1Malaysia - now vomiting

Friday, March 13, 2015

by Azly Rahman

Like many Malaysians, I am vomiting through the dungeons of my soul reading the reports daily on the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), if it is true that the  leaders of this country are bankrupting it.

This is especially so when 1MDB may one day suck the blood, sweat, and tears dry out of the long and difficult years of investment of the Malaysian public, especially the kampung folk, the rubber tappers, the small businessmen and labourers of any race, not to mention the filthy work of secrecy we are seeing operating in the government, at a time when the nauseating hypocrisy of slogans such as "high-income nation," "world-class education" and "syariah index" are trumpeted and shoved down the throat of the people who are kept in fear and silence for criticising the run-amuck of the nation's "global-smart-partnership of Ali-Baba and John and Hollywood-hedonistic bloodsucker-filthy corporate-crony-useless-sons and daughters of sicko-capitalists".

Excuse me for the long running sentence. And excuse my little explosion too. The spirit of the New York beat poet Allen Ginsburg is running amuck in me today.


And excuse me while I kiss the sky and vomit through my bruised soul, as a Jimi Hendrix song would go screaming. What then must we do, in the midst of those in power pounding on the helpless crying for help in demanding justice and decency of making ends meet - especially to be reading stories of bloodsuckers and big-time conmen partying in yachts while the rakyat drowns in broken sampans and broken spirits?

And these premature talks about a replacement prime minister and who that might be too bores me to death.

Same old mould, I believe. These are mere dynastic wars over wealth and power that have become a disease of the nobility of politics as what it should be about: public service.

Same breed of emperors in new clothes

What do all these mean if what we are getting will perhaps be even worse vendetta and a continuation of the installation of the same breed of emperors in new clothes preying upon the poor and the helpless, using the state apparatuses to maintain a jet-setting lifestyle and lying to the people to beg for a mandate to rule?

Fools we have become and made to be, haven’t we?

My immediate worry is this:

With a bailout plan for 1MDB, even to pay just the interest of the loans and the new, horrifying numbers on the newly defined loan/bonds, what are we looking at? Will the rakyat's pension plan/life savings/national unit trusts and the like be used to help these crooks out?

Have we not learned from the experience of other countries how public funds were used to bail out such "Cayman Island" investments?  Do the people know enough about the kind of dictators, global CEOs and glorified money-launderers who stash their money in secret vaults in Switzerland, Singapore and those Islands?

What makes you think that your KWSP/EPF money is still going to be safe - when no one seems to want to tell the truth and what we are reading is about a barely 30-year-old kid and an investment punk partying till he pukes and investing our money till we all puke?

Why have we come to this point in history? You nationalists out there, tell me.

Now, parliamentarians we put to work - in your comfortable sittings, you better ask the government how the rakyat's savings are going to be wiped off dry!

This is totally insane a country! Yes - my beloved country I still love to see things go well for the next generation.

But in the next two generations our children may have to eat grass, wood and stones.

Progress towards a failed state...

Like Jonathan Swift’s suggestion to fatten up babies in The Modest Proposal to solve the Irish potato famine, I’d propose something less radical: just give each family a plot of land for them to plant food, raise chickens, and live in communes and live a life of dignity without falling prey to glorified gamblers. This country is gone and going to the dogs - with this progress towards a failed state.

Why do we still have these people running our country and running it down? And when the people speak up, you in power throw them in jail so that you folks in power can run free, looting and looting while speaking Greek and geek and those GST and your gobbledygook of your syariah index lying through your behind.  Excuse my little explosion again. Now the blood of the poets Rimbaud and Rendra combined, is boiling in me.

How filthy and corrupt can man get! Can't we teach one another to live within our means and be grateful and to think of others?

All these while I thought our economists, political scientists, and investment strategists in this and that national and high-strung high impact steering committees are well-versed in the Keynes-Hayek debate and the intricacies of the nation’s economy as it rides the wave of national reform and globalisation.

We seem to pride ourselves in this nationalistic obsession with our own version of command economy and be wary of letting the market solely dictate, and angry at any attempt by global empires to tell us what to do and how to behave – in the name of sovereignty. We seem to be in control of our “culturally-constructed commanding heights” but what is happening now?

