Philosophy Politics Economics

Paul Low Failed First Test of Transparency

2013-05-19T11:07:00.000+08:00

In all honesty, I did not have high hopes for the appointment of Transparency International Chairman, Datuk Paul Low as a new Cabinet Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department to bring about significant increase in transparency and reduction in corruption by the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government. However, I had hoped that I would be proven wrong.

I had hoped to see a newly appointed “Transparency Minister”, who even if he were to fail in ending corruption, cronyism and abuse of power in the BN Government, he would go down fighting for the cause while he is on the job.

However his interviews with the media today, with The Malaysian Insider and Malaysiakini have left me utterly and completely disappointed. Barely a day into his new job, Datuk Paul Low has started becoming an apologist for, and rationalising why corruption and abuse of power will be difficult to eradicate in the BN administration.

He said that his job was only to make proposals on changes to government systems, procedures and processes to reduce opportunities for corruption, as well as to strengthen integrity and good governance practices. Responding to calls for a crackdown on corruption, however, he said has no power on the matter and does not control any government agencies and “will help influence public policies where necessary to reduce corruption, including taking suggestions from MACC.”

He has also told the Singapore Straits Times “I am changing a culture and that cannot be done overnight.”

Datuk Paul Low must realise that he is being appointed as a full Minister, and not some paid consultant to the Government. If he as a Minister, have no powers or is not willing to put his foot down to fight corruption and abuse of power, then who will? Has our Cabinet appointments been reduced to pretty flower vases offering just “proposals… procedures and processes”?

As the Transparency Minister that Malaysians are going to look up to, Datuk Paul Low must stand up against corruption, cronyism and abuse of power and not succumb to the political shackles of his office. Datuk Paul Low cannot just tell Malaysians that MACC has the power to investigate Tan Sri Taib Mahmud for alleged corruption even if the latter refuses his cooperation. Malaysians already know that.

What Malaysians want to see is for our new Transparency Minister to show his teeth and tell the Prime Minister in no uncertain terms that the Government cannot have a Chief Minister so tainted by corruption and countless abuse of power. Malaysians want Datuk Paul Low to openly ask why the MACC has failed to investigate Tan Sri Taib Mahmud who has accumulated excessive amounts of wealth reputed to be in the region of RM45 billion, as estimated by the Bruno Manser Fund.

What hurts the most is for the President of Transparency International to openly defend the refusal by the BN Ministers to disclose their personal wealth using the same tired and unacceptable excuses sung by these same ministers to date. Datuk Paul Low said that “if you tell the public your kid is worth RM20 million, you put your children at security risk, it’s not fair” and hence “it was sufficient for ministers to declare their assets to the prime minister.”

Firstly, if even the children of Ministers are not safe under the close protection of the Royal Malaysian Police, what chance does the ordinary Malaysians have in avoiding crime? Secondly, and more importantly, aren’t the integrity and honesty of Cabinet members paramount to ensuring a corrupt-free nation? And if the child of the Minister is indeed worth RM20 million, don’t Malaysians have a right to ask where the money come from given that a Minister’s pay will never generate that amount of wealth?

What’s more, if the Pakatan Rakyat state executive councillors of Penang and Selangor can publicly disclose their assets, why can’t the BN Ministers do the same, unless they have something dirty to hide?

Datuk Paul Low’s appointment to the Cabinet was perhaps the only “bright spark” in the “same old” list. However the spark is being quickly doused before the fire has a chance to lit. Datuk Paul Low needs to be the champion for fighting corruption and cronyism in the Cabinet, and not become the bag carrier and make-up artist for Najib and his merry men.

Zahid Hamidi's Contempt of Malaysian Voters

2013-05-18T11:10:00.002+08:00

Newly appointed Home Minister and UMNO Vice-President is doing his very best to block and jeopardise any possibility of Najib’s so-called “national reconciliation”

In a shocking article published in Utusan Malaysia, completely unbecoming of a Home Affairs Minister, Dato’ Seri Zahid Hamidi tells Malaysians who are not happy with the outcome of the 13th General Election to migrate somewhere else with an electoral system which suits their fancies.

In the article, he said that

Jika golongan ini mahu menerima pakai list system atau single transferable vote seperti mana yang digunakan oleh negara-negara republik, sepatutnya mereka berhijrah ke negara-negara berkenaan untuk mempraktikkan kepercayaan politik mereka.

Dato’ Seri Zahid gave the excuse that Malaysia has inherited the first-past-the-post system from the United Kingdom, which is also utilised in many Commonwealth states.

Malaysia mewarisi sistem politik daripada United Kingdom dan kebanyakan negara Komanwel juga menggunakan sistem first past the post yang mana parti-parti politik yang bertanding di kawasan pilihan raya memilih hanya seorang wakil bagi setiap kawasan pengundian yang mengambil kira prinsip undi majoriti mudah.

Therefore he argued that despite Pakatan Rakyat achieving 51.78% of the popular vote, our adopted system allows for a party or coalition with lower popular vote to win the elections.

Dato’ Seri Zahid fails in his argument on 2 separate counts. Firstly, while the first-past-the-post system does indeed grant disproportionate allocations of seats relative to the percentage popular vote, our electoral boundaries have been excessively corrupted over the past decades. The gap between the constituencies with the least number of voters such as Putrajaya (15,791) and Padang Rengas (28,518) and those with the biggest population such as Kapar (144,159) and Serdang (133,139) goes to prove that our electoral system is manipulated to give the ruling Barisan Nasional an unfair advantage. One will not find such ridiculous discrepancies between constituencies in other advanced first-past-the-post democracies such as United Kingdom or Australia.

The evidence is also clear in the fact that the average size of a constituency which Pakatan Rakyat candidates won had 77,655 voters compared to only 46,510 voters for a typical BN constituency.

Secondly, the fact that we have an imperfect electoral system in place is exactly the reason why the people are speaking up and expressing their disappointment and anger at the system. It is the reason why hundreds of thousands of Malaysians have gathered in various cities over the past week to demand a better electoral system, be it a fairer distribution of voters in all constituencies or a thoroughly revamped proportional representation system, or a mixture of both as practiced in certain other advanced democracies. It is the right of ordinary Malaysians to demand free and fair elections.

Dato’ Seri Zahid in his article is in effect denying these Malaysians their rights for a system which will better able to reflect the wishes of the citizens of the country. Such arrogance and contempt by the newly appointed Home Minister and the current UMNO vice-president points to the fact that UMNO-BN has no desire at all to seek “national reconciliation” post the 13th General Election.

His comments also points to the hypocrisy of the new UMNO-BN government which the Prime Minister has promised to be inclusive and “transformative”. It is the same arrogance and hypocrisy which has caused BN to lose its 2/3 majority in 2008 and the popular vote in 2013. Such arrogance and hypocrisy will only lead to one inevitable result in the next general election, that is the rakyat will vote overwhelmingly for Pakatan Rakyat to ensure that no amount of cheating and gerrymandering will stop the tidal wave from sinking the BN party.

Paul Low's Ministerial Appointment: The Test of Najib's Success or Failure

2013-05-17T11:15:00.000+08:00

The appointment of Datuk Paul Low as a Minister in Prime Minister’s Department will be the barometer by which Datuk Seri Najib’s new 5 year reign as the premier will be judged.

The Cabinet line up provided many disappointments such as its bloated size, the inclusion of controversial characters with questionable repute. These disappointment will be dealt with to varying degrees by my Pakatan Rakyat colleagues.

However, Datuk Seri Najib Razak sprung his only surprise with the “bold” inclusion of Datuk Paul Low, who is the current Chairman of Transparency International, as a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department.

This “bold” appointment, will in fact decide the fate of Datuk Seri Najib Razak in his second term as the Prime Minister because it will determine if his administration is willing to carry out the far-reaching reforms necessary to ensure a clean, transparent and competitive administration as advocated by Transparency International.

With Datuk Paul Low, we look to seeing an uncompromising stance in the Government’s fight against corruption and cronyism, to uphold the Transparency International’s Integrity Pledge which Najib has himself signed. The pledge demands that Najib’s administration will “observe the principles of truth, integrity, ethical conduct and accountability, including not accepting or giving bribes or being involved in any way in corrupt practices.”

More generally, the pledge requires that the government “uphold and give priority to the interests of the Rakyat as a whole” as well as “practice good governance and transparency”.

While Barisan Nasional has trampled upon the above pledge before and during the General Election, with the blatant practice of vote-buying and media manipulation, the people of Malaysia still hope to see that the BN leaders have learnt their lesson after clearly losing the popular vote.

The first priority for the BN Government, with Datuk Paul Low acting as a “Transparency Minister”, is to immediately declare that all Government privatisation and procurement contracts will henceforth by awarded via open and competitive tenders with all details and information made in a transparent manner.

