600,000 Malaysians in Singapore?

Some 600,000 Malaysians may be living and working in Singapore, which has a population of just over 5 million.

According to the World Bank, more than one million Malaysians live abroad, the result of race-based economic policies that created a brain drain. The Bank noted that Singapore has absorbed 57 per cent of Malaysia’s overseas citizens, with almost 90 per cent of those crossing the border ethnic Chinese. See Insider report.

If the Bank is correct, then some 600000 Malaysians could be in Singapore: 386000 are residents born in Malaysia (according to the Singapore 2010 census published by the Singapore Department of Statistics), close to 200000 non-residents living and working in Singapore, and say 100000 commuters.

Obviously, we have lost a huge amount of talent. Does the federal government even care why so many Malaysians have left the country, for obvious reasons? Maybe it might start taking an interest if these Malaysians are granted postal balloting rights.

LDP are like termites: Gerakan

Elopura Assemblyman Au Kam Wah urged the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership to stop behaving like termites whose gnawing at the State Barisan Nasional's structure may eventually cause the coalition's collapse, if left unchecked.

"This is precisely the attitude of the present LDP leadership who seem to have no qualms going all out to cause serious damage to the very house that houses them, in this case the Barisan Nasional," said Au.

He also said instead of calling for a change in the State Barisan Nasional leadership, it is LDP that should change some of its leaders.
"BN has never been a problem to LDP. Therefore the call for a change of leadership in State BN is simply outrageous and uncalled for.

What LDP must do is change some of its own leadership, have a face lift and move on," he said.

He also concurred with Gerakan Sabah Chairman Datuk Gordon Leong's call on the BN top leadership to seriously consider issuing a show cause letter and take necessary disciplinary action against the LDP leadership, if they continue undermining the integrity and stability of the BN coalition in the State.

Au noted that the LDP leadership had been attacking the State leadership ever since its former President-cum-former Chief Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat had a fall-out with Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman over the Mazu statue issue.

Chong even proceeded to take the State Government to court in 2009, but it was later struck out by the Court of Appeal. He believed that Chong still has some influence on the LDP today.

According to him, all the previous and recent statements of the LDP leadership were uncalled for, baseless, malicious and clearly designed to undermine the integrity of Sabah BN.

He noted such criticisms consistently and clearly indicated that they were of personal interest.

"Their dissatisfaction was clearly due to not getting positions in the government which they desperately wanted. It was clearly a sour grape syndrome.

"Records show that they hardly bring up any significant issues that genuinely concerned the people. It's all about position, position and position.

"And as for its so-called most vocal leader Chin Su Phin, everyone in town knew that he's a contractor by profession, who has benefitted immensely."

He said BN's major victory in the Batu Sapi by-election last year was strong evidence that the current setup of Sabah BN under Musa's leadership, is strong and functioning well.

"Compared to the time when the LDP President was holding the CM post, Musa has given more funding to the Chinese community, especially for Chinese education. In fact, the huge difference in the amount would put Kah Kiat to shame. This is public knowledge.

"Moreover, when Musa was urged by the public to reconsider the setting up of a coal-fired power plant, he brought the issue to the State Cabinet and had it cancelled.

"However, when the public requested Kah Kiat to reduce gambling, he instead doubled the number of slot machines in Sabah and re-activated a 4D operation that had been cancelled.

"Perhaps the LDP leaders are also having selective memory losses, so bad that they need to be constantly reminded of their misdeeds in the past!" charged Au.

He thus urged the LDP leaderships not to attempt to cover up their own incompetence which led to the decline of the party, by blaming others.

He said such an attitude was not only irresponsible but giving the opposition an opportunity to undermine the BN.

He reminded that ever since the formation of LDP, the party had been losing some of their senior leaders, all of which were due to internal squabbles that were often linked to manipulations by individuals with selfish motives.

Source: Daily Express

World Bank useless, its report politically-motivated?

Former Prime Minister and dubbed a racist, senile Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad described the World Bank as “useless”, saying today that it was politically motivated for putting out a report that pro-Bumiputera policies are stunting the country’s economy.

The former prime minister said the World Bank report was politically motivated as it wanted a change of prime minister, seemingly referring to Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, a former chairman of its development committee.

“We have been critical of the World Bank since my time. We said that they were useless.

“They dislike us and want to have their good friend become prime minister,” Dr Mahathir (picture) told reporters today.

The World Bank said on Thursday that more than one million Malaysians live abroad as policies favouring the Malays are holding back the economy, causing a brain drain and limiting foreign investment.

World Bank senior economist Philip Schellekens was quoted as saying that foreign investment could be five times the current levels if the country had Singapore’s talent base.

He said Malaysian migration was increasingly becoming a skills migration with one-third of the one million-strong Malaysian diaspora now consisting of the tertiary educated and expected the trend to continue.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has pledged to roll back the country’s pro-Malay policies from the New Economic Policy (NEP) but also told the Umno assembly last year that the government’s social contract of providing benefits to Bumiputeras cannot be repealed.

According to the Bloomberg report, Najib has eased some rules to woo funds, including scrapping a requirement that foreign companies investing in Malaysia and locally listed businesses set aside 30 per cent of their Malaysian equity for indigenous investors.

Last year, he unveiled an economic transformation programme under which the government identified US$444 billion (RM1.3 trillion) of projects from mass rail transit to nuclear power that it would promote in the current decade.

However, Dr Mahathir said today that while it liberalised the economy, the government should “be fair to the poor and make sure that they have opportunities as well.”

By Shannon Teoh

Najib's threat to the Chinese

Najib Tun Razak says the Chinese community must either vote for BN or lose their seats in the government.

KUALA TERENGGANU: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said today the Chinese community must decide whether to vote for a Barisan Nasional (BN) component party or lose representation in the government.


“They have to choose. If they want the opposition, they must sacrifice the party in government. If they want a bigger say to serve their interests, they have to support a BN component party,” he told reporters here after opening Pangsapuri Rakyat on Duyong island here.

“Chinese voters have already been given a clear message on this,” he said.

He was commenting on the statement by MCA president Dr Chua Soi Lek yesterday that the party would not accept any post in the federal and state governments if it were to fare worse in the coming general election than it did in the 2008 polls.

