People of Malaysia vs Dr Mahathir Mohamad

Navin-Chandra Naidu 8:32AM Oct 30, 2012

COMMENT Suing Dr Mahathir Mohamad is impossible, unthinkable, undesirable, unwise, or difficult? I pose this riddle because I know I do not know the answer to it.

I have been advocating this for quite some time, but I don't seem to get anywhere. Maybe our esteemed Malaysiakini subscribers will put on their usual thinking caps and help me understand this "problem" so that, maybe, we can get to get this man sued in a court of justice (not a court of law).

There is a great difference between a court of law and a court of justice. Justice is a blind bat. Justice OW Holmes of the US Supreme Court once chastised a lawyer, and told him sternly that he, the lawyer, was in a court of law, and not a court of justice.

You see, Justice Holmes was not given to philosophy of the law although he wallowed in it. He was a practical man who knew that the law is "how one could predict how a court would decide." Lofty legal principles in many courts in many countries have been abandoned in the rash search for a political solution. The litigant does not count.

In the Malaysian context, when you walk into a court of law, it is a throw of the dice, especially after August 1988. If the judge is learned in the law, and not given to apple-polishing his or her political masters, the litigant has a shot at real justice. There will be equal justice under the law.

The litigant is no better off when he gets a judge concerned about his or her pension. This is not peculiar in Malaysia only. We have a bunch of loonies assigned to the Bench here in the United States, too. One judge was so obsessed he used a penis pump under his robes when a physically attractive female prosecutor showed up in his court.

Will judges rise to the occasion?

Suing Mahathir will require several thousand Malaysians gathering together a team of pro bono publicus lawyers - lawyers willing to work for free, yours truly included, of course - to unleash a shattering legal tsunami against the former prime minister for corrupt practices, wasting public funds with his warped sense of largesse and bigness, and perversion of justice through his unique cabalistic methods that resulted in the ruination of the country's prospects for equal opportunities for all Malaysians which is still reverberating as a persistent and nagging reminder in the federal constitution (FC) as Article 8.

The man has done more damage than anyone else in Malaysia.

The first and foremost criterion to take into account is whether our Malaysian judges, using Article 162(6) of FC, would care to dare to bare the truth of the citizens' allegations against a former prime minister, and serve as judicial referees and umpires to a genuine trial that would make truth take centre stage instead of just proof and evidence that our police and the Attorney-General's Chambers are so proud and adept at manufacturing, fabricating, altering, covering up, and delivering as factual reality.

Malaysian judges must take up the slack and deliver judgments that can withstand the after effects of an appeal. After all, the dreadful and dreaded Adorna Properties ruling and decision got overruled by Tan Ying Hong v Tan Sian San, which restored deferred indefeasibility of title and offered Section 340 of the National Land Code 1965 a new shine and polish.

Our appellate judges ought to hold up the scales of justice and not be caught cheating with misapplied thumb pressure upon these scales without checking, rechecking and cross-checking all the facts that were submitted by the lawyers. I wonder if our Malaysian judges conduct any independent investigations like our European counterparts on the Bench.

After all, one cannot simply take any lawyer's submissions for the truth, because lawyers are not the only ones entitled to lie in court.

AG the stumbling block

Such a case involving a Muslim prime minister could be initiated in a Syariah Court that would leave the attorney-general (AG) powerless under Article 145(3) FC. But that is exactly what is sorely desired. Malaysians do not relish the idea of the AG agonising on whether or not to proffer charges against his boss.

The AG is a stumbling block. Someday, he ought to be impeached being a federal judge and all. But that may already be happening. The burning question is whether the Syariah Court will be willing to adjudicate The People of Malaysia v Dr Mahathir Mohamad bin Iskandar. It ought to, especially if the defendant is a Muslim, as is the case.

At the same time, the native courts ought to file another motion against Mahathir for grabbing their lands during his 22-year watch.

The Orang Asli's motion would be rock solid given the fact that the United Nations Indigenous Peoples Forum's representatives will have to attend these lawsuits as umpires and referees to make sure no plaintiff is forced to flee the lawsuit by the local thuggery enclaves admirably and efficiently run by the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM).

