Truly Malaysian

Tetek, Nenek and Kampung Buah Dada

2011-10-22T22:51:00.002+08:00

"Tetek, Nenek and Kampung Buah Dada"

Do not be surprised if your childrens suddenly asked you about the meaning of these words .

In case you are not aware about it, these words are very popular in Malaysia now when the practice of gutter politics to attack Malaysian opposition party has reached an all time high when  Pro-Umno blogs claimed that Lim Guan Eng’s son molested a female schoolmate at the Heng Yee Chinese secondary school, and that Lim Guan Eng had paid off the girl’s family RM200,000 in a bid to shut them up.

Pro UMNO blogger such as Papagomo and MIM has inserted a photo of Anya Corke, the girl claimed by pro-Umno bloggers to have been molested by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s son in their latest attack against the Penang's chief minister. Anya Corke has denied ever meeting with Lim Guan Eng'son. In fact, Corke claims that she has not even been to Malaysia for the past seven years as reported by Free Malaysian Today.

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/10/21/anya-corke-never-met-lim-guan-engs-son/

What really make Malaysian furious is that the gutter pro UMNO bloggers has dragged an innocent children into their   heartless and shameful attack against Lim Guan Eng.

Not enough with that , The UMNO youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has rubbed salt into wounds when he had written in Twitter “Mungkin dia roboh Kampung Buah Pala sebab nak ganti dengan Kampung Buah Dada” in response to another tweet by pro-Umno blogger “@PapaGomo”. [English translation: Maybe he destroyed Kampung Buah Pala because he wanted to replace it with Kampung Buah Dada.]

But what really shocked me is our deputy PM comments on the issue, as reported by Malaysian Insider
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/muhyiddin-guan-engs-denial-of-sexual-harassment-by-son-not-enough/

Read it and judge it whether these are the fair comments that supposed to be come out from a mouth of a so-called "respectable" 2nd man in Malaysia.

So if your children utterring "Tetek, Nenek and Kampung Buah Dada" please do not scold them. Blame it on  Malaysia Gutter politics that "greatly" practised by which party?

Tepuk "Dada" tanya selera!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p/s before that we have liwat,liwat,liwat now we have tetek nenek.........Can anyone tell me what has happened to my beloved country ?

Why I say both Utusan and Zulkifli Nordin is a perfect match ?

2011-10-14T18:19:00.002+08:00

Because both of them are a NO.1 Liar !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/court-orders-utusan-pay-khalid-rm60000-in-defamation-damages/

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=619953

Malaysian police do not know that BERSIH street demonstration has been cancelled? How come

2011-07-06T13:23:00.004+08:00

Reported police road blocks in the Klang Valley on July 6, 2011. — Source: UndiMalaysia

Ai yo yo .....this morning our dear policeman has caused massive tarffic jam in Klang Valley....dun they know that BERSIH street demonstration has been cancelled?
Read rakyat comments from twitter and facebook......

Still remember Najib says "Rakyat didahulukan, pencapain....."

I say" !@#$%^&**

Cikgu Din Sas: Jika England,, polis memberi jaminan keselamatan kepada peserta unjuk rasa.Begitu juga Indonesia.

Ajuad Aziz: kt port klang pn ade ni, nk g kje pon jem, ape the.....

Don Sha: Hapa pun tableh!

Mohd Shahran Shah: dah nampak dah sapa nak buat kacau....

Ivancph Ivan: sengaja polis ada kan roadblock waktu peak hour supaya rakyat boleh salah kan BERSIH. Entah pa mereka nak mengesan. ah moi dari china baru lepas kerja morning shift kat SPA ker?

Vijayan KrsnaZing: apa la yg kamu nak cuba buat ini? memang saya tak faham la!

Jer Saja: kerajaan dan polis nak balas dendam terhadap rakyat ingin nak bersih..... bila rakyat balas hadiah seperti ni pada kerajaan BN?

Uwais Al Qarni: Bukan saja KL hampir 1 semenanjung dkerahnya bt r.block,, ngabih duit minyak aku aje beratur panjang camni.

Paklah Damansara: sekarang siapa punca kl jem prdm or bersih najib bahlul jawablah

RT @morticya33: Haiya, patutla jam, police blocking the exit of Subang to Fed Highway from 3 lanes to 2 kltraffic

RT @syazwinasaw: All ways out of Subang have been blocked by police trying to create havoc aftr last nite's FRU showdown at a ceramah.

RT @saimatkong: OMG jam is everywhere & U will be late today! There's roadblock everywhere! One after toll towards Sunway. Use other roads...

RT @Wwyda: NO WONDER. Roadblocks during rush hour, really? Roadblocks in and out USJ, in front of summit. Only 1 lane in use.

RT @SookLee17: Are they out of their mind? Having road block at Sunway toll at this hour!

RT @cottonkyandyi: Can someone tell me what's happening? Kinrara - bkt jalil; unusual jam!

RT @amptraffic kltu 0802: BESRAYA: crawl frm UPM-Sri Kembangan, roadblock at KM3.6. If u r coming frm SILK, expect delays frm Cheras Jaya.

RT @twentyplus: Alert, heavy jam at LDP due to Bersih roadblock, malaysia police boleh!

@kltraffic: dear dato @NajibRazak, i believd this rdblock thing is inappropriate n too extreme. my2cents.

Bersih and the inane responses

2011-07-06T13:08:00.001+08:00

JULY 6 — This present government has developed one distinguishing characteristic not unlike the previous administration. If the previous administration was maligned as being uninspiring and sleeping through its job, this present government isn’t that far from being similarly aspersed. How so?

It has shown it has a knack of being inept at handling small shocks to the system. Many of us for example are not supporters of Anwar Ibrahim, but the manner the government handles the Anwar affairs — whether it’s the sodomy 2 charge or the recent video clip showing a person resembling Anwar in a sexual tryst, the administration has shown its ineptness and incompetence.

In the video clip affair for example, people see the court as being a manipulated instrument to serve the interest of the sitting government. The court has allowed itself to be the pulpit for making political statements; lawyers representing the three people accused of possession and distribution or broadcasting pornographic material, used that occasion to declare the authenticity of the video and its main actor. How was it relevant and moreover we heard it through a secondary source- i.e. regurgitation from the defence lawyers. That become hearsay evidence and can be contested.

Its Anwar again this time having his hands tied behind and walloped defencelessly. Last time it was the physical black eye. This time it is the legal black eye. The last time, it nearly cost the loss of Najib in Pekan, this time it could probably cost more to Umno as a whole.

The current shock to the system — a system made merry by numerous announcements of projects by the

PM and his chief major domo in this field of auta-mania, Idris Jala, is how the government handles the Bersih NGO.

This is an NGO led by a Malaysian Indian lady by the name of S Ambiga. This lady has managed to rattle almost all the top guns in Umno and those wishing they were part of Umno.

Ibrahim Ali is responding mindlessly justifying his conduct as an answer to his interpretation of Bersih as being a movement to (1) unseat the government and (2) attacking the position of Malays. So he steps in as the self-appointed warrior defending the position of Malays. He says he is willing to be murderous and warned the Chinese to stay away. But he hasn’t asked his Chinese business backers to do the same.
Bersih was a godsend re-invigorating Ibrahim Ali from an otherwise political stupor. He now has an issue and Ibrahim Ali lives.

But why is Ibrahim Ali defending the Umno led government? Ibrahim Ali is not even an Umno member. Two, has Umno not got enough warrior politicians to defend it in its hour of need? Umno does not need Ibrahim Ali to speak for the party. If it does, then the warrior politicians in Umno have since become eunuchs.

The other reason for attacking Bersih as a movement to endanger Malays and Malay interests is too far-fetched to be dignified by answering it.

Who is the right mind will entertain the idea of unseating the government through undemocratic means? The only one that did, were the Umno politicians who engineered the downfall of the Perak PR government.

Already there are signs that the Perak government will be retaken by the PR forces.

Ambiga and the Bersih people must be absent minded or must have suffered a bout of spontaneous amnesia to not be aware that Governments can be unseated only though democratic means, that is by way of free and fair elections. Therefore to seriously suggest that Bersih is a copycat version of the mass movements in Tunisa and Egypt is not acceptable.

Our response becomes more bizarre when the discovery of the portrait of Shamsiah Fakeh among Bersih rally paraphernalia is taken as proof that Bersih is communist inspired! The whole handling becomes even more macabre with the ‘discovery’ of weapons said to belong to Bersih would be participants. Oh yes. Oh yes — more of the incompetence. The discovery is a miracle to happen just before the planned rally. I hope the people masterminding the discovery will also be ready with some creative answers to tell the PM, how the weapons were ‘planted’ there. How convenient! The gods must be smiling at the politicians and police.

And now the investigation into the finances of Bersih shall be used as proof that Bersih is a Trojan horse for foreign subversion. That would probably provide an aphrodisiac for the recuperating Dr Mahathir who is a well-known opponent of any form of colonialism.

People may get inspired by those movements but were probably so without seriously entertaining the idea of unseating a government by undemocratic or violent means. Public opinion will certainly go against Bersih if that is the case. Ambiga will be lynched for that.

But the aims of Bersih are not that. By asking the elections commission to conduct itself properly shows that
Bersih accepts that the means to unseat a government is through the voting system. But the voting system is in need of better supervision and that’s where the demands on the election commission come to the fore.
This aim should be supported. Some people will show their support by participating in the rally. Some will not do so. It’s a matter of choice.

The right to express their wishes must be upheld by the government. If Perkasa and other groups supportive of the sitting government are allowed to gather and demonstrate, that right must also be given to others. If the Bersih planned rally is wrong in law, then the same judgment applies to the rallies carried out by supporters of the sitting government.

Our laws are clear. If people break the law, irrespective of who they are, they must be brought to before the forces of the law. We have the institutions to deal with that and we certainly don’t need a third line of defence. Can any secret society and gangster organisations apply to be a bona-fide 3rd line of defence?

The problem here is that the elections commission is seen as a pliant tool for one side of the contestants. It doesn’t answer questions with solutions but gives all sorts of excuses. People accept the principle of elections as a means to establish governments. But they also want that means to be above board. They accept they are powerless unless they act collectively and speak as a voice. The powerless are striking back demanding that competition to get power to form governments be carried out fairly and in even handed manners.

The body that oversees elections is conducted fairly and transparently is the elections commission. We mustn’t lose sight of the object of the current disputes now. Bersih’s objective is to call upon the election commissions to conduct itself as it’s chartered to do. This isn’t a rally threatening the sovereignty of the Agong or to strike fear at Malays.

The election commission is an independent commission. It’s not just another government department answerable to the Chief Secretary or even to the PM. It’s the custodian of fair and transparent conduct of elections and it must guard this role jealously. It does so jealously from the meddling and intervention of interested parties. It must also rid itself of any perceptions of being a submissive tool for those holding power at the moment.

Its responses to criticisms therefore mustn’t be evasive. It has to avail itself to the latest methods and technology that upgrade the participation of people in an electoral process. If the use of indelible ink is good for participatory democracy it must adopt the method as a natural development without having to be at pains defending its non-usage. If making voting compulsory and its cost effective doing so, then it must do so.
People are now diverting their attention to debating whether the planned assembly of people in the Bersih Rally should be allowed or otherwise. The real issue has and is always the conduct of the elections commission.

The watching majority must be dismayed at the response of our police. The police with all the sophisticated instruments of crowd control and other suppressive means appear to have admitted that they are powerless to control the crowds. What have we spent public money for then? The idea of a police is to keep the peace. In keeping the peace, it must conduct its business in a professional manner and be fair minded. If Bersih is not allowed to hold rallies, then other parties must also be disallowed.

In Penang, the police have given permit for some people to hold a rally? In Rembau, some people consisting of ex policemen were given permit? Ibrahim Ali was even given a permit to denounce a rally that has not taken place. He is a clairvoyant extraordinaire who can see the future. In ancient times, people like Ibrahim Ali got burnt at the stakes. Shall we roast Ibrahim Ali then?

Let’s not forget the object of the issue. It’s the election commission. It answers to the Agong and therefore should not be seen as working for an interested party. What’s the problem with clearing the electoral registers off dead people? How can it apply its resources and time to restructure how postal votes can be seen to be fair and transparent? How can it monitor and apply strict rules to election spending and election funding etc.?

These are important issues to those looking at elections as a means to exercise their democratic rights to elect a government of their choice. This isn’t an issue whether public demonstrations or going on a march as practices that are good only elsewhere but not suitable in Malaysia. The need to express publicly the collective wants and demands is part and parcel a democracy. — sakmongkol.blogspot.com

* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de plume of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz. He was Pulau Manis assemblyman (2004-2008).

Marina Mahathir: Attacks on Ambiga in bad taste

2011-07-05T14:17:00.003+08:00

Paranoia in Penang

2011-07-04T14:25:00.002+08:00

By The Wall Street Journal

Wearing T-shirts with the likeness of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara may be a crime against good taste, but in markets across Asia they are freely available. So Malaysians were shocked over the weekend when police in Penang seized such shirts from opposition activists as evidence of a Communist plot to overthrow the monarchy.

In the past week, Malaysian police have detained at least 101 activists whose shirts were advertising a protest planned for July 9. Called Bersih 2.0 or the Walk for Democracy, this rally reprises a 2007 event that drew 30,000 protesters.

"Bersih" means clean in Malay, and the opposition political parties and NGOs that operate under its banner are demanding more honest elections. They are campaigning for measures to ensure that each person votes only once, the removal of fraudulent names from electoral rolls and an end to gerrymandering of constituencies to benefit the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO). All are reasonable requests that would boost political competition.

Instead of responding to the substance of these demands, UMNO has chosen to intimidate those who make them. On Monday, the government accused 30 detained opposition members, including a member of parliament, with promoting communism and "waging war against the king" (Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy). The rhetoric is a throwback to the days of the Communist insurgency in the 1950s. As one opposition party leader asked: Since when are T-shirts deemed as waging war?

These measures are intended to scare off the upcoming rally. On Wednesday, police raided a Bersih office and arrested seven people, and the country's home minister outlawed T-shirts with pro-Bersih messages. Malaysia's constitution guarantees freedom of assembly and speech, but the government is violating those freedoms with impunity. The smear campaign against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has also heated up recently.

The country is expected to announce elections soon and, in that light, these tactics betray a familiar paranoia.

In the 1990s, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad repressed the media and the opposition in the run-up to polls. Bersih 1.0 came before the 2008 general election, but then-Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi quelled it using teargas. Prime Minister Najib Razak was lauded for heading in the right direction on civil liberties when he assumed office in 2009. On present evidence, he is falling back on the party's familiar playbook.

Such tactics may backfire this time. UMNO, otherwise dominant since independence, has seen its vote share slip since 2008. Malaysians may conclude that a government that treats T-shirts as subversive cares more about retaining power than it does the country's well-being.

Berita Harian despicable caricature bring shame to Malaysia

2011-03-14T10:15:00.001+08:00

Again and again the UMNO owned news paper has brought shame to Malaysia when the heartless editor approved such despicable caricature to be published in the news paper?

Worst still now it is widely published in foreign media like CNN......

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-570978

When " finding humour in other people's misery' has become Malaysian culture?

Can anyone answer me?

Mohd Ghani really brings shame to Malay

2011-03-14T09:53:00.000+08:00

When has this barbarian act become part of Malay culture?

Mohd Ghani the komtar business man really bring shames to Muslim Malaysia no thanks to his despicable act bringing coffin around Komtar Penang .........

Memang memalukan....

Truly Malaysian Spirit

2011-02-02T13:46:00.001+08:00

Seven years ago , Jess Lee Kar Wei (李佳薇) or who is famous with her nick name 大马铁肺女王 fared badly in Malaysian Idol......

Seven years later, she won the One Million Star singing compettion in Taiwan

This is the true Malaysian sipirit that we always cheers, the never give up attitude and more important Malaysian are very talented and can easily survive in any part of the world.......

Jess Lee you really make us proud, really.....

When pockets sendiri dan kroni didahulukan....

2011-01-17T18:04:00.001+08:00

Malaysia struggles to stem 'brain drain' as talent departs

2010-12-31T15:45:00.002+08:00

by Beh Lih Yi

KUALA LUMPUR, Thursday 30 December 2010 (AFP) - When computer engineer Wan Jon Yew left Malaysia in 2005 for a job in Singapore, all he wanted was to work in the city state for a few years before going home. Now, he says, he will never return.
With a family, a home and a car, he now plans to settle in Singapore for good -- just one of the many Malaysians stampeding abroad every year in a worrying "brain drain" the government is trying to reverse.
"I wouldn't consider going back to Malaysia, I won't look back. If I were ever going to leave Singapore, I would migrate to Australia," said the 28-year-old, who now has permanent resident status.
"It's not about the money. I could have a better quality of life in Malaysia with my pay. I could have a semi-detached bungalow and have a maid there, but I would rather live in a government flat in Singapore."
Wan, who is ethnically Chinese, is one of some 700,000 Malaysians -- most of them highly educated -- who are currently working abroad in an exodus that Prime Minister Najib Razak's government is struggling to reverse.
The "brain drain" has a number of causes. Some have been lured by higher salaries, but others blame political and social gripes including preferential policies for Muslim Malays, who form the majority.
Many feel constrained by life in a country where the ruling coalition has been in power for half a century, and where progress on freedom of expression, the right to assembly, and tackling corruption has been slow.
A decades-old affirmative action policy which hands Malays and the indigenous groups privileges in housing, education and business, has been criticised as uncompetitive and improperly benefiting the elite.
As a consequence, many of those who have left are members of Malaysia's ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, who make up some 25 percent and 10 percent of the population respectively.
Najib in December launched a "Talent Corporation" with incentives to woo back these highly skilled workers, as well as foreign professionals, to live and work in his multi-ethnic country.
Malaysia, Southeast Asia's third-largest economy with a population of 28 million, has ambitions to transform itself into a developed nation by 2020, but a lack of human capital is a barrier to reaching that goal.
World Bank data cited by the Malaysian press shows that while globally the number of migrants rose 2.4 times between 1960 and 2005, Malaysia's diaspora registered a staggering 155-fold increase over the 45-year period.
"I don't want my children to go through the unfair treatment," said Wan, who believes Singapore offers "fair competition".
"I'm not proud of being a Malaysian because I think the government doesn't treat me as a Malaysian.
"I would rather be a PR (permanent resident), a second-class citizen in a foreign country, than to be a citizen in my own country."
Wan said his wife, an IT analyst, renounced her citizenship in July this year, joining a queue of about 30 Malaysians lining up to do so on that day alone at the Malaysian embassy in Singapore.
Commentators are sceptical over whether the government's latest effort to reverse the "brain drain" will be successful, warning it will be tough to persuade those in self-exile.
"Money does have a significant role but the most important factor, I think, is opportunity. Malaysia is too politicised and opportunities are not evenly available to everyone," political analyst Wan Saiful Wan Jan told AFP.
In one example, he said academics are reluctant to work in local universities as they must sign a "loyalty pledge" barring them from, among other things, criticising government policies.
"In such an environment, obviously those with talents will find opportunity elsewhere," said the chief executive of think-tank the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS).
Wan Saiful, who himself returned to Malaysia last year after living in Britain for 17 years, said the newly launched Talent Corporation will be "another expensive failure" if it does not tackle these structural problems.
"When I apply for a job, buy a house, register my children for school etcetera, why does it matter what my race or religion is? This should stop," said the analyst, himself a Malay.
Ethnic Chinese and Indian professionals who have left the country commonly say they felt a sense of marginalisation in Malaysia.
"When I went back to Malaysia, it was a culture shock in terms of politically how they promote the rights of the Malays over everyone else," said Chee Yeoh, a stock analyst who migrated to Australia three years ago.
Yeoh was educated overseas from the age of 10 and returned in 1998 to take up a position with a bank, but felt like leaving again "almost immediately".
"I just didn't feel at home in Malaysia. I can't speak the Malay language -- essentially I felt like an outsider even more," said the 35-year-old analyst, who took a pay cut to move to Australia.
Najib has admitted the talent issues are "broad and complex", and will not set a target on how many Malaysians he hopes to lure back under the new programme.
The initiatives include a "resident pass" which will give foreign skilled workers, and Malaysians who have gave up their citizenship, the long-term right to live and work in the country.
But Fong Chan Onn, Malaysia's former human resources minister who was instrumental in previous "brain gain" efforts, said the government must tackle the issue holistically.
"The government needs to rectify this sense of marginalisation. We also have to improve the mechanism so it can be more effective to ask these talents to come back," he told AFP.
"We have a long way to go. It is better late than never."

Najib & Khairy, what say you on Wiki Leaks?

2010-12-13T11:59:00.000+08:00

In September 2008, Kausikan, a senior foreign affairs official, told the US Deputy Secretary of Defense for East Asia David Sedney that the “situation in neighbouring Malaysia is confused and dangerous”, fuelled by “a distinct possibility of racial conflict” that could see ethnic Chinese “flee” Malaysia and “overwhelm” Singapore.