Najib said he saw that the MCA was sending a message to Chinese voters that they could not support the opposition and at the same time expect strong representation in the government.
In the 2008 polls, the MCA won 15 of the 40 parliamentary seats it contested and 31 of the 90 state constituencies it vied for.
Najib was confident that the MCA would always be with BN because “they know BN is a fair government and only BN can ensure stability and harmony in this country”.

“We have a proven track record, our policies are accepted by all communities, so MCA, whatever the situation is, will remain with BN,” he said.

Meanwhile, in MUAR, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the Chinese community would suffer a huge loss if there were to be no MCA representatives in the government.

“I hope this does not happen. BN upholds the struggle of all communities, with fair representation of all communities,” he told reporters after opening the meetings of the Youth, Wanita and Puteri wings of the Pagoh Umno division.

Muhyiddin rejected suggestions that the MCA decision was a desperate act.

He was confident that the MCA could, with renewed effort, regain the support of the Chinese community.


-Bernama

The people need to reject BN for the sake of Sabah

If a jet engine could gone missing, what about the smaller items like C4 & etc...?

I still remember on December 19th, 2009,  I was awakened by a call from a friend on that morning who had asked me if I knew anything about the news of a stolen RM50 million jet engine from the RMAF base at Sg. Besi, Kuala Lumpur. I replied that I knew nothing about the stolen jet engine, and he then asked me to quickly get the NST papers for the news.

Sure enough, the news was splashed in NST bottom front page and the story continued on page 9. I just could not believe in what I read; a whole jet engine i.e. a General Electric J8-21A afterburner turbojet engine for the F-5E Tiger 11 and RF-5E Tigereye, and including the service and maintenance record as well. I do not know whether to laugh or cry; a whole jet engine gone missing reportedly since late last year.


This is a kind of story that makes a good movie, and I believe many producers from Bollywood would want to capitalize on such a story.

The news report says that a joint RMAF/ PDRM investigation have revealed the involvement of four people i.e. three civilians and one RMAF personnel. It is believed that the engine is no longer in the country, and its whereabouts was not disclosed.

Obviously, there is a serious lapse in security at the RMAF base i.e. a facility that is guarded by armed RMAF personnel on a 24 hours basis, with no alternative route out, other then the one main entrance/exit route.

The concern now is what else are likely to be stolen. From my 12 years experience in Military, if a jet engine could pass the main gates, probably on a 3 ton lorry, I see no reason for smaller items to get pass as well. Could that small item be weapons, and weapons can be dismantled in smaller pieces, and hidden in the most inconspicuous places. As reported, the former Chief of Air Force who is currently the Chief of Defence Force has said that, “the stolen engine might just be the tip of the iceberg”, implying that there might be other equipments gone missing “as far back as 2007”. Or is he in the full knowledge that there are indeed other equipments missing, but kept under wraps.

Such a statement by a former Chief of Air Force does not bode well for the RMAF. And indeed, he has to accept a portion of blame and responsibility for the loss, that I would dubbed the 'mother of all losses'.

I suppose this loss is no big deal when compared to the PKFZ fiasco, or the costs overran for the double tracking electric train project. And when I called a friend to ask him for his views regarding this unusual loss, his reply was simply, “Malaysia Boleh”. And I suppose, if it was a whole aircraft gone missing, the reply would be the same.

I am curious to know what will be the action taken by the RMAF and the government over this incredible incident. Will there be heads rolling, and if there are, whose heads will fall first. Your guess is as good as mine..

Joseph Wilfred

Najib to Hadi: Leave DAP, join BN

The prime minister has issued an invitation to the Islamic party to cross over to his side for the sake of race, religion and nation.

KUALA TERENGGANU: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak today invited PAS to join the Barisan Nasional (BN) in efforts to champion the agenda on race, religion and the nation.

He said the time had come for PAS to break off from the DAP which had clearly not fought for the cause of Islam.


“Why be friendly with the DAP? Can the DAP champion the cause of Islam?

“Hadi (PAS president Hadi Awang), enough of the DAP, leave the DAP, join BN,” he said in his speech before an audience of about 15,000 at a gathering with the people in the Manir state constituency, at Kampung Pulau Bahagia, near here.

Also present were Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Said, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, Rural and Regional Development Minister Shafie Apdal, Defence Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Shabery Cheek.

Najib said the future of Malaysia was actually more secure under the leadership of the BN government and Umno.

“Umno was born in a palace and not on the street like PKR,” he said.

Najib said the people were now smart in evaluating the leadership that could actually champion the cause of the race, religion and country.

He also commented on the crisis currently faced by the PKR party leadership.

“During the Sarawak (state election) recently, even the occupants of the longhouse had asked about an Omega watch (belonging to Anwar Ibrahim).

“And yesterday, why prevent people who wanted to swear,” said Najib.

-Bernama

Elimination of NCR on land violates fundamental rights.

PUTRAJAYA: The elimination of native customary rights (NCR) on land occupied by two groups of indigenous people in Sarawak amounted to a gross violation of their fundamental rights, the Federal Court here heard yesterday.

Lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah, representing the native groups, argued that the directive issued by the Sarawak Minister for Resource Planning to deny the customary rights of natives on their land ought to be set aside because it deprived the natives of their life, livelihood and way of life.


He said the survival of indigenous people, such as the appellants in this case, was intrinsically linked to their land because their source of food, medicine and life support system, including their economic, cultural and social way of life, would be taken away when they lose their land.

Sulaiman said Sections 5(3) and (4) of the Sarawak Land Code under which the directive was issued were unconstitutional because the directive amounted to taking away of life, thus violating Article 5 (1) of the Federal Constitution.

Arguing before three-man panel led by Chief Justice Tun Zaki Azmi, Sulaiman said the state laws had failed the test of being just, fair and equitable as defined under the Federal Constitution because those Iaws violated the basic rights of the native people.

Sulaiman also said NCR were not merely proprietary rights that could be equated with the right of an owner of alienated land. Instead, NCR amounted to a right to life and comes under the protection of the Federal Constitution.

"Would mere monetary compensation be adequate to compensate for the interests of native communities in their lands in view of the fact that the NCR amounted to a right to life, and extinguishment would deprive them (natives) of their right to life and livelihood," he said.

He said the special relationship of the indigenous community and their land was also recognised by international human rights law and Malaysian law. He added that it was the responsibility of the Sarawak Government to protect the rights of the natives.

"For natives in Sarawak, this is also a reflection of the Brooke government's belief that Sarawak 'is the heritage’ of its people and that land is their 'lifeblood'," he said.