The Aboriginal Peoples Act of 1954 together with Article 8(5)(c) of the federal constitution would be a powerful combination against Mahathir in all 18 Orang Asli Native Courts as all 18 Orang Asli tribes will be suing the same man in 18 different Native Courts.

While the syariah and native courts effort is under way, lawsuits ought to be filed in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching, at the same time by the natives of Sabah and Sarawak. An all-out concerted effort to bring this man down ought to be the most pleasurable thing any Malaysian can think or dream about.

I wallow in the fun I may have as a lawyer see true blue justice done to an arrogant man who thinks he is beyond and above the law. Mahathir probably thinks he still wields untold power and pleasure in Malaysia. He may still enjoy a lot of power given the fact that the Ling Liong Sik-Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) case fizzled away like a flash in a pan without much fanfare.

Curtain time for Dr M

The task at hand is formidable amassing all the facts, details, data, particulars, proof and evidence to succeed in bringing this puppeteer down.

Subpoena everyone that was associated or affiliated with the man. You can forget about a criminal case being mounted. I am talking about a civil suit for unjust enrichment, violating the public trust, defaming the public thinking we are a bunch of fools, and a host of suitable causes of action, which I am sure we Malaysians will have absolutely no difficulty in marshalling together as a must-do and can-do fun exercise.

Royal commission of inquiries (RCIs) are a waste of time. Waiting for election results is another doleful exercise in patience with a crooked Election Commission to contend with. Writing books, articles, essays, ceramahs, and public debates aside, suing Mahathir is where the rubber meets the road. It's time for action.

Talking about making Mahathir liable is what it will take, and I hope and pray we Malaysians can rally together and bring this suit against Mahathir to fruition. Powerful people in historical annals could not just get away with it. They had to pay. Some with their lives, some with long prison terms.

I believe a well-informed citizenry, like Malaysians today, can make the difference. The leaders of any country cannot get zilch done without the workers putting their effort together. Mahatma Gandhi shut out and shut down the British Empire with the simple "bandh" effort. "Shut it down," he instructed, and every worker, soldier, cook, errand boy, gardener, cleaner, polisher, driver, dhobi, every other menial worker simply shut it down.

So, my fellow Malaysians, expose the man. Let's shut down Mahathir. Let's shut him up in prison. Let's shut down his last show. It's curtain time.

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JUDGE NAVIN-CHANDRA NAIDU is a lawyer based in Utah, United States.

Small price to pay for our future generations

YOURSAY 'I will fly back to Malaysia to cast my vote, too, and pray that most overseas Malaysians will do the same.'

Why I must come home to vote

Anonymous #8211967: To those fortunate souls (or unfortunate because you were ‘driven' out of this country by unfair circumstances at home) who have made it in a foreign land, I salute your courage.

Please come home to vote out this ‘regime' (government is too kind a word) for a better future for our younger generations.

I was ‘fortunate' to be admitted into a local university and subsequently given a job in the civil service. But I did not cherish that part of my life due to the constant discrimination ala the NEP.

I left the civil service in much anger but found happiness outside the civil service.

No Eye See X_X: I will fly back to Malaysia to cast my vote, too, and pray that most overseas Malaysians will do the same. It is a small price to pay for the future generations in Malaysia. I hope that they won't experience what we've faced.

Boonpou: William de Cruz, your life history is not an anomaly. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, went through the same discriminatory journey. I myself went through the same horrid experience.

I was also a straight A student until my MCE (SPM), and then HSC (STPM). It was shocking for me when I got my results. I then decided to study in the United States, washing dishes, waiting tables, while I underwent my undergraduate degree.

I have since got my PhD and became an assistant professor in the US. And now I am an associate professor in Canada. Imagine if I did not decide to take the chance to leave. But this is not the journey with so many other non-Malay Malaysians.

I too will fly back and vote to get rid of this systematic racist regime. I can most definitely afford the airfare and my students will understand why I have to cancel one class in order to set justice in motion.

I don't care how much problems Pakatan Rakyat has but to vote for BN, especially Umno, is a vote against humanity.