“A lack of competent leadership is a real problem for Malaysia,” said Kausikan, citing the need for Najib to prevail politically in order to avoid prosecution in connection with the murder of Mongolian model Altantuya Shaariibuu.

“Najib has his neck on the line in connection with a high-profile murder case,” noted Kausikan.

A few months earlier, Peter Ho told another US official: “The political knives will be out for Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi’s) son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin, whom nobody likes because he got where he is through family ties...”

Khairy is now the Umno Youth chief but has not been given an administrative post in Najib’s government despite being seen as one of the shrewder politicians in the country.
“As for Najib Razak, he is an opportunist. Although he has not been critical of Singapore, he will not hesitate to go in that direction if it is expedient for him to do so. Najib’s political fortunes continue to be haunted by the murder scandal,” Ho had reportedly said.

Ho, 56, was head of Singapore’s civil service, until he retired on August 31 this year. He is now a senior advisor to the Centre for Strategic Futures that he had help set up to strengthen its public sector.

Kausikan was recently promoted one step to permanent secretary in the foreign affairs ministry on September 1.

Koh, 73, is special advisor to the Institute of Policy Studies. A law professor at the National University of Singapore, he is also the island republic’s ambassador-at-large and was part of the legal team representing Singapore in the Pedra Branca dispute case with Malaysia.

The leaked cables will give ammunition to hawks in the Malaysian government and Umno who believe that it is unproductive to have good relations with Singapore, whom they describe as calculative and condescending.

WikiLeaks a la Malaysia

2010-12-10T13:39:00.001+08:00

By Tay Tian Yan

December 10, 2010

DEC 10 — Julian Assange was arrested, but the leaks go on...

Malaysia is hardly mentioned in the 250,000 confidential cables so far released.

Why only countries like the United States, Britain, China and North Korea alongside a couple of distinguished figures in the likes of Azerbaijan’s first lady and Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew can claim to have secrets?

Are you trying to hint that Malaysia is immaterial? Or Malaysia’s secrets are too hard to decipher? Or the country simply does not have any secret at all?

Impossible!

Since many countries have maintained diplomatic relations with us, and the diplomats from these countries need to submit regular reports to their parent countries, by logic there should be a multitude of confidential cables.
To avoid excessive embarrassment on the part of WikiLeaks over the lack of decoded confidential cables from Malaysia, I have drafted a cable purportedly sent from an embassy here back to the parent country just for your perusal.
Subject: The Malaysia you may not have heard of

From the investigations carried out in secret by the Embassy staff, we have discovered some secrets many people are not aware of in Malaysia.
Malaysia is actually one of the wealthiest nations on Earth, whose people enjoying living standards far exceeding those of many developed states.
In this resourceful country, daily necessities are inexpensive, and everyone can afford relatively lavish life.

For instance, a politician hailing from a humble family can afford a one-acre Balinese mansion having worked only a few years as mentri besar (equivalent to our Governor).

According to the politician in question, the two plots of land with a housing unit is worth only RM3.5 million, about US$1.1 million, a price deemed impossible elsewhere in the world.

Although he has some minor problems at this moment, and will have to explain some of his transactions to the court, he appears completely calm, maintaining that all has said is true.

He was a small-town dentist, a profession he claims has brought him RM60,000 a month (way higher than what our President makes) before he came to politics, and it was with this income that he built himself the posh mansion.

We can deduce from here that dentists are indeed in high demand in Malaysia, and the Embassy suggests that a few dental colleges be set up here to cater to the rising demand.

Sure enough we cannot assume that the income has been derived from his political career.
Malaysian politicians are known for their utter incorruption, which the authorities have said is of a level comparable to Hong Kong.

Moreover, residential units are extremely cheap in this country. A deputy minister has told the

Parliament housing prices rise only a meagre 3.5 per cent over the past 20 years, most definitely the lowest in the world.

The Embassy suggests that we urgently send a delegation to Malaysia to study its housing price policy.

Besides housing, Malaysia also boasts one of the highest car ownerships in the world. Having a few cars parked in the porch of a residential house is a common scene in this country.

The country is home to two national carmakers churning out vehicles almost identical to

Japanese cars in design at half the cost.

The Embassy therefore also concludes that a study tour of Malaysia’s automobile industry is both relevant and imperative.

The extravagance of Malaysia is best seen in its burgeoning tourist industry. Malaysians, in particular politicians, can be seen everywhere from London, Sydney to Shanghai, many are generous grabbers of landmark properties in these leading metropolises.

The Embassy therefore suggests that we build more luxurious mansions in our country, and group them under a specified Malaysian Housing Zone. — mysinchew.com

Shahidan if you have nothing to do better do nothing!!!!!!!!

2010-12-07T10:49:00.000+08:00

Another stupid politician who used his head to fart!!!!!!!

These are the politicians who bring Malaysia backward.....

By Bernama (not Apa nama)

Umno Supreme Council member Datuk Seri Dr Shahidan Kassim today called for the blocking of the Facebook social networking website if its contents continue to pose a threat to national security.

He said a Facebook account holder was found to have taken advantage of the technology to insult Islam and leaders of Malaysia.

“If the website content poses a threat to national security and insults Islam, then it is unnecessary to have Facebook,” he told reporters after accompanying Perlis Facebook Association committee members to lodge a report at the Kangar police station on the insults hurled at Prime Minister Seri Najib Razak and former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on a Facebook page.

The report was lodged by the association’s deputy president, Mohd Faizuddin Ismail, at about 5.30 pm.
Shahidan said a report would also be lodged at the State Islamic Religious Department as the holder of the Facebook account had also insulted Islam, and added that the insults hurled at Najib and Mahathir were discovered by a member of the association on November 29.

Shahidan, who is Tambun Tulang assemblyman, said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the Malaysian Islamic Development Department and the National Fatwa Council should act against the holder of the Facebook account. — Bernama

Khir Toyo oh Khir Toyo !!!!!!!!!!!

2010-12-06T14:07:00.002+08:00

Former Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo was arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and was charged over alleged land fraud today

Zoro unmasked called it dog and ponny show....?????

http://www.malaysiakini.com/v6/link.php?http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FZorro-unmasked%2F%7E3%2FIxtfB_Ci9Qw%2Fanother-dog-pony-show.html

I have same feelings with Nik Nazmi who tweet this.....

niknazmi RT @amuse_gueule: Rem the corruption case against minister Tan Sri Kasitah Gaddam which came just before the 2004 ... http://tmi.me/3SshE

It is just a political gimmick before election?

Let's wait and see!!!!!!!

Do you want to listen to a Islamic scholar or lawyer kaput?

2010-12-04T16:00:00.002+08:00

Who talk with wisdom and facts ?

My dear friends, you decide.....

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/fmt-english/politics/barisan-nasional/13732-malay-supremacy-row-invoke-isa

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/breakingviews/article/iktikad-ketuanan-melayu-menyanggahi-islam-dr-mohd-asri-zainul-abidin/

Rakyat Selangor, Jom pergi ramai ramai Ahad ini.....

2010-12-03T13:42:00.003+08:00

In 1997, the Barisan Nasional state and federal governments began privatising the water industry in Selangor. Then Menteri Besar Muhammad Taib chose the treasurer from his Umno division, Tan Sri Rozali Ismail to be the main beneficiary of this privatisation exercise.

By 2010, the amounts of losses generated by leakage and corruption in the private water companies have now run into the hundreds of millions. Amongst the many questionable financial practices found in the private water companies are:

1. An audit report on Syabas showed more than 72% of contracts, worth RM 600 million in total, was awarded to companies chosen through direct negotiation not by open tender process. Also, RM 325 million was found to be ‘missing’ in discrepancies between Syabas’ public accounts and the records of contracts awarded from 2005 to 2007.

3. In June 2005, Syabas contravened the terms of their concession when they imported RM 375 million worth of pipes from an Indonesian company instead of sourcing them locally. The Indonesian company was owned by Tan Sri Rozali Ismail, the CEO of Syabas.

4. Tan Sri Rozali Ismail’s salary is RM 5.1 million a year or RM 425,000 a month.

5. The four water companies have a combined debt of RM 6.4 billion. The federal government has given Syabas a soft loan of RM 320 million. The total interest on this 20 year loan is RM 250 million, and Syabas will not be required to pay a single sen of this amount. Instead, this cost will be fully borne by Malaysian taxpayers.

In light of this appalling financial mismanagement, the Selangor state government has prevented Syabas from raising water tariffs by 37%, and is now endeavouring to reacquire all water concessions from the private water companies. Their goal is to eliminate the element ofprivatised profit and socialised losses, stop the corruption and leakage, andensure quality delivery of water at affordable rates. This move requires public and support and pressure to succeed.

Have you grabbed a copy of Selangor Times?

2010-12-03T13:34:00.001+08:00

Selangor Times to hit the streets on Friday
Maria J. Dass
newsdesk@thesundaily.com
SHAH ALAM (Nov 23, 2010): Klang Valley residents will have another avenue to voice their concerns when new community newspaper Selangor Times hits the streets on Friday.
A total of 100,000 copies of the free weekly will be distributed every weekend at malls, LRT stations, 7-Eleven outlets and neighbourhood hubs.
The focus is on community concerns, information on policies, and issues that affect the people and neighbourhoods in the Klang Valley. These include traffic and security problems, environmental and wildlife issues, licensing and land matters among others.
Its editor Chan Kok Leong said: "There will be no politics in this paper, only local and community issues.

There is a saturation of national news in the local dailies, but people don’t get much information on the issues in their communities and this is our niche, and will set us apart from the dailies."
The former journalist of The Edge Financial Daily said: "Our aim is to be the voice of the people – even if they are critical."
Clogged drains, potholes, street lights and other problems that plague the community will be scrutinised and brought up to the relevant authorities for answers, said Chan.
In addition, the 24-page English language paper, with an eight-page Chinese language pull-out, will have opinion pieces, sections on culture, features and community activities like neighbourhood events, he said.
Chan said the paper is funded by a businessman and has a licence from the state government.
Asked about the perception that the paper would be reflective of the Pakatan Rakyat-led Selangor government, he said: "We do not answer to Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim or any political party," he said.
The aim of the publication was to quote both sides of a story, be it from state or federal authorities, he added.

Let's see any action taken against UMNO Gangster

2010-11-08T18:31:00.001+08:00

When I see the video and the news below, I thought Malaysia is still a cowboy state.....

http://www.malaysiakini.tv/video/20469/sekincan-rep-caught-in-scuffle.html

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/147620

Are UMNO gangster especially Noh Omar getting special treatment from the police when we have yet to see police taken any action so far?

Why why tell me why?

Is Malaysia a civilised country? Do you expect UMNO to change?

Tunggu lama lamalah.....

UMNO: We do not need votes from Chinese and Indian....

2010-10-28T16:33:00.007+08:00

Remember what the UMNO Fuckers said .....Let's vote them out all these arrogant Fuckers!!!!!

How should the scandals be ended?

2010-10-28T16:31:00.000+08:00

2010-10-28 15:13

By LIM MUN FAH
Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE
Many people are wondering: How could there be so many scandals revealed by the Auditor-General Report every year?
The problems does not lie in the shocking degree of the scandals, but why are these similar scandals repeating every year?
How could 16,013 of students allowed to draw RM2,378 in advance even though they did not apply loans from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN)?
How could 3,793 students disappear after drawing in advance loans totaling RM4.9 million, and caused the PTPTN unable to collect the debts?
How could the Higher Education Ministry able to collect only RM1.51 billion of the RM3.19 billion debts with a recovery rate of less than 50%?
How could so many government departments and agencies not yet learn how to manage money even though they have ruled for decades? How could so many of them overspend, causing the accumulated overrun amount for a year to reach as high as RM4 billion?
Even more difficult to understand, with such a huge amount of cost overruns, shoddy works can actually still be found everywhere.

Nutritious sardine sandwiches have been turned into buttered bread.
An ordinary chair costs RM80 originally has become a luxurious chair costs RM415.
Spanish mackerel, black pomfret and red snapper have been replaced with cheaper fishes while no investigation has been conducted and no refund is made.

Enough, enough, we have heard enough!
Never mind, never mind, we are numb!
Anyway, it has become an annual grand event like the Academic Awards as every year when the Auditor-General Report is released, the media will make a full coverage of the scandals.
Anyway, we will have to suffer a great shock and make criticism every year when the Auditor-General Report is released.
Anyway, the plot of the show is always similar, only the time and the leading characters will be different.
Anyway, the similar process will repeat itself every year and the atmosphere will resume deserted after the bustling noises.
What is the purpose of preparing the report if they only play up the issue to scare those who are involved in the scandals but do not take further action to prevent a repetition?
Very well, the government has actually taken actions. To prevent a recurrence of cost overruns, the Finance Ministry has made four recommendations while the Higher Education Ministry will take numerous improvement measures to enhance supervision and collection of debts. Meanwhile, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has also said that a total of 13 investigation papers (KS), 14 preliminary investigation papers (KPA) and five examination and consultation (KPP) papers have been initiated following the release of the 2009 Auditor-General’s report.
I hope we can soon see corrupt officials and contractors who are responsible for the shoddy works being sacked and charged.
Since the scandals have been revealed, those who are responsible must then be punished. The people will be satisfied only if the scandals end in such a way!

Steep drop in rankings a wake-up call for KL

2010-10-08T18:28:00.000+08:00

By Lee Wei Lian

October 08, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 — Malaysia’ capital city has dropped eight spots to 48 in a ranking of the world’s most global cities by international management consulting firm AT Kearney, suggesting the Najib administration has to try harder to make Kuala Lumpur a world class city.
New York, London, Tokyo and Paris topped the list of the 2010 Global Cities index which assessed 65 major cities based on the strength of their business, human capital, political, cultural and information assets.
The other Asia Pacific cities that made the top ten were Hong Kong - 5, Singapore - 8, Sydney – 9 and Seoul - 10.
Spurred by the increasing competition between cities which is contributing to a brain drain, government think tank Pemandu, is driving an initiative to make the Greater KL region a world class city.
Its stated goal is to propel KL to the top 20 in the world in both liveability and economic growth by 2020.
The AT Kearney global cities ranking shows however, the amount of catching up that Kuala Lumpur has to do and that other cities have the same idea and are not standing still.
In terms of liveability, KL ranks just 79th out of 130 cities in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2010 ranking of easiest places to live and was stagnant at 75th in the Mercer study of best places to live from 2006-2009.
The city also failed to make the list of the top 100 most innovative cities with strong cultural and human infrastructure and global links as assessed by Australian innovation consultancy firm 2thinknow.
Among initiatives planned for KL under the Economic Transformation Programme include a new MRT system to enhance public transportation, rehabilitation of the city’s polluted rivers, more green space, a high speed rail link to Singapore, improved pedestrian linkages and a more vibrant and seamless shopping belt. It is hoped that the better conditions will help attract top talent live in the city, whose population is expected to soar to 10 million in 2020 from 6 million currently.
The city’s attractiveness however is hampered by an absence of world class universities, relatively low salaries, lack of major cultural and outdoor attractions, lack of orderliness and poor maintenance, low levels of sophistication, creeping urban sprawl, crime, unhygienic conditions and traffic congestion.
The next few years will be critical for KL's ambitions to be a world class city as the AT Kearney report notes that the gap between the top cities and those who rank at the “tail” end is increasing.
KL’s 48th position puts it behind Bangkok – 36 and Taipei – 39 but slightly ahead of Manila – 51, Jakarta – 53 and Ho Chi Minh city – 61.
AT Kearney noted that global cities are the urban elite and are shaping the future with new deals and ideas.
“Global cities are where you go to do business, yes, but also to see the greatest art, hear the greatest orchestras, learn the latest styles, eat the best food and study in the finest universities,” said the report.
“They have global corporations. But they also have think tanks, jazz bars and broadband. In a word, they have clout.”

Congratulations Lee Chong Wei!!!!!!!!

2010-09-26T18:59:00.000+08:00

Chong Wei gains revenge over Lin Dan

September 26, 2010

Lee celebrates after defeating Lin Dan at the Japan Super Series 2010 badminton championships in Tokyo September 26, 2010. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 — World number one Datuk Lee Chong Wei defeated archrival Lin Dan of China in the final of the Japan Super Series 2010 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium, Japan today.

According to http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/ Chong Wei took an hour and 22 minutes before finally overcoming Lin Dan 22-20, 16-21, 21-17 to bag the championship and the US$200,000 (RM610,000) purse.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s top doubles pair Koo Kien Keat/Tan Boon Heong lost to Cai Yun/Fu Haifeng of China 21-18, 14-21, 12-21 in the men’s doubles final.
Other Malaysians consisting of men’s singles Muhammad Hafiz Hashim and men’s doubles Mak Hee Chun/ Tan Wee Kiong had early exits from the championship. — Bernama

Mahathir, Melayu muda lupalah!!!!!!!!

2010-09-24T18:07:00.001+08:00

If you ask me whether shrewed Mahathir can be trusted, I can only tell you that this old fellow has his personal agenda when doing something .....

In the latest case, he is trying to act like a Malay hero, going around warning Malay that Malay could lose power if Pakatan defeats BN........

My reason is very simple , if his heart and soul is sincerely with UMNO, why he went around and condemned UMNO during Badawi time? Aren't we all know that, he could not see eye to eye with Badawi and would do what is necessary to bring his enemy down even putting UMNO at stake .......

2008 tsunami is a solid proof where UMNO lost most of its seat during the 2008 election ......?

If he really cares about UMNO and Malay in 2008. he can always resort to other methods instead of going around washing dirty linen in front of public?

ai yo yo....Melayu mudah lupalah!!!!!!!!!

Dr M warns Malays could lose power if Pakatan defeats BN

September 23, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 — While declaring he was not a racist, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad appeared to play the race card for Umno today by warning Malays that they would lose power if Pakatan Rakyat (PR) came to power.
He also implied that a Chinese or an Indian could become prime minister if PR took federal power because there was no constitutional restriction on race for the position.
The former prime minister (picture) claimed the political marginalisation of the Malays had already become a reality in PR-controlled states even though those administrations were led by Malays.
The Malaysian Insider understands that Dr Mahathir has offered his expertise to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to deliver a big win for Barisan Nasional (BN) in the next general elections which could be held as early as next year.
His remarks to Umno Online today suggests he will play a big role in Umno’s campaign to consolidate support among conservative Malays and win over fence-sitters uneasy with PR administrations.
The former Umno president, who still commands widespread influence among Umno members and larger Malay community, pointed to the former PR mentri besar in Perak Datuk Seri Nizar Jamaluddin as an example of how Malay politicians had been sidelined by PR.
“We see Nizar in Perak...even though he was Mentri Besar he followed the instructions of DAP until he fell. The Chinese claim this was BN’s move to bring down a Chinese government.
“So they called it a Chinese administration and is it not possible that we can have a prime minister like Nizar, Malay in name and a Muslim but not really independent and a tool of others,” he said.
Dr Mahathir said that while Nizar represented PAS which supposedly champions Islam, he was actually used to get Malay support.
He pointed out that there was no requirement for the prime minister to be a Muslim or Malay. All that was needed, Dr Mahathir said, was that the person had the support of the majority in Parliament.
“There is no restriction in law. In our Constitution there is nothing to stop a Chinese or an Indian from becoming prime minister. What is needed is support from the majority. If the majority agree there is nothing we can do,” he said.
In a thinly-veiled reference to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Dr Mahathir said that PKR did not champion the Malays but was set up to realise “one leader’s” ambitions of becoming the prime minister.
“Unfortunately Umno dropped this person and in anger his chance was gone, so he set up another party. His struggle is not for race, religion and country but to become prime minister.
Dr Mahathir added that the public should not be swayed by PR because he said the opposition coalition’s aim was only to bring about the downfall of BN.
The former PM claimed that his remarks were not racial in nature but were being made for the sake of restoring stability.

Muhyiddin Yassin you better give another excuselah....

2010-09-23T17:35:00.001+08:00

I thought this word come from the mouth of 3 years old child ,but instead come from our DPM ....ai yo yo....

I cannot act against racist principals, says DPM

By Clara Chooi

September 23, 2010

SERI KEMBANGAN, Sept 23 — Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin claimed today he had no power to take action against the two school principals who allegedly uttered racial slurs, despite his position as the country’s Education Minister. He explained to reporters here today that this was because disciplinary matters involving high-ranking civil servants comes under the jurisdiction of the Public Service Department (PSD).
“The minister cannot make a decision (on this). So cases that involve certain matters, including these principals who have high (pay) grades... If I am not wrong, their grades are between 48 and 52, so this has to be decided on by a disciplinary board under the (purview of the) PSD’s director-general,” he told reporters after opening the 10th regional seminar on the Criminalisation of Bribery at the Palace of the Golden Horses hotel here this afternoon.

I am Malaysian first, Malay second, any problem with that?

