CLP Exams should be more Transparent.

There is a sense of injustice that seems to
confront all those who happen to have the misfortune
to sit for the CLP qualifying exam.From the numerous
complaints that has been reported it is quite obvious
that the CLP board has a hidden motive to deliberately
fail those oversea Law graduates who are mandated to
sit for this exam before they can practice here.
There is an unsavoury aspect of this prerequisite
making it compulsory for oversea graduate to sit for
this professional exam when local graduates are
exempted.By implication, is it the CLP board's opinion
that the local graduates are better train then their
oversea counterpart?
The most unsavoury aspect of the CLP exam is that
it is shrouded in mystery.There must be a reason why
only 10% of the candidates pass this exam.If indeed
the 90% candidates did badly then surely they are
entitled to know how and in what manner they had
performed badly.Those that fail should have recourse
to their marked papers on payment of a nominal fees
and if neceesary have them remarked again on payment
of a fee.At best, this would allow those who fail an
opportunity to know where their shortcomings were and
to ensure that it is not repeated.
The Bar council is keeping a deafening silence on
this issue which seem to affect alot of future
lawyers.It would be a great help if the Bar council
could make proper representation to the qualifying
board to make the whole CLP exams more transparent.

P.M should adopt Mahathir's strategy.

The only way P.M Ahmad Badawi can combat Dr.
Mahathir's unrelenting criticism is to adopt the
latter's strategy.In order to silence Mahahtir once
and for all P.M has to be ruthless.He should no longer
pander to the whims and fancy of the former P.M.Look
how Mahathir exposed the rulers abuse and extravagant
lifestyle during the constitutional crisis in order to
force them to accept the constitutional
amendments.Then observed how he orchestrated Anwar's
conviction with even the minute detail of the stained
matteress offered as material evidence of Anwar's
secret rendezvous.
Yes, to wage a political combat with Mahathir, P.M
should expose the former policy failures.For good
measure it should reveal how during his tenure of 22
years he had bailed out his son from the failed
shipping company,perkapalan.Then he should expose why
he allowed TNB to negotiate the unfavourable terms
with the independent power producer for the supply of
electricity.
Going further, P.M should reveal the extent of the
foreign exchange loss suffered by the nation when Bank
Negara went on a speculative binge to corner the tin
market.
War strategist have always advocated that attack
is the best form of defence and in this respect
Mahathir has used this strategy to good effect.P.M
cannot afford to maintain the 'elegant silence 'and
expect to counter Mahathir's offensive with his
passive approach.P.M must adopt Mahathir's tactic and
response with venom, failing which P.M may have to
succumb to Mahathir's verbal onslaught.His tenure may
very well depend on this strategy.

Bumis' 45% Equity is a cause for celeberation

Our P.M's stern warning that questioning the
methodology of EPU was stirring up trouble is a
convenient way of sweeping this controversial issue
under the carpet.It seems whenever the public clamour
for some transparency the govt would resort to this
familiar threat that it would inflame racial
tension.The malaysian public of every race has every
right to demand the truth with respect to the present
bumiputra equity in the country.Only with the full
knowledge of the present bumiputra equity only can we
formulate a meaningful 9 Malaysian Plan.
If there is any validity in the claim of 45%
bumiputra equity, then any policy that continue to
provide assistance to the malays would be an
aberation.Further, if it was true that bumiputra
equity has attained 45% then we should applaud the
achievements of our past leaders for having formulated
the various NEP policies that have finally attained
its stated objectives of giving 30% equity to
Bumiputra.Such an achievement should be a cause for
celeberation instead of commiseration.
The 9th Malaysia Plan should then focus its
implementation based on poverty rather than race
based.This way, the poor, the disadvantage,the
underprivelege,the orphans, and all those who need
govt assistance would benefit across the board.For all
this to happen we need strong leadership and not
leaders who continuosly threaten that seeking the
truth is tantamount to stirring up racial tension.Such
infantile excuse can no longer be tenable to the
Malaysian public.