Those entrusted to control the economy are gambling with it, big time, and letting the big-time gamblers sell the country off. Worse, do we not know what is happening to our national financial assets as many are guessing that they are being used to recover the money we lost through our secret wheeling and dealing in the world of casino capitalism, where “wolves of Wall Street” race with the velocity of money?

We can never know the truth – just like the truth of what happened to the missing Flight MH370, that I wrote about in April last year.

This is what we have become - a secret society of leaders making secret deals and using some acts to punish those who wish to know the truth – especially when the life savings of those who slog for this world of indentured servitude is at stake.

This is a case that might be worse than America’s Enron and Subprime Fiasco combined; a world too big to fail but crumbled like Humpty Dumpty and all.

What then must we do?

Source: http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com/2015/03/1malaysia-now-vomiting.html

马来西亚股汇崩盘看经济前景

2014年12月2日

不要把信心放在世界的经济，它有一天必全然崩盘！

《启示录》18：1-24 

大巴比伦倾倒
	1		这些事以后，我看见有另一位掌大权柄的天使，从天上降下来，他的荣光照亮了大地。
	2		他用强有力的声音呼喊说：“倾倒了！大巴比伦倾倒了！成了鬼魔的住处，各样污灵的监狱，一切污秽可憎之雀鸟的牢笼，
	3		因为各国都喝她淫乱烈怒的酒醉了；地上的君王与她行淫，世上的商人因她奢华挥霍就发了财。”
	4		我听见另一个声音从天上来，说：“出来吧！我的子民，要从那城出来，免得在她的罪上有分，受她所受的灾难；
	5		因为她的罪恶滔天，　神已经想起她的不义来。
	6		她怎样待人，你们也要怎样待她；照着她所作的，加倍报应她；用她调酒的杯，加倍调给她。
	7		她怎样炫耀自己，怎样奢华挥霍，你们也要怎样给她痛苦悲哀。因为她心里常常说：‘我坐着作女王，我不是寡妇，决不会看见悲哀。’
	8		因此，在一日之内她的灾难必然来到，就是死亡、悲哀和饥荒；她还要在火中被烧掉，因为审判她的主　神是大有能力的。
	9		“地上的众王，就是跟她一同行邪淫、骄奢无度的，看见焚烧她的烟的时候，就必为她痛哭捶胸。
	10		他们因为害怕她所受的痛苦，就远远地站着，说：‘有祸了！有祸了！这大城，巴比伦，这坚固的城啊！一时之间你的审判就来到了！’
	11		“地上的商人也为她悲哀痛哭，因为没有人再买他们的货物：
	12		就是金、银、宝石、珍珠；细麻布、紫色布、丝绸、朱红色布；各样香木，各样象牙制品，各样极贵重的木器、铜器、铁器、大理石制品；
	13		肉桂、豆蔻、香料、香膏、乳香；酒、油、面粉、麦子；牛、羊、马、车、奴仆、人口。
	14		你所贪恋的果子离开你了！一切珍馐美味、华丽的美物，都从你那里消失，再也找不到了！
	15		贩卖这些货物，借着她发了财的商人，因为害怕她受的痛苦，就远远地站着，痛哭悲哀，
	16		说：‘有祸了！有祸了！这大城啊！就是一向穿着细麻布、紫色、朱红色的衣服，佩戴着金子、宝石和珍珠装饰的，
	17		一时之间，这么大的财富竟荡然无存！’”所有船长、旅客、水手，以及凡是靠海谋生的，都远远地站着。
	18		他们看见了焚烧她的烟，就喊叫说：‘有哪一座城能与这大城相比呢？’