He also said procedural fairness was not accorded to the appellants, as the natives were not consulted prior to the elimination of their NCR.
The two groups are, respectively, from the Dayak communities of the Kayan, Kenyah and Ukit ethic groups and Iban communities.
The first group - Bato Bagi, Bit Buneng, Siring Angah, Adem Anyie, Jating Ibau and Ngajang Midin – represents five longhouses along Batang Balui in BeIaga District, Kapit, which were affected by the construction of the Bakun Hydro-Electric Dam project.

This group refused to move to the Asap Resettlement Scheme, and continues to stay upriver in Batang Balui.
The second group, Jalang ak Paran and Kamponq anak Amih, are residents of Rumah Munggu, a longhouse in Tatau, Bintulu, Sarawak. Their land in Ulu Batang Tatau was acquired to build a pulpwood mill.

This group, comprising their families, continues to live on its land. Until today, no pulpwood mill has been constructed on the, proposed site and the land reverted to jungle.

Native groups were appealing against the decision of the Kuching High Court that summarily rejected their suit on the question of law. The High Court and the Court of Appeal ruled that the minister's direction was valid. The natives, however, want their case to be remitted back to the High Court for full trial.
Sarawak State Legal Counsel Datuk J.C. Fong argued that NCR, for some 80 years, under the laws of the State of Sarawak, could be eliminated upon payment of whose NCR have been extinguished.

He said NCR were extinguishable if the land over which NCR was exercised was required for public  purpose, such as in Bato Bagi's case where the land was required for the development of the Bakun hydro-electric project to generate hydro-electricity for public use.

Fong said the rule of natural justice, which requires a person to have the right to be heard, was excluded from the law.

The panel, which also included Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum and Federal Court judge Datuk Seri Md Raus Shariff, fixed May 16 for Sulaiman to submit his reply.
On that day, Sulaiman also address the court on mechanism of assessing compensation to be given to natives whose NCR were eliminated.

 - Bernama

Another Janji Kosong – to a Single Mother

Single mother landslide victim: “Datin Linda told me to see a municipal officer. He referred me to another officer who asked for a latter from Datin Linda. I went to Batu Sapi MP Office which is always closed. I called the telephone number displayed on the signboard but the number is not it’s service anymore”. Please help me!

See mah, whose residential flats were declared unsafe after the Sandakan landslide on January 29, 2011. Deputy CM Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan and Batu Sapi MP Datin Linda Tsen had promised to help during a visit on Febuary 10, 2011.


Occupants of landslide-hit flats seek help from MP

The Borneo Post: Saturday, April 30, 2011

SANDAKAN: Occupants of Datuk House residential flats here are seeking heIp from the authorities after the flats were declared unsafe for occupation as a result of a recent Iandslide.

One of them, Seemah a/p Subramaniam who is a single mother said there were previously ten families staying at the flats.

“Due to the landslide on January 29, we have lost a place to live as we were informed by the Sandakan Municipal Council that the flats are no longer safe for occupation," she said.

According to Seemah, Deputy Chief Minister, Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan and Batu Sapi member of parliament Datin Linda Tsen together with some government officials visited the flat on February 10.

"I met them and Datin Linda appointed me to list down the names of the occupants of Datuk House residential flats who are also voters of Batu Sapi parliamentary constituency,' she said, adding that Linda has told her to meet up with an officer at the Sandakan Municipal Council (SMC) to get assistance for a house as well as some other assistance.

"As soon as I have listed the names of the occupants, we met up with an officer of SMC and were referred to another officer. This officer had told us that the issue was not under the jurisdiction of the SMC," she said as the officer had asked for a letter from Linda.

Seemah said she has gone to the Batu Sapi Parliamentary office at Grand View Park a number of times to deliver an application Ietter relating to the issue but unfortunately the office was always closed.

"We have called the Telephone number displayed on the signboard, but the number is not in service anymore," she said hoping that the member of parliament would assist to solve their problem since she has sent a letter to her office.

On the road...

The trip's gone quite well so far. Flew into Los Angeles Wednesday afternoon. That night I attended a party at a friend's apartment, where I met the writer Sandra Cisneros. We chatted about writing for about 20 minutes. We're very different kinds of writers. For one thing, she's won one of those MacArthur "genius" grants. But it was an interesting conversation.

Yesterday I drove from L.A. to Flagstaff, Arizona (466 mi., 7 hr., 29 min.). This morning I stopped by the Flagstaff Barnes and Noble, where I saw The President Is a Sick Man in a bookstore for the first time. Then I drove to Santa Fe (392 mi., 6 hr. 34 min.). Winds of 50 mph with occasional dust storms the whole way. My friend's Prius, which I'm driving, is holding up well. (Don't worry, Phil.)

Tonight I'm staying at the home of James McGrath Morris, whose acclaimed biography of Joseph Pulitzer is now available in paperback. Jamie's already written a great blurb for my book, so now I am even more indebted to him!

Tomorrow I'll meander into Kansas. Looking forward to visiting the Eisenhower Library in Abilene (finally). First official event of the book tour is Tuesday night in Kansas City.

Oh, and the book got a nice mention on the Washington Post book blog this week.

NRD should focus on weeding out illegal immigrants

KOTA KINABALU, April 29, 2011: Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) deputy president Datuk Eric Majimbun has taken the National Registration Department (NRD) to task for requesting DNA tests on two young Sabahans who have applied for MyKads.

 

The Government, Eric stressed, should not be too concerned about genuine Malaysians applying for their identification documents but instead focus on weeding out illegal immigrants who have obtained Malaysian identification documents through dubious means.

 

The directive by NRD to Yap Loong Chin, the father of the two young girls was ridiculous, the Sepanggar member of parliament said in a statement.

 

He said this when commenting on a newspaper report pertaining to the NRD's directive issued to Yap in the process of applying for a MyKad for his daughters aged 14 and 16.

 

Yap was requested by NRD Putrajaya to obtain DNA tests at the family's own cost since the girls were born before their parents' marriage was made official.

 

As both the girls were issued with birth certificates, Yap questioned the need to have the girls undergo the DNA test.

 

Eric said that the NRD request was akin to the Government neglecting all the laws, tradition and culture which Sabah has practised for generations.

 

"Is Malaysia so advanced in technology that the Government feels the need to thus neglecting what Sabah has been practising all this while?" he said.