2010-09-20T12:57:00.002+08:00

Nazri’s open letter to Awang Selamat

By Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz

September 20, 2010

Nazri has issued a put-up-or-shut-up challenge to Utusan Malaysia’s “Awang Selamat”. — file pic

BUCHAREST, Sept 20 — I have read the comments by Awang Selamat on me in his column. I want to make some clarifications lest readers be misled into thinking what he wrote is correct.
Firstly, I am never afraid to be criticised by the opposition. I would like Awang to come to Parliament and see and hear for himself the vitriol and attacks I received whilst defending the Government on issues related to the Prime Minister’s Office.
In my 33 years in politics, I was never spared by anybody who makes criticisms against me — including the recent comments by Awang. I don’t know about Awang himself, because I don’t even know who he is. I hope he can be a man like me and prove that he is not scared of criticism by coming out in the open and not hiding behind the pseudonym that he uses.
I am also not anti-Dr Mahathir (Mohamad). To me, so far he is the best prime minister I have served. However, as an ex-premier, there is so much left to be desired.
Awang should get out of his time warp and face the fact that I am now in the government as a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and not vice versa. So it is Tun Mahathir who is criticising the Government and not the other way round.
Of course anybody, regardless of who criticises the government, will receive relentless attack in defence of the Government by me just as I had done in the past when Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi) were the prime ministers.
Having said that, I want Awang to know that I am always sure who my boss is. It’s not (Lim) Kit Siang nor (Datuk Seri) Anwar (Ibrahim) because they are not prime minister of Malaysia, the chairman of BN or president of Umno.
I am not too sure Awang knows who his boss is because he undermines the 1 Malaysia policy of the prime minister and promotes the narrow racism of (Datuk) Ibrahim Ali who is not even an Umno member. Awang should be asking himself the question he posed to me.
Being civil to the opposition is the right thing to do in a democracy, because just like me, they are also elected by the people. Of course, Awang is caught in the time warp of those days where government MPs do not only not engage them but hate and dislike them in all circumstances.
Awang will never understand this because he is not an elected MP, put in the House by the voice of the people. Anyway did Awang ever think of how five PKR MPs could cross and be independents, if not for the civility shown by me to them as parliamentary affairs minister?
The number of crossovers to the independent caucus has exceeded the single MP from Pasir Mas, this so-called Malay Hero worshipped by Awang.
Incidentally, Umno has never asked or needed for Ibrahim to help us but the association with him will only cause us to lose votes.
Tun Mahathir himself told us about his loss in Kota Setar Selatan seat — a 90 per cent Malay majority parliamentary constituency — in 1969 to Yusof Rawa, where it was reported that Tun said he didn’t need Chinese votes. There is a lesson to be learned from this.
Of course, Awang will never understand because not only has he never offered himself as a candidate for the General Elections but readers don’t even know who he is.
Politicians like me who has stood for four general elections and won clearly have to be very careful in what we say and not be reckless like Awang. We need to muster all the votes regardless of race and we do not stay in the comfort zone as Awang does.
He can write and say anything irresponsibly and recklessly, knowing that he will never be punished by the voters.
That is why, Awang, if you asked what my agenda is, I think even school children will know that it’s to win the next general election and that Datuk Seri Najib (Razak) remains as prime minister of Malaysia.
I do hope that Awang also has the same agenda, unless of course his boss is somebody else. Finally I would advise Awang to stick to what he does and knows best and not try to meddle in national politics, of which he has shallow knowledge and zero experience.
He should concentrate in increasing his paper’s dwindling readership. It speaks volumes of their poor standards and performance when Utusan has to refer to the news report of the new electronic alternative media when it should be the reverse.
That will be his KPI and the measurement of his success in the field that he claims he represent well.
Mine is, of course, to win the Padang Rengas seat for Barisan Nasional in the next General Election regardless whether I am a candidate or not. Until then we shall see.
And yes I am a Malaysian first and Malay next. Does any bigot have a problem with that?

Investors shun Malaysia for neighbours

2010-09-16T14:21:00.002+08:00

Please tell me who want to invest in a country where there is still idiot politicians have proudly said that "meritocracy is racist and Malaysian Malaysia is racist"?

Who say this ? Ask our ever arrogant Mahathir and Katak Ibrahim Ali.....
The more they open their mouth, the more investor will shun Malaysia....

By Yow Hong Chieh

September 16, 2010

Najib’s bid for private investment to drive Malaysia’s economy has been hampered by resistance to his planned reforms. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 — Malaysia is now the “least favoured market” in Asia Pacific for investors after nearly doubling its underweight rating from last month, according to a recent Bank of America Merrill Lynch report.
The country slipped two spots — from 10th place to dead last — in the investment bank’s latest Fund Managers Survey, even as the Najib administration prepares to unveil ambitious economic reforms meant to boost investor confidence.
The report appears to be the latest indictment of Malaysia’s inability to compete with rival regional markets. In the past decade, the once roaring Asian Tiger has seen its dominant position as an investment destination in Southeast Asia crumble even as neighbouring countries push to the fore.
A survey last week by the World Economic Forum (WEF) of 139 nations showed that Malaysia had slipped two places in global competitiveness rankings to 26th in the past year, while Indonesia surged 10 places to 44th.
The government is nonetheless optimistic that reforms under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s New Economic Model (NEM) — details of which will be revealed next month — will revitalise the economy and help Malaysia achieve developed nation status by 2020.
However, Najib’s economic transformation is hinged on the government’s ability to galvanise RM2.2 trillion in investments over the next 10 years — 92 per cent of which is to come from the private sector — and it remains to be seen if the prime minister can overcome investors’ muted response to his plans so far.
Najib also faces stiff opposition from Malay rights groups who feel such reforms threaten what they perceive to be Malay “special rights”, and seems unable to push them through without significant compromise.
Elsewhere in the region, China remained the favourite market by far despite an uncertain global outlook. A net 11 per cent of investors expect China’s economy to strengthen, up from -39 per cent in July, according to Merrill Lynch.
Indonesia, slightly underweight last month, jumped to second place on an overweight call, edging out Hong Kong in the process. New Zealand, Taiwan, South Korea and India remained neutral.
Emerging markets outperformed developed markets this year and remain the preferred destination for investors, although emerging market allocations have been trimmed due to growth uncertainty and risk aversion.
Brazil and Russia continue to be favourites, but appetite for Turkey has fallen in the past two months.
The consumer discretionary sector is still the most popular among emerging market investors, followed by industrials, telecoms and financials.
Defensive sectors like utilities, staples and healthcare remain least favoured but have reduced their underweight positions from last month.

True Malaysian Leader Part 2

2010-09-13T18:31:00.003+08:00

True Malaysian Leader Part 1....

2010-09-13T18:30:00.000+08:00

Days of Reflection for Man Who Defined Singapore

2010-09-13T14:30:00.000+08:00

September 11, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/world/asia/11lee.html?pagewanted=1
The New York Times: The Saturday Profile

Days of Reflection for Man Who Defined Singapore

by Seth Mydans (published: September 10, 2010)“SO, when is the last leaf falling?” asked Lee Kuan Yew, the man who made Singapore in his own stern and unsentimental image, nearing his 87th birthday and contemplating age, infirmity and loss.

“I can feel the gradual decline of energy and vitality,” said Mr. Lee, whose “Singapore model” of economic growth and tight social control made him one of the most influential political figures of Asia. “And I mean generally, every year, when you know you are not on the same level as last year. But that’s life.”

In a long, unusually reflective interview last week, he talked about the aches and pains of age and the solace of meditation, about his struggle to build a thriving nation on this resource-poor island, and his concern that the next generation might take his achievements for granted and let them slip away.

He was dressed informally in a windbreaker and running shoes in his big, bright office, still sharp of mind but visibly older and a little stooped, no longer in day-to-day control but, for as long as he lives, the dominant figure of the nation he created.

But in these final years, he said, his life has been darkened by the illness of his wife and companion of 61 years, bedridden and mute after a series of strokes.“I try to busy myself,” he said, “but from time to time in idle moments, my mind goes back to the happy days we were up and about together.” Agnostic and pragmatic in his approach to life, he spoke with something like envy of people who find strength and solace in religion. “How do I comfort myself?” he asked. “Well, I say, ‘Life is just like that.’ ”

“What is next, I do not know,” he said. “Nobody has ever come back.” The prime minister of Singapore from its founding in 1965 until he stepped aside in 1990, Mr. Lee built what he called “a first-world oasis in a third-world region” — praised for the efficiency and incorruptibility of his rule but accused by human rights groups of limiting political freedoms and intimidating opponents through libel suits.

His title now is minister mentor, a powerful presence within the current government led by his son, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The question that hovers over Singapore today is how long and in what form his model may endure once he is gone.

Always physically vigorous, Mr. Lee combats the decline of age with a regimen of swimming, cycling and massage and, perhaps more important, an hour-by-hour daily schedule of meetings, speeches and conferences both in Singapore and overseas. “I know if I rest, I’ll slide downhill fast,” he said. When, after an hour, talk shifted from introspection to geopolitics, the years seemed to slip away and he grew vigorous and forceful, his worldview still wide ranging, detailed and commanding.

And yet, he said, he sometimes takes an oblique look at these struggles against age and sees what he calls “the absurdity of it.”

“I’m reaching 87, trying to keep fit, presenting a vigorous figure, and it’s an effort, and is it worth the effort?” he said. “I laugh at myself trying to keep a bold front. It’s become my habit. I just carry on.”

HIS most difficult moments come at the end of each day, he said, as he sits by the bedside of his wife, Kwa Geok Choo, 89, who has been unable to move or speak for more than two years. She had been by his side, a confidante and counselor, since they were law students in London.

“She understands when I talk to her, which I do every night,” he said. “She keeps awake for me; I tell her about my day’s work, read her favorite poems.” He opened a big spreadsheet to show his reading list, books by Jane Austen, Rudyard Kipling and Lewis Carroll as well as the sonnets of Shakespeare.

Lately, he said, he had been looking at Christian marriage vows and was drawn to the words: “To love, to hold and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse till death do us part.”

“I told her, ‘I would try and keep you company for as long as I can.’ That’s life. She understood.” But he also said: “I’m not sure who’s going first, whether she or me.”

At night, hearing the sounds of his wife’s discomfort in the next room, he said, he calms himself with 20 minutes of meditation, reciting a mantra he was taught by a Christian friend: “Ma-Ra-Na-Tha.”

The phrase, which is Aramaic, comes at the end of St. Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians, and can be translated in several ways. Mr. Lee said that he was told it means “Come to me, O Lord Jesus,” and that although he is not a believer, he finds the sounds soothing.

“The problem is to keep the monkey mind from running off into all kinds of thoughts,” he said. “A certain tranquillity settles over you. The day’s pressures and worries are pushed out. Then there’s less problem sleeping.”

He brushed aside the words of a prominent Singaporean writer and social critic, Catherine Lim, who described him as having “an authoritarian, no-nonsense manner that has little use for sentiment.”

“She’s a novelist!” he cried. “Therefore, she simplifies a person’s character,” making what he called a “graphic caricature of me.” “But is anybody that simple or simplistic?”

The stress of his wife’s illness is constant, he said, harder on him than stresses he faced for years in the political arena. But repeatedly, in looking back over his life, he returns to his moment of greatest anguish, the expulsion of Singapore from Malaysia in 1965, when he wept in public.

That trauma presented him with the challenge that has defined his life, the creation and development of a stable and prosperous nation, always on guard against conflict within its mixed population of Chinese, Malays and Indians.

“We don’t have the ingredients of a nation, the elementary factors,” he said three years ago in an interview with the International Herald Tribune, “a homogeneous population, common language, common culture and common destiny.”

Younger people worry him, with their demands for more political openness and a free exchange of ideas, secure in their well-being in modern Singapore. “They have come to believe that this is a natural state of affairs, and they can take liberties with it,” he said. “They think you can put it on auto-pilot. I know that is never so.”

The kind of open political combat they demand would inevitably open the door to race-based politics, he said, and “our society will be ripped apart.”

A political street fighter, by his own account, he has often taken on his opponents through ruinous libel suits.

He defended the suits as necessary to protect his good name, and he dismissed criticisms by Western reporters who “hop in and hop out” of Singapore as “absolute rubbish.”

In any case, it is not these reporters or the obituaries they may write that will offer the final verdict on his actions, he said, but future scholars who will study them in the context of their day.

“I’m not saying that everything I did was right,” he said, “but everything I did was for an honorable purpose. I had to do some nasty things, locking fellows up without trial.”

And although the leaves are already falling from the tree, he said, the Lee Kuan Yew story may not be over yet.

He quoted a Chinese proverb: Do not judge a man until his coffin is closed.“Close the coffin, then decide,” he said. “Then you assess him. I may still do something foolish before the lid is closed on me.”

2010-09-09T10:28:00.000+08:00

Malaysia Growth at Risk as Dagger-Waving Repels Ethnic Chinese

By Shamim Adam - Sep 9, 2010 12:50 AM GMT+0800 (Bloomberg)

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak speaks in Kuala Lumpur. Photographer: Goh Seng Chong/Bloomberg

Ethnic Malay workers walk to the Western Digital factory in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Najib pledged to boost growth by unwinding a policy of ethnic bias began four decades ago by his father. Photographer: Goh Seng Chong/Bloomberg

Veeramah, an ethnic Indian, works at her flower stall in Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown. Ethnic Chinese and Indians make up about 32 percent of the nation's citizens. Photographer: Goh Seng Chong/Bloomberg

Vikneswary, an ethnic Indian, displays clothing at the Ammas Fashion shop in Bricksfield, Kuala Lumpur. Photographer: Goh Seng Chong/Bloomberg

A shopper walks past a display of running shoes in Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown. Failure to win back Chinese voters could jeopardize Najib's Economic Transformation Program. Photographer: Goh Seng Chong/Bloomberg

A factory is demolished to make way for Icon City, a residential, office, retail, and hotel project by Mah Sing Group, in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Under the Economic Transformation Program, Najib wants to triple gross national income to 1.7 trillion ringgit in 2020 from 600 billion ringgit in 2009 and create 3.3 million jobs. Photographer: Goh Seng Chong/Bloomberg

Eric Chong, real estate agent with City Two Property, hangs up banners at newly completed factories available for rent or sale, in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Photographer: Goh Seng Chong/Bloomberg

Foreign investment coming into Malaysia fell 81% last year to $1.4 billion, companied with an outflow of $8 billion, according to the United Nations 2010 World Investment Report. Photographer: Goh Seng Chong/Bloomberg

Prime Minister Najib Razak is trying to build a Malaysian economy as powerful as in the 1990s, when stock prices almost quintupled in the decade through 1996. Now his efforts to lure investors are stirring opposition from some members of the ethnic-Malay majority that put him in office.
Najib has pledged to boost growth by rolling back key policies of ethnic favoritism that his father began four decades ago. Leslie C., an ethnic Chinese, responded by moving to neighboring Singapore, which has grown 81-fold since 1971, when the Malaysian ethnic measures were introduced. Malaysia’s economy expanded at half that pace.
“I don’t think any politician will be different,” said Leslie, 36, who left Kuala Lumpur in June and didn’t want his full name reported. His family will follow, at a time when Singapore’s Malaysian-born Chinese resident population has jumped 31 percent in the past decade. “I want a better future for the kids, an opportunity for them to start on even ground, not as second-class citizens.”
Removing curbs on the Chinese and Indian minority, a group that includes nine of Malaysia’s 10 richest people, is key to Najib’s New Economic Model, designed to turn Malaysia into a developed nation. The changes are opposed by some politicians who helped Najib gain power, including ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad. At a rally in March, former deputy law minister Ibrahim Ali brandished a traditional “keris” dagger as the crowd chanted “Long live the Malays.”
Discontent in Najib’s United Malays National Organisation, which dominates the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, comes as Malaysia loses ground to its neighbors. Foreign investment in Malaysia fell 81 percent last year to $1.4 billion, according to the United Nations 2010 World Investment Report. Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand all fared better.
Right Things
“Najib appears to be saying all the right things, but the actions of many within UMNO are not necessarily in the spirit of what the prime minister is saying,” said Stephen Hagger, head of Malaysian equities for Credit Suisse Group AG in Kuala Lumpur. It will be up to politicians and the civil service to implement Najib’s plan, he said. “This is where our confidence falters.”
Malaysia’s growth fell to an average 4.7 percent a year in the past decade, from 7.2 percent in the 1990s, when then-Prime Minister Mahathir wooed foreign manufacturers and built highways, the world’s tallest twin towers and a new administrative capital.
In comparison, the economy of Singapore, which split from Malaysia in 1965, expanded 7.3 percent in the 1990s and 5.1 percent in the past decade. Singapore grew 18.8 percent last quarter from a year earlier, compared with Malaysia’s 8.9 percent pace.
Leaving Malaysia
More than 304,000 people left Malaysia between March 2008 and August 2009, including about 50,000 who went to study abroad, A. Kohilan Pillay, deputy foreign affairs minister, told parliament in November 2009. That compares with about 140,000 who left in 2007, he said, without giving an ethnic breakdown.
The government wants to persuade as many as possible of the 700,000 citizens living and educated abroad to return, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said in a June 15 interview in Kuala Lumpur.
Chinese and Indians make up 29 percent of Malaysia’s 28 million population. Eight of Malaysia’s 10 richest people are ethnic Chinese and one is Indian, according to Forbes Asia. Between them, they control or have interests in banks, satellite and mobile-phone operators, power and commodity producers, construction companies and property developers.
Sons of the Soil
Abdul Razak, Najib’s father, initiated the preferences in 1971 as the country’s second prime minister. He sought to raise the share of national wealth to at least 30 percent for the Bumiputeras, or “sons of the soil,” about 60 percent of the population. The plan gave Malays and some indigenous groups cheaper housing as well as priority for college places, government contracts and shares of publicly traded companies.
The measures followed post-election race riots between Malays and Chinese in 1969 that left hundreds dead.
“Malaysia has done very well in the past 30 years, and affirmative action was a strong contributor to political stability that allowed for such economic development,” said Masahide Hoshi, a director at Phalanx Capital Management HK Ltd. in Hong Kong, who helps manage $100 million. “However, these same policies could impede Malaysia in the long term. The government must make changes soon.”
Leslie, who works in the insurance industry, wasn’t eligible for housing discounts and some scholarships because of his ethnicity.
Behind Targets
Groups championing preferential treatment for Malays say they are protecting the constitution and want the policies to continue because targets haven’t been reached. Bumiputeras held about 22 percent of corporate equity in 2008, up from 2.4 percent in 1970, according to a government report.
“Malays have not gained for themselves the 30 percent target in corporate ownership,” Mahathir wrote on his blog on Aug. 9. “If a proper audit is made, their wealth is even less than 30 percent of total wealth of the people of Malaysia. Most of the wealth of the country belongs to the Chinese.”
In his first 100 days in office after taking over from Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in April 2009, Najib, 57, eased so-called affirmative action rules governing overseas investors, initial public offerings and property purchases. In June 2009, he told participants at an annual investment conference in Kuala Lumpur that the country is at a “critical juncture” and that failure or hesitation to act will have “long-term ramifications.”
Slowing Pace
In the nine years between the end of the 1997-1998 Asian crisis and the 2008 global financial turmoil, the benchmark stock index rose 147 percent, less than half the increase in the decade leading up to 1997.
Najib is trying to triple gross national income to 1.7 trillion ringgit ($546 billion) in 2020 from 600 billion ringgit in 2009 and create 3.3 million jobs. To do that, he says the country needs 2.2 trillion ringgit of funds, with 92 percent coming from private investment.
Central to the plan is his New Economic Model, announced in March, which aims to ensure that beneficiaries of affirmative- action policies are the bottom 40 percent of households by income across all ethnic groups. The government has yet to release details on how it will change the system.
Malay rights groups such as Pribumi Perkasa Negara won’t derail the prime minister’s agenda, Trade Minister Mustapa Mohamed said in Singapore last month while on a trip to attract investment.
Government Decides
“As a government, we’ve got to consult with various parties,” he said. “But in the end, the government will decide what’s best for the country.”
Mark Mobius, who oversees about $34 billion as executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management Ltd.’s emerging-markets group and invests about $1 billion in Malaysia, says Najib is moving Malaysia in the right direction.
“Malaysia is really going through a transformation with the political changes that we’ve seen,” Mobius said in an Aug. 16 interview. “They are now beginning to accept a wider array of alternatives.”
Foreign direct investment into Malaysia slumped to $1.4 billion in 2009 from $7.3 billion the previous year, according to the UN’s World Investment Report. That’s less than the $4.9 billion Indonesia attracted and the $16.8 billion received by Singapore. Foreign investment rebounded this year, helping Malaysia lure the equivalent of $1.6 billion in the first quarter, Mustapa said on July 26.
Competitive Position
“The issues of corruption and transparency continue to weigh on investors’ minds,” said Joseph Tan, Singapore-based Asian chief economist at Credit Suisse Private Bank. “Beyond commodities, it is difficult to see Malaysia’s competitive advantage vis-a-vis other Asian countries.”
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI Index has gained 13 percent in 2010, compared with a 27 percent increase in the Jakarta Composite Index and 25 percent for the Philippine Stock Exchange. Singapore’s Straits Times index rose 3.9 percent.
Najib’s successes include ending a requirement that listed companies set aside at least 30 percent of their stock for ethnic Malay and indigenous investors and trimming some fuel and food subsidies in July to save 750 million ringgit in government expenditure. Najib plans to narrow the budget deficit to 2.8 percent of GDP by 2015, from an estimated 5.3 percent this year.
Smaller Margin
In 2008, the Barisan Nasional coalition, of which UMNO is the biggest party, had its slimmest election victory in more than 50 years as the opposition criticized the government for ethnic bias and failing to tame poverty and corruption. Najib faces his first election as prime minister by 2013.
Perkasa has about 100,000 members, at least 60 percent of whom are UMNO members disillusioned with the party’s ability to protect Malay rights, Zubir Harun, vice president of the group that held the keris-wielding rally, said in a telephone interview in July. He said the dagger is a “ceremonial” symbol of Malay culture and displaying it wasn’t a message of violence.
“Any policy that erodes the rights of the Malays, we will fight,” said Zubir, 50, who said he’s an UMNO member.
Lim Guan Eng, secretary general of the opposition Democratic Action Party, said in a telephone interview that Perkasa was “a narrow, sectarian, racist group” harmful to national interests, and urged Najib to avoid what he described as pandering to them.
“It’s crunch time,” said Lim, also chief minister of the state of Penang, where companies such as Intel Corp. have factories. “Najib has been extremely political about it but it is time to get to the economic nuts and bolts. He has to be serious about meritocracy.”
Najib needs to speed up implementation, said Manu Bhaskaran, Singapore-based head of economic research at Centennial Group Holdings, which advises on emerging markets.
“If the follow-through is not there, then a lot of investors will say ‘That’s it, there are more interesting things to do than wait for Malaysia to get its act together,’” he said in an August telephone interview.