Anti-Corruption: William, I am from your era. I can recollect the events you mentioned. I was a straight A student as well but I left for Singapore 35 years ago. I am professionally successful now and I divide my time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

The only reason I did not give up my Malaysian citizenship is because I want to ensure that I can help to vote out this despicable, corrupt and racist Umno-led government.

My elder daughter is a doctor in London and I have advised her never to return until we terminate the tenure of this regime.

Next week, I will take my younger daughter for college entrance exams in UK and I will give her the same advice. But I will have no problem though because even at the young age of 13, she came home from school one day and told me:

"Daddy, during a global perspective discussion today on the American Dream versus 1Malaysia, all my classmates retorted ‘1Malaysia sucks!'

Ding Jeng Chung: I am working in Singapore. I have a few colleagues who are also Malaysian. We are planning to take a few days off just to return to Malaysia to vote in the coming general election.

I think this is the least we can do to help save our beloved country.

Tancc: I am also a Malaysian living in Singapore since the 80s. My wife and children are Singaporean but I kept my Malaysian citizenship.

I was asked by many why I didn't change it. My reply was that my heart and soul are with Malaysia.

I love Malaysia but I hate Umno policies and I will not change my citizenship just for the sake of convenience.

I compile a weekly PDF newsletter of articles of interest to send to concerned Malaysians and asking them to forward to all other concerned Malaysians.

Those interested, please send me an email to ge13forall@hotmail.com and you can do the same. For the record, I never miss any general election; I always come back to vote.

NH Gong: My, oh my. Just coming home to vote (and for a holiday) and making such a big deal out of it. Just think of what DAP leaders Lim Guan Eng, Lim Kit Siang and Co had gone through. Anyway, this small awakening is better than nothing.

Ferdtan: "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step," said Lao Tzu. William de Cruz, by willing to come back home to vote in the coming GE is one small step for all Malaysians who are based overseas.

"Individually you are one drop, together we are one ocean," so said some wise man. Never underestimate the importance of ‘one', lonely as it may seems, but the inspiration of your desire to return to do your duty to vote may grow exponentially when others follow your lead.

An idea, especially a seemingly simple task like wanting to come home to vote, may stir the hearts of many overseas Malaysian residents to come home on election day.

We hope some creative video producers can assist through YouTube's to encourage others to come home. William can play the lead, with a theme like: "I am coming home to vote, are you too?"

RL: We need more of you to come back and overcome the ‘instant voters' that have been given ICs in exchange for votes for BN. As Bersih co-chair S Ambiga says, if everyone votes against BN, there's nothing that they can do.

Abuminable: Thanks, William, for your impassioned personal account of how Umno-style ‘apartheid' impacted your life.

The sincerity and veracity of everything you say speaks for itself and your anger and anguish are shared by all who have not lost their humanity to a false and malignant ideology of racial and religious supremacy.

I turned 21 when then-premier Abdul Razak introduced the NEP and, at the very beginning of my life as a young adult, found myself classified as a ‘second-class citizen'.

However, because I received absolutely no sponsorships from the ruling establishment, I ended up being far more resourceful, aware and capable than if I had had the misfortune to have been pampered and promoted beyond my own level of competency.

Llfly: William, you are clearly very bitter about your experiences and my heart bleeds for you. I very much hope that having the opportunity to speak these words has given you some closure. I applaud your wish to come back and vote.

Taikohtai: Of course, the Election Commission (EC) is trying its best to deny all overseas Malaysians their right to vote.

Don't for a single moment believe that EC is doing its best for them because it is akin to asking it to allow more legitimate opposition votes against its master.

Perhaps AirAsia might want to do a patriotic promotion on election week, no?

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Electoral roll clean-up: Is our intuition reason enough? ― Jason Lai and KW Chen

OCT 29 ― As the Najib administration’s expiry date looms closer and closer, bringing with it the imminent 13th general election, calls for a clean-up of the electoral roll from various quarters of civil society as well as opposition political parties have also grown correspondingly shriller and frantic.

Merdeka Center, in an independent survey conducted earlier this year, found as many as 92 per cent of the people polled were of the opinion that there is great and urgent need for this to be done before the election happens.

