Reject drinking candidate, Umno tells voters

By Adib Zalkapli

KUALA KUBU BARU, April 19 — The Barisan Nasional (BN) campaign in the Hulu Selangor by-election continued to focus on PKR’s candidate Datuk Zaid Ibrahim’s past drinking habit.

Speakers at an Umno Youth-organised public rally, “Pentas Pemuda” here last night told hundreds of party supporters that the former law minister is not fit to hold public office because of his habit.

The attack came just hours after Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said that the Malay party should not be linked to the accusation made against Zahid.

The ruling party leaders also accused Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as being under the control of DAP for supporting Zaid as the by-election candidate.

“When Pak Lah appointed him minister I got angry with Pak Lah, I told him I know Zaid well, he was my classmate, he drinks and he gets drunk,” said Seremban Umno chief Datuk Ishak Ismail who was one of the speakers at the rally held in the town centre.

Zaid was made minister in the prime minister’s department after Election 2008, but resigned six months later to protest the ISA arrest of Selangor executive council Teresa Kok, blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin and journalist Tan Hoon Cheng.

Ishak claimed PKR was forced to support Zaid’s candidacy because of pressure from DAP as the leading member of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR).

While an Umno Youth leader from the movement’s orators unit Halim Tuah told party loyalists that PKR has insulted the voters for nominating the former Kota Baru MP.

“PKR has presented a candidate who is a drunkard, an alcoholic, there is a mini bar in his house where beer and whisky are served,” said Halim to loud cheers from the crowd.

“If you don’t believe me, you go meet him you can smell from his breath,” Halim added.

Former Penang Deputy Chief Minister Fairus Khairuddin also spoke at the rally where he questioned Zaid’s commitment to PKR as he was not involved in the Reformasi movement launched for Anwar after his sacking from the government in the 1998.

Fairus who resigned from the Penang government last year amid described Zaid as a “corrupt Malay.”

“We know him inside out,” said the former Penanti assemblyman who joined Umno in February this year.

Zaid had recently admitted to having consumed alcohol in the past adding that he had already repented.

“I have admitted it. That’s the thing with me — I am a straightforward person. If I made a mistake, I will admit to it. I will apologise for it if I need to,” Zaid told the media yesterday in an attempt to end the character assassination by his former party colleagues.

Zaid is facing BN’s P Kalamanathan and independents V.S. Chandran and Johan Md Diah in the by-election for 64,500 eligible voters.

Show us your money, Zaid dares Muhyiddin

By Neville Spykerman

HULU SELANGOR, April 15 — PKR candidate Datuk Zaid Ibrahim was prepared to disclose his wealth after insinuations of corruption by the deputy prime minister, and challenged Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and other members of the Najib administration to do the same.

The former de facto law minister also disclosed that certain ministers had opposed the asset declaration proposal he mooted during the Abdullah administration.

Zaid made the comments while addressing a ceramah here and also in a post at his weblog, after Muhyiddin said he was chosen as the PKR candidate for the Hulu Selangor by-election because of his “deep pockets” and not for his ability to serve.

Speaking to a 300-strong crowd at a multi-purpose hall in Kampung Sungai Buaya, the former Umno member lashed out at his former party colleague for alluding that he was corrupt.

“The issue is not about being rich or poor but whether there was abuse of power.”

Zaid pointed out he was only the de-facto law minister for six months, and during that time he was never in charge of Petronas, land, water or any resources.

“I was in charge of law and the judiciary. Where is there money?” he asked the crowd.

To the amusement of the crowd, Zaid pointed out that he had only one wife, three children and lived moderately.

But he added many accusations about his wealth have been levelled against him, including claims he had homes in Dubai, London and Australia.

Zaid had proposed asset declarations during the Abdullah administration. — Picture by Jack Ooi

“I wish it were true, but I only have a house in Kota Bharu, which I bought 15 years ago, and a house in Petaling Jaya.”

He appealed to the crowd of mostly Felda settlers to give him a chance to serve for at least a term, adding he was a full time politician.

“I have no other work,” he quipped.

Muhyiddin had also hinted yesterday that Zaid, who was described as a highly-principled man by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, had a “record” but did not elaborate.

Muhyiddin said if voters wanted to know about Zaid, they could go to Kota Bharu, where he was MP for a term, to see for themselves.

However, Zaid defended his track record and said voters should indeed ask the people in Kota Bharu about his performance while he was MP.

“If he hasn’t got anything useful to add, I suggest to the DPM that we move on and address the issues I have raised for the people in Hulu Selangor. And the issues facing the country. Let’s have a fair fight and see who has the support of the people!” he added in his blog.