If so then the government should get all the illegal immigrants who have obtained citizenship through dubious means to undergo DNA tests to make sure and prove that they are truly Malaysians, he stressed.

Kota Kinabalu – a ‘rojak’ spa paradise

Beauty and reflexology centres are mushrooming in Sabah's capital and this is viewed as an 'unhealthy' trend.


KOTA KINABALU: Kota Kinabalu is fast gaining a reputation as a spa paradise where anything goes.
Beauty and reflexology centres are offering a rojak (mixed) service and often employing Filipinos as “masseuses or massage therapists”.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) discovered this combined service after an initial series of on-going checks here. The Traditional and Complementary Medicine Division (TCMD) of the MoH, which is carrying out the checks, is gearing itself up for the introduction of the Traditional and Complementary Medicine Act, which is expected to be tabled in Parliament in June.


The checks are part of a nationwide roadshow to explain the new Act, the registration procedure and the need to comply with all the requirements as stipulated.

“We were not happy with the workers’ dressing at some of the centres,” a TCMD spokesman said. “One centre had five therapists from the Philippines but was not registered with us.”

All masseuses, masseurs and therapists – foreign and local – are required to register with the TCMD. Also, they need to specify whether the services they provide relate to beauty, reflexology or traditional treatment.
However, the TCMD said that the operators are offering beauty services and spa treatment or reflexology combined with foot reflexology and acupuncture.

“This is not quite right. You can’t combine beauty treatment with foot massage,” said the spokesman. “Beauty is under cosmetics.”

Sufficient time
According to TCDM, when the new Act is out, operators have to decide whether they want to be, for example, a beauty or a reflexology centre.

The Malaysian Traditional and Complementary Medicine Council will decide on the categories of wellness centres under the Act and issue the Certificate of Practice to practitioners.

Even so, the Act will not be enforced immediately, the TCMD spokesman said.

He said the federal government has agreed to give traditional and complementary medicine practitioners sufficient time to understand and be familiar with the new law.

This would also allow them to make the necessary changes in their current mode of operation, he added.
Meanwhile, the spokesman assured that TCMD’s visits are routine, and not a raid, “since prior notice is given to the establishments concerned”.

Apparently, the purpose is “friendly’ and “there’s no need to be afraid if everything is above board”.

“We are here to guide them and correct any flaws, not to take punitive action. If it’s not right, improve it. That’s our intention,” said the spokesman. “There was a reflexology centre which closed for the day during our visit because the operator was afraid.”

The TCMD cited fish spas as one example where it advised operators on the importance of maintaining high standards of hygiene and cleanliness.

This means changing the water in the pool, among others, every 24 hours in the interest of the clients’ well-being and to avoid possible transmission of disease.

Timely intervention

Meanwhile, the Traditional and Complementary Medicine Practitioners Association of Sabah (TCMAS) has welcomed the proposed Act as a timely intervention.

The members point to the invasion of women from the Philippines who come in on social visit passes and, allegedly, end up working at the massage parlours and reflexology centres mushrooming in the city.

“Many of the foreign therapists employed by local operators compromise on cleanliness and quality of services by not using surgical gloves,” said partially-blind Catherine Ringegon who specialises in holistic therapy. “It’s important that massage centres maintain cleanliness at all times.”

She frowns on the practice of reflexology centres providing foot massage for as low as RM15 with no rinsing of feet. This undercutting, Ringegon warned, takes no account of the hard-won degrees and diplomas held by qualified therapists.

She hopes the new Act could be expanded to curb unhealthy practices like undercutting in the market.
Affendi Utoh Labug, another TCMAS member, is not so keen on the new Act. He feels that it’s most important to give the local trade the necessary knowledge rather than enforce the Act.

“The Act will frighten operators. They will go into hiding and operate underground,” he said. “It’s better to take one thing at a time. Firstly, the focus should be on educating massage centres on the guidelines already laid down by the TCMD.”

Winston Wee, the placement officer at the Sabah Society for the Blind, hopes that regulation of massage therapy will help blind members of the profession, especially the freelancers.

“Blind therapists are trained but find that opportunities for them are limited,” he said.

Besides stand-alone entities, many spas and wellness centres here are housed at hotels and resorts. They are members of the Association of Malaysian Spas.


Joe Fernandez

Malaysia's brain drain worsening and social injustice the cause

Social injustice is one of the top three reasons behind the country’s brain drain, the World Bank said today, adding that Malaysians are only willing to return if the government shifts from race-based to needs-based affirmative action policies.

The World Bank conducted an online survey in February of 200 Malaysians living abroad in conjunction with the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

In its fourth issue of the Malaysia Economic Monitor, the report stated that 60 per cent of the respondents found that social injustice as their main concern to migrate or return-migrate, citing unequal access to scholarships and higher education especially among the younger generation within the non-Bumiputera community.


Of those surveyed, 66 per cent found that lack of career prospects was a major factor and 54 per cent agreed that unattractive salaries as underlying factors in the Malaysian diaspora.

The report also showed that a large number of the diaspora migrated to Singapore, resulting in Malaysian-born individuals contributing to a quarter of the island nation’s population in 2010.

According to a census conducted in Singapore last year, there are currently 385,979 Malaysians-born residents comprising 47 per cent of all skilled foreign labour in the country.

The number of ethnic Chinese among Malaysian migrants in Singapore has also jumped from 85 per cent in 2000 to 88 per cent in 2010.

The World Bank also said that a large number of Malaysians obtained their tertiary education overseas, pointing out that those emigrating are getting younger as more of those below 23 are leaving the country.

The report concluded that the “Malaysian diaspora is large and expanding, as well as geographically concentrated and ethnically skewed.”

In a Bloomberg news service report earlier today, World Bank senior economist Philip Schellekens was quoted as saying that foreign investment could be five times the current levels if the country had Singapore’s talent base.

“Migration is very much an ethnic phenomenon in Malaysia, mostly Chinese but also Indian,” Schellekens told Bloomberg in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday ahead of the report’s release today.

Governance issues and lack of meritocracy are “fundamental constraints” to Malaysia’s expansion because “competition is what drives innovation,” he said.

Malaysia’s growth fell to an average 4.6 per cent a year in the past decade, from 7.2 per cent the previous period.

Singapore, which quit Malaysia in 1965, expanded 5.7 per cent in the past decade and has attracted more than half of its neighbour’s overseas citizens, according to the World Bank.

