What it takes to be Perak MB - A Kadir Jasin

FEB 18 - I think we can afford to let the sensational news of PKR Elizabeth Wong’s nude photos marinate a while longer before we joint (sic) the cookfest. In the meantime feel free to let your imagination be as creative as you like.

For now, I would like to post the 2nd part of my kopitiam conversations with several veteran politicians – ex-Members of Parliament and State Assemblymen -- and lawyers, who are familiar with the Constitution and past political crises.

In this post, we’ll talk about the Menteri Besar, Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir, and the things he should and should not have done as he hangs on to power and tries to defend the legitimacy of his government.

Zambry is an intellectual with a PhD after his name. When Anwar was in Umno, Zambry was a very strong supporter of Anwar Ibrahim, like Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. But both stayed on when Anwar was sacked.

He has the great opportunity to introduce changes to new government and lead these changes in BN.

He could inspire the voters in Perak with an inspiring policy statement as to how he proposes to take Perak forward and what changes he has in mind.

So far, however, he has employed the same old tired style, which people have rejected.

Saying, “I am the MB for all” sounds like Abdullah Ahmad Badawi saying “I am the PM for all Malaysians.” Of course you are the MB for all.

Reducing the number of Exco members to six was good but when media asked for the reason, the reply was very disappointing. He said he could have between four and 10, and chose six.

If he had said, bearing in mind we are facing a very serious economic recession: “I decided to reduce the size of government to save money. I think seven of us can manage” would have been brilliant. Period.

We just have to be efficient. This will show to the public the beginning of change.

Then next day he appointed four advisors and gave the posts to MIC, Gerakan and UMNO, and said these advisors are as important as Exco members. So he is creating posts for BN component parties. Therefore, nothing has changed.

The Perak voters unequivocally rejected both the MIC and Gerakan in the 2008 general election. Why then brought them in by the backdoor? The MIC and Gerakan should have been principled enough to reject the appointment.

They should have the honour to tell their respective communities that “you rejected us in the election, so you do not have the right to have representation in government. If you want us to represent you, you must vote us in.”

Instead MIC got the cheek to be demanding and asked for the Speaker’s post.

Even if he wants to win back lost seats and must show that he is the MB for all, he surely can choose other more outstanding Chinese and Indian representatives.

Surely there are enough outstanding, honest and intelligent Indians and Chinese outside MIC and Gerakan in Perak who would be willing to make sacrifices and perform public service.

Approach them, offer them these advisory posts but salaries and allowances must be less than that of Exco members. Then people will see that the new MB really means what he says, i.e. being the MB for all.

Then why did he leave out the Orang Asli who are numerous in Perak and representatives of the NGOs? The MB must reach out to everybody.

He must come out with a policy statement to say he is against corruption, cronyism and only those who are clean and with integrity will be called upon to serve the state.

He wants his Exco to declare their assets. But he must make the rakyat believe that the declaration of assets is serious and transparent.

He should be visiting all districts and as many villages as he can to listen to the problems faced by the rakyat. If he can’t solve them within two weeks, he must give them reasons. He should promise efficient and prompt service.

He must insist that District Officers live in their respective districts and not in Ipoh. He said he wants to see projects implemented on time with no cost over-run.

His office is open to all – to those who voted for BN and those who voted against. He should try to solve all the rakyat’s problems. He must promise actions. Promises alone are not enough. He wants to be judged by results.

If he does all these, the voters will know that this BN MB means business when he says he wants to bring changes to the state.

Only change can help ensure BN’s survival. Failing which the voters will send BN back to the Opposition’s bench in the coming general. – akadirjasin.com

Anwar at it again

Terengganu: Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Wednesday renewed his vow to seize power from the ruling coalition, as the two sides lock horns for a key by-election.

Anwar has laid low since failing to meet a self-imposed September 2008 deadline to unseat the Barisan Nasional government, after general elections that saw the coalition handed its worst results in half a century.

The opposition alliance is now hoping to reinvigorate itself with a win in the January 17 by-election which is seen as a referendum on the political mood since the March 2008 national polls.

"I want to say that we in the alliance are determined to topple the Barisan Nasional coalition," Anwar said at an opposition rally here late Tuesday that drew some 10,000 supporters.

"For a start, I will help our alliance candidate from PAS obtain a big victory," he said.