Is the property market bubbling over?

2010-09-07T18:25:00.000+08:00

By Lee Wei Lian

September 07, 2010

Property prices have continued to surge despite a growing supply overhang and low occupancy rates. — Pictures by Choo Choy May

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — Prices of residential property have surged by as much as 34 per cent in the past year despite a growing overhang in supply, far outpacing income growth and giving rise to concerns that the market is becoming unsustainable.
Figures provided by the National Property Information Centre (Napic) show that average prices for residential property in Malaysia rose a whopping 16 per cent to RM212,815 in the first half of this year, from RM183,807 in the same period last year. For Kuala Lumpur, the increase has been even more dramatic, rising an eye-watering 34 per cent to RM485,435 in the first half of the year, up from RM362,569 last year.
The market, however, may be starting to lose its appetite for properties due to the high prices.
Napic’s Property Overhang reports show that unsold properties in Malaysia rose to 22.6 per cent of new launches in the second quarter of this year, from 19.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year. For Kuala Lumpur, unsold properties rose to 16.1 per cent from 15.8 per cent, while for Selangor it rose to 14.6 per cent from 12.4 per cent.
Checks on developments completed this year also show that vacancy rates remain at 50 per cent or higher.
The Edge business weekly reported recently that the government is mulling capping mortgages to 80 per cent of value in a bid to keep the market from overheating although MCA has come out strongly against the move. This comes as Singapore introduced a series of measures to reign in investors and speculators, such as a 70 per cent mortgage cap for buyers with more than one property and launching 36,000 public housing units this year and next.
While Napic does not have a housing affordability index, a rough calculation shows that the average price of RM212,815 is about 4.4 times that of an average annual household income of RM48,000. The average price of a KL home is now a steep 9 times that of the average urban household income of RM54,000 and a possible sign that the market is headed for a bubble.
The sharp increase in prices is said to be at least partly due to speculative demand as investors snap up multiple properties in the hope that prices will keep on spiralling upward — despite low occupancy rates that could affect rental yields.
Some real estate agents and developers have privately expressed worries that the market is already too speculative and the price escalation is not sustainable.
“I am all for sustainable price growth but the current market is too speculative,” one developer told The Malaysian Insider. “Most of the units are taken up by employees of the developer hoping to sell for a profit when the development is completed.”
Many developments completed in the past year such as Ameera in SS2 Petaling Jaya, Cova Suites in Kota Damansara and Challis Damansara in Sunway Damansara are experiencing only about 30-50 per cent occupancy rates, according to real estate agents. A check on new high-end condo Zehn in Pantai where sellers are asking for RM2.2 million per unit revealed the building to be almost completely dark at night.

Rental yields are starting to slide given that supply far outstrips demand.

A typical unit at Ameera is on the market for RM750,000. Given a 90 per cent margin of financing (MOF) over a 20 year tenure, the monthly loan repayment for a unit there works out to be about RM4,855. Rental rates at Ameera, however, are only about RM3,000 for a partly furnished unit.
A stand-off could be developing where buyers are now balking even as sellers are trying to hold out for higher prices.
Red FM DJ Terry Ong who has been on the lookout for a condominium said that housing has become “unaffordable” and has taken himself out of the market.
“I am not in a hurry,” said the DJ who is currently paying RM1,100 in rent at a less than full condominium complex, where sellers are asking for between RM350,000 and RM400,000.
Engineer Edward Seah said that while he would like to upgrade from his current condominium, he will not buy another house given current valuations.
“Are such high prices warranted?” he questioned. “I refuse to feed into the current property frenzy.”
Housing and local government minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung said that the high savings rate in Malaysia meant that there appears to be no shortage of takers despite the prices.
He added that there will be a limit although he was unclear as to how far prices will continue to rise.
“We have to continuously tell developers not to push the boundaries,” he said when contacted by The Malaysian Insider. “There is bound to be a maximum.”
Chor said that the government is building some 76,000 low cost units that cost about RM42,000 each in the next three years, but it is unable to tell private developers how much to build to boost supply of middle class housing in the market.
Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (Rehda) president Datuk Michael Yam said that the issue of rising property prices was partly due to an imbalance of supply and demand as more migrants move to land scarce Kuala Lumpur as well as higher cost of raw materials.
“Even if 50,000 new housing units are needed in KL, that is still a huge number to build,” he said at a recent Rehda media briefing.
* Figures for average residential property prices in Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur that were earlier reported reflected all property types and have now been corrected to reflect only residential properties.

" Balik China " the popular phase in Bolehland now! ?!!!!

2010-09-05T18:59:00.001+08:00

It seems that "Balik China " is the hottest words in Boleh land now........

For the past few weeks, we have heard this word came out from the mouth of Head Masters, Ustaz and in the latest case, the mouth of policeman....

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/police-officer-transferred-for-being-rude

and sadly it happens during this holy month......

Apa sudah jadi Malaysia?

I STRONGLY urge our people don't fall into their trap, whether they have personal agenda or not.....

We should show good example to these racist people not because of specific reasons but because we are TRULY MALAYSIAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merdeka Merdeka Merdeka!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-31T09:43:00.001+08:00

Tunku, we really miss you .....a Truly Malaysian!!!!!!!

Bukan muslim, masjid dan mainan politik — Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin

2010-08-30T17:01:00.016+08:00

August 30, 2010

30 OGOS: Saya amat bimbang apabila isu-isu agama dipolitikkan. Islam cuba ditafsirkan menurut kepentingan politik masing-masing. Hukum-hakam syarak menjadi mangsa. Permainan politik sanggup menggadaikan segalanya. Amat berbeza antara penilaian berteraskan politik kepartian dengan penilaian yang berasaskan metodologi ilmu dalam Islam.

Politik kepartian sering menilai isu atau sesuatu berasaskan kepentingan (political interest), persepsi dan prejudis. Sementara ilmu Islam yang sahih menilai sesuatu berdasarkan dalil dan fakta. Kebenaran dalam Islam itu buta warna parti atau kumpulan. Kebenaran itu kebenaran, tanpa mengira dari mana dan kepada siapa ia berpihak. Firman Allah: (maksudnya):

“Wahai orang-orang yang beriman, hendaklah kamu semua sentiasa menjadi orang-orang yang menegakkan keadilan kerana Allah, lagi menerangkan kebenaran; dan jangan sekali-kali kebencian kamu terhadap sesuatu kaum itu mendorong kamu kepada tidak melakukan keadilan. Hendaklah kamu berlaku adil (kepada sesiapa jua) kerana sikap adil itu lebih hampir kepada taqwa. Dan bertaqwalah kepada Allah, sesungguhnya Allah Maha Mengetahui dengan mendalam akan apa yang kamu lakukan.” (Surah al-Maidah, ayat 8).

Orang politik datang dan pergi. Parti politik juga demikian. Namun, Islam kekal abadi. Ia menjadi cahaya yang menyinari kehidupan manusia. Orang politik boleh musnah, parti juga boleh hancur. Manusia tidak semestinya bergantung kepada seseorang tokoh atau sesebuah parti. Namun, manusia sentiasa perlukan hidayah Islam yang membimbing ke jalan yang benar. Islam mesti kekal bersih, membimbing semua manusia. Malanglah jika orang politik sanggup mempertaruhkan Islam untuk survival mereka!

Tambah Keliru

Bukan muslim bertambah keliru dengan hukam-hakam berkaitan mereka yang dikeluarkan kebelakangan ini. Fatwa-fatwa ‘ala-Taliban’ yang menggambarkan sikap keras Islam terhadap pihak lain dicadang dan didendangkan oleh sesetengah media. ‘Juru-juru fatwa’ yang boleh ditekan suisnya oleh pihak politik bersedia menunggu. Islam dikaburkan oleh permainan yang seperti ini. Dalam Islam, hubungan dengan bukan muslim bermula dengan terang dahulu, setelah diperjelaskan dan masih ada permusuhan barulah tindakan ‘peperangan’ boleh diambil jika ada keperluan. Ini dalam masyarakat kita ‘perang dahulu’ tanpa sebarang penerangan awal yang jelas.

Saya telah ulas dalam banyak media tentang isu doa kebaikan kepada bukan muslim. Kini timbul pula isu bukan muslim masuk masjid. Ya, isu ini bermula dengan orang politik. Namun janganlah dalam keghairahan hendak menghentam musuh politik, fakta Islam pula yang dimangsakan. Jika kita enggan menerima mereka masuk, itu persoalan lain. Tetapi menggambarkan kepada mereka bahawa Islam melarang mereka sama sekali memasuki masjid, itu boleh menimbulkan salah faham. Islam ala melayu atau Islam yang ada dalam sejarahnya yang gemilang? Rasulullah menerima perwakilan dalam masjid, bagaimana tiba-tiba hari ini masjid diharamkan untuk mereka?!

Masuk Masjid

Ya, para fuqaha (ahli fekah) berbeza pendapat tentang hukum bukan muslim masuk ke dalam masjid. Namun, majoriti fuqaha termasuk dalam Mazhab al-Syafi’i berpendapat bahawa bukan muslim boleh masuk ke dalam masjid jika ada keperluan untuk itu. Pendapat ini disokong oleh beberapa dalil yang kuat. Di samping, ia juga membantu memahamkan masyarakat bukan Islam mengenai Islam. Dalam negara yang berbilang agama seperti negara kita, pandangan ini bukan sahaja kuat dari segi dalilnya, ia juga memberikan kebaikan kepada dakwah Islam itu sendiri.

Dalam hadis al-Bukhari dan Muslim meriwayatkan bahawa:
Nabi s.a.w telah menghantar pasukan (skuad) tentera berkuda dan menawan Thumamah bin Uthal yang merupakan kepimpinan Bani Hanifah dari Yamamah. Beliau dibawa ke Madinah dan diikat di tiang masjid Nabi s.a.w. Apabila Nabi s.a.w datang ke masjid dan melihatnya, baginda bertanya:

“Apa yang ada engkau dapati wahai Thumamah?”

Jawabnya: “Bersamaku kebaikan, wahai Muhammad! Jika engkau membunuhku, engkau membunuh orang yang punyai darah (berhak dibunuh atau mungkin beliau meminta simpati), jika engkau memberi kurnia, engkau memberikan kurnia kepada orang yang berterima kasih. Jika engkau mahu harta, engkau boleh minta seberapa banyak yang engkau mahu”.
Lalu Nabi s.a.w meninggalkannya. Keesokannya Nabi s.a.w bertanya lagi: “Apa yang engkau dapati Wahai Thumamah?”.

Jawabnya: “Seperti yang aku katakan, jika engkau memberi kurnia, engkau memberi kurnia kepada orang yang berterima kasih”.

Nabi meninggalkannya. Keesokannya lagi Nabi s.a.w bertanya lagi: “Apa yang engkau dapati wahai Thumamah?”.

Jawabnya: “Seperti yang aku katakan kepadamu”.

Lalu Nabi s.a.w memerintahkan: “Bebaskan Thumamah”.

Lalu Thumamah pun keluar pergi ke mata air berdekatan masjid, beliau mandi, kemudian masuk semula ke masjid dan mengucapkan: “Aku bersaksi bahawa tiada ilah (yang diabdikan diri) melainkan Allah dan Muhammad itu Rasulullah”.

Beliau juga berkata: “Wahai Muhammad! Demi Allah, duhulu tiada atas muka bumi yang lebih aku benci daripada engkau, sekarang berubah engkau telah menjadi orang yang paling aku sayangi. Demi Allah, dahulu tiada agama yang lebih aku benci dari agamamu, sekarang berubah agamamu menjadi agama yang paling aku sayangi. Demi Allah, tiada dahulu negara yang lebih aku benci dari negaramu, sekarang berubah negaramu menjadi negara yang paling aku sayangi..”.

Hadis di atas menunjukkan bagaimana Thumamah bin Uthal seorang tawanan perang yang menentang kerajaan Nabi s.a.w dibawa masuk ke dalam masjid. Antara tujuannya, agar dia dapat melihat kehebatan ibadah dalam Islam. Sekalipun dia musuh dan tawanan perang, Nabi s.a.w menggunakan pendekatan yang menarik jiwanya sehingga dia akhirnya menganut Islam. Ini dengan cara menempatkannya dalam masjid dan baginda bertanya soalan selama tiga hari lalu memaafkannya. Kesan berada di masjid dan kemaafan Nabi s.a.w, akhirnya kepimpinan musuh tersebut menganut Islam. Hadis ini menjadi bukti bahawa orang bukan Islam boleh masuk ke dalam masjid. Inilah pegangan kebanyakan ulama termasuk dalam Mazhab al-Syafi’i. Kata al-Imam al-Nawawi (meninggal 676H):

“Hadis ini menunjukkan harus membawa orang kafir masuk ke dalam masjid. Mazhab Syafi’i mengharuskannya dengan izin muslim. Ini merangkumi kafir ahli kitab atau selain mereka”. (al-Nawawi, Syarah Sahih Muslim, 12/435, Beirut: Dar al-Khair).

Majlis Fatwa Tetap Arab Saudi mengeluarkan hukum tentang bukan muslim masuk ke masjid seperti berikut:

“Pendapat yang tepat bukan muslim boleh masuk ke dalam masjid untuk sesuatu kemaslahatan syariah atau sesuatu keperluan tertentu seperti mendengar sesuatu yang membawa masuk ke dalam Islam, atau keperluannya untuk minum air yang berada dalam masjid atau selainnya. Ini kerana Nabi s.a.w mengikat Thumamah bin Uthal al-Hanafi dalam masjid sebelum dia menganut Islam, baginda juga menempatkan perwakilan Thaqif dan perwakilan Kristian Najran di masjid sebelum mereka menganut Islam. Ini kerana ada banyak faedah mereka memasuki masjid, antaranya; mendengar ucapan dan nasihat Nabi s.a.w, melihat orang bersolat dan membaca al-Quran dan berbagai faedah besar yang lain bagi sesiapa yang melazimi masjid”. (Fatawa al-Lajnah al-Daimah 6/276. Riyadh: Idarah al-Buhuth)

Luaskan Fungsi Masjid

Kita sepatutnya meluaskan fungsi masjid agar dapat menjadi ‘centre for Islamic Information’ yang mesra pelanggan. Masjid sepatutnya berfungsi menyampaikan Islam kepada setiap pihak; muslim dan bukan muslim. Di negara seperti Malaysia yang berbilang agama dan budaya, kaum muslimin perlulah aktif dan intraktif dalam menyampaikan mesej Islam. Jika masjid dijadikan zon larangan bagi orang bukan muslim sehingga tidak dapat mendekatinya, bilakah Islam akan dapat difahami oleh mereka. Sudahlah dalam negara ini banyak fatwa ala-taliban yang cuba menggambarkan seakan tiada rahmah antara muslim dan non-muslim, ditambah lagi dengan ditutup ruang untuk mereka mendengar ajaran Islam. Masjid digambarkan musuh mereka dan mereka dilarang menghampirinya. Sementara dalam masa yang sama ada pihak bukan Islam yang menjemput muslim dengan hormat ke tempat ibadah mereka serta menghulurkan berbagai bantuan. Akhirnya, kita terus bermusuhan tanpa mencari titik dakwah, atau sekurang-kurang noktah yang mengurangkan sangkaan salah terhadap agama hidayah ini.

Ke manakah hala tuju Islam yang hendak kita bawa dalam negara ini?

In UmNo we trust........

2010-08-30T13:42:00.002+08:00

DAP, sorrie.... tak tutup aurat cannot enter masjid.......

UMNO : tak tutup aurat boleh masuk juga........WHY WHY WHY? because we are UMNO.......

The party that always right ............KOREK KOREK KOREK

PUTERI UMNO TERKECUALI DARI HUKUM ISLAM KE???

"Perang Besar" will happen in Malaysia?

2010-08-29T19:54:00.007+08:00

Last night, as usual I had monthly dinner gathering with my two business associates in a hotel located in Hong Kong. One of them comes from Middle East while the other one is from Europe. Both of them look quite depressed after reading a translation article appeared in Utusan front page "Perang Besar akan berlaku in Malaysia (Big war will happen in Malaysia) as claimed by Ustaz.

According to the report, the ever controversial Perak mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria had received three copies of a "new" Federal Constitution during a ceramah in Alor Setar. It was said that some important and sensitive provisions had been omitted in the "new" Federal Constitution, which was going to replace the existing Federal Constitution. And it was said that a Perang Baser could take place in Malaysia.

I could not help but laughed and at the same time trying to pacify them as they have investment in KL.

Bear in mind that foreign investors are normally quite sensitive with this kind of nonsense.

They have invested million or even billion in this country and that means all their investment will go into drain if something bad happen.

And no thanks to Utusan, I need to spend half and hour explain to them and at the same time "guarantee" them that Malaysia is still a best country, that they can pour their money in.(I must thank God that Chinese and Indian news paper have not followed Utusan footsetps}

It seems that they are not satisfied with my explaination and bombared me with the question "How could this news paper spreaded such lies and at the same time no action has been taken against the news paper editor and the USTAZ?"

Good question but sadly I do not have a good answer for them.........

Anyway I have promised them I will give them a good explanation by tonite.......

With heavy hearts, I search thru internet and thanks God I have managed to get a good article that explain the situation very well.......

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/43780

Talking about my home, my country, I just feel sad looking at current situation of the country......

FDI has dropped to all time low, crime rates still at high level, racial slurs getting rampants although it is a sin and......

Once before diversity is our strength, but now days we just heard quarelling among the politicians and well being of peoples are just neglected like that.....

I just hope that I can tell my friends that there is a future for this country and they can keep pouring their money in ........

Until then I can only keep my finger crossed and pray to God.........

ha ha can you spot the difference?

2010-08-29T18:27:00.001+08:00

Mirror Mirror on the wall.... tell me where the $$$$$$ gone?

2010-08-28T10:16:00.001+08:00

Bangkit perkauman untuk tutup kehilangan RM52 bilion

GEORGETOWN, 27 Ogos: Tindakan Umno mengapi-apikan isu perkauman dan agama adalah cubaan menutup skandal kehilangan RM52 bilion saham Bumiputera, kata Lim Guan Eng.

Beliau yang juga Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang berkata demikian sebagai mengulas isu perkauman yang cuba dihangatkan Umno pada pada waktu ini.

"Mereka mengapi-apikan pelbagai isu perkauman supaya menutup skandal RM52 bilion.

"Dari RM54 bilion yang diberikan kepada Bumiputera sekarang hanya tinggal RM2 bilion sahaja," ujarnya semalam selepas mesyuarat Majlis Pimpinan Pakatan Rakyat.

"Itulah sebabnya mereka mainkan isu-isu berkaitan agama dan perkauman ini, supaya isu sebenar boleh ditutup."

Sambil mendakwa Umno mengkhianati kepentingan orang-orang Melayu dan Bumiputera, Setiausaha Agong DAP itu turut mempersoal keengganan Umno BN untuk menubuhkan suruhanjaya diraja menyiasat punca ekuiti Bumiputera tinggal RM2 bilion sahaja.

"Siapa yang kebas RM52 bilion saham Bumiputera ini, tentulah Umno BN.

"Adakah disebabkan itu, mereka tidak mahu menubuhkan suatu siasatan suruhanjaya di raja," soal beliau di Ibu Pejabat PKR, Tropicana, Petaling Jaya.