	19		他们又把尘土撒在自己头上，痛哭悲哀，喊着说：‘有祸了！有祸了！这大城啊！凡是有船航行海上的，都因这城的财宝发了财；一时之间她竟成了荒场！’
	20		天哪，你要因她欢喜！众圣徒、众使徒、众先知啊，你们也要因她欢喜！因为　神已经在她身上为你们伸了冤。”
	21		有一位大力的天使，把一块好像大磨石一样的石头，举起来拋在海里，说：“巴比伦大城也必这样被猛力地拋下去，决不能再找到了！
	22		弹琴、奏乐、吹笛、吹号的声音，在你中间决不能再听到了！各样手艺技工，在你中间决不能再找到了！推磨的声音，在你中间决不能再听到了！
	23		灯的亮光，在你中间决不能再照耀了！新郎新娘的声音，在你中间决不能再听到了！你的商人一向都是地上的大人物，万国都因你的邪术受了迷惑。
	24		先知、圣徒和地上一切被杀的人的血，都在这城里找到了！” ---------------------------------------------------------- 作者：陈亚伦 12月1日，马来西亚的股汇崩盘，这只是冰山一角，因为按照圣经，这个世界的金融制度有一天会全然崩溃，进入敌基督掌权的时代！         马币在1997年东亚金融风暴前是1美元兑2.60令吉，我国经济重创以来，经过了17年的挣扎仍然爬不起来。昨日反而重挫贬值1.6%至1美元兑3.43令吉。国家领袖经常以低马币使我国出口增加竞争力为借口，见解似是而非。当你韩国金融风暴受创比我国严重，它们必须向国际货币基金局借贷，不过今天它们的进步却走在我国前面19年。因此，竞争力乃在乎国家重视人才的大环境。         有利出口是在乎商家有何精明经商方法，商家出口以美元对冲货品交易，所以低马币对商家未必有利。我国的公司税比一般贸易对手的国家更高，所以商家只好找对策获得更大盈利。香港公司税比我国低，我国的公司即在香港设立公司，然后把货品通过香港跟其他国家交易。越南，柬普寨等新兴发展中国家给予外资特别低税优惠，我国的公司即在那些国家等设立公司，然后通过该些国家出口。到头来，损失的是我国政府。         所以，低货币政策并不是增加出口外汇的万灵丹。一个国家货币高，并不等于竞争力被削弱。不防看看邻国新加坡，隔了一条长堤，两国的经济就天渊之别。但回想以前 1960、70年代两国的货币相等，新加坡还需要靠大马人往那里消费才能生存。我们有否探讨为何今天新加坡的1元币值兑我们2.63令吉，人均收入是我国的五倍吗？         其实，一国的货币强大乃是一国的尊严，货币须要强大免得被别人白眼对待。新加坡大量进口马来西亚的东西，因着以高货币购入，所以新加坡人在新加坡消费比大马人在大马消费更便宜（别以兑换率来计算）。它们的汽车贵，但因着它们交通四通八达，所以汽车不是必需品。它们的房产贵，但我国的现在也很贵，甚至新加坡人比我们更有能力买房产呢！         五年来超过60%的货品价和服务费持续涨         我经常有帮忙家中购物的，每一年就看着物价有增无减。付更高价，乃是因为我们的钱贬值了。尤其是最近三年，人民因为经济疲弱，收入少了，加上物价高而感到更吃力。经济越弱，国家的货币越滑落。三年前一令吉还买到大大粒的苹果，现在一样大小的却要1.50令吉！外国的商家应该笑着跟我国交易，因为以前它们国家的小粒水果是出口至贫穷国家的，现在我国购入很多小粒水果，这意味什么信息？当然只举例水果，五年来我国超过60%的货品价和服务费都持续涨了20%以上。疲弱马币呀，我们的尊严去了哪里？         而我们去到高币值的国家消费，都叫苦连天，我们的尊严受创。甚至去中国现在已经不便宜呢，我们需要56令吉换100元人民币，我国再不争气的话，或许会来到一天以一令吉兑换1元人民币呢！         送孩子到先进国留学也痛苦，我看到澳洲的大马留学生，大多数是来自普通的家庭的。不少父母，变卖了房子，再穷也不穷教育！         我认为大马若经济蓬勃，导致马币强大，策划往高科技工业发展，可早日走入先进国行列。所以，我国有必要检讨我们的政治形态，因为我们需要建设一个拥有竞争力的国家。这没有捷径，需要很多人才配搭。国家兴旺必须靠人才，而人才是藉着不分种族给予公平对待的。这样是治本。假使想通过税务来增加收入的话，那是治标。         向来领袖依赖石油、棕油、橡胶等原产品出口，缺乏远见，导致现在这些资源没价值，要怎样才救得住经济？如果大马不是因为贪污严重导致债台高筑的话，我们的币值也不会搞到币值疲弱，造成经济衰退。一旦经济衰退的话，人民怎样有好收入？没有好收入又怎样付更多税？因此，我担心一旦明年4月征收消费税的话，恐怕人民的生活品质会进一步削弱。最坏情况是在粮食上节省，那可能导致营养不良，这也是通胀的后遗症，人民的竞争力会因此进一步被削弱！通胀，人民还能够消费算是幸运的了，因为恐怕不是通胀而是变本加厉变成通缩，即说，人民的购买力被削弱，减少消费，整个国家的经济就会萎缩！