A legitimate democratic process is predicated on an intelligent and well-informed electorate who is able to make a sagacious decision when choosing their government. This is evident in the intense focus on the presidential election in the United States, where a mature democratic electorate demands correct and accurate information from the candidates, failing which they will be torn apart.

This principle should be no less important to Malaysia as we aspire to be a truly world-class democracy. And for this to happen, it is important to temper passion with reason and to let our decisions be informed by passion, rather than just emotions.

Informed by facts not emotions

Intuitively, the state of the electoral roll is highly suspect. However, as a responsible voter, we should not be satisfied with our intuition alone. The personal integrity of every responsible voter should compel him or her to verify every claim made by politicians.

So it is essential to ask where our perception that the integrity of our electoral roll is questionable originates from. Are viral Facebook posts a reliable source of information? Or is it a case of a self-perpetuating cascade that may potentially exaggerate the dismal state of our electoral roll, resulting in a possible over-investment of limited resources to correct errors that may not actually exist or impact our elections?

We are certainly not indifferent towards isolated genuine mistakes that have found its way to the media’s attention. However, it remains our contention that ultimately our overall judgement on the state of the electoral roll should be informed by thorough studies that provide facts and data, and not speculation or rhetoric.

For this reason the recent release of the findings of the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (MERAP) is to be greatly applauded.

Critical look at MERAP’s findings

The MERAP team led by Dr Ong Kian Ming, as well as his funding sources, should be lauded for investing their effort and precious resources to apprise the public on the nature and the magnitude of the problem with our electoral roll. After all, how will an elected government claim legitimacy if the integrity of the elections is jeopardized by an electoral roll plagued with problems?

Nonetheless, despite high expectations and great anticipation the report, which is available online for free, raises more questions than answers.

A number of points raised by MERAP were not adequately substantiated and have the potential to lead readers to inaccurate conclusions that what may be genuine technical glitches are intentional exploitations of the system. Some of the pertinent questions the report raises that need to be addressed are as follows:

Are old voters likely dead?

“One proxy for the presence of dead voters in the electoral roll is to look out for very old voters.” – (Section 1.1, MERAP)

MERAP reported that 65,000 voters were over 85 years old and over 1,000 voters were centenarians. This inference should be approached with due caution. Indeed, the assumption that very old voters are likely dead can be erroneous when the elderly population is in actual fact inherently large in Malaysia.

The 2010 national census reported that over 479,000 people are over the age of 75# and approximately 150,000 people are beyond 80 years old.

Moreover, improved health care has certainly contributed to longer life expectancy and therefore, it may not come as a surprise to know that a majority of the very old voters may still be alive today.

In view of this, the inference that old voters are dead can only be acceptable if the proportion of the old voters that have passed away is unacceptably large. This data was unfortunately not found in the MERAP report and the reader is left wondering about the legitimacy of this claim.

Having said that, it is quite unequivocal that the 19 registered voters whose ages surpasses that of the oldest Malaysian on record (at 105 years old) are undoubtedly dubious.

Does having the same name preclude different individuals?

MERAP was successful in detecting voters with identical names, birth dates and birth places (state). However, the number of such occurrence, hovering at about 20 instances for each name, should only come as a surprise if the duplicate names are very rare or unusual, such as “Farhanitrate”.

Other names the MERAP team took exception to in the report were, for instance, “Fatimah binti Ismail” and “Fatimah binti Abdullah”, which they argue are to too similar and therefore must be a reference to the same person. Malay names are constructed by giving a first name followed by “bin” or “binti” (meaning “son of” or “daughter of’” followed by the father’s name. “Fatimah”, “Ismail” and “Abdullah” are by no stretch of the imagination uncommon names and the probability that the permutation of these names, while restricting the last names to male names only, coinciding with another is definitely not inconceivable. It is therefore imperative that the MERAP team also backs these claims of irregularity with data showing the frequency of babies born on the same day who bear the same name.

The additional note made by the MERAP team that the last eight digits of the Malaysian IC number of these duplicates did not differ much was uncalled for. The format of the Malaysian IC is such that the number will not differ for the first six digits if the duplicates indeed share the same birth dates.