In fact all recently concluded procurement contracts, particularly in the defence industry as well as mega-privatisation contracts such as the RM5.3 billion West Coast Expressway, the RM2.2 billion Kinrara-Damansara Expressway, the Penang Port and KTM Bhd which have not been completed or where works have yet to commence, be immediately suspended pending a new open tender exercise.

The measures carried out by Pemandu under Datuk Idris Jala to date to ensure greater transparency have also failed to gain traction with many Ministries openly defying directives to publish the outcomes and details procurement contracts. Datuk Paul Low must hence wield the uncompromising stick to enforce discipline among the many ministries to cut back on wastages, corruption and cronyism.

At the same time, we expect the new administration to be resolute in carrying out effective investigations against those who are corrupt, regardless of the position these powerful may hold in the Government. For a start, the new Cabinet must immediately rebuke the Sarawak Chief Minister, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud for his outright refusal to cooperate with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) because the latter is “naughty”. The failure to even admonish such behaviour will erase all “positive” perceptions arising from Datuk Paul Low’s appointment.

Most importantly, beyond the expected minimum of just acting against corrupt and opaque practices, we look to Datuk Paul Low to raise the bar of transparency in the Malaysian government by requiring that all Ministers and Deputy Ministers publicly declare their assets as had been done in both Penang and Selangor state governments. The asset declaration is a critical element to regain public trust of the administration which has been riddled with corruption and abuse of power, contributing to a continuous decline of Malaysia’s rankings in the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index.

Pakatan Rakyat will provide the fullest support to Datuk Paul Low to implement all necessary measures to ensure a clean, transparent and competitive government. In fact Datuk Paul Low can afford to be the “bad cop” in the Najib administration because he will owe no political allegiance to any person or party.

However, we hope that the Najib administration isn’t just trying to have Datuk Paul Low’s impeccable credentials rub off on the former, without real and tangible reforms enforced. Without such measures by the Prime Minister, Datuk Paul Low will only become a lame duck Minsiter, and his reputation severely tarnished.

The eyes and hopes of all Malaysians will be on the performance of Datuk Paul Low to check the rampant corruption in government. We will not want to be disappointed.

Selangor Win: Clear Endorsement for Pakatan Rakyat

2013-05-07T11:04:00.000+08:00

Pakatan Rakyat’s overwhelming win in Selangor proves the people’s ringing endorsement of our 5 year term in power

Datuk Seri Najib Razak had made the capture of Selangor state his prime objective in the 13th General Elections (GE). In fact, he made the infamous clarion call last year to “take Selangor back at all cost” and even appointed himself as the Director of Elections for Barisan Nasional (BN) in the state, the first time a sitting Prime Minister is appointed to lead a state election machinery.

Despite the massive onslaught by BN, the outcome of the 13th GE in Selangor has proven Najib’s utter and complete failure in making any in roads in the state. Not only did Najib not manage to recapture Selangor, BN lost additional 8 seats, allowing Pakatan Rakyat to capture 44 seats and leaving BN with only 12.

If not for the self-inflicted damage of a 3-corner fight between PAS and PKR in Kota Damansara, as well as another involving PSM and PKR in Semenyih, Pakatan Rakyat would have comfortably captured an additional 2 state seats, leaving BN with only 10. In both these seats, the combined PKR-PAS and PKR-PSM votes overwhelm the votes obtained by BN by 5,783 and 1,423 votes respectively.

The resounding victory by Pakatan Rakyat is a ringing endorsement by the people of Selangor to our 5 years’ in power since 2008 where the state government has rolled out massive amounts of people-centric programmes via “Merakyatkan Ekonomi Selangor” as well as proving our competence in a clean and transparent state administration.

Strong increase in Malay support

What is the sweetest bit of our victory in Selangor is the massive increase in Malay support for the coalition, which has allowed us to significantly increase our seats in the semi-rural belt of Selangor. PAS has successfully captured the Malay majority seats (% Malays in brackets) of Sabak (79%), Morib (59%), Paya Jeras (57%), Dusun Tua (53%), Tj Sepat (52%) and Taman Templar (51%). This achievement was inspite of the relentless attacks by UMNO over the issues of race, religion and royalty on Pakatan Rakyat in the Malay heartlands.

DAP received multi-racial support

Similarly, for DAP, it would not have been possible for us to capture the seats we lost in 2008, Kuala Kubu Baru and Sg Pelek without increased support from both the Malays and Indians. In these 2 seats, the Malay and Indian population comprises of 33% and 21%, 45% and 21% respectively. The increased in support from the Malay and Indian community has allowed DAP to win both seats with majorities of 1,702 (2008: -448) and 1,972 (2008: -1,572) respectively.

Even in Telok Datuk, where Malays and Indians form 29% and 20% respectively, where DAP candidate won by only a marginal 698 votes, we have successfully increased our majority to 5,391 votes marking a significant increase in both Malay and Indian support.

Large increase in popular support for Pakatan Rakyat in Selangor

In terms of popular support, Pakatan Rakyat Selangor enjoyed a 4% increase in popular votes from 55.4% in 2008 to 59.4% in 2013 confirming that we have won over our doubters in 2008 with our policies and administration. This result also cements permanence of Pakatan Rakyat Selangor as a highly credible political coalition, and not a “one-hit-wonder”.

Selangorians are discerning

The only blot in Pakatan Rakyat’s Selangor results was the loss of Bukit Melawati by 806 votes, reversing the 297 votes win in 2008 by PKR. Under such marginal circumstances, the coalition’s past performance in the constituency may have affected the outcome of the vote.

However, this outcome and the narrow losses in several other state and parliamentary seats in Selangor proves that continued clean and transparent policies, and their effective implementation will enable us to win even more seats in the future.

Conclusion

The thumping endorsement from the rakyat for the Pakatan Rakyat state government is a clear cut thumbing of the nose at Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s leadership of the country and the state. It is also a rejection by the people of Selangor of all races and religion, of BN’s divisive politics of race, religion and royalty.

While Pakatan Rakyat campaigned on a platform based on our track record and our administrative credentials in contrast to BN, BN’s only target of attack was the attempt to sow discord between races and religions.

The contrast in campaign messages and styles can be perfectly encapsulated by the victory of a moderate Khalid Samad of PAS thrashing BN’s Zulkifli Nordin, Perkasa Vice-President who is universally condemned as a racist and bigot. In fact, we believed that Zulkifli’s candidature has played a crucial role in ensuring Pakatan Rakyat’s victories in Selangor with much larger majorities.

The challenge for Pakatan Rakyat Selangor in the coming 5 years will be to enable Malaysians outside of Selangor, especially in BN bastions to recognise our achievements and to realise that a vote for Pakatan Rakyat will be a step forward for them, and for their children in the next General Election.

DAP PETALING JAYA CERAMAH SCHEDULE 2013

2013-04-19T11:18:00.005+08:00

Our DAP Petaling Jaya candidates:

Petaling Jaya Utara Parliament: Tony Pua
Damansara Utama State Assembly: Yeo Bee Yin
Kampung Tunku State Assembly: Lau Weng San
Bukit Gasing State Assembly: Rajiv Rishyakaran

Our Ceramah Schedule:(All ceramahs start at 7.30pm)

20/4 Sat - SS2 Taman Bandar (commercial centre)Speakers: Tony Pua, Elizabeth Wong, Hannah Yeoh, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran

21/4 Sun - Taman Paramount (commercial centre, next to Giant)Speakers: Teresa Kok, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

22/4 Mon - SS4C/5 (commercial centre)Speakers: Charles Santiago, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

23/4 Tue - SS3 (covered basketball court next to Dewan Orang Ramai)Speakers: Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

24/4 Wed - Petaling Garden Jalan 5/46 playgroundSpeakers: Charles Santiago, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

25/4 Thu
(i) Pangsapuri Damansara Bistari (near SS2 Mall)
(ii) Pangsapuri Sri Aman (near Taman Paramount LRT)Speakers: Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

26/4 Fri - SS23 Tennis CourtsSpeakers: Teresa Kok, Tony Pua, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, Tiew Way Keng

27/4 Sat - Sungai Way Football Field (opp SRJK(C) Sungai Way)Speakers: Tony Pua, Teng Chang Khim, V Ganabathirao, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran

28/4 Sun - Seksyen 17 (commercial centre car park - to be confirmed)Speakers: Tony Pua, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

29/4 Mon - SS2 Taman Bandar (commercial centre)Speakers: Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

30/4 Tue - MBPJ Hockey Stadium, Jalan Selangor (near PJ Old Town Bus Terminal)Speakers: Tony Pua, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

1/5 Wed - Kpg Chempaka Basketball CourtSpeakers: Tan Kok Wai, Tony Pua, Ean Yong Hian Wah, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran

2/5 Thu - Seksyen 5 Jalan Gasing Satellite Carpark (near St Francis Xaviers Church)Speakers: Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

3/5 Fri - Seksyen 14 playground behind Digital MallSpeakers: Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

4/5 Sat - Finale (venue to be confirmed)Speakers: Tony Pua, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

Catch Ubah.TV 24 General Election Coverage!