Also at the ceramah last night was Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who appealed to the settlers to defend their own rights by voting for Zaid.

He highlighted the litany of problems faced by Felda settlers not only in Sungai Buaya but across the country, and concluded by saying that Umno should not treat them like dirt.

Najib takes 2 independents to the US

By G. Manimaran

KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 — In an unprecedented move, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is taking two independent MPs to the United States next week, while ordering fellow Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmakers to stay behind and ensure all government bills are approved in the current parliamentary sitting.

Bayan Baru MP Datuk Seri Zahrain Hashim and Kulim-Bandar Baharu MP Zulkifli Noordin — both former PKR lawmakers — will be in Washington as part of the Malaysia-United States Caucus to be launched by the prime minister next Wednesday.

Najib is taking no chances after the near-defeat of the Budget 2010 proposals last December in the Dewan Rakyat where BN holds a simple majority of 137 MPs over Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) 78 lawmakers.

“Some of us were initially on the Washington trip but Najib wants us to stay back and come to Parliament everyday,” a BN MP told The Malaysian Insider in Parliament last night.

A strong BN bench in Parliament yesterday saw them defeating a surprise PR motion to refer Pasir Salak MP Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman to the Rights and Privileges Committee after he claimed DAP secretary-general and Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had sold state secrets to Singapore.

But BN used its superior numbers to refer Pokok Sena MP Datuk Mahfuz Omar to the same committee for linking Umno to the government’s public relations consultancy APCO — which PR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had linked to a former Israeli regime.

The highly-charged parliamentary sitting has forced BN to ensure that all its MPs, including veterans such as former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz and Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar, turn up for crucial votes to approve all government bills and supplementary supply bills.

But Najib will still have two BN MPs — Information Minsiter Datuk Seri Rais Yatim and the country’s Malaysian ambassador to the US, Datuk Seri Jamaluddin Jarjis — with him in his short US trip. Rais is deputising for Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman who is indisposed.

Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Datuk Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar confirmed the short list of MPs joining Najib for the US trip, held just a year after the prime minister completed his first year in office.

“We have no further information as we didn’t arrange the trip. But I know Datuk Seri Rais will join the two MPs Zulkifli Noordin and Datuk Zahrain,” he told The Malaysian Insider, adding Najib will launch the caucus on April 14.

The prime minister is also due to meet US President Barack Obama at the sidelines of a nuclear non-proliferation convention while in Washington.

Zulkifli, who was expelled from PKR last month, told The Malaysian Insider that he will be in the US to attend the launch of the caucus, which was restarted recently after Jamaluddin became the ambassador in Washington.

“I will be in Washington for about a week,” Zulkifli said.

But he took great pains to deny his trip was linked to Najib’s delegation which includes a number of businessman for investment purposes.

“I am going to Washington, the Prime Minister will be in New York. I am going earlier, it has no connection with the Prime Minister’s visit.... no ... no,” the maverick politician said.

Zulkifli said he was scheduled to attend the caucus meeting in February with Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz but it clashed with another convention in South Korea.

Zahrain and Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong went with Nazri for the earlier trip.

Zulkifli also explained his membership in the caucus was decided by Parliament a while ago and had nothing to do with his former party or his current status as an independent MP.

Zahrain had earlier refused to confirm with The Malaysian Insider that he was going to the US again for the official launch of the caucus. “I don’t know, I have no information,” he said.

Nazri had said in February that the caucus had been in existence for the past decade but was not active due to lacklustre ties with the US.

“God willing, when the prime minister comes here in April, we can re- launch the Malaysia-US (Congressional) Caucus, which has been in existence for over 10 years. The fact that it has not moved speaks volumes of the state of our relations in the past,” he said in February.

Nazri said the caucus would serve as a platform to further strengthen ties between both countries and that through the caucus “we can plan programmes involving US Congress members and Malaysian Members of Parliament.”

Swiftlet nests: Nothing to spit at

By Sheridan Mahavera

SITIAWAN, April 7 — When swiflet nest tycoon Lim Theam Siew talks about the state of this million-dollar industry, it’s difficult not to feel frustrated.

According to studies commissioned by the Malaysian Bird’s Nest Merchant’s Association, Malaysia lies at the centre of the world’s swiflet golden triangle. In other words, if swiflet nests were like oil reserves, Malaysia would be Saudi Arabia.

Better still, there is an inexhaustible demand for the nests among China’s two billion people every year.

