Does Karpal have a voice in the CEC?

Susan Loone

At the Penang DAP covention today, national chairman Karpal Singh's ability to voice his opinions in the central executive committee was questioned by a delegate.

The question came about as Karpal, also the Bukit Gelugor MP, has been voicing his concerns and proposals frequently through the media.

Taman Alma branch chief David Marshall ask if Karpal was given enough chances to raise his proposals in the CEC as the veteran leader often had to sought media attention to publicise his thoughts.

"This is controversial but I am not here to criticise anyone. I am referring to Karpal's one candidate one seat proposal in the media," said Marshall, during the convention's debate session.

"Maybe, he was not allowed to speak up in the CEC. Even the party's media organ Rocketkini has not given him a chance to publicised his proposal in the paper," claimed Marshall.
When asked, state DAP chief Chow Kon Yeow (left) said the delegate raised the point in the context that Karpal was seen speaking very often raised in the media.

"In the CEC, Karpal has raised the issue of one candidate one seat many times.

"In the coming national congress in Penang on Dec 15 and 16, there will be a resolution for delegates to decide on the matter, and it will be tabled by the CEC so that delegates can take a position," added Chow.

Policy exemption for Guan Eng

In his previous press conferences, Karpal had said that the policy should be implemented but secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng should be exempted from it.

Another delegate, Tan Ah Huat from Kuala Juru, expressed his support for Karpal's proposal, saying that it would be unfair to allow a candidate to contest two seats when the party has "many talents".

Batu Lanchang delegate Lee Ken Loon urged leaders to raise issues using the proper channels and not the media, which he observed, during the election period, are often told to "lean to one side".

Bagan Dalam assemblyman raised the issue of veteran leaders not given enough recognition especially at the party's new headquarters in Jalan Rangoon, which lacks any acknowledgement of not only of the living but past members.

He also urged the state to name one of the roads Peter Paul Dason - the deceased former DAP former Bayan Baru MP - to remember the veteran leader's contribution to Penang.

The Penang government, upon assuming power in the state had named a road after one of its veteran leader. P Patto.

Responding to the issue, Chow said that during the launch of Wisma DAP, the new building, the party has presented a medal to veteran leaders who have served for more than 30 years.

"At the coming congress, the party will also present veteran members with a special gift," he added, without revealing what the present is.

Chow also said that the party had recommended 'datukships" to several veteran members who had contributed much to society, but two out of the three had passed on, and the remaining person is rather advanced in age.

State DAP secretary Ng Wei Aik urged party members to contribute photos and other "antique" resources to the party so they can be put up at Wisma DAP's gallery.

DAP truly ready for GE?

Meanwhile, despite the party's confidence level in winning the 13th general election, which must be called by May next year, a delegate asked if members and leaders were truly ready.

"Are we 100 percent sure of winning the state? Are you saying that BN candidates are going to lose their deposits?" asked Amal Dass, an observer from Taman Inderawasih.

Delegates also asked for more opportunities for women and youth members in the party.

Jelutong DAP Socialist Youth chief Daniel Gooi urged the party to continue to field young candidates in the coming polls, as several leaders are "retiring" from the wing, like RSN Rayer (Seri Delima) and Ng Wei Aik (wing chief and Komtar assemblyman).

When replying to this, Chow praised wanita chief Chong Eng's (left) effort to increase the strength of women members in the party, saying more will be done to field them as candidates.

On the Youth candidacy, Chow said "Guan Eng and I also originated from the Youth wing, so it is not a problem (to field young candidates)".

Umno's Ponzi scheme

Mariam Mokhtar 12:19PM Dec 3, 2012

Malaysians need not fear that we will become like Afghanistan because Afghanistan has learnt from us and has become like us.

A New York Times

report headlined ‘Audit says Kabul Bank began as Ponzi scheme’ bears a striking resemblance to the way Umno runs this country.

Investigators have claimed that the Kabul Bank has been fraudulently obtaining hundreds of millions of dollars and siphoning it off to a few individuals connected to President Hamid Karzai (left).

