Malacca a hard act to follow

BOOMING: This BN bastion has been transformed from a laid-back state into one of the most bustling cities in the country



FOR 295 years, the A'Famosa Fort was used as a bastion by the Portuguese and also the Dutch during their occupation of Malacca. The Portuguese built it in 1511 before the Dutch overpowered them and took control of the fortress in 1641.
The fortress changed hands in the early 19th century when the Dutch handed it over to the British to prevent it from falling into the hands of the French.
However, in 1806, the fort was almost demolished when the timely intervention of Sir Stamford Raffles, who happened to visit Malacca in 1810, stopped the fort from being torn down.
In current times, Malacca is still considered a Barisan Nasional bastion and it is expected to remain so for the years to come as under the ruling coalition it has been transformed from a laid-back state into one of the most bustling cities in the country.
Boosting the state's performance, Malacca, under the helm of Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, has also achieved many accolades.
Malacca's transformation was initiated when Ali took over as chief minister in December 1999.
On Oct, 20, 2010 (20.10.2010), Malacca created history when it achieved what was deemed as impossible by many, when the state was declared a fully developed state, based on the benchmark set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
This not only elevated the state's status but also paved the way for Malacca to become a high-income state and green technology city state by 2020.
Besides this, Malacca can take pride in being the state with the lowest poverty and unemployment rates at 0.5 and 0.7 per cent respectively.
The state has also been the cleanest state, with the best landscaping, for the past eight consecutive years while the Chief Minister's Department has been awarded a five-star rating by the Federal Government, with Sarawak and Pahang in second and third spots.
Electricity and water supply is 100 per cent. At the Malacca International Trade Centre, which includes the state administration centre, power outages stand at zero minute, better than Singapore.
The water supply is also the cleanest, second only to Putrajaya, and surely far ahead of the Pakatan Rakyat-controlled states of Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan.
The state also made the New York Times list of 45 cities to be visited in the world this year, which could be attributed to it being accorded the World Heritage City Status by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in 2008.
Malacca also tops the list of states which had attracted more than half of the 25 million tourists who visited Malaysia last year. From the records, 13 million of them had visited the state, last year.
The state's achievements have not gone unnoticed, even Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak was all praise for Malacca.
Under Barisan Nasional, Malacca is also a magnet for foreign and domestic direct investments and this could be seen through the investment value of more than RM31 billion recorded by the state from 1999 to last year.
While the state experienced these successes, the people of Malacca had never been neglected and this could be seen in the RM84 million allocation in welfare aid and over RM60 million in the distribution of the 1Malaysia People's Aid last year.
As for housing projects for the poor, Malacca has built more than 6,600 houses since 2000 and spent RM70 million on this.
With housing seen by the state leadership as an important component of its poverty eradication plan, the state government would this year be developing some 2,800 units of low-cost houses under the People's Housing Project (PPR) throughout the state.
The state is now considered one of the best states in Malaysia, beating all the other states, especially those led by the opposition.
Malacca is also not like the Pakatan Rakyat-held states, where constituencies won by BN are neglected. Although Kota Melaka parliamentary and the state Seats of Ayer Keroh, Kota Laksamana, Kesidang, Bachang and Banda Hilir, are under DAP, the state government continues to bring development to these areas.
According to Ali, the BN government is sincere in serving the people and he is confident that the people would choose a government that works for them.
"When the government shows its commitment to the people, they should give their support."
For the next general election, the state BN believes it can repeat the feat achieved in 2004 and wrest the prized Kota Melaka seat from DAP.
BN could also make a clean sweep in the state in the next general election as the support of the people, regardless of race and religion has returned to BN.
"The 1Malaysia concept serves as a unifying factor for Malaccans to move forward as one, coupled with the fact that economic stability in the state has also made everyone happy.
"Tourism is booming in Malacca and one can go around and ask the people, especially businessmen and hawkers, on how they have benefited from our policies, especially in promoting tourism.
"We work for the people, regardless of whom they had chosen as their representative in the previous general election.
"I think it would be best if the people gave BN a 100 per cent mandate as we have transformed the state to what it is now, that is, one of the best in Malaysia," said Ali.

PR's Tactic In Demanding For Indelible Ink: Everyone Should Be Prepared

Malaysia is not a perfect country, but it is not much for us to say that there is nothing significant should be fought in this country other than strengthening the identity of its rakyat. This country is good enough that it could function in peace, stable and prosperous. The only thing it needs is upgrades, not drastic change.
And this is why it is a bit challenging for those who want to bring down the government, in terms of finding issues that are significant enough for them to win.
Thus, like it or not, they had to accuse, create or raise issues which are not significant enough to become issues. That is why, the issues they play are not genuine, which only gives bad impact. For example, the issue of ISA or even using indelible ink for elections.
That is why, we have had our doubts on the opposition's demand to use indelible ink in elections. The system seem 'primitive', and it is vulnerable to all kinds of manipulation other than the fact that it is inefficient. It is weird to see how the opposition really work hard to fight for it while rejecting the biometric system which is much more reliable and advanced.
Sadly, the demand from opposition was not stopped with strong argument, the indelible ink system was then approved even though everyone is aware of its weakness.
Now, as election draws closer, a few sides revealed the opposition's dirty tactics involving indelible ink. Such tactic has been detected a long time ago and it could have been avoided. Yesterday, Anwar's former strongman, Dato’ Zulkefli Nordin has revealed how indelible ink will be manipulated by the opposition during voting hours.
According to him, the way it is manipulated by smearing voters' fingers a few days before they vote. As they are blocked from casting their vote, they will say that 'UMNO forced them to smear their fingers before voting day to avoid them from voting'. From there, 'their goons' will be ready to trigger chaos and claim that EC is not transparent.
If those voters are not blocked and observers confirmed that the ink is not the ink used by EC, and that their name is not crossed yet, 'their goons' will trigger chaos and claim that EC is not transparent.
They only have one objective, accusing that EC is not transparent as well as causing chaos until the election result is not rejected.
What PR might have missed iis, it is illogical if they want to accuse EC or UMNO/BN/Government for manipulating indelible ink because it has been proven that EC, UMNO, BN or Government did not favor the system. It would make more sense if the ones who pushes for the approval of the system, PR, has early plans to manipulate it.
Malaysians are not as stupid as PR supporters who would accept anything that is thrown to them. Most Malaysians often use logic to evaluate something. The proof, Malaysia remain in peace under BN leadership since the past half a century.
Besides, this is not the first time PR made this kind of mistake. Before Lahad Datu incident, PR kept on mentioning the matter 'Sabah will be gone'. The same thing goes to before BERSIH demo turned violent, PR kept on mentioning the matter of police brutality. They are using the same tactic for this indelible ink issue, claiming that it will be manipulated by BN, when PR themselves will manipulate the whole thing.
PR, such tactic is no longer relevant because rakyat is aware of of you.
A baseless fight, without any solid, valid or genuine issue is certainly tough to stay relevant. Accusations and lies need to be improved from time to time and by the end of it, it will just backfire.
Even though this tactic has been revealed, do not think that PR will not go with it. Do believe that they will proceed with this because they know that some of their supporters and a few Malaysians did not receive this information and they would simply believe their lies.
Conclusion is, PR really depends on those kind of votes, voters who do not know anything. Thus, if BN can ensure that rakyat could gain the right information, all that is left for PR are those who do not know.
Whatever it is, everyone should be careful to ensure that PR's dirty tactic will not happen on voting day. Camera, CCTV, and observers should be stationed at every corner to ensure that GE13 will run smoothly, clean and just as always.