Top figures in the alliance - Anwar's Keadilan as well as the Islamic party PAS and the Democratic Action Party that represents ethnic Chinese - stood shoulder-to-shoulder to dispel signs the partnership is under strain.

The partnership of three ideologically divided parties is intent on putting its differences aside for the by-election, which will be contested by PAS candidate Mohamad Abdul Wahid, 52.

Anwar had said he would topple the Government by mid-September with the help of defecting lawmakers, after elections that saw the opposition gain five states and a third of parliamentary seats in unprecedented results.

But that deadline came and went and the promised mass defections from the Barisan Nasional never materialised - underlining the dominance of the coalition which is the only government Malaysia has ever known.

Anwar's momentum completely stalled in October when Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi agreed to stand down next March, defusing public anger at the government's handling of the economy and failure to introduce promised reforms.

The Government is now exploiting bickering within the opposition, but Anwar said the alliance was united despite disagreements over issues such as a PAS call for the introduction of Islamic "hudud" law including the stoning of adulterers.

Anwar said that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is slated to take over from Abdullah in March and is spearheading the by-election campaign, would suffer if the government loses.

"Najib is heading the Barisan Nasional machinery and if Barisan loses, it will hurt his credibility. The loss to the Government will be a big blow to Najib," he said.

"It is a barometer for the future direction of politics in Malaysia," he said.

"As I see it, the winds of change from the March 8 electoral tsunami are still blowing strong."

DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang said Najib may be forced to call elections much earlier than the end of the Government's five-year term which expires in 2013.

"We hope a victory here will be a yardstick for us to win the next general election and take over the country. It is possible that a snap election would be held at year end," he said.

Umno should revert to how it started: Harris

(Daily Express) - Umno must revert to its original 1946 Constitution and allow an open contest by any member without having to obtain nomination quotas for positions in the party's Supreme Council, said former Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh.

"Umno must go back to the era of Tunku Abdul Rahman when there was complete openness in the party as well as the Government. Most important of all, the present practice of awarding contracts or licences through direct negotiations or based on favouritism must be removed and totally eradicated," he said.

Harris said Umno must reinvent and restructure itself in order to overcome corruption, which is among the main challenges faced by the party today.

He suggested that elections to all levels of positions in the Umno hierarchy be open to all contenders and not be subject to nominations by divisions to fulfil quota requirements.

"The President and Deputy President are to be elected directly by all the three million registered members," he said.

Harris said the Government should also raise the monthly allowances of state assemblymen to RM24,000 with a guaranteed bonus of RM500,000 for every term completed and similarly RM36,000 with bonus of RM1 million for Members of Parliament.

He further suggested that the Government establish a special fund from which payments or contributions of RM10 per year are made to all political parties based on their audited registered membership.

It means that Umno with three million members would receive about RM30 million a year that should be used for general administrative costs and party machinery.

Corruption can be countered and eliminated by giving across-the-board salary increments of between 30 per cent and 50 per cent to all Government servants with a minimum salary of RM1,500 for an office boy.

Introducing open tenders for all projects, licenses and other forms of undertakings as well as improving delivery system, he said.

For the restructuring exercise of Umno, Harris said for it to materialise Umno need to have only three wings namely, the main or umbrella Umno under which all men and women members fall, Pemuda Umno (Youth) to change its name to Putera Umno and Puteri Umno to be retained while Wanita Umno is to be dissolved.

"This way is cleaner and will reduce the costs of maintaining and running the party. By putting men and women in the umbrella body, there will be a brighter opportunities to succeed to the top three tiers of Umno hierarchy as well as membership in the supreme council.

Harris hoped the new Umno leadership would seriously look at and consider implementing the above proposals as soon as possible.

"Malaysians expect and demand that the culture of money politics must not only be changed by completely eradicated.

It is only through this change will be a brighter future be created that every Malaysian can look forward to with great pride," he said.

Malaysia opposition seeks to prove it can govern

Despite the prospect of Malaysia's economic growth slowing to just 1.5 percent in 2009, according to leading local investment bank RHB, from an expected 5.4 percent this year, Penang has seen a rise in foreign investment.

By Julie Goh, Reuters

PENANG - Malaysia's manufacturing state of Penang believes it can introduce controversial economic reforms and win investment despite a global economic slowdown and the challenge of being an opposition-run state.