2013-03-30T12:15:00.001+08:00

Najib Defends Syabas Despite Incompetence

2013-01-15T13:38:00.000+08:00

Even in the light of sheer incompetence, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Dato’ Sri Peter Chin continues to defend Syabas and blame the Selangor state government, placing the interest of cronies ahead that of the rakyat

It was the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government which started the privatisation of the water industry in Selangor in 1996. It was the BN Government which signed the concession agreement to allow Syabas to increase tariffs by 37% in 2009, a further 25% in 2012, 15% in 2015 and further increases every 3 years subsequently.

However, when Syabas failed to deliver its services to the residents of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor over the past month, the BN government has chosen to lay blame on the Pakatan Rakyat Selangor state government for failing to “approve” the construction of the Langat 2 Multi-billion ringgit water treatment plant. How is it Langat 2 which is only scheduled to be completed in 2014 at the very earliest, could have prevent the current water crisis in KL and Selangor is beyond our comprehension.

Despite the above, both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water have chosen to defend and deflect criticisms laid on Syabas, clearly indicating that profit for BN cronies is more important than the sufferings of the man-on-the-street.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak has the cheek to say that he is “saddened to see people living in flats having to lift buckets of water to the upper floors.” However in the same breath, Najib claims BN is unable to resolve the crisis because the Selangor government “won’t give the development order” for Langat 2. As highlighted above, the current water crisis in Gombak, Ampang and Kuala Lumpur has nothing to do with Langat 2 and everything to do with Syabas’ inability to maintain its existing water supply services.

Similarly when Selangor Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim once again suggested to the Federal Government that the Syabas concession be terminated for poor performance so that the state government can step into the management to rectify the shortcomings, the proposal was rejected outright by Peter Chin.

Peter Chin gave the ridiculous excuse that “the Selangor government cannot take over Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor Sdn Bhd (Syabas) for it violates the conditions stipulated in the water concession agreement. He said the water concession company was appointed to manage and administer water supply in Selangor in 2004 and the state government would liable if it were to terminate the contract.

The excuse by the Minister demonstrates the extent to which the BN Government is willing to tolerate transgressions by its cronies, even if the rakyat is suffering from extended water services disruption. It appears that even if Syabas was to default on all the terms of its concession agreement, the concession agreement cannot be terminated.

The Selangor state government wants to terminate the Syabas concession agreement to ensure that the quality of water services can be improved and the state will not suffer from such disruptions as a result of poor maintenance of its water treatment facilities. However, based on the concession agreement, the termination can only be carried out with the consent of the Federal Government.

Hence, the Syabas concession agreement can be terminated if Syabas failed to fulfil it’s part of the bargain. The only reason why the termination cannot proceed is because the BN government is dead against it and will protect Syabas at all cost.

It is clear that the BN Government is beyond redemption and is unable to change itself to prioritise the interest of the rakyat. While Najib espoused “transformation” in his speeches over the past 4 years, no “transformation” could be seen as BN’s privatisation cronies are not only fully protected by his administration, they have continued to prosper at the expense of the people.

UBAH Rocket Style - The Official Music Video

2013-01-10T15:34:00.001+08:00

For those who haven't yet seen it, here's the full-HD version of the UBAH Rocket Style videos in four languages. Watch them here! ;-) Enjoy!

English Version:

The English version had the original lyrics, which was subsequently
translated and adapted to the other languages.

Malay Version:

Tamil Version (my personal favourite as we spent hours adapting the music!):

Chinese Version:

We had "fun" shooting the video, but more importantly we hope you guys enjoyed it! ;-)

WCE Concession Revision: Not Good Enough!

2013-01-08T11:14:00.000+08:00

The revision of the West Coast Expressway agreement proves the power of Pakatan Rakyat checks and balances but still falls short of ensuring that the interest of the man-on-the-street are fully protected

Exactly a year ago in January 2012, I had called upon Datuk Seri Najib Razak to justify how the cost of the West Coast Expressway (WCE) increased by 134% from RM3.015 billion to RM7.07 billion while its concession period also nearly doubled extended from 33 to 60 years between 2007 and 2012.

The concessionaire, Kumpulan Europlus (KEURO) Bhd who failed to carry out the project in 2007 was further given new additional benefits where the Government will grant WCE a RM2.24 billion soft loan at 4% interest and an interest subsidy, of up to 3% from commercial loans for a period of 22 years. The land acquisition cost amounting to RM980 million will also be borne by the Government.

However, despite the barrage of criticisms from myself and other Pakatan Rakyat leaders, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who oversees the privatisation department remained completely silent. He failed to explain the increase in the burden to the government to support the private concessionaire, and more importantly, he failed to carry out his transformation promise of “transparency, open-tenders and accountability”.

The “good” news however, was that further negotiations was carried out between the concessionaire and the Government. The outcome was that the cost of the highway was “shrunk” by 26.4% to RM5.2 billion, even though this is still 72.5% higher than the original RM3.015 billion. In addition, the Government also scrapped the 3% interest subsidy for commercial loans taken by the concessionaire. The Edge Financial Daily also reported that there will be an early termination clause if the concessionaire generates higher than expected returns and was about to recoup its cost earlier.

The above “improvements” to the contract was only possible because of the scrutiny by Pakatan Rakyat, “saving” the people of billions of ringgit in tax-payers funds.

However, despite the improvement, the new deal still falls far short of what would be in line with the promises made by the Prime Minister under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP).

First of all, the RM5 billion ringgit contract is still directly negotiated with a company which generated only RM19.8 million and RM27.7 million in revenues in its financial year 2012 and 2011 respectively. The company’s cash pile stood at a miserable RM1.03 million, bare 0.2% of the required capital to carry out the project. Without a competitive tender, there is absolutely no way of telling if the Rakyat are still substantially over-paying for the highway, especially when it’s awarded to KEuro, a company without the necessary track record.

Why did Najib not take the past 12 months to carry out an open and competitive tender to obtain the best value for tax-payers’ monies? What is so specialy about this RM19.8 million company that the Government must die-die give them the contract?

Secondly, the Government has failed to be transparent in the award because it has steadfastly refused to disclose the terms of the agreement. The terms of the agreement are crucial as it will determine the benchmarks set for the cost of the highway, the toll rates to be charged, the details of the proposed profit-sharing formula as well as the rate of return defined for the early termination clause. As the saying goes, the devil is in the details. Without the above details, there is no way of telling if the Government is signing another agreement loaded in the favour of the concessionaire as it has done in the past or if the rakyat are substantially protected.

A Pakatan Rakyat government will promise to not only carry out open, competitive and transparent tenders for all procurement and privatisation projects, we will ensure that all contracts with concessionaires are made publicly accessible for thorough scrutiny.

When the Penang state government awarded the Penang People’s Park and Subterranean Penang International Convention Exhibition (sPICE) public-private partnership project 15 months ago, it was awarded via open and competitive tenders. However, what made the Pakatan Rakyat government shine was the fact that the concession agreement was public.

Hence we call upon the Najib’s so-called “transformation government” to learn from the Pakatan Rakyat state governments as well as our manifesto to ensure open and competitive tenders for all projects as well as declassifying all government concession and procurement contracts to ensure transparency and eliminate corruption and abuse of power.

TIMSS 2011 Proves Malaysian Examination Results Manipulated

2012-12-16T11:11:00.000+08:00

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study has proven that the Ministry of Education has deliberately dumbed down our education syllabus and lowered our examination standards in order to produce more student passes and distinctions

In the recently released 2011 Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS), Malaysia’s ranking in Math fell from 20th in 2007 to 26th in 2011 while our ranking in Science fell by an ever greater margin, from 21st in 2007 to 32nd in 2011.

In terms of marks scored, Malaysia was the worst performing nation of the 59 countries survey by showing the biggest decline since the study was first conducted in 1999. Malaysia's average score for mathematics fell 79 points from 519 in 1999 to 440 in 2011. By comparison, the next worst country Thailand posted an average score decrease of 40 points for mathematics. Similarly, Malaysia's average score for science meanwhile dropped 66 points from 492 in 1999 to 426 in 2011. This decrease is higher than the next worst country, Macedonia whose average score for science fell 51 points.

However, while the disastrous TIMSS results proved the failure of our education system, surprisingly our students continue to score better results annually for their Mathematics and Science examinations for the PMR and SPM papers.