Sehubungan itu, beliau menganggap DAP, PAS dan PKR atas muafakat Pakatan Rakyat wajar bersatu untuk menentang permainan politik Barisan Nasional itu.

"Kita boleh bersatu melawan kemungkaran yang dicerminkan oleh Barisan Nasional, baik Umno, MCA atau MIC," katanya lagi.

Sidang media tersebut turut disertai Ketua Umum PKR, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Timbalan Presiden PAS, Nasharuddin Mat Isa dan Penasihat DAP, Lim Kit Siang.

Sebelum pada itu, beliau turut mengaku bahawa beberapa pemimpin DAP memang mempunyai perbezaan pendirian berhubung cadangan PAS melaksanakan hudud.

Namun, katanya itu hanya perkara kecil dan Pakatan lebih mengutamakan agenda menentang kemungkaran yang dilakukan dalam Umno BN dari mempopularkan idealogi kepartian masing-masing.

29 Mac lalu, Guan Eng di Dewan Rakyat mempersoal integriti Umno BN ekoran kehilangan RM52 bilion itu.

Persoalan itu lanjutan Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, Perdana Menteri merangkap Menteri Kewangan mendedahkan bahawa ekuiti Bumiputera hanya tinggal RM2 bilion sahaja.

Menurut Guan Eng juga, ekuiti Bumiputera mampu meningkat sebanyak 45 peratus melalui Dasar Ekonomi Baru (DEB) sekiranya Umno tidak mengkhianati amanah rakyat, khususnya orang-orang Melayu.

-harakahdaily.net

Change is the ineluctable fact — Karim Raslan

2010-08-28T10:06:00.001+08:00

AUG 27 — Several weeks ago, I hosted a lunch for a Malaysian politician and an Indonesian businessman.

The politician and I were struck by the tycoon’s steadfast support of his nation’s democratic traditions. He stressed that he would not be where he was now had it not been for Reformasi and the turbulence of 1998. Indeed, he made a powerful argument that his country wouldn’t be powering ahead were it not for the transformation that took place after Soeharto’s ouster.
Interestingly, I think most Malaysian businessmen, including those dependent on government contracts, would agree with my Indonesian friend.
All societies need change. Countries that don’t or can’t change (like Japan) remain ossified and stagnant. Malaysia is in danger of experiencing a “Lost Decade” like Japan did — being stuck in an unproductive (even destructive) socio-economic and political model.
In the past, I used to praise Malaysia’s slow but steady pace of change. The events of the last decade have changed my mind. I now see that our evolutionary (as opposed to revolutionary) political process is a formidable barrier to our future growth.
Politics is holding us back and until we resolve two core political challenges, we will remain in limbo. The first is the role of ethnicity and second, the civil liberties agenda. Economic reform cannot happen when race still governs our public life, and where our citizens are not allowed to think and speak independently.
We remain a top-down, illiberal and limited democracy. We have leaders who do not trust the rakyat. The rakyat, conversely are increasingly frustrated with what is going on. They clearly see that to maintain the status quo there is a cynical fanning of racial and religious sentiment that only pushes us closer to some kind of political Armageddon.
So, as Malaysia readies itself for what appears to be our 13th general election, I have a few points to stress, reflecting some of the developments over the past two years:

Public scepticism and distrust is peaking
Public distrust has mounted. We are face to face with too many scandals and legal travesties — ranging from the Teoh Beng Hock inquest to the second Anwar Ibrahim trial. These unresolved, and unresolvable, cases gnaw away at public confidence. They impact the entire system. As a result, there is less and less confidence in public institutions.
We are experiencing a breakdown of the culture of deference in the Malay society:
The Malay society has been highly disciplined and hierarchical for many decades. However, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Melayu Baru rhetoric has taken root. Like it or not, the vast expansion of the Malay middle class has changed the dynamic between the ruled and the rulers. The Malay community is no longer respectful of entrenched authority. Instead, they are critical and analytical.
Indeed, younger Malaysians of all races are more “transactional” in their approach to politics. They ask, “What’s in it for me?” Elected officials have to be more humble and service-orientated. MP’s and ministers can no longer expect to command respect. They have to earn it, step-by-step. And the best way to do it is by being honest and humble.

Not all political warhorses will deliver the goods
Sarawak’s Tan Sri Taib Mahmud has been in office for well over 30 years. Is he liked or disliked? Can he deliver his state again into the hands of the Barisan Nasional? Past success is no guarantee of future delivery. The next state election in Sarawak will be eagerly contested and watched.

The role of the media: what is the truth?
The continuing restrictions on the Malaysian media have proven to be a disaster for the Barisan. On the other hand, certain conservative papers appear to have been given a free hand to engage in race-baiting. These double-standards have not boosted public sentiment, but rob the government of a very effective method of understanding what is happening on the ground.
Without freedom of expression, journalists can only write what the leaders want to read, not what they need to. As a result, Malaysia’s elite have become insulated from the rakyat, something the former can ill-afford at this juncture.

The Age of Coalitions is here
The results of the UK and Australian elections show that the Westminster system of democracy — which Malaysia also practises — tends to produce hung legislatures when voter dissatisfaction is great. The question then arises: Who — Barisan or Pakatan Rakyat — has a sounder alliance? Who can better bring our fragmented socio-political sphere?
These factors will become apparent in the upcoming power plays. Whatever happens, there is no turning back and Malaysia will never be the same again.

MACC Lawyer ------Joker of the year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-08-26T21:57:00.003+08:00

I almost fall down from my chair when I watch the video depicts DPP Abdul Razak Musa asking a series of baffling questions that riled up those sitting in the gallery during the Aug 18 session of the inquest proceedings to determine DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock's cause of death. .

I just wonder whether this " cekik diri sendiri" laywer is the best ever lawyer engaged/produced by MACC ........

Mana you pergi Perkasa????????

2010-08-26T19:07:00.000+08:00

Ibrahim Ali and the gangs where have you been? why so quiet?

Bendera Malaysia dibakar, diludah dalam demonstrasi di Jakarta

August 26, 2010

JAKARTA, 26 Ogos — Penunjuk perasaan di hadapan kedutaan Besar Malaysia di sini terus bersikap liar dengan membakar dan meludah Jalur Gemilang serta bergaduh dengan pasukan polis Indonesia yang mengawal di situ hari ini.
Seramai 600 orang menyertai demonstrasi itu berteriak “ganyang Malaysia” bagi membantah apa yang mereka dakwa pencerobohan pihak berkuasa Malaysia di perairan perbatasan kedua-dua negara, berhampiran Bintan, Kepulauan Riau 13 Ogos lepas.
Ketika emosi memuncak, penunjuk perasaan bergaduh dengan pasukan Polis Indonesia yang menghalang mereka daripada menghampiri pintu pagar untuk masuk ke dalam kawasan kedutaan.
Mereka membaling batu dan selipar ke arah polis. Seorang daripada mereka ditahan polis kerana membaling sebatang buluh, yang sebelum itu digunakan untuk mengibarkan bendera Indonesia, ke arah pasukan keselamatan.
Insiden pada 13 Ogos itu membabitkan penahanan tiga pegawai penguatkuasa laut Indonesia oleh Polis Marin Malaysia ekoran penahanan tujuh nelayan Malaysia oleh bahagian penguatkuasa Kementerian Kelautan dan Perikanan Indonesia kerana didakwa meneroboh.
Malaysia mempertahankan bahawa nelayan tersebut berada di perairan sendiri apabila ditahan oleh pihak penguatkuasa Indonesia itu. Kesemua tahanan itu telah dibebaskan pada 17 Ogos.
Kumpulan penunjuk perasaan hari ini menuntut Malaysia memohon maaf serta meminta kerajaan Indonesia memanggil balik Duta Besar Indonesia di Malaysia.
Keadaan reda apabila anggota kumpulan yang beremosi dapat ditenangkan oleh beberapa orang pemimpin kumpulan tersebut.
Sejak insiden 13 Ogos itu, beberapa demonstrasi dilakukan oleh kumpulan-kumpulan kecil antara 20 dan 40 orang sahaja namun ia tetap ganas sehingga ada yang bertindak merosakkan plak nama Kedutaan Besar itu, memanjat pintu pagar dan tembok pintu pagar dan berdiri di atasnya.
Kerosakan pada harta benda kedutaan besar itu telah dilakukan oleh penunjuk perasaan dari kumpulan Laskar Merah Putih.
Penghinaan paling buruk dilakukan terhadap Malaysia ialah perbuatan melempar najis manusia ke dalam kawasan Kedutaan Besar Malaysia di sini oleh penunjuk perasaan dari kumpulan Benteng Demokrasi Rakyat (Bendera) pada Isnin lepas. — Bernama

Bicara harmoni buat Mufti Perak — Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin

2010-08-25T19:02:00.000+08:00

August 25, 2010

25 OGOS — Saya rasa amat wajar untuk saya mengulas sendiri tentang isu doa untuk bukan muslim yang “dikecohkan” sekarang. Ini memandangkan ada media telah memainkan perbezaan antara pendapat saya dan yang dihormati SS Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria, Mufti Perak mengenai isu ini. Tujuan tulisan ini agar salahfaham dapat dielakkan.

Apabila seorang tokoh Umno yang agak veteran menghubungi saya dan menyatakan beliau tidak puas hati (ayat asalnya “malu”) dengan fatwa SS Tuan Mufti Perak yang mengharamkan doa kesejahteraan untuk bukan muslim, saya jawab saya tidak pasti sebab saya sendiri belum membaca fatwa tersebut. SMS beliau kepada saya: “apakah saudara bersetuju dengan Mufti Perak bahawa hukumnya haram kita mendoakan kesejahteraan bukan Islam. Salahkah saya mendoakan kesejahteraan mak mertua saya yang bukan Islam?

Atau mendoakan penyokong saya yang bukan Islam?” Setelah mendapat SMS itu saya cuba mencari kenyataan SS Tuan Mufti dalam media, saya dapati demikian yang dilaporkan oleh beberapa media.
Sebagai husn al-zan (sangka baik) saya anggap mungkin laporan media kurang kemas, atau ada maksud di sebalik pandangan hukum yang dikeluarkan oleh SS Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria itu. Ungkapan yang digunakan bahawa Islam mengharamkan doa kesejahteraan kepada orang bukan Islam itu mungkin mempunyai maksud lain di luar apa yang saya faham. Perkataan “sejahtera” itu mungkin ada maksud tersendiri yang beliau ertikan. Cumanya, saya ingin mengulas kenyataan itu dari beberapa sudut. Pandangan saya dalam isu ini seperti berikut:

1. Setiap orang yang mempunyai pengetahuan agama hendaklah sentiasa adil dengan pandangannya. Tidak boleh berpihak untuk kepentingan pembangkang ataupun kerajaan. Saya tujukan nasihat ini kepada mereka yang daif seperti saya ini agar berusaha mendisiplinkan diri dalam pandangan ilmu. Adapun SS Tan Sri Harussani, Mufti Perak sudah pasti seorang yang teguh — bukan lemah seperti saya — dan saya doakan agar keteguhan itu menjadi contoh insan yang berdisiplin dalam ilmu.

2. Pandangan agama yang membabitkan hal bukan Muslim di negara kita khususnya, dan dunia moden amnya, jika salah ditangani boleh memberikan kesan negatif kepada kefahaman masyarakat mengenai Islam. Kita memberitahu dunia “Islam adalah agama yang rahmat”, pasti mereka akan ragu jika kita mengeluarkan pandangan sebaliknya. Di kala dunia menuduh Islam pengganas, tiada nilai toleransi dan seumpamanya, pandangan-pandangan golongan agamawan janganlah membantu menyuburkan tuduhan palsu itu.

3. Di Malaysia, secara praktiknya, ramai yang terbiasa memberi ucapan — terutama di media-media kerajaan — “assalamualaikum dan salam sejahtera kepada yang bukan beragama Islam”. Walaupun Nabi s.a.w — seperti riwayat al-Bukhari-dalam praktik baginda, jika ada bukan Muslim bersama dengan Muslim baginda hanya memberikan “assalamualaikum” sahaja. Perkataan “assalamualaikum” itu memang bermaksud “kesejahteraan ke atas kamu”. Namun, diulangi oleh amalan media kerajaan dan majlis-majlis kerajaan dengan ungkapan “salam sejahtera kepada yang bukan beragama Islam”. Tidakkah “salam sejahtera kepada bukan beragama Islam” itu satu doa untuk mereka. Mengapa tidak difatwakan ia haram selama ini? Demikian salam ciptaan baru “salam 1 Malaysia” juga bermaksud kesejahteraan untuk semua termasuk bukan muslim. Mengapa tidak diharamkan? Saya sekali lagi berpesan kepada diri saya sendiri yang amat daif ini: janganlah bersifat terpilih dalam berfatwa.

4. Para ulama berbeza pendapat tentang hukum mendoakan rahmat dan keampunan kepada bukan muslim yang masih hidup. Mereka sepakat melarang doa tersebut kepada yang sudah mati dan menolak Islam secara jelas. Kesepakatan itu disebabkan ia disebut dalam al-Quran dalam Surah al-Taubah ayat 113. Adapun mendoakan untuk mendapat hidayah, adalah ijmak (sepakat tanpa kecuali) para ulama membolehkannya, bahkan menggalakkan.

5. Kata Abdullah bin Mas’ud: “Aku seakan masih melihat Rasulullah s.a.w menceritakan tentang seorang dalam kalangan nabi a.s yang kaumnya memukulnya sehingga berdarah, sedangkan dia hanya menyapu darah di mukanya dan berdoa: ‘Ya Allah! Ampunkanlah kaumku kerana mereka itu tidak tahu’ (Riwayat al-Bukhari dan Muslim).”

Hadis ini menunjukkan berdoa agar Allah memaafkan atau jangan menurunkan bala kepada golongan kafir yang jahil adalah harus. Dalam erti kata lain diberi peluang untuk mereka. Ini sebenarnya, mendoakan agar mereka selamat dari bala yang Allah bakal turunkan.

6. Dalam hadis yang sahih riwayat al-Nasai dan Abu Daud, sahabah Nabi s.a.w pernah menjampi untuk seorang gila yang bukan muslim dengan Surah al-Fatihah sehingga sembuh. Ketua kabilah lelaki itu memberikan kepada sahabah berkenaan 100 ekor kambing. Nabi s.a.w bersabda kepada sahabah tersebut: “Makanlah, selama ini orang memakan dari jampi yang batil, engkau memakan dari jampi yang sebenar”. Jampi adalah sebahagian dari doa kepada Allah. Hadis ini menunjukkan boleh mendoakan kesembuhan dan kesihatan kepada bukan Muslim.

7. Bagi saya, doa kebaikan untuk bukan Muslim seperti agar memerintah dengan adil atau mendapat kesejahteraan kesihatan, keamanan, harta dan seumpamanya adalah dibolehkan. Dada Islam amat luas dalam hal ini. Syaratnya, doa kesejahteraan itu bukan untuk orang bukan Muslim yang bermusuh dengan Islam. Firman Allah: (maksudnya):
“Allah tidak melarang kamu berbuat baik dan memberikan sumbangan harta kepada orang-orang yang tidak memerangi kamu kerana ugama (kamu), dan tidak mengeluarkan kamu dari kampung halaman kamu; Sesungguhnya Allah mengasihi orang-orang yang berlaku adil. Sesungguhnya Allah hanyalah melarang kamu daripada menjadikan teman rapat orang-orang yang memerangi kamu kerana agama (kamu), dan mengeluarkan kamu dari kampung halaman kamu, serta membantu (orang lain) untuk mengusir kamu. dan (ingatlah), sesiapa yang menjadikan mereka teman rapat, maka mereka itulah orang-orang yang zalim”. (Surah al-Mumtahanah ayat 7-8).

8. Adapun berdoa agar diberikan kekuatan atau kekuasaan kepada mereka yang zalim adalah haram. Sama ada yang didoakan itu Muslim atau bukan Muslim. Firman Allah: “Dan janganlah kamu cenderung kepada orang-orang melakukan kezaliman nanti api neraka akan menyentuh kamu, sedangkan kamu tidak ada sebarang penolong pun selain dari Allah. Kemudian (dengan sebab kecenderungan kamu itu) kamu tidak akan mendapat pertolongan” (Surah Hud: 113).

9. Namun, saya akui bahawa permainan politik boleh berlaku dalam semua aliran kepartian. Doakan mungkin digunakan dengan tujuan baik, juga mungkin tujuan kempen politik. Sebab itu ‘Ali bin Abi Talib pernah menyebut kepada golongan Khawarij yang menggunakan slogan agama: “Perkataan yang benar, tetapi bertujuan batil” (Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi, Tarikh Baghdad, 304/10, Beirut: Dar al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah).
Saya tidak pasti doa dalam kes di Pulau Pinang tersebut dalam kategori mana.

10. Pun begitu, golongan agama tidak boleh membuat fatwa untuk keredhaan sesuatu pihak semata. Hukum yang bersifat merentasi masa dan tempat seperti kenyataan mengharamkan doa untuk kesejahteraan orang bukan muslim secara mutlak akan dipakai selamanya jika rakyat menerima sedemikian rupa tanpa penelitian atau pendetilan.

11. Dalam sebuah negara yang berbilang agama, adakah kesejahteraan dan keamanan akan tercapai jika salah satu masyarakatnya porak peranda. Jika masyarakat bukan Islam hidup dalam keadaan tidak aman dan bergolak sesama mereka, apakah negara akan aman? Jika seorang pemimpin Muslim dibolehkan berusaha secara pentadbiran memulihkan keamanan dalam komuniti bukan Muslim, apakah munasabah Islam mengharamkan pemimpin tersebut berdoa agar Allah memulihkan keamanan dan kesejahteraan dalam kalangan mereka?

12. Tambahan lain, perlu kita di Malaysia mendoakan agar bukan Muslim menerima Islam ini. Orang Cina khusus mereka rajin dan kaya. Jika mereka menerima Islam, agama ini menjadi teguh. Jika Nabi s.a.w pernah berdoa: “Ya Allah! Engkau kuatkan Islam dengan salah seorang dari dua lelaki yang Engkau lebih sayang; Abu Jahl atau “Umar bin Al-Khattab”. (Riwayat al-Tarmizi dan al-Hakim, dinilai sahih oleh al-Zahabi).

Alangkah perlunya kita juga berdoa agar tokoh-tokoh yang hebat di negara ini menerima Islam.

Inilah pandangan ringkas saya. Saya percaya SS Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria mempunyai tafsiran atau andaiannya yang tersendiri. Apapun, kita harapkan andaian dan tafsiran itu sentiasa memberikan nilai yang positif untuk Islam dan bebas dari belenggu kepentingan mana-mana pihak. Ini adalah pandangan saya.
* Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin ialah bekas Mufti Perlis.

Hey UmNo Warlord ? How do you explain this photo?

2010-08-24T18:18:00.000+08:00

By Yoges Palaniappan, The Malaysian Insider

Penang today counter-attacked Umno’s claims that chief minister Lim Guan Eng’s name was used in Friday sermons, saying the Malay party itself had performed prayers for P. Kamalanathan in the Hulu Selangor by-election campaign last April.

State religious affairs executive councillor Abdul Malik Kassim claimed Barisan Nasional (BN) had recited the Yassin in a hajat prayer held specifically for their candidate in a tough contest. Kamalanathan won beating PKR strongman Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.

“If mentioning the chief minister’s name in sermons is considered not appropriate, holding a hajat prayer and reciting Yassin for a non-Muslim is even more inappropriate,” Abdul Malik said, pointing out at a picture of a BN banner inviting the public for the prayer.

He said the picture was retrieved from the internet.

“Solat hajat and reciting of Yasin are big things in the religion, it should not have been done in that aspect,” Abdul Malik added.

“The people who held this special prayers are the same people who have brought up the Friday sermon issue,” he said, referring to Umno who had claimed that several mosques in Penang have dropped the King’s name in favour of Lim’s.

Both Abdul Malik and Deputy Chief Minister I Datuk Mansor Othman, who was also present at the press conference, insisted that the King’s name was never dropped from Friday sermons.

They also urged the police to speed up their investigations because the “malicious slander” have put khatibs and imams in a dilemma.

Mansor asaid the state was also conducting its own investigations over the issue and would publish the probe’s outcome soon.

What does Umno Penang fear? — Sakmongkol AK47

2010-08-23T13:02:00.002+08:00

August 23, 2010

AUG 23 — Some Muslims in Penang were highly agitated when the khatib ( the man who reads sermons) offered prayers for the Penang chief minister. In what manner was it said? Was LGE's name mentioned in the context of something?

Actually we have not heard what actually transpired other than listening to a few emotionally charged statements from some people. Who are these people? If they are Umno members, then their response was hardly surprising.

To me, the fearful responses thus far only reflect how desperate Umno is in re capturing the Malay support in Penang. I won't say re-capture Penang, because that is already impossible. What Umno fears now is losing Malay support in Penang. That is like the end of the world.

