Educated and politically aware Sabahans resent it when arrogant West Malaysians tell them these few things:
"Sabah joined Malaysia in 1963."
"Islam is the official religion of Sabah."
"So, when are you coming over to Malaysia?"
"We are in Malaysia so speak Malay."
Of course there are many other things West Malaysians mutter which we Sabahans get a lil uptight about but forgive them in the end. Afterall, it's not really their fault that they end up misinformed on the political history of Sabah, what with the Malaysian history syllabus.
My girlfriend's KL friend came over for a visit the other day and she just couldn't understand why she could only stay for 3 months. Isn't Sabah just a Malaysian state, she asks. Why all the fuss?
Having been brought up with the totally bias Malaysian education system, one wonders how much history have been wiped off. Malaysian history syllabus tells you there is such a thing called the 20-point agreement but doesn't really tell you what it's all about. It tells you that Sabah and Sarawak together with Singapore 'joined' the Malaysian Federation on 16th September 1963 but doesn't tell you the real reason why it's held on the 16th September not 31st August as originally planned. All they say is there was some kind of glitch and they postponed it to two weeks later. Neither does it tell you that the Malaysian Federation didn't exist prior to 16th September 1963 so there wasn't any sort of federation for Sabah to 'join'.
Sabah, or North Borneo as it was known then, was a British colony. It's populace were happy. Education levels were good. People generally spoke good English and there was an equal balance in the social fabric in terms of race and religion. In any case, the populace have assimilated well with each other. Cross marriages were common, some Chinese could speak Bajau and Kadazandusun, and vice versa. People were free to practice whatever religion they professed and that includes the animists in the rural areas. Economically, Sabah was picking itself up sourcing funds from controlled logging. Cheap oil was coming in from Brunei. Sandakan had the most millionaires per square kilometres in the whole world. The British sought to establish good governance, good education, good public delivery system etc etc.
Then Malaya's Prime Minister came up with the idea to form Malaysia. Malaya will come together as one with Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore as partners to form a new country, a new federation. This is why Sabah and Sarawak in modern day Malaysia is not just another state. We are a partner. We are the same as Malaya, and not Selangor, not Perak, not Johor.
Sabahans were reluctant at first. After all, why should we trust the Tunku? Life was good under the British. True enough the British did siphoned off some riches but progress was guaranteed and basic civicness, education and services were there and growing. Then PM of Singapore Mr. Lee Kuan Yew managed to convince Tun Fuad Stephens. Now Malaysian history books will tell you that the UN organized a referendum on whether Sabahans and Sarawakians agreed to the formation of Malaysia. They also tell you that Sabahans and Sarawakians agreed overwhelmingly. That is far from the truth. And even if it was the truth, it could only have been with the 20-point agreement which convinced or rather conned Sabahans into accepting the formation of Malaysia.
Whatever happened then doesn't matter now. North Borneo decided to go ahead with the partnership under one condition - in fact, 20 conditions rolled into one - the 20 point agreement.
This 20 point agreement is very straight forward. It would have guaranteed the rights of Sabahans.
Point 1: Religion
While there was no objection to Islam being the national religion of Malaysia there should be no State religion in North Borneo, and the provisions relating to Islam in the present Constitution of Malaya should not apply to North Borneo
Point 2: Language
a. Malay should be the national language of the Federation
b. English should continue to be used for a period of 10 years after Malaysia Day
c. English should be an official language of North Borneo for all purposes, State or Federal, without limitation of time.
Point 3: Constitution
Whilst accepting that the present Constitution of the Federation of Malaya should form the basis of the Constitution of Malaysia, the Constitution of Malaysia should be a completely new document drafted and agreed in the light of a free association of states and should not be a series of amendments to a Constitution drafted and agreed by different states in totally different circumstances. A new Constitution for North Borneo (Sabah) was of course essential.
Point 4: Head of Federation
The Head of State in North Borneo should not be eligible for election as Head of the Federation
Point 5: Name of Federation
“Malaysia” but not “Melayu Raya”
Point 6: Immigration
Control over immigration into any part of Malaysia from outside should rest with the Central Government but entry into North Borneo should also require the approval of the State Government. The Federal Government should not be able to veto the entry of persons into North Borneo for State Government purposes except on strictly security grounds. North Borneo should have unfettered control over the movements of persons other than those in Federal Government employ from other parts of Malaysia into North Borneo.
Point 7: Right of Secession
There should be no right to secede from the Federation
Point 8: Borneanisation
Borneanisation of the public service should proceed as quickly as possible.
Point 9: British Officers
Every effort should be made to encourage British Officers to remain in the public service until their places can be taken by suitably qualified people from North Borneo
Point 10: Citizenship
The recommendation in paragraph 148(k) of the Report of the Cobbold Commission should govern the citizenship rights in the Federation of North Borneo subject to the following amendments:
a) sub-paragraph (i) should not contain the proviso as to five years residence
b) in order to tie up with our law, sub-paragraph (ii)(a) should read “7 out of 10 years” instead of “8 out of 10 years”
c) sub-paragraph (iii) should not contain any restriction tied to the citizenship of parents – a person born in North Borneo after Malaysia must be federal citizen.
Point 11: Tariffs and Finance
North Borneo should retain control of its own finance, development and tariff, and should have the right to work up its own taxation and to raise loans on its own credit.
Point 12: Special position of indigenous races
In principle, the indigenous races of North Borneo should enjoy special rights analogous to those enjoyed by Malays in Malaya, but the present Malays’ formula in this regard is not necessarily applicable in North Borneo
Point 13: State Government
a) the Prime Minister should be elected by unofficial members of Legislative Council
b) There should be a proper Ministerial system in North Borneo
Point 14: Transitional period
This should be seven years and during such period legislative power must be left with the State of North Borneo by the Constitution and not be merely delegated to the State Government by the Federal Government
Point 15: Education
The existing educational system of North Borneo should be maintained and for this reason it should be under state control
Point 16: Constitutional safeguards
No amendment modification or withdrawal of any special safeguard granted to North Borneo should be made by the Central Government without the positive concurrence of the Government of the State of North Borneo
The power of amending the Constitution of the State of North Borneo should belong exclusively to the people in the state. (Note: The United Party, The Democratic Party and the Pasok Momogun Party considered that a three-fourth majority would be required in order to effect any amendment to the Federal and State Constitutions whereas the UNKO and USNO considered a two-thirds majority would be sufficient)
Point 17: Representation in Federal Parliament
This should take account not only of the population of North Borneo but also of its seize and potentialities and in any case should not be less than that of Singapore
Point 18: Name of Head of State
Yang di-Pertua Negara
Point 19: Name of State
Sabah
Point 20: Land, Forests, Local Government, etc.
The provisions in the Constitution of the Federation in respect of the powers of the National Land Council should not apply in North Borneo. Likewise, the National Council for Local Government should not apply in North Borneo.
And there you have it. Here are Sabahan answers to arrogant West Malaysian statements.
Islam is not our official religion and the Feds have NO rights to impose on us any bullshit on religious issues because we are a SECULAR state within Malaysia.
Malay is not our official language so don't force us to speak Malay. We'll speak Malay when we deal with you. There's absolutely nothing wrong with learning the English language.
Sabah did NOT join Malaysia. Sabah is an equal partner with Malaya, Sarawak and Singapore in the Federation of Malaysia.
The reason why Malaysia Day falls on 16th September 1963 and not August 31st as originally planned is this; Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore insisted on gaining independence and self-governance BEFORE partnering with Malaya to form the Federation of Malaysia. On 31st August 1963, Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore gained self-government from the British. Two weeks later, the independent governments of Sabah, Sarawak and Singapore agreed to the Federation of Malaysia with Malaya and thus Malaysia was formed. Some of you may think it's not that important but to us Sabahans it actually means a lot. It reaffirms our status as a partner. An equal to Malaya. Not just another Malayan state.
Oh and one last statement which we get the most "Do you guys live on trees?"
A polite Sabahan will tell you 'No, we don't. Please feel free to visit us to see what Sabah is actually like'.
But most Sabahans will tell you this (and laugh at you at the same time) "Yea we do. We even have escalators going up our tree house." And to our surprise, some of you even believe it!
p.s. your Petronas Twin Towers and Putrajaya won't exist without our oil money together with Sarawak's.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Sabah Leaders Against Giving PR Status to Filipinos
KOTA KINABALU, July 4 ─ Sabahans are against the proposal to give Filipinos who have stayed in Malaysia for some time permanent resident (PR) status.
Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee said the Philippine government should not make such a proposal, but instead cooperate in resolving the problem by taking them back.
"Both countries should discuss and finds ways to resolve the problem," he said in response to a statement by Philippine Migrant Affairs Assistant Secretary Esteban Conejos that Filipinos in Sabah be given PR status.
Yong described the proposal by the Philippine government as shirking its responsibility to the 200,000 Filipinos working in Sabah's plantation and construction sectors.
He urged the Malaysian government to take an aggressive approach to the problem and not wait for the Philippine government to act.
Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Bersatu (UPKO) deputy president Datuk Wilfred Bumburing said the party was also against the proposal to give PR status to Filipinos.
"Even those from Peninsular Malaysia are not given automatic residence. The government must be careful in this and must protect the local population."
Bumburing proposed that illegal immigrants, including those with the IMM13 document, be deported.
IMM13 is a document issued by the Immigration Department allowing Filipino refugees temporary stay in Sabah.
Former Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said the government should firstly consider the interest of locals before giving PR status to foreigners.
"Foreigners who apply for PR status must meet the stipulated conditions. There must not be automatic issuance or flexibility in this," he said.
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president Datuk V.K. Liew is also against Manila's proposal on the PR status.
"Length of stay in the country is not an automatic qualification for an applicant of PR. All applications must satisfy the requirements laid down by our laws.
"Those who come to Sabah illegally must be deported to their country of origin without delay," he said. ─ Bernama
Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president Datuk Yong Teck Lee said the Philippine government should not make such a proposal, but instead cooperate in resolving the problem by taking them back.
"Both countries should discuss and finds ways to resolve the problem," he said in response to a statement by Philippine Migrant Affairs Assistant Secretary Esteban Conejos that Filipinos in Sabah be given PR status.
Yong described the proposal by the Philippine government as shirking its responsibility to the 200,000 Filipinos working in Sabah's plantation and construction sectors.
He urged the Malaysian government to take an aggressive approach to the problem and not wait for the Philippine government to act.
Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Bersatu (UPKO) deputy president Datuk Wilfred Bumburing said the party was also against the proposal to give PR status to Filipinos.
"Even those from Peninsular Malaysia are not given automatic residence. The government must be careful in this and must protect the local population."
Bumburing proposed that illegal immigrants, including those with the IMM13 document, be deported.
IMM13 is a document issued by the Immigration Department allowing Filipino refugees temporary stay in Sabah.
Former Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said the government should firstly consider the interest of locals before giving PR status to foreigners.
"Foreigners who apply for PR status must meet the stipulated conditions. There must not be automatic issuance or flexibility in this," he said.
Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president Datuk V.K. Liew is also against Manila's proposal on the PR status.
"Length of stay in the country is not an automatic qualification for an applicant of PR. All applications must satisfy the requirements laid down by our laws.
"Those who come to Sabah illegally must be deported to their country of origin without delay," he said. ─ Bernama
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Sabah's Power Woes
http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/6094/84/
The recent decision by the Sabah State Government to scrap the proposed 300MW coal-fired power plant project in Silam, Lahad Datu has once again put the spotlight on the perennial power shortages which the people in this state have long suffered.
For many, these disruptions to daily economic and social activities can only be suffered in silence as it seems to be the norm.
The sole power utility in Sabah is the Sabah Electricity Sdn. Bhd. (SESB), 80% owned by national utility giant Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), with the remaining 20% being owned by the Sabah State Government.
The manner in which the Silam IPP project was awarded last year leaves much to be desired in the way of transparency and fair evaluation on the part of the Federal Government, and corporate governance on the part of TNB. For the first time, the Federal Government decided to undertake a tender exercise with a supposed view to obtain the best possible technical and commercial proposals. When the tender closed, sometime in June 2006, a total of 13 bids were received, including one from a TNB subsidiary i.e. TNB REMACO.
The chronology of events subsequent to tender closing gives substance to my earlier comments regarding transparency and corporate governance, as shown below:
* The evaluation committee, though comprising independent technical and financial experts, was headed by TNB, even though a TNB subsidiary was one of the bidders;
* The evaluation committee then proceeded with a detailed evaluation of EACH of the 13 bids received, such bids being evaluated against their individual and specific merits and demerits;
* The bidders were bidding for only 60% of the project’s equity as the bid documents clearly stated that the remaining 40% had been reserved for “Sabah bumiputera” interests;
* When the Federal Government finally announced the award of the project almost a year after bids had closed, it awarded 80% of the equity of the project to a consortium comprising three of the original 13 bidders i.e. TNB REMACO, Eden- Nova Nusantara and Maser. How could evaluation of 13 unique, specific and individual bids lead to an award to a group of 3 of them? Was this group ever asked to submit a fresh proposal as a consortium? Why weren’t other bidders encouraged to team up as consortia and submit fresh proposals on the basis of consortia and not individual bidders? Why was the portion reserved for Sabah bumiputera interests inexplicably reduced from 40% to 20%?
Now that the Sabah State Government has scrapped the project on environmental grounds, what will happen to this consortium? Will the same consortium be asked to propose a more environmentally-friendly power project and site? Wasn’t there any coordination between Federal and State governments prior to the implementation of this project?
The sad saga of how the Federal Government continues to mismanage the award of power projects does not end here.
In the mid-1990’s, the Federal Government awarded a 120MW open-cycle gas-fired IPP project in Kota Kinabalu to a consortium comprising Time Engineering, EPE, Sabah Energy Corporation and Aras Setia (an unheard of, local Sabahan political crony outfit). The consortium called itself Powertron Resources Sdn. Bhd. A few years down the road, Ranhill Berhad bought over the equity holdings of Time and EPE, thereby becoming the major shareholder in Powertron, subsequently re-naming it Ranhill Powertron.
Towards the end of 2005, the Federal Government approved the conversion of Ranhill Powertron’s 120MW open-cycle plant to a 190MW combined-cycle plant to benefit from the efficiencies of such a conversion. The completion date stated in the revised PPA which Ranhill Powertron signed with SESB was March 2007. As of April 2008, this project is yet to be fully completed. Word has it that when Ranhill became slow in payments to the Japanese sub-contractor, they left site. Ranhill brought in a bunch of retired power engineers from India to complete the project, and whilst in the process of pre-commissioning tests, one of the new steam turbines suffered major damage. Even without such an event, Ranhill would not have been able to complete the project by the required date of March 2007.
In parallel with obtaining Federal Government approval to convert its Powertron plant to a combined-cycle plant, Ranhill submitted an unsolicited proposal to the Federal Government for a new 190MW combined cycle IPP plant, to be located adjacent to its Powertron plant. The supposed benefits of this project were that it would enjoy economies of scale with the Powertron project and as such Ranhill would be able to offer the lowest IPP tariffs in Sabah. Yet again, the Federal Government gave its approval to the new Ranhill Tuaran IPP project. The completion date stipulated in Ranhill Tuaran’s PPA with SESB is July 2008.
Ranhill Tuaran ran into problems right from the start, facing problems with the private owners of its proposed power plant site, eventually leading to these landowners filing court action. Why did the Government approve this project when Ranhill could not even show proof of ownership of the proposed project site? As of today, nothing much has been done physically at the proposed site, apart from some initial piling works.
The protracted delays in all of the above projects will lead SESB to facing acute generation adequacy shortfalls in the short term. Whilst the lobbyists and UMNO/BN cronies play out their own power games within the corridors of Putrajaya, the ordinary, tax-paying rakyat of Sabah will be left facing more dark nights and hot, sweaty days and incalculable economic loss.
By treeman
The recent decision by the Sabah State Government to scrap the proposed 300MW coal-fired power plant project in Silam, Lahad Datu has once again put the spotlight on the perennial power shortages which the people in this state have long suffered.
For many, these disruptions to daily economic and social activities can only be suffered in silence as it seems to be the norm.