So why should Lim, the association’s president, be exasperated? Because in his efforts to help the government tap into this gold mine and regulate the industry, he only hears encouraging noises from the lowliest officials to a former prime minister. Unlike his birds, these chirps produce nothing.

As a result, the industry exists in a muddle of unchecked greed, messy expansions, public ignorance and bureaucratic two-facedness. Examples of this are numerous, says Lim.

Perhaps the most infuriating is the fact that no Malaysian agency issues food safety certificates for exported nests, claims Lim.

In other words, since merchants export almost all of their nests to China they have had to go to Singapore to get the certification.

“Malaysians produce the nests but we have to go to Singapore to get it certified to be exported. Can you believe this?”

Also, when harvesters convert abandoned shops in urban areas into swiflet motels, the public invariably complains about the noise, the fear of viruses and the hygiene. So the government comes out with so-called guidelines stating that motels can only be built in rural areas.

“What the public and the government don’t understand is this bird is very choosy about where it wants to build its nest. It chooses only places where there are no predators such as rats, snakes and pests, which is why it is drawn to urban areas.

“The motels for these birds are continuously kept dust- and insect-free otherwise we won’t get quality nests. The droppings are collected everyday as they make good ammonia fertiliser,” Lim explains.

“If you move a hotel, you will lose up to 80 per cent of your birds.”

There is the perception that the swiflet business is like rearing other birds such as chickens, ducks and songbirds which are filthy and which fuels health concerns.

Essentially, the guidelines do not reflect a thorough understanding of swiflet behaviour as no ministry appears interested in studying the bird.

“Without a comprehensive reference on the bird’s behaviour, its genetics, the content of its waste, potential for disease, the nest’s actual nutritional value, how are we supposed to regulate the industry?,” Lim asks.

In his interview with The Malaysian Insider in his home office, Lim produces sheaves of paper detailing his quest to get the government to treat the industry like it does oil palm, rubber or padi.

There are reports of meetings he has had with every animal-related agency under the government from wildlife to veterinary services to agriculture.

There are also plans and studies he and his association has come up with based on best practises in Indonesia and Thailand, which have been sent to the government for further action. And yet the interest he’s received is piddling.

Despite being in the middle of the world swiflet population zone, Malaysia produces only a woeful five per cent of the total number of nests, globally. 95 per cent is produced by Indonesia.

At RM2,000 to RM4,000 per kg for unprocessed nests, the industry attracts a lot of interest and it is estimated that there are about 60,000 harvesters in Malaysia.

“The problem is, only 20 per cent of them are successful. It is still largely hit-and miss because again, we don’t fully understand the bird.

“What we need is a body to look after the industry, something like a Malaysian Oil Palm Board for bird’s nest otherwise it will go to waste.”

PKR Indian leaders want Indian candidate for Hulu Selangor

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid

KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — Indian leaders in PKR have made it clear that they would favour an Indian candidate for the imminent Hulu Selangor by-election following the death of its PKR MP, Datuk Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad last night.

PKR vice-president R Sivarasa (picture) said putting up an Indian candidate would be most favourable for the party in light of the constituency’s recent voting pattern.

“It will be most favourable to have an Indian candidate contest there from the winning point of view so yes I would be leaning towards that idea,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

The Subang MP said further that fielding an Indian candidate would also “neutralise the” anticipated “racial issues”, considering the likelihood that its political rivals Barisan Nasional (BN) will be fielding an Indian candidate as well.

MIC, the third biggest component party in BN, said today it will propose to the coalition’s top leadership the name of its deputy president Datuk G Palanivel for the candidacy.

Palanivel had lost to the late Zainal Abidin by a wafer-thin margin of 198 majority votes at the 2008 general elections.

However, it is understood that BN may give the seat — with a significant Indian vote — to Umno, and will provide a different seat to MIC.

The Malays make up 53.9 per cent of more than 60,000 voters in the constituency. The Chinese vote pool there stands at 26.7 per cent, and Indians, approximately 19 per cent, while other races are at 0.41 per cent.

It is understood that, with the Malay vote evenly split, PKR is hoping to retain the Indian support that it received in Election 2008.

Kapar MP and PKR supreme council member S Manickavasagam said he too will be lobbying for an Indian candidate and is confident that it will be tactically advantageous for PKR.

“You see, Indian leaders from PKR have never lost a by-election as evident with the Bukit Selambau by-election, and our track record is good. No PKR Indian leaders have jumped ship,” said Manickavasagam.