Dissolved: Proven That PR Is Scared

PR accuses the Prime Minister as scared, unprepared, some even imagined that Prime Minister intentionally delaying the dissolvement  because he wants to trigger chaos> It seems that PR is going crazy.
At the same time, PR did not even dissolve the DUN at states led by them. As they went around saying that they are convinced that they are able to win in more states, they kept on waiting until the parliament is dissolved.
In the end, what PR has been waiting for finally happened yesterday.
We thought that PR would take it as 'something expected', instead, PR claimed that the dissolvement only happened because PM has been receiving a lot of pressure from many sides. Only after PM announced the dissolvemet, PR announced theirs.
With that, we cannot understand when was the right date in the eyes of PR for PM to announce the dissolvement. What we see is, if it's early it's wrong, late is also wrong.
This is what happens when PR is really running out of ideas at the last minute. All of their bomb have been used and it did not benefit them at all. And in the end, when the real war begins, they had to fight without any weapons, all they can do is just mock and mock and mock.
The kalimah Allah issue which was hoped to be the weapon to drag non-Muslim voters away from BN has backfired. The Lahad Datu issue which was expected to be a nuclear bomb destroying BN, only increased unity, making BN stronger. Other issues such as Altantuya, scorpene and EC for instance, have been resolved with PR losing badly.
Fact is, PR's prediction on GE day was wrong. They have been campaigning for four years, everyday, non-stop. Throwing accusations, playing with weak issues should definitely be tiring. This is because most of the stories they brought up somehow change from time to time  to ensure that it stays relevant.
Finally, the strategy to confuse rakyat to raise support has gotten PR confused.
Thus, the one who is scared, is not BN, but PR themselves. That is why they did not have the guts to dissolve DUn at their states a lot earlier.
We know that PR still could not settle the issue of candidates and seats. We always hear complains regarding Anwar Ibrahim being a dictator, Lim Guan Eng's arrogance as well as Hadi Awang and Nik Aziz being stupid.
PAS is never respected in Penang and Selangor. DAP is not respected in Kedah, PAS Kelantan obeys to DAP Perak that they even gave them land in kelantan. Not just that, logs in Kedah is almost finished, water supply in Selangor is drying up, lands in Kelantan are given away and the only one who is not losing anything is DAP Penang and they are busy implementing unnecessary mega projects, and not being transparent.
It is clear, PR is nervous to face the election. Their divide and rule tactics by spreading racism, only brought to a stronger unity among Malaysians.
Too bad for PR, as the war comes, all they can do is just play with the 'parliament dissolvement' issue.
While waiting for the Prime Minister to announce the dissolution of Parliament, Pakatan Rakyat was the one which seemed most anxious. Dozens of speculations were made regarding why the Parliament was still yet to be dissolved even though before this they were the one who were in rage of the Prime Minister speeds up election.

BATTLE FOR GELANG PATAH PICKS UP WITH DAP’S DECLARATION TO WIN INDIAN VOTERS

The battle for Gelang Patah Parliamentary seat in Johor is getting hotter with DAP making a 14 points declaration aimed at giving more convincing attempts to emerge as victorious.
One of the points is to alleviate the socio-economic status of the Indians, which is seen as a ‘ploy’ given that the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) manifesto did not even mention anything about the community.
The Indian community, majority of whom had abandoned MIC, its representative in the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition ion 2008 general election and voted for PR, is now crying foul as the PR-led states have neglected their grievances if not existence.
Announced by none other DAP advisor himself Lim Kit Siang who is contesting the seat, Lim’s attempt is seen as ‘a desperate attempt in the final assault’ to clinch every single vote he can from the 100,000-odd voters.
It comprises of 54.3 percent Chinese, 33.85 percent Malays and 11.7 percent Indians and the constituency is an urban seat.
Gelang Patah seat is held by MCA Tan Ah Eng when he won it in 2008 general election with a majority of 8,851 votes against PKR’s Zaliha Mustafa.
Given the majority won by MCA in 2008, Lim sees that ignoring the Indians would be fatal for him if the Chinese do not give him a hundred percent support and hoping for PKR and PAS members and supporters to throw their support would not be sufficient.
The declarations that is considered as a ‘sandiwara’ by MIC Youth chief T. Mohan, similar opinions are also expressed by members of BN coalition parties.
Former BN assemblyman for Templer Park in Selangor Datuk Ahmad Bahari Abdul Rahman questioned why was it that DAP did not come out with policies on marginalized Malays and amrginalised Chinese?
“Since this is not contained in PR manifesto, is the DAP doing this without PR’s approval just to win the Indian votes and will the declaration be fulfilled after winning the seat?” he asked.
Given that PR through the DAP is attempting to make a ‘dent’ or if possible penetrate the Umno bastion, Gelang Patah will see a vigorous battle that is considered as a ‘do or die’ battle for Lim in his career in politics.
Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has already set foot there to defend from the push of Lim’s assault.
Dr Mahathir had called on the voters there to bury Lim’s political career.
However, given fact that majority of the voters are Chinese, Lim may just stand a chance to win as the voters may still want a vocal representation in Parliament.
Or will Lim end like the Tanjung project in 1999 where he lost to Gerakan’s Koh Ksu Koon.

Survey shows Pakatan may lose Kedah with 6pc swing in Malay, Chinese votes

Pakatan Rakyat (PR) could lose Kedah in Election 2013 with a mere six per cent swing in votes from the Malay and Chinese communities, a private survey by the Merdeka Center for Opinion Research has found.
A Kedah PAS leader told The Malaysian Insider that a possible reason for the drop in Chinese support was Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Razak’s ailing health, which he said had added to the perception of instability in the state government.
The leader also noted that Malay support for opposition parties PAS, PKR and the DAP during the 2008 general election had not been very strong to begin with, owing to the parties’ slim victory in the country’s rice-bowl state during the tumultuous polls.
“For example, in the Tanjung Dawai state seat, we won by barely a hundred votes,” the PAS leader said on condition of anonymity.
He added that the trend of votes from the Chinese community in supporting Barisan Nasional (BN) candidates at state-level but backing PR at federal level appeared to suggest a serious lack of confidence in the Kedah PR leadership.
Merdeka Center director Ibrahim Suffian underlined three likely factors behind the loss of support for the Kedah PR government, including the RM500 cash handouts under the Najib administration’s Bantuan Rakyat 1 Malaysia (BR1M) programme.
“Secondly, there may be internal issues within the state government, such as its service delivery and thirdly, the new crop of candidates that Datuk Seri Najib Razak has proposed have begun to draw voters back into BN’s fold,” he said when contacted by The Malaysian Insider.
The prime minister dissolved Parliament yesterday and several states followed suit while the Kedah MB said he would seek the state Ruler’s consent today. Elections are expected by the end of April.
But PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu dismissed the independent pollster’s findings, saying it would not hamper the Islamist party’s efforts to keep Kedah in Election 2013.
“I will go all out to help PAS and Pakatan recapture Kedah. Yes, I am aware of Merdeka Center’s findings,” he said when contacted by The Malaysian Insider.
“We promise to improve on our weaknesses to ensure that we will get to rule for a second term,” said the PAS leader, who is expected to contest in Kedah’s Pendang parliamentary seat.
In a recent interview with The Malaysian Insider, Azizan expressed confidence in PR’s chances in Kedah despite a recent prediction that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s influence and in-fighting among state PAS leaders could topple the fledgling pact in the state.
Azizan said voters should continue to support PR in Kedah because of several measures undertaken by his administration, including eliminating corruption and providing insurance coverage to all senior citizens, regardless of race.
“There is no corruption in Kedah. If there is, just arrest them,” said Azizan.
“I give aid to the rakyat without looking at their race. I use the Kifaalah system... all dead people, Malays, Chinese Indians, all get it,” added the Sungai Limau assemblyman, referring to an insurance scheme for all senior citizens in Kedah that was first introduced by the Kelantan PAS government.
“I give education, education assistance... I also introduced the Kedah agricultural agenda,” said Azizan.
PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang said recently that Azizan will continue to lead Kedah PAS as its state commissioner in facing Election 2013 that must be held by late June.
In Election 2008, the loose coalition of PAS, PKR and the DAP soared to a surprise victory in Kedah when it trounced BN, sweeping 22 of the state’s 36-seat assembly.
But two PKR representatives — Bakar Arang’s Tan Wei Shu and Lunas’ Mohd Radzhi Salleh — subsequently quit to become BN-friendly independents, citing their growing disillusionment with their party leadership.
Their quit decision effectively narrowed the seat margin between BN and PR to a mere four.
In May 2010, rumours began circulating that the state’s PR-led government would lose its already tenuous control of the state assembly and even fall back into BN’s hands due to more defections from PKR assemblymen.
But in a mammoth ceramah on the night of May 22, all remaining 20 PR state assemblymen turned up to defy the rumours, declaring their allegiance to Azizan’s leadership.
The PAS leadership has yet to officially indicate who will lead the party’s campaign in Kedah for Election 2013.
Politicians from the ruling BN and opposition PR will be fighting tooth and nail to wrest majority control over 222 parliamentary seats and 505 state seats in the coming polls, which analysts have said will a toss-up between both pacts.

Wan Azizah not contesting, says Anwar

PKR president Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will not be contesting in the 13th general election.
Her husband and PKR advisor Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim confirmed this in an Al-Jazeera interview Wednesday night.
"She has remained PKR president, but she has now decided not to contest in the election," he said.
Anwar was also quizzed about criticism that PKR suffered from nepotism, and was controlled by Anwar's family.
Responding to this, Anwar said his daughter and party vice-president Nurul Izzah had to work hard to attain her position.
"We are here in a struggle. You can't compare this to the children of the very rich and the famous, but I leave it to the people to decide," he said.
Wan Azizah has held the Permatang Pauh parliamentary seat since 1999 but gave it up in 2008.
Anwar then stood in a by-election there later that year, and won.
It is not known who will stand in Permatang Pauh during the 13th general election, with Anwar having his eye on a Perak seat.

tunku : only happens in pkr, an elected president is not contesting and an appointed de facto leader will contest.

Barisan Nasional to unveil manifesto on Saturday

Barisan Nasional will unveil its manifesto this Saturday and will announce its general election candidates a few days later.
Its chairman Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said the early introduction of the coalition's manifesto was to allow the people to gain a good understanding of Barisan's promises should it be retained as government.
"The manifesto is our akujanji (pledge) to the people of Malaysia.
"With the mandate given, God willing we will commit the Barisan government to undertake renewal and changes in line with objective which is to further develop the economy and improve their well-being," he said.
He said that candidates would be announced early to give enough time for those chosen to make necessary preparations as well as to introduce themselves to voters.
Najib said he would wait for the Election Commission to decide and announce polling and nomination dates before revealing the date which Barisan would unveil its candidates.
Najib had earlier chaired back-to-back meetings where he met with Umno supreme council members and later Barisan component party presidents.

‘Growing discontent in PKR’

Speculation is rife that many are upset with PKR supremo Anwar Ibrahim’s choice of candidates for the 13th general election.
One party source from Perak even claimed that Pasir Salak PKR division chief Ahmad Taufik Hassan would be leaving the party to rejoin Umno later tonight.
“Taufik is apparently upset by Anwar’s decision to field Mustafa Kamil Ayub for the Pasir Salak parliamentary seat,” said the PKR source.
The party insider added that Pasir Salak Umno will be hosting a short ceremony celebrating Taufik’s decision in Kampung Gajah tonight.
“Taufik and several others aligned to him will be giving their application forms to Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, who is also Pasir Salak Umno division chief,” said the source.
The source also said rumours that Anwar would be fielding Brigadier-General (Rtd) Abdul Hadi al-Khattab to contest for the Tanjung Malim parliamentary seat had also riled up the Tanjung Malim PKR division.
The party members, the source said, was even thinking of holding a peaceful demonstration to ensure their choice of candidate, Chua Yee Ling, gets selected.
“Chua is a former special assistant to Selangor executive councillor Elizabeth Wong. It is said that many Chinese leaders in PKR are silently protesting against the former military man’s candidacy.
“They see it as an attempt to take away a seat reserved for the Chinese in PKR,” said the source.
The party insider also said that the growing dissatisfaction against Anwar within the party is rising and it may peak within the next few days.
“Last week, Anwar was booed at a programme held at Balok, Kuantan, for his decision to field Fauzi Abdul Rahman for the Indera Mahkota parliamentary seat, instead of incumbent Azan Ismail.” said the source.
The source added that rumours are rife that some in PKR have already started a movement to protest against party president, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, (and stop her) from contesting for a state seat.
“All this resentment is going to be a slap in the face for PKR,” said the source.

Enough is enough

4 Glorious Years

Today marks the fourth year of Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak's leadership as Prime Minister. Four years is actually a short time for us to evaluate a leader, however, it's not the case when it comes to Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak.  
Within four years, Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak has managed to prove his credibility and wisdom in leading the country, as well as economic figures and rakyat's satisfaction would be the proof.
Just look at how media had to provide quite a big space to list out all of Dato’ Seri Najib contributions where he began by introducing the 1Malaysia concept until GTP, ETP as well as giving cash to rakyat. The same thing goes to the performance on GDP and the investor confidence index, fighting corruption and others which might have not been possible if Dato’ Seri Najib was not a smart leader.
No matter what is thrown to him, Dato’ Seri Najib has proven himself to be a strong leader. His calmness enables him to handle issues well. If back then former Premier, Tun Mahathir Mohamad became the target on accusations and mockery from the opposition which still goes on until today, it is not too much for us to say that Dato’ Seri Najib had to go through worse.
Accusations thrown to Dato’ Seri Najib were just harsh, this includes being involved in a murder. Even his wife and in law became the target of this ridiculous accusation that some even mentioned about dark magic. He was also accused to have worn a talisman in Mecca, as well as gold chain.
The interesting part is, as the opposition were busy accusing him, Dato’ Seri Najib kept on running this country as usual. Due to his ignorance towards the opposition's claims, the opposition had to kept on working hard until their lies can no longer be controlled.
In short, the accusations thrown to Dato’ Seri Najib became to much that it showed how bad the opposition is.
Today, after four years, we witnessed how one by one of those accusations made against Dato’ Seri Najib have been proven to be lies, without forcing Dato’ Seri Najib to give any response.
Not just that, the opposition kept on finding ways to cause chaos that the finally managed to make it slightly possible as election draws closer. It happened in Lahad Datu, Sabah where the opposition was identified as the mastermind behind the incident.
However, such terrorism managed to be handled by Dato’ Seri Najib calmly. Rakyat even saw how he appreciate those national heroes, showing them who is the real leader and what kind of opposition we have in this country.
Dato’ Seri Najib clearly managed to drive Malaysia to the international stage just like how it was during Tun Mahathir's era. If the image of Malaysia seemed 'torned' back then, it is now back on top.
Back then, we were respected for helping people in countries that were in crisis such a Bosnia or victims of PolPot's cruelty in Cambodia as well as defending Palestine, now Dato’ Seri Najib still continues his fight for peace. Recently, he managed to help achieve peace in southern Philippine other than helping southern Thailand and defends Palestine.
Even though the world went through unstable economic figures, Malaysians live in comfort without having to go through any of the effects.
We do not know what would happen to the country if Dato’ Seri Najib and leaders that are not from Barisan Nasional are to lead the country through those challenges.
That is why, as 13th General Election comes, Malaysians should consider all of the performance and developments which happens to this country in making their choices. Put aside emotions, make the right decision.
As the world faces threats of higher power wanting to conquer the world as well as economic instability, choosing a strong, wise, stable, sincere and caring leadership is important. Let's not jump out of our strong ship, just because we believe that another ship will come and save us. The other ship is still yet to be built, and we don't even exactly know who's the captain.
Thus, based on what has happened for the past four years, we believe that no one deserve to be the captain of Malaysia other than Dato’ Seri Najib. The important thing is, our ship, BN, is already strong, and it needs to be reinforced by giving full support to its captain, for the sake of a better future.

Dr Chua - BN will be returned with a stronger mandate

The unity and cooperation within the MCA and Barisan Nasional component parties will see the ruling coalition returned with a stronger mandate, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said Wednesday.
In a statement Wednesday on the dissolution of Parliament, he said many people continued to have hope and confidence in the MCA, adding that the party's track record in the last three years had further strengthened the people's faith and trust in the party.
Dr Chua said MCA, as the second largest Barisan component party, had not succumbed to the incessant attacks and curse by the Opposition after the last elections.
"In fact, MCA has emerged even stronger," he said.
Citing examples, he said more than 80,000 people had joined MCA in the last three years while less than 900 quit within the same period.
The 64-year-old party's membership is over one million.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has called for the 13th general election, after the King consented to the dissolution of Parliament on Wednesday.

Sarawak needs a Federal Government that understands - Taib Part 2

In the last instalment of a candid interview with Sarawak Chief Minister Pehin Seri Abdul Taib Mahmud, he spoke about the political reality in the state and its direction in the future.

"Sarawak is undergoing a very aggressive economic policy. We need a Federal Government that understands our process of development," Taib said. He also expressed his doubts whether any opposition leaders will have the expertise in bringing the development in Sarawak especially in regards to its economic and social development.


Q: How many parliamentary seats do you think Barisan Nasional can manage to win in the next election?

A: I think the lowest would be 23 and the highest would be 27. We are estimating this based on the political reality today. Maybe in the urban areas it looks like as if the opposition is getting some support but it (support) is not for PKR (Parti Keadilan Rakyat). PKR is not welcome here. DAP is quite aggressive and they are also trying to make inroads into the Iban community. (Editor's Note: Sarawak has a total of 31 parliamentary seats)

Q: In the Peninsular, the issue of word “Allah” is a hot issue among Muslims. The impact is quite heavy on Pas. However there are people in the Peninsular who think that this issue will bring negative impact to BN as DAP is trying to make this a religious issue in Sarawak. Is it really happening here?

A: DAP will be wasting their time. There will be no support on this. The Sarawakians have accepted this issue for the past 50 years. There are a lot of Christians in Sarawak who bought bibles from Indonesia and they have used the translation of the word “God” to “Allah” as part of their faith. Muslims in Sarawak do not feel affected by it. I don’t see why anyone would want to create an issue out of this.

If DAP wants to create an issue about it here, I feel DAP is a group of people who simply want to incite hatred among Sarawakians to fight among themselves. To me, this is verging on racial politics. I look upon this kind of politics very, very severely.

Q: In the Sibu by-election there were problems to address the issue of NCR (Native Customary Land) land? What is the update on the NCR land?

A: It is indeed a hot topic before the state election. However it is not a popular issue anymore. This is because we asked for proof of any NCR lands which had been taken away by the government. When we took some of the lands, it was gazzetted for the purpose of building schools, roads and other government projects.

What actually happened was several NGOs had given inaccurate information to the people. This is done to support certain parties who wanted to claim bigger lands than theirs. To me, I can’t make my own decision. It needed to be settled in courts. Most of them today are quite angry when the court decided that their claims were baseless.

Q: In one of (opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) Anwar’s promises if he wins in the next general election, he said 15 per cent oil royalty will be given to the people of Sarawak. What is your take on that?


A: When he was a Cabinet minister in the government, he was singing a different tune.
Anwar’s record with Sarawak is very clear. It tells us on how much regards he had on us. We were given funds by the Federal Government, under his purview (as Finance Minister), to build a university, Unimas. We had to set up a temporary building for more than 10 years because Anwar took the funds and chanelled it elsewhere. To me, I don’t trust a person like this.

Secondly there were a lot of projects which he promised to the people in Kuching but none of it has materialised.

Thirdly, outside Sarawak…on the international scene, he said he disagreed with having oil palm plantations along our coastal swampy areas. If the Malays in Sarawak were to find out that Anwar objected to this, they will be upset with him. This is due to the fact that the coastal populace enjoyed better living due to the existence of oil palm plantations in their area.

If Pakatan wins, together with their promises, this state will be bankrupt. The oil royalty promise is just a sweet promise that doesn’t come from the heart.

Q: Anwar is selling himself as the saviour of the country. Does he have the qualities to provide the leadership?

A: The greatest test for Anwar was during the 1997 financial crisis. We look at his reaction in following standard developing countries’ reaction when we had economic crisis. He called the International Monetary Fund, and the IMF will straight away say: “You pay your debts or the money go to New York or wherever.” If we were to do that, as some of the countries in the region did, we would have lost a lot of employments and our economy would have gone bust.

But as we know, we passed through 1997 without being hurt too much as opposed to some other countries. You ask why? The reason is very simple, the then Prime Minister said, “I don’t want Anwar’s solution. I don’t want IMF to come. I have a Malaysian solution.”

We didn’t want to impoverish our country. What we need to do was to manage our supply of money and our capital flow and that’s what Tun Dr Mahathir did. I think this approach is even endorsed by developed countries. Even in the European crisis today some of them think Tun Dr Mahathir was right.

Anwar never thought what would happen to Malaysia. He’s got good relationships with his friends outside (IMF, World Bank and the rest). His focus was to please them first and not what he can do for the country.
To me a person like this is not immersed in fighting for his own people.

When asked how do we remember Anwar in Sarawak for his tenure as Federal Minister, as Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister? We would reply, “do not ask anything on what he has left for us, I think what we have now will be gone too.” Just use the case of funds meant for Unimas as an example. As far as Sarawak is concerned, Anwar did not look after Sarawak. I hope he does not become the Prime Minister.

Q: What is the progress of Score (Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy) now, after almost five years?


A: Score started its operations only about two years. Almost 30 big companies have applied to build factories in Samalaju. Five factories have been built and the rest are at different stages including planning and so on.

Based on these applications, it is beyond my expectation. We thought of having only 1000ha of land for these purposes but it is not enough. I have to allocate 6000ha in Samalaju for this. Currently a port has been built and there is one operating factory in the area.

We will see a lot of positive developments and responses for the upcoming years. I was quite worried at first with the global financial crisis but so far everything moving well.

Q: Recently Malaysian Airlines bought a substantial number of aircrafts for Mas Wings service. It shows that demand for rural domestic flight is growing. Having said that, in 2015, Asean open-sky policy will come in. How will Sarawak government react or respond to this policy and new airlines like Malindo Air in the region?

A: Probably the open-sky policy will be a challenge. But liberalising airline policy has its good and bad, but in the end the airlines know how to survive.

In the case of Sarawak, we are looking for more entry from outsiders to Sarawak and it will give greater accessibility to the state. I don’t know what the new policy is…whether we will handle it or Mas will take over, it doesn’t matter to me. What is more important is we take advantage of getting linked with the outside world.

Q: When are you expected to finalise the list of candidates?


A: All of these things are in the PM’s hands. As far as PBB (Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu) is concerned, it’s okay… we have decided since last year. In SDPD (Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party) there’s a lot of movement so PM has got to decide. PRS (Parti Rakyat Sarawak), I think there’s only one problem. SUPP (Sarawak United People’s Party), the list of their candidates is about to be finalised.

Q: Any specific message to the people in Sarawak for the upcoming election?


A: The Opposition tries to sell the idea that there should be change. That they (Opposition) are able to take over the government. It’s a normal line. But the people of Sarawak have got to be convinced whether the change is for the better or not. As far as I’m concerned we cannot afford to have a Federal Government that is led by people who have less than proven ability.

To us, Datuk Pattinggi Najib (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) is the best candidate for PM at the moment. I don’t think we should look beyond that.

If we think he’s the best person to become the Prime Minister, as far as Sarawak is concerned, we’ve got to go give all the best votes for him. He has proved to be much more sympathetic to the problems of Sarawak.
In fact by giving Sarawak and Sabah RM 5 billion to catch up with the demand for rural roads, electricity and water supply, we have more or less covered all the areas in rural Sarawak.

Because of that I think the PM will get a great deal of support among the rural people of Sarawak. He’s very sympathetic to Baram which was an area that suffered some difficulties because of its infrastructure which led to migration of a lot of educated people to Miri.

I think it’s quite natural while we are taking steps to have long-term big development in Baram area, we have to do something within the next 20 years.

By having to develop Baram as one of the areas to produce electricity for Score, we have a big project that can allow us to plan for much bolder steps to change the character of development in Baram.

Today Baram is still dependent on timber and lately palm oil but there’s sufficient development in Baram area to support good employment opportunities. We have identified the area where the first dam will be sited and around the dam I see there’s enough development to support about 3,000 to 4,000 employment opportunities.

If we can build the township (in Baram), instead of tackling Baram’s resettlement problem we build a township like what we did for Bakun. It will be a healthy development.

While we can’t stop the migration of well-educated people completely from Baram like most rural areas, it will create opportunities for the educated people to come back. That to me is very important and that can only be done by having a development that is focused on the creation of the new town.

That’s why in Sarawak, the state government has decided to build a town near the dam. It’s an approach that’s been regarded as exciting by community leaders in Baram itself and they are welcoming it very much. I think this will be a good way to show that BN is always ahead to see what can be done to enhance the development potential of Sarawak itself. With the support of the Federal Government, this will bring about restructuring of basic problems in Sarawak, namely the distribution of the population.

I think the same approach is welcomed in Kapit because we also feel that border areas cannot afford to lose the population too much as we need a secure border for the future.

When we face this election we are going to see more forward thinking in the context of Sarawak because we have a good Prime Minister who can understand this kind of thing. I doubt whether someone in Pakatan Pembangkang will be able to produce that level of vision, expertise in economic and social development.

We know most of the leaders in Opposition, we cannot see anybody from them who can see this level of development for Sarawak even if we can get along with them. That’s the outlook that we have from the Sarawak perspective.

Q: What is your message to the people of Sarawak and the people of Malaysia in general? What are your plans for the state?

A: To the people of Sarawak, Sarawak is undergoing very aggressive economic policy. Score will require a lot of infrastructures. We need quite a lot of development that it will be heavier for Sarawak to shoulder alone. We need a Federal Government that understands our process of development.

I would say let’s elect experienced leaders. At least they have been brought up in the surrounding of development planning and execution as it has been imbued in our system.

It has been adopted by our various leaders and refined from time to time by our Prime Ministers. The best people are the people in Barisan Nasional to do this. I don’t think anybody from the Opposition has that kind of long-term views and practical experience.

DAP is the biggest gainer in the 13th GE

 Is DAP Eying The Prime Minister's Post ?

DAP would field Malay candidates in a number of places to reflect the party multi-racialism stance and bolster Malay supports. 

Is that all it is, or it has other more sinister agenda?

Malaysiakini reported yesterday that the party would field UMNO renegade Mohd Ariff Sabri, a former UMNO assemblyman for Pulau Manis in Pahang as candidate for the Raub parliamentary constituency. Sabri fell out with Najib for not being selected as candidate in the 12th GE (General Elections). He is also a blogger known as SakmongkolAK47 and regularly used his blog to deliver brutal attacks on Najib and UMNO. Seen as a lightweight, a nobody and not a threat, those in UMNO ignored his rambling.

Another strong advocate of DAP is Aspan Alias, another UMNO dropout with a deep vengeance to make it even with UMNO. He  may also be chosen to stand as candidate. His blog "Aspan Alias" also regularly delivers tirades of abuses against his former party. 

DAP also announced that the party would field Tengku Zulpuri Shah Raja Puji, a member of the Pahang royal house, as candidate for Mentakab state assembly seat. Is DAP Eying The Prime Minister's Post ?
DAP, might have missed a heartbeat, not all member of the royal household are popular with the people.

Will DAP field more Malay puppets on a string to fulfil its ambition to be the leading party in Pakatan Rakyat.

I expect DAP to also field Malay candidates in Perak and Selangor, where it has better chance of becoming the lead party and DAP menteri besar could become a reality. 

I called it to "circumnavigate the constitution" and sail through the loophole. Most state constitution in Peninsula Malaysia, with the exception of Melaka and Penang, only allow Malay Muslim as menteri besar.

It seems obvious DAP leaders are focused of getting the premiership for its party. The only way they can achieve this is to have Malay members of parliament in the party.

In the event they garnered more federal seats than PKR and PAS, the party can demand the PM post be given to its Malay MP. 

This, maybe, the umpteenth time, I say DAP will be the biggest gainer in the 13th GE. Whether Pakatan makes it to Putrajaya or not, is another story.

The Arrogance of Lim Guan Eng in fighting with CAP and the people of Penang who oppose his mega undersea tunnel RM8 billion project

More and more people are now coming out to openly and publicly object to Lim Guan Eng’s mega undersea tunnel project and other infrastructure projects for Penang – all amounting to RM8 billion. The most notable NGO objecting to this project is the Consumers Association of Penang and its President SM Idris has written this open letter of reply to CM Guan Eng’s earlier open letter to him:


Open reply to Penang Chief Minister’s open letter to CAP on the RM6.3 billion mega project

Dear Yang Amat Berhormat,
I wish to thank you for the personal invitation, extended in your open letter, to a meeting to discuss CAP’s and SAM’s concerns over the RM6.3 billion mega-project to build a 7 km undersea tunnel and 3 highways. I regret I cannot accept the publicised personal invitation because, in our culture, we do not invite people to meetings by open letters. In any case, a meeting will be futile and not serve any purpose since, according to press reports, the state government has already awarded the project to a private company despite opposition from many NGOs.
Mr Chief Minister, I have met with you twice previously, at your invitation, and we had a free and frank discussion and exchange of views about proposed projects and the differing perspectives of politicians and environmentalists. I appreciate your initiative and said so during the meetings.
There are politicians and then there are politicians. While there are undoubtedly selfless politicians who devote their entire life to serving the people with no thought of pecuniary gain or power, they are unfortunately a vanishing breed. In contrast, quite a number of politicians are after power, either to secure what they have or to take it away from another party. They can make all sorts of promises, twist and turn, and hand out goodies in the expectation that the recipients will vote for them. They will want to build the longest bridge, the tallest building in the world and wide highways to prove to the electorate that they can deliver and are not do-nothingers.
Many such politicians are also wedded to the neo-liberal economic policy based on profit seeking and high economic growth without real concern for social justice and ecological stewardship. Developers, bankers, investors and others from the wealthy economic elite have critical influence on government policies compared to the rakyat.
On the other hand, genuine environmentalists – not those pseudo ones serving certain political interests – are concerned with the impact of ‘development’ on our ecology, social relations, social justice and inter-generational rights. They are not in the fight for power and the benefits that come with it. Consistent with this perspective, CAP and SAM have been non-partisan on party politics and opposed projects that we were convinced would not be in the long-term interest of society, regardless of the political parties promoting them.
For example, we opposed the Komtar project on the ground that it was not economically viable, would create traffic congestion, and destroy the unique beauty of our urban heritage. We have been proved right with the lack of demand for space there, traffic congestion in the surrounding areas, and the mushrooming of ugly high-rise buildings all over the city.
We also initiated an alliance of civil society groups which campaigned against and stopped the proposed massive development of Penang Hill by the Berjaya group.
We tried to stop the Bakun project, even by taking the matter right up to the Court of Appeal, but we did not succeed because of the timidity of our courts and the power of those behind the project. The project has destroyed virgin rainforest the size of Singapore, causing irreplaceable ecological losses and heavy financial loss to the government and government-linked companies which are continuing. To create demand for the excess energy generated, the Sarawak state government is trying to lure energy-guzzling and polluting industries like aluminium and steel.

 You are wrong in alleging that we did not object to the land reclamation carried out by the previous administration. The decision on the reclamation and the decision to award the contract to a particular company without tendering were taken in secret by the State Exco. It was only much later, after the contract had been signed and work had started, that the public came to know about it. We criticised it and organised the coastal fishermen affected by the project to oppose and resist the reclamation. It is to prevent such bad practice, which would inevitably produce financial loss to the people and damage to the environment, that, when you announced the mega-project in 2011, CAP, SAM and other civil society groups opposed it and called for a study on its viability and need.
In the light of this record, it is highly irresponsible and unethical for you to accuse us of being selective in our criticism and of being aligned to the Barisan Nasional. We can understand that you are under pressure and mounting tension with the elections coming closer but you must be careful with your comments and not make wild allegations. That is what marks a statesman from a quarrelsome politician.
Interestingly, just recently, a politician from the Barisan Nasional accused us of being aligned to the Pakatan Rakyat to bring down the BN government. By perceiving constructive criticism from civil society through party lens, some politicians display their intolerance and ignorance of democracy. They believe in the Bush doctrine “You are either with us or against us” – and look at what that has brought the United States.
Your difficulties with the Federal government cannot justify embarking on a RM6.3 billion mega-project without understanding its long-term implications and without convincing evidence that it will solve the traffic congestion problem on the island. Your ‘consultations’ with the public have been after the announcement of the project and they were to explain your decision rather than to seek public views on the project before taking a decision.
The fundamental question is: Is there a need for such a project and have any feasibility and cost-benefit studies been carried out before the decision was made to go on with a project of this magnitude? You announced the signing of the MOU for four major roads with Chinese companies even before the consultants began work on the Transport Master Plan (TMP). On what basis was this decision taken?
A strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of the proposal with genuine public participation should have been undertaken before the decision was made to go ahead with the project and invite tenders for the works. A SEA would involve looking at the sustainability of the project from the economic, social, environmental and cultural perspectives. To cite an example from Scandinavia, the SEA done for the Norwegian Road and Road Transport Plan 1997 even considered reduction in the number of kilometres of trunk roads in significant conflict with landscape qualities and the natural and cultural environment.
The TMP recommends a balanced approach to solving transport problems with short- and long-term measures. Major road construction is for the long term.
You have chosen to proceed with the mega-project regardless of public opposition and ignoring the recommendations of the TMP. Therefore, what is there left to ‘consult’? Public consultation has become meaningless and reduced to a public relations exercise.


We fear that the proposed tunnel and the second bridge are going to worsen the traffic congestion in Penang. You have stated that over 80, 000 vehicles use the Penang Bridge on a normal day. With the introduction of two more links the vehicles usage will increase to 240,000 over a period. The number of vehicles is growing at 10% a year and at this rate Penang will have one million more vehicles in ten years. Similar trends can be seen in the neighbouring states Kedah, Perlis and North Perak whose population frequently visit the island. Such a development would create a motorised traffic congestion nightmare on the island.
If this trend continues, more roads, parking lots, petrol stations, and workshops would be needed. This is only the increased land demand associated with motor vehicle growth; no account has been taken of the population growth and the land required for it. Has the government worked out the vehicle-carrying capacity of the limited land available on the island?
Mr Chief Minister, we also share your vision that “we must not turn the next generation into a traffic-jam generation to suffer what we have suffered due to lack of foresight and long term-planning.” It is good public transport coupled with sustainable and rational town planning where people are encouraged to live near their place of work, and curbing the rural-urban migration and urban sprawl, that would enable us to realise that vision. But building more roads, bridges and tunnels as planned is a sure way to “turn the next generation into a traffic-jam generation”.
We, once again, sincerely appeal to you to reconsider your decision. Further, we urge you to take the following short-term measures to reduce traffic congestion while working on long-term solutions which would need radical changes in our economic model, town planning, and consumption pattern:

• Create dedicated lanes for buses, bicycles and pedestrians. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Study the experience of Curitiba, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam. In Copenhagen, 37% of commuters ride to work (the target is to reach 50% by 2015); 58% use a bicycle daily; only 29% of households own a car
• Provide an efficient shuttle service to main bus stops from housing estates
• Provide incentives to public servants to cycle or walk to work and appeal to the private sector to do the same
• Drastically reduce roadside parking and make it very expensive
• Increase parking charges
• Impose congestion charges on private vehicles coming into the city
• Restrict building height to not more than six floors

A good, efficient and affordable public transport system coupled with biting disincentives for motorists bringing their vehicles into the city would ameliorate the traffic congestion problem.
 Yours truly,
S.M. Mohamed Idris
President, CAP


Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has decided to accuse one of the most consistent and responsible NGOs in Malaysia, namely, the Consumer Association of Penang, of being selective in its criticisms and – worse still – of being aligned to the BN. Lim had called on the people to be wary of “hostile and dangerous NGOs that were now adopting the BN line” to oppose the state’s RM6.3 billion tunnel and four-stage integrated road system.
Lim Guan Eng has forgotten that true NGOs work for the people.
Anyone who has followed the investigative journalism of Utusan Konsumer all these years will know that CAP and its sister organisation, Sahabat Alam Malaysia, have been the most tireless and consistent torch bearers of consumer and environment protection in Malaysia for decades now. No other organisation in Malaysia – political party or NGO – can claim that distinction.
With both coalitions competing to see which can attract more foreign investments and mega projects, Malaysian NGOs will have to be even more vigilant to protect the interests of the people, the environment and taxpayers. Whichever coalition is in power in Malaysia, they will be subject to the same level of monitoring by NGOs to ensure that they adhere to the norms of good governance.

 CAP by its good and consistent work in Penang has tremendous grassroot support and Lim Guan Eng is truly being stupid to pick a quarrel with CAP whose credibility is solid as compared to Lim’s dodgy reputation. But to Guan Eng, these NGOs are stupid people who are troublemakers and he will piss on them if he can.
Meanwhile, another NGO called Penang Forum also opposes road-based undersea tunnel as they have serious reservations about highway-building spree. “While it is true that public transport comes under the jurisdiction of the federal government, we feel that ‘do-the-wrong-thing’ approach (promoting dependency on private motor vehicles over the long term) is worse than the ‘do-nothing’ approach.
A more sensible and visionary approach would be to come up with a comprehensive plan for sustainable transport while educating the public and pressuring the federal government to realise that change.”

 The Penang Forum Steering Committee also posed the following tough questions for Lim Guan Eng and the Penang State Government to answer:

1. Shouldn’t important public policies be based on evidence and analysis?
2. Are we moving to the 21st century or moving back to 20th century with the state government’s emphasis on building infrastructure for private motor vehicles?
3. The formal agreement for the (Transport Masterplan) TMP was signed in mid 2011. In the same week, the CM announced the signing of MOU for four major road projects with Chinese companies. Does it make sense to have the solution before the study has started? Does this not ignore evidenced based analysis and policies?
4. Concurrent negotiations for the tunnel and highway projects started in 2011 held while the TMP study was underway. Why were the awards for the projects given out even before the TMP is finalized and made public? Doesn’t this pre-empt the significance of the report’s recommendations?
5. Have there been independent feasibility studies, cost benefit analysis, traffic demand simulation etc done for ALL the four projects before they were tendered? Isn’t it standard best practice to conduct such studies BEFORE tender and award, rather than after?
6. How is the public expected to provide meaningful feedback when they are hazy about the precise alignment of the routes? All the precise proposed alignments should be displayed to the public for their comments. Penang State government should practice transparency especially now that the Freedom of Info Act has been passed?
7. If there was an MOU with the China government, how can there be an open tender? Is that why only two bids were received for the tunnel – both involving firms from China? Why were there no other bids from other countries? Because of the earlier MOU? If so, is this really an open tender?
8. Who are the parties behind the three small local companies that were in the winning tender bid? Has there been an evaluation to look into their track record and expertise? Do these companies have any political connections?
9. What kind of performance bonds will the local companies give?
10. Can the Penang state government under the CAT policy make publicly available all the tender documents and acceptances and the decisions of the tender award?
11. What are the plans for the 110 acres of land: how is the use of this land going to contribute to or solve some of our existing problems. Is it going to add to traffic congestion? Is it going to address shortages in public space and how is it going to influence the property market and the price of housing. How much affordable housing will be built on this land?
12. Who is going to develop the land – the local companies within the consortium, the China companies or an external developer? If so, who is the developer and the contractors and do they have any political connections?
13. Can the state government guarantee that there will be a really independent detailed environmental impact assessment for this land? Can it also guarantee that there will be a reliable independent hydrological study for the entire island and mainland?
14. What is the market value and gross development value of the reclaimed land? Where exactly is this located?
15. Who will pay for the cost of acquisition of private land that is in the way of the proposed highways?
16. How was it decided to award 110 acres of reclaimed land to the project proponents along with a 30-year concession for tolls? Was there a financial projection of future revenue for both the reclaimed land and the tunnel toll collection? If so, how many billions in profit is the consortium estimated to make? If there is no financial projection, why not and how was it decided to award them reclaimed land in addition to a 30-year tunnel toll concession?

The entire project planning and the way the contracts are awarded shows that powers are abused, the public ignored and there is no stakeholder consultation at all and in essence, it stinks to high heaven of massive corruption.

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Lim Kit Siang Should Retire Just As Tun Mahathir

Lim Kit Siang seemed shocked when Tun Mahathir urged rakyat of Johor to end the political career of the DAP leader who will be contesting at Gelang Patah. In his speech, Tun Mahathir criticized Kit Siang who still refuse to retire despite of his constant claim saying that Tun Mahathir is crazy for power.
As a response, Kit Siang challenged the former Premier to contest with him in Gelang Patah.
It seems, DAP being DAP, Kit Siang does not know the meaning of shame even when Tun Mahathir's sarcastic remark really hit him. Kit Siang also refuse to admit that Tun Mahathir is still influential despite of being retired, compared to him where he still could not prove anything even after being in politics for years. Even then, he still wants to be in politics.
Not just that, Kit Siang is also not ashamed of going around places to contest. Logically, Kit Siang's actions in not staying at one place is enough to show that he does not have the rights to challenge Tun Mahathir. There is no use for Kit Siang to say about the majority which he receive if he cannot say anything about contributions which he gave to the people who voted for him.
Wherever Kit Siang contest, no changes would happen to the constituency. Even if there is, the change would be a lot worse than it was before where racism gets stronger at his constituency.
Kit Siang claim that Tun Mahathir gets even more powerful after he retired. This might be true. However, the thing which Kit Siang might fail to understand is that Tun Mahathir did not get the 'power' for 'shutting' anyone through violence, instead, it is because rakyat's care and respect towards him as well as his love and care towards rakyat and this country. All this caused rakyat to prefer his decisions and opinions. Only those who are not smart would deny opinions from smart and wise leaders.
From this, Tun Mahathir who is accused of being a dictator, do not even have to give any orders or punish anyone else. The proof, Kit Siang himself was free criticizing Tun Mahathir when he was still the Premier. If Kit Siang is right about Tun Mahathir being a dictator, he knew that his actions, criticizing and mocking Tun Mahathir, would have cost him his life.
After practicing politics in his entire life, Kit Siang should have realized that politicians are evaluated through their contributions, not words.
Thus, just look at how small Kit Siang is to be compared to Tun Mahathir. If Tun Mahathir do take up the challenge, where would Kit Siang hide his face? Do know that DAP do not even know how to count votes that are less than 2000, how can they lead the country? Kit Siang himself practices nepotism, how dare he question Tun Mahathir?
Just accept the fact that Tun Mahathir's contributions cover the world while Kit Siang does not do anything.
So, our advice to DAP and Kit Siang, don't show that you are that stupid. This is not a joke.
It seems obvious that DAP is low, not just that they do not know how to count, now they are just being plain rude.
Enough with the racism, kiasu, arrogant, corrupt, nepotism and cronyism which are all obvious. Kit Siang should just retire instead of going around looking for power. Learn from Tun Mahathir, he does not have to go around looking for power, because power will come to those who deserve it even if they no longer hold any position.
That is why, our message to Kit Siang, do accept advice from Tun Mahathir, change before you change Malaysia. Learn computer and math before leading Malaysia. Contribute something before challenging anyone to contest with you.

EC says needs time to fix nominations, polls dates

The Election Commission (EC) requires time to prepare before the 13th general election can be held, its chairman said as the prime minister announced the dissolution of Parliament today.
Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof said the election regulator must be formally notified before it can set the dates for nominations of candidates and polling.
“After the dissolution of the Dewan Rakyat, (and) the state legislative assemblies, the EC must wait for the official letters from the Dewan Rakyat Speaker and the Speakers of the DUN to ensure the Dewan Rakyat and the DUN are legitimately dissolved.
“After receiving all those letters, the EC will call all members of the commission for a meeting to determine the date for nomination of candidates, the campaign period and polling day,” Abdul Aziz said.
“The EC also needs time for preparation, many papers need to be prepared.”
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced the dissolution of the Dewan Rakyat live over national television at 11.30am, paving the way for Malaysia’s 13th general election.
A total of 222 federal seats and 505 state seats will be contested in Election 2013.
Politicians from the ruling Barisan Nasional and the opposition Pakatan Rakyat have both been talking up their chances for a bigger win than they had scored in Election 2008.

GE 13: It's on.

The 13th General Election is on. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak confirmed that Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah had consented to the dissolution of the 12th parliament.
"I met the Agong this morning and he consented to the dissolution of Parliament," Najib said during a live televised speech after the Cabinet meeting here Wednesday.
He advised all the state governments, except Negri Sembilan and Sarawak, to also dissolve their respective state legislative assemblies to allow the state elections to be held simultaneously with the general election.
The Negri Sembilan state legislative assembly dissolved automatically on March 28.
Sarawak held its state election on April 16, 2011, and the Barisan Nasional (BN) was returned to power after it won 55 of the 71 seats contested.
Following the dissolution of the Dewan Rakyat today, the Election Commission (EC) is expected to meet soon to set the dates for nomination and polling.
The current mandate of the government was due to expire on April 28 this year.
According to Article 55 (4) of the Federal Constitution, a general election must be held within 60 days of the dissolution of parliament.
Based on the latest electoral rolls, as of December last year, 13.3 million people are eligible to go to the polls in the country.
A total of 222 parliamentary seats will be contested in the coming general election, 31 of which are in Sarawak, while 505 state seats will be up for contest.
At the time of dissolution, the BN had 137 seats in the Dewan Rakyat with the rest held by the DAP (29), Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) (23), PAS (23), Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanahair (KITA) (one) and Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) (one). Eight seats were held by independent MPs.
In the last general election, in 2008, the BN failed to secure a two-third majority in the Dewan Rakyat, garnering only 140 seats while the opposition grabbed 82 seats.
Besides failing to regain control of Kelantan, the Barisan also lost control of Kedah, Penang, Perak and Selangor.
After three elected representatives declared themselves friendly to the Barisan almost a year later, the opposition Perak government fell and the Barisan took back the state.
The 13th general election is the first for Najib as the leader of the Barisan after having taken over as the prime minister from Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on April 3, 2009.
Meanwhile, the EC is scheduled to implement eight new elements as part of the effort to improve the running of the general election, in accordance with the recommendations in the report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reform presented to parliament on April 3 last year.
These include the use of indelible ink to mark voters, early voting to replace postal voting for policemen and soldiers, allowing postal voting for Malaysians abroad and journalists, and setting a campaign period of not less than 10 days.
After the 12th general election, 16 by-elections were held following the death or resignation of elected representatives, six of these for parliamentary seats and 10 for state seats. Eight seats were won by the BN and eight by the opposition.
The parliamentary by-elections were held in Permatang Pauh, Kuala Terengganu, Bukit Gantang, Hulu Selangor, Sibu and Batu Sapi while the state by-elections were held in Bukit Selambau, Batang Ai, Manek Urai, Permatang Pasir, Penanti, Bagan Pinang, Galas, Batu Sapi, Tenang, Merlimau and Kerdau.
The number of by-elections was the highest after the 1995-1999 parliamentary term that saw 17 by-elections held.

Sarawak CM sets the record straight on Global Witness video Part 1

Sarawak Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud who was implicated in a 'sting' video which was released last month by a non-governmental organisation Global Witness described the allegation as a smear campaign against Sarawak leadership and society.

The video which was released last month alleged that there is a systematic corruption and  illegitimate practices committed by Taib’s family on land matters including Sarawak’s deforestations.

Setting the records straight with The Mole and several online media practitioners in a recent interview in Kuching, Taib offered his insights on the allegations and the misrepresentation of facts about Sarawak in the new media.

Q: Recently there was a video by Global Witness on alleged corruption in Sarawak. Can you comment on that?

A: Yes, sure. I have watched it and was quite shocked. The issue they are creating is not happening at all. There is no truth at all. Before this I’ve seen a lot of propaganda and I normally tolerate it. But today it becomes clear that they are trying to manufacture evidence (on this issue). For people who are expert on evidence matters, they know it is not evidence… it is a campaign.

In the first place, the people they trust as their “middlemen” are not people who are close with me. I am good with them because of blood ties. Tun Rahman (Yakub) is my uncle and I don’t like to quarrel for the sake of unity among our community.

But I also noticed these people also do not know why such questions were posed to them by someone who claimed to be a land buyer, who wanted to find out on business requirements.

To use a business talk as an evidence to allege someone else it is a bit far-fetched. Any businessmen will try to promote himself with all the glorious connection he’s made, isn’t it?

This is a normal business practice. I know this, all people in Malaysia know this. I don’t think we can trust this talk unless they can show us their proof that there are money that will be given to me or my bank account on how much I have received it. However this has not been shown at all. These are simply claims by “middlemen” which I don’t even know, except for Tun Rahman’s family. That’s why my first response is, well they want to promote themselves, I have no objection to it but I have nothing to do with it.

Q: What is your comment when the NGO which produced the video is one of the fund recipients from Soros?

A: I call it manufacturing of evidence. First you can see the way they approach it, which I’ve explained just now. Number two, why now? During the election time? It’s very obvious. They sneaked in and timed it very carefully. If they want to come in and want to smear Sarawak’s leadership and society, I can tell you we have done much better than what the British has done before (when Sarawak was a British colony).

Q: In the video it stated that there are only five per cent of forests left in the state. What is the actual status from the state’s record?

A: As of today, we have approximately 60 per cent of forest cover.

We have reserved one million hectare of our forests for national park. Almost five million hectares have been reserved for long-term forests. It (forest plantations) will be harvested for timber but it will have to comply with very strict rules. By strict rules we mean that for every hectare, only seven trees will be allowed to be cut down for timber for every 25 years. There are no such strict rules like this even in the European countries for logging activity.

This 25-year cycle sustainable forest management has been certified by ITTO. I am puzzled why people who criticise Sarawak did not look at the satellite pictures of our forest cover. You will see nothing is bold in Sarawak, you can see it straight away. But they refused to see. It is their propaganda and they completely turn their blind eyes to the realities. To me it is not fair. These critics and NGOs are not looking after the interest of the world environment but what they are just interested in smear campaigns.

Q: Do you know Bruno Manser (Fund) and do you know George Soros personally?

A: George Soros was known to us… and the former Prime Minister (Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad) isn’t impressed with his international performance. I understand he’s backing some of the NGOs (non-governmental organisations) against Sarawak because Sarawak happens to be a part of Malaysia which he (Soros) doesn’t like. Nevermind, it’s okay.

I wish that if he only knows what we try to do for the people of Sarawak to bring them from poverty, to a developed nation status by the year 2020. I think any feeling of fairness in him (Soros) would prompt him to support us rather than supporting any NGOs’ action against Sarawak.

A lot of the things are based on lies. For example anybody can see the forest in Sarawak is still there. We have nearly 60 per cent of the surface of Sarawak covered by trees. We have a very rigorous strict silviculture programme, very rigidly controlled harvesting policies for our timber. Therefore some of our timber today are being harvested at the third time (from sustainable forest plantations).

This just shows that the rules were laid out for more than 50 years ago. It proved to be quite a sustainable practice and I think people like George Soros should learn the fact independently from international bodies like ITTO (International Timber Trade Organisation) and from the studies by the FAO undertaken in end of 1960s and 1970s which we have accepted as the basis for our timber policies in Sarawak.

So organisation like Bruno Manser Foundation…they are just blind to any facts. They just want to make themselves popular as the savior of Sarawak’s forest.

I did not take his antics very seriously before. BMF…Bruno’s foundation that follows his policies is not fighting any real cause, more of an imaginary cause rather than a realistic one.

Q: Maybe because George Soros has never been to Sarawak…

A: I don’t know. If he wants he can come and see with his own eyes. I can tell him he can travel all the way from Limbang or Lawas to Kuching and he will see nothing else but trees and trees. Most of them are our natural trees, some are palm oil which I think is as healthy a producer of oxygen for the environment as our natural trees.

Q: For the past 15 months there were three different documentaries by BBC on the issue of deforestation of Sarawak, and that it was affecting certain tribes. There’s one which focused on the Penan community. Can you comment on that?

A: There are two misrepresentations in connection with that. In the first place there are barely 5,000 Penans in all of Sarawak. Most of them have been resettled, they enjoy better standard of health and life and make greater penetration into modern education than they ever had during the time when we were a British colony. Sorry as I had to mention it. Five thousand people, a lot of them have settled down and one of them who had settled down in Niah and has now become a millionaire by organising his tribe to open up land to become oil palm plantations. That man is called Datuk Hassan Sui.

So all this imagination in the part of BBC is based on inaccurate reports probably by Bruno Manser before. My advice, why can’t BBC treat us fairly like it treats any other countries that have been relying on their good will?

Come to Sarawak and take independent view and see what you’ll find. You will find Sarawak still have 60 per cent of its surface covered by trees. You’ll find that the Penans are slowly getting better way of life as result of government’s development help and particularly those people who have been resettled due to the building of dams.

Their houses are three times better than the nomadic life they used to live. A lot of their children do not want nomadic life anymore. It’s an archaic concept by outsider that try to preserve the people in pristine condition. I can’t do that. I am a Chief Minister, I can tell you that my people here, the electorate that I serve will in fact accuse me of discriminating against the Penan. I need to look after them (Penan) and see what needs to be done to upgrade their standard of living.

They will get the same settlement, housing and other amenities through our resettlement programme like any other people we help.

I don’t think we should yield to some misperception from outside in order to say “we are very nice to the Penans” by preserving their culture of wandering about in the jungle.

What they (BBC) failed to mention is on the cases of childhood deaths, miscarriages among the Penan communities and deaths in the jungle due to their life.

Things like these to me are regarded as sufferings which we need to elevate the Penans from. I don’t think anyone in Malaysia will accept that I should leave the Penan to live like how they used to a 100 years ago.


Q: How are you going to address the misrepresentation of facts about Sarawak in the new media?

A: People like me coming from a small state like Sarawak, I can't afford to spend hundred of millions of dollars to have bloggers and all sort of those things.

During the election a lot of political parties can spend money on bloggers, I know one party can get 200 bloggers to work for them for the purpose of election. For me, I got to maintain a kind of system of information that is enough to get my people first, to be able to follow the trend of development and to allow them to participate and to accept development through various stages…it’s part of growing up. That’s my main aim in communication. Still we are using the radio and other means.

Engaging bloggers to me is still relatively a luxurious thing. I could (create a team of bloggers) if I’m politically over sensitive about, but I’m not that over sensitive because I know that even during the last state election the same kind of smearing campaign was launched from outside.

Some people told me not to reply. They said: “Please don’t reply. We know you for the last 50 years”. “We know you for the past 20 years, if you are as bad as they say we don’t see all the progress in Sarawak and good services from public offices, district office at divisional levels and such.”

A lot of people got a lot of common sense in this country. Leave them alone, let them find out. Of course younger people are a bit mad about it but they can fight it back, I have no objection to that. I say thank you to them-lah but I am not in the position to be able to maintain a team of a few hundred bloggers…it’s not a justifiable expenditure for me to run for a state government with the size of budget I have.

Q: There is an online portal, Sarawak Report which had been attacking you for many years now. Will there be any effort to respond to their allegations against you?

A: If we were to reply, there will be too many of it. It's too much to do. Secondly, a lot of people do not trust it. So, just leave it alone. Everyone knows who is behind Sarawak Report. Those behind it can't hide anymore.

Parliament to be dissolved

Watch PM live speech on RTM1 at 11.30am today.

Evaluate Sensibly On Selection Of Party To Ensure Stability - Tun Mahathir

Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says the people of Malaysia must evaluate sensibly which party they want to pick in the general election, to ensure stability.

He said, Malaysia currently had a two-party system, a multi-racial ruling party which had shared power for 55 years and its challenger which had also practiced the sharing of power.

"The question is which party is qualified to run the nation? I find that the ruling party understands the concept of sharing better compared to the challenger," he said when speaking at a 2013 Education Leadership Forum organised by the Council Of School Principals Malaysia, Selangor Education Department and Selangor Headmasters Council, here, Tuesday.

More than 1,400 people attended the event at the Selangor Police Contingent Headquarters, here.

Dr Mahathir said, the opposition pact was still not united and differed in opinion among them but on the other hand the ruling party has cooperated for 55 years and understood each other and sacrificed to ensure peace of the nation.

Political Transformation under Najib's Administration

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