The next two-digit birth place code has no real measure of “differences”, given the non-random nature of the codes. The final four-digit code indicates the bearer’s gender. Given the MERAP team’s sample space for comparing IC numbers, only the last four digits can be tested for randomness by gender.

In their report, no formal probability testing was conducted to substantiate the claim that these so-called duplicates are deliberate rather than coincidental, leading the reader to wonder if this judgement by the team was merely a highly subjective ‘eyeball’ exercise.

Does having the same old IC number implies the same person?

Another concern found in the report was the presence of people sharing the same pre-1990 IC number but having different post-1990 IC number. The implication is that these may be individuals enjoying the privilege of having two or more different post-1990 IC numbers which affords them multiple voting rights. However, this assumption rests on the supposition that prior to 1990#, every single person in Malaysia held a unique IC number.

Given that prior to 1990 computer databases were notoriously unreliable and the internet was still in its infancy stage, the task of generating unique IC numbers was very much in the hands (and at the mercy) of fallible administrators.

Therefore, the possibility of two or more persons sharing the same pre-1990 IC numbers is not implausible at all. Due diligence demands that MERAP should also investigate these 233 cases more thoroughly to conclusively rule out that the irregularities are not due to clerical errors.

Are all foreigners automatically illegitimate voters?

“If we met 10 random ‘Italians’ who are Malaysian citizens, wouldn’t we expect most of them to be born outside Malaysia and subsequently became naturalized Malaysian citizens? Instead ... majority of these foreign voters are born in Malaysia.”(Section 1.12, MERAP).

Without getting into complex semantics, MERAP has defined a foreigner simply as one whose ethnicity is recorded as anything but the three major ethnic groups plus the orang asli ethnic groups.

It is not the purpose of this section to question the contentious Sabah’s IC project, rather to question the MERAP team’s need to lump other foreigners such as Koreans, Afghans, Italians, etc. into the one and the same category.

While the report suspects foreigners are holding Malaysian blue ICs which indicate Malaysia as their birth place, no effort was made to back these claims with solid data identifying what proportion of these foreigners are beyond age 20 and if they are second generation Malaysians, i.e. those of aforesaid foreign ancestry born in Malaysia.

Indeed, it will not be the least bit surprising if the presence of ‘foreigners’ are in fact due to second generation Malaysians, given our colonial history as well as the subsequent migrants who have managed to set up households, albeit these may be small in number.

Therefore, it is highly irresponsible to conveniently associate all such ‘foreigners’ with the scandalous Sabah illegals as it jeopardizes the legitimacy of some ‘foreigner’ voters who may be bona fide Malaysians!

Is government agency electorate registration machinery failure in some a failure in all?

“What is of particular concern is the presence of many newly registered voters without house numbers and street names whose applications start with the letter ‘J’ indicating that they have been registered by a government agency which is not the Election Commission.” (Section 1.14, MERAP)

Finally, MERAP pointed out that there are many irregularities with government agency-assisted voter registrations. In the electoral records, a code is assigned to identify the agent through which a voter was registered.

For government agency-assisted registrations code “J” is assigned. Given the MERAP team’s occasional zealousness to report actual figures, the opportunity to clear any ambiguous notion of the word “many” should not be missed. It is most crucial for them to report the exact proportion of voters with code “J” that is erroneous to give an idea of a base rate. A sweeping statement was made which is most unacceptable:

“As of Q3 of 2011, new voter applications with the registration code ‘J’ numbered 42,540 in the state of Selangor, many of them in marginal constituencies.”

Indeed, without the base rate, how can anyone assess the magnitude of the damage done to the electoral roll in Selangor through government agencies?
Good and honest reporting avoids ambiguities

When actual figures are substituted with ambiguous relative adjectives, this report is a statistician nightmare. It should be a grave concern that the use of ambiguous adjectives will bloat the claims beyond more than it should. As an example, Section 1.3 of the report finds voters with the same name and address but fails to describe the magnitude of this error with actual figures.