Tax dodgers angered by corruption, says ex-NST boss

By Zurairi ARNovember 25, 2013

Blatant and excessive corruption is one reason why Malaysians are evading paying taxes, says Datuk A. Kadir Jasin in his blog today. — File photo

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 25 — Blatant excess and corruption in government spending were why Malaysians sought to evade paying taxes rather than a purported sense of disloyalty, Datuk A. Kadir Jasin wrote in his blog today.

Disputing Putrajaya's view that tax evaders were unpatriotic for failing to add to the country's coffers, the former group editor-in-chief for English daily New Straits Times believed the public were sickened by the sight of their hard-earned tax payments falling victim to the government's profligacy. 

“More and more people, I believe, are reluctant and unhappy to pay taxes because they hold the view that the government is lavish and corrupt,” he wrote in a blog entry today.

“As a further proof, civil servants are paid bonuses. The poor are being promised higher BR1M. The government is spending billions engaging consultants. Ministers and their spouses are jetting around the world, purportedly promoting diplomacy and attracting investments.” The veteran newsman was referring to recent revelations in Parliament that appeared to show no slowdown in government spending despite a chronic budget deficit that has forced Putrajaya to roll out a new tax and slash subsidies for the public.

Among others, these include a RM7.2 billion bill for private consultants since 2009 and a disclosure that RM180 million was spent for flights on a private jet for government leaders last year alone. This were in addition to the annual teeth-gnashing by the public that greets the Auditor-General's Report on financial wastage to the tune of billions of ringgit that rarely, if ever, sees offenders punished.

Yesterday, state news agency Bernama quoted Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as saying that those who avoid paying tax can be regarded as having betrayed the country, and those who paid their dues were showing their patriotism. Najib's remarks were made when when outlining the government’s reasons to introduce the controversial Goods and Services Tax (GST), which was confirmed during his Budget 2014 speech last month.

The attempt to link tax contributions to patriotism also attracted a swipe by former Cabinet minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, who dubbed Chinese Malaysians “true patriots” after claiming the minority group paid more taxes than any other race in the country, including the dominant Malay community. “I agree with PM that paying tax is patriotic act. Since more Chinese pay tax than the Malays they are true patriots,” Zaid said on his Twitter account, @zaidibrahim. Earlier, Najib was also quoted as saying the revenue was needed to continue developing the country, as Malaysians were now more demanding and had higher expectations of the government. Malaysia’s proposed GST rate of 6 per cent, which will be enforced from April 2015, is the lowest in the region, whereas most countries implement a 10 per cent value added tax (VAT).

The consumption tax was first announced during Budget 2005 and was originally scheduled to be implemented in 2007, and tabled for the first reading in 2009 for implementation in late 2011, but was withdrawn during the second reading in 2010 following fierce public resistance. Unlike income tax, which is only applicable after a certain salary level is exceeded, the GST means all Malaysians will be taxed according to their level of spending, regardless of income. Its introduction has met with vehement resistance from certain consumer groups and opposition parties, most recently PAS where its religious cleric wing called the GST “unIslamic” during its annual congress which kicked off last week.

Source: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/tax-dodgers-angered-by-corruption-says-ex-nst-boss

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Should betrayal of public trust be forgiven?

Steve Oh 11:59AM Dec 13, 2012

Corruption is at the heart of what's ailing Malaysia and much citizen discontent but the biggest issue is one of public trust.

The Americans loathed the charismatic and capable Clinton not because he had a sexual tryst with an intern but that he lied to those who trusted and defended him.

The public has certain high expectations of those in high office and in public service that they may not expect of private individuals. It is the proper way to safeguard the integrity of any high office.

Former US president Bill Clinton had big dreams of reform to make his mark in his last term in office but now he will be remembered for the lost opportunities, and his betrayal of the public trust of the American people.

What of the betrayals in Malaysia and will Malaysians be as forgiving of their leaders?

What is happening in the country seems to parallel what is happening to the government. The government suffers from a credibility crisis as it fails to explain what is happening to it, the corruption scandals and all.