For example, the PMR results over the years, as measured by the Average National Grade (or GPN) has been steadily improving from 2.83 in 2008 to 2.78 in 2009 to 2.74 in 2010 and mostly recently to 2.71 in 2011 (the lower the grade, the better the score). More specifically, those obtaining As in Mathematics increased from 26.7% in 2010 to 28.9% in 2011 and those obtaining As in Science increased from 18.5% in 2010 to 21.7% in 2011.

At the same time, our SPM results in 2011 was reported to have been the best recorded in five years with the overall National Average Grade improving from 5.19 in 2010 to 5.04 in 2011 (the lower the grade, the better the score).

In addition, the pass rate for Math and Science at the SPM level have also steadily increased since 2007 as indicated in Table 1 below. For example, the pass rate for Math for those in the rural areas increased from 70% in 2007 to 77.5% in 2010 and the pass rate for Science for those in the urban areas increased from 85.9% in 2007 to 91% in 2010.

Table 1: Pass rate for Math & Science SPM
for those in the rural and urban areas (2007 to 2010)

Source: Ministry of Education
The steep fall in our TIMSS 2011 scores which are measured objectively across 59 countries clearly contradicts the astounding achievements by the same students in our PMR and SPM examinations.

One cannot help but to conclude that firstly, the Ministry of Education has been deliberately manipulating the Math and Sciences standards for the PMR and SPM examinations to artificially increase the pass rate. Secondly, it also raises the obvious question that our education syllabus has been “dumbed down” so that more students will be able to do better for their examinations.

In fact, this deliberate attempt to dumb down our syllabus and lowering the passing marks for the examination subjects is a key reason for the declining standard of our education system. The Ministry of Education has over the years simplified the syllabus and lowered passing marks in order to give the perception of improving performance, which is measured by the number of passes and “A”s achieved in these examinations.

The obvious outcome to such a skewed education policy is that our Malaysian young will learn less in school, while needing to know and understand even less to secure a pass or obtain an “A” in the examinations. This saddening outcome is now proven by the TIMSS, which showed how Malaysia is the country where its students suffer from the fastest declining standards for both Mathematics and Science.

The New Education Blueprint (NEB) must openly admit and aggressively address the deliberate “dumbing down” of our education system. The Preliminary NEB report has not only completely neglected the above, it has to the contrary, sung praises for our students’ academic achievements in the PMR and SPM examinations. If the Minister of Education, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin fails to reverse the dumbing down process and start increasing standards in our examinations and syllabus, then he can be assured that not only the NEB will fail miserably, Malaysia will continue to drop down the TIMSS scores and ranking in the future.

MCMC Defends 4G-LTE Spectrum Award: No Track Record Needed

2012-12-14T14:50:00.000+08:00

MCMC's defence of the award of the biggest share of the 4G-LTE spectrum to Puncak Semangat is lame, and the excuse not to auction the license doesn't even begin to make sense.

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has defended its decision to award the biggest share of the 4G-LTE spectrum to Puncak Semangat Sdn Bhd which is owned by tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary.

Its chairman, Datuk Mohd Sharil Tarmizi said on Tuesday that the award is to "introduce additional competition". He said "look at the market now, if we left those 8 players on their own, where would the solutions, applications and innovation be?"

Datuk Mohd Sharil Tarmizi also said that MCMC has the power to "take back the spectrum" should players fail to meet their targets.

The MCMC Chairman's response defies all logic because, if the 8 existing players are "not" competing by providing "innovation" today, then MCMC must be responsible for allowing the collusion between the 8 parties. Under the Malaysia Communications & Multimedia Act, the MCMC is the authority to promote competition and bar collusion between telecommunication players. And certainly, by international standards, 8 players are more than sufficient to generate a highly competitive environment. Most other developed nations have far fewer than 8 players in the industry, and yet remain highly competitive and innovative.

While we are all for competition in the industry, the manner in which the license and quota is awarded must be questioned. Some of the companies awarded with 3G and WIMAX licenses by MCMC have failed miserably, proving that MCMC is not an all-seeing "oracle".

The fact that MCMC has the power to retract its award at any time does not give basis to an award of the largest share of the bandwidth to a completely new player in the industry.

Furthermore, a regulator's role is certainly not to play "judge" in evaluating business plans, but to facilitate competition, prevent monopolistic practices and ensuring quality service provision.

If the argument that the arbitrary award to Puncak Semangat is to improve competition rest on shaky grounds, then Datuk Sharil's statement that MCMC decided against an auction for the bandwidth because "the highest bidder may not necessarily be the one with the best ideas" holds even less water.

MCMC's decision against an auction for the bandwidth is contrary to international best practices where both developed and developing countries have raised valuable income for the Government while promoting a highly competitive telecommunications industry. UK, Germany, Sweden and even Thailand have held auctions, raising billions of ringgit in proceeds, while Singapore, Taiwan and Brazil are planning their auctions for next year.

Datuk Sharil was quoted by The Edge Financial Daily that "an auction is best when the spectrum is convenient and quality of the spectrum is not a problem" does not even make any sense. It sounds like a response designed to confound the people, without even beginning to answer the question.

A company that is committed and believes it will trump the competition will be more than able to participate in an auction for the new spectrum. And should the company fail, the MCMC still has the power to withdraw its award while keeping the proceeds of the auction. Hence under such circumstances, there is even greater incentive for the players to compete and innovate to ensure a successful business. This will at the same time benefit consumers.

MCMC must commit to the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's own slogan that "the era where the Government knows best is over", and let the market play its part in determining the winner. MCMC should instead focus on its role to prevent collusion between industry players, punish players who fail to provide quality services and create an even playing field for all parties in the industry.

Otherwise, it becomes clear that MCMC is over-extending its regulatory role to play "god" of the industry by deciding which company's profit to fatten, and ignoring the interest of the millions of telecommunication users in Malaysia.

TIMSS 2011 Proved Malaysian Education Disaster

2012-12-13T11:05:00.000+08:00

The International Mathematics & Science Study (TIMSS) 2011 proved beyond doubt that the Barisan Nasional Government has completely destroyed our education system, causing Malaysia to suffer the biggest drop in results among all tested countries in the world for both subjects.

The 2011 Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) which was released on the 11th of December showed a worrying and unacceptable fall in Malaysia’s ranking and average scores in Math and Science.

Malaysia’s ranking in Math fell from 20th in 2007 to 26th in 2011 while its ranking in Science fell by an ever greater margin, from 21st in 2007 to 32nd in 2011. Our average Math score fell from 474 in 2007 to 440 and our average Science score fell by an even greater degree from 471 in 2007 to 426 in 2011. The results are summarized in Table 1a and 1b below.

Table 1a:

Fall in Malaysia’s TIMMs ranking in Science and Math, 2007 to 2011

Table 1b:

Fall in Malaysia’s TIMMs average score in Science and Math, 2007 to 2011

When we compare the results across all the countries, we suffer the ignominy of being the only country other than Jordan which suffered declines in scores in all tested domains for Mathematics (3 areas – Knowledge, Application, Reasoning) and Science (4 areas – Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Earth sciences).

However, the most damning outcome of the test is that Malaysia has suffered the biggest drop in test scores among all countries for both Mathematics and Science between 1999 and 2011.

For Mathematics, our score dropped by 79 points, compared to the next worst country, Thailand, by 40 points. For Science, our score dropped by 66 points, compared to Macedonia, which fell by 51 points.

The poor achievement of Malaysians students in Math and Science is clearly seen in the % of students scoring full credit for what should be basic Math and Science questions.

For example, for the simple algebra question of “What does xy +1 mean” (The answer is “multiply x by y, then add 1”), only 43% of Malaysian students answered this question correctly, ranking us 37 out of 42 countries.

In comparison, 94% of students in Hong Kong answered this question correctly. For a relatively simple Chemistry question, “What is the chemical formula for Carbon Dixoide” (The answer is “CO2), only 67% of Malaysian students answered this question correctly, ranking us 43 out of 45 countries. (See Appendix 2 below) In comparison 99% of Japanese students answered this question correctly.

Given the above, it is no wonder that many parents are voting with their feet and their wallets by enrolling in private primary and secondary schools at an alarmingly increasing rate.

The drop in our Math and Science scores as measured by TIMSS an unmitigated disaster our national education system which has been destroyed by the Barisan Nasional education policies.

In the context of the extent of our failing education system, the National Education Blueprint (Peliminary report) is clearly half-hearted in its attempted to reverse the decline and it has failed to address the primary issues of the severe in standards.

The Ministers of Education for Malaysia over this period, Tan Sri Musa Mohamad (1999-2004), Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein (2004-2009) and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (since 2009) must bear full responsibility for failing Malaysia’s young and the future of this country.

DAP PJ Election Fund-Raising Dinner 2013

2012-12-11T12:43:00.000+08:00

We would like to invite you to join us in our 2013 DAP Petaling Jaya Utara Election Fund Raising Dinner. You may check out the Facebook event page here.