The sole power utility in Sabah is the Sabah Electricity Sdn. Bhd. (SESB), 80% owned by national utility giant Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), with the remaining 20% being owned by the Sabah State Government.
The manner in which the Silam IPP project was awarded last year leaves much to be desired in the way of transparency and fair evaluation on the part of the Federal Government, and corporate governance on the part of TNB. For the first time, the Federal Government decided to undertake a tender exercise with a supposed view to obtain the best possible technical and commercial proposals. When the tender closed, sometime in June 2006, a total of 13 bids were received, including one from a TNB subsidiary i.e. TNB REMACO.
The chronology of events subsequent to tender closing gives substance to my earlier comments regarding transparency and corporate governance, as shown below:
* The evaluation committee, though comprising independent technical and financial experts, was headed by TNB, even though a TNB subsidiary was one of the bidders;
* The evaluation committee then proceeded with a detailed evaluation of EACH of the 13 bids received, such bids being evaluated against their individual and specific merits and demerits;
* The bidders were bidding for only 60% of the project’s equity as the bid documents clearly stated that the remaining 40% had been reserved for “Sabah bumiputera” interests;
* When the Federal Government finally announced the award of the project almost a year after bids had closed, it awarded 80% of the equity of the project to a consortium comprising three of the original 13 bidders i.e. TNB REMACO, Eden- Nova Nusantara and Maser. How could evaluation of 13 unique, specific and individual bids lead to an award to a group of 3 of them? Was this group ever asked to submit a fresh proposal as a consortium? Why weren’t other bidders encouraged to team up as consortia and submit fresh proposals on the basis of consortia and not individual bidders? Why was the portion reserved for Sabah bumiputera interests inexplicably reduced from 40% to 20%?
Now that the Sabah State Government has scrapped the project on environmental grounds, what will happen to this consortium? Will the same consortium be asked to propose a more environmentally-friendly power project and site? Wasn’t there any coordination between Federal and State governments prior to the implementation of this project?
The sad saga of how the Federal Government continues to mismanage the award of power projects does not end here.
In the mid-1990’s, the Federal Government awarded a 120MW open-cycle gas-fired IPP project in Kota Kinabalu to a consortium comprising Time Engineering, EPE, Sabah Energy Corporation and Aras Setia (an unheard of, local Sabahan political crony outfit). The consortium called itself Powertron Resources Sdn. Bhd. A few years down the road, Ranhill Berhad bought over the equity holdings of Time and EPE, thereby becoming the major shareholder in Powertron, subsequently re-naming it Ranhill Powertron.
Towards the end of 2005, the Federal Government approved the conversion of Ranhill Powertron’s 120MW open-cycle plant to a 190MW combined-cycle plant to benefit from the efficiencies of such a conversion. The completion date stated in the revised PPA which Ranhill Powertron signed with SESB was March 2007. As of April 2008, this project is yet to be fully completed. Word has it that when Ranhill became slow in payments to the Japanese sub-contractor, they left site. Ranhill brought in a bunch of retired power engineers from India to complete the project, and whilst in the process of pre-commissioning tests, one of the new steam turbines suffered major damage. Even without such an event, Ranhill would not have been able to complete the project by the required date of March 2007.
In parallel with obtaining Federal Government approval to convert its Powertron plant to a combined-cycle plant, Ranhill submitted an unsolicited proposal to the Federal Government for a new 190MW combined cycle IPP plant, to be located adjacent to its Powertron plant. The supposed benefits of this project were that it would enjoy economies of scale with the Powertron project and as such Ranhill would be able to offer the lowest IPP tariffs in Sabah. Yet again, the Federal Government gave its approval to the new Ranhill Tuaran IPP project. The completion date stipulated in Ranhill Tuaran’s PPA with SESB is July 2008.
Ranhill Tuaran ran into problems right from the start, facing problems with the private owners of its proposed power plant site, eventually leading to these landowners filing court action. Why did the Government approve this project when Ranhill could not even show proof of ownership of the proposed project site? As of today, nothing much has been done physically at the proposed site, apart from some initial piling works.
The protracted delays in all of the above projects will lead SESB to facing acute generation adequacy shortfalls in the short term. Whilst the lobbyists and UMNO/BN cronies play out their own power games within the corridors of Putrajaya, the ordinary, tax-paying rakyat of Sabah will be left facing more dark nights and hot, sweaty days and incalculable economic loss.
By treeman
Of Corruption & The Corrupted
Yesterday's newspapers reported that a senior Education Dept. official in Sabah was being charged for alleged corrupt practices involving RM92,800. Today, the guy's been charged with a another involving RM6,800. By doing simple maths, this guy would have accumulated a total of about RM100,000. Of course, this is just the money they found out about. Perhaps he managed to stash nearly RM1million before he got caught no-one will know.
Anyway, RM100,000 is relatively a small amount for a government official to 'eat'. I don't look down on money and if someone gives me that amount for free I'd gladly take it. But the money can at most be used to send your kids for one year of education in Australia and that's it.
My main point is this. Why is the ACA catching all these small fries? Why is ACA wasting tax-payers money going after all these poor scapegoats? I mean it is a good thing to see corrupt officials getting charged but what about the big guns eating millions and billions of ringgits?! And the first person to charge in court isn't all these low-level officials eating RM100,000. The first person to be charged for corruption is Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed. With undisclosed wealth amouting to tens of billions of ringgits courtesy of Petronas (i.e. Malaysian citizen money), this guy could be one of the richest former leaders in the world! He's the best friend of Robert Mugabe going to the extend of urging Malaysia's government to offer the latter a place in Malaysia should he decide to go into exile. Absolutely ridiculous.
When it comes to politicians, the ACA will always say 'oh yea..we're investigating him' but charges are never made. There are so many obvious candidates to be investigated and charged too! If ACA has any legitimate reasons not to charge Dr.M, they could easily charge Rafidah Aziz for her part in the AP scandal, Najib for receiving millions for defense contracts, Daim Zainuddin for siphoning out billions of ringgit to buy African and Eastern European banks, and the guy who started Project IC giving illegals MyKads, bla bla bla..there's too many! Now these people will say 'PROVE IT' because they are so confident that they will be let off the hook. Even if there is evidence, they will say 'this case is closed' or 'It looks like me, sounds like me but nobody can 100% say it's me'. In the totally impossible scenario where the ACA does eventually want to charge a big croc, the AG will say 'nope, the evidence isn't enough'. Who does the ACA work for? Who does the AG work for? Barisan? UMNO? Or the people?
The ACA will say 'hey, we've charged somebody before, just look at Kasitah Gaddam'. So what happened to the case now? Isn't he a free man? And what about the rich businessman who got charged at the same time? Isn't he still walking around free?
The scenario gets worse. I got this article from The Star Online today.
A bribe no less, state ACA probes RM9 pay-off
KOTA BARU: The amount may be small but a bribe is still a bribe.
That was what Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) Deputy Director-General Datuk Zakaria Jaffar emphasised when he revealed that the lowest bribe amount the agency investigated in Kelantan was RM9, in 2004.
“The measure of culpability is not in the amount ... the amount may be small, but it’s still an offence under the Anti-Corruption Act 1997 ... for giving a bribe,” he told reporters here.
Earlier, he attended the handing over of duties by state ACA director Md Yusof Md Zain, who will assume the post of Johor ACA director, to Mohd Jaafar Hussin.
Zakaria said the highest bribe amount the agency investigated in Kelantan in the last five years was RM1,500.
He also said that during that period the Kelantan ACA received 1,931 tip-offs and investigation papers were opened on 218 cases.
“A total of 60 people were arrested and charged with corruption in those five years.” – Bernama
So they're investigating and charging people guilty of bribes of RM9 (roughly USD2.80) to RM100,000 but the big crocodiles gobbling up millions and billions are still running loose.
I say chop off the head first. Go for the top. Then again I'm not ACA. I'm just the boss of ACA who can't do anything as UMNO rapes the country over and over again.
God save Malaysia.
Anyway, RM100,000 is relatively a small amount for a government official to 'eat'. I don't look down on money and if someone gives me that amount for free I'd gladly take it. But the money can at most be used to send your kids for one year of education in Australia and that's it.
My main point is this. Why is the ACA catching all these small fries? Why is ACA wasting tax-payers money going after all these poor scapegoats? I mean it is a good thing to see corrupt officials getting charged but what about the big guns eating millions and billions of ringgits?! And the first person to charge in court isn't all these low-level officials eating RM100,000. The first person to be charged for corruption is Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed. With undisclosed wealth amouting to tens of billions of ringgits courtesy of Petronas (i.e. Malaysian citizen money), this guy could be one of the richest former leaders in the world! He's the best friend of Robert Mugabe going to the extend of urging Malaysia's government to offer the latter a place in Malaysia should he decide to go into exile. Absolutely ridiculous.
When it comes to politicians, the ACA will always say 'oh yea..we're investigating him' but charges are never made. There are so many obvious candidates to be investigated and charged too! If ACA has any legitimate reasons not to charge Dr.M, they could easily charge Rafidah Aziz for her part in the AP scandal, Najib for receiving millions for defense contracts, Daim Zainuddin for siphoning out billions of ringgit to buy African and Eastern European banks, and the guy who started Project IC giving illegals MyKads, bla bla bla..there's too many! Now these people will say 'PROVE IT' because they are so confident that they will be let off the hook. Even if there is evidence, they will say 'this case is closed' or 'It looks like me, sounds like me but nobody can 100% say it's me'. In the totally impossible scenario where the ACA does eventually want to charge a big croc, the AG will say 'nope, the evidence isn't enough'. Who does the ACA work for? Who does the AG work for? Barisan? UMNO? Or the people?
The ACA will say 'hey, we've charged somebody before, just look at Kasitah Gaddam'. So what happened to the case now? Isn't he a free man? And what about the rich businessman who got charged at the same time? Isn't he still walking around free?
The scenario gets worse. I got this article from The Star Online today.
A bribe no less, state ACA probes RM9 pay-off
KOTA BARU: The amount may be small but a bribe is still a bribe.
That was what Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) Deputy Director-General Datuk Zakaria Jaffar emphasised when he revealed that the lowest bribe amount the agency investigated in Kelantan was RM9, in 2004.
“The measure of culpability is not in the amount ... the amount may be small, but it’s still an offence under the Anti-Corruption Act 1997 ... for giving a bribe,” he told reporters here.
Earlier, he attended the handing over of duties by state ACA director Md Yusof Md Zain, who will assume the post of Johor ACA director, to Mohd Jaafar Hussin.
Zakaria said the highest bribe amount the agency investigated in Kelantan in the last five years was RM1,500.
He also said that during that period the Kelantan ACA received 1,931 tip-offs and investigation papers were opened on 218 cases.
“A total of 60 people were arrested and charged with corruption in those five years.” – Bernama
So they're investigating and charging people guilty of bribes of RM9 (roughly USD2.80) to RM100,000 but the big crocodiles gobbling up millions and billions are still running loose.
I say chop off the head first. Go for the top. Then again I'm not ACA. I'm just the boss of ACA who can't do anything as UMNO rapes the country over and over again.
God save Malaysia.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
If I Was The Prime Minister Of Sabah
Be warned, this post is just going to be my personal ramblings and complains. I will just type as I feel and will not even attempt to structure it properly.
Even before they read this post, some may already ask 'Huh? Prime Minister? Wouldn't Chief Minister be the correct term?'.
This was exactly what Malaysia under Tunku Abdul Rahman faced. An aggressive Lee Kuan Yew proclaiming to be the Prime Minister of Singapore at a time when Singapore was still a partner in the Federation of Malaysia. How could Malaysia have two Prime Ministers? In fact, it could very well have been FOUR Prime Ministers.
In 1963, four separate governments decided to join together as one nation. The already independent Malaya, Singapore, British North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak. Of course we all know what happened to Singapore in 1965 and although Minister Mentor Lee was pretty much saddened, he decided to move on and today Singapore is many steps ahead of Malaysia. Anyway, let's focus back to Sabah. Today, Sabah and Sarawak is just treated as 'another' Malaysian state.
Lesson no. 1: Not many people know that Sabah and Sarawak DID NOT join Malaysia. Sabah and Sarawak, together with Singapore and Malaya, are equal partners in the formation of Malaysia.
What? Does this mean that Sabah and Sarawak isn't just a state in Malaysia? That's correct. In fact, Sabah and Sarawak are equals to Malaya. THey are not equals to Selangor, Perak and definitely not Malacca. Many Sabahans and Sarawakians don't know this because the history books in Malaysia try to water-down the significance of this. Why not? The Feds i.e. UMNOputras need to control Sabah and Sarawak. They control the Education Ministry. Education falls under the Federal Govt. And thus, the Federal Government, through the Education Ministry wipes out the political and historical strength of Malaysian Borneo. Only recently when Malaysian Borneo delivered the backbone of Barisan Nasional parliamentary seats have they realized the need to take our views and opinions in regard.
So if I were to be sitting in Musa Aman's seat presumably with Sabahan support, then I would push for my position to be termed 'Prime Minister' instead of 'Chief Minister'. Okay I was kidding, but seriously, I would ensure Sabahan MPs fight for recognition of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysian history books instead of just trying to drum up pride on things like Ketuanan Melayu-related issues. Perhaps if pushed to the extreme by UMNOputras in the Parliament, I will also push for history books and all relevant textbooks to include the full 20 points agreement which was promised to Sabah. This includes the point that the constitutional clause stating Islam as the official religion in Malaya does not apply to Sabah. In short, Ketuanan Melayu DOES NOT EXIST IN SABAH.
Personally, I don't see it as a big problem in Sabah either since Malays are not the majority in Sabah. Yes, the Muslim Bumiputera population in Sabah is pretty huge but a lot of them are not Melayu. They are Bajaus, Suluks, etc etc. And if you really want to play up the ketuanan issue, then I think the Kadazan-Dusun-Muruts have the most rights to that. But of course Sabahans are all friendly and nice people. We don't really care about racial and religious problems. Orang kita orang Sabah is truly multi-racial so ketuanan doesn't really come up that much. It only happens in West Malaysia where UMNOputras just LOVE to play it up to ignite sentiments. Wave the keris, protesting pig farms although it was the UMNO-led govt which approved, you know those sort of things. Now UMNO has come into Sabah for about roughly more than a decade. Sabahans are worried. We are now subjected to the divide and rule policy as espoused by UMNO so that UMNOputeras can continue to suck our petroleum dry. And now our palm oil too (through FELDA)!
So moving on from fighting for the education of ALL MALAYSIANS on the 20 point agreement, I will also fight to ensure that ketuanan Melayu and other UMNO-related cancers does not creep into the State. To start that of, I will fight to strike off the 'Bangsa' section of ALL forms except for crucial ones such as those related to land.
Okay wait, I havent finished with the 'education' part. Secular and unbiased education shall be available to all Sabahans free up to secondary school if possible. Funds from Yayasan Sabah shall be used to buy milk and provide basic school equipment and stationery to all Sabahans just like in the good ol' days. Education will be my utmost worry for Sabah. Because it is with education that we equip future Sabahans to protect themselves from Malayan colonialism.
Our leaders have done enough to prostitute the State for the benefits of their pockets and have done nothing to improve the education system here. It is now time to fight for our rights. For that to occur, education shall be the key and this will require greater autonomy to be demanded for Sabah education. All Malayan propaganda shall be removed and history books shall include a significant amount of Sabah history. There shall be no bias towards any race or religion and students in Sabah will not be forced to learn in detail a certain civilisation only. Other major civilisations shall be included as well. Pendidikan Moral will be removed and replaced with a more practical civics (only recently did the Malaysian Education MInistry decided to do this). Sabahans will be taught proper manners e.g. not spitting everywhere, keeping toilets clean and dry, charity, basic good and bad. It is only with this kind of education can we produce Sabahan ladies and gentlemen who are respected. It is also with these kind of practical moral education can we start to even think of eradicating corruption.