Malaysia has in recent years unveiled plans to improve skills and attract higher value-added industries.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has pledged to roll back the country’s NEP-style policies but he also told the Umno assembly last year that the government’s social contract of providing benefits to Bumiputeras cannot be repealed.

According to the Bloomberg report, Najib has eased some rules to woo funds, including scrapping a requirement that foreign companies investing in Malaysia and locally-listed businesses set aside 30 per cent of their Malaysian equity for indigenous investors.

Last year, he unveiled an economic transformation programme under which the government identified US$444 billion (RM1.3 trillion) of projects from mass rail transit to nuclear power that it would promote in the current decade.

Worsening

Meanwhile, World Bank senior economist Philip Schellekens painted a gloomy picture of the Malaysian brain drain situation today saying that it not only grew rapidly but is likely to intensify, further eroding the country’s already narrow skills base.

Schellekens said that the number of skilled Malaysians living abroad has tripled in the last two decades with two out of every 10 Malaysians with tertiary education opting to leave for either OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries or Singapore.

“Brain drain from Malaysia is likely to intensify in the absence of mitigating actions,” he said at the launch of the World Bank report titled “Malaysia Economic Monitor: Brain Drain”.

The report defined brain drain as the outflow of those with tertiary-level education.

The economist said Malaysian migration was increasingly becoming a skills migration with one-third of the one million-strong Malaysian diaspora now consisting of the tertiary educated.

“Expect the trend to continue,” he said.

He added that the outflow of talent was not being replaced with inflows, thus damaging the quality of Malaysia’s “narrow” skills base, noting that 60 per cent of immigration into Malaysia had only primary education or less, even as the number of skilled expatriates declined by 25 per cent since 2004.

The report also noted that there was a geographic and ethnic component to the brain drain, with about 88 per cent of the Malaysian diaspora in Singapore being of ethnic Chinese origin.

“The numbers for US and Australia are similar,” said Schellekens.

Report figures also show that 54 per cent of the Malaysian brain drain went to Singapore while 15 per cent went to Australia, 10 per cent to the US and 5 per cent to the UK.

The top three drivers for brain drain identified by the report were career prospects, compensation and social justice.

“(Lack of) Meritocracy and unequal access to scholarships are significant push factors and a deterrent to coming back,” said Schellekens. “Non-Bumiputeras are over-represented in the brain drain.”

He suggested that Malaysia implement important structural reforms in tandem with introducing targeted measures such as income tax incentives to reverse the brain drain.

“Once the highway is built, you must compete for traffic,” he said. “One suggestion is to hold a competition among members of the diaspora to get ideas on what can be done to attract them home.”

He added that while this report estimated the Malaysian diaspora at one million compared with about 1.4 million in a previous World Bank report, it was due to the lack of Singapore government information on the breakdown of its non-resident population.

“This is a conservative estimate and the diaspora could well be larger,” he said.

Source: Malaysia Chronicle

Explicit sex clips finally surface

More clips of the sex video allegedly depicting opposition leader and PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim have surfaced on YouTube.

The four clips, lasting between four minutes to 4:24 minutes, resembles the 22-minute video shown to journalists on March 21 at the Carcosa Seri Negara hotel.
This is the third time portions of the sex video have been leaked online, but unlike the first two times - which shows only the beginning and ending of the complete video - the four new clips contains explicit sex acts.

 

However, the video posted by user "rabiaab11" has been taken down late last night due to the website's policy on "nudity or sexual content".

Based on the information on YouTube, the user posted the four videos between 2pm to 6pm yesterday.

The video featured several sex acts lasting about seven minutes, beginning with the woman performed oral sex on the man, followed by the woman straddling the man and ending with the man in missionary position.

Unlike the clips that appeared on April 4 and on Wednesday, which were about 1:45 seconds long, the four clips posted by 'rabiaab11' were much longer.

 

 

White strip in Thai on clips

However, the four clips released today had the same white strip across the footage with the words "Phaholyothin Road, Bangkok, Thailand 10400, Copyright 2011" in Thai script.

The second video, which uploaded on the Internet yesterday, did not have the white strip and instead had a time stamp dated Feb 21, 2011 with the time 22:43 instead. This was similar to the one that was shown to journalist at Carcosa Seri Negara by businessman Shazryl Eskay Abdullah.

Shazryl later admitted that he, together with former Malacca chief minister Rahim Thamby Chik and former Perkasa treasurer Shuib Lazim are responsible for screening the video.

The three of them have been under police investigation for possession and distribution of pornographic material.

Meanwhile, Anwar has firmly denied that he was the man in the video, lodging a police report in the process.

LDP will not be Musa’s ‘yes man’

Sabah Barisan Nasional's whipping boy, LDP, says it's duty-bound to 'give effect' to the voices of the voters and cannot remain silent.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has come under much flak for its criticism of Chief Minister Musa Aman, has denied it was out to oust Musa.


“LDP was only highlighting its concern that the same wind of change in Sarawak would eventually blow over to Sabah, given the similarity of the current political scenarios between Sarawak and Sabah.

“We are not creating trouble with Barisan Nasional (BN) or trying to topple Musa,” LDP Youth legal and political bureau chief, Tsang Hieng Yee, said.

He said that as far as LDP is concerned, “they have at all times made statements in good faith”.

“If the BN government does not respond to these grievances of the community, particularly the Chinese community, the people will vote for the opposition.

“It is imperative that the BN government not let what happened in Sarawak to happen in Sabah because this will promote racial politics,” he said, adding that there should not be any “double standard”.

Tsang said that LDP was duty-bound to “give effect” to the voices of the minority groups.

“The people voted for us to be their representatives. We shall not betray their trust, even at the cost of speaking the truth and hurting some quarters,” he said.

“Addressing the truth of a matter is always bitter but it still has to be done. We are not prejudiced against anyone, ” he added.

Agreeing to disagree

Tsang said LDP was fully aware that there were people who disagreed with the party and was prepared to accept their views.

“We respect their views as everybody is entitled to their opinion,” he said.

“What is the value of LDP’s existence if it is merely a ‘Yes Man’,” said Tsang who is also a supreme council member.

He was responding to criticisms against the party following recent remarks made by its deputy president Chin Su Phin regarding Musa’s leadership.

“LDP’s stance should not be misunderstood in anyway whatsoever. We are a component party of BN now and will always be.