The war-torn country is trying to get to grips with the concepts of western democracy and banking, but public trust and confidence in the government has been shattered by the revelations of crony capitalism and corruption on a massive scale.

Governments around the world are shocked at the Kabul Bank scandal but are turning a blind eye to similar events in Malaysia, where institutions routinely siphon off money to Umno and its cronies.

An audit by the Kroll investigative firm has revealed that the Kabul Bank’s financial duplicity was mired in controversy and cover up. There was a political conspiracy involving those at the very top of government to stall the investigations.

This is no different from Malaysia. Recent cases are the political interference concerning Tajuddin Ramli’s involvement in the Malaysia Airlines scandal, the Sabah Umno and Michael Chia fiasco and the National Feedlot Corporation case.

The Kroll report also revealed that official stamps had been issued to fake companies so that forged papers could be made to look legitimate. The bank kept two sets of books to dupe auditors and loans were issued in the names of the owner’s friends, relatives and even domestic servants.

Sherkhan Farnood, the bank’s founder and chairperson, stashed the loot in Dubai. It is also claimed that money was smuggled out of Kabul via an airline belonging to shareholders linked to the bank. Kharzai’s brothers, who were implicated, have claimed innocence and escaped prosecution. No one appears accountable or has taken responsibility for the alleged fraud.

Last week, Umno held its 66th general assembly.
It was laced with theatrics, its members reduced to tears by a song, and a former premier wielded more influence than the incumbent. All these are signs that the country, not just the party, is in trouble.

The way Umno operates is similar to a Ponzi scheme but instead of making a financial contribution, Malaysians have had to pawn their livelihood and their children’s future, just to keep people at the top of the scheme in power and wealth.

Charles Ponzi, Bernie Madoff, and Kautilya Pruthi, the British equivalent of Madoff, had conned people out of their life savings but were eventually caught and jailed. In what is known as a Ponzi scheme, people were lured into investing their hard-earned cash with con merchants who offered them in the short-term, higher returns than any other investments could provide.

Change from within

Umno’s Ponzi scheme is destined to fail. With the increase in Umno warlords, greater demands are exerted on the kitty, which is financed by the taxpayer. Those who are more senior in Umno want a greater share. The VVIPs and their children have to be appeased. The fickle-minded, untrustworthy party ‘frogs’ also need feeding.

An Umno member would find willing victims to become party members, force them to swear allegiance to be a true member and get them to find fresh recruits.

Like any pyramid scheme, only those at the top of the pyramid reap the benefits. For instance, Umno divisional heads are given incentives to keep them happy. It is alleged that they can demand government projects of a certain fiscal value, to pass on to their cronies and members.

In some cases, divisional heads are alleged to be given hundreds if not thousands of taxi permits as inducement.
With each taxi driver being obliged to pay about RM30 to the company per day, it is not difficult to work out how many millions of ringgit some people can make per month.

Why does Kuala Lumpur need 35,000 taxi drivers? When there is a glut of drivers, there is depressed income from fares and more drivers sinking into debt.

The Ponzi-type scheme Umno operates also uses religion and affirmative action policies to keep the Malays under control, but Malays need to understand one thing - they do not owe the government a living.

A student on a Mara loan or scholarship should be beholden to the taxpayer for funding his studies. When the government is guilty of corruption or injustice, the student should not keep quiet because he thinks he is beholden to the government for his education. He is not.

Sadly, many Malays refrain from criticising the government because they feel indebted to the government when in truth, they should be grateful to the taxpayer. The Malays know that Umno does not represent them, but they have been brainwashed to keep silent, with tiny inducements and the fear of God to keep them in check.

The government should give every Malaysian child a decent standard of education and equal opportunities, but even the privileged are cheated.

The method with which Umno rules the country dwarfs the Kabul Bank Ponzi scheme. The west does not give a damn what happens in Malaysia just as Umno does not care at all what it is doing to Malaysians.