Teachers are to be well-paid with benefits at the expense of tax-payers. If there are not enough competent teachers, the Government of Sabah under my watch will not hesitate to bring in foreign educators while at the same time establish a good and reliable Teachers' College to replace the ones we have in Sabah because those have been indoctrinated with Malayan propaganda. We will ensure that the stigma of relying on foreign help is removed because only with an open mind can we learn from other people. We must ignore all UMNO propaganda saying the West is evil and that if we seek help from them we are selling ourselves. The Japanese opened up to the West but did not sell themselves. They ended up stronger.
We will send all bright and young students overseas without discriminating them based on race and/or religion. Neither will they be sent overseas on scholarships just because their parents know someone up there. As long as they deserve it, and that they worked hard for it, then they will be on their way to higher education in good and reputable universities. Sabah's education system needs to be rebuilt from the very core. Hopefully with all these new and open education system, the level will improve to that of Singapore, Hong Kong and the likes.
Education is the key to a stronger Sabah in all aspects such as politically, economically etc etc.
In terms of infrastructure, I will spend a lot of money to provide the basics to all Sabahans. Basics meaning clean water, uninterrupted electricity, good roads, and efficient sewerage system. The rest I will leave it to the population of Sabah.
I can go on and on and on dreaming actually. But all these will need a will strong enough to move a nation. And actually all it requires is common sense.
Unfortunately, common sense comes short in this part of the world. Leaders are blinded with greed and corruption. Common sense will tell you that the ACA needs to be independent and not controlled by the PM. Common sense which is from a sincere love for the nation that is. However, our Tun Dr. M obviously doesn't care. All he cares about his power and how to multiply his wealth so he uses the ACA not to weed out corruption but to strengthen his position as PM. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about. Okay let's just focus on Sabah first.
For common sense to prevail over greed, Sabah will have it's own ACA which is independent and answerable to the people of Sabah. It will be something like the ICAC in Hong Kong and will have full powers to weed out corruption in the whole government system.
Lastly before I end this post, I would also say that as the Prime Minister or Chief Minister of Sabah, I will try to lobby for Sabahans such as the AG and Mr. Bocor to step down from their federal positions before they make Sabahans look like uneducated, corrupt and uncivilized barbarians. It is because we have all these people in the Federal Government representing Sabah, the Feds love to play us around because they think Sabahans are stupid like them.
And one final thing. Musa Aman was not chosen by Sabahans to lead Sabah. Musa Aman was chosen by Dr. M who sat quite comfortably in the PM's office at that time. One day, with all the education and political and economical strength, Sabah will finally be able to choose their own leaders again without interference from the Feds and the likes of Dr. M.
Even before they read this post, some may already ask 'Huh? Prime Minister? Wouldn't Chief Minister be the correct term?'.
This was exactly what Malaysia under Tunku Abdul Rahman faced. An aggressive Lee Kuan Yew proclaiming to be the Prime Minister of Singapore at a time when Singapore was still a partner in the Federation of Malaysia. How could Malaysia have two Prime Ministers? In fact, it could very well have been FOUR Prime Ministers.
In 1963, four separate governments decided to join together as one nation. The already independent Malaya, Singapore, British North Borneo (now Sabah) and Sarawak. Of course we all know what happened to Singapore in 1965 and although Minister Mentor Lee was pretty much saddened, he decided to move on and today Singapore is many steps ahead of Malaysia. Anyway, let's focus back to Sabah. Today, Sabah and Sarawak is just treated as 'another' Malaysian state.
Lesson no. 1: Not many people know that Sabah and Sarawak DID NOT join Malaysia. Sabah and Sarawak, together with Singapore and Malaya, are equal partners in the formation of Malaysia.
What? Does this mean that Sabah and Sarawak isn't just a state in Malaysia? That's correct. In fact, Sabah and Sarawak are equals to Malaya. THey are not equals to Selangor, Perak and definitely not Malacca. Many Sabahans and Sarawakians don't know this because the history books in Malaysia try to water-down the significance of this. Why not? The Feds i.e. UMNOputras need to control Sabah and Sarawak. They control the Education Ministry. Education falls under the Federal Govt. And thus, the Federal Government, through the Education Ministry wipes out the political and historical strength of Malaysian Borneo. Only recently when Malaysian Borneo delivered the backbone of Barisan Nasional parliamentary seats have they realized the need to take our views and opinions in regard.
So if I were to be sitting in Musa Aman's seat presumably with Sabahan support, then I would push for my position to be termed 'Prime Minister' instead of 'Chief Minister'. Okay I was kidding, but seriously, I would ensure Sabahan MPs fight for recognition of Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysian history books instead of just trying to drum up pride on things like Ketuanan Melayu-related issues. Perhaps if pushed to the extreme by UMNOputras in the Parliament, I will also push for history books and all relevant textbooks to include the full 20 points agreement which was promised to Sabah. This includes the point that the constitutional clause stating Islam as the official religion in Malaya does not apply to Sabah. In short, Ketuanan Melayu DOES NOT EXIST IN SABAH.
Personally, I don't see it as a big problem in Sabah either since Malays are not the majority in Sabah. Yes, the Muslim Bumiputera population in Sabah is pretty huge but a lot of them are not Melayu. They are Bajaus, Suluks, etc etc. And if you really want to play up the ketuanan issue, then I think the Kadazan-Dusun-Muruts have the most rights to that. But of course Sabahans are all friendly and nice people. We don't really care about racial and religious problems. Orang kita orang Sabah is truly multi-racial so ketuanan doesn't really come up that much. It only happens in West Malaysia where UMNOputras just LOVE to play it up to ignite sentiments. Wave the keris, protesting pig farms although it was the UMNO-led govt which approved, you know those sort of things. Now UMNO has come into Sabah for about roughly more than a decade. Sabahans are worried. We are now subjected to the divide and rule policy as espoused by UMNO so that UMNOputeras can continue to suck our petroleum dry. And now our palm oil too (through FELDA)!
So moving on from fighting for the education of ALL MALAYSIANS on the 20 point agreement, I will also fight to ensure that ketuanan Melayu and other UMNO-related cancers does not creep into the State. To start that of, I will fight to strike off the 'Bangsa' section of ALL forms except for crucial ones such as those related to land.
Okay wait, I havent finished with the 'education' part. Secular and unbiased education shall be available to all Sabahans free up to secondary school if possible. Funds from Yayasan Sabah shall be used to buy milk and provide basic school equipment and stationery to all Sabahans just like in the good ol' days. Education will be my utmost worry for Sabah. Because it is with education that we equip future Sabahans to protect themselves from Malayan colonialism.
Our leaders have done enough to prostitute the State for the benefits of their pockets and have done nothing to improve the education system here. It is now time to fight for our rights. For that to occur, education shall be the key and this will require greater autonomy to be demanded for Sabah education. All Malayan propaganda shall be removed and history books shall include a significant amount of Sabah history. There shall be no bias towards any race or religion and students in Sabah will not be forced to learn in detail a certain civilisation only. Other major civilisations shall be included as well. Pendidikan Moral will be removed and replaced with a more practical civics (only recently did the Malaysian Education MInistry decided to do this). Sabahans will be taught proper manners e.g. not spitting everywhere, keeping toilets clean and dry, charity, basic good and bad. It is only with this kind of education can we produce Sabahan ladies and gentlemen who are respected. It is also with these kind of practical moral education can we start to even think of eradicating corruption.
Teachers are to be well-paid with benefits at the expense of tax-payers. If there are not enough competent teachers, the Government of Sabah under my watch will not hesitate to bring in foreign educators while at the same time establish a good and reliable Teachers' College to replace the ones we have in Sabah because those have been indoctrinated with Malayan propaganda. We will ensure that the stigma of relying on foreign help is removed because only with an open mind can we learn from other people. We must ignore all UMNO propaganda saying the West is evil and that if we seek help from them we are selling ourselves. The Japanese opened up to the West but did not sell themselves. They ended up stronger.
We will send all bright and young students overseas without discriminating them based on race and/or religion. Neither will they be sent overseas on scholarships just because their parents know someone up there. As long as they deserve it, and that they worked hard for it, then they will be on their way to higher education in good and reputable universities. Sabah's education system needs to be rebuilt from the very core. Hopefully with all these new and open education system, the level will improve to that of Singapore, Hong Kong and the likes.
Education is the key to a stronger Sabah in all aspects such as politically, economically etc etc.
In terms of infrastructure, I will spend a lot of money to provide the basics to all Sabahans. Basics meaning clean water, uninterrupted electricity, good roads, and efficient sewerage system. The rest I will leave it to the population of Sabah.
I can go on and on and on dreaming actually. But all these will need a will strong enough to move a nation. And actually all it requires is common sense.
Unfortunately, common sense comes short in this part of the world. Leaders are blinded with greed and corruption. Common sense will tell you that the ACA needs to be independent and not controlled by the PM. Common sense which is from a sincere love for the nation that is. However, our Tun Dr. M obviously doesn't care. All he cares about his power and how to multiply his wealth so he uses the ACA not to weed out corruption but to strengthen his position as PM. I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about. Okay let's just focus on Sabah first.
For common sense to prevail over greed, Sabah will have it's own ACA which is independent and answerable to the people of Sabah. It will be something like the ICAC in Hong Kong and will have full powers to weed out corruption in the whole government system.
Lastly before I end this post, I would also say that as the Prime Minister or Chief Minister of Sabah, I will try to lobby for Sabahans such as the AG and Mr. Bocor to step down from their federal positions before they make Sabahans look like uneducated, corrupt and uncivilized barbarians. It is because we have all these people in the Federal Government representing Sabah, the Feds love to play us around because they think Sabahans are stupid like them.
And one final thing. Musa Aman was not chosen by Sabahans to lead Sabah. Musa Aman was chosen by Dr. M who sat quite comfortably in the PM's office at that time. One day, with all the education and political and economical strength, Sabah will finally be able to choose their own leaders again without interference from the Feds and the likes of Dr. M.
Keep Ketuanan Melayu Out Of East Malaysia
ONCE HARMONIOUS SOCIAL FABRIC OF SABAH TORN TO PIECES BY BARISAN NASIONAL
http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/5987/84/
Dear Pakatan Rakyat and all concerned citizens,
I would like to convey my deep frustration with what is going in the state of Sabah, my home.
I was born and raised in Kota Kinabalu. I am a half KDM guy, but I mainly identify myself as a Malaysian and a Sabahan, however I still am a very proud of both halves of my ethnicity. My dissatisfaction arose beginning 1994 when Sabah fell to BN in the most dirtiest disgusting manner: when BN bought over elected MPs from PBS to cross over to BN following their loss in the election. Thus began the UMNO chapter in the political history of Sabah. Or if you like, the Sabah chapter of UMNO.
At that time, the BN coalition consisted a number of parties. I do not recall all the parties or the number of seats they obtained in the election. Then came the rotation system. Every 2 years a representative from 3 communities, namely, the non-Muslim Bumis, Muslim Bumis and the Chinese take turn to govern the state. Soon, UMNO began taking most seats in the states. Finally, it was decided that the rotation system would end, with Musa Aman conveniently at the helm of the government. He has been the CM for 5 years already, with unbelievably, no apparent dissent at all. Even ex-CM Chong Kah Kiat seem to have endorsed this idea.
There are actually many issues bugging me right now, but shall only express one that has been bugging me the most. We all know the central ideology of UMNO is 'Ketuanan Melayu', the racialist belief that the Malays are the boss in this land. Historically, this idea seemed to apply only in Peninsula Malaysia in tandem with the Social Contract. However it seems this idealogy has appeared to have reached our shores in East Malaysia. As you might know, there are not many ethnic Malays in East Malaysia, and they are not normally regarded as being indigenous to Borneo. However pockets of so called Malay communities does appear in southern Sarawak, who are often linked to, or associated with the Melanaus, and also in Sabah, who typically identify themselves as Brunei Malays.
Before I carry on, I strongly believe that Ketuanan Melayu (KM) is an egotistical propaganda created to further the agenda of UMNO to suppress the non-Bumis, in many aspect of life. This is the UMNO version of KM. However, I do also believe in the existence of an alternative and milder definition of "Ketuanan Melayu", whereby the special rights of the Malays, such as having a Malay Agong and sultans in Malay states, the supremacy of Bahasa Malaysia, and perhaps also having a Malay PM, are protected. The UMNO version of this ideology is more extreme, in that, it seeks to extend Malay supremacy in almost every arena of governance and even social life. For example, that the head of judiciary, head of police, head of military, head of major corporate companies, even principals of secondary schools, et al, has to be Malay. I can subscribe to the milder version of KM (at a national level, not state level) but I cannot subscribe to UMNO's version of it.
Going back to Sabah, I have actually witnessed that many Muslim Sabahans are beginning to identify themselves as Malays. These Sabahans could either be Bajaus, Bugis, Suluk, Malay, even Kadazan Muslims, etc. How it all started I'm not sure, whether certain Malays from Peninsula wanted to extend their sphere of influence by proposing that they are also Malays and that they should begin seeing themselves as Malays, or whether the Muslim community themselves who thought it is the next logical thing to do. I think it is the former which is the more plausible explanation. My question is WHY? They already have so many 'identities' to hold for themselves: a Sabahan, a Bajau, a Muslim, a Malaysian, a Human. Why must they also be a Malay? Its not really a big problem for me if they want to call themselves "Malays", by all means go ahead. But when they begin to shout 'Ketuanan Melayu' here, then it shows an ulterior motive in the adoption of this new identity, which I am against.
As if this is not enough, they have also begun acknowledging immigrants from Indonesia and perhaps also Philippines as "Malays". I have heard a lot about this 'conspiracy' called "Project IC" a.k.a "Project M", but I never brought myself to 100% believe in its truth since most of the things I heard about it is just hearsay. But attitudes of UMNO members of late made me believed more in the existence of Project M. But a statement floated in by one Malay forummer in an online forum recently, where he suggested we embrace these immigrants as our brothers provided they adopt Islam and Malay, is the one that confirmed my suspicion on both counts. That is, that Project M exists, and Ketuanan Melayu is a racist propaganda that has reached Sabah and has been entrenched in the minds of some Sabahans here. (for more information please read "When States Prefer Non-Citizens Over Citizens: Conflict Over Illegal Immigration into Malaysia" written by Professor Kamal Sadiq of University of California - Irvine)
Malay is clearly defined in the constitution as a person who habitually speaks Malay, practices Malay customs and professes Islam. Clearly as a KDM, I am not a Malay. Though UMNO sometimes insists that we are also Malays which is plain bullshit. Seriously, who are they trying to bluff. So what is the result of this? Soon, the Muslims in Sabah may unite under the Malay banner and we are no longer seen as brothers in this land of ours. KM is slowly turning the Muslim against the non-Muslims. A clear example of this is the 1986 riots around Sabah. The rioters were seeking to oust the appointment of Pairin Kitingan. Why? Did he cheat in the elections? No. The only reason this riot happened in my opinion is that because Pairin is a Christian. Of course, upon being provoked by certain leaders.
We have always been multiracial yet united society in Sabah. That is why since our independence we have had KDMs, Bajaus, Chinese, Suluks, Malays, etc. (or Muslim, Buddhist, and Christian) as Chief Minister in this state. Compare this to, say, Johor, Terengganu, or Penang, which only had a CM from one particular race only. But ideologies such as KM is destroying our unique open social mentality. We could have been a role model on how racial relations should work in Malaysia. Sadly, communal mentality has seeped into the mainstream society of Sabah. We never cared much about race, but now it seems we must bow down only to Malays. We are also told to fear the Chinese as they are only interested in stealing our money and exploiting us. Is it a coincidence that both Sabah and Sarawak have Muslims and somewhat "Malay" person as the CM? When in fact there is a significant population of non-Muslims (mainly Dayaks) here? I seriously don't care if Malays (from Sabah) get to be the CM of Sabah, but when they are impliedly telling us that from now on only "Malays" can be the CM, then you are no longer welcomed in Sabah. Sabahans should not bow to anyone. If one day a KDM leader should declare that from now only a KDM can be a CM, and that central ideology of the state is "Ketuanan KDM", I would strongly oppose this as well, even though I am a KDM, because this is bullshit.