The opposition alliance's triumph in Penang, the third largest state in terms of economic output in Malaysia, was one of the biggest shocks in March's historic elections that brought the opposition to power in five of the country's 13 states.

How well it can now govern those states could determine whether the alliance can sustain an unprecedented challenge to the Barisan Nasional government, which has ruled this southeast Asian country of 27 million people for 51 years.

"Yes, the economic slowdown has affected Penang. I'm not going to run away from admitting it," Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng told Reuters in an interview last week.

"That's why, we are adopting an expansionary budget next year, one that is pro-growth, pro-jobs and pro-poor," he said.

Despite the prospect of Malaysia's economic growth slowing to just 1.5 percent in 2009, according to leading local investment bank RHB, from an expected 5.4 percent this year, Penang has seen a rise in foreign investment.

The state has received $1.69 billion worth of investment in the first seven months of 2008 against $1.30 billion for the whole of last year, Lim said.

U.S. firm National Instruments (NATI.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said this month it would spend $80 million to set up a plant, while Honeywell (HON.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said it would shift some operations to the island.

FROM INMATE TO CHIEF

The island, lying strategically at the head of the Malacca Strait and a free port until 1969, built up one the largest electronics manufacturing bases in Asia from the 1970s offering good infrastructure and a bilingual workforce.

"Investors feel that because there is a new government, and they feel that because this new leadership is in tune to their concerns, this is one of the added advantages that they want to invest in Penang," the 48-year-old Lim said.

Even so, he is looking to the federal government to provide 500 million ringgit ($138.1 million) to retrain workers who lose their jobs in the current downturn.

Heading such a powerful state is a big change for Lim.

He was detained under a harsh security law from 1987-1989 along with his father, Lim Kit Siang, who leads the Democratic Action Party, part of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim's opposition alliance.

The younger Lim is one of the most vocal and powerful critics of the government and has been accused of stoking racial tensions over a range of issues, from dual language road signs to demands that a system of affirmative action for ethnic Malays be ended.

Any mention of race in this country where nearly 60 percent of the population is ethnic Malay and where there are large ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indian minorities is met with a forceful response by the Malay-dominated government.

Lim, an ethnic Chinese, says the 37-year old programme designed to lift Malays out of poverty has enriched only those with political connections and has also entrenched corruption.

Malaysia's ranking in Transparency International's corruption perception index has fallen to 43rd from 37th since 2003.

The government insists it is doing all it can to stamp out what it coyly labels "money politics" but Lim and the opposition say no real action has been taken.

Since winning power, Lim has initiated a system of governance he calls CAT -- competency, accountability and transparency -- a move he said has endeared him to foreign investors and now he plans to replace closed tenders with open tenders.

"It has been challenging in the sense that there are so many things to dismantle, all the past excesses," he said.

So far, Penang voters appear to be willing to give Lim the benefit of the doubt.

"We voted the opposition into power. We should give them some time to implement changes," said Ong Swee Aik, who sells shoes in the 65-storey Komtar building, which also houses the state government office. :If they do a good job, we will vote for them again in the next election."

Malaysia opposition seeks to prove it can govern

Despite the prospect of Malaysia's economic growth slowing to just 1.5 percent in 2009, according to leading local investment bank RHB, from an expected 5.4 percent this year, Penang has seen a rise in foreign investment.

By Julie Goh, Reuters

PENANG - Malaysia's manufacturing state of Penang believes it can introduce controversial economic reforms and win investment despite a global economic slowdown and the challenge of being an opposition-run state.

The opposition alliance's triumph in Penang, the third largest state in terms of economic output in Malaysia, was one of the biggest shocks in March's historic elections that brought the opposition to power in five of the country's 13 states.

How well it can now govern those states could determine whether the alliance can sustain an unprecedented challenge to the Barisan Nasional government, which has ruled this southeast Asian country of 27 million people for 51 years.

"Yes, the economic slowdown has affected Penang. I'm not going to run away from admitting it," Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng told Reuters in an interview last week.

"That's why, we are adopting an expansionary budget next year, one that is pro-growth, pro-jobs and pro-poor," he said.