The west wants to please the government so that the Employees Provident Fund can continue to buy up properties abroad, a refugee swap deal can proceed smoothly, Malaysian taxpayers can purchase the latest weaponry or that a rare-earths refining plant can be built.

The rakyat cannot rely on the west for help, so any changes have to come from within Malaysia.

Whose crystal ball is correct, asks Kit Siang

 

Dec 2, 2012

Umno and MCA's distinctly different predictions on which ethnic group would lose out more should BN is unseated from Putrajaya, shows their loss of legitimacy to govern, said DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang.

In a press release today, Lim pointed out that the Umno general assembly has thus far been filled with repeated warnings that the Malays will lose political power if the party loses the next general election.

This line of argument, explained Lim, appears to be rejected by MCA who have been insisting all along that the non-Malays will suffer from political, economic and educational hardship if Pakatan is allowed to rule.

Lim charged that the line of argument adopted by both Umno and MCA was "pure sedition", designed to incite hatred and worsen racial and religious polarisation just for the sake of winning votes.
Everyone wins
On the other hand, Lim said that Pakatan is striving to make sure that all Malaysians, regardless of race, will be winners after the 13th general election.

"This is the basic difference between BN and Pakatan... Of course there will be losers - the Umnoputeras and their cronies in BN component parties," said Lim.

He added that the rhetoric coming out from Umno and MCA went against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's 1Malaysia policy and he should put a stop to the practice of "divide and rule".

Since the opening ceremony of the general assembly for the three Umno wings, repeated warnings of Malays losing power should Umno fare badly in the coming polls overflowed through the halls of Putra World Trade Centre.

Deputy Umno chief Muhyiddin Yassin and Umno wanita wing chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (left) went as far as warning that Malaysia would be engulfed in turmoil should Umno loses power.

Deepak: I will not be silenced

However, the carpet trader says he agreed to "sit still" for the last day of the Umno AGM after a meeting with a high-ranking Umno supreme council member.

KUALA LUMPUR: Deepak Jaikishan claimed that there was an attempt by a high ranking Umno man to ‘silence’ him following the various the interviews the carpet trader has given in the past few days.

Late Friday night, Deepak said he received a call by a “senior Umno supreme council member” asking him to meet at the Grand Dorsett Hotel in Subang. The man, who he refused to name, seemed aggressive, Deepak claimed.

Deepak said that he subsequently agreed to meet the person, but brought along some extra protection for his safety.

The meeting was also attended by a few pro-government bloggers, and Deepak said he was told not to make any more noise, at least until the end of the Umno AGM which was yesterday.

“They told me that I am under surveillance…I was given a caution because yesterday was their closing ceremony. They practically warned me not to have a press conference until they finish their convention,” he told FMT.

“I told them you cannot stop me from having press conferences… even if I have to go to the Istana Negara, I would do it. If they really force me… I would go in front of the palace and petition the King lah,” he said.

However, Deepak said he agreed to “give due respect” and cancelled all his media interviews he had lined up for Saturday.

He added that he originally thought he would be in danger but when he met the Umno man, “they were very civil”.

When asked to reveal the names of the individuals he met, Deepak said:”Oh, then I’ll be in serious trouble. Then it would be messy.” But he added:”I’m not afraid. If I am afraid I wouldn’t have come this far. I’m not under any political umbrella or anything.”

Asked if he was offered anything for his cooperation, Deepak said:” They offered me nothing. This is not something I would negotiate.”

He said that he would be giving more press conferences to explain things in full soon.

Fall-out with Najib’s family

In the past week, Deepak has resurfaced after a period of silence, giving several media interviews in which he claimed he regretted getting private investigator P Balasubramaniam to retract his first statutory declaration (SD) concerning murdered Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

Balasubramaniam’s first SD had linked Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to the murder, while the second SD claimed otherwise. Balasubramaniam subsequently went missing.

In the interviews, Deepak said that he got involved as a favour to a “female friend”.