The recent election is strongly influenced by money politics, desperate need for development, poverty, lack of education, lack of exposure to the alternative media, loss of hope, weak opposition, and phantom voters. Sabahans also easily fall for superficial developments which does not even bring in much benefits. Intangible developments in the form of education, moral, and ethics, are often overlooked. I do not believe that the true people of Sabah have freely sanctioned Barisan Nasional to govern this state.
I hope you get the message I am trying to convey, and not dismiss me as a racist. It is the KDM who are on the receiving end of racism. Even the Bajaus are feeling the heat and are fearing that their identity would soon be usurped by another "Malay" identity. The KDM are too soft and scared. The leaders are only interested in their own personal gains. UMNO is dividing and destroying Sabahans. They are flooding the state with immigrants and christening them as Malays and Bumis to distort our demography in their favor. So my appeal to Pakatan Rakyat is: PLEASE SAVE SABAH BEFORE ITS TOO LATE. Put your differences aside for the sake of the rakyat in Sabah. For now, we need a strong viable opposition which is currently non-existent in Sabah. Even though you are a Peninsular-based coalition, we are putting our faith and trust in you. We need CAPABLE and GENUINE Sabahans regardless of race to lead this state. Give us back our autonomy and other rights enshrined in the 20-point agreement. The 20% oil royalty would be a great icing on the cake. God bless Sabah. God bless Malaysia. God bless Pakatan Rakyat.
Dissatisfied Malaysian
***
The Jesseltonite Review
This dissastisfied Malaysian isn't the only one. I stand with him fully and it is high time that Sabahans remember the days when politics did not come with race and the race card was rarely played up in Sabah. And the day when Sabahans stood together without looking at the skin colour and religious background. The person who systematically destroyed Sabah with the rotation system was none other than Tun Dr. Mahathir. In fact, I wouldn't understand why people will call him Tun because he fully does NOT deserve the title. He had in his time as PM withheld federal funds to the state and even after BN came to power in Sabah he refused to return what is rightfully Sabahans blood and sweat (i.e. taxed paid). Dr. M should shut up and resign gracefully instead of criticizing his successor because his days are over and God willing, there will be no more future Dr. Ms around to destroy the entire state. At least PM AAB didn't do shit like Dr. M.
Dr. Mahathir, I detest you and your arrogance. You should be brought to trial for your interference in the drive to rid Malaysia of corruption. You should be brought to trial for destroying the lives of Sabahans. You should be brought to trial for Operasi Lalang. You should be brought to trial for swallowing up Petronas money and siphoning it off to your cronies. Take your UMNO and Ketuanan Melayu OUT OF SABAH and GIVE US BACK WHAT PETRONAS OWES US AS WELL AS THE FEDERAL FUNDS OWED TO US!
http://www.malaysia-today.net/2008/content/view/5987/84/
Dear Pakatan Rakyat and all concerned citizens,
I would like to convey my deep frustration with what is going in the state of Sabah, my home.
I was born and raised in Kota Kinabalu. I am a half KDM guy, but I mainly identify myself as a Malaysian and a Sabahan, however I still am a very proud of both halves of my ethnicity. My dissatisfaction arose beginning 1994 when Sabah fell to BN in the most dirtiest disgusting manner: when BN bought over elected MPs from PBS to cross over to BN following their loss in the election. Thus began the UMNO chapter in the political history of Sabah. Or if you like, the Sabah chapter of UMNO.
At that time, the BN coalition consisted a number of parties. I do not recall all the parties or the number of seats they obtained in the election. Then came the rotation system. Every 2 years a representative from 3 communities, namely, the non-Muslim Bumis, Muslim Bumis and the Chinese take turn to govern the state. Soon, UMNO began taking most seats in the states. Finally, it was decided that the rotation system would end, with Musa Aman conveniently at the helm of the government. He has been the CM for 5 years already, with unbelievably, no apparent dissent at all. Even ex-CM Chong Kah Kiat seem to have endorsed this idea.
There are actually many issues bugging me right now, but shall only express one that has been bugging me the most. We all know the central ideology of UMNO is 'Ketuanan Melayu', the racialist belief that the Malays are the boss in this land. Historically, this idea seemed to apply only in Peninsula Malaysia in tandem with the Social Contract. However it seems this idealogy has appeared to have reached our shores in East Malaysia. As you might know, there are not many ethnic Malays in East Malaysia, and they are not normally regarded as being indigenous to Borneo. However pockets of so called Malay communities does appear in southern Sarawak, who are often linked to, or associated with the Melanaus, and also in Sabah, who typically identify themselves as Brunei Malays.
Before I carry on, I strongly believe that Ketuanan Melayu (KM) is an egotistical propaganda created to further the agenda of UMNO to suppress the non-Bumis, in many aspect of life. This is the UMNO version of KM. However, I do also believe in the existence of an alternative and milder definition of "Ketuanan Melayu", whereby the special rights of the Malays, such as having a Malay Agong and sultans in Malay states, the supremacy of Bahasa Malaysia, and perhaps also having a Malay PM, are protected. The UMNO version of this ideology is more extreme, in that, it seeks to extend Malay supremacy in almost every arena of governance and even social life. For example, that the head of judiciary, head of police, head of military, head of major corporate companies, even principals of secondary schools, et al, has to be Malay. I can subscribe to the milder version of KM (at a national level, not state level) but I cannot subscribe to UMNO's version of it.
Going back to Sabah, I have actually witnessed that many Muslim Sabahans are beginning to identify themselves as Malays. These Sabahans could either be Bajaus, Bugis, Suluk, Malay, even Kadazan Muslims, etc. How it all started I'm not sure, whether certain Malays from Peninsula wanted to extend their sphere of influence by proposing that they are also Malays and that they should begin seeing themselves as Malays, or whether the Muslim community themselves who thought it is the next logical thing to do. I think it is the former which is the more plausible explanation. My question is WHY? They already have so many 'identities' to hold for themselves: a Sabahan, a Bajau, a Muslim, a Malaysian, a Human. Why must they also be a Malay? Its not really a big problem for me if they want to call themselves "Malays", by all means go ahead. But when they begin to shout 'Ketuanan Melayu' here, then it shows an ulterior motive in the adoption of this new identity, which I am against.
As if this is not enough, they have also begun acknowledging immigrants from Indonesia and perhaps also Philippines as "Malays". I have heard a lot about this 'conspiracy' called "Project IC" a.k.a "Project M", but I never brought myself to 100% believe in its truth since most of the things I heard about it is just hearsay. But attitudes of UMNO members of late made me believed more in the existence of Project M. But a statement floated in by one Malay forummer in an online forum recently, where he suggested we embrace these immigrants as our brothers provided they adopt Islam and Malay, is the one that confirmed my suspicion on both counts. That is, that Project M exists, and Ketuanan Melayu is a racist propaganda that has reached Sabah and has been entrenched in the minds of some Sabahans here. (for more information please read "When States Prefer Non-Citizens Over Citizens: Conflict Over Illegal Immigration into Malaysia" written by Professor Kamal Sadiq of University of California - Irvine)
Malay is clearly defined in the constitution as a person who habitually speaks Malay, practices Malay customs and professes Islam. Clearly as a KDM, I am not a Malay. Though UMNO sometimes insists that we are also Malays which is plain bullshit. Seriously, who are they trying to bluff. So what is the result of this? Soon, the Muslims in Sabah may unite under the Malay banner and we are no longer seen as brothers in this land of ours. KM is slowly turning the Muslim against the non-Muslims. A clear example of this is the 1986 riots around Sabah. The rioters were seeking to oust the appointment of Pairin Kitingan. Why? Did he cheat in the elections? No. The only reason this riot happened in my opinion is that because Pairin is a Christian. Of course, upon being provoked by certain leaders.
We have always been multiracial yet united society in Sabah. That is why since our independence we have had KDMs, Bajaus, Chinese, Suluks, Malays, etc. (or Muslim, Buddhist, and Christian) as Chief Minister in this state. Compare this to, say, Johor, Terengganu, or Penang, which only had a CM from one particular race only. But ideologies such as KM is destroying our unique open social mentality. We could have been a role model on how racial relations should work in Malaysia. Sadly, communal mentality has seeped into the mainstream society of Sabah. We never cared much about race, but now it seems we must bow down only to Malays. We are also told to fear the Chinese as they are only interested in stealing our money and exploiting us. Is it a coincidence that both Sabah and Sarawak have Muslims and somewhat "Malay" person as the CM? When in fact there is a significant population of non-Muslims (mainly Dayaks) here? I seriously don't care if Malays (from Sabah) get to be the CM of Sabah, but when they are impliedly telling us that from now on only "Malays" can be the CM, then you are no longer welcomed in Sabah. Sabahans should not bow to anyone. If one day a KDM leader should declare that from now only a KDM can be a CM, and that central ideology of the state is "Ketuanan KDM", I would strongly oppose this as well, even though I am a KDM, because this is bullshit.
The recent election is strongly influenced by money politics, desperate need for development, poverty, lack of education, lack of exposure to the alternative media, loss of hope, weak opposition, and phantom voters. Sabahans also easily fall for superficial developments which does not even bring in much benefits. Intangible developments in the form of education, moral, and ethics, are often overlooked. I do not believe that the true people of Sabah have freely sanctioned Barisan Nasional to govern this state.
I hope you get the message I am trying to convey, and not dismiss me as a racist. It is the KDM who are on the receiving end of racism. Even the Bajaus are feeling the heat and are fearing that their identity would soon be usurped by another "Malay" identity. The KDM are too soft and scared. The leaders are only interested in their own personal gains. UMNO is dividing and destroying Sabahans. They are flooding the state with immigrants and christening them as Malays and Bumis to distort our demography in their favor. So my appeal to Pakatan Rakyat is: PLEASE SAVE SABAH BEFORE ITS TOO LATE. Put your differences aside for the sake of the rakyat in Sabah. For now, we need a strong viable opposition which is currently non-existent in Sabah. Even though you are a Peninsular-based coalition, we are putting our faith and trust in you. We need CAPABLE and GENUINE Sabahans regardless of race to lead this state. Give us back our autonomy and other rights enshrined in the 20-point agreement. The 20% oil royalty would be a great icing on the cake. God bless Sabah. God bless Malaysia. God bless Pakatan Rakyat.
Dissatisfied Malaysian
***
The Jesseltonite Review
This dissastisfied Malaysian isn't the only one. I stand with him fully and it is high time that Sabahans remember the days when politics did not come with race and the race card was rarely played up in Sabah. And the day when Sabahans stood together without looking at the skin colour and religious background. The person who systematically destroyed Sabah with the rotation system was none other than Tun Dr. Mahathir. In fact, I wouldn't understand why people will call him Tun because he fully does NOT deserve the title. He had in his time as PM withheld federal funds to the state and even after BN came to power in Sabah he refused to return what is rightfully Sabahans blood and sweat (i.e. taxed paid). Dr. M should shut up and resign gracefully instead of criticizing his successor because his days are over and God willing, there will be no more future Dr. Ms around to destroy the entire state. At least PM AAB didn't do shit like Dr. M.
Dr. Mahathir, I detest you and your arrogance. You should be brought to trial for your interference in the drive to rid Malaysia of corruption. You should be brought to trial for destroying the lives of Sabahans. You should be brought to trial for Operasi Lalang. You should be brought to trial for swallowing up Petronas money and siphoning it off to your cronies. Take your UMNO and Ketuanan Melayu OUT OF SABAH and GIVE US BACK WHAT PETRONAS OWES US AS WELL AS THE FEDERAL FUNDS OWED TO US!
Friday, April 11, 2008
Pandikar Vows To Be Fair To All As Speaker
Kota Kinabalu: Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia, the former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, has pledged to be fair to all in discharging his duties if he is chosen as the new Dewan Rakyat Speaker.
Pandikar Amin, who was informed by Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) Chairman Datuk Seri Musa Aman on Tuesday that he would be nominated for the post, said there was no denying that the sitting for 12th parliamentary term would be more challenging than previously as the number of opposition members had increased to 82 as against BN's 140, with many new faces among them.
"First and foremost, it's necessary to be fair to both sides, meaning we should listen, and listen well, to the voice of both sides," he said here Thursday.
Pandikar Amin, who obtained his law degree from Lincoln's Inn, London, was the Sabah State Legislative Assembly Speaker for nearly two years between 1986 and 1987.
His experience in Parliament was as a Senator in 1988, and again between 1999 and 2002 when he was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.
"To me, it will be a challenging task but it should not be a problem," said Pandikar Amin, who is from Kota Belud, the Bajau heartland of Sabah.
Pandikar Amin, 52, admitted that the parliamentary sessions this time around would be more lively.
"We can't avoid heated discussions in parliamentary sittings but this doesn't mean that members of the House would all be quarrelling," said Pandikar Amin, who is former State Agriculture and Fisheries Minister.
The Parliament sitting this time around would also be aired live over RTM for 30 minutes from 10am, covering the question-and-answer session.
Pandikar Amin was confident that the Dewan Rakyat proceeding would go on as normal even with the live telecast because similar telecast was also being practised in other countries like India, England and Australia.
"If there are members of the House who go overboard, it's the duty of the Speaker to tell the members to behave," he said.
The nomination for the Speaker's post should be forwarded 14 days prior to the swearing-in of Members of Parliament, scheduled for April 28.
Meanwhile, former Secretary to the Parliament Datuk Abdullah Abdul Wahab said apart from the criteria stipulated under the Standing Order, a Dewan Rakyat Speaker must also be a respected person and accepted by both the Government and the opposition.
He said this would enable a Speaker to discharge his duties effectively and ensure the smooth-running of the proceeding.
"He must be respected by both sides as he will be the one who decides, in which the House must agree upon.
"When a Speaker is respected by members of the House, his decision will also be respected," said Abdullah, who held various posts in the more than two decades of service in Parliament before retiring in May 2006.
Abdullah said a Dewan Rakyat Speaker would also be representing the country in international fora, thus it was important for a speaker to be someone who is respected internationally, he said.
"The candidate for the post should be a person of high integrity, fair and able to interpret the law," he said.
Apart from Pandikar Amin, five-term MP Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (Santubong, Sarawak) and three-term MP Datuk Ronald Kiandee (Beluran, Sabah) were also said to be among those being eyed for the post.
Wan Junaidi and Ronald had confirmed that they were told about it unofficially and expressed their willingness to fill the post.- Bernama
***
We'll see how it goes Mr. Pandikar. It's too early to say at the moment because we haven't seen you perform. Let's hope you're not one of those people that make Sabahans look like uneducated and uncivilised fools e.g. Mr. Bocor.
Pandikar Amin, who was informed by Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) Chairman Datuk Seri Musa Aman on Tuesday that he would be nominated for the post, said there was no denying that the sitting for 12th parliamentary term would be more challenging than previously as the number of opposition members had increased to 82 as against BN's 140, with many new faces among them.
"First and foremost, it's necessary to be fair to both sides, meaning we should listen, and listen well, to the voice of both sides," he said here Thursday.
Pandikar Amin, who obtained his law degree from Lincoln's Inn, London, was the Sabah State Legislative Assembly Speaker for nearly two years between 1986 and 1987.
His experience in Parliament was as a Senator in 1988, and again between 1999 and 2002 when he was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.
"To me, it will be a challenging task but it should not be a problem," said Pandikar Amin, who is from Kota Belud, the Bajau heartland of Sabah.
Pandikar Amin, 52, admitted that the parliamentary sessions this time around would be more lively.
"We can't avoid heated discussions in parliamentary sittings but this doesn't mean that members of the House would all be quarrelling," said Pandikar Amin, who is former State Agriculture and Fisheries Minister.
The Parliament sitting this time around would also be aired live over RTM for 30 minutes from 10am, covering the question-and-answer session.
Pandikar Amin was confident that the Dewan Rakyat proceeding would go on as normal even with the live telecast because similar telecast was also being practised in other countries like India, England and Australia.
"If there are members of the House who go overboard, it's the duty of the Speaker to tell the members to behave," he said.
The nomination for the Speaker's post should be forwarded 14 days prior to the swearing-in of Members of Parliament, scheduled for April 28.