To be fair, MERAP occasionally appeals to figures to drive their point, for example Section 2.7: “Out of the 3,950 who entered into police and army forces at age 31 years old and above, a total of 1,355 could be traced from their civilian IC to their postal voters ID and the findings are remarkable.”

Nonetheless, it is perplexing to figure out what could possibly be MERAP’s intention to omit crucial figures that could describe the magnitude of some significant irregularities.

Throughout MERAP report, there existed many of what statisticians call testable hypotheses, some of which were highlighted above. In fact the subheadings of the above sections were framed deliberately in the classical academic tradition of hypothetical questions which avail themselves to testing.

Given that the purpose of MERAP is empirical in nature, it was rather disappointing that the team has failed to seize the opportunity to conduct formal statistical tests to evaluate whether these errors were random, which is to say genuine administrative errors, or governed by certain patterns which would suggest pre-meditated intervention.

The essence of these tests which have potential to reject the default null hypothesis—that errors were random—will have a strong bearing in mounting pressure on the Elections Commission (EC) to take appropriate measures.

Having university tenure absolves all conflict of interest?

MERAP’s response to the EC’s concern that there is conflict of interest on the part of Dr Ong is surprising when they unashamedly refused to acknowledge its obvious existence. Academic work is always accompanied by a statement of conflict of interest.

Ong’s affiliation with the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) cannot and will not be written off simply by virtue of his tenure in a university. If such a case is tenable, then all academic work from universities are essentially free of conflict of interest, which is obviously ludicrous.

Conclusion

The MERAP report was at best a preliminary document that lists possible exploit mechanisms that can derail the purpose of the elections. Considering that the electoral roll still holds old records which likely suffer from the effects of the migration from physical paper to electronic databases, due benefit of the doubt should be given.

At the same time, the EC must express sincerity in addressing inherent clerical issues to prevent further exploitation of the electoral roll and facilitate clean and fair elections.

BN: And we have Pakatan's secret documents, too

Aidila Razak 5:42PM Oct 29, 2012

Pakatan Rakyat is not the only coalition claiming to have its hands on its rival’s confidential strategy documents for the 13th general election.

BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the ruling federal coalition has Pakatan’s secret documents, all the way to its candidacy list.

"But we don't make noise, like the other side," he told reporters today in Kuala Lumpur.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng had last weekend claimed that he had obtained secret documents about BN's election preparations in Penang.

'We will identify leak' 

In response, Tengku Adnan said that he has written to all 13 BN party presidents on the matter to remind them to be more careful with confidential documents.

“I fear that they leave these documents everywhere and people secretly photocopy them,” he said.

He added that BN is investigating the leak, and would be able to pinpoint where the document came from if they can see the document Lim says is in his possession.

“The person who leaked it forgot that we have a coding system at the headquarters that can identify each documents’ origins,” he said.

However, he said the leak is not damaging as “it is only shows the stage of readiness”.

Tengku Adnan, who is Putrajaya MP, added said this after accepting 5,000 copies of the book 100 Wira Negara by Mubarak president Abdul Aziz Rahman.

The books were given to Umno in exchange for RM200,000 to fund Mubarak’s activities.

The book, on 100 notable Malaysians in history, will be given away to delegates at the Umno annual general meeting next month.

‘Mubarak not after seats’

In his speech, the MP offered his apologies on behalf of Umno members to the NGO made up of former Umno elected representatives, who had been accused of lobbying for candidacy.

He said this was due to Mubarak’s diligence in assisting Umno and BN win the next general election.

“This is not Mubarak’s intention. I am sorry and I hope you don’t take it to heart.

“You have once been (active in) Umno and understand the attitudes of our friends at the grassroots,” he said.

At the press conference he said that while it is not Mubarak’s intention, this does not mean they cannot be selected if they are winnable candidates.

Meanwhile, Abdul Aziz said that Mubarak is actively campaigning by targetting NGOs, especially those representing veterans from the armed forces, police and retired civil servants.

‘I did not get RM3m from Chia but the car…’ - Patrick Lee

Nazri Abdul Aziz denies receiving RM3 million from a timber tycoon 'friend' but is unsure if the latter lent his car to his son.