Deepak also spoke about a land dispute case, involving him, a Selangor Umno leader and the Defence Ministry, which Najib had then helmed. Deepak has accused Najib of receiving “contributions” from him for the former’s intervention in the land deal but was upset that the premier now refused to aid him in resolving the dispute.

He also talked about a fall-out with Najib’s family after his involvement in the Altantuya matter.

Subsequently, Deepak also claimed to have been forced out of 26 companies that he was a director in. He said that he was also harassed by government agencies and had several government-linked contracts cancelled.

Yesterday, Deepak cryptically alluded to a BN defeat in the next general election, suggesting that Najib’s wife Rosmah Mansor was the weak link.

Deepak had previously referred to Rosmah as an “older sister”.

Musa Hassan’s motives — Lim Sue Goan

DEC 2 — The policy speech by the Umno president at the annual general assembly is often a kind of political show the entire nation closely watches. Unfortunately, this year’s show has been hijacked by former IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan.

Even as Najib Razak hit out hard at Pakatan Rakyat and tabulated the accomplishments of the Barisan Nasional government, Musa Hassan’s shocking revelation has nevertheless exposed the administrative weaknesses of our government agencies.

Musa Hassan is no ordinary retired civil servant, and as such the government should seriously consider setting up an independent panel to probe his accusations which must not be downplayed as immaterial or be trifled with.

If Musa Hassan’s accusation that politicians have intervened in police affairs is true, the operation of the police force will be adversely affected and its integrity eroded.

The police force is tasked with the responsibility of keeping the social order intact and, therefore, must exercise its professionalism to achieve this in the absence of political intervention.

Musa said when the police were about to arrest some heavyweight suspects, they would often receive calls from those in power.

If the country’s laws cannot be justly upheld, how do we expect the public to have faith in our law enforcement?

The Malaysian police force should be an unbiased enforcement institution. If it fails to operate independently, it would be very difficult for it to carry out its duties during the upcoming general election.

Musa Hassan also exposed links between senior police officers and illegal gangs, an accusation that would jeopardise the integrity of the police force.

When police discipline is involved, things will suddenly become very sensitive.

Because of Musa Hassan’s previous objection to the setting up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), the issue of police misconduct remains unresolved to this day.

The MACC investigations and subsequent charges against Musa Hassan and former CID chief Ramli Yusof are nothing we can be proud of. The police force must strive to improve its image instead of persistently rejecting supervision.

If a split takes place at the top ranks of the police force, how do we expect them to set a good example for their subordinates?

Thirdly, Musa Hassan also queried the reliability of the police’s crime data, and this has begun to arouse public suspicion.

Well familiar with the modus operandi of the police force, Musa Hassan highlighted the fact that some police officers have resorted to converting unresolved cases to “no further action” cases in a bid to achieve the government’s crime reduction targets.

Without true and genuine figures, the minister will be kept in the dark and thus wrongly assess the actual crime situation in the country.

This August, the Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI) received a letter said to be from an anonymous police officer making the same accusations. As such, it is imperative that the police’s crime figures be appraised by an independent third party institution with the hope the root cause of the problem could be identified.

Fourthly, why do some senior civil servants continue to slam the government after their retirement?

Some notable retired senior officers have joined PAS, including former Bukit Aman CID chief Fauzi Shaari, former chief secretary for the ministry of land and cooperative development Nik Zain Nik Yusof, former solicitor-general Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden, and former TUDM officer Mohd Nazari Mokhtar.

The BN government has been taking very good care of our civil servants; the defection by any of them could deal a serious blow on Umno. — mysinchew.com

Penang mustn't lose its 'golden' future

Susan Loone 12:46PM Dec 2, 2012

Despite the overwhelming confidence shown by DAP leaders in today state convention, party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng reminded party members not to underestimate the potential of its rivals.

Lim (left) warned members not to treat lightly BN and Umno's ability to not only win two-thirds at the federal level but also recapture Penang in the coming polls.

"Do not underestimate the effectiveness of lies, threats and money politics as well as racist and extremist sentiments. Umno are masters at these dirty tactics," said Lim, who is Penang chief minister, at the state DAP convention today.