Meanwhile, former Secretary to the Parliament Datuk Abdullah Abdul Wahab said apart from the criteria stipulated under the Standing Order, a Dewan Rakyat Speaker must also be a respected person and accepted by both the Government and the opposition.
He said this would enable a Speaker to discharge his duties effectively and ensure the smooth-running of the proceeding.
"He must be respected by both sides as he will be the one who decides, in which the House must agree upon.
"When a Speaker is respected by members of the House, his decision will also be respected," said Abdullah, who held various posts in the more than two decades of service in Parliament before retiring in May 2006.
Abdullah said a Dewan Rakyat Speaker would also be representing the country in international fora, thus it was important for a speaker to be someone who is respected internationally, he said.
"The candidate for the post should be a person of high integrity, fair and able to interpret the law," he said.
Apart from Pandikar Amin, five-term MP Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (Santubong, Sarawak) and three-term MP Datuk Ronald Kiandee (Beluran, Sabah) were also said to be among those being eyed for the post.
Wan Junaidi and Ronald had confirmed that they were told about it unofficially and expressed their willingness to fill the post.- Bernama
***
We'll see how it goes Mr. Pandikar. It's too early to say at the moment because we haven't seen you perform. Let's hope you're not one of those people that make Sabahans look like uneducated and uncivilised fools e.g. Mr. Bocor.
RESTORING BALANCE TO THE THREE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT
Dato’ Chua Jui Meng’s Press Statement 11th April 2008
Much is being said about judicial reform in the press these days, with the latest being a speech by the Regent of Perak Raja Nazrin, calling for a judicial renaissance. I strongly support his call, and hope that our leaders will heed his words.
In his speech as reported by the Sun on 10th April 2008, Raja Nazrin spoke of the need for the three branches of government – legislative, executive and judiciary, to be highly responsive and accountable to the people. This is a topic I would like to delve into deeper and broaden a little further.
Malaysia was founded on the governing constitutional principle of the three branches of government, each invested with specific functions to provide the necessary check and balances necessary for good governance. However, over time the executive branch has through constitutional amendments assumed more powers than is healthy for our democracy.
I believe that realignment must be made in all three branches to restore the balance as enshrined by our Constitution.
For the judiciary the Federal Constitution must be amended to re-vest in them the judicial authority of the Federation. Furthermore for the sanctity of the judiciary, it is vital that every person and institution be treated equally before the law. Specifically, no political party should be immune from the process of the law and the courts. The exclusion of jurisdiction of the courts over political parties provided in the Societies Act Section 18C can protect abuses committed by top leaders of these parties.
For example when the Bukit Mertajam division of MCA brought a case against the MCA leadership for abuse of power by injection of large numbers of phantom members into the division to the High Court, it was dismissed on the grounds that the court had no jurisdiction over political parties. Section 18C of the Societies Act takes away the checks and balances that protected the rights of members through the judiciary.
We need to amend the Societies Act to restore jurisdiction to the courts over legal matters pertaining to political parties. Members must be shielded from sacking because they bring complaints of injustice pertaining to their party to the courts for adjudication.
Furthermore, our unique two-court system – the Syariah and Civil Courts, need to have their separate jurisdictions clarified to prevent a repeat of the Lina Joy incident, which caused much discomfort amongst the non-Muslim population.
Next, Parliament itself must be revitalised. But more than that, I believe that the primacy of Parliament must be restored with the executive branch accountable to it. No government institution or government linked company should be exempt from the purview of Parliament. Amendments should be made to all Acts that exclude these organisations from parliamentary review.
I also fully support the provision of a live telecast of all Parliamentary sittings. This proposed with the hope that an awakened Parliament will produce parliamentarians who will actively engage in the debates regarding the policies and direction of our nation. The presence of large numbers of Pakatan Rakyat members this term will certainly lead to more vibrant debates in both Houses of Parliament. However, I pray that we will be able to emulate the British Parliament upon whose principles we were founded, that encourages even parliamentarians from the party of government to question and bring the government to account.
And finally, I hope the executive branch - the Cabinet, will listen to the voices for change and allow itself to lead the reform to redistribute the powers back to the other two branches thereby securing the freedom and rights of all Malaysians for time to come.
I commend Datuk Zaid Ibrahim for his prompt response to Raja Nazrin’s call. I hope that we can be assured that the Cabinet will move expeditiously in implementing what was promised.
Dato’ Chua Jui Meng
Much is being said about judicial reform in the press these days, with the latest being a speech by the Regent of Perak Raja Nazrin, calling for a judicial renaissance. I strongly support his call, and hope that our leaders will heed his words.
In his speech as reported by the Sun on 10th April 2008, Raja Nazrin spoke of the need for the three branches of government – legislative, executive and judiciary, to be highly responsive and accountable to the people. This is a topic I would like to delve into deeper and broaden a little further.
Malaysia was founded on the governing constitutional principle of the three branches of government, each invested with specific functions to provide the necessary check and balances necessary for good governance. However, over time the executive branch has through constitutional amendments assumed more powers than is healthy for our democracy.
I believe that realignment must be made in all three branches to restore the balance as enshrined by our Constitution.
For the judiciary the Federal Constitution must be amended to re-vest in them the judicial authority of the Federation. Furthermore for the sanctity of the judiciary, it is vital that every person and institution be treated equally before the law. Specifically, no political party should be immune from the process of the law and the courts. The exclusion of jurisdiction of the courts over political parties provided in the Societies Act Section 18C can protect abuses committed by top leaders of these parties.
For example when the Bukit Mertajam division of MCA brought a case against the MCA leadership for abuse of power by injection of large numbers of phantom members into the division to the High Court, it was dismissed on the grounds that the court had no jurisdiction over political parties. Section 18C of the Societies Act takes away the checks and balances that protected the rights of members through the judiciary.
We need to amend the Societies Act to restore jurisdiction to the courts over legal matters pertaining to political parties. Members must be shielded from sacking because they bring complaints of injustice pertaining to their party to the courts for adjudication.
Furthermore, our unique two-court system – the Syariah and Civil Courts, need to have their separate jurisdictions clarified to prevent a repeat of the Lina Joy incident, which caused much discomfort amongst the non-Muslim population.
Next, Parliament itself must be revitalised. But more than that, I believe that the primacy of Parliament must be restored with the executive branch accountable to it. No government institution or government linked company should be exempt from the purview of Parliament. Amendments should be made to all Acts that exclude these organisations from parliamentary review.
I also fully support the provision of a live telecast of all Parliamentary sittings. This proposed with the hope that an awakened Parliament will produce parliamentarians who will actively engage in the debates regarding the policies and direction of our nation. The presence of large numbers of Pakatan Rakyat members this term will certainly lead to more vibrant debates in both Houses of Parliament. However, I pray that we will be able to emulate the British Parliament upon whose principles we were founded, that encourages even parliamentarians from the party of government to question and bring the government to account.
And finally, I hope the executive branch - the Cabinet, will listen to the voices for change and allow itself to lead the reform to redistribute the powers back to the other two branches thereby securing the freedom and rights of all Malaysians for time to come.
I commend Datuk Zaid Ibrahim for his prompt response to Raja Nazrin’s call. I hope that we can be assured that the Cabinet will move expeditiously in implementing what was promised.
Dato’ Chua Jui Meng
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Selamat Pagi Jesselton
Dad had catch the 6:05am flight to Kota Kinabalu so that means I had to wake up at freakin' 4:30am just to be able to send him to the airport. Well what must be done, must be done I always say.
Anyway, after I dropped my dad off I decided to visit the Lido market to get some food. It's quite a new experience for me although I've been here a couple of times. I also found out that Jesselton doesn't only have the best sunsets, it's also got the best sunrise! I've made up my mind to try getting up early tomorrow to snap a few good ones..hopefully I can wake up though!
So the PM will meet up with our CM Musa next Monday, NOT to discuss the worries and issues affecting general Sabahans but rather Sabah BN politicians only. Even the Sarawakians are demanding more positions in the federal cabinet. You know it's quite funny how they say Sabah BN 'deserves' more places in the federal cabinet. I mean surely they don't 'deserve' it. Have they even worked for it? In fact, Sabah BN didn't really do well but rather the Peninsula BN did bad. In any case, Sabah politicians have done quite a lot of damage to the image of Sabahans projected to the rest of Malaysia. Remember 'bocor'? Isn't he the orang utan from Kinabatangan? I wouldn't even call him an orang utan because at least the orang utans are bringing in a lot of much needed tourism money. What has this guy done for the orang Kinabatangan except plunder the forest reserves? What about Shafie Apdal? Wasn't he the one who messed up domestic trade with all these restrictions on cooking oil and diesel? Is he even QUALIFIED to be Minister of Domestic Trade? And now when he is 'relegated' to Culture, Heritage and Arts, Sabah BN is making all these big hoo hah.
And the poor uneducated masses do not even know the political realities facing them by still voting for these idiots. But I don't blame them really. Malaysia's democratic system only requires the politician to make his electorates happy to stay in power. And mind you, these people in the rural areas of Sabah are quite easily contented and manipulated by these cunning people.
This has got to do with the education system in the country and state. Raja Petra wrote on his blog today asking why Malaysia cannot spend just a fraction of the petroleum money to build more schools and good universities. Here's the answer: The reason why Malaysia and Sabah do not improve on their education system is because they know that if that happens, the citizens will rise up and vote AGAINST them because the educated people see through Barisan Nasional's lies and folly crystal clear.
It remains to be seen what will transpire from the much-anticipated meeting between the CM and PM. Sabah BN leaders claim to want more cabinet positions on the pretext that they want a bigger Sabah voice to voice our Sabahan concerns. Bullshit! You could have voiced out Sabah concerns a long time ago. In the end, we still have dogs running the country and state. The only question is, which dog will win the dogfight?
Anyway, after I dropped my dad off I decided to visit the Lido market to get some food. It's quite a new experience for me although I've been here a couple of times. I also found out that Jesselton doesn't only have the best sunsets, it's also got the best sunrise! I've made up my mind to try getting up early tomorrow to snap a few good ones..hopefully I can wake up though!
So the PM will meet up with our CM Musa next Monday, NOT to discuss the worries and issues affecting general Sabahans but rather Sabah BN politicians only. Even the Sarawakians are demanding more positions in the federal cabinet. You know it's quite funny how they say Sabah BN 'deserves' more places in the federal cabinet. I mean surely they don't 'deserve' it. Have they even worked for it? In fact, Sabah BN didn't really do well but rather the Peninsula BN did bad. In any case, Sabah politicians have done quite a lot of damage to the image of Sabahans projected to the rest of Malaysia. Remember 'bocor'? Isn't he the orang utan from Kinabatangan? I wouldn't even call him an orang utan because at least the orang utans are bringing in a lot of much needed tourism money. What has this guy done for the orang Kinabatangan except plunder the forest reserves? What about Shafie Apdal? Wasn't he the one who messed up domestic trade with all these restrictions on cooking oil and diesel? Is he even QUALIFIED to be Minister of Domestic Trade? And now when he is 'relegated' to Culture, Heritage and Arts, Sabah BN is making all these big hoo hah.
And the poor uneducated masses do not even know the political realities facing them by still voting for these idiots. But I don't blame them really. Malaysia's democratic system only requires the politician to make his electorates happy to stay in power. And mind you, these people in the rural areas of Sabah are quite easily contented and manipulated by these cunning people.
This has got to do with the education system in the country and state. Raja Petra wrote on his blog today asking why Malaysia cannot spend just a fraction of the petroleum money to build more schools and good universities. Here's the answer: The reason why Malaysia and Sabah do not improve on their education system is because they know that if that happens, the citizens will rise up and vote AGAINST them because the educated people see through Barisan Nasional's lies and folly crystal clear.
It remains to be seen what will transpire from the much-anticipated meeting between the CM and PM. Sabah BN leaders claim to want more cabinet positions on the pretext that they want a bigger Sabah voice to voice our Sabahan concerns. Bullshit! You could have voiced out Sabah concerns a long time ago. In the end, we still have dogs running the country and state. The only question is, which dog will win the dogfight?
Monday, March 31, 2008
Time For KL To Review 'Unfair' Policies in Sabah
DAILY EXPRESS
Monday, 31st March 2008
Kota Kinabalu: It is high time the Federal Government review some of the current policies that are extremely unfair and are impoverishing Sabah, said former Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Tham Nyip Shen.
This includes the present requirement for Sabah to export its commodities such as cocoa and palm oil through ports in Peninsular Malaysia, besides paying a higher price for consumer goods.
Speaking to reporters here Sunday, Tham, who is also State Science Advisor Datuk Tham Nyip Shen highlighted that due to the an unfair policy, the State is currently estimated to lose about RM300 million of revenues from palm oil export (of an estimated six million tones) alone per annum, based on the current market price of between RM40 - RM50 per tonne.
"With such an unfair policy, how can we not be poor?" he asked.
He pointed out that the lost revenues were actually sufficient to increase the development fund for each MP in the State to RM3 million for them to help improve their constituencies.
And while welcoming the recent statement made by the recent Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Ahmad, Tham who is also Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) 'think-tank' chief reiterated his previous call to implement a 'uniform pricing policy' for goods across the nation, in order to be fair to the people of Sabah and Sarawak.
Sharir had said that consumers in the country can expect major changes in the demand and supply mechanism, including doing away with controlling the prices of essential goods.
"When Datuk Shahrir assumed the post of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister, he made a few interesting announcements and this certainly gives fresh hope to Malaysians, Sabahans included. This, I say syabas! (well done!) to Datuk Shahrir.
"But, I am particularly keen to pursue an old topic - uniform national pricing policy across the nation. It is never the fault of Sabahans and Sarawakians that we are being separated by the largest sea in the world - the South China Sea. Unfortunately, we are severely punished as a result i.e. paying a higher price for consumer goods (between 20 per cent - 50 per cent )," he said.
He said the case of America which is about 28 times larger than the size of Malaysia, to further illustrate his point. [USA: Area (Land): 9,161,923 SQ KM. Malaysia: Area (Land): 328,550 SQ KM]
"To put it in perspective, traveling from east to west of United States of America requires 5 hours compares to just 2Þ hours in Malaysia. Yet, there is no price difference in most items between New York and Los Angeles when they are 2,462 miles apart compare to that of only 1000 miles between Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur.
"I can quote a few other countries having no price difference. In Malaysia, even national newspapers are more expensive in Sabah, compare to Kuala Lumpur!" he said.
Tham asserted that the renewal of such call for a 'uniform pricing policy' is timely, especially when the people of Sabah and Sarawak had given so much support to the BN Government.
"Sabah is still being recognised as the poorest state in Malaysia, we are not asking for special privilege, what we want is not much, we just want a fair price, the same price that a Malaysian should pay! We hope to live like a Malaysian.
"I am confident that something positive can be done to give a fair treatment to Malaysians residing in Sabah. I would also like to reiterate my call for the Federal Government to equal the export price of commodities from Sabah too," he said.
"Without a fair treatment and a level playing field, Malaysians in Sabah will always be at the losing end and perhaps it is also part of the reasons why today Sabah is still being widely recognized as the poorest state in Malaysia. Why must we suffer all these injustices?" he stressed.
*************************************
The Jesseltonite Review
So finally some BN bigshot from Sabah dares to stand up and tell the Feds that it's time to review unfair policies towards all Sabahans. Isn't this a case of too little too late? For years, and without fear and prejudice I say this was especially so during Mahathir days, Sabahans were treated as second class citizens in Malaysia. Even the Bumiputeras here were treated as second class Bumiputeras.
Sabahans yearn for the days where race does not come into the political equation and the Chief Minister was selected based on the person leading the victorious party irrespective of race. There used to be Chief Ministers from the Chinese, the Kadazans, the Malays and it didn't really matter to us because most important, they were orang kita - orang Sabah.
Then came Dr. Mahathir with his big bags of cash promising a fucked up rotation system which was meant to systematically kill off Sabah. Many people did not support Barisan as an endorsement for the rotation system. In 1994, Sabahans voted not for Barisan, but against a corrupt and incompetent PBS government. In fact, Sabahans voted for a hope of 'Sabah Baru' MINUS the rotation system. PBS won by a majority of 2 seats then. But it was only too unfortunate for them that after the elections, PBS politicians were overwhelmed with greed that they forgot their sense of loyalty (the existence of which is still very much in doubt) and thus began the exodus of the kataks and the rotation system. The rotation system was a failed system. A Chief Minister from different race ruling for two years? This is the passport to legal theft. A gang rape of Sabah so to speak. With only two years, what can a Chief Minister achieve except to quickly fill up his pockets and leave for the rapist to go through the rounds. Osu Sukam lost all his ill-gotten gains in a UK casino. Yong Teck Lee sold off a few pieces of good land and even signed of the sea (the beautiful Likas Bay which fortunately was reviewed). In his overzealous attempt to stay in politics got caught moving in some illegal voters into his constituency Likas (I will write on this at a later date - for now I think this man with hideous sideburns should keep his mouth shut because he is not respected in Sabah as much as he thinks he is). Anyhow, the rotation system stopped just when UMNO was holding it. Coincidence? I don't think so. But UMNO or not, it doesn't matter because at the very least, the fouled rotation system has finally stopped. A federal minister (I forgot his name) even got the nerve to say that it is such an effective and fair system that it should be implemented in Penang. To this ignorant bastard I say, if it is SO effective and fair, why not rotate the post of Prime Minister amongst the races? Fool!
So, Mr Tham, bravo for speaking up but please don't stop there. It does not just end at forcing Sabah businesses to do their exporting to China and East Asia via Port Klang which is a stupid policy to begin with. It is not just making consumer goods the same price. It is about ending this 'big brother' attitude and viewing Sabah the way it should be..as an equal partner in the Federation of Malaysia. And this can start by reviewing Malaysia's history books. Sabah and Sarawak DID NOT join Malaysia. Sabah and Sarawak were equal partners together with Singapore and Malaya to form the federation of Malaysia. I will write on this topic a little later.
Monday, 31st March 2008
Kota Kinabalu: It is high time the Federal Government review some of the current policies that are extremely unfair and are impoverishing Sabah, said former Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Tham Nyip Shen.
This includes the present requirement for Sabah to export its commodities such as cocoa and palm oil through ports in Peninsular Malaysia, besides paying a higher price for consumer goods.
Speaking to reporters here Sunday, Tham, who is also State Science Advisor Datuk Tham Nyip Shen highlighted that due to the an unfair policy, the State is currently estimated to lose about RM300 million of revenues from palm oil export (of an estimated six million tones) alone per annum, based on the current market price of between RM40 - RM50 per tonne.
"With such an unfair policy, how can we not be poor?" he asked.
He pointed out that the lost revenues were actually sufficient to increase the development fund for each MP in the State to RM3 million for them to help improve their constituencies.
And while welcoming the recent statement made by the recent Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs Minister Datuk Shahrir Ahmad, Tham who is also Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) 'think-tank' chief reiterated his previous call to implement a 'uniform pricing policy' for goods across the nation, in order to be fair to the people of Sabah and Sarawak.
Sharir had said that consumers in the country can expect major changes in the demand and supply mechanism, including doing away with controlling the prices of essential goods.
"When Datuk Shahrir assumed the post of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister, he made a few interesting announcements and this certainly gives fresh hope to Malaysians, Sabahans included. This, I say syabas! (well done!) to Datuk Shahrir.
"But, I am particularly keen to pursue an old topic - uniform national pricing policy across the nation. It is never the fault of Sabahans and Sarawakians that we are being separated by the largest sea in the world - the South China Sea. Unfortunately, we are severely punished as a result i.e. paying a higher price for consumer goods (between 20 per cent - 50 per cent )," he said.
He said the case of America which is about 28 times larger than the size of Malaysia, to further illustrate his point. [USA: Area (Land): 9,161,923 SQ KM. Malaysia: Area (Land): 328,550 SQ KM]
"To put it in perspective, traveling from east to west of United States of America requires 5 hours compares to just 2Þ hours in Malaysia. Yet, there is no price difference in most items between New York and Los Angeles when they are 2,462 miles apart compare to that of only 1000 miles between Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur.
"I can quote a few other countries having no price difference. In Malaysia, even national newspapers are more expensive in Sabah, compare to Kuala Lumpur!" he said.
Tham asserted that the renewal of such call for a 'uniform pricing policy' is timely, especially when the people of Sabah and Sarawak had given so much support to the BN Government.
"Sabah is still being recognised as the poorest state in Malaysia, we are not asking for special privilege, what we want is not much, we just want a fair price, the same price that a Malaysian should pay! We hope to live like a Malaysian.
"I am confident that something positive can be done to give a fair treatment to Malaysians residing in Sabah. I would also like to reiterate my call for the Federal Government to equal the export price of commodities from Sabah too," he said.
"Without a fair treatment and a level playing field, Malaysians in Sabah will always be at the losing end and perhaps it is also part of the reasons why today Sabah is still being widely recognized as the poorest state in Malaysia. Why must we suffer all these injustices?" he stressed.
*************************************
The Jesseltonite Review
So finally some BN bigshot from Sabah dares to stand up and tell the Feds that it's time to review unfair policies towards all Sabahans. Isn't this a case of too little too late? For years, and without fear and prejudice I say this was especially so during Mahathir days, Sabahans were treated as second class citizens in Malaysia. Even the Bumiputeras here were treated as second class Bumiputeras.
Sabahans yearn for the days where race does not come into the political equation and the Chief Minister was selected based on the person leading the victorious party irrespective of race. There used to be Chief Ministers from the Chinese, the Kadazans, the Malays and it didn't really matter to us because most important, they were orang kita - orang Sabah.
Then came Dr. Mahathir with his big bags of cash promising a fucked up rotation system which was meant to systematically kill off Sabah. Many people did not support Barisan as an endorsement for the rotation system. In 1994, Sabahans voted not for Barisan, but against a corrupt and incompetent PBS government. In fact, Sabahans voted for a hope of 'Sabah Baru' MINUS the rotation system. PBS won by a majority of 2 seats then. But it was only too unfortunate for them that after the elections, PBS politicians were overwhelmed with greed that they forgot their sense of loyalty (the existence of which is still very much in doubt) and thus began the exodus of the kataks and the rotation system. The rotation system was a failed system. A Chief Minister from different race ruling for two years? This is the passport to legal theft. A gang rape of Sabah so to speak. With only two years, what can a Chief Minister achieve except to quickly fill up his pockets and leave for the rapist to go through the rounds. Osu Sukam lost all his ill-gotten gains in a UK casino. Yong Teck Lee sold off a few pieces of good land and even signed of the sea (the beautiful Likas Bay which fortunately was reviewed). In his overzealous attempt to stay in politics got caught moving in some illegal voters into his constituency Likas (I will write on this at a later date - for now I think this man with hideous sideburns should keep his mouth shut because he is not respected in Sabah as much as he thinks he is). Anyhow, the rotation system stopped just when UMNO was holding it. Coincidence? I don't think so. But UMNO or not, it doesn't matter because at the very least, the fouled rotation system has finally stopped. A federal minister (I forgot his name) even got the nerve to say that it is such an effective and fair system that it should be implemented in Penang. To this ignorant bastard I say, if it is SO effective and fair, why not rotate the post of Prime Minister amongst the races? Fool!
So, Mr Tham, bravo for speaking up but please don't stop there. It does not just end at forcing Sabah businesses to do their exporting to China and East Asia via Port Klang which is a stupid policy to begin with. It is not just making consumer goods the same price. It is about ending this 'big brother' attitude and viewing Sabah the way it should be..as an equal partner in the Federation of Malaysia. And this can start by reviewing Malaysia's history books. Sabah and Sarawak DID NOT join Malaysia. Sabah and Sarawak were equal partners together with Singapore and Malaya to form the federation of Malaysia. I will write on this topic a little later.
Malaysia Wasted Taxpayers' Money Up In Space
Hello Sabahans! Guess where some of your petroleum money has gone too?
"RESULTS OF SPACE TEST OUT SOON" - Opinion
[Dr. Lee Wei Lim, a a Marie Curie Fellow and Malaysian brain scientist in Maastricht University, the Netherlands, has several queries on today’s Star report “Results of space tests out soon” re: Angkasawan Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor.
[Dr. Lee’s comments (in bold) accompanies the Star report viz:]
Results of space tests out soon
PENANG: The results of experiments carried out in space by Angkasawan Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor will be released next month.
The experiment was carried out at the International Space Station or in the “Space” ?
The results of various experiments with proteins and the effects of micro-gravity and space radiation on cells and microbes would be shared with international researchers soon, the country’s first cosmonaut said during the closing of Brain Awareness Week 2008 at Universiti Sains Malaysia yesterday.
How can an Orthopaedic surgeon carry out protein research in the field of molecular biology? Why do we have to focus on space radiation on cells and microbes since we are living on the earth? How does this contribute to the science?
“I have spoken to the scientists and researchers involved in the project and they said the results will be published soon – in about a month’s time,” he said, when responding to questions by students attending his talk on Brain in Space: Our New Frontier.
The results will be published in which international peer reviewed journal? What is the significant scientific background of it?
His talk on the “Brain in Space”, is he qualified to speak about that? Has he been trainned as a neuroscientist? Does he have strong background on the brain? Please see www.pubmed.com and type in “Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor”, no scientific publication related with the brain!
Asked why the experiments had to be carried out in space, the 35-year-old orthopaedic surgeon said it was because zero gravity allowed the specimens to be studied in their 3D form.
Just because to study the specimens in 3D dimension?? Would it be too costly? First of all, how can an orthopardic surgeon involves in scientific neuroscience research? What is the link between the brain and bone (orthopaedic)? Similarly, would you send a dermatologist to study the brain? “Zero gravity allows specimens to be studied in 3D form”, why did this study have to be carried out in the “space” or the space station just for the cell 3D form investigation? In fact, on the earth, we have such “vacuum chamber model” to carry out research on the morphology of cells with “confocal microscopy”, “two-photon microscopy” or “electron microscopy” approach, this will give us even a better control view of the cells in terms the cell morphological changes and technical manipulation aspect. And again, how can an orthopaedic surgeon carry out such complicated and high technique on cells manipulation in the “space”? Is he a cellular biologist? Please look at the Harvard University website on Neurobiology.
“If studied on earth under a microscope, the cells would have been flattened slightly because of the effects of gravity. In space, we can view the specimens as if they were in the human body,” he explained, adding that he was keen on returning to medical practice.
And again, the research was carried at the “International Space Station” or in the “Space”, there is a clear distinction between these two!
Cell flattened??? Please see my previous opinion on vacuum chamber model.
What type of cell did he want to study? What is the hypothesis and scientific support for such a huge cost of investment? “In space, we can view the specimens as if they were in the human body,” based on which scientific publication to support this notion of sentence?? If so, how about carry out such experiment in the vacuum chamber (low cost) of zero gravity with better manipulation on the cells and more scientifically grounded?
“I miss seeing my patients and being in the operating theatre. I also hope to one day find the cure for cancer,” he said.
Miss seeing patients? When a person left his medical career for more than 5 years, is he still eligible to perform his clinical works efficiently? May be, he is exemption.
To find cure for cancer? What is the link between his work in space and cancer as well as the brain?
The experiments were conducted while he was on the International Space Station. On Oct 10, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar made history by becoming the first Malaysian to fly to space.
The experiment was conducted at the International Space Station and not in the “Space”? What sort of experiment? Why can’t it be carried out in the scientific laboratory, with lower cost, more reliable internationally-accepted methods for scientific publication? He is an orthopaedic surgeon with no scientific publication in brain and cellular research, how on earth he knew the works of a professional histologist or cell biologist or brain scientist?
Later, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak launched the book Reaching for the Stars, which was written by Sheikh Mustapha, also known as Ajil, the late brother of Dr Sheikh Muszaphar.
No comments.
The book is Ajil’s personal account of Dr Sheikh Muszaphar’s journey from the time he was short-listed, trained, and selected as Malaysia’s first astronaut to his journey into space late last year.
No comments.
But Ajil had a fall and slipped into a coma while his brother was still in space and died days after Dr Sheikh Muszaphar’s safe return to earth.
No comments.
"RESULTS OF SPACE TEST OUT SOON" - Opinion
[Dr. Lee Wei Lim, a a Marie Curie Fellow and Malaysian brain scientist in Maastricht University, the Netherlands, has several queries on today’s Star report “Results of space tests out soon” re: Angkasawan Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor.
[Dr. Lee’s comments (in bold) accompanies the Star report viz:]
Results of space tests out soon
PENANG: The results of experiments carried out in space by Angkasawan Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor will be released next month.
The experiment was carried out at the International Space Station or in the “Space” ?
The results of various experiments with proteins and the effects of micro-gravity and space radiation on cells and microbes would be shared with international researchers soon, the country’s first cosmonaut said during the closing of Brain Awareness Week 2008 at Universiti Sains Malaysia yesterday.
How can an Orthopaedic surgeon carry out protein research in the field of molecular biology? Why do we have to focus on space radiation on cells and microbes since we are living on the earth? How does this contribute to the science?
“I have spoken to the scientists and researchers involved in the project and they said the results will be published soon – in about a month’s time,” he said, when responding to questions by students attending his talk on Brain in Space: Our New Frontier.
The results will be published in which international peer reviewed journal? What is the significant scientific background of it?
His talk on the “Brain in Space”, is he qualified to speak about that? Has he been trainned as a neuroscientist? Does he have strong background on the brain? Please see www.pubmed.com and type in “Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor”, no scientific publication related with the brain!
Asked why the experiments had to be carried out in space, the 35-year-old orthopaedic surgeon said it was because zero gravity allowed the specimens to be studied in their 3D form.
Just because to study the specimens in 3D dimension?? Would it be too costly? First of all, how can an orthopardic surgeon involves in scientific neuroscience research? What is the link between the brain and bone (orthopaedic)? Similarly, would you send a dermatologist to study the brain? “Zero gravity allows specimens to be studied in 3D form”, why did this study have to be carried out in the “space” or the space station just for the cell 3D form investigation? In fact, on the earth, we have such “vacuum chamber model” to carry out research on the morphology of cells with “confocal microscopy”, “two-photon microscopy” or “electron microscopy” approach, this will give us even a better control view of the cells in terms the cell morphological changes and technical manipulation aspect. And again, how can an orthopaedic surgeon carry out such complicated and high technique on cells manipulation in the “space”? Is he a cellular biologist? Please look at the Harvard University website on Neurobiology.
“If studied on earth under a microscope, the cells would have been flattened slightly because of the effects of gravity. In space, we can view the specimens as if they were in the human body,” he explained, adding that he was keen on returning to medical practice.
And again, the research was carried at the “International Space Station” or in the “Space”, there is a clear distinction between these two!
Cell flattened??? Please see my previous opinion on vacuum chamber model.
What type of cell did he want to study? What is the hypothesis and scientific support for such a huge cost of investment? “In space, we can view the specimens as if they were in the human body,” based on which scientific publication to support this notion of sentence?? If so, how about carry out such experiment in the vacuum chamber (low cost) of zero gravity with better manipulation on the cells and more scientifically grounded?
“I miss seeing my patients and being in the operating theatre. I also hope to one day find the cure for cancer,” he said.
Miss seeing patients? When a person left his medical career for more than 5 years, is he still eligible to perform his clinical works efficiently? May be, he is exemption.
To find cure for cancer? What is the link between his work in space and cancer as well as the brain?
The experiments were conducted while he was on the International Space Station. On Oct 10, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar made history by becoming the first Malaysian to fly to space.
The experiment was conducted at the International Space Station and not in the “Space”? What sort of experiment? Why can’t it be carried out in the scientific laboratory, with lower cost, more reliable internationally-accepted methods for scientific publication? He is an orthopaedic surgeon with no scientific publication in brain and cellular research, how on earth he knew the works of a professional histologist or cell biologist or brain scientist?
Later, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak launched the book Reaching for the Stars, which was written by Sheikh Mustapha, also known as Ajil, the late brother of Dr Sheikh Muszaphar.
No comments.
The book is Ajil’s personal account of Dr Sheikh Muszaphar’s journey from the time he was short-listed, trained, and selected as Malaysia’s first astronaut to his journey into space late last year.