EPU should be more Transparent.

Why do our leaders have the phobia of revealing
how the EPU arrived at the 18.9% equity of the
bumiputras?.If according to our leaders the
methodology used is correct and accurate then there
should be no hesitation in disclosing the methods and
data used in the calculation of the 18.9% bumiputra's
equity.But a cursory examination of the statements
made by those responsible for the computation seem to
suggest that the methodology used by EPU was flawed
from the very beginning.
How could EPU justify their valuation of market
capitalisation on the basis of equating par value of
shares with current market value?Although the par
value of Tenaga and MAS are the same ,this cannot be
the case when reference is made to their present
market value.Tenaga's share is hovering in the $10
region whereas MAS is somewhere around $3.So based on
this difference in value how could EPU attempt even to
equate the valuation of Tenaga and MAS as of the same
value in calculating market capitalisation?When the
methodology is based on a faulty premise it becomes
quite obvious why the EPU computation of 18.9% equity
becomes severely flawed.
It is pointless for the govt to go into a
denial mode when confronted with the more reliable
calculation of ASLI.EPU should make every effort to be
more transparent by revealing their datas and to
justify their method of determining the bumiputras
equity.If EPU cannot intelligently refute and debate
ASLI's assertion that Bumi's equity is 45% then the
public has every right to demand a revision of the
goals of the NEP.

Malaysian chinese doing well -Pak Lah

Yes Pak Lah, the chinese are doing very well
in Malaysia but no thanks to the govt for any help.The
truth may be difficult for the govt to accept but that
is the plain inevitable truth.In fact the govt with
all its civil servants have made it their level best
to place obstacle in the path of every chinese
businessman.They have formulated policies so
discriminating that its a wonder the chinese
businessman can even survive under such atrocious
conditions.
Every govt policies have been carefully crafted
to ensure the chinese do not succeed.The Perak
M.B,Datuk Seri Mohamad Tajol Rosli Ghazali even
defended the decision to award certain priveleges to
bumiputra companies.According to him there was nothing
inappropriate to practice such discrimination.In fact
such practice is already common knowledge to all
chinese businessman.It has already been an entrenched
practice of the govt to give all govt contracts and
supply to bumiputra companies.In fact many of these
contracts were given at inflated price to bumiputras
and the latter in turn give it to a chinese to execute
the contract.
So when the chinese succeed in their enterprise
it is all through their own effort and zero
contribution from the govt.The chinese owe no
gratitude nor any loyalty to the govt.All their
success and effort are due to their blood,sweat and
tears.They can proudly say that they did it all their
way.

Pension scheme should be Scrapped

Before introducing the so called
revolutionary pension the govt should consider
carefully the financial implication of continuing the
pension scheme.By its own admission the present scheme
is costing the govt annually $6 billion, money that
would be better used for developement and other more
important expenditure.
The present pension scheme is not only
subjected to abuse but is a liabilty to the govt.It
becomes questionable whether such a scheme is
sustainable over a long period of time.A typical case
of a civil servant with four wives rangeging in age
from 55 to 30 would literary means that the govt would
have to continuosly pay pension to the surviving wives
and children until the wives death and the children
becomes of legal age.The case of the late former
Deputy P.M Abdul Ghafar Baba is a case in point.At the
age of about 65 he married a woman half his age and
conceived a child. When he passed away, the child of
six yrs old was the only beneficiary since the late
Tun had by then divorced his wife.Because of his long
tenure in politics and govt service the pensionable
amount due to him came to a sum of $17,000 per month
and $204,000 per year.Because the child is six years
old the govt will have to continue to pay for 15 years
which come to a sum of $3,060,000.
When we consider the workforce of 1.1 million civil
servants that are pensionable, the financial
implication becomes frightening.The question that begs
to be answered is whether the govt can afford to have
such leakages without a long term adverse effect on
its financial planning

