Politik, Legislatif, Dasar dan Tadbir Urus

The finance minister of the rebel government, Senator Tengku Datuk Zafrul Abdul Aziz had alleged in a parliamentary response that the appointment of MPs from Umno, MCA and MIC to head the government-linked-companies (GLCs) is the way to provide check and balance onto these organisations. Please, Tengku Zafrul, government MPs appointed to helm GLCs cannot provide check and balance, given the fact that they are MPs who are on the government bench, not the opposition bench. History and track records has proven that government MPs appointed to head GLCs will end-up public funds being swindled, mismanaged and corruption became rampant. Have you not seen what happened prior to May 2018? Billions of ringgit has been swindled, abused and corruption became a nobody's business. It was business as usual then. One Umno MP even said that stealing and robbing are not offence unless the thief or robber is being caught. The fact that is, no government MPs can help check on GLCs. If Tengku Zafrul i...

Recently, the premier of the rebel government Muhyiddin Yassin has announced yet another new council to address Bumiputra socio-economic concerns in this country. It is expected to be simply known as Bumiputra Prosperity Council or in the local language, Majlis Kemakmuran Bumiputra.  We are not questioning the status of Bumiputras nor its status in the constitutions but we were given to understand that such "council of empowerment" of many kinds or brands has been in place since from the beginning. From Umno, to Barisan Nasional, till Pakatan Harapan and today the Perikatan Nasional's rebel government, the efforts are of the same old story, certainly but in a different brand of course, under different ruling coalitions. For over 61 years of BN's rule which was dominated by Umno who notoriously claimed to champion the plights of the Malays and Bumiputras, for 61 years, we only saw only a small group of Bangsawan who has managed to craft a successful venture in their bu...

Recently, PAS secretary-general and minister in the prime minister’s department in charge of law, Takiyuddin Hassan had given his assurance that all Perikatan Nasional MPs who did not join the cabinet will be appointed to lead all the government-linked-companies (GLC). All incumbent heads of GLC and agencies will be terminated as soon as possible to make way for these rebel government MPs to take over. Here you go, one after another chairmen and heads of GLC who were not at all political appointees but from professional backgrounds were sacked or terminated systematically to allow rebel government MPs to assume these positions. It has been highlighted that the process of terminating these incumbents has started as early as end of March last month. What we have seen today is most of the rebel government MPs do not possess relevant experience to head all these GLCs. When comes to professional management and making business decisions in these GLCs are they well-versed in such or are th...

Pakatan Harapan's performance thus far has fallen short of even realistic expectations of its supporters, said veteran journalist A Kadir Jasin. In particular, Kadir said people had expected to see the former prime minister (Najib Abdul Razak) in jail, "months ago". Kadir wrote on his blog today: "They were upset seeing him behaving as if he is still the prime minister. "His supporters are regaining their confidence and are urging him on – the latest being with the 'malu apa bossku' campaign. "Without depriving him and his co-conspirators of justice, the people will be happier if they are assigned to prison for their offences as soon as possible." Kadir said this while commenting on Harapan's defeat in the Cameron Highlands by-election last Saturday. Najib has been implicated in the 1MDB scandal, among others, and is facing 38 criminal charges for abuse of power, corruption and money laundering. The first set of charges wer...

What happened to 1MDB's money? This the question posed by many Malaysians today. Even the international community are paying much interest on how our Malaysian prime minister had managed to get away from the law despite his involvement in the rampant corrupt activities and money laundering- CNBC

Minister in the prime minister’s department, Abdul Rahman Dahlan used to said that political stability is crucial for Malaysia’s economy to grow. Umno president and prime minister Najib Razak too has mentioned the importance of political stability to allow the economy’s continuous growth. So does Najib’s special officer Isham Jalil who has also repeated his boss’ words through his writings. It seems Umno leaders are now using the phrase “stability” so they could get away with their various wrongs highlighted by the opposition leaders. Instead of acknowledging their mistakes, Umno leaders frequently used “stability” as a weapon against the opposition by accusing the later of attempting to destabilise the nation by calling for our people’s “revolt”. What is stability for economic growth, when there is excessive corruption among leaders and politicians of the ruling party, Umno from top right down to the bottom. Their everyday routines are all about money, projects, contracts, you help...

The Malaysian 1MDB scandal sparked the largest investigation in the history of the U.S. Department of Justice Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative and has revealed serious problems with Malaysia’s anticorruption infrastructure. The DOJ has filed civil forfeiture claims for $1.7 billion in assets obtained with funds diverted from 1MDB, a sovereign wealth fund ostensibly intended to promote economic development in Malaysia. The money ended up in a stunning variety of locations around the globe. Nearly $700 million found its way into the Malaysian Prime Minister’s personal bank accounts . His stepson’s production company suddenly had the funds needed to back the Hollywood movie The Wolf of Wall Street. A financier with close ties to the government bought an Australian model jewels worth $8.1 million . Meanwhile, the Malaysian government insists there is nothing to see here. The newly-installed Malaysian Attorney General cleared Prime Minister Najib Razak of all wrongdoing and put a s...

Somewhere off the Bahamas in early August 2014 one of the world’s best known super-models was presented with a fabulously expensive and specially commissioned set of diamonds – a matching 18k white gold diamond necklace, earings, bracelet and ring, designed by top jeweller Lorraine Schwartz and costing $1,980,000. The presentation of the gift had been “meticulously planned” by her enthusiastic beau through a “high-end conciearge servce” on board the brand new super-yacht, which he had just taken delivery of, according to a 251 page court document issued yesterday by the US Department of Justice. The super-model was the Australian Miranda Kerr, famous for her own popular jewellery collection (prices starting at $69) at Swarovski; her pudgy admirer was the Malaysian super-thief Jho Low and the super-yacht was the $250 million, 300 foot Equanimity: “capable of carrying up to twenty-six guests and up to thirty-three crew members and includes a helicopter landing pad, an on-board gymnasi...

By Grace Leong Singapore's reputation as a financial hub was at stake as the authorities investigated a maze of transactions passing through the banking system here in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) controversy. The result of the Republic's most extensive probe to date: A total of $29.1 million in penalties slapped on eight errant banks and the conviction of five people linked to Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho. Three of the five have been banned either for life or a minimum of 15 years from Singapore's securities industry, while another has been banned for 10 years. Three more face three- to six-year bans. The authorities stress that the scale of the review has been unprecedented, spanning hundreds of thousands of transactions involving many shell firms and people operating in the United States, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Luxembourg and Malaysia. But it may not be over yet, given the complexity of the case. The Monetary Authority of Singapore noted that its fin...

By Yasmine Yahya Regulators have wrapped up a two-year review of banks involved in 1MDB-related transactions known to-date but the after-effects of this probe will likely reverberate through the financial industry for many years to come. As the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) itself noted in a statement on Tuesday (May 30), the review is the most extensive it has ever taken. The investigation was a deep dive into all the transactions that have flown through Singapore and were related to Malaysian fund 1MDB, which is under investigation in at least six countries over billions of dollars of suspected misappropriations. It led to the shutting down of two banks, BSI Bank and Falcon Bank and financial penalties totalling $29.1 million being imposed on eight banks - BSI, Falcon, DBS, UBS, Standard Chartered Bank, Coutts, Credit Suisse and United Overseas Bank. Prohibition orders have been issued against four former employees of financial institutions implicated in 1MDB-rel...

By Phar Kim Beng Viewed from afar, Malaysia’s ruling party, the United Malays National Organisation (Umno), might seem nigh-on unchallengeable in the general election expected as early as this year. After all, it has been in power since the country’s first such election in 1955 – two years before the country’s independence from Britain. Yet, while it is undeniably strong, its armour is not without chinks. The party cannot afford to lose the support of Malaysia’s rural constituencies – a dependency that has entwined its fate with that of the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda) for the past 60 years and may now represent just such a weak spot. Felda was created by Umno a year after its maiden election win to handle the resettlement of rural poor into newly developed areas and smallhold farms. It went on to alter the development of Malaysia beyond recognition as large swathes of unused land became well-irrigated plantation schemes that transformed both agricultural exports...

ONE potentially powerful narrative being served to the Malay professional class is that Malaysians should heed the lessons of the Arab Spring and be wary about dismantling the existing political structure. Yes, there are weaknesses in the Umno/Barisan Nasional leadership. Yes, there are excesses and leakages in the government and the public have every reason to expect better accountability. Yes, more should be done to tackle corruption and other problems in Malaysia. But... ‎Be wary about exchanging a known and largely stable power structure with something that could result in a new era punctuated by a vacuum in political leadership, lawlessness and uncertainty. This narrative that has been put forward by preachers at retreats and talks to the Malay professional class is bolstered by examples from the Arab Spring. The Arab Spring was a series of anti-government protests and uprisings that spread across the Middle East in early 2011. But until today, their purpose and success remains...

By Bridget Welsh The Malaysian Prime Minister’s ruthless tactics to hold on to power at all costs demonstrate that he is the one who is most afraid while his people are willing to fight on, Bridget Welsh writes. This week Najib Tun Razak is beating the Malay chauvinist drum at his party’s annual general assembly (AGM). Meetings of the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) have regularly followed this mode, but the use of racism and paranoia have taken on greater intensity in the face of its leader’s eroding political legitimacy. For the past two years, Malaysia’s Prime Minister has been beleaguered by the 1MDB scandal that has involved not only nearly $700 million going into Najib’s personal account but also raised issues of criminal money laundering, embezzlement and economic mismanagement involving over $3.5 billion. The case is being investigated and prosecuted in over six jurisdictions, most notably by the US Department of Justice . The scandal featured centre stage in la...

By Syauqi Jamil, Beritadaily.com While Prime Minister Najib Razak’s Budget 2017 had plenty of goodies and petty benefits, it however missed out on addressing the structural weaknesses of Malaysian economy, said an opposition lawmaker today. PKR vice president Tian Chua said Najib’s budget announcements were merely used as a disguise to blanket the real problems that the nation’s economy was facing. “We are waiting for a direction from a very stagnant economy, coming from the losing of confidence by domestic and international investors. “We are facing increasing constricted expenditure for development because we do not have revenues. Our exports are down and we did not develop new methods to collect government revenues, besides GST,” he told Berita Daily. He said the increment of the 1Malaysia People’s Aide (BR1M) was merely an act of “using more band aid to cover more leakages”. The Batu MP also urged the government to have the courage to face the reality of Malaysia lag...

My article was earlier published in Beritadaily.com on 26/4/2016 Recently, the Official Secrets Act 1972, better known as the OSA, has become yet another tool used by the BN government to prevent people from exposing corruption, power abuse and mismanagement in the government. It seems very convenient for the government to hide whatever crimes its officials have committed in order to protect themselves from any probes or prosecution. Just look at the way the OSA has been treated. The attorney-general and the de facto law minister (minister in the prime minister’s department overseeing legal and judicial matters) have been openly seeking for the Act to be reviewed to enhance the penalty for leaks or exposes on corruption, power abuse and mismanagement in the government. So, whatever wrongs and crimes found within the government framework will be placed under utmost secrecy in order to protect the perpetrators of such wrongdoings. The issue of the RM2.6 billion deposit in the prime mi...