No comments.
But Ajil had a fall and slipped into a coma while his brother was still in space and died days after Dr Sheikh Muszaphar’s safe return to earth.
No comments.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Power Cuts in Sabah? Boring!
Power cuts in Sabah again? Isn't that old news? The electricity problem in Sabah has been getting so serious that Sabahans are getting 'sensitized' to the fact that powercuts are just part and parcel of life in what was once the richest state in Malaysia after Selangor.
I remember in 1994 when the BN was shouting around their slogan Sabah Baru! where poverty was to be eradicated in 15 years and powercuts will be a thing of the past. Now in 2008, we have still not seen any major improvements. And by major improvements I mean no more power cuts! I have been in Australia for three years to do my degree in Melbourne University and I have never ever experienced a power cut except for once when they had to fix up the fire alarm system in the apartment I was staying in. If Sabah can achieve that, then it will truly be a Sabah Baru.
So why is Sabah facing so many power failures? Who is responsible?
Here's one example of the causes of power failures (taken from Daily Express):
Power Thefts in Sandakan Rampant
Sandakan: District Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) Manager Madeline Chu regretted that power theft had been rampant in the municipality, despite regular surveillance by her personnel.
I remember in 1994 when the BN was shouting around their slogan Sabah Baru! where poverty was to be eradicated in 15 years and powercuts will be a thing of the past. Now in 2008, we have still not seen any major improvements. And by major improvements I mean no more power cuts! I have been in Australia for three years to do my degree in Melbourne University and I have never ever experienced a power cut except for once when they had to fix up the fire alarm system in the apartment I was staying in. If Sabah can achieve that, then it will truly be a Sabah Baru.
So why is Sabah facing so many power failures? Who is responsible?
Here's one example of the causes of power failures (taken from Daily Express):
Power Thefts in Sandakan Rampant
Sandakan: District Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) Manager Madeline Chu regretted that power theft had been rampant in the municipality, despite regular surveillance by her personnel.
She said the "phenomenon" had been a regular feature in the squatter colonies dominated by foreigners and illegal immigrants.
She hoped that the relevant authorities would take firm action to curb illegal connections of power lines, by providing power the legal way to avoid such activity.
Chu was responding to numerous complaints by local residents of power theft activities in the Sedco industrial area, Mile 3, which they said had become increasingly rampant.
Obviously, the culprits, said to be illegal immigrants, took no heed of the action by SESB personnel in disconnecting illegal supplies and connections in the squatter areas, she said.
She warned that the thieves might not be aware that they could be electrocuted when come in contact with the wrong wires.
So here's another one of the reason why Sabahans strongly reject giving these illegal immigrants permanent residency and citizenship! If the Americans and the human rights groups wanna talk, they can gladly take them all in. Sabah does not need these illegal immigrants. It's a different story if they come as legal workers, pay tax, pay for water and other facilities, pay for education etc. As of now, Sabah does not have enough healthcare and education facilities to cater for true Sabahans what more share with these illegal immigrants.
Anyway, back to the topic of electricity and other facilities, my message to the Government of Sabah is this. We don't need dictators like Dr. M to bring progress to Sabah. What we need are leaders who are willing to go that extra mile to provide and mantain the basics of civil society such as clean water supply, power supply, good roads and transportation system, good and established healthcare and education, rule of law..and with meritocracy, the rest will come on the back of highly motivated and educated Sabahans.
You Forgot Who Voted For You
Malaysia-Today.net
No Holds Barred by Raja Petra Kamarudin
Added 26th March 2008
This was what one mainstream newspaper reported on Monday:
NGOs 'concerned over fate' of Perak Malays
By HAH FOONG LIAN
IPOH: A group of some 20 Perak Malay non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has voiced its concern over the fate of Malays under the new DAP-PKR-PAS government in the state. The group, which held a special meeting at Tambun Heights here on Sunday, will submit a memorandum to the Sultan of Perak.
Among those who attended the meeting were leaders of the Perak Malay Teachers Association, Perak Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS), Perak Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim), Perak Association of Muslim Students, Perak 4B Youth movement, Perak Council of Former Barisan Elected Representatives (Mubarak), Perak Malay Traders Association and Perak Wanita NGO.
Nonee Ashirin Mohd Radzi, who chaired the meeting, said they could not accept the six-three-one formula to be used in the make-up of the state executive council. Nonee Ashirin, one of the founder members of Perak Pertubuhan Profesional dan Pewaris Bangsa (Prowaris), said the formula did not reflect the composition of the state population where Malays are the majority.
The formula agreed upon by the new state government would see the DAP taking up six exco posts, PKR three and PAS one. “There should be more Malays in the exco line-up,” Nonee Ashirin said, adding that the exco should instead have six Malays and four non-Malays, like the representation under the Barisan Nasional rule.
She said the NGOs also rejected the creation of two Deputy Mentri Besar posts because it was not provided for in the state Constitution. “The two positions are there just to fulfil the DAP's political interest,” she claimed.
No Holds Barred by Raja Petra Kamarudin
Added 26th March 2008
This was what one mainstream newspaper reported on Monday:
NGOs 'concerned over fate' of Perak Malays
By HAH FOONG LIAN
IPOH: A group of some 20 Perak Malay non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has voiced its concern over the fate of Malays under the new DAP-PKR-PAS government in the state. The group, which held a special meeting at Tambun Heights here on Sunday, will submit a memorandum to the Sultan of Perak.
Among those who attended the meeting were leaders of the Perak Malay Teachers Association, Perak Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS), Perak Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia (Abim), Perak Association of Muslim Students, Perak 4B Youth movement, Perak Council of Former Barisan Elected Representatives (Mubarak), Perak Malay Traders Association and Perak Wanita NGO.
Nonee Ashirin Mohd Radzi, who chaired the meeting, said they could not accept the six-three-one formula to be used in the make-up of the state executive council. Nonee Ashirin, one of the founder members of Perak Pertubuhan Profesional dan Pewaris Bangsa (Prowaris), said the formula did not reflect the composition of the state population where Malays are the majority.
The formula agreed upon by the new state government would see the DAP taking up six exco posts, PKR three and PAS one. “There should be more Malays in the exco line-up,” Nonee Ashirin said, adding that the exco should instead have six Malays and four non-Malays, like the representation under the Barisan Nasional rule.
She said the NGOs also rejected the creation of two Deputy Mentri Besar posts because it was not provided for in the state Constitution. “The two positions are there just to fulfil the DAP's political interest,” she claimed.
Datuk Kamilia Ibrahim, who represented Perak Wanita NGO, said the popular votes showed that more voters supported the Barisan instead of the Opposition. She said the Barisan garnered some 333,000 votes compared to 282,000 that went to the opposition front. Based on this, she said Barisan had a simple majority and should be allowed to form a minority government.
********************
These 20 Malay NGOs and movements are talking with their heads up their ass. Based on their arguments, considering that the three opposition parties garnered more than half the popular votes in Peninsular Malaysia, would it not therefore be correct to say that the opposition should form the Federal Government in West Malaysia while Barisan Nasional should only form the ‘Regional’ Government in East Malaysia?
Since when is the number of votes the factor to decide who gets to form the government? Malaysia practices the first-past-the-post system. Over 50 years since Merdeka, the opposition has been winning a higher number of votes in some states, but because it is seats and not votes that count, it always ends up with Barisan Nasional instead of the opposition that forms the government.
The issue as to who won more votes than whom can be laid to rest. It is pointless to argue this point as every man and his dog knows that the opposition garnered more votes than Barisan Nasional. There were an additional one million votes that were stuffed into the ballot boxes, about a quarter of those in the form of postal votes. If the postal votes system had been abolished, as what the opposition had been clamouring for all these many years, and if the electoral roll had been cleaned up and purged of phantom voters, today the opposition would no longer be an opposition because it would have formed the federal government and the Prime Minister would probably be Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail. And let us admit that Wan Azizah is, by far, more attractive than Abdullah Ahmad Badawi – or even compared to Rafidah and Sharizat.
Let us make one thing very clear. There is only this Houdini and David Copperfield type perception that Barisan Nasional won more votes than the opposition. Barisan Nasional actually won less votes but their votes were padded with one million ‘additional’ votes. That is how they created this perception of ‘win’. And in spite of all that and in spite of the gerrymandering and in spite of the many other transgressions and violations like threatening another ‘May 13’ if Barisan Nasional loses its two-thirds majority, they still got their ass kicked real hard. Imagine what would have happened if it had been a level playing field. Let me repeat that: the opposition and not Barisan Nasional won the 8 March 2008 general election.
And do you know what was one of the key reasons why the opposition won? Okay, there were the rampant and blatant corruption, the arrogance of the Barisan Nasional leaders, the keris-waving, the ‘go back to China’ shouting matches in Parliament, and much, much more, that made most Malaysians just plain nauseous But what really moved the voters was the ‘we-are-one’ campaign of the opposition. The opposition did not talk as Malays, Chinese, Indians, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, etc. They talked in a ‘we are Malaysians’ tone of voice.
Malaysians have just about had it with all this racial slur and rhetoric. Not only the Chinese and Indians have had their fill with racism but a fair percentage of Malays as well can no longer stomach the race politics, which is the hallmark of Barisan Nasional. These people just don’t get it. They still have not woken up to the realisation that it was race that lost them the election. They blame the blogs and the internet. They say it was the blogs and the internet which caused the Barisan Nasional defeat. No, the blogs and internet just played the role of providing an alternative source of news to the voters. The blogs and internet could not manufacture the news. The news had to be there in the first place. The blogs and the internet were just the medium to deliver this news to the voters which would not have been available to them otherwise.
And today they still scream about race and racial quotas. Just read what these 20 Malay NGOs and movements said on Sunday. It is still about racial quotas. Why stop at this? Why not just demand that 100% of the positions be reserved for Malays? After all, this is a Malay country, Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, and the Chinese and Indians are pendatang, as Umno constantly reminds us. So would not 100% of the positions be given to Malays be more apt? Furthermore, the Chinese and Indian parties got wiped out in the last election. The Chinese and Indian parties did not deliver the votes. Without the Malays and the natives of Sabah and Sarawak, Barisan Nasional would have been totally wiped out. So it makes more sense that 100% of the positions go to the Malays with none at all for the Chinese and Indians.
Barisan Nasional has to be rudely woken up if it has not already done so. The more they harp on race and racial quotas the deeper into the rut they will go. What’s so wrong if the Chinese or Indians get an extra seat, or vice versa? This is not a number’s game anyway. And, unfortunately, even those in the opposition appear to have fallen for the Barisan Nasional trap by echoing the same sentiments about racial quotas in the government. This is a Barisan Nasional game. If the opposition also tries to play this same game they will lose their pants. Barisan Nasional is an expert at race politics and this is their cup of tea. The opposition enters this gelanggang at its own peril. Rest assured the opposition will lose the race game if it tries to engage Barisan Nasional in its arena.
The opposition has to fight in a different arena. They have to create a new arena and force Barisan Nasional to come engage them in this new arena. And this new arena is non-race-based politics. This is what the opposition is good at and this is where Barisan Nasional will be like a fish out of water.
Hey, I don’t care how many Malays, Chinese and Indians sit in the EXCO. Let it be 100% Malays or 100% Chinese or 100% Indians or whatever. If it has to be 100% Chinese just so that Malaysia can be like Singapore, an extremely successful country that is run by almost 100% Chinese, then so be it. I care a damn about what race is running this country. I just want to see the emergence of the best country on earth. And if we have to go to Mars to find these people then so be it.
Whoever sit as Menteri Besar/Chief Minister and whoever happen to be their ten EXCO Members is not important. What is would be that these people look after the interests of all the races. If we need five Malays in the EXCO to ensure that the Malays are looked after and three Chinese and two Indians to sit in the EXCO to ensure that the Chinese and Indians are also looked after then something must be terribly wrong with this government.
Why must it be Malays look after the Malay interest and Chinese after Chinese interest and Indians after Indian interest? We have only one Prime Minister, a Malay, and is he the Prime Minister of only the Malays who will only look after the interests of only the Malays or is he a Prime Minister for all Malaysians? The Malay candidate did not win this election on just Malay votes while the Chinese won on Chinese votes and the Indian on Indian votes. All candidates, never mind of which race and whether from the opposition or Barisan Nasional, won on a combined Malay-Chinese-Indian votes.
Every candidate, irrespective of party and race, won because of the votes from all the races. So the Malay, Chinese and Indian in government DOES NOT represent his or her community. He or she did not get into government because of the votes from his or her own community. So, once in government, why do they now talk about representing their community? Is this not a violation of the vote that we gave you? We did not vote for you so that you could get into government to serve, represent or protect your community. We voted for you so that you can serve Malaysia. So do just that and enough with this 5:3:2, 4:4:2, 4:3:3, 6:2:2 argument. Even if it is 10:0:0 also never mind as long as you Malay, Chinese and Indian in government know that you serve me and the country and not your own race or community.
Aiyah, itu pun kena ajar ke? Kayu sungguh!
Yet Another Food Blog
Alright guys, I've found yet another food blog on Jesselton makan. This one's quite intensive and I believe the blogger handling this one is quite experienced with food in and around Jesselton. Yummy!
http://kkfood.blog.com/
Do check it out.
http://kkfood.blog.com/
Do check it out.
Abdullah to Hear Views of Sabah BN Leaders
The Daily Express
Saturday, 29th March 2008
Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders will be presenting their views and feelings on the current political situation in the State to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi during his visit to Sabah.
Among the issues the State assemblymen/women, members of Parliament and BN leaders will raise will be Sabah's representation in the Federal Cabinet.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman said the Prime Minister had informed him during Umno Supreme Council meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday that he (Abdullah) will be coming to Sabah soon.
Speaking after attending Kolej Yayasan Sabah 13th Convocation at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort here, Friday, Musa, who is also Sabah BN chairman said: "He (Abdullah) will be meeting with all BN leaders including assemblymen and MPs to listen to their views and feelings about the current political situation in Sabah."
Musa also said that while it is the PM's prerogative to appoint the number of Ministers and Deputy Ministers from the BN component party members, Sabah had initially harboured high hope for more posts in the Federal Cabinet.
However, what the State get was only a raw deal with the post of three Ministers being retained and Deputy Ministers raised from two to four while Sarawak, the posts of two Ministers were retained and the number of Deputy Ministers increased from four to seven.
Musa stressed that Sabah attained a huge victory during the parliamentary election in the March 8 general elections by winning 24 of the 25 seats it had contested.
However, Sabah is now left with only two Deputy Ministers when Kimanis MP Datuk Anifah Aman rejected the post of Transport Deputy Minister and Kalabakan MP Datuk Abdul Ghapur Salleh quitting as Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment for personal reasons.
"We will discuss this issue with the PM. I believe they (Anifah and Ghapur) will be replaced by our (pool of Umno) MPs who do not have position in the Government."
"But we had really hoped for additional Minister posts (to be given to Sabah MPs)," he said.
Musa said the State would request the two Deputy Minister's posts to be given to Sabah Umno since the quota is exclusively for Sabah Umno MPs.
Several State BN leaders including MPs and Assemblymen have openly articulated the people's desire to have more Sabah representation in the Federal Cabinet.
This being as a gratitude to the State after winning 24 of the 25 parliamentary seat it had contested in the recent elections.
Anifah who was offered the post of Transport Deputy Minister rejected it on grounds that he wants to make way for a younger person.
Ghapur on Wednesday quit his post giving the excuse that he did not want to be tied down with official duties as a government officer.
Sabah Umno assistant secretary Datuk Masidi Manjun did not mince his words when he said that Sabah had been dubbed Barisan's fixed deposit (bastion).
"At the moment, we feel that we are not getting enough interest from our fixed deposit."
"If the interest is not good, people will put it elsewhere," he said adding that many people in the State were disappointed with the current representation.
Masidi also said that many also felt that less significant posts were given to Sabah.
Meanwhile, Musa said that Keadilan's de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had not met with any of the Sabah 24 BN's Mps.
He expressed belief that all the leaders including Assemblymen and MPs have high integrity and believed that "that they will be faithful to the leadership of the BN."