“LDP believes that in a multiracial society like Malaysia, there cannot be racial politics. It is suicide,” Tsang said, adding that Musa’s achievement and contribution to Sabah’s progress and developement in the last 10 years could not be denied.

Earlier this month, LDP president VK Liew said the party had no intention of remaining quiet despite being demoted to the sidelines by the Musa administration.

Much to the party’s shock, Musa dismissed LDP’s loyalty and seniority in the coalition and appointed Parti Bersatu Sabah’s (PBS) Dr Yee Moh Chai to be deputy chief minsiter.

Already holding a similar position is PBS president Joseph Pairin Kitingan.

Musa has no time for petty squabbles
Meanwhile Musa said he has only one thing to concentrate on at the moment – implementing development programmes for the people.

He said he would not engage in entertaining some quarters’ personal agenda which would only slow down the government’s work for the people.

“I do not wish to engage in petty squabbles. There is still a lot of work to be done in such a short period of time.

“But I thank all the support given to me. I just feel that entertaining such issues will not benefit the people,” he told reporters after his winding-up speech at the Sabah State Legislative Assembly meeting, here, today.

Musa was asked by reporters to react to Su Phin’s comment last week that the recent Sarawak state election results showed BN failure to realise the needs of the people, especially the Chinese community.

Musa also advised all state assemblymen to continue going down to the ground, and listen to the people’s problems and help solve them

French probe ignites interest

When Najib Abdul Razak was Malaysia’s Defense Minister from 2000 to 2008, his grand plan to upgrade the nation’s armed forces included the purchase of three submarines from the French defense shipbuilder, DCN.

Little did he know at the time, that the spectre of Altantuya Shaariibuu, the Mongolian who served as translator for the Malaysian government, would surface like one of the faulty submarines which refused to submerge and still haunt him five years later.

Next month, the inquiry by Parisian prosecutors on behalf of the Malaysian human rights organization Suaram, will be confined to bribery allegations involving the Scorpene submarines and will not look into the 2006 murder of Altantuya.


Altantuya had served as a translator in Paris for the Malaysian government's US$1 billion purchase of three French submarines. The deal was brokered by a firm owned by Abdul Razak Baginda, who belonged to Najib’s inner circle and which netted Baginda a €114 million commission.

The 28-year-old Mongolian was also Razak Baginda's jilted lover, and in a letter found after her death, she admitted she was attempting to blackmail Razak Baginda for US$500,000.

Altantuya was shot in October 2006 and her body was blown up with military explosives by two bodyguards attached to Najib's office. When Altantuya kept pestering Baginda for money, at his home, Baginda asked Najib's chief of staff, Musa Safri, to help keep her away from him.

Chief Inspector Azilah Hadri and Corporal Sirul Azhar Umar who served as bodyguards in the elite police unit supervised by Najib, were sent to apprehend Altantuya.

The two men were aided by Lance Corporal Rohaniza Roslan, who was Azila's former girlfriend. They packed Altantuya into a red Proton Wira from whence she was never seen alive again.

The private detective hired by Baginda, an ex-policeman called P. Balasubramaniam aka Bala, was detailed to prevent Altantuya from harassing him.  Bala swore in a detailed statutory declaration that Baginda told him Altantuya had been Najib’s lover initially but when he had designs on becoming Prime minister, Baginda took over as her lover to prevent Najib from further sexual scandals.

Bala also said that Baginda told him she liked anal sex. In the declaration, Bala said he had seen text messages from Najib after Altantuya’s disappearance advising Baginda to “be cool” and that the matter would soon be resolved.

After delivering his statutory declaration, Bala was forced to withdraw the document. After this, Bala and his entire family disappeared.

Meanwhile, Baginda was acquitted in November 2008 and left Malaysia for England.

However, High Court Judge Zaki Yasin said that the two bodyguards were “unbelievable” as “each blamed the other” and convicted the two of murdering Altantuya sometime between Oct. 19 and Oct. 20, 2006. Zaki said, “They failed to raise any reasonable doubt of the prosecution's case”.

The case is mired in controversy as there was no attempt to establish their motive for killing her despite a confession by one of them, which was not allowed in court, but which said they would be paid a large sum of money to get rid of her.

In Sirul's cautioned statement, he said that Azhar informed him that Najib's chief of staff, Musa Safri, had ordered them to pick up the young woman.

Azhar’s first suggestion was the Hotel Malaya, where Altantuya and her cousin and friend were staying, to kill them all. The presence of closed-circuit cameras prevented this from happening.

How deep and to what extent is Musa's involvement?

In addition, what is the relationship of these two men with Najib?

The press conference in London, in July 2010, held by Bala and his team of lawyers, was supposed to be a platform to discuss issues raised during a scheduled interview of Bala by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC). When the MACC cancelled at the last minute, their non-appearance generated more questions than answers.

According to lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon, “What we intended to do if MACC had turned up in London, was for Balasubramaniam to highlight a whole series of events surrounding this Altantuya matter that pointed to the centre of a conspiracy web. A conspiracy at the very highest level to keep out all references to Najib.”

So next month, in Paris, the sordid details of Najib’s submarine deals will surface. Back in Malaysia, our attention will focus on the two bodyguards, charged with Altantuya’s murder.

Some say that the two are convenient scapegoats. Others say that it is curious their faces were hidden from the glare of journalists and say this is because the men will have an identity change and be free to rejoin society under an assumed name. Many questions remain unanswered.

In fact, we have no proof that they men are who they claim to be. No one knows them and has vouched for them. Who knows if they are masquerading as Azilah and Sirul? At the end of the day, it does not matter who the men really are.

It is all a smokescreen for in our part of the world, those in charge of dispensing justice end up protecting those in power. We expect criminals to be experts at keeping secrets and telling lies, but few expect those who are entrusted with keeping law and order, to lie.  Governments of all types have a tendency to manipulate information and hide the truth.

Not convinced? Remember the Bank Bumiputra scandal in 1980 when a Bank Bumiputra official was murdered to prevent information about corrupt practices from being unearthed? Bank Bumiputra lost millions and had to be bailed out by taxpayers money. The country that prosecuted one of the accused was Hong Kong.

No, not Malaysia. We tend to shield the guilty.    