Lim said DAP leaders and members are not afraid of losing but Penangites cannot afford to lose their future to Umno and BN.

"If we lose, the people lose also," he stormed, while the party's delegates cheered.

He added that the next polls determines not just the fate of DAP but the destiny of the people.
Lim warned that if BN regained the state, Umno will ensure all of Pakatan Rakyat's "golden programmes" for the rakyat and yearly allocations to schools will be gone.

"Umno will ensure our democratic reforms and integrity measures will be replaced by a harsh and repressive regime that is corrupt," said Lim.

"Umno will ensure a people-centric government will be replaced by a crony-driven government".

'Lack of experience due to prison terms'

Lim was speaking to 280 DAP state delegates who attended the state's last convention before the 13th general election which must be called before May next year.

Lim was accompanied by national chairman Karpal Singh (right), state DAP chief Chow Kon Yeow, while other Pakatan leaders like state PKR chief and Deputy Chief Minister I Mansor Othman and state PAS committee member Jamaluddin Saad, were present.

Lim was high in spirits, reminding members of all the state's policies and achievements in the last four years.

He even took time to criticise Umno members for "shedding tears" during the party's last annual general meeting, saying "they should be crying for Lynas".

After Lim's speech, leaders and delegates alike, stood up to wave their Ubah mascots and flags, while shouting the party's warcry "Jom Ubah!".

Meanwhile, Lim said Pakatan has so many achievements to boast about and no one can deny that the coalition has done more in five years than BN had in 18 years.

He added that despite Pakatan's inexperience, its leaders can perform better than BN "anytime, anyplace, anywhere."

"This is because its leaders spent most of their time in prison," Lim joked.

Lim then thanked the party's veteran members for their contributions, courage and determination in facing the trials and tribulations the party has gone through all the years.

"It is because of them we are where we are today, we must really thank them," said Lim, to loud cheers from the floor.

'Good as opposition, better as gov't'

Lim said the DAP was good as an opposition party but "we are better as the government".

"What is our concern now is not whether we can be a good government but whether we can keep it (in Penang)," he said.

"What happened during these five years that caused this transformation from being an effective opposition to an even more effective government?" asked Lim, who is also Bagan MP.

"I would venture to say that DAP's qualities of being clean and honest, loyalty to principles and the people and our unbreakable team spirit amongst our leaders, is the basis of our success," he added.

"This is exemplified in our slogan of CAT - governance of competency, accountability and transparency".

Police report lodged against Shahrizat - Leven Woon

An NGO feels that the Wanita Umno chief is threatening the non-Malay by saying a weak Umno would lead to the repeat of May 13 violence.

 

PETALING JAYA: An Indian-based NGO coalition which felt threatened by Wanita Umno chief Shahrizat Abdul Jail’s statement on May 13 has lodged a police report against the former minister.

“Shahrizat’s statement was meant to threaten the non-Malays. She was trying to say if the non-Malays vote for the opposition and this results in a weak Umno, a race riot similar to the violence on May 13, 1969 will happen,” Tamilar Action Force head A Vethaamoorthy said.

Leading a group of 12 members to lodge the report at the Sentul police station today, he said Shahrizat should be charged with threatening the public and instigating racial divide.

Shahrizat raised the spectre of May 13 in her speech at the Wanita Umno annual general assembly on Wednesday.

She said that a weak Umno would spread uneasiness among the Malay and possibly spark a May 13 racial bloodshed.

“Do we want such a terrible situation repeated in our country? Of course, we do not,” she said.

“By giving this kind of statement, it shows how desperate Umno is,” Vethaamoorthy said.

He said the May 13 incident is already history, and the leaders of the country should now realise that the people have the right to choose who they want in the general election.

“It won’t help by making this kind of unnecessary remark,” he said.

Several Pakatan Rakyat MPs including M Kulasegaran and Khalid Samad have also criticised Shahrizat, calling her “shameless” while saying that Malaysians were now more united than in 1969.