Among the issues the State assemblymen/women, members of Parliament and BN leaders will raise will be Sabah's representation in the Federal Cabinet.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman said the Prime Minister had informed him during Umno Supreme Council meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday that he (Abdullah) will be coming to Sabah soon.
Speaking after attending Kolej Yayasan Sabah 13th Convocation at Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort here, Friday, Musa, who is also Sabah BN chairman said: "He (Abdullah) will be meeting with all BN leaders including assemblymen and MPs to listen to their views and feelings about the current political situation in Sabah."
Musa also said that while it is the PM's prerogative to appoint the number of Ministers and Deputy Ministers from the BN component party members, Sabah had initially harboured high hope for more posts in the Federal Cabinet.
However, what the State get was only a raw deal with the post of three Ministers being retained and Deputy Ministers raised from two to four while Sarawak, the posts of two Ministers were retained and the number of Deputy Ministers increased from four to seven.
Musa stressed that Sabah attained a huge victory during the parliamentary election in the March 8 general elections by winning 24 of the 25 seats it had contested.
However, Sabah is now left with only two Deputy Ministers when Kimanis MP Datuk Anifah Aman rejected the post of Transport Deputy Minister and Kalabakan MP Datuk Abdul Ghapur Salleh quitting as Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment for personal reasons.
"We will discuss this issue with the PM. I believe they (Anifah and Ghapur) will be replaced by our (pool of Umno) MPs who do not have position in the Government."
"But we had really hoped for additional Minister posts (to be given to Sabah MPs)," he said.
Musa said the State would request the two Deputy Minister's posts to be given to Sabah Umno since the quota is exclusively for Sabah Umno MPs.
Several State BN leaders including MPs and Assemblymen have openly articulated the people's desire to have more Sabah representation in the Federal Cabinet.
This being as a gratitude to the State after winning 24 of the 25 parliamentary seat it had contested in the recent elections.
Anifah who was offered the post of Transport Deputy Minister rejected it on grounds that he wants to make way for a younger person.
Ghapur on Wednesday quit his post giving the excuse that he did not want to be tied down with official duties as a government officer.
Sabah Umno assistant secretary Datuk Masidi Manjun did not mince his words when he said that Sabah had been dubbed Barisan's fixed deposit (bastion).
"At the moment, we feel that we are not getting enough interest from our fixed deposit."
"If the interest is not good, people will put it elsewhere," he said adding that many people in the State were disappointed with the current representation.
Masidi also said that many also felt that less significant posts were given to Sabah.
Meanwhile, Musa said that Keadilan's de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had not met with any of the Sabah 24 BN's Mps.
He expressed belief that all the leaders including Assemblymen and MPs have high integrity and believed that "that they will be faithful to the leadership of the BN."
Sabah Rhinos Scramble Point Off Leaders KL Plus
30th March 2008
Malaysian Premier League
Sabah vs KL Plus
Result: 2-2
Goals:
8' Sindih (SAB)
44' Agbo (KL PLUS)
80' Hanif (KL PLUS)
83' Dalibor (SAB)
Go SABAH!
Malaysian Premier League
Sabah vs KL Plus
Result: 2-2
Goals:
8' Sindih (SAB)
44' Agbo (KL PLUS)
80' Hanif (KL PLUS)
83' Dalibor (SAB)
Go SABAH!
The Jesseltonite Review: Headlines on Daily Express Today
So I got to the office early today, picked up the Daily Express lying on the floor and started reading today's headlines.
"If Anwar Becomes PM..."
Let's sum the article up. It's basically our former PM Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed saying that Anwar Ibrahim is, quote, 'a man of many parts' end quote. He says Anwar has a glib tongue and could draw the attention of people from different groups and backgrounds. Not only that, Anwar will supposedly be 'led by the nose' by the 'EVIL' West and Malays will be forced to kowtow.
The rest of the article talks about his defense of other accusations laid out by his critics such as the clause in UMNO's constitution requiring support from 60 divisions to contest a President's post, etc etc.
Let's focus on what he said about Anwar though. Yes perhaps it IS true that Anwar has a glib tongue and that he could attract the attention of people from different groups and backgrounds. Isn't this the true Malaysian leader? Isn't this what we want..somebody who can listen and take into account the rakyat's grievances and act upon it for the rakyat's well-being? And mind you, the rakyat does not mean the Malays. The rakyat does not mean the UMNO cronies or the Mahathirism cronies. The rakyat means - in Mahathir's words - ALL MALAYSIANS OF DIFFERENT GROUPS AND BACKGROUNDS.
And kowtow-ing to the Evil West? Come on Mahathir, you know all about the power of kowtow. I mean, look at all the rich businessmen and cronies who have kowtow-ed to you. While it is true the West especially by the USA (George W. Bush specifically) is an arrogant lot with their constant bullying of smaller nations and their somewhat biased support of Israel, but that does not mean we, Malaysia, cannot look to the West to learn and adapt democratic ideals and good governance to our political system. Australia can be an example for good governance. Former PM John Howard stepped down with grace and has rarely spoken up because he knows that a democratic country allows for a change of government and that his time is over. Mahathir doesn't know that because during his time, Malaysia wasn't a democratic country but rather an autocratic one. A country controlled by a semi-dictator where opposition to his power was stifled (examples, Ops Lalang, 1988 Judicial Crisis, Revision of UMNO Constitution to make challenge to Presidency near impossible, getting rid of his popular Deputy the list goes on). My challenge to Mahathir and Mahathirist, why not open up to the West just as Japan did during the Meiji Revolution NOT to kowtow to them but to learn from them? The West does not mean the 'Evil' USA, it could mean the 'Good' USA. The West could mean the British and Australia where good governance prevail. The West could mean Germany where engineering and technological advances can be imported. The West could mean Italy, Spain, Eastern Europe where adapting local culture into architecture at a high standards could be learnt from. It could mean many things.
So if Anwar becomes PM:
1) He could be a PM for ALL MALAYSIANS since he can impress upon and garner votes from Malaysians of different race and religion. Mahathir is blinded by UMNO and the politics of the past. Malaysians especially the younger ones are fed-up with racial politics and want to move on to a two-party system where issues such as rising prices of commodities, shaky governance, corruption, weak education system can be discussed rather than race, race, race. Of course we wouldn't know how well Anwar will perform but if he is the PM I'd put my money on a more liberal and open political system released from the bondage of racial politics.
2) He could adapt Western principles. Ultra conservative critics such as Mahathir could accuse him of kowtowing. But Malaysians need to break away from this fear of the West and instead open up to them and learn their 'good' stuff to adapt into the country. Japan opened up to the West but I don't see the Japanese giving up their culture. Nor do I see them kowtowing to the West. Singapore and Hong Kong too. They did pretty well by working WITH the West. They're still doing well. So if Anwar becomes PM, perhaps Malaysia will finally open up to the West and learn things such as good governance, the importance of eradicating corruption, an efficient police force, a trustworthy and independent judiciary, and good healthcare and education system, the list goes on.
Again I say and stress, we won't know how Anwar performs until he has. On the other hand, we've already seen Mahathir as PM.
When Mahathir was PM:
"If Anwar Becomes PM..."
Let's sum the article up. It's basically our former PM Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed saying that Anwar Ibrahim is, quote, 'a man of many parts' end quote. He says Anwar has a glib tongue and could draw the attention of people from different groups and backgrounds. Not only that, Anwar will supposedly be 'led by the nose' by the 'EVIL' West and Malays will be forced to kowtow.
The rest of the article talks about his defense of other accusations laid out by his critics such as the clause in UMNO's constitution requiring support from 60 divisions to contest a President's post, etc etc.
Let's focus on what he said about Anwar though. Yes perhaps it IS true that Anwar has a glib tongue and that he could attract the attention of people from different groups and backgrounds. Isn't this the true Malaysian leader? Isn't this what we want..somebody who can listen and take into account the rakyat's grievances and act upon it for the rakyat's well-being? And mind you, the rakyat does not mean the Malays. The rakyat does not mean the UMNO cronies or the Mahathirism cronies. The rakyat means - in Mahathir's words - ALL MALAYSIANS OF DIFFERENT GROUPS AND BACKGROUNDS.
And kowtow-ing to the Evil West? Come on Mahathir, you know all about the power of kowtow. I mean, look at all the rich businessmen and cronies who have kowtow-ed to you. While it is true the West especially by the USA (George W. Bush specifically) is an arrogant lot with their constant bullying of smaller nations and their somewhat biased support of Israel, but that does not mean we, Malaysia, cannot look to the West to learn and adapt democratic ideals and good governance to our political system. Australia can be an example for good governance. Former PM John Howard stepped down with grace and has rarely spoken up because he knows that a democratic country allows for a change of government and that his time is over. Mahathir doesn't know that because during his time, Malaysia wasn't a democratic country but rather an autocratic one. A country controlled by a semi-dictator where opposition to his power was stifled (examples, Ops Lalang, 1988 Judicial Crisis, Revision of UMNO Constitution to make challenge to Presidency near impossible, getting rid of his popular Deputy the list goes on). My challenge to Mahathir and Mahathirist, why not open up to the West just as Japan did during the Meiji Revolution NOT to kowtow to them but to learn from them? The West does not mean the 'Evil' USA, it could mean the 'Good' USA. The West could mean the British and Australia where good governance prevail. The West could mean Germany where engineering and technological advances can be imported. The West could mean Italy, Spain, Eastern Europe where adapting local culture into architecture at a high standards could be learnt from. It could mean many things.
So if Anwar becomes PM:
1) He could be a PM for ALL MALAYSIANS since he can impress upon and garner votes from Malaysians of different race and religion. Mahathir is blinded by UMNO and the politics of the past. Malaysians especially the younger ones are fed-up with racial politics and want to move on to a two-party system where issues such as rising prices of commodities, shaky governance, corruption, weak education system can be discussed rather than race, race, race. Of course we wouldn't know how well Anwar will perform but if he is the PM I'd put my money on a more liberal and open political system released from the bondage of racial politics.
2) He could adapt Western principles. Ultra conservative critics such as Mahathir could accuse him of kowtowing. But Malaysians need to break away from this fear of the West and instead open up to them and learn their 'good' stuff to adapt into the country. Japan opened up to the West but I don't see the Japanese giving up their culture. Nor do I see them kowtowing to the West. Singapore and Hong Kong too. They did pretty well by working WITH the West. They're still doing well. So if Anwar becomes PM, perhaps Malaysia will finally open up to the West and learn things such as good governance, the importance of eradicating corruption, an efficient police force, a trustworthy and independent judiciary, and good healthcare and education system, the list goes on.
Again I say and stress, we won't know how Anwar performs until he has. On the other hand, we've already seen Mahathir as PM.
When Mahathir was PM:
1) Freedom was curtailed. Opposition to his power was stifled. The ISA, which our Tunku promised will not be used to shut opposition up, was deliberately used to kill off all opposition to his arrogance and examples include Ops Lalang. He also removed Tun Salleh Abbas, the Chief Judge and started the rot of the Malaysian judiciary which at one point of time was well-known for its independence. In true derhaka fashion, he reduced the power of the Royals because the Royals were getting on his nerves.
2) Money politics prevailed. It was during Mahathir's time, the Opposition in Sabah crumbled because money was withheld on the argument that 'the Opposition will misuse the Federal funds' and the money was instead used to buy politicians over to BN. Excuse me, a big chunk of Federal Funds come from Sabah through the black gold that you steal from us. So now BN is shitting in their pants just thinking about the pending retribution. Money was also used to win UMNO grassroots support. His policy is simple. You make me like you, I give you money. You make me hate you, I hold money. You vote for me, I give you money. You vote for Opposition, I don't give you money.
3) Patronage system enhanced. Need I say more? "You got connections, you go up. I don't care you good enough or not. You lousy also I will take care of you because I like you." That's how it is in Mahathir's Malaysia.
4) Racial politics was improvised to control his own people in UMNO and to create fear so that voters will vote for BN.
5) Corruption was so high that anybody could get rich as long as you knew somebody up there. Police were at their worse state. Not to mention the judiciary as proven by the Lingam case. The Lingam case is a joke..everybody knows the video clip is real and the Royal Commission should cover the rot of the Malaysian judiciary all the way back to 1988 when Mahathir removed Tun Salleh.
6)
7)
8)
9)
10) The list is too long....it goes on and on.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Mahathirism
Mahathirism - an action, attitude or culture which bears the ultra and arrogant mindset of Malaysia's 4th Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed. Tun, Dr.M, Ma yee sang, Dictator, Autocrat, ultra-Malay.
As a young Malay (only by the definition of Malaysia's constitution, otherwise he's quite a mix of different races), he was an ultra, fighting for the Malay agenda. After the May 13th incident, Dr. M wrote a personal letter to then PM Tunku Abdul Rahman calling for him to be personally responsible and to resign. Seeing the danger that these ultras posed to UMNO and the Malay + Malaysian agenda, there was a need to act, so the Tunku expelled him and the other ultras from UMNO. Dr. M then authored the Malay Dilemma underlining his argument for special rights to the Malays.
Fast forward a few years, Dr. M became UMNO President and Malaysia's 4th PM. Widely regarded as the Bapa Perindustrian Malaysia, he brought radical changes to industrialised the Malaysian economy. Proton, Petronas Twin Towers, Multimedia Super Corridor etc etc. Many Malaysians 'look up' to our Bapa Perindustrian. Some say that 'Well yes he was corrupted, but at least he brought progress and modernization to the country'.
Huh? Couldn't Malaysia progress and modernize all the same without Mahathir or Mahathirism? I don't see Australia or Hong Kong lagging behind..they don't have any dictators or autocratic Prime Ministers. Worse, Malaysia's so called progress is built on weak foundations. Malaysia's skyscrapers, grande federal administrative territory, modern airport are the first part of the phrase 'First World Infrastructure, Third World Mentality'. This is bound to crash just as what we see in Indonesia during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis.
As of this moment, Dr. M is vigourously trying to bring down his successor PM AAB. Some of his accusations toward our PM now are true to what voters feel especially his inability to rein in on the Little Napoleons and his arrogant SIL. But a lot of Tun's arguments and accusations don't quite make sense because it was all the left over products of what we call Mahathirism. Take Rafidah Aziz and Samy Vellu for example. Weren't they his bootlickers once? And the use of the ISA on Hindraf..didn't Mahathir use the ISA to silence opposition too? What about the accusation that AAB is allowing cronyism and corruption? WTH this mad Doctor's name was SYNONYMOUS with Corruption and Cronyism.
In fact, we should be respecting AAB for daring to lose and working towards a healthier democracy with more opposition. Had it been Dr. M, it would surely have been Ops Lalang II. Hooligans will be let loose on the streets. A state of Emergency would be declared. And all states including Opposition led ones would have been controlled by KL directly under the PM.
BN is shitting in their pants thinking about the Kataks from their camp who may jump anytime to BR. Let's hope the BN MPs don't forget what Mahathir did in Sabah in the 80s. Money was pumped in, incentives were given, federal funds withheld, everything was done to ensure Sabah does not fall into opposition hands again. Retribution huh? Too bad the retribution isn't going to hit the culprit if it does happen.
Now he's saying it's not his fault that Tun Salleh Abbas got removed as Chief Judge. Who else would gain from the removal of the Tun Judge if not for the Tun Ultra who was trying to do consolidate power unethically?
Mahathir is also the main culprit in the Lingam case. Quite obvious huh? Notice anything missing from his list of criticism of AAB as to why BN didn't win as much? That's right..Lingam! Any election analysts would point to the high-profile case as one of factors for low public confidence in Abdullah's anti-corruption drive. But not our Tun Dr. M, because he 'cannot recall, cannot remember' why the judiciary is rotting.
Anyway, Mahathir is a thing of the past now although Mahathirism still lingers on. Of course he comes up and say things once in a while but he did help the opposition win bigger this time so we should thank him too. Hopefully, with Tun's help as the Opposition within UMNO, PM AAB will be pressured to work harder on his Election 2004 promises. That is if he even survives the UMNO elections and/or the rumoured katak migration.
To Dr Mahathir: Behold the fruits of your doing!
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