Immigration dept awaken by the death of Sir Norman

Sir Norman Frank Sisson who applied for P.R for
15 years must be chuckling in his grave.Finally after
countless trips to the immigration dept and regular
sojourn out of the country to renew his visa, Norman
finally got in death what he could not possibly get in
life.what was most shocking was the revealation by the
immigration dept that there was no such application by
Sir Norman.It was either Norman making trips to the
immigration Dept.without knowing he had ever submitted
an application for P.R or the plain and most likely
version that the immigration was telling a blatant
lie.
Home Affairs Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi
Sheikh Ahmad and his top immigration officials should
take full responsibilty for this pathetic state of
affair.If need be they should all be sacked for such a
lackadiscal approach to the administration of the
ministry.If this is how they run their ministry then
the average man has no hope of getting quick
resolution to their problems.
Perhaps I feel appropriate to ask the Minister
how thousands of Immigrants from Indonesia do not have
to endure such lengthy periods for their P.R to be
processed?It seems quite ironical that qualified
professionals, impeccable personalities applying for
P.R are denied easy access to P.R whilst robbers,
rapist, snatch thieves and unsavoury characters from
Indonesia are finding an easy path to obtaining P.Rs.
If the Minister is unaware of what is happening
in his ministry I urge him to resign gracefully and
let someone more capable to handle the job.

It Takes a Real Man To say He's sorry.

What can you say about the statement of apology made by Singapore’s Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew? This gesture by a great statesman reflect the calibre of the man he is. Many a lesser man would not apologise because the statement was the truth. But this wise man spoke the truth and yet chose to apologise because it was in the larger interest of his country.

Perhaps this should be a lesson to Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin and his boss, Hishammuddin Hussien. Khairy spoke on a subject which offended the Chinese and resolutely refused to apologise. Hishammuddin castigated MCA vice-president for making what he thought was a baseless statement and demanded an apology which was duly given by Ong Tee Keat's boss, Mustapa Mohamed.

The cabinet under the misguided Najib Abdul Razak even reprimanded Ong. When the truth was finally unraveled, none of the protagonists even had the courage to apologise. When you compare these journeyman politicians to the stature of Lee, we begin to see the difference in the calibre of our leaders.

It takes a man of great courage to say he is sorry when he is in the wrong, but it takes a man of greater courage to apologise even knowing that what he said was right and the truth.

What Lee said was merely a reinforcement of what is already common knowledge among the Chinese and Indian Malaysians. There is no way our leaders can deny that the pillar of the government policy is not to marginalise the minority communities.

Every policy of the government from education, civil service, police, army, procurement of contracts, appointment of CEOs in GLC companies, appointment of political posts are all crafted and conceived with only one purpose in mind.

Our leaders espoused unity among the races and compassion to all those needy and less fortunate. But unfortunately every leader that have so far assume the mantle of power have failed to live up to that expectation.

Thailand coup a blow to democracy

I wish to refer to Dr. Chandra Muzaffar's
article dated 22nd sept. regarding the coup in
Thailand.Of late I have noticed that this writer has
lost his moral compass and has written articles that
are skewed towards a religious bias.In his article of
Israels invasion of Lebanon he had been quick to
condemn Israel without even a whisper of condemnation
of HiZbullah's kidnapping of the Israel's soldiers.
In his article of the Thailand Coup, this
writer has the temerity to even subtlely suggest that
the coup was justified because'Thaksin had undermined
the principal instituition......his power'.If one
subscribe to the principles of democracy any form of
revolt against a legitimate elected government is
unacceptedable.No matter how noble the objectives no
matter how justified, the only way to remove a
legitimate govt is by way of the ballot box and not at
the barrel of the gun.
The writer's concluding paragraph is a
revealation of his hidden motive for supporting the
coup.The leader of the revolt is a muslim general and
the writer is hopeful that this will perhaps pave the
way for the muslim insurgents and secessionalists to
at last have autonomy in the southern region of
Pattani, Yala and Narrathiwat. In this respect the
writer is certainly misguided because no matter who
takes over the helm of the Thai govt, the southern
region will never be given any autonomy.