Despite the prospect of Malaysia's economic growth slowing to just 1.5 percent in 2009, according to leading local investment bank RHB, from an expected 5.4 percent this year, Penang has seen a rise in foreign investment.

The state has received $1.69 billion worth of investment in the first seven months of 2008 against $1.30 billion for the whole of last year, Lim said.

U.S. firm National Instruments (NATI.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said this month it would spend $80 million to set up a plant, while Honeywell (HON.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said it would shift some operations to the island.

FROM INMATE TO CHIEF

The island, lying strategically at the head of the Malacca Strait and a free port until 1969, built up one the largest electronics manufacturing bases in Asia from the 1970s offering good infrastructure and a bilingual workforce.

"Investors feel that because there is a new government, and they feel that because this new leadership is in tune to their concerns, this is one of the added advantages that they want to invest in Penang," the 48-year-old Lim said.

Even so, he is looking to the federal government to provide 500 million ringgit ($138.1 million) to retrain workers who lose their jobs in the current downturn.

Heading such a powerful state is a big change for Lim.

He was detained under a harsh security law from 1987-1989 along with his father, Lim Kit Siang, who leads the Democratic Action Party, part of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim's opposition alliance.

The younger Lim is one of the most vocal and powerful critics of the government and has been accused of stoking racial tensions over a range of issues, from dual language road signs to demands that a system of affirmative action for ethnic Malays be ended.

Any mention of race in this country where nearly 60 percent of the population is ethnic Malay and where there are large ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indian minorities is met with a forceful response by the Malay-dominated government.

Lim, an ethnic Chinese, says the 37-year old programme designed to lift Malays out of poverty has enriched only those with political connections and has also entrenched corruption.

Malaysia's ranking in Transparency International's corruption perception index has fallen to 43rd from 37th since 2003.

The government insists it is doing all it can to stamp out what it coyly labels "money politics" but Lim and the opposition say no real action has been taken.

Since winning power, Lim has initiated a system of governance he calls CAT -- competency, accountability and transparency -- a move he said has endeared him to foreign investors and now he plans to replace closed tenders with open tenders.

"It has been challenging in the sense that there are so many things to dismantle, all the past excesses," he said.

So far, Penang voters appear to be willing to give Lim the benefit of the doubt.

"We voted the opposition into power. We should give them some time to implement changes," said Ong Swee Aik, who sells shoes in the 65-storey Komtar building, which also houses the state government office. :If they do a good job, we will vote for them again in the next election."

It Ain't Over Until The Fat Lady Sings

Ahmad turned the table around and blamed the reporters who “manipulated his statement and made it sound racist”. He also blamed Gerakan acting president Dr Koh Tsu Koon for using his statement as an excuse for Barisan losing the Permatang Pauh by-election.

What could have been solved amicably has now been blown out of proportion.

“Najib’s (Tun Razak) apology was sufficient. Although there were calls by several quarters for action to be taken against him, the apology by the UMNO number two man was enough to silence such calls,” said an UMNO leader.

He added that Barisan Nasional is facing a more serious issue and the party “should face a single challenge at a time.”

In all honesty whether one is an immigrant or otherwise is not important. What is important is the person’s loyalty to the country. History proved that there were immigrants who contributed more to their adopted country than citizen-born.

Albert Einsten contributed to the development of science in the US – his adopted country more than other US citizens. Most poets, painters and writers, for example, who helped the development of arts and culture in the US are immigrants who escaped their country due to several reasons.

Malaysia should be proud of attracting more immigrants to her shores, as it proved that this country is better off than others.

And to prove critics wrong there were also Malays who immigrated from Indonesia and Singapore looking greener pastures who contributed to the development of arts in Malaysia . To name a few, Aziz Satar and M. Nasir.

Being called an immigrant is not an insult, it is actually a fact in history. Almost everyone in the country is an immigrant, except for the Orang Asli.

Regardless if you came from China , India or even Indonesia , you are an immigrant.

And being an immigrant does not mean you are less privileged. Look around us there are many who have been privileges and who have made their lives more successful than any citizen born.

May God continues to bless Malaysia , despite the racial argument which had haunted us for decades. This is the kind of argument we inherited from our colonial masters that we must not keep because we are using it to divide the nation.

Isn’t it about time that we start playing to our own tune and stand up as Malaysians?