What Umno fears is a rising consciousness among Penang Malays that despite detaching themselves from Umno, their lot can still be improved. This will be the beginning of a wider consciousness debunking the myth that equates loyalty and allegiance to this country to loyalty and allegiance to Umno. The two things are not the same. If Penang is successful in demolishing this long perpetuated myth and this awareness becomes a national phenomenon, Umno is in serious trouble.

Neither Umno nor Zaid Hamidi who is the Pengerusi Perhubungan Umno Penang have the answer to counter this rising tide. The only way they can hit back is by manipulating the sermon issue. You hope this will escalate into a tidal wave of resentment.

I say, if we truly love Umno we should stop this childish and very shallow strategy. Offer Penang Malays a better vision and promises of a better future. Zahid Hamidi is wishing he is not the Pengerusi Perhubungan Umno Negeri. Ini kes nyaya kat chek no.

Since capturing Penang from Gerakan and Umno in the last elections, the state government has made serious inroads into winning the hearts and minds of the Muslim community. Mosques and suraus have been receiving a lot of facilities and assistance from the state government. What is the civil thing to do if someone has given you assistance? You say thank you sir.

So the particular imam who created the present controversy who happens to be the brother of the Penang mufti was telling the congregation that Muslims should pray the good deeds undertaken by the state government under Lim Guan Eng are carried out continuously. Muslims are thanking the state government under Lim Guan Eng. In addition, Muslims should be hopeful that Lim Guan Eng embraces Islam. What probably happened was perhaps Guan Eng's name was mentioned in that context.

To me, this is a stupid way of trying to leverage on a religious issue. The present controversy serves to further expose our hypocrisy. For so many years while Penang was under the JV government of Gerakan and Umno, the lot of Penang Malays has not improved greatly. You even had a PM from Penang and he didn't achieve anything much for Penang Malays. He could offer only some nebulous ideas about Islam. People wanted more physical improvements not more sermonising.

Before that you also had a former deputy PM from Penang, who did not achieve much either. All he could do was gurmal here and gurmal there. Senator Koh Tsu Koon could never match what Guang Eng has achieved in 2 years with what he has done all those years while in power. So really, you don't have any defence against what the present state government is doing.

The better action by Penang Malays is to throw out all those useless Umno leaders who rose to prominence not through offering great ideas and thinking, but got where they are by mastering political intrigues. It's the comeuppance for many of these hollow leaders. For years you have come up not through the brilliance of your ideas or competency but you rise because you are more skilful at demolishing your political rivals, you rise by stabbing the backs of your political comrades, you rise because you plot here and there — suddenly you find you don't have the substance to sustain your political relevance.

So you have incompetent Umno leaders thinking they can stand toe to toe with better qualified Gerakan leaders. Suddenly you realise, your skills in removing your own political comrades don't work when dealing with people from other parties.

So I find the Penang Umno leadership and its 'spokesmen' behaving hypocritical in using religion to counter the state government.

Let's have some finesse fellers.
* Sakmongkol AK47 is the nom de plume of Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz. He was Pulau Manis assemblyman (2004-2008).

OMG!!!!!!!!!! UMNO is getting desperate......

2010-08-20T18:12:00.002+08:00

"Hanya orang yang tidak waras sahaja yang akan menggantikan nama Yang di-Pertuan Agong dalam khutbah Jumaat"

To UMNO Warlord, your strategies are already out dated.......only foolish people will fall into your trap......

If you want to win a war, win like a gentleman.....

Penang calls Umno ‘desperate’ for sermon claim

By Yoges Palaniappan

August 20, 2010

Ahmad Zahid had claimed that Lim’s name was being used in place of the Agong’s in several Penang mosques. — file pic

GEORGE TOWN, Aug 20 — The Penang Pakatan Rakyat (PR) administration denied today allegations by the state’s Umno information chief, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, that Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s name was used in a Friday mosque sermon instead of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s.

State Islamic affairs and domestic trade executive councillor Malik Kassim said the sermon text prepared by the state Islamic affairs department had never replaced the name of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin with Lim’s.

“The state or the Islamic affairs department have not received or issued any directive regarding this issue,” said the Batu Maung assemblyman.

“In fact, the Islamic affairs department’s directive clearly states that permission must be obtained from the department before inviting an external khatib (sermon reader),” he said.

“I am sure that after failing to play up racial issues by trying to portray the state government as discriminating against the Malays and Islam, certain quarters are now trying to sabotage us by using this issue.”

Malik claimed “the desperate move” was meant to pit PR leaders against the Palace, which would then be used to anger the Malays.

He added the state government had proved that Islamic development in the state had always been a priority.

Nik Aziz fed-up with Umno's badgering

2010-08-20T14:34:00.000+08:00

"They don’t really care if the policies are sound and effective… all they are interested in is looking and sounding great in front of their followers. As far as I can remember in the two decades that PAS has ruled Kelantan beginning in 1990, that’s all we have faced!

“When we introduced a five-day week, they called it a “lazy man’s culture”. Then the very same people ate their own words… then we introduced 60 days maternity leave and that too was regarded with cynicism. Then they copy us and introduced it nationwide,”

“The list of objections and complaints by Umno leaders against us is endless… the latest to rile them is the Kelantan government’s decision to introduce the syariah dinar and dirham currencies on Aug 12.

Niz Aziz said it was the same attitude that induced the federal government to lash out at the state over the introduction of the “dinar and dirham” Islamic currencies.

Tok Guru I cannot agree with you anymore........

Escaping the middle-income trap

2010-08-17T10:12:00.000+08:00

Posted by Michael Schuman Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 12:49 am

I returned a few days ago from Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, where the talk of the town – well, at least among economists -- is the “middle-income trap.” What's that, you ask? A developing nation gets “trapped” when it reaches a certain, relatively comfortable level of income but can't seem to take that next big jump into the true big leagues of the world economy, with per capita wealth to match. Every go-go economy in Asia has confronted this “trap,” or is dealing with it now. Breaking out of it, however, is extremely difficult. The reason is that escaping the “trap” requires an entire overhaul of the economic growth model most often used by emerging economies.

Malaysia's caught in the “trap” right now, and getting out if is going to be tough. Simply put, Malaysia needs to change what it has been doing economically for the past 40 years. How Malaysia got itself into the “trap,” and how it could escape from it, can provide us with some valuable lessons on development and, more specifically, how developing nations can graduate into becoming fully advanced economies.

The concept behind the “middle-income trap” is quite simple: It's easier to rise from a low-income to a middle-income economy than it is to jump from a middle-income to a high-income economy. That's because when you're really poor, you can use your poverty to your advantage. Cheap wages makes a low-income economy competitive in labor-intensive manufacturing (apparel, shoes and toys, for example). Factories sprout up, creating jobs and increasing incomes. Every rapid-growth economy in Asia jumpstarted its famed gains in human welfare in this way, including Malaysia.

However, that growth model eventually runs out of steam. As incomes increase, so do costs, undermining the competitiveness of the old, low-tech manufacturing industries. Countries (like Malaysia) then move “up the value chain,” into exports of more technologically advanced products, like electronics. But even that's not enough to avoid the “trap.” To get to that next level – that high-income level – an economy needs to do more than just make stuff by throwing people and money into factories. The economy has to innovate and use labor and capital more productively. That requires an entirely different way of doing business. Instead of just assembling products designed by others, with imported technology, companies must invest more heavily in R&D on their own and employ highly educated and skilled workers to turn those investments into new products and profits. It is a very, very hard shift to achieve. Thus the “trap.”
South Korea is probably the best current example of a developing economy making the leap into the realm of the most advanced. Companies like Samsung and LG are becoming true leaders in their fields. Taiwan isn't far behind. China's policymakers are fully aware that, with labor costs rising, it needs to follow suit. (More on Time.com: See a stimulus report card at the one year mark)

Malaysia, though, is quite far from where it wants to be. That's a bit surprising based on its remarkable recent history. Malaysia has been among the best performing economies in the world since World War II, one of only 13 to record an average growth rate of 7% over at least a 25-year period. The country has an amazing record of improving human welfare. In 1970, some 50% of Malaysians lived in absolute poverty; now less than 4% do. Yet Malaysians also feel that they've become somewhat stuck where they are. GDP growth has slowed up, from an annual average of 9.1% between 1990 and 1997 to 5.5% from 2000 and 2008.

Meanwhile, other Asian economies have zipped by Malaysia. According to the World Bank, the per capita gross national income (GNI) of South Korea in 1970 was below that of Malaysia ($260 versus $380), but by 2009, South Korea's was three times larger than Malaysia's ($21,530 versus $6,760). Malaysia is getting “trapped” as a relatively prosperous but still middle-income nation.

Can Malaysia escape? The initial indications are not encouraging. The economy's growth engine remains unchanged – export-oriented manufacturing backed by foreign investment. Its companies are just not innovating or adding much value to what they produce. You can find all of the ugly details in a very thorough study by the World Bank, released in April. Private investment has sunk precipitously, from more than a third of GDP in the mid-1990s to only some 10% today. Labor productivity is growing more slowly than in the 1990s. The “value-added” in manufacturing in Malaysia trails many of its neighbors – an indication that Malaysian factories are mainly assembling goods designed elsewhere. R&D spending remains frighteningly low, at about 0.6% of GDP (compared to 3.5% in South Korea). If Malaysia is going to break the “trap,” it has to reverse all of these trends.

How can Malaysia achieve that? The World Bank report has pages of recommendations. The basics include slicing apart the bureaucratic red tape that stifles competition and suppresses investment, bolstering the education system so it can churn out more top-notch graduates, and funneling more financial resources to start-ups and other potentially innovative firms. To its credit, the government of Malaysia is fully aware of what it needs to do. In March, Prime Minister Najib Razak introduced a reform program called the New Economic Model. You can read the initial report here. The NEM shows that Najib realizes that excessive government interference in the economy is dampening investor sentiment and holding back Malaysian industry. All eyes now are waiting for the more detailed policy recommendations for the NEM (though it is not clear when those might appear).

Yet I'm wondering if getting policy right is really enough. Of course, it would help, by setting in place better incentives for private businessmen to invest in innovative projects, and creating the tools they need to make those projects work. But I don't think that's the whole story. I've been musing on the differences between South Korea and Malaysia. Why has Korea jumped so far ahead? I think the reason is embedded in the different methods the two countries used to spur rapid growth.

Both countries relied exports to create rapid gains in income, but they did so differently. South Korea, from its earliest days of export-led development in the mid-1960s, had been determined to create homegrown, internationally competitive industries. Though Korean firms supplied big multinationals with components or even entire products, that was never enough – Korea wanted to manufacture its own products under its own brands. The effort was often a painful one – remember Hyundai's first disastrous foray into the U.S. car market in the late 1980s and early 1990s – but Korea is where it is today because its private companies have been working on getting there for a very long time, backed in full by the financial sector and the government.

Malaysia, on the other hand, relied much, much more on foreign investment to drive industrialization. That's not a bad thing – multinational companies provide an instant shot of capital, jobs, expertise and technology into a poor country. MNCs, however, aren't going to develop Malaysian products; that has to take place in the labs and offices of Malaysia's private businesses. But those businessmen have been content to squeeze profits from serving MNCs and maintaining their original, assembly-based business models.

In other words, what is needed for Malaysia to break from the “middle-income trap” is a greater national commitment to innovate on its own. Entrepreneurs and bankers have to be willing to take more risks to support inventive ventures and new technologies. Talented workers have to be willing to take jobs at home instead of Silicon Valley. The Malaysian private sector has to be more devoted to the country's future. This is fuzzy stuff, outside of the realm of usual economics. But I fear the kind of commitment needed to escape the “trap” unfortunately can't be created by government initiatives alone.

Some 60pc distrust mainstream media, poll shows

2010-08-14T09:53:00.000+08:00

New Strait Times, Utusan, Berita Harian and Star's Editors should be sacked .....why ? read below ........

By Adib Zalkapli

August 14, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 14 — Six out of 10 Malaysians don’t trust the mainstream media while only one out of five has access to online news, according to a synopsis of a recent survey here.

The June 27 to July 25 Merdeka Center survey commissioned by a research organisation showed that 57 per cent of Malays polled said they did not trust reports in the mainstream media, while 33 per cent trusted the media and 10 per cent said they did not know.

As for the Chinese community, 58 per cent said they did not trust the mainstream media, 30 per cent trusted and 12 per cent did not know.

A total 590 Chinese and 413 Malays as well as five focus group discussions with Chinese voters in Peninsula Malaysia were involved in the survey.

The findings will provide sober reading for many mainstream media organisations. Recent circulation figures show that English and Malay-language newspapers like New Straits Times, The Star, Berita Harian and Utusan Malaysia have all suffered significant drop in circulation this year compared to 2009, with some as severe as 20 per cent.

Privately, newspaper executives note that partisan political coverage has hurt sales.

A man browses through newspapers at a shop. The circulation figures of English and Malay-language newspapers have dropped significantly. — Picture by Jack Ooi

The survey results also showed that access to the alternative media remained low with 80 per cent of the respondents said newspapers were still their main source of information.

Only 21 per cent of those surveyed had read the news on the Internet over the past one month but most were found reading the online version of the mainstream media.

The majority of the respondents also said that they did not have a strong trust in the alternative media although many agreed that they are more trustworthy.

Comments from the focus group discussions also showed that many felt that there is limited media freedom in the country because of the practice of censorship.

Some participants in the focus groups also pointed out that Malay-language newspapers were the most biased.

Two political scientists said the survey results were not entirely unexpected.

“This is probably the group that has not registered as voters or are not bothered with what is happening in the country,” said political scientist Dr Sivamurugan Pandian when asked about the survey results.

“Or maybe because of the high expectation after 2008, they might have become fence-sitters,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

“And it could be also there has been too much politicking, that people are getting tired of them,” he added.

Sivamurugan explained that the failure of both Barisan Nasional (BN) and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties to explain their political agenda could have resulted in the outcome.

UKM’s Dr Agus Yusoff agreed, saying that ownership of media alone would not guarantee the success of the political parties.

“In managing information, managing media, the messages, both sides would have to work harder now,” Agus told The Malaysian Insider.

“If they go on spinning, sensationalising issues they will be drowned,” said the political scientist.

“Information is just a click away, whether it is mainstream media or the Internet people do not believe everything they read. They know how to judge,” he added.

KL building boom may struggle to find takers

2010-08-13T09:48:00.001+08:00

By Lee Wei Lian and Yow Hong Chieh

August 13, 2010

Upcoming projects and increasing traffic congestion will deal a double blow to Kuala Lumpur’s Golden Triangle area. — Reuters pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 13 — Nearly 15 million sq ft of new office space is in the pipeline in the greater Kuala Lumpur area between now and 2014, and could result in fierce competition to find tenants to fill it up.

This includes about five million sq ft in the city’s Golden Triangle central business district (CBD) and office rental rates are already feeling the pressure. The bulk of the new office space is expected to be completed in 2012 as developers bank on the oil and gas along with the financial services sectors to drive demand.

Decentralisation has also hollowed out the CBD with many multi-nationals moving to areas like Damansara Heights, Mid Valley and KL Sentral, lessening the city centre’s appeal as a financial and corporate hub.

One developer of a completed office tower near KLCC said he was worried about the looming oversupply and a “herd mentality” among developers.

“Who is going to fill up all this new office space?” he said to The Malaysian Insider. “The developers rushing to develop new office towers are all having a herd mentality.”

A Mah Sing Group leasing and marketing executive said that competition was particularly stiff along Jalan Tun Razak, where the group’s newly completed Icon development has to compete with rivals G-Tower, Integra and The Intermark, which offer a total net lettable area (NLA) of about 2.2 million sq ft.

“The market is now very competitive so we have to work very hard,” the executive said, adding that only 30 per cent of Icon was currently occupied.

He was confident, however, that Mah Sing will be able to achieve an occupancy rate of 70 to 80 per cent for Icon’s more than 500,000 sq ft NLA by the end of this year.

A report by property consultancy DTZ

Research shows that office rents continued to drop marginally over the second quarter due to the anticipated incoming supply, which has led to a tenants’ market with the ability to negotiate cheaper rates upon renewal as well as when signing new leases.

Brian Koh, executive director of DTZ Research, said that there are concerns pending supply would put downward pressure on rental yields.

“Growth in demand may lag substantially behind supply,” he said.

DTZ Research figures show that average prime office rents fell from RM6.02 per sq ft per month in the first quarter of this year 2010 to RM6.00 per sq ft per month in the second quarter.

The report forecasted further downward pressure on office rents due to significant levels of new supply over the next few years as intense competition is anticipated amongst new office buildings to secure tenants.

The stakes are high as the revitalisation of Greater Kuala Lumpur has been identified as one of 12 National Key Economic Areas (NKEA) under the Najib administration’s ambitious 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP).

Elvin Fernandez, managing director of property valuer Khong & Jaafar, said the commercial property market will benefit from better fundamentals should the New Economic Model (NEM) and 10MP succeed, despite the 88 million sq ft of office space already available.

“All optimism is hinged on the new Malaysia,” he cautioned.

Fernandez said it was important for rentals to increase from current levels but added that there had to be demand for sizeable spaces of 10,000 sq ft or more for that to happen.

“This must come from expanding local companies and the establishment of new companies, preferably foreign companies attracted by Malaysia’s new openness,” he said.

“We hope this will happen soon and in a substantial way,” said Fernandez.

The city, however, has to compete with mini CBDs like Damansara Heights and KL Sentral that have cropped up outside the city as the lack of a comprehensive master plan for developing a world-class central business district and traffic congestion helped drive the decentralisation of Kuala Lumpur.

Upcoming mega-projects under the 10MP such as the 85-acre KL Financial District, the redevelopment of the 3,300-acre Rubber Research Institute Land in Sungai Buloh and the 400-acre redevelopment of the Sungai Besi Airport is also expected to impact the KL property sector.

OSK Research said in a recent report that the 10MP projects could threaten the prospects of commercial properties in the Golden Triangle and, in the long run, the larger part of the Klang Valley if the developments are rushed and traffic congestion worsens.

Not all analysts are negative on the incoming supply however.

RAM Rating Services acknowledged that the owners of new buildings may also find it a challenge to fill up their buildings if they have not already pre-let the space but the incoming supply is not expected to have a significant adverse impact on the office sector in KL.

“Historically, annual occupied office space in KL has been largely on an increasing trend,” said RAM.

Political and economic costs of Teoh Beng Hock case

2010-08-11T14:07:00.006+08:00

Jaringan Melayu Malaysia has explicitly claimed that one of the defense counsels, Tan Hock Chuan, has concealed the suicide note.
By Lee Wee Tak
It is a bit difficult for me to write with a detached mindset on this one but I have to give it a go....

The latest Revelation of a suicide note purportedly written by Teoh Beng Hock has thrown the whole inquest into disarray and causing great anger for Gorbind Singh and re-open the deepest wound of the Teoh family.

We respect and, in deserving cases, honour the dead, not to heap more disrespect on the dead and more hurt on the living.
Richard Loh in his excellent write up eloquently sum up the possibility that it is a fabrication. Channel News Asia, the Singapore official news channel, reported that Gorbind Singh considered citing Abdul Ghani Patail for contempt. All I have to add is that:
1) suicide notes are meant to be found and if a note is meant to be discovered after 2 months, and held in secrecy over a year, then the time it took for the note to surface render its authencity extremely doubtful
2) the first instance of this suicide note was revealed by Jaringan Melayu Malaysia here .
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Siasat surat terakhir Beng Hock

syahrir.bakar@utusan.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR 24 Julai – Pihak berkuasa diminta segera menyiasat kewujudan surat terakhir tulisan tangan dalam bahasa Cina oleh Teoh Beng Hock sebelum dia ditemui mati di bangunan Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) Shah Alam, tahun lalu.
Yang Dipertua Jaringan Melayu Malaysia (JMM), Azwanddin Hamzah berkata, kewujudan surat itu penting kerana ia berupaya membuktikan bahawa Beng Hock pada waktu itu menghadapi tekanan serta diugut bunuh oleh pihak tertentu dan bukannya SPRM.
‘‘Kewujudan surat tersebut perlu disiasat supaya mendiang Beng Hock dan SPRM mendapat inkues yang adil sementara peguam-peguam yang mewakili inkues tersebut tidak dipengaruhi oleh agenda jahat yang mahu memecahbelahkan perpaduan dalam negara.
‘‘Pelbagai pihak termasuk portal propembangkang, The Malaysian Insider, Malaysiakini dan Malaysia Today telah menyiarkan artikel yang menyalahkan SPRM dan kerajaan dengan mendakwa mendiang telah dibunuh oleh pihak SPRM,” katanya kepada Mingguan Malaysia di sini hari ini.
Azwanddin mengulas tentang maklumat yang diperolehi JMM berhubung kewujudan surat terakhir ditulis Beng Hock sebelum ditemui mati yang kononnya menyatakan dia pada masa itu menghadapi tekanan serta menerima ugutan bunuh.
Kewujudan surat berkenaan turut didedahkan oleh beberapa blog termasuk blog Gerakan Anti PKR.
Azwanddin turut mempersoalkan kegagalan pihak pendakwaan mengemukakan surat itu pada sesi inkues kes berkenaan
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How come this website have exclusive access into withheld evidence not even available to Teoh Beng Hock's counsel or, MACC who is clinging on to dear life defending itself?
Has JMM breached any Official Secret Act provision, contempt of legal proceedings etc?
Read more at: http://wangsamajuformalaysia.blogspot.com/2010/08/political-and-economic-costs-of-teoh.html

Underage marriages: Are we back in the Middle Ages?