Theme: "Ini Kali-lah... the Final Countdown to Putrajaya"Venue: Petaling Jaya Hockey Stadium, Jalan Selangor, Seksyen 3, Petaling Jaya
Date: 19 January 2013 (Saturday)
Time: 7.30pm

The speakers will include:

Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief Minister
Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Parliamentary Opposition Leader
Mohd Sabu, PAS Deputy President
Tony Pua, MP Petaling Jaya Utara
Lau Weng San, ADUN Kg Tunku
Kasthuri Patto, DUN Bukit Gasing Co-ordinator
Yeo Bee Yin, DAP Social Media Strategist

The primary language for this dinner will be English and Bahasa Malaysia. Halal food is available upon request.

The cost of the dinner will be RM60 per pax or RM600 per table. Gold and Platinum sponsorship tables are available for RM1,500 and RM3,000 per table respectively.

For reservations, please email to dapdinner@gmail.com or to me directly with your name, contact number, which dinner(s) and number of seats or tables (Platinum, Gold or Silver) required.

If you have any more questions, you can call Chew 016 8782472.

For those who are not able to make the dinner, donations are also very much welcome ;-). Cheques should be written to "DAP Damansara Branch" or cash can be deposited at DAP Damansara Maybank account: 5141 9634 2008.

The funds raised from the dinner will be used for the upcoming election campaign for Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentary seat; and Bukit Gasing, Kg Tunku and Damansara Utama state seats. Any excess from the fund will be contributed to contested seats which require additional support.

4G-LTE Spectrum Award: No Track Record Needed

2012-12-10T14:47:00.000+08:00

It is become endemic of the Malaysian regulatory authorities to award quotas and licences to companies with questionable financial credentials and without any track record in the relevant industries.

Last week, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) announced the allocation of the 4G-LTE spectrum where all 7 existing broadband players in the market – Maxis Broadband Sdn Bhd, Digi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd, Celcom Axiata Bhd, U Mobile Sdn Bhd, Redtone Marketing Sdn Bhd, YTL Communications and Packet One Networks (M) Sdn Bhd were granted 20MHz of bandwidth.

However, what took the industry by surprise was the award of the largest share of the bandwith of 40MHz to a little known entity Puncak Semangat Sdn Bhd, owned by tycoon Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary.

The most straightforward question to ask MCMC is – why is it that a company with zero track record in the industry has been given the privilege of securing the largest chunk of the bandwidth?

It appears that MCMC which has landed in controversy in the past, is persisting in awarding licenses to companies with little track record or financial capabilities. In the past award of bandwidth for the 3G and WIMAX spectrum, several companies have failed to deliver the services or have effectively sold their license for a quick profit.

What is most disappointing the the award of licenses in Malaysia is there is not auction requirement as practised in most other developed countries. The auction process will not only ensure the most committed companies to take part in the exercise, but will also raise valuable revenue for the Government.

For example, the Office of Communications, the independent telecommunications regulator in the United Kingdom has set a reserve auction price of GBP1.3 billion for the 4G-LTE licences and the industry expects the Government to raise between GBP3 to 4 billion!

In 2010, the highest bid in the German spectrum auction was 7.5 Million Euros for two blocks in the 800 MHz band.

In 2008 Sweden concluded an electronic 16-day auction for nine 15-year 4G-licenses for a total bandwidth of 190 MHz in the 2,6 GHz band. The total required minimum bids were SEK 50,000,000, but the total winning bids were USD314 million.

Other countries such as Taiwan, Singapore, Brazil are planning for 4G auctions in 2013. Similarly, Thailand has only just concluded their 3G auction, netting their Government US$1.4 billion in the process despite a more depressed market environment, and alleged collusion to lower the auction price.

It appears that in Malaysia, our regulators are more interested in enhancing the profits of our telecommunication companies, and even then favouring certain connected parties despite their lack of track record.

The above is the clear cut case of lost opportunity for the Government to raise valuable funds to provide much needed services and facilities for Malaysians, such as toll-free highways and affordable homes.

Pakatan Rakyat will ensure that all licenses granted by our various regulatory bodies, particularly in the energy and telecommunication will be awarded in an open, transparent and competitive manner to ensure that the best bids will win the licences and the Government will also be able to maximise its revenue in the interest of the rakyat.

UMNO Leaders Passes The Buck Over Land Grab

2012-12-08T17:19:00.000+08:00

It is so hopelessly hilarious to see how UMNO Selangor leaders scrambling to disclaim responsibility and knowledge over their role in the state land grab scandal.

We have on Tuesday exposed a 87,188 square feet of land which was given to UMNO Subang at dirt cheap nominal prices in Ara Damansara in 2004. This piece of land has since been developed into a 200-unit Suria Damansra Condomium launched in 2006. This condominium is worth an estimated RM90 million based on today’s prices.

UMNO and MCA state assemblymen, Abdul Shukor Idrus and Wong Koon Mun had explained during the last state assembly sitting that the land they received on the cheap were used for the community, such as kindergartens or public community halls.

We had called on them to explain where exactly is the kindergarten and the community halls in this 87,188 sq ft of land. This is the first of the 24 parcels of land which we will expose as a clear cut case of abuse of power and corruption by the Barisan Nasional government during their reign from 2000 to 2008.

Having been caught with their pants down, UMNO leaders are now fumbling to deny their complicity in the land-grab, and blame other UMNO leaders.

When contacted by the press, Subang Umno division chief Muhammad Bushro Mat Johor, said there is no such land in possession of Subang Umno. “No, there is not even a single piece of land listed in Subang Umno’s asset list since I became the division chief,” he said. However when pressed with evidence, the Paya Jaras assemblyperson pointed that any query on the land is best directed to the previous division chief.

However, the previous division chief, Datuk Mokhtar Dahlan when queried, then passed the buck to Kelana Jaya Umno acting chief Yahya Bujang. He claimed that although it was Subang UMO which received the land, “the land was handed over to Kelana Jaya Umno after a constituency re-delineation exercise in 2004.”

Unfortunately, and coincidentally, Yahya Bujang is out of the country and is hence unable to respond immediately to the allegations. Datuk Mokhtar Dahlan had disclosed however, that the land was originally intended for the construction of UMNO Subang’s Division Headquarters. It is a clear admission that BN had abused its powers to benefit the interest of its component parties.

At the same time, the Opposition Leader in Selangor Datuk Satim Diman pleaded ignorance when queried and responded that said the matter should be referred instead to Umno Selangor secretary Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed.

Mohd Zin, then with great finesse , responded that he “needs some time and will respond in due time after his researcher gathers more information on the allegation.”

The passing the buck game cannot be any more comical than the above. UMNO knows that they’ve been caught red-handed putting their hands into cookie jar, and no one wants to accept responsibility for robbing the people’s land for their own profit.

The biggest disappointment for all Malaysians, and particularly Selangorians, is the fact that the Prime Minister has remained steadfastly silent on the above issue, despite his insistence that UMNO has “transformed”. Datuk Seri Najib Razak who is also the Selangor UMNO Chief must get his house in order by explaining the land grab scandal and accepting responsility for UMNO’s sins. He must make amends for UMNO’s corrupt policies of the past be returning all such ill-gained profits to the state government for the benefit of the rakyat.

Official Invite to Datuk Chua Tee Yong to Visit BN Land Grab Sites

2012-12-06T17:17:00.000+08:00

Datuk Chua Tee Yong has proven himself to be obsessed with “land scandals” especially in Selangor.

The independent audit by the international reputable auditing firm, KPMG as well as the Selangor state government White Paper tabled at the latest state assembly sitting proving beyond doubt that the Government under the leadership of Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim has collected back every single sen of the RM392 million debt oustanding from Talam Corporation. These debts were incurred during the reign of Barisan Nasional (BN) and was never collected while BN wa in power.

Despite the above, Datuk Chua is remarkably persistent in his jihad to find the elusive needle in the haystack to prove his RM1 billion non-existent land scandal in Selangor under Pakatan Rakyat.

Given his insatiable quest for “land scandals” in Selangor and the obvious need to lead the ineffective Selangor MCA leadership, I would like to offer the perfect opportunity to Datuk Chua to uncover the real land scandals in Selangor.

I would like to invite Datuk Chua Tee Yong, the MCA “land scandals” and accounting expert, to jointly visit the 24 parcels of state land which which were given to Barisan Nasional component parties – UMNO, MCA, MIC and Gerakan – between 2000 and 2008. These pieces of land were transferred to BN parties for nominal sums despite being worth in excess of RM200 million.