KUALA LUMPUR: Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nazri Abdul Aziz has denied receiving any money from timber tycoon Michael Chia over a purported RM40 million scandal involving Sabah Umno.

He was responding to Malaysia Today blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin (also known as RPK) who claimed that Nazri and his son Mohamad Nedim received RM3 million and a sports car respectively from Chia.

“Oh no, it’s not true, it’s not true. Chia is a friend. I don’t know if he lent the car to my son. You have to ask my son,” he told FMT in his office this afternoon.

Although he did not directly criticise Raja Petra over the claim, Nazri said that he had no problem with this matter being raised.
 
“RPK is a social person. He mixes a lot with people, so he probably gets information from them. Then by (Petra) writing this, it gives me the opportunity to give my side of the story,” he said.

Nazri also stressed that he had no influence over the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) or the judiciary, adding that if he had, Chia’s case would have been dropped.

In a Malaysia Today report, Raja Petra claimed that Chia personally came to Parliament to hand RM3 million over to Nazri, after the latter allegedly resolved a matter relating to the RM40 million scandal.

He also claimed that Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and Attorney-General Abdul Gani-Patail were similarly involved.

The Star settles RM10mil suit with Penang DCM

Hafiz Yatim 12:31PM Oct 29, 2012

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy has withdrawn his RM10 million lawsuit against a journalist with The Star and the daily's publisher Star Publications (M) Bhd over a defamation suit filed earlier this year.

Ramasamy had filed the suit in February, over two articles published by the newspaper last year.

The settlement was announced by his lawyer A Sivanesan, who told the High Court that both parties have agreed not to disclose the terms of the settlement.

“The parties have agreed to resolve the matter, with terms of settlement being private and confidential and not to be disclosed by both parties.

“The suit is hereby withdrawn unconditionally with no order as to costs,” said Sivanesan.

Appearing with Sivanesan was R Kenghadaran.

The matter was confirmed by Bhag Singh, the lawyer acting for the MCA-owned daily, and the settlement was recorded by High Court judge VT Singham, who then struck out the suit.

Before recording the settlement, Justice Singham asked Ramasamy whether this was agreed as the Penang DCM II had filed the suit in his personal capacity.

To this, Ramasamy concurred that he had consulted with his lawyers and consented to the settlement.

Justice Singham then struck out the suit and made no order as to costs.

'In bad faith' 

Ramasamy declined to comment further when asked outside the court, saying it had already been settled. DAP chairperson Karpal Singh then met Ramasamy outside court.

The case was originally slated for a two-day trial beginning today with two reporters from Malaysiakini - Susan Loone and Low Chia Ming - slated to testify along with other reporters based in Penang.

Earlier, today Sivanesan told reporters that the parties may agree to settle the matter but there were some terms pending.

Ramasamy, who is also Batu Kawan MP named journalist Ian McIntyre and the newspaper publisher as first and second defendants and sought RM5 million each from both of them.

He claimed that on Dec 21, McIntyre had interviewed him at his office in Komtar, Penang and the daily had published the article "Distress in DAP Continues' on Dec 23, which the Penang DCM claims was done in bad faith.

Ramasamy (right in pic), a former lecturer at a local university, claimed the article was defamatory and painted a picture that the DAP leaders were abusive of their power and positions, corrupt, and incompetent.

Ramasamy held another press conference denying the report.

However, the MCA owned daily published another article 'What
Ramasamy said in the interview' which was published later.

The second article, he claimed, implied that he was dishonest, a hypocrite, immoral, and unfit for any post.

The Penang DCM had asked the daily to apologise but claimed that the defendant had failed to do so.
Ramasamy said the publication of the two articles affected his position as a DAP leader, and also his reputation, and that he had been brought into public scandal, ridicule and contempt as a result of this.

Who will fix the Malaysian economy? — Syahir Sulaiman

OCT 29 — No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. — Albert Einstein

Malaysian economy — the diagnosis 

No one may object to the statement that the Malaysian economy is in a problematic state.