-  Malaysia Chronicle

Eskay cabar Anwar sumpah laknat

Beliau mendakwa beliau berani melakukan sumpah itu memandangkan beliau mengetahui identiti sebenar pelaku dalam video itu ialah Anwar.

KUALA LUMPUR:  Ahli perniagaan Datuk Shazryl Eskay Abdullah mencabar Ketua Pembangkang Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim bersama- sama hadir untuk bersumpah laknat di Masjid Amru Al Ash, Bandar Baru Sentul pada 29 April, di sini berhubung klip video seks yang menggemparkan politik tanah air baru-baru ini.
Eskay mendakwa beliau berani melakukan sumpah itu memandangkan beliau mengetahui identiti sebenar pelaku dalam video itu ialah Anwar.

“Tindakan kami atas kebenaran. Saya akan bersumpah bahawa pelaku adalah Anwar kerana saya berada di lokasi dan ada dalam paparan video. Jika Anwar nafi pelaku itu adalah beliau maka hadir esok di masjid tersebut.

“Saya mengundang beliau agar sama-sama dapat melafazkan sumpah laknat selepas solat Jumaat esok di masjid tersebut.

Saya mengajak semua mereka yang ragu mengenai kebenaran ini untuk turut serta dalam upacara esok,” katanya dalam sidang media di sebuah hotel di sini petang tadi.

Beliau berkata dua lagi rakannya yang dikenali sebagai trio ‘Datuk T’, bekas Ketua Menteri Melaka, Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik dan bekas Bendahari Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa), Datuk Shuib Lazim akan turut hadir.

Ketika ditanya sama ada ketiga-tiga mereka akan bersumpah laknat, Eskay berkata hanya beliau akan melakukannya.

“Saya yang akan bersumpah. Tapi terpulang keadaan bagaimana……sekiranya diperlukan mereka berdua (Rahim dan Shuib) akan turut bersumpah.

“Saya harap Anwar datang. Saya jemput untuk sumpah laknat dengan saya.

“Saya akan tunggu dia. Jika dia tidak hadir…..biar orang ramai yang tentukan,” katanya.

Menjelaskan mengenai penyerahan sampel ujian asid deoksiribonukleik (DNA) di Ibu Pejabat Polis Bukit Aman semalam, Eskay berkata polis mengambil sampel air liurnya bagi tujuan siasatan.

Nafi rakan terlibat dalam muat turun video

Sementara itu, menyentuh soal rakaman video yang  dikeluarkan melalui laman sosial YouTube semalam, Eskay turut menafikan penglibatan rakan-rakannya.

“Terserah kepada polis untuk menyiasat siapa yang muat turun video itu tapi ia bukan dari kalangan kawan saya,” katanya ringkas.

Rakaman video seks bahagian kedua yang diberi judul ‘Papa Nurul Izzah Part II’ itu dimuat turun ke laman sosial berdurasi selama satu minit 47 saat.

Ia dimuat naik oleh individu yang menggunakan nama ‘wakparjosudorno’ serta laman blog seperti Pisau.Net dan Papa Gomo.

Ia dipercayai babak-babak akhir rakaman video asal selama 20 minit yang didedahkan kepada sekumpulan wartawan di Seri Carcosa baru-baru ini.

‘Biar ulama’ tentukan’

Ketika ditanya mengenai sumpah laknat yang bakal dilafazkan esok, Eskay berkata ia terpulang kepada situasi.

Beliau berkata beliau menerima nasihat daripada pelbagai pihak termasuklah ulama untuk membuat sumpah itu, namun enggan mendedahkan identiti ulama terbabit.

“Saya lihat konsensus bagaimana…..biar ulama’ tentukan berdasarkan situasi esok.  Jika ulama’ kata saya buat maka saya akan buat sumpah lakhnat….jika tidak kita akan solat.

Pada 21 Februari lalu, dunia politik tanah air digemparkan apabila sekumpulan wartawan dipertontonkan rakaman video seks di hotel Seri Carcosa di sini oleh kumpulan tiga lelaki yang menggelarkan diri mereka Datuk T.

Rakaman video yang didakwa melibatkan seorang pemimpin kanan pembangkang itu didedahkan sebagai amaran supaya pemimpin tersebut serta isterinya berundur dari dunia politik.

Meskipun tidak menamakan siapa individu di dalam video seks terbabit, Anwar tampil membuat penafian bahawa beliau adalah individu yang dimaksudkan pada hari keesokan video seks itu ditayangkan. Tiga hari kemudiannya, trio Datuk T akhirnya mendedahkan identiti mereka.

Trio ‘Datuk T’ turut mendedahkan bahawa mereka tidak sedikit pun takut untuk berhadapan dengan tindakan undang-undang di bawah Seksyen 292 Kanun Keseksaan kerana menayangkan rakaman video seks tersebut.

Jika sabit kesalahan boleh dipenjara selama tiga tahun, didenda atau kedua-duanya sekali. Rakaman video seks itu juga sudah disahkan tulen oleh Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Ismail Omar pada 1 April lalu selepas diteliti oleh golongan pakar.

Oleh Fazy Sahir


----------------------- English version ------------

(The Malaysian Insider) - Datuk Shazryl Eskay, a key protagonist behind the sex video allegedly featuring Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, challenged the opposition leader today to join him and swear on his innocence at a mosque in Sentul tomorrow.

Shazryl, who insists the man in the 21-minute video is Anwar, announced in a press conference that he was willing to swear on his convictions beside Anwar.

“On the identity of the actor in the video, I am brave enough to swear that it is Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim because I, too, was at the location and in the clip itself.

“If Anwar Ibrahim still denies this, I invite him to swear on his innocence after Friday prayers at Masjid Amru Al-As, Bandar Baru, Sentul,” Shazryl said, reading from a statement.

He added all those who wanted to know “the truth” of the matter were invited to witness the ceremony, adding that his “Datuk T” partners, former Malacca chief minister Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik and Perkasa treasurer-general Datuk Shuib Lazim, would also be present.

“Our actions are based on truth and are for the good of the people. Finally, on Allah’s name, the people, and our children, my friends and I hold full responsibility over the expose.

“May Allah be with those who are honest and truthful,” he said.

When asked if he planned to proceed with the ceremony should Anwar fail to turn up tomorrow, Shazryl said he was willing to do so if requested to.

“We will decide tomorrow. If I am advised to go ahead with it, I am willing to. If you want me to, I will,” he told reporters.