It is understood that the lost of four of its lawmakers, triggered by three defections and one sacking, have given PKR the shivers. It will be keen on placing a strong candidate to stem further losses.

Manickavasagam argued that fielding an Indian candidate will be the best option now for the party.

The Malaysian Insider understands the proposals made by these leaders will likely be shot down by the party’s Hulu Selangor division.

A senior official of the party there told The Malaysian Insider that the majority of the Malay PKR supporters there would want a Malay candidate to be fielded.

“We want a Malay candidate because the majority of the voters here are us,” said one local PKR leader.

“And if you consider what happened in Bagan Pinang, where the Indian votes swung to BN, it would be disastrous to place an Indian candidate here,” added the official.

But Sivarasa does not share this sentiment, arguing that they are more than prepared to win the Indian hearts there.

“We are prepared to go down to the ground and argue our case,” he said.

Khalid tells PAS to punish those subverting Pakatan

By Neville Spykerman

PETALING JAYA, Feb 23 — Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad has asked PAS to punish those subverting the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition, saying his party was being judged for suspending him for six months while letting off Datuk Hasan Ali with a mere warning.

The PAS disciplinary board meted out the punishment on Jan 29 against Hasan for complaining publicly about the Selangor government watchdog Selcat and Khalid for allegedly spilling party secrets when clashing with the state party chief.

“It’s not only me that’s being judged but the party because people are watching how we handle ourselves,” Khalid told The Malaysian Insider last night.

The Shah Alam PAS chief, who returned last Friday after three week’s abroad, said the party had failed to ensure justice was done.

Khalid noted that he has yet to be informed of the party secrets allegedly disclosed in his blog when he accused Hasan of undermining the state government.

“I was just expressing my opinions since when are those party secrets?” he asked.

The first-term lawmaker pointed out the letter sent to him by the disciplinary board merely stated he was found guilty, but gave no indications of what he had really done wrong.

“If I were accused for murder, as least I would be told who I killed as well as how and when I did it,” he added,

Khalid reiterated he would not appeal against his sentence because it was a small price to pay and he achieved his purpose which was to get Hasan to toe the line.

However, he would appeal to the PAS leadership to prove their sincerity and commitment to PR which was being questioned.

He pointed out Islam called on believers to keep their word once an agreement had been reached.

“They can start by taking sterner action against those who are trying to subvert the coalition.” Khalid said, in reference to party factions which had succumbed to on-off flirtations with Umno.

He pointed out party spiritual adviser Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat himself had, in 2008 called on PAS to have both feet in the same sampan (boat) and not a foot in two different sampans.

He called on PAS leaders to realise their aspirations to become a mainstream party which fights for justice as this will be scrutinised by the electorate.

“We must be able to prove that we ourselves can uphold justice,” Khalid said.

He noted that previously PAS could tell it members not to question their leaders but that was no longer true as they are now seeking support from a bigger audience whose trust must be gained.

“Otherwise people will doubt the party will be able to uphold justice and lose confidence in us,” the PAS leader said.

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PKR’s Wilayah treasurer set to rejoin Umno

By G. Manimaran

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 8 — PKR’s Federal Territories state treasurer Norasidi Salim has quit his post, and is understood to be rejoining Umno, the party he left in 2008.

His resignation is the latest blow to PKR, with speculation rife that a number of its MPs preparing to defect as well, while its de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is on trial for sodomy.

State PKR Secretary Azman Abidin told The Malaysian Insider that he had received Norasidi’s resignation letter today.

“In the letter he only said he wanted to quit as Treasurer but did not say he was quitting the party,” he said.

However Azman said he had been informed separately by Norasidi, who was formerly the deputy Umno chief in Bandar Tun Razak, that the latter intended to rejoin the Barisan Nasional (BN) party.

Norasidi had joined PKR after Election 2008 and was a member of the Putrajaya division, Azman said.

Azman said he had not been told by Norasidi of any problems the latter may have had with PKR.

“He joined PKR with hopes of helping us because of his background as an accountant but the party could not give him the opportunity for him.

“That is why he is returning to serve in Umno,” said Azman.

The Federal Territories PKR is led by party vice-president Azmin Ali.

Norasidi could not be reached for comment.

Tonight’s Federal Territories Umno meeting is expected to confirm and accept Norasidi’s application to rejoin the part

Azmin also confirmed he had been informed of Norasidi’s wish to rejoin Umno.

“I have long heard that he was going to leave PKR. He is no longer relevant so Umno can have him.

“He is an opportunist. When he received no benefits he decides to quit,” said Azmin.

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