The government of the day had embarked on its journey of economic transformation via its alphabet soup of GTP and ETP in tackling the NKRAs with all sorts of BR1M, KR1M, PR1MA, TR1MA. The government in-waiting then had its version of economic reform via its Buku Jingga and all sorts of promises and hopes. Yet, the bottom line still seems shady.

Fiscal prudence is pivotal when the deficit and debt level are alarming. All eyes are set to monitor the federal government debt that does not show any indication of not breaching the ceiling rate of 55 per cent of GDP (2013E: 54.2 per cent; 2012E: 53.7 per cent), given the generous vis-à-vis lavish spending by the incumbent, besides vast natural resources vested in our land. The government’s fiscal discipline also needs to be tightened, given the precedents where actual spending, especially operating expenditure, has been exceeding the original budget due to additional supplementary budgets tabled when the year just begins.

Inflation seems unavoidable as early as the first quarter of 2013 when the sudden available money and vouchers to be pocketed and disposed of may result in a situation where “too much money is chasing too few goods”, thus pushing the prices of goods and services further up despite the gradual rise of material cost nowadays.

The level and profile of household debt will then be continuously monitored by Bank Negara. As reported, household debt as a proportion of the country’s gross domestic product in 2011 is translated into a ratio of 77 per cent, the bulk of it came from the financing of sky-rocketing property and excise-duty inflated cars.

Inflation certainly has a bearing on households with a monthly income of RM3,000 and below and those living in urban cities as this segment of households is more vulnerable to potential  income shocks due to their substantial debt obligation with limited buffers to counter any loss of income to sustain consumption and price increases.

As denounced by Jeffrey Sachs in his book “The End of Poverty”, “many factors can affect a country's ability to enter the world market, including government corruption, legal and social disparities, diseases, lack of infrastructure of transportation  and communication, unstable political landscapes, protectionism, and geographic barriers”.

In order to address and remedy the specific economic stumbling blocks of various countries, Sachs further espoused the term “clinical economy” and stated that “countries, like patients, are complex systems, requiring differential diagnosis, an understanding of context, monitoring and evaluation, and professional standards of ethics.”

Malaysian economy — the remedy 

No one may object to the statement that Malaysian economy is in a dire need of fixing.

A healthy economy thus depends on the level of aggregated demand and supply which stems from the accumulation of transactions involving goods and services, carried out by businesses and enterprises under the economic regime adopted by the government.

On the business side, there are two types of enterprises, those who rely on exploration and those who rely on exploitation. Every economy has both, but a healthy one favours the explorers.  However, over time, many explorers become exploiters once they are “too big to fail”, run out of new ideas, extending their production lines instead of developing new products, lobbying governments for favourable tax and contract deals, cut costs by putting pressure on their workers, merge with competitors to form monopoly, and manipulate customers to squeeze their margin.

Successful enterprises invest their time in inventing better products, serving customers more effectively, and supporting workers in ways that enhance their commitment. Government support should be shifted from protecting large established corporations to encouraging the growth of social enterprises and budding start-ups.

Incentives and subsidies should be channelled to improve competency and resilience of the people and enterprises. Regulation and taxation should be used to nurture sustainable investment and productivity, not to breed a generation of “know-who” that surpassed the quality of “know-how”.

In the corridors of power, there are also two kinds of politicians, those who rely on services and those who rely on manipulation. Every country thus has both, but a healthy one favours the former, instead of the manipulators who count on corruption and abuse of power. A fiscal policy full of integrity is vital for Malaysia. The economic regime thus must be built on values, instead of greed and fear. Flow of financing should promote entrepreneurship and risk sharing, instead of risk avoidance. Capitalism seems to be equated with debtism, and incremental income must be rooted from a real economic participation and activity.

Above all, the real engine of economic growth is the people. It all depends on our propensity to produce, to consume, to save, and to borrow. We have to live and consume within our means, thus to save wisely and to leverage only on productive and quality debt.

Malaysia is certainly at a crossroads. A fundamental change is required, not just on economic performance and social quality, but also in the people’s mindset and delivery of public goods and services that underpin our ability to develop the country. The journey will be long and arduous, God willing, we will succeed.
Thus, the answer to the earlier question is, you and me.