Shazryl added that he had been receiving advice from many individuals to take the oath in a mosque as a bid to prove his honesty.

On whether his partners Abdul Rahim and Shuib would also take similar oaths, Shazryl said, “No.”

Abdul Rahim said Shazryl would take the oath on behalf of “Datuk T”, the nickname the trio behind the latest sex scandal have adopted.

When approached by reporters again after the press conference, Shazryl admitted that he had been arrested on the day that he had lodged a police report on the sex video.

He said that he had been detained and released on RM10,000 police bail.

On March 25, the men had denied being arrested following reports that they had been collared by the police.

Earlier during today’s press conference, Shazryl expressed disappointment at the allegations of conspiracy made against him and his friends over the release of the sex video.

He said that as a “Malaysian citizen who loves his country”, he was willing to take any risk to reveal “the truth behind the leader I knew since 1996”.

“He is known as a moral man, honest and sincere in his political struggles, but in truth, it is the contrary.

“He is cunning enough to pretend to be a fair and pious man of character, but instead, he performs deeds that do not reflect rational thinking and Islamic values,” he said.

Bishop slams ‘sex on TV3′

RK Anand

Bishop Paul Tan slams the showing of the sex video implicating Anwar Ibrahim to an audience comprising women and children.

PETALING JAYA: A Catholic Church leader has slammed the showing of a snippet from the sex video purportedly involving Anwar Ibrahim on TV3.
Bishop Paul Tan, who is the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Malaysia, denounced the move as an “inexcusable outrage.”

Yesterday, the government-linked TV station had broadcasted a snippet from the so-called part two of the video allegedly depicting the opposition leader’s tryst with a sex worker.

“From the start, a permissive attitude has characterised the attitude of the authorities towards this sordid episode,” said Tan, who also heads the Malacca-Johor diocese.

“Now that permissiveness has led to this outrage: the showing of material that is vile and putrid on public TV to an audience that comprises women and children.

“This is an inexcusable outrage for which the laxity of the authorities in not acting firmly to nip things in the bud is at grave fault.

“No person of conscience can fail to deplore this permissiveness, this inaction in the face of a puerile
voyeurism that has now reached a nadir,” he added.

Tan urged the authorities to act swiftly and bring the culprits who procured and featured the sex video to book before “evil begets more evil.”

“This permissive attitude, this relativism in the face of evil actions is an obvious contributor to the moral turpitude we see before us.

“Guardians of law and morality cannot afford to equivocate in the face of insolent evil. They must act or society is at grave risk,” he warned.

The second installment of the sex video had come even before the dust had settled on the first part, which was released last month.

Anwar, who is also facing a sodomy charge, had dismissed the video as another attempt by his political rivals to discredit him.

His wife and PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had also denied that it was her husband in the video.

Musa-linked money laundering still on HK radar

A Sabah businessman who was arrested at the Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong carrying S$16 million in cash has yet to explain why he was doing so.

KUALA LUMPUR: Hong Kong anti-corruption authorities are still hot on the trail of a money laundering operation linked to Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman.


Almost three years after the arrest of a Sabah businessman, Michael Chia, Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said the case was still open.

Chia, who is said to be a proxy for Musa, was in August 2008 detained at the Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong.

He was carrying a bag allegedly containing S$16 million in cash.

The arrest and subsequent revelations on the eve of the Permatang Pauh by-election stunned Sabahans.

The August 2008 by-election saw PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim return to Parliament after a decade-long absence.

Rumours have it that the matter was quickly hushed up after Musa agreed to help then prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi with election funds.

Chia had also subsequently issued denials over reports of money-laundering activities and allegations that he was a proxy for Musa.

But at no point since has he clarified what he was doing with S$16 million in cash.

Chia has since been released on bail.

Yesterday ICAC in an official reply to a query from FMT regarding the outcome of investigations said: “We don’t comment on operational matters.”

Acting chief press information officer Alan Tse declined to answer further questions posed by FMT relating to the case.

Monitoring inflow

On Nov 5, 2008, three ICAC officers arrived in Kota Kinabalu seeking information on the background of Chia, a Sandakan businessman, as well as a senior lawyer and a top state leader.

They left on Nov 7 after gathering documents and seeking the help of Malaysia’s ACA or Anti-Corruption Agency (now Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission or MACC) to meet witnesses.

According to sources, the ICAC probe is focused on several hundred million ringgit purportedly found in the bank account of a Sabah lawyer allegedly holding it as trustee for a top Sabah politician.

The ICAC, it was revealed, had been monitoring the inflow of large amounts of monies from Sabah to the account in the Special Administrative Region for the past three to four years.

The ACA investigations director at the time, Mohd Shukri Abdul, confirmed at a press conference on Nov 7 that the ICAC had sought help from the ACA on the case.

He said that the ACA was providing assistance to the ICAC officers in gathering documents and meeting witnesses under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act (MACMA).

Shukri said that ACA itself was not conducting any investigations into the matter.

Declining to reveal the specific nature of the ICAC probe, Shukri said: “We cannot reveal details as it is their investigations.”

Shortly after the revelation, PKR Youth head Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin had lodged a report with the ICAC in Hong Kong, providing evidence that Chia and four others were the nominees of Musa.

He also stated that the money was obtained illegally and named several banks where the money was held in trust and urged the authorities to freeze them.

Denied links

According to sources, senior lawyer Richard Barnes was among those who was picked up and flown to Kuala Lumpur where he was questioned by the MACC.

Sources said officers from the commission also took boxes of documents from the lawyer’s office and Barnes was believed to have been detained for more than five days.

Denying any link to reports of money laundering and links to Musa, Chia had reportedly said: “I have no business or political dealings with the chief minister and I am not his nominee.”

Musa has also denied any association or financial dealings with Chia.

“I would like to stress here that I have no political and financial connection with this person,” he had told the local media at the time.

“He’s not my nominee and I have no nominee,” he said.

Musa, when asked if he knew Chia, said: “I know him and as a chief minister of Sabah, I meet a lot of friends and I have many friends.”

Musa’s denial prompted the DAP to lodge a report at the Dang Wangi police station in Kuala Lumpur calling for investigations to clear the air over the reports.

“It does not matter if Musa has denied his involvement; the police and the ACA should proceed with the investigations against him,” DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang said.

Betulkah semua Cina Sarawak benci BN?

Perkembangan ini menimbulkan kebimbangan tentang kