Mahathir: Politics is money,thats the reality

Mahathir's tenure for 22 years has ensured that money and politics is closely entwined.There is no denial that it was during his time that money politics was prevalent and political patronage through the dispensation of contracts to his cronies was a common occurrence.But this need not be the case if we had honest politicians. Only dishonest politicians need to resort to such dishonest practice of using money to secure support.

For most of mahathir's tenure he had used money politics to win elections by the common practice of promising his electorates money to build schools, roads and other incentives in order to secure their votes. This old practice was continued with the present P.M , Najib with a disappointing result.It seems the voters are now wiser. Offering tax payers money to obtain their support in no longer tenable.We can only hope this corrupt legacy of Mahathir will no longer be acceptable by Malaysians.

Is It True that it is worse to Give than to receive?

I refer to the NST article dated 2nd may 2010.

I beg to differ with the writer's opinion that it is worse to give than to receive.For them to conclude such an opinion confirms their ignorance of the subject matter they are discussing.
One should understand that no one in his right mind would be foolish enough to part with his hard earned money if given the choice. To imply that the giver is such a willing participant to give a bribe is a reflection of the MACC ignorance of the reasons why people are forced to give bribes.
Just put yourself in the position of the giver and ask yourself why you want to give the bribe.The answer is simple. The person taking the bribe in most instances are making life so difficult that you really have no choice but to give. When your livelihood is involved there is really no choice but to give unless you are prepared to call it a day and closed shop so that you can avoid giving to the person seeking a bribe.

One businessman, a friend of mine made four applications to the State govt for a Quarry licence to operate on his own private land which had vast quantities of quarry. On each occassion his application was rejected by the State Exco without any reasons being given. On further enquiries he was told that his application would not be approved unless he greased the politicians in the State Excos. Left with no recourse, he did just that and paid the politicians in charge of the approval and presto his application was approved in the next exco sitting.

Without giving the bribe his application was in limbo and there was no hope of him getting a licence to operate or do business . A corrupt free govt would have given him a licence freely and willingly because it would have brought additonal revenue to the state. Instead he was forced to part with 100k to the politicians who said it was for a political donation. Can someone now tell me that it is worse for the giver to give than the receiver to receive in such an instance?

Why Sport betting licence is given to ascot?

Can someone ask the Finance Minister why is the sport Betting licence being given to Ascot company belonging to Vincent Tan?There is no such thing as a free lunch. Vincent Tan sold 70%of Ascot shares to public listed company Berjaya Group for $375 million. Surely the Finance Minister is not so generous as to see Vincent Tan getting this huge largesse without coughing it out for someone else?It doesnt take a geniuse to know that someone is benefitting from this deal from Vincent Tan because nobody is going to be just happy to see Vincent Tan pocketing this huge largesse.

If the issuance of this sporting licence had been transparent and if there were no one benefitting from this deal would it not been a better deal for the country's coffer that the licence was openly tendered to the highest bidder?If it was tendered openly to the highest bidder it would benefit the country's coffers to the tune of at least $500 million since the value of the licence based on the sale to Berjaya group was $525 million.From this dubious issuance of licence to Ascot company belonging to Vincent Tan, I am quite confident that it is not only Vincent Tan alone laughing his way to the bank.

Sodomy ll: Anwar Loses Final Appeal

To the man in the street, the decision of the Federal court in dismissing opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's appeal to strike out his sodomy charge did not come as a surprise. With a former UMNO man as the head of the judiciary, Anwar has no chance to win any appeal.
It must not be forgotten that Zaki was parachuted to the Federal court without serving a single day in the High Court and the Court of Appeal and his subsequent appointment as the Chief Judge was to ensure that any legal proceedings against the govt or in its interest would be decided based on the wishes of its political master.
From the way the Judiciary has been upending judicial precedents , there is no doubt that the UMNO govt is hell bent in wanting to put Anwar away for good. But that could be its fatal mistake because in place of the incarcerated Anwar will be 1000 other Anwars to replace him.

Opposition Facing an Uphill task in Sibu Election.

Once again we are faced with another By-Election because of the demise of five-term SUPP member of Parliament, Robert Lau.The by-election this time will be contested in the Land of the Hornbill between DAP stalwart Wong and SUPP Lau.

What perhaps irks neutral voters is the blatant open support of the Election Commision in trying to lend a helping hand for B.N to win the by-election. Like in the Hulu By- election the election commission was fiddling with the electoral rolls by transferring eligible voters from the Sibu constituency to another constitiency.Quite obviously this electoral exercise was to deprive certain voters from voting in the coming by-election.It seems the Election Commission has this habit of carrying out such transferring exercise whenever there is an imminent by-election and the reason for this is only best known to the Electoral commission.And no prize for guessing which voters are transferred out from the constituency.

However, now we see another branch of the govt apparatus also getting into the act of giving the B.N govt some moral support in the form of issuing warnings to the campaigning parties that the act of even mentioning the 'Allah' issue was now off limits.

Sarawak OCCI SACll Huzir Mohamad has declared that all political parties should stop using the 'Allah' issue during the campaign period.One may ask who are the police to dictate to the political parties what issue should and and what issues should not be used for the political campaign?Should the opposition stop using the 'Allah' issue because it will put the govt in a bad light? Against such formidable foes like the Election Commission and the PDRM, it is not difficult to envisage an impossible and herculean task for the opposition candidate to win the Sibu by-election.

Teen Shooting

Shooting first and asking questions later is certainly not the proper way for the police in uniform to act.Since when have they been authorised to be the Judge jury, and executioner?unless there is an imminent threat to their lives there is no justifiable reason for them to open fire on any criminals.

It is preposterous for the police to claim that the car was used as a weapon to crash into them when the fact of the matter was that they were actually pursuing the teen driver.And if as claimed that a parang was found in the car how could that be a threat when it posed no danger to their lives? Of late it seems the police have resorted to taking the law into their own hands with several ex-judicial killings.The ordinary citizens would have no qualms if the killings were indeed directed at hardcore criminals hell bent in committing murder and robbery. But when innocent lives are sacrificed for the mere sake of slipshod policing then there is something wrong with our people in uniform.

Ezam now a senator

How questionable it can be for the B.N govt to appoint Ezam, a former political secretary of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim as a senator.What did he do to deserve such an appointment? He has achieved nothing more than running down his former boss and for that act of betrayal he was rewarded with the senatorship.

Sometime ago another 'frog' from Perak was rewarded with a datukship.Now Malaysians are beginning to wonder what criteria is the govt looking for in awarding Datukship and senatorship to its citizens? Is the govt sending the wrong message to our young citizens that to betray one former allegiance is an act deserving to be recognised and rewarded so long as the benefactor is the B.N govt?One can only surmise that the B.N govt has really lost its moral compass and need to be put to pasture in order for it to spend sometime examining its morality.

Najib: Swing in support of B.N

According to Najib the Hulu Selangor win was indicative of a swing in support of B.N. Despite the overwhelming heavy weights from the B.N arsenal headed first by the DPM and later by Najib himself the final poll of a majority win of 1725 is hardly any indication of a swing in support of B.N. One must remember that this has always been a B.N stronghold and in every election with the exception of the 2008 General election B.N had always won with a handsome majority. And now with the full force of B.N concentration of just the Hulu Selangor electorate, a win of merely 1725 votes is a forceful reminder that the days of B.N's rule is coming to an end.

The B.N govt had used every conceivable bait to lure the voters in Hulu Selangor. The long outstanding issue of felda land settlement was immediately resolved with cash distribution and chinese schools were immediately given on the spot grant of $3 million for their schools.

The prevalent use of money politics was so pervasive in this election that Dauk Zaid Ibrahim was moved to comment that it was the dirtiest election ever held in Malaysia.

Hee the 'frog' rewarded with a Datukship.

It seems monetary reward for the ex-DAP assemblywoman of Perak is not enough. Now the perak sultan has bestowed the 'frog' with a datukship title.What has Hee achieved to deserve the honour of the title? From memory the only infamous act she did was to betray the mandate given to her by her own constituency and by latest account she has not even dare to step there for fear of being harm.

Once upon a time datukship was only given to deserving people who rendered invaluable service to the state or nation and certainly not for betraying the trust of the people.What kind of message is the perak royalty sending to potential receipient? That they will be rewarded for being a 'frog'?

Another turncoat defects to UMNO

PKR almost made a big blunder by selecting PKR Division treasurer Dr Halili Rahmat as the candidate to contest the Hulu selangor parliamentary seat.One can easily see the ramification of Dr. Halili being selected and consequently winning the by-election on a PKR ticket.If he can leave PKR and join UMNO just because he was not selected to be the candidate what more if he was elected and for some frivolous reasons he could similarly hopped over to UMNO under the most silly pretext.

Once again, we witness the true motives of some PKR members who joined the party to only fight for their own personal cause and not to fight for the party's cause.Not only were they not satisfied to merely leave the party but they were so vindictive to the extent of causing maximum harm to the PKR's chance of winning the bye-election by declaring their support for UMNO.

It certainly augurs well for PKR that it has now seen the true colour of Dr. Halili who was given not once but two opportunities to contest as a candidate for PKR in the 2004 and 2008 elections and who on both ocassions lost to the B.N candidates.It was in a way poetic justice that he did not win any of the seats he contested or he would have been also one of the 'frogs' who would have jumped to the B.N fold.

B.N attack Zaid for not being 'local boy'

Why is B.N emphasizing on Zaid being not a 'local boy' and therefore not a suitable candidate.? Are B.N so bereft of issues that they can resort to such parochialism? Is this such a necessary criteria for a person to reside in that area before he can serve his constituency properly?Not in the case of Parliamentarians.A good member of Parliament is able to articulate in Parliament vital national issues and certainly not issues only confine to his own constituent.

Lim Guan Eng is not from Penang but having being elected in a penang Constituency and subsequently being made Chief minister of Penang has now in two years transformed the financial status of this island which have been suffering perpetual losses under the B.N and Gerakan administration.

So voters should not pay any heed to criticisms that zaid is not a 'local boy' and therefore not a suitable candidate.What is of paramount importance is the calibre of the candidate that is being elected to parliament.

Zaid Ibrahim, the right choice.

At last, PKR are now more careful in selecting their candidate for the seat they are contesting at Hulu Selangor.PKR should by now learn a bitter lesson in their choice of rebellious candidates like, Zul Nordin,Zaharin, Tan Choo Beng and Wee Choo keong.Hopefully when the next election comes, we will see the last of these candidates who seemed to thrive on the arrogant belief that they were elected on the strength of their character and now on the strength of being a PKR member.

There is no dispute in the PKR camp that Zaid is the most suitable person to contest for PKR in Hulu selangor.Most malays and non -malays will defintely support this principle politician who choosed to resign as Minister rather than compromise on his beliefs and principles.

Malaysia needs person of his calibre and voters in Hulu Selangor must seize this opportunity to elect him to parliament so that our future can change for the better.

Whose Fault is it that the nation's wealth is in the hands of the non-malays?

According to the Deputy Prime minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin,' current records show that a large portion of the nation'swealth is in the hands of the non-malays'.

So whose fault is it?After 52 years of NEP and affirmative action, the non malays still managed to own a large portion of the nation's wealth. If $54 billion worth of shares were given to Bumiputras and that figure subsequently dwindle to $2 billion today. who should we put the blame on? Perhaps Perkasa Ibrahim Ali and Mahathir would love to blame the non-malays for their inabilty to cling to the $52 billion worth of shares.

Muhyiddin has suggested that the data on wealth distribution would be updated. But what affirmative action has the DPM has in mind if the data confirms that the wealth is mostly in non-malay hands.? By his revelation of the data that the wealth is indeed in non malay hands will that means that it is now justifiable for the govt to continue plying the bumis with affirmative action till they manage to retain 30% share of the economic pie?And what if they again fail to retain the 30% share and later fall back to their comfort zone of 18% share? Do we repeat the same policy over and over again till bysome miracle the 30% is finally achieved and retained by the bumis?

For the last 52 years UMNO was the leader in the B.N coalition. The Prime Minister and all the important porfolios were from UMNO. Petronas, and all state GLCs are controlled and managed by bumis. The Judiciary , the state and federal civil servants are mainly occupied by malays. Until the last 2008 general elections all the state Menteri Besar and Chief Ministers with the exception of Kelantan came from UMNO and B.N.

What this literary means is that UMNO controlled the state and federal govt and had overall control over the nation's resources and policy. So how could Ibrahim Ali and mahathir blamed the non-malays for their predicament in not being able to retain their share of the country's wealth?

If we were to apportion blame then it should rightly be fingered at the leaders from UMNO and certainly not the non-malays who had no control or influence in the distribution of the nation's wealth.

PUTRAJAYA: Local Election will cause Racial imbalances.

It is to be expected when urban local elections takes place in an area populated by mainly chinese, those elected will of course come from that same community.And the same token applies to malay populated areas, whereby those election that take place there will be occupied by the malays. By this simple logic inevitably there will be racial imbalances because by virtue of its racial demograhy, the majority of the councillors elected will be from the majority of the race residing in that area.

However , with the present practice of appointing political appointees, most of those selected are also of one race and the sad part is that most if not all of them lack even the basic qualification to preside as councillors. Therefore the tendency of those elected Presidents and councillors is to partake in extravagant projects with no use to the municipality. Some even organise oversea trips under the guise of study tours and tax payers money is wastefully spent on such dubious expenditure.

Without local election , the present system of appointing local councillors have also created racial imbalances so this should not be an excuse to deny local elections to the the people.

UMNO cannot wrest Selangor alone.

At least UMNO has now come to the realisation that it is dependent on other B.N parties like MCA and MIC to help it regain Selangor. But this realisation must come with the admission that for the last 50 years it had administered Selangor, UMNO had ride rough shod over its B.N partners.

All state GLC are helmed by one race, state contracts are farmed to UMNO cronies, State civil servants employ only one race,majority of municipal councillors are occupied mostly by UMNO members. And of course to shut MCA and MIC mouths, some crumbs are thrown to appease MCA and MIC lackeys.

Based on B.N's past record of administering the state of Selangor, most likely it will be another 30 years before B.N will be able to wrest over Selangor from Pakatan and that if the Pakatan coalition make a mess of their tenure.

The last M.B of selangor, Mohd Toyo has left a tainted legacy of his administration and his abuse of state funds for his oversea trips and the revelation of his $24 million luxury mansion has all cast serious aspersion as to B.N's ability to govern in the rakyats interest.

Royal hospital Project

Why was the contract of the Shah Alam Hospital given to a sister of the Sel;angor Sultan? The $482 million contract was given to her company, Sunshine Fleet under the guise of a negotiated tender.

In other words it was a contract with a bloated price. Had there been an open tender the price would have been half of what it was given.
If that is not rent seeking than can somebody please tell me what it is?

Most likely some UMNO boys will also benefit from the project by been given the sub-contract and who after taking a cut would have again sub-contracted it to a chinaman company who would than do the work. But in most cases by the time the project reaches the chinaman , most of the profit would have been skimmed off and if the project is no longer profitable most likely it will be abandoned.

And to rescue the project, the govt will have to call for another tender or another round of negotiated tender and the whole vicious cycle of bleeding the nation's coffers is repeated.

I am a Malay First..........

Our Deputy Prime Minister has stated quite plainly that he is a malay first and a Malaysian second.

That statement will certainly now open a pandora box because from now chinese will be chinese first and indians will be indians first.That basically sums up our pride and love of our nation. Maybe to avoid any confusion it would be easier for us to just classify ourselves as malays, indians and chinese rather than say we are malaysians second.

Why Najib dont want Local Govt Elections.

All local councils if not most of it are located in urban areas.And most urban areas are populated by chinese. If elections were to be held all local councils would be taken over by the urban chinese. The only exception would be in Trengganu and Kelantan and even these two states may see majority of them being presided by the chinese.Najib and his UMNO members know this and there fore are not supportive of local elections.

At the moment most B.N local councils are UMNO appointees and the councillors position have alot of invisible perks. Council money in most cases are lavishly spent on wasteful projects which are fronts to make some fast bucks.Some even spent council money on oversea trips under the guise of study tours.In all local councils most of its members especially the President Post are occupied by only one race.

The problem with appointing some one not accustom to living in an urban area is the lack of understanding as to priororise what urban environment demands. Cleanliness, efficient clearance of gabbage, clean drainage system, well lit street ,availabilty of parking in town centres and ensuring hygenic eateries are some of the mandatory duties of a local council.

Unfortunately, most present council members are political appointees and they are not well verse in what they are suppose to do. They are only there for the perks. Thus we see alot of inefficiency in local councils and removing these deadwoods is not an easy task since it has to be a political decision.

The benefits of local council election will ensure that people are appointed based on merit and their capabilities. Since they are elected if they dont perform then most likely they will be voted out in the next election. Based on past experience , the people elected are mostly professionals who lived in that area and who wish to contribute their expertise in the area where they live.Therefore its a good thing because they have a stake in improving their own neighbourhood.

So what is wrong if the local councils are being managed by the urban chinese? They lived in that area and whatever decision they make affects them. Therefore let them manage their own urban area. Why should they be managed by a malay appointees who are not familiar in an urban environment. Its akin to appointing a chinese urban man to be the village head of a malay kampong.

Najib's Days are numbered

The knieves are out.The UMNO grassroot news is that there is a move to topple Najib from his P.M post. Muhyiddin is waiting in the wing to assume the mantle of P.M sooner than expected.
Hardly one year taking over from Badawi, he had already blundered in several of his policies. His gamble in the Perak debacle backfired and he virtually lost whatever support he had from the chinese community.
Then his stupifying decision to allow for the Allah demonstration which precipitated in the burning of the church.That error of judgement not only crowned his poor leadership qualities but also turned the tide of popularity towards the opposition which seems to gain momentum with every bad decision he made.
Then of course his dogged determination to bring Anwar to trial for the sodomy charge has virtually turned the majority of the people against him. Whatever the outcome of Anwar's trial one thing remain certain. Najib's tenure would be a short and uneventful one. With UMNO's unseen hands reaching out to topple him now, it remains a question whether he can survive his first term in office.

Looming in the picture is the ever present saga of the Altantuya episode which is constantly surfacing to cast a pale shadow over his sordid involvement.

So good bye, Najib and Rosmah. I dont think the people will miss you .After all we didnt elect you to your office. You were elected to the office by 2000 class F contractors from UMNO, remember?

Injustice in Adorna case must be corrected.

It was with great relief that the Federal court in Tan Ying Hong's case set aside the controversial judgement of the then Chief Justice Tun Eusoff Chin in 2000.However it is regretful that the decision of the Federal court will not restore the rights of Boonsom whose land was fraudulently transferred to Adorna.It is Tan Ying Hong who will benefit from the landmark reversal of the Boonsom Vs Adorna case.

There was never in doubt that Boonsom's land was fraudulently transferred to Adorna and the transfer was an error in judgement that was ' obvious and blatant'.

If it was now proven that there indeed there was fraud involved in the transfer of the Boonsom property then is it not logical and justifiable that the rightful ownership of the property should be restored to the agrieved party which was Boonsom.

Justice cannot be so blind that after knowing that an injustice has occurred and the judiciary have corrected that injustice should now remain oblivious to the plight of Boonsom whose land was transferred to another party through fraudulent means.Boonsom has every right to expect the judiciary to correct the injustice which was no fault of Boonsom but the fault of the judiciary that decided the case under the former Chief Justice, Tun Eusof Chin. The common adage that justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done is certainly applicable in this instance.