Selangor Barisan Nasional component parties have been quick to defend the land-grab despite the obvious corruption, abuse of power and conflict of interests involved. Selangor UMNO Information Chief Abdul Shukor Idrus, who is also the state assemblyman for Kuang who argued that “what’s wrong with giving the land to UMNO” as reward for the “contributions by UMNO in fighting for indepedence and developing this country”.

MCA Selangor Secretary and ADUN for Kuala Kubu Baru, Datuk Wong Koon Mun agreed with is UMNO colleague, claiming that there’s nothing wrong with alienating land to MCA, by comparing the political party to “temples and schools” which were also given land on the cheap. Wong even added that the sites served as de facto centres for community life, including as community hall and even as schools and kindergartens, in lieu of purpose-built buildings.

The joint bi-partisan visits to the 24 sites will confirm if the land given to UMNO, MCA, MIC and Gerakan were indeed utilised for the “community” or were they a clear cut abuse of power to profit the party and its cronies.

During the site visit with DAP state assembly persons, Ng Suee Lim and Hannah Yeoh to a 87,188 square feet piece of land in Ara Damansara given to UMNO Bahagian Subang yesterday, we found no kindergarten or community hall for use by local residents. Instead we found a 200-unit condominium – Suria Damansara Condominium worth more than RM500 million when it was first launched in 2006.

The purpose of the site visits will be:

1. To confirm if these sites were indeed used for the community, or were they like the UMNO land above, sold or developed commercially for profit.

2. Where profit was made – 23 out of the 24 pieces of land were commercial land – to determine how much profit did UMNO, MCA, MIC and Gerakan made from these land, as a result of getting them dirt cheap from the BN state government

It is critical for Datuk Chua to agree to the joint site visits to prove that there is no element of corruption and abuse of power by BN in the award of these land to themselves, and more important there was zero element of profit resulting from the above transactions.

And if the bi-partisan visits are able to prove that UMNO, MCA, MIC and Gerakan have profited hundreds of millions of ringgit from these “land scandals”, then as the shining light within MCA fighting for justice for Selangorians and integrity in Government, Datuk Chua must declare that all the unethically obtained profits must be returned to the Selangor state government for the benefit of her citizens.

If not, then it will be unfortunate that Datuk Chua will prove himself as another dye-in-the-wool hypocrite from MCA and Barisan Nasional, who seeks only to protect his own interest and that of his party, at the expense of the ordinary man-on-the-street.

Najib Compares Himself to Mubarak?

2012-12-05T12:53:00.000+08:00

By comparing himself to Egypt’s Mubarak, Datuk Seri Najib Razak publicly admits that Barisan Nasional is running a corrupt and authoritarian regime

UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak first warned Malaysians against the Arab Spring during the UMNO Hari Raya Open House in September. “Look at the countries in north Africa and the Middle East. We can learn from them that change is not always good,” he said.

He repeated his warning against yesterday at the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Annual Convention, warning against “change” or “Ubah” propagated by Pakatan Rakyat.

“If we change, are we sure we’re getting something better? (The people involved in Arab Spring) are not enjoying the ‘spring weather’. They’re still in the winter of discontent,” Najib said.

By attempting to rally Malaysians against change as seen in the Middle East, is Najib not associating himself with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s corrupt and authoritarian 30-year reign?

Isn’t Najib not saying that no matter how corrupt, how authoritarian and how much abuse of power happens in the country, it is better to stick to Dr Mahathir’s “devil that you know” than to bring about “change” which is deemed “uncertain”?

What is different however, about change in Malaysia is the fact that it will be conducted through the ballot box to rid the country of a corrupt regime which has rule for the past 55 years, unlike the Arab Spring which was conducted to violent protests.

What is perhaps the critical differentiator between the impending change in Malaysia, which is so feared by BN, and that of the Middle East, is the fact that Pakatan Rakyat has already proven ourselves to be competent, accountable and transparent in our administration of the states we won in the 2008 general elections.

The recent BN land-grab expose by Sekinchan state assemblyman, Ng Swee Lim is a case in point. While BN component parties were alienated land by the Selangor state during BN’s reign from 2000 to 2008 worth an estimated RM200 million, BN leaders have shown absolutely no remorse in such corrupt practices.

Selangor UMNO Information Chief Abdul Shukor Idrus, who is also the state assemblyman for Kuang who argued that “what’s wrong with giving the land to UMNO” as reward for the “contributions by UMNO in fighting for indepedence and developing this country”.

MCA Selangor Secretary and ADUN for Kuala Kubu Baru, Datuk Wong Koon Mun agreed with is UMNO colleague, claiming that there’s nothing wrong with alienating land to MCA, by comparing the political party to “temples and schools” which were also given land on the cheap. He also insinuated that such land grab is justified by the effort of the party to register Chinese Malaysians to obtain their citizenship and “fighting for their rights”.

Datuk Seri Najib himself has chosen to remain completely silent over the scandal and refused to chastise his leaders for their “untransformed” feudal and corrupt mentality.

On the other hand, Pakatan Rakyat administration has made it a point not to alienate any land whether its component parties or its state assemblymen. In fact, the Penang state government made it an explicit point that all its leaders will be banned from applying for land from the state to prevent the abuses seen during BN administration.

The transparent and accountable administration by the Pakatan Rakyat state governments have resulted in repeated surpluses in both the Penang and Selangor administrations. Penang achieved a record budget surplus of RM138 million in 2011 after successive surpluses since 2008. Similarly, the Auditor-General has also confirmed a surplus of RM180.5 million in 2011, a 45% increse from RM124.2 million achieved in 2010. The finacial reserves of the Selangor state government has also increased from a mere RM400 million in 2008 to a whopping RM2.4 billion today.

Hence, the threat of a violent “winter of discontent” is nothing but an empty threat from an increasingly panicky Prime Minister and Barisan Nasional. The threat, repeated umpteen times by UMNO leaders and its delegates during the just concluded UMNO general assembly appears to be their only weapon left, that is to scare the Malaysian voters in to submission and to prevent the corrupt BN government from being toppled in the coming general election.

BN Will Bankrupt Malaysia, Not PR

2012-12-01T12:51:00.000+08:00

UMNO President, Datuk Seri Najib Razak attempted to scare Malaysian voters that by voting Pakatan Rakyat, the latter will bankrupt the country in 3 years.

Najib said, the opposition under Anwar’s leadership was espousing poor policies, pointing to its plans to ensure an average of RM4,000 a month as household income, abolition of tolls and the PTPTN debt, RM500 special allowance for teachers and hiking the royalty payment to 20 percent for oil-producing states.

“If all these are done in the first year, the federal budget deficit will spiral to almost 30 percent. By 2015, our debt to GDP will sky-rocket to 140 percent.

“In three years time, we will reach a critical stage where we will lose our economic sovereignty, like Greece,” he said.

Without even going into the details of the accusations over Pakatan Rakyat policies which have been well rebutted by my colleagues previously, Najib’s claims are completely preposterous.

Pakatan Rakyat has unveiled our Alternative Budget for 2013 which has clearly spelt out our expenditure proposals which are much less extravagant and much more prudent than that by the Barisan Nasional (BN) Government. We have proposed an expenditure of RM234 billion and projected a deficit of 3.5%, as opposed to BN’s RM252 billion and a 4% deficit. How did Najib pluck a 30% or a incredulous RM300 billion deficit from thin air?

In fact, if the BN Federal Government scandals are anything to go by, it is the current administration’s continued profligacy which will cause the country to be "bankrupt" if they are voted back into power.

We have seen how the BN Government provide all sorts of unacceptable excuses not to collect back RM250 million of soft loan extended to UMNO Wanita Chief Datuk Shahrizat Jalil’s family in the failed National Feedlot Corporation projects where the money was abused to purchase luxury condominiums. Similarly, Datuk Seri Najib has instructed that RM589.6 million of outstanding debt from Tan Sri Tajuddin Ramli to Federal Government subsidiaries be completely written off for no good reason.

At the same time, we have surfaced RM140.2 billion worth of contingent liabilities or Federal Government guaranteed debts which are not included in our official debts of RM502 billion. The contingent liabilities or hidden debts are rising at an exponential rate as a means for the BN Government to bail out its cronies and failing GLCs such as the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ). In fact, the heavily indebted Port Klang Authority has officially requested the Finance Ministry to write up RM2.1 billion out of its RM4.6 billion debt incurred as a result of government guarantee.

On the other hand, Pakatan Rakyat Governments have proven our prudence in managing state finances. The Selangor State Government for example has successfully recovered RM392 million worth of debt from Talam Corporation incurred during BN’s administration. Similarly, open and transparent policies have resulted in repeated surpluses in both the Penang and Selangor administrations. Penang achieved a record budget surplus of RM138 million in 2011 after successive surpluses since 2008. Similarly, the Auditor-General has also confirmed a surplus of RM180.5 million in 2011, a 45% increse from RM124.2 million achieved in 2010. The finacial reserves of the Selangor state government has also increased from a mere RM400 million in 2008 to a whopping RM2.4 billion today.

