for any reform. One can only hope that eventually, Pakatan Rakyat will eventually gain federal power and introduce the greatly needed reforms.