There is a loathing uncertainty and sense of despair and many feel change is the panacea to the country's troubled and troublesome government they blame for many of their own troubles - rising crimes and costs of living.

Thus more and more Malaysians are openly asking and working for change and even the incumbent government promises change but has little to show of substance.

It does not look good when someone unelected and not in government speaks for the government and asks in a supercilious manner, "What more do you want?" and then boasts about his ability to get the government to put it into effect ‘immediately' when the government itself drags its feet.

People will be wondering who is really in charge of the government and if they have misplaced their trust in the last elections. They thought they voted for someone else to lead the country.

"If it ain't broke why fix it?" is half the story because Bert Lance, Jimmy Carter's budget administrator who said it in 1977 while trying to save Uncle Sam billions, explained, "That's the trouble with government, fixing things that aren't broken and not fixing things that are broken."

It makes people feel that a change of government is the panacea by getting rid of the whole lot and starting anew with a fresh government. It is the only way to clean out all the skeletons in the over-crowded closet.

Citizens should feel betrayed and humiliated when they have to beg for something that they expect any good government to do for them on its own initiative.

Sooner or later corrupt politicians fall on their own swords or at the hands of a Brutus who murdered Julius Caesar.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim vows to slay the corruption dragon and it can be done if there is the political will and political clout to do it. Every single BN leader who has said they would tackle corruption has failed for obvious reasons.

Every single one of them has been ‘tainted' and time will tell if they are guilty or unfairly pilloried.

A new government after GE13 whether formed out of the ashes of the old one or a different one drawn from the fresh faces of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition - who can predict the outcome of GE13 and what happens after? - cannot continue to betray the people and allow corruption and the abuse of power to continue.

What people want is a good government that functions as a good government should without all they see today of the corruption scandals, accusations and counter-accusations and the inability of those in power to clear their names or for the government to take decent action.

We may not care about sick politicians but we should care that the government as a public institution serves the people and not the politicians and is in good health.

It cannot be corruption as usual by any government not only because it is wrong but there will be nothing left to steal or for the people when a country is broke. Reading about the wealth of the politicians while the citizens eke out an austere living does make one feel sick.

And the people most likely to suffer are those in the low-income group and with little savings, mostly the Malays.

An extract from an article by Ahmad Fuad Rahmat in Centre for Policy Initiatives is revealing: "We are often told of how the bottoms 40% of Malaysian households earn RM 1500 or less on average. But we don't hear as much about the fact that this is equivalent to 2.6 million households, or to be more exact, 12.4 million Malaysians. We even hear less of how 56% of that total, nearly 1.3 million households, are Malay households.

A recent study conducted at the Malaysian National University's (UKM) Institute for Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS) reveals more: an average bumiputera can only rely on one month of financial reserves in the sudden event of unemployment. 50.8% of overall bumiputera wealth is concentrated in the top 20% of bumiputera earners, while the bottom 40% can only claim a cumulative share of 7.6%. It is not surprising then that 66% of Bumiputera households have no financial assets."

Another report placing Malaysia at the top in "a Transparency International survey of 30 countries where companies felt they had lost deals because they did not pay bribes," reflects what Malaysians already know.

Malaysians are not Americans and they do not like to impeach their leaders.

The political ‘birds of the same feather' do not expose one another's ‘sins' either because they won't know who has the thicker file on them. It is safer to keep a poker face while plotting someone's downfall and relying on a Brutus.

Still the country risks being labeled the ‘Sick man of Asia.'

Many Malaysians feel betrayed and that justice has not been done as in the court's overturning of the guilty verdict and exonerating the killer of an innocent Malay boy Aminrulrasyid Amzah, shot dead so mercilessly by excessive and brutal police force.

Like Clinton who initially saw his expose as a political plot and not his personal moral failing, there are politicians who cannot accept their faults and blame others for their problems.

How do you expect change when someone points the finger at others and says it is the fault of the ‘ungrateful Malays' or the ‘greedy Chinese' or ‘George Soros' or ‘Anwar Ibrahim' or the ‘PAS extremists' or the ‘chauvinist DAP" but never his fault behind Malaysia's economic, social and political woes.

Even a tennis champion serves double faults and has many unforced errors and the Pope no longer claims to be infallible but someone who never admits his mistakes because he believes he has made none must be out of this world or his mind.

Malaysians want a future without sick politicians in power.

They do not enjoy picking on the government, any government. If a government performs it can't boast about it because it is merely doing its job and the people know that.

But if a government hears of wrong, sees wrongs done, and even does wrong itself, then if it has any self-respect it should do the right thing and not continue to stymie those who are merely doing what any concerned citizen would do and helping it.

Many of us serial letter writers merely state the facts, as the late Tunku Abdul Rahman would say,"As I see it."

And he was among the first to cry ‘betrayal' when he saw his country fall into a state of repressiveness, as Operation Lalang 1987 happened and the police state came into prominence, so Pak Lah can't be credited for creating the ‘police state'.

Betrayal is when a political party fails to govern properly and abuses its government powers to commit wrongs and punishes anyone who dares bring it to account.

The persecution of Suaram illustrates the point.

It is a betrayal of the voters' trust and the nation's Constitution and oaths of public office. Politicians may politick but governments are supposed to govern.

It is a betrayal and abuse of power for a political party to use the powers of government to persecute some other political party, NGO or even an individual.

It is a double betrayal when this is done in the pretext of upholding some law. That is why a change of laws is deceitful when the old habit of applying the law unfairly and for political purposes is still there.

In short, betrayal is a corrupt political party in government, wittingly or unwittingly, making itself the people's enemy by its unjust acts.

Such betrayal then sees the degeneration of a country's moral values into a society where people take the law and matters into their hands to commit ridiculous and criminal acts that outrage its citizens.

If the government is sincere in its confession for past mistakes it should grant the stateless Indians their rightful citizenship. It should not continue to direct the police to harass democratic activities.

Politicians do not need a lesson on graft avoidance but a reminder that "You shall not steal, or deal falsely or lie to one another" if they honestly believe there is God, then start living as if they have to give him an accounting besides the voters.

Not every member of parliament is corrupt, and not all politicians can be tarred with the same feather or needs a lesson in Morality 101 and it is an insult for the honest to be lumped in the same bandwagon as those who are brazenly dishonest.

You treat the sick not the healthy.

As GE13 looms the question then is will Malaysians vote for those who have betrayed their trust?

Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/216549

Ali Rustam's son wedding -- Like that is not corruption meh?

Record-setting wedding of Ali Rustam’s son paid for by sponsors

October 03, 2012

The chief minister refused to declare the cost of the 130,000-guest event. — File pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 ― Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam’s office was forced to reveal yesterday that many of the caterers and other businesses sponsored the lavish wedding dinner of the Malacca chief minister’s son that drew over 130,000 guests during the weekend.

The wedding has come under intense public scrutiny after national news agency Bernama reported on Sunday that 26-year-old Mohd Ridhwan’s marriage to Nur Azieha Mohd Ali, also 26, lasted eight hours, with the number of guests earning a place in the Malaysia Book of Records.

An official with the Malaysia Book of Records was also present to present a certificate to the chief minister.

Mohd Ali’s special secretary Datuk MS Mahadevan was reported by The Star today as saying much of the wedding’s cost was paid for through sponsors. But he did not reveal the total cost.

Mohd Ali also did not say how much the wedding cost him, but dismissed suggestions that the wedding attended by more than 130,000 people was a lavish affair.

“No one was forced to attend the event, including state government employees,” said Mahadevan yesterday.

“This is the first wedding ceremony for the chief minister’s family and every Malaccan wanted to take part. Even estate workers wearing slippers stood in line to shake hands with the bride and bridegroom.

“Not a single sen was paid to these volunteers.”

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lawmakers have questioned how the wedding was funded, and the revelation of sponsors will spark more questions about the appropriateness of accepting money from businesses to pay for the wedding.

PR lawmakers said that even at RM10 a head, the wedding banquet would cost RM1.3 million for food and beverages alone, far more than the long-serving chief minister’s salary.

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang used his Twitter account to speculate further on the cost of the wedding, saying the banquet appeared to cost RM100 a person or potentially RM13 million just for the food.

But Malacca Umno executive secretary Datuk Akbar Ali responded to the DAP leaders’ tweets by saying they should not assume the wedding banquet was similar to a Chinese wedding dinner.

“Awak ingat ini jamuan makan malam 9 jenis seperti masyarakat Cina dengan sup sirip ikan yu. Ini cara kamu wujudkan fitnah. Ini orang yang sakit (You think this is like a nine-course Chinese dinner with shark’s fin soup. This is how you create lies. This is someone sick.)” Akbar wrote on his Twitter account.)”

Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/record-setting-wedding-of-ali-rustams-son-paid-for-by-sponsors/

US multinational fined RM80m for bribery in Malaysia and other countries

By Lee Wei Lian

September 25, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — US multinational Tyco has agreed to pay US$26 million (RM80 million) to settle charges by the US government that it engaged in corrupt practices in more than a dozen countries in Asia and the Middle East, including Malaysia.

According to documents from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Tyco is alleged to have bribed officials, including an employee of a Malaysian government-controlled entity, in order to win lucrative contracts.

The SEC said in a media statement yesterday that the global manufacturer allegedly perpetuated schemes that typically involved payments of fake “commissions” or the use of third-party agents to funnel money improperly to obtain the contracts.

It also said that Tyco, whose place of incorporation was shifted to Switzerland in 2008, agreed to pay more than US$26 million to settle the SEC’s charges.

Other countries that Tyco was alleged to have engaged in bribery include China, India, Thailand, Croatia, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria, the UAE, Mauritania, Congo, Niger, Madagascar, Turkey, Poland and Egypt.

The SEC’s charges against Tyco claim that the latter made payments to approximately 26 employees of customers in Malaysia, including an employee of a government-controlled entity.

It also claimed that Tyco’s Malaysian subsidiary inaccurately described these expenses as “commissions” and failed to maintain policies sufficient to prohibit such payments, resulting in Tyco’ s books and records being misstated.

Tyco is a leading provider of electronic security products and services, fire protection and detection products and services, and valves and controls. 

A Tyco spokesman was quoted by UK’s Financial Times yesterday as saying: “We’re committed to maintaining our rigorous compliance programmes across all of our business activities.”

Malaysia, which is attempting to stamp out corruption, has made international news over several other cases related to graft by multinationals in the country including one involving Australian banknote company Securency and French telecommunications giant Alcatel.

The headlines could reinforce perception that Malaysia has a reputation where bribes are paid to public officials.

Corruption was identified by the World Economic Forum this year as one of the top five problems facing businesses in Malaysia.

Malaysia also slipped four spots to 60th in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index last year.

The Najib administration has made corruption one of the National Key Result Areas of its Government Transformation Programme to reform the government and make it more efficient and transparent.

Alcatel admitted in 2010 that it had bribed Malaysian government officials some time between 2004 and 2006 to win a US$85 million contract.

Earlier this month, it was reported that Australian central bank officials were told in 2007 that Securency had engineered a scheme to hide a RM492,000 payment to a Malaysian arms dealer in order to secure contracts from the Abdullah administration despite an earlier denial.

The arms dealer — Abdul Kayum Syed Ahmad — was charged here last year with two counts of giving RM50,000 bribes in 2004 and 2005 to former Bank Negara assistant governor Datuk Mohamad Daud Dol Moin in order to procure a contract to print the RM5 polymer bank notes by Reserve Bank subsidiary Note Printing Australia Ltd.

Abdul Kayum has pleaded not guilty.

Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has also denied allegations that the Australian banknote firms attempted to bribe him for a RM100 million Malaysian currency contract during his tenure as prime minister.

Source: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/us-multinational-fined-rm80m-for-bribery-in-malaysia-and-other-countries/

Najib’s Deadly Words Threaten Disaster For Musa Aman!

Posted Saturday, June 23rd, 2012

Musa denied "any business relationship with an individual named Michael Chia"

Make no mistake, the authors of written parliamentary answers in response to awkward questions choose their words with utmost care.

MP Chua Tian Chang had enquired of the Prime Minister what had happened to the Anti-Corruption Commission investigation into major money-laundering by the Sabah resident Michael Chia, who is a known side-kick of the Chief Minister, Musa Aman.

Musa Aman has been busy repeating over past weeks that he has nothing to do with Chia and that to suggest otherwise was to defame him.

So consider the wording of this answer given by the Prime Minister:

“The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission has conducted investigations into the Michael Chia case which is linked to the Sabah chief minister.  

It has been completed and presented to the AGC for study and a decision”           [Najib Razak, written answer21/6/12]

 “Linked to the Sabah chief minister”

In one stroke the Prime Minister has cut the ground from beneath the already shaky CM.

Musa’s feeble pretences of “not entertaining frivolous allegations” and protests against “defamation” are now collapsed entirely through the words of his own boss, who has acknowledged in the most public way possible that the Michael Chia money-laundering case “is linked to the Sabah Chief Minister”.

What are we now to make of Musa’s recent statement?:

“I deny all these allegations. I wish to put it on record once again that I have no business association whatsoever with an individual named Michael Chia,”

Well it seems that Malaysians now have to choose whether to believe the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister!

Why not resign?

With such a public demonstration of disownership from his own boss, it is baffling how Musa Aman has reasoned it possible to remain in his office for the remainder of the week.

Apparently he has yet to comment on this confirmation that he is indeed linked to the investigation into the laundering of around a hundred million dollars of timber kickbacks.

Significantly, he has not dared this time to come out and deny the allegation made by his own Prime Minister, whereas he had been happy to accuse Sarawak Report of reproducing forged documents!

And, of course, Najib Razak has not been alone in choosing words that finger Musa.

A similar deliberate and damning statement has already been issued by authorities in Switzerland, who were approached by Hong Kong’s investigators over Musa’s Zurich bank account, where the timber money trail has been clearly ending up.

The careful answer by the Swiss Attorney General’s office to the question by a journalist again implicated Musa:

Question: “The Malaysian politician Musa Aman, Minister of the State of Sabah, is at the centre of a corruption case in Malaysia and Hong Kong. Hong Kong’s anti corruption authority has compiled a report on the case. It is alleged that, through nominees, Aman has received a total of 90 million US dollars of corruption payments from logging companies in return for granting logging concessions. Allegedly, these funds have been laundered through a network of companies and deposited on UBS accounts in Hong Kong and Zurich. Lawyer Richard Christopher Barnes and businessman Chia Tien Foh have been mentioned as nominees. These occurrences date back to the years 2006 to 2008.                                                                              My question is the following one: Has the Office of the Attorney General led an investigation for suspected money-laundering or other criminal offences in this context?“ [

Answer: “The Office of the Attorney General has in this context provided legal assistance".

That simple answer clearly acknowledges that Musa Aman was at the centre of the affair, as laid out in the question!

Who else is implicated among BN's governing elite?

It might be observed that if Najib dismissed every corrupted member of the BN government there would be few left to govern.  This is, of course, why the people need to perform this task at the next election.

However, with Musa squarely singled out by this case, the Attorney General (Abdul Gani Patail) is looking particularly vulnerable also. It has long been known that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC)  completed its enquiries many moons ago and sent a hefty list of suggested charges up to the AG’s office, where all progress has subsequently been blocked.

The AG is a relative of Aman.  He is also enmeshed in numerous other corruption controversies.  His third class law degree does not lend lustre to his position.

So, again, Najib’s choice of words puts pressure on him.  The PM has left the ball firmly in the AG’s court.  If he continues to resist a prosecution, despite the glaring public evidence that prove there is a case for the Sabah CM to answer, then the fault for that will clearly rest with him.

And there is another high placed politician who is also weakened.  Musa’s brother is the Foreign Minister, Anifah Aman and Sarawak Report has already demonstrated how he too has benefitted from the handing out of timber licences by his own brother.

Hanging out to dry

Next in line to face the heat? Foreign Minister Anifah Aman benefitted from logging concessions handed out by his brother.

The stupidity with which Aman has plundered Sabah’s remaining forests and then tried to hide the proceeda has been staggering.Najib has certainly left some very senior people with some serious embarrassment and potentially far worse after his decision to say what he did.  It may be that this is because he too feels angry and exposed.

Now the Swiss authorities are faced with investigating the role of their bank UBS AG in the whole unsavoury process, there remains little left to hide.

But, what of the biggest crook of all, the Chief Minister next door, who has spent the last 30 years confiscating native lands and handing them to his family and nominees?  Who has chopped down vast tracks of pristine jungle and profited from the kickbacks and handed billions in state contracts to companies owned by his family and political clients?

It is time that a question was likewise asked about the glaring evidence of Sarawak’s utter destruction through corruption and why nothing has been said of the MACC investigation against him either – or has Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail blocked that too?

Two Chief Ministers who have made billions destroying

the Borneo Rainforest and stealing from the native people

Source: http://www.sarawakreport.org/2012/06/najibs-deadly-words-threaten-disaster-for-musa-aman/