Pakatan Rakyat will implement prudent spending and will reallocate funds for our proposed expenditure, by cutting wasteful expenditure, restructuring subsidies target groups and eliminating corruption via open, transparent and competitive tenders and procurement systems.

Hence the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and Malaysians throughout the country can evaluate and compare the performance of the BN administration versus the Pakatan state administrations over the past 5 years and make informed judgements. Pakatan Rakyat has more than proven that we are more than capable of strengthening the country’s finances and economy, while on the other hand, the continued corruption, abuse of power and profligacy under BN will inevitably lead to economic disaster for the nation.

UMNO Is Shameless Despite Being Caught for Land Grab

2012-11-27T23:40:00.000+08:00

It has been a week since DAP State Assemblyman for Sekinchan, Ng Swee Lim exposed that Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties secured at least 24 pieces of valuable land from the state government while they were in power between 2000 to 2008. These pieces of land which are mostly in commercial areas, amounting to 34.5 acres were “sold” to UMNO, MCA, MIC and Gerakan for a pitiful RM1 per square feet. These pieces of land are estimated to be worth as much as RM200 million.

Selangor Barisan Nasional component parties have been quick to defend the land-grab despite the obvious corruption, abuse of power and conflict of interests involved. Selangor UMNO Information Chief Abdul Shukor Idrus, who is also the state assemblyman for Kuang who argued that “what’s wrong with giving the land to UMNO” as reward for the “contributions by UMNO in fighting for indepedence and developing this country”.

MCA Selangor Secretary and ADUN for Kuala Kubu Baru, Datuk Wong Koon Mun agreed with is UMNO colleague, claiming that there’s nothing wrong with alienating land to MCA, by comparing the political party to “temples and schools” which were also given land on the cheap. He also insinuated that such land grab is justified by the effort of the party to register Chinese Malaysians to obtain their citizenship and “fighting for their rights”.

Such responses are the clearest proof that BN leaders not only do not understand what is corruption and abuse of power, they are completely shameless even after being caught red-handed by the authorities. Ordinary Malaysians know that political parties have no right to benefit themselves, at the expense of the rakyat when they are in power, or it will be a clear breach of trust.

Wong had the cheek to say that all the properties “…belong to the party. All MCA land in the new villages belong to party headquarters, not personal. Nothing wrong (with that).”

However, the Prime Minister who is also the UMNO Selangor Chief, Datuk Seri Najib Razak had continued to plead to Malaysians to give BN a chance because “…BN is not a party that is inflexible. We are ready to change.”

“Change can happen in our country and we have proven that not necessarily we change government, but we can bring big change with the same government,” Najib said at the Barisan 1 Malaysia gathering at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) on Saturday 24 November 2012.

Najib had asked Malaysians, “why fix it when it is not broken?”

The very fact that BN leaders continue to defend their corrupt actions of the past proves that BN is not only “broken” but is umable to “change”. What is worse is, the Prime Minister himself has refused to comment on the above corrupt practice, much less condemn his Selangor state assemblymen for their complete lack of integrity, despite arguing that “we can bring big change with the same government”.

Hence if the BN gets re-elected as the state government of Selangor as Najib predicted, then Malaysians will be assured that state government assets will continue to be raped and pillaged by UMNO, MCA, Gerakan and MIC under his leadership, at the expense of the ordinary man on the street.

Najib Must State Stand On BN Land Grab

2012-11-23T23:36:00.000+08:00

It did not come as a shock to anybody when DAP State Assemblyman for Sekinchan, Ng Swee Lim exposed on Tuesday that Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties secured at least 24 pieces of valuable land from the state government while they were in power between 2000 to 2008. These pieces of land which are mostly in commercial areas, amounting to 34.5 acres were “sold” to UMNO, MCA, MIC and Gerakan for a pitiful RM1 per square feet.

What is perhaps more surprising is that such information was somehow kept under wraps for such a long time after they lost their hold on power.

But what is most shocking is the response by Selangor UMNO Information Chief Abdul Shukor Idrus, who is also the state assemblyman for Kuang who argued that “what’s wrong with giving the land to UMNO” as reward for the “contributions by UMNO in fighting for indepedence and developing this country”.

His response to Ng during the sitting as recorded in the Hansard was “…Kalau dipandangkan jasa UMNO menuntut kemerdekaan dan akhirnya Sekinchan (Ng) boleh jadi lawa macam ni, kalau tak kerana UMNO menuntut kemerdekaan dan memajukan negari ini, saya ingat Sekinchan (Ng) pakai baju daun sekarang ini… apa halnya kalau diberi kepada UMNO”

Abdul Shukor attempted to control the fallout with a press conference yesterday (Wednesday), only to dig a deeper hole for UMNO and himself. He tried to justify that “UMNO is rakyat” and hence there’s absolutely nothing wrong in giving state land to an “organisation that represents 400,000 people”.

The above proves that despite all attempts at “transforming” UMNO and Barisan Nasional to be “people first”, and all the rhetoric on accountability and integrity under the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak’s Government Transformation Programme, UMNO leaders still regard the tax-payers’ monies as their own. After all “UMNO is rakyat” and hence there is nothing wrong with UMNO robbing what belongs to the rakyat.

UMNO and Barisan Nasional leaders clearly has no moral sense of right and wrong, and are completely uneducated in the ability to differentiate between what belongs to the government/people as opposed to what belongs to the political parties.

The response by UMNO leaders tells Selangorians that if UMNO were to be elected back into power in the coming general election, then they will continue to rape the state by carving out valuable pieces of state land to be alienated to UMNO, MCA, MIC and Gerakan at dirt cheap prices.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak, as the Selangor UMNO Chief who had declared that Selangor must be “returned” to BN “at all costs” must state his stand on the land grab by the coalition he leads. Does the Prime Minister also condone the land grab exercises and agree with his Selangor UMNO Information Chief? Or does Datuk Seri Najib hold the “transformed” belief that such blatant land grab by BN is corrupt, an abuse of power and a serious breach of the people’s trust?

If Datuk Seri Najib wants Malaysians to believe that BN has really “transformed” and can be trusted, then he must declare that such land grab exercises by BN component parties must not only be banned, all land that has previously been alienated to them on the cheap, must be returned to the state.

Otherwise, Datuk Seri Najib Razak will be exposed as a “transformation” fraud – where it talks about integrity, transparency and accountability on the one hand but continues to allow his party and coalition to rob the rakyat blind on the other.

Fitch Warned of Weak Public Finances

2012-11-22T23:34:00.000+08:00

The Malaysian Government must heed the warning call by Fitch Ratings on our debt levels or face the risk of a slowly but surely route to a Greek-style financial crisis

In a statement issued yesterday (19 November 2012) in London, global ratings agency, Fitch Ratings warned that “Malaysia's public finances are a weakness relative to rating peers and offer limited scope for counter-cyclical fiscal stimulus at the current rating level of 'A-'/Stable.”

Fitch added that “while this has not hindered the public sector's capacity to contribute to GDP, which grew 5.2% yoy in the third quarter according to Bank Negara Malaysia Friday, the growing provision of guarantees to government-linked borrowers is concerning.”

The report expressed the view that much of the growth was a direct result of higher than desired levels of government consumption and investment. More specifically, the government’s expenditure is funded by “greater drawdown of existing federal government guarantees of debt issued by public sector enterprises suggests increasing use of quasi-fiscal policy to support economic activity and may apply further pressure on the sovereign credit profile.”

Hence despite the official government statistics that Federal Government debt is “only” at 53.7% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the number does not include the sky-rocketing quasi-government debt or our contingent liabilities.

As at December 2011, our contingent liabilities have increased by 20.5% to RM116.8 billion from RM96.9 billion the previous year. However, as reported by Fitch Ratings, this figure has increased by another RM23.4 billion or 20% to RM140.2 billion as at September 2012. Such debt is now equivalent to 15% of GDP compared with just 9% at end-2008.

The rate of increase is also much higher than the 10% – 12% rate of increase of the official Federal Government debt over the past 5 years, signalling a clear attempt by the Government to hide its debts off the official balance sheet.

In fact, Fitch Ratings stated the obvious when it said “the increasing reliance on off-balance sheet funding could potentially call into question the meaningfulness of the 55% of GDP federal debt ceiling.”

CIMB Investment Bank economist Lee Heng Guie has also recently wrote that the computation of public debt should also include outstanding borrowings guaranteed by the federal government to give a clearer picture of policymakers’ debt dynamics.