2010-08-06T13:32:00.001+08:00

By Mariam Mokhtar, Malaysian Mirror

It is possible that Ali Rustam is not aware that girls, once married, risk contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and HIV/AIDS from husbands who also have sex outside of the marital home. Forcing teenagers to marry does not cure infidelity.

Is he conscious that many girls suffer abuse when they refuse sex? Does he know that many of these young girls may have several children by their early twenties and so, risk their health and suffer pregnancy related mortality?

The Prime Minister wants a united Malaysia, but each section of our community has its own interpretation of “1Malaysia”. In Malacca, the “1Malaysia” concept of ‘disunity’ goes full circle: Our children are open to abuse, with the full consent of the law.

Battle lines were once drawn between the ‘Haves’ and ‘Have-Nots’. Now, the demarcation includes race, religion and culture with die-hard Malays like the DPM and Perkasa, championing Malay rights first.

Federal law states that no woman will be whipped, but recently, three Muslim women were caned for having illicit sex. It appears that “1Malaysia” fails women.

The decision by the Malacca government to allow male students below 18 and female students below 16 to marry, shocked everyone. Under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act, marriage is allowed only for people 18 years and above. It appears that “1Malaysia” does not protect children.

Malacca Chief Minister, Ali Rustam, said that marriages for Muslims below the current minimum age of 16 years for females and 18 for males would be allowed with the permission of parents and religious courts.

Why should normal, responsible parents allow the state to make decisions over their child?

Ali Rustam’s plan was to prevent premarital sex, reduce babies born out of wedlock and cut incidents of adultery. He said, "It is a practical move in preventing cases of unwed teenage mothers and other social problems”.

Ali Rustam and the Malacca Religious Council are both irresponsible and obtuse. Do they honestly believe under-age marriages will stop unwed teenage mothers, prevent social problems and adultery?

This directive appears to condone sex in Muslim teenagers. Should things go wrong and the girl gets pregnant, the couple is given an “opt-out’ clause by the state: They get married; No one is jailed; The girl escapes a whipping. The wedding takes place for all the wrong reasons.

Lowering the age of consent is not going to resolve teenage pregnancies. All that happens is illegitimate children won’t be born - the state ensures the baby’s parents go through the formality of marriage, whether or not they are responsible, ready for it or can afford it.

Will these teenagers make good parents? Some will, but the majority won’t. They are children burdened by bringing up a family. Is that fair?

More social problems will result. What will Ali Rustam do when there is an upsurge of very young teenage mothers or girls as young as 10, 11 or 12 having sex?

These married girls have to forego school and deny themselves an education. Without proper qualifications and skills, they cannot contribute towards the family and nation. Is the Chief Minister prepared for an uneducated underclass which is possibly poverty stricken?

The Malacca ruling means that the girl who marries young is subject to emotional, physical and financial hardship. She has to stop interacting with other children of her own age, to care for her children. Her personal development, growth and freedom are curtailed.

Has Ali Rustam considered that these children are also at risk from sham marriages with paedophiles?

What will Ali Rustam do when the husband tires of these girls and source even younger wives, as polygamy is their right? The likelihood of the husband providing equally for each of his growing family, in terms of money, attention and material goods, is slim.

It is possible that Ali Rustam is not aware that girls, once married, risk contracting sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and HIV/AIDS from husbands who also have sex outside of the marital home. Forcing teenagers to marry does not cure infidelity.

Is he conscious that many girls suffer abuse when they refuse sex? Does he know that many of these young girls may have several children by their early twenties and so, risk their health and suffer pregnancy related mortality?

The state of Malacca also announced a special school for Muslim girls who become pregnant out of wedlock.

Girls elsewhere enjoy the benefits of an advanced education, high living standard and economic and financial freedom. But it appears, not in Malacca.

Almost 34% of workers earning below poverty line

2010-08-05T17:14:00.002+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR: A study by the Human Resources Ministry on wages in the country revealed that almost 34 percent of about 1.3 million workers earned less than RM700 a month, below the poverty line of RM720 per month.

Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam said the National Employment Return study in 2009 stressed on the need for wages to be increased, especially after the ministry discovered that it was difficult to rely on market forces alone.

He also cited the World Bank study which found that the wage trend in Malaysia had only recorded a 2.6 percent growth annually during the past 10 years compared with the increasing cost of living during the same period.

“The government agrees that wages will have to be increased,” he told reporters here today.

He said the influx of foreign workers was among several reasons why wages did not increase for the past 10 years.

“Skilled jobs are synonymous with higher wages. However, in many instances, employers do not pay for skills, instead, relying on unskilled foreign workers. This has also largely dampened wage growth,” he said.

Yesterday, Subramaniam said, after closing a workshop on minimum wage, that he would table his ministry’s proposal on a national minimum wage to the Cabinet by end-October this year.

At the workshop, there were differing views on the proposal where some felt the implementation of minimum wage would lead to erosion of competitiveness, wage spirals and unable to narrow the gap between the rich and poor in the country, while others felt it would increase productivity and quality of workers.

The minister said should the government agreed for a minimum wage, new laws would have to be introduced to cover all aspects such as coverage, authority, advisory body, implementation and so on.

A National Council on Minimum Wages would also have to be formed to ensure the smooth implementation of the minimum wage, he said.

The ministry was expected to complete its report on the national minimum wage in four months after which it will be tabled to the Cabinet, he said.

Subramaniam said his ministry has yet to decide if there should be a national, regional or sectoral minimum wage.

“It is up to the Cabinet to give us the direction,” he said, adding that the minimum rate would also have to be worked out.

A poll initiated by the ministry to get feedback on the minimum wage revealed that of the 434 respondents, 76 percent agreed that the government should implement a minimum wage for all sectors.

Foreign Investors Eyeing Malaysia!

2010-08-04T14:05:00.001+08:00

Malaysia topped the list for enquiries into distressed property listings from specialist funds.

By Jeevindra Kumar

This could be good news or bad news. The reader has to be the judge.

RICS Global Distressed Property Monitor, a quarterly guide to the developing trends in the commercial property investment and occupier market, reports that

Malaysia topped the list for enquiries into distressed property listings from specialist funds, with the net balance improving from +22 to +47. Specialist Funds are one of the places where the 'smart money' sits and waits for opportunities, as opposed to the other type of money which just runs with the herd. The specialist funds are not rushing in yet, but their collective interest level in Malaysian distressed commercial properties is twice the amount of said properties that fell into the market in the last quarter.

A distressed property is defined as a property that is under a foreclosure order or is advertised for sale by its mortgagee (the real owner of the property aka The Bank). Distressed properties usually fetch a price that is below market value. Note that in a typical real estate cycle, non-residential (commercial & industrial) real estate follows residential trends with a time lag of about 5 quarters (the historical range is 3-8 quarters).

This raises some questions.
1. Why is the 'smart money' eyeing something which many of us believe has not happened yet, or as some believe, will never happen?
2. Why is Malaysia ahead of all other countries and property markets, sitting squarely on the bullseye?
3. If the smart money is already targetting the distressed commercial real estate sector, what is the story with the residential market then?
4. Or is this just a lagging response to the minor house price correction from Q4 2007 to Q3 2008?
The answer is important because many subscribe to this belief, "housing provides the only feasible investment opportunity during crisis..." (Source: REHDA presentation slides). And this can set us up for a meltdown if we ignore the warning signs that may or may not be out there.
A visit to the latest BNM banking statistic reports gives the following picture. This is the best available after wading through the heaps of numbers there, please bear with them, or skip the numbers and just read the conclusions
Banking System:Loans Disbursed By Sector (RM million)

SELECTED SECTOR	YEAR TO DATE	2009 TOTAL	Y-O-Y % CHANGE	SECTOR AS % OF 2009 TOTAL	SECTOR AS % OF YTD TOTAL
RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY	31366.2	59505.4	+ 5.4	9.0	8.7
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY	17029.5	26346.5	+29.3	4.0	4.7
TRANSPORT VEHICLES	24073.2	40333.6	+ 19.0	6.1	6.9
CREDIT CARD	39168.1	72090.7	+8.6	10.9	10.8
TOTAL ALL SECTORS	359592.3	656958.5	+9.5	-	-

Banking System: Loans Repaid By Sector (RM million)

SELECTED SECTOR	YEAR TO DATE	2009 TOTAL	Y-O-Y % CHANGE	SECTOR AS % OF 2009 TOTAL	SECTOR AS % OF YTD TOTAL
RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY	22221.3	44591.9	-1.0	7.5	7.0
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY	11051.6	20406.0	+8.3	3.4	3.4
TRANSPORT VEHICLES	20304.1	37599.4	+8.0	6.3	6.4
CREDIT CARD	40774.9	74147.6	+10	12.5	12.8
TOTAL ALL SECTORS	316275.4	595202.3	+6.2	-	-

Borrowers are repaying most of their debts at a higher rate than before, except in the residential sector, which has fallen -7.2% in real terms (the nominal fall and the shortfall from the aggregate increase y-o-y).
The data for the repayment by type is incomplete at BNM, but with what is available, the numbers show that the mortgage delinquency rate amongst borrowers from the lower end of the spectrum is falling, and increasing at the higher end. This might seem contrary to logic until you consider that the rich are far more ruthless when it comes to their investments; they will just walk away, but the working class Joes will scrimp and suffer to meet their obligations.

The next question is whether the Banks are sitting on the foreclosed inventory as is happening in the West in an effort to keep valuations high enough so that more will enter into debt with them?

If delinquency rates are increasing at the upper spectrum of the housing market, we should see a decrease in mortgages applied and approved, that is not the case. "New bookings are leading a boost in home loan application. 61% reported mortgage applications for residential properties rose. Approval for housing loans are equally appealing with 50% confirmed that approval of such loans have increased." (REHDA)

In terms of supply, 57% of developers had new launches in H1 2010, as compared to 37% in H2 2009. The best part is that new launches for apartments, condominiums, semi-Ds and bungalows have increased the most. Semi-D/Bungalow from 19% in H2 2009 to 28% of all launches in H1 2010. (REHDA)
Where does this put us in the real estate cycle? The reader has to be the judge.

The Stages of the Real Estate Cycle

1. Population growth and commercial growth at the early stage of the economic cycle, often supported by government encouragement/low interest rates, creates an increase in the demand for housing and commercial buildings in excess of current supply.

2. It takes time for construction to gear up. This construction increases demand for vacant land. Bank loans are attracted to construction and real estate sales as prices begin to rise.

3. As vacant land prices rise a boom in land develops, leading to sub-divisions and speculative resale.

4. The real estate cycle peak is characterized by a high volume of subdivision and sales.

5. Construction catches up with demand and a small surplus is created. Rents can't go up enough to support the higher property costs, making new construction and rental property investment unprofitable. Land values start to adjust downwards, the bubble/mania is broken.

6. Rising interest rates hurt confidence and profits, adding to the downwards pressure on prices. Real estate enters a 'hanging' slow phase. Asking prices stay high but there are few buyers. Building, subdivisions, and speculation drops quickly. Sometimes a panic or crash begins at this point; often the market just slowly dies. Many keep speculating during this phase as they're unaware of the market having turned.

7. Real estate starts to get marked down in price. This tends to take quite a while as owners tend to cling to mortgaged property longer than they would to other assets, like shares. Foreclosures rise but the foreclosure process is not quick.

8. Mortgage costs/interest rates are higher, rents decline, and vacancies increase. The market is dying rapidly. Foreclosures increase; speculators and investors are forced to sell as the capital value of their property decreases below lending margins and rents decrease below holding costs.

9. The bottom of the market has the following characteristics: high vacancies, low construction rates, foreclosures and no speculation. Debt must be written off and properties sell at a deep discount. Only those who entered stage 6 with little or no debt survive to buy the dramatically discounted properties.
(http://www.nowandfutures.com/real_estate.html)

A quick look at the US, as there is no market better studied than that.

Look at housing. The facts are grim. This is from Charles Hugh Smith:

About two-thirds of U.S. households own a house (75 million); 51 million have a mortgage and 24 million own homes free and clear (no mortgage). Most of the other 36 million households are moderate/low income and have limited or no access to credit and limited or no assets.
If we look up all the gory details in the fed Flow of Funds, we find that household real estate fell from $23 trillion in 2006 to $16.5 trillion at the end of 2009. That is a decline of $6.5 trillion, more than half the total $11 trillion lost in the credit/housing bust. Home mortgages have fallen a negligible amount, from $10.48 trillion in 2007 to $10.26 trillion at the end of 2009. As of the end of 2009, total equity in household real estate was a paltry $6.24 trillion of which about $5.25 trillion was held in free-and-clear homes (32% of all household real estate, i.e. 32% of $16.5 trillion).
That leaves about $1 trillion--a mere 1.85% of the nation's total net worth-- of equity in the 51 million homes with mortgages. ...$6 trillion in wealth is gone
("What we know--and don't want to know-- about housing", Charles Hugh Smith, of two minds.com)
Are we going to have a bust in the property market? Maybe it's not all bad news, if we look at the "Property Recommendations Mid 2010" by Global Property Guide.
"With a slightly sinking feeling, we make the following recommendations:
Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur is relatively low cost, has good yields, and low transaction costs. Capital gains taxes are low but income taxes are high. The worry is high capital flight, which indicates that something is amiss in Malaysia's economic environment."

Apart from this recommendation, and another one meant for the super rich who are looking for multi million dollar properties, we are absent from everywhere else. The latest focus is on Colombia, Turkey, South Africa, Egypt, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia as far as emerging markets go, apart from the usual suspects i.e BRIC.
Conclusion:
A double dip in the global economy, which is looking like a sure thing, will not see FDI inflows in the areas we would like, but will see money come in to snap up properties at fire sale prices. The beneficiaries are the Banks, the victims will be all of us.
I wish I could send some strongly worded questions to the Shadow Minister for Housing, does anyone know who he/she is, and where he/she is hiding?

Sources: BNM, REHDA, RICS, marketoracle.co.uk

What have the Singaporean Malays achieved?

2010-08-02T09:58:00.002+08:00

This is a speech by the editor of Berita Harian, Singapore:

Speech by Berita Harian editor Guntor Sadali, at the Berita Harian Achiever of the Year Awards ceremony on July 28, 2010
It is a fact known to all that Malays in Singapore is a minority. However this minority is quite different from other minorities in the world.
Similarly, to some, Singapore is just a red dot in this vast Asian region. But it is no ordinary red dot.
It is a grave mistake to equate size with ability, just as it is wrong to assume that being small and in the minority is to be weak and insignificant. The recent World Cup proved this. While Spain may be the world champion, it was minnow Switzerland that became the only country in the tournament that was able to defeat Spain.
Forty-five years have passed since Singapore left Malaysia, yet every now and then we still hear non-complimentary comments from across the Causeway about the Malay community here.
The latest came from former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who casually reminded Malaysian Malays not to become like Singaporean Malays.
He did not make it clear what he actually meant, but the comment was made in the context of the possibility of Malaysian Malays losing their power in Malaysia.
Again he did not specify what type of power, but it could safely be interpreted as political power.
Now, what could have happened to the Malays here in the last four decades? What could have driven Dr Mahathir to voice his concern and to caution the Malaysian Malays? I wonder.
The Malay community in Singapore, of course, know what has become of us here. First and foremost, we have become a completely different community from what we were 45 years ago.
We have developed our own identity and philosophy of life that are distinct from our relatives across the Causeway. We may wear the same clothes, eat the same food, speak the same language and practise the same culture.
However, the similarities end there. We are now a society that uphold the philosophy of wanting to stand on our own feet, or what is known in Malay as ‘berdikari’ or ‘berdiri atas kaki sendiri’.
We do not believe in being spoon-fed or being too dependent on government help. In other words, we do not have a crutch mentality. We firmly believe that a community with such a crutch mentality will soon become a “two M” community – the first ‘M’ stands for ‘manja’ (spoilt), and the second for ‘malas’ (lazy). We definitely do not want to be labelled as a pampered and lazy community.
That is why our Malay community here constantly work hard to raise funds to build our own mosques, madrasahs and other buildings in expensive and land-scarce Singapore.
Over the years we have raised millions of dollars to become proud owners of these buildings. Through our own efforts and with the help of other organisations, we have also helped the needy not only financially, but also in equipping them with new skills so that they can earn their living.
For Dr Mahathir, however, all that we have done and achieved so far are not good enough. He takes a negative view of our changed attitudes and different mindset, and has therefore cautioned Malaysian Malays not to be like us.
What about power? For Malays in Singapore, power is not about wielding the keris. For us, knowledge is power. In fact we believe that knowledge is THE real power.
The constant emphasis by the community on the importance of education and acquiring knowledge has led to the formation of institutions such as Mendaki, Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP), the Prophet Mohamad Birthday Memorial Scholarship Board (LBKM) and many others.
These self-help organisations not only provide financial help to needy students, but also strive to nurture our students to their full potential. At the same time, these organisations help to tackle various social ills faced by the community.
Again, we do these all on our own. Malay children here attend the same schools as other Singaporeans with a shared aim – to obtain a holistic education and, of course, achieve good examination results. Yes, it is tough. Like all other children, our Malay students have no choice but to work hard. It is a reality of life in Singapore that we have come to accept – that there is certainly no short cut to success. We do not believe in getting any special treatment, because it would only reduce the value of our achievements and lower our dignity.
The meritocratic system that we practise here is, without doubt, a tough system but it helps us to push ourselves and prevent us from becoming ‘manja’ and ‘malas’.
Still, Dr Mahathir and some Malay leaders across the Causeway do not like the way we do things here and have therefore warned Malaysian Malays not to be like us. On our part, there is certainly no turning back. Meritocracy has proven to be a good and fair system.
It pushes us to work hard and makes us proud of our achievements. We can see how it has benefited us by looking at the growing number of doctors, lawyers, magistrates, engineers, corporate leaders and other professionals among us. It is the successes and achievements of some of these people that Berita Harian wants to highlight and celebrate when we launched this Achiever Award 12 years ago.
Tonight, we have another role model to present to our community. So, the question is: Shouldn’t our friends and relatives across the Causeway be like us – Malays in Singapore?
It is definitely not for us to suggest or decide. And we too have no intention of asking our own community if we would like to be like them either, because we have already chosen our very own path for the future.
We, the Malays in Singapore, should be proud of our achievements, because we have attained them through hard work. It is true that what we have achieved so far may not be the best, and that we are still lagging behind the other races. There are large pockets in our community facing various social problems.
We have achieved so much, and yet there is still a long way to go. But we should not despair. We can do a lot more on our own if the community stay united and cohesive. In critical issues, we should speak with one voice. We need to help and strengthen each other while at the same time reach out to the other communities in multi-racial, multi-religious Singapore.
A successful and prosperous Singapore can only mean a successful and prosperous Malay community. Can we do it? Well, to borrow US President Barack Obama’s campaign slogan, “Yes, we can”.

Some Malays reject 7pc discount for luxury homes

2010-07-31T12:05:00.000+08:00

Pua proposed for Selangor to do away with Bumiputera discounts for million-ringgit homes. — file pic

KUALA LUMPUR, July 30 — Some middle-class Malays have surprisingly rejected the seven per cent Bumiputera discounts for luxury homes, calling the policy “embarrassing” and “unconstitutional” despite Malay politicians saying it was still necessary.

Their stand contradicted Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s opinion that removing the discount for select properties as proposed by DAP’s Tony Pua would anger the Bumiputeras, as well as Umno Youth leader Khairy Jamaluddin’s argument that it was still needed to widen Bumiputera ownership in strategic areas.

“It is quite embarrassing to us Malays because it is as if we cannot afford that kind of property,” real-estate business owner Haslinah Yaacob told The Malaysian Insider yesterday.

“It is against the Constitution,” said the 49-year-old, who added that housing discounts are not listed under Article 153 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees the special position of the Malays.

Khairy said the discount was still required to encourage Bumiputeras to own property.

Retired engineer Ismail Ibrahim agreed with Haslinah that the Bumiputera discount was unconstitutional and should be scrapped.

“The discounts are illegal and unconstitutional. There is no such thing as special rights of Malays in our Constitution,” said Ismail, 60, pointing out that Malays’ “special position” as defined in Article 153 of the Federal Constitution did not translate to “special rights”.

The engineer added that the “special position” of the Malays refers to religious and family matters, and not houses.