We call upon the Government to follow the reform its outdated accounting practice of “off-balance sheet financing” and recognise fully these hidden debts as the Federal Government debt commitments. This is especially since much of these debts are not financing projects which are commercially viable and hence will ultimately require Government repayment at some point in the future, such as the RM24 billion and RM11 billion of debt owed by PTPTN and Syarikat Prasarana Negara respectively.

Furthermore, the market is anticipating additional hikes in our contingent liabilities as the Government embarks on many mega-projects off its balance sheet – such as the RM50 billion MRT project which has yet to raise the necessary financing, and the RM25 billion Tun Razak Exchange spearheaded by 1MDB.
Without proper accountability, the apparent abuse by the current government in circumventing the legislated 55% limit of Federal Government debt by recklessly issuing debt guarantees to wholly-owned government agencies or GLCs, will only lead to Malaysia finding itself trapped in financial quicksand sooner or later.

Fitch had already in August 2012 warned that “fiscal trends may eventually lead to some form of negative rating action” and the BN administration must pay heed to its advice to prevent Malaysians from enduring another Greek tragedy.

Ceramah: The Ubah Dream Machine

2012-11-10T14:30:00.001+08:00

Don't miss it! Speakers include Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, Tony Pua, Gobind Singh and Rafizi Ramli. Be there 8pm tonight @ Civic Centre, MBPJ Jalan Yong Shook Lin, Petaling Jaya!

See you there! Bring friends ;-)

Donald Lim Talks Rubbish on Selangor Affordable Housing

2012-10-27T11:03:00.000+08:00

On Tuesday 23 October 2012, Datuk Donald Lim claimed in parliament that the Selangor state government has not built a single unit of low-cost or medium cost housing during its four years of administration.

He said "Di Selangor sudah lebih empat tahun, sebiji rumah pun tidak dibina untuk rakyat Selangor sama ada kos rendah atau sederhana. Memang ini... " (Hansard 23/10/12)

After being "corrected" in Parliament, Datuk Donald Lim attempted to change his allegations in Parliament with a press conference yesterday.

This time, he alleged that of the 23,637 units of affordable homes planned for Selangor, only 287 have been built. He said that is barely 1% of the total number and hence it is as good as zero built. He stated that this information is disclosed in the reply by the Selangor State Executive Council to the state assembly sitting in April this year.

We have checked the official response by the State Exco. It is true that "only" 287 units of low-cost units have been completed while 826 are under construction.

However, Datuk Donald Lim appears to have conveniently read only half the response by the state government. The same reply to the Dewan also stated that 5,526 units of low-medium and medium cost housing have been completed! The Minister had claimed that there were none built at all!

So out of the total of 23,637 low and medium cost homes planned by the state government, 5,813 has already been completed. This is a commendable 25% completion within a few years of administration. As a civil engineer himself, sure Datuk Lim would know that planning, approving and constructing houses isn't like ordering a plate of char koay teow, where you will be served in 10 minutes.

The 25% is a far cry from the 1% alleged by the Deputy Finance Minister and definitely not "zero" as misled by him in Parliament.

Today, we have made a site visit to Seksyen 3, Bandar Baru Bangi within the Serdang constituency with Bangi ADUN Shafie bin Abu Bakar on one of the soon-to-be-completed 124 units of affordable homes (picture attached). We have made an open invitation to the Selangor MCA Chief to visit the site or any other sites in Selangor since he claimed that he is completely clueless about low-cost and affordable housing projects in Selangor.

The Selangor Government is also building 135 units of affordable homes at Sungai Long (within Serdang constituency) to be completed before the end of the year. Other affordable projects in the state include one in Seksyen U10, Shah Alam, where 536 units will be built. As an initial step, the state has set the price for affordable houses (800-1,000 sq feet) for middle-income earners at between RM85,000 and RM120,000. Selangor residents with households between RM2,500 and RM5,000 can apply for it. Those interested may purchase the application form at Level 5 of SUK Building, Shah Alam at the price of RM5.

We would also like to remind the Minister of 2 further issues. Firstly, the statistics above only covers projects directly under the state government and the subsidiaries it own. It does not include the thousands of units built by the private sector as mandated by the state government.

Secondly, we would like to emphasize in no uncertain terms that the responsibility to build affordable housing is that of the Federal Government under the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, headed by Datuk Lim's colleague, Datuk Wira Chor Chee Heung. It is because the Federal Government has failed to fulfil its obligations that the state governments of Selangor and Penang are forced to step in to build affordable homes to ease the burden of the rakyat.

Datuk Donald Lim should hence get his own house in order first before attempting to discredit the Selangor Government under Pakatan Rakyat. He should also stop digging a deeper hole for himself by conceding that he has made a blunder in Parliament and withdraw his irresponsible remark that the Selangor government has not built a single unit of low or medium cost housing in the state.

Jamaluddin Jarjis' Kids Got Stake in Malindo

2012-10-25T11:13:00.000+08:00

Malindo part-owned by JJ’s kids, MP alleges
UPDATED @ 07:06:10 PM 24-10-2012 By Clara Chooi
Assistant News Editor October 24, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 ― The children of senior Barisan Nasional (BN) politician Datuk Jamaluddin Jarjis have an indirect stake in Malindo Airways, a newly set-up airline that has been criticised for the lack of clarity surrounding its financial and safety records, a lawmaker alleged today

Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua drew the link through a search with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM), which showed that one of Malindo’s investors ― Malaysia’s National Aerospace and Defence Industries Sdn Bhd (NADI) ― is part owned by DZJJ Sdn Bhd, which in turn lists Jamaluddin’s two children as directors [and shareholders].

Pua added that according to CCM’s information on NADI, the firm had failed to file is audited accounts from 2007, casting even more suspicion on the state of its finances.

Documents obtained from CCM showed that for the year 2007, NADI reported revenue of RM307.3 million and post-tax profit of RM90.5 million.

It also had RM684 million in current assets and RM496 million in current liabilities in 2007.

He repeated his earlier allegation that NADI’s partner in Malindo ― Indonesia’s Indonesia’s PT Lion Grup, which operates Lion Air ― has also run afoul of the industry authorities numerous times over its failure to comply with safety guidelines.

Pua had previously pointed out that Lion Air is on the list of airlines banned in the European Union since 2007 due to safety concerns.

According to previous media reports, Lion Air has also been denied membership in the International Air Transport Association (IATA). A search on IATA’s website confirmed that Lion Air is not a member.

“These issues were raised before but until today, no response has been given,” Pua said.

For the full story on The Malaysian Insider, click here.

Donald Lim Lied That Selangor Did Not Build Low-Cost Homes

2012-10-24T10:25:00.000+08:00

Pakatan flays MCA deputy minister for ‘lying’ about Selangor low-cost housing
By Clara Chooi, Assistant News Editor
October 23, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 23 — An MCA deputy minister found himself the target of criticism from angry Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers in Parliament today when he declared that the Selangor government has not built a single low-cost home in the state since it took over in 2008.

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Donald Lim made the claim when praising the federal administration for being considerate of the needs of the country’s lower-income group.

Tony Pua (DAP-Petaling Jaya Utara) immediately stood up to demand that Lim correct his statement, accusing the Selangor MCA chairman of lying to the House.

Other PR MPs rapped on their tables to support Pua, with several standing to record their disapproval of Lim’s remarks.

But Lim ignored the protests and told Pua to sit down, even calling the DAP publicity secretary and other PR lawmakers “uneducated”.

When the House resumed committee stage debates on Budget 2013, Pua rose from his seat again to cite Standing Order 36(12) against Lim for allegedly misleading the House with an incorrect statement.

Standing Order 36(12) stipulates: “Any member who imputes statements that mislead the House is deemed to be in contempt of the House and the member may be referred to the Committee of Privileges for the offence.”

“I refer to the deputy minister’s answer to the House where he said that Selangor never built any low-cost housing for Selangor folk.

“I request that he correct this statement because Selangor has built 23,637 low-cost housing units, including reviving 9,176 units of homes from abandoned housing projects,” he told the House, to loud table thumps from his fellow PR MPs.

But Deputy Speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee refused to entertain Pua’s request, saying that he does not agree that Lim had violated the Standing Orders.

Interjecting, Khalid Samad (PAS-Shah Alam) said that Lim had not only violated the Standing Orders but had deliberately issued a statement to mislead the Dewan Rakyat.

He pointed out that as a deputy minister, Lim would have full access to information to ensure that all his replies in the House are accurate.

“This is the reality. I urge the Speaker to giver serious consideration to this issue so that we can make sure that all future replies in the House are issued responsibly,” he said.

Speaking at a press conference late, Pua pointed out that apart from Selangor, the PR-led government in Penang has also built some 12,000 low-cost homes and allocated RM500 million for the construction of another 18,000 units.

Claiming that this is the largest allocation in the country, Pua stressed that the responsibility of providing low-cost homes to the poor lies with the federal government and not the state.