Pua, the DAP national publicity secretary, recently urged the Selangor government to abolish Bumiputera discounts for million-ringgit luxury homes as well as commercial property in the state to improve competitiveness and restore investor confidence. However, he proposed keeping the discounts for houses up to RM500,000 and commercial properties up to RM2 million.

On another point, businessman Abdul Aziz Ahmad said the Bumiputera discount was not an Islamic practice as the affirmative action did not benefit the poor in general.

“The policy should cover everyone regardless of race. That is more Islamic,” said the 50-year-old businessman.

Abdul Aziz also criticised the New Economic Policy (NEP) for its failure to achieve the stated 30 per cent Bumiputera equity target since its inception in 1971.

“For 40 years, we failed to achieve even 20 per cent of Bumiputera equity,” said Abdul Aziz.

“It (the NEP) is a policy to cover for Umno, to show that they are fighting for Malay interests. But it is for their own benefit, for certain segments in society,” added Abdul Aziz.

Najib has been criticised for backtracking on the New Economic Model (NEM), which was meant to remove the rent-seeking and patronage practices left over from the NEP, after he called the policy a “trial balloon” when faced with a sour reaction from some Malay groups.

The discount may not last forever, said Najib, but will stay for now.

“If I can afford RM2 million, I should be embarrassed to ask for a seven per cent discount,” said management consultant Mohd Radzi Mohd Taib, 50.

“The discount should not be based on racial status but economic basis,” added Mohd Radzi.

Like Abdul Aziz, the management consultant criticised the NEP for reducing the competitiveness of the Malays.

“We (Malays) are weakened by NEP because we don’t compete on the same level,” said Mohd Radzi, pointing out that Malay students would not study as hard as their non-Malay counterparts as they could still enter government universities even with lower grades.

Communications practitioner Arfan Amaluddin echoed Mohd Radzi’s points, and said that the Bumiputera discount policy merited a relook in order to make the grouping more competitive.

“We should revisit the decision, should it be detrimental in the long run. I believe it is time to do so,” said Arfan, 32.

“This is so that we, the sons of the soil, will in fact become more competitive, especially in order to attain that lofty goal of becoming a ‘developed’ nation,” he added.

Although Najib admitted yesterday that the Bumiputera discount practice might “not last forever”, he said that it would not be removed now, citing possible dissatisfaction among the Malays.

The Najib administration had also decided to maintain the 30 per cent Bumiputera equity target in the 10th Malaysia Plan, leading critics to question if the “merit-based” NEM would be finalised months after its debut in March this year.

Jui Meng: Umno controls the minds of the Malays

2010-07-30T13:50:00.000+08:00

By Fazy Sahir
FMT EXCLUSIVE

PETALING JAYA: Umno, being the largest political party in the country which has ruled over the last 50 years, has poisoned the minds of the Malays, feeding them lies that their position is under threat from the non-Malays, former health minister and MCA vice-president Chua Jui Meng said.

"All these years Umno has brought about this propaganda that the Malays were under threat. They try to control the hearts and minds of the Malays, telling them that the advancement of other races would make them poor. This propaganda to poison the minds of the Malays has resulted in the Malays not being able to see the true picture.

"The problem is not the other races but Umno itself. This message is important for all Malays in Malaysia.

They must be aware of the truth. We have to break their mindset,” he said in an exclusive interview with FMT recently.

He was quick to add that the Malays in urban areas were realising the truth of Umno's political game plan.

However, he said, the Malays in the outskirts, such as in his home state of Johor, still had the orthodox mentality that Umno was Malay and Malay is Umno.

“This kind of propaganda poisons the minds of the Malays," said the 67-year-old lawyer-turned- politician.

He added that access to the new media as well as a paradign shift in the mindset of the urban Malays would enable them to break away from the Umno mentality.

He stressed that Pakatan Rakyat should aspire to bring about the change in the mindset of rural Malays in order to see a change in the country.

"I have told (Opposition leader) Anwar (Ibrahim) that I am a Chinese leader in Pakatan wanting to help poor Malays. My heart goes out to them... we need to help these Malays.

“In Johor, there is a huge information gap. We have to narrow this gap. After 50 years in power, Umno is still spreading lies to the people through the mainstream media which is under Umno control,” he said.

Chua, however, said that Pakatan should not be only concentrating on uplifting the Malay community's economic status.

"We tend to forget other races. Like the Indians, they too have problems. Even when they are citizens of this country, their rights are denied. This is the way of Umno," said Chua, who was in MCA for 35 years before deciding to join PKR late last year.

Plans for Johor

Asked on his plans for Johor as the new state PKR chief, he said he was not a novice in politics and knows the ways of the BN from a political perspective, which uses the mainstream media to win votes.

He said since joining the opposition front, he had become more open to the alternative media.

He said on the part of the Chinese, the community had repented and now had an open mindset knowing that they could live in this country without being dependent on Umno.

"The Chinese community works hard and are smart. Their priority is education... although they only receive minimal assistance from Umno, they don't give up. When they are educated, they can be critical and analytical in the way they think," said the veteran politician.

He also revealed that there was no racial issue in Malaysia, although Umno insists on racialising each and every issue that crops up.

"The Malays are blinded by Umno. Look at the education system. It does not allow our students to be independent and become critical of things. We still have laws to control university students... all these are meant to control the mindset of the Malays.

He also slammed Umno for using Islam to further their political agenda despite indulging in immoral activities
like corruption.

"Umno talks about religion. Do they really know what they are talking about? If they know what they are talking about, then why are they still doing wrong? If they hold on to the Quran, then they should also know that corruption takes them to hell... but they still go ahead and do it.

“This message should be sent to the Malays in rural areas: the rich in the country are not the Chinese but those in Umno and their cronies.”

Opps.....Malaysia shrinking

2010-07-28T18:33:00.001+08:00

HAVE OUR MINISTERS AND POLITICIANS WAKE UP?

By TAY TIAN YAN
Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE

Oh no! How could this happen?

When we look at the latest maps, we can see that Singapore has become larger, so are Indonesia, Vietnam,

Thailand and other South-East Asian countries. But Malaysia is the only country that is shrinking.

I am not referring to the physical geographical maps here. Geographically, Malaysia’s total landmass of 329,845 sq km will remain constant.

I am talking about the investors' maps. They are a kind of economic map, which is much more important than the physical geographical maps.

According to current thinking, the size of a country should be proportional to its economic status.

For example, Ethiopia has an area of 1,100,000 sq km, but no foreign investor bothers about it because of its poor economy. As for Singapore, it occupies only a dot in the physical geographical maps, but it is one of the superior countries in the economic maps.

For investors, the more competitive the economy of a country is, the greater economic growth potential it has, and the greater proportion it will have.

According to the United Nations World Investment Report 2010, the foreign direct investment (FDI) in

Malaysia has plunged 81% from US$7.32 billion in 2008 to just US$1.38 billion last year.

In other words, Malaysia has shrunken in the eyes of investors.

As for Singapore, its FDI for last year was US$16 billion.

Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines receive more foreign investments compared to Malaysia.

Malaysia is a country relying on exports and trade and its economic growth has largely been driven by foreign investments, especially in the 80s and early 90s.

Why are investors avoiding Malaysia today?

It is because the country lacks competitiveness and is less attractive, causing the investors to have less
confidence and interests.

They cannot see Malaysia in investment maps, and they just bypass Malaysia when they come to Asia.

Less foreign investments lead to less inflow of capital and technology, less economic activities and fewer job opportunities. Also, the target of 6% economic growth and the goal of transforming the country into a high-income economy may also be unable to achieve.

Even worse, the capital outflow from Malaysia in the same period was US$8 billion. In other words, existing domestic and foreign investors have also transferred their capital abroad.

Therefore, we can no longer expect domestic capital to drive domestic demand and growth.

What have been done by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry and the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority?

Let's see how foreign investors view Malaysia:

the lack of creativity and bureaucracy is serious in the country
the government is not open enough and there are complicated and lengthy procedures
corruption problem is serious and there is a great deal of red tapes
there is a shortage in general labour, and a lack of professional manpower
it has many strong slogans but lacks competitive advantage

Are the government, political parties and politicians really aware that Malaysia has reached a crucial point in which we will have to either wake up and reform or sink and disappear from the world economic map?

Selangor BN clutching at straws

2010-07-28T10:28:00.001+08:00

Selangor BN clutching at straws

By Stanley Koh

COMMENT The Chinese celebrate Zhongyuan, the ghost festival, on the 15th day of the seventh moon in their calendar. That coincides with Aug 15, but some politicians, not necessarily of Chinese descent, have started invoking ghosts earlier than scheduled.

The unexpected bereavement of Selangor’s BN government in 2008 bewildered many ambitious members of the coalition. The shock threw them off balance. It dazed and confused them as they tried to figure out what the future held in store for BN and, especially, for their individual selves.

Not anymore. Or so it seems. They appear to have finished licking their wounds and are now vigorously going after the ruling Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

Selangor BN’s recent actions and rhetoric can be likened to those of a private demolition company desperately trying to find fault with a spanking new building so that it can tear it down just to keep itself relevant and to spite the contractor chosen to build the new structure.

BN’s self-appointed champions have been whipping up trivial issues in the hope that the noise they make will drown out the voices of those recalling the sins of the previous administration.

But it is not so easy to chase away hungry ghosts. Words can mislead, but they cannot obliterate the record of years of extravagant and wasteful public spending, graft, power abuse and poor governance.

Onlookers of average intelligence can tell that BN has conceived its ghost stories poorly and they are not rushing for tickets to watch the theatre versions.

The much-promoted road show about shifting sands and muddy waters is a flop. It has not generated any meaningful interest. Instead of injecting fear into Pakatan, as promised in the pre-publicity, it has shown up the organisers and actors as poor amateurs and losers.

It is hard to tell whether the BN script is supposed to be serious or comical. Perhaps it is a fantasy. In contrast, Pakatan has gone for realism.

To understand the water issue, for instance, one only has to read the explicit and detailed account given by Kuala Selangor MP Dzulkefly Ahmad in his article, “Battle over Selangor’s water continues unabated”. Dzulkefly, a PAS leader, sits on the Selangor Water Panel.

The would-be BN heroes are even pretending to show deep concern for the health of the natural environment, something they used to rape with abandon. In fact, the previous Selangor state government, like many other BN governments, have a dismal record when it comes to protecting the environment.

The sad truths

“
BN has left a record of poor management of land and water resources, which we can blame for major floods, water shortage, pollution and loss of biodiversity in Selangor and elsewhere.

A biologist with a local university reported in 2005 that eight lakes and 11 rivers in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur had alarmingly high levels of pollutants caused by effluents from livestock farms and pharmaceutical industries.

Mangrove forests in Pulau Ketam, Pulau Tengah and Pulau Klang were over-logged and fast depleting.

The multimillion Paya Indah Wetlands sanctuary was a failure. It had to close down, even though the public had paid RM33.4 million for it.

There are more sad truths. The BN government promised that privatising water services would enhance the quality and availability of household water.

The fact is that millions of homes have been forced to install water distillers and cleansing equipment because of the poor quality of water flowing through the pipes. Water rationing has become an off-and-on affair, partly because of illegal logging under the BN administration.

Indeed, because logging is such a good source of income for BN cronies, many eco-systems in the country have been seriously compromised.

Under BN rule, our rivers die. In 1990, there were 48 clean rivers. By 2000, there were only 34 clean rivers left. It is anybody’s guess how many rivers are still clean now.

In short, BN has left a record of poor management of land and water resources, which we can blame for major floods, water shortage, pollution and loss of biodiversity in Selangor and elsewhere.

But incompetence, greed and corruption defile more than just water and air. They pollute morals as well. The Selangor exco village, the Cairo trip of the state public accounts committee and many other unsettled issues from the ghostly past still haunt Selangor residents and taxpayers.Comic sketches
In 2006, a Selangor resident calling himself Subra wrote in a newspaper’s letters column:

“I have very little faith that things will ever change for the better as long as this country (under BN) rewards incompetency and throws merit down the drain.

“Corruption and incompetency are rife. My dealings with MPPJ on my father’s behalf were a joke. For instance, it took me three years and countless visits to the engineering department to get the 30-year-old crumbling roadside drain outside my house fixed.”

With all these in mind, one wonders where the current onslaught by Umno and MCA is heading. Political point scoring is one thing, but to exorcise the sins of the past is something else.

Hopefully, Selangor voters are cultured enough to distinguish between comic sketches put up by incompetent schoolboys and realistic plays presented by professional thespians.

Stanley Koh was the former head of MCA's research unit.

Najib, you can't band aid the economy

2010-07-27T10:43:00.002+08:00

You can't band-aid the economy, Najib told

By FMT Staff

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian economy will continue to sink unless the government comes up with a wholesome reform plan and sincerely follows it through, said PAS leader Dzulkefly Ahmad.

He said it was time for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to admit that Malaysia was no longer attractive to investors, who prefer to take their money to neighbouring countries because of their more conducive political and economic climates.

Instead, he added, Najib was “desperately trying to band-aid the economy” to attract investors so that the national GDP could be pushed up to six percent in the next five years.

Lethargic and embarrassing—that was how he described the current state of the Malaysian economy, once among the most dynamic in Asia.

Foreign investments have fallen, compared to investments in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and even Vietnam.

A recent United Nations report said Malaysia was capable only of competing with third and fourth world nations like Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Timor-Leste.

It noted that foreign direct investments (FDIs) in Malaysia had plunged from USD2.56 billion in 2004 to negative USD2 billion in 2006, negative USD2.7 billion in 2007 and negative USD7.67 billion in 2008.

Malaysia is unmarketable

Dzulkefly said one of the reasons investors were running away was that the cronies of BN leaders had an unfair advantage over them.

“There was an exodus of RM24 billion in 2009 because local investors wanted to invest elsewhere,” said the MP for Kuala Selangor.

“Why is that? Because they allege that domestic opportunities have been reduced. They are not cronies; so they can’t compete. The Finance Ministry awards contracts only to certain companies. If you look hard, you’ll see the same faces all the time. It’s frustrating to investors.”

Dzulkefly also spoke of attempts to cover up huge corruption scandals, saying they had made Malaysia unmarketable.

“Just look at the country’s marketability today. With so many scandals, such as the controversial purchase of Scorpene submarines, it is no surprise that investors have a bad opinion about the country. These scandals have convinced them that Malaysia is a bad bet.”

He said the government must adopt a competitive attitude.

“There have been reports that Australian investors don’t want to come to Malaysia because the Internet services are weak,” he said.

“I brought this up in Parliament and read the reports out loud. Investors want speed. Investors want efficiency. We promised them megabyte broadbands, but they can get only kilobytes.”

Buying at higher price

He took the government to task for its indecisiveness in implementing the so-called New Economic Model in the face of attacks from the ultra-Malay movement Perkasa.

He called on Najib to stop blaming the global financial crisis for the shrinking FDIs, noting that other countries in the region were not as badly affected.

"The mistake here is that the BN leaders are still comatose,” he said.

“I recently raised the issue of the purchase of 38 train carriage units for Keretapi Tanah Melayu, said to cost RM1.8billion. When we checked, we discovered there was an excess payment of RM500 million.

“At the beginning there were eight bidders. But all their bids were rejected. The government went to China and bought the carriages for RM500 million more than the actual price.

“The Transport Ministry was apparently forced by the Finance Ministry to buy the units in China at a higher price.”

The big Napoleons

2010-07-26T19:02:00.001+08:00

JULY 26 — There is always a big Napoleon behind the little Napoleons.

It is said that it was a little Napoleon’s idea to forbid national secondary schools from having non-Muslim societies.

The little Napoleon said that any school intending to form non-Muslim societies must first get consent from the state education director, according to an Education Ministry circular dated December 16, 2000. Non-

Muslim societies formed without consent must be shut down as it was a violation of the law.

As a result, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin came forward to clarify that the circular was issued on December 16, 2000 and thus, all non-Muslim societies formed before that date would not be affected.

“You can take my word for it,” he said.

Yes, three non-Muslims clubs — Kelab Agama Hindu, Kelab Agama Buddha and the Christian Union — at the Klang High School can continue their operation.

A historical problem has been resolved.

However, how about the present and future problems?

For example, could secondary schools form non-Muslim societies now, I mean, after December 16, 2000?

Also, does it mean that all national secondary schools have not been allowed to form non-Muslim societies over the past decade?

Sorry, I think I have asked the wrong person. It may have nothing to do with Muhyiddin, as according to the circular, schools must first get consent from the state education director before they can set up any non-
Muslim society.

They cannot shut down the existing non-Muslim societies but it should be okay not to allow the formation of new non-Muslim societies as it is the power of the state education director for not approving the applications.

This is strange. Why non-Muslim societies formed before 2000 can be accepted but special permission is required after 2000?

Could it be because the non-Muslim societies formed before 2000 were more in line with the multi-racial national condition of Malaysia, able to promote good social atmosphere and instil correct values in students?

And such societies formed after 2000 could undermine the multi-racial national condition, harm the society and instil inappropriate values in students?

Perhaps, it is how the little Napoleons think. And such kind of information is provided by a big Napoleon.

The “big Napoleon” that I am referring to may be the manipulator who issued the circular, or someone in the state education department who is responsible to implement the circular. It may also appear as an ideology that views all non-Muslim activities with a narrow vision.

There are little Napoleons only when there is a big Napoleon.

Today, everyone, including both the ruling and opposition parties, is blaming the little Napoleons, saying that they are making trouble.

However, everyone seems to tolerate the big Napoleons, and blame only the little Napoleons whenever there are problems.

The British were afraid of Napoleon Bonaparte 200 years ago and thus, they exiled him to St Helena Island, which is located in the Atlantic Ocean, about 2,000km to the west of Angola.

Napoleon had no choice but to spend the last six years of his life on the island doing nothing, except watching seabirds.

It seems that our big Napoleons should also be isolated or exiled. Of course, we do not have any small island like St Helena. However, it is also good to leave them in an air-conditioned office room so that they can live a leisure life. — mysinchew.com

Under BN this is what we get........

2010-07-24T14:03:00.001+08:00

Country in the red as 2009 FDI nosedives 81%

A nosedive in foreign direct investments in Malaysia in 2009 follows a continued downward trend in FDI, increasingly overshadowed by regional players, noted a United Nations report.

According to the World Investment Report 2010 unveiled today, FDI plunged 81 percent from US$7.32 billion (RM23.47 billion*) in 2008 to just US$1.38 billion (RM4.43 billion) last year.

(*Calculated based on exchange rate of US$1 = RM3.20650)

The 2009 FDI is less than half of the annual average FDI inflow between 1995 to 2005, which encompasses the long recovery period following the 1997 economic crisis.

Malaysia’s performance also pales in comparison with neighbouring economies like Thailand and Indonesia whose FDI figures did not contract as severely, despite the global financial crisis.

Thailand suffered a decline of US$4.44 billion (RM14.24 billion) while Indonesia saw a more modest drop of US$2.60 billion (RM8.32 billion) in foreign investments in 2009.

The severe dip also places Malaysia in the red for the first time in the last 15 years, with figures for cumulative FDI (see chart right) surpassing incoming investments by about US$1 billion (RM3.21 billion).

Doubts over high income target

Speaking at the UN Headquarters in Kuala Lumpur today, Universiti Malaya economist Rajah Rasiah said that Malaysia’s poor performance casts doubts over whether it can achieve the targets set to achieve high income status.

“Malaysia is fortunate to be in a good neighbourhood, located among growing countries. The three largest recipients of FDI are located in Asia (but) Malaysia does not even make the top 10 list of recipients,” he said.

He added that this is remarkable for a country with a specific FDI policy, unlike Taiwan which is placed 10th in the list.

Conversely, Malaysia is “doing well in FDI outflows”, ranking fifth in the list of South, East and Southeast Asian countries investing abroad.

“Speaking to fund managers, I get the impression that we have the resources to invest locally but not many viable options to do so. Even local investors find us less attractive,” he said.

Human capital a barrier

The main stumbling block, he said, remains our narrow human capital pool which leaves industries stagnating in low-end production.

He added that while foreign investor laud the ease of doing business in Malaysia, a lack of skilled labour, research and development and technological capabilities is placing the country on the losing end of the increasingly competitive FDI battle.

Malaysia has 300 to 400 science and technology workers for every 100,000 persons, as opposed to 3,000 in countries which made the transition from middle to high income status, he said.

Similarly, the country is under-investing in research and development at only 0.64 percent of GDP, while others like Taiwan and South Korea are investing about 3 percent of theirs.

It should also look at mirroring such nations in developing a “vetting mechanism” for FDI to ensure that the investments can be a catalyst for human capital and technology development.

This will include screening FDI by choosing those with technologies that could be upgraded along the value chain and monitoring to ensure a transfer of expertise takes place.

“We allow foreign firms in by giving grants and tax incentives, so we must ensure that spillovers (in terms of technology transfers) occur,” he said.

The bottom 40 percent of the population should also be assisted insofar as developing their skills to meet the shortage in industry.

“In assisting the lower income population, we should look at developing skills like precision engineering and die casting, which are sought after by foreign investors,” he said.

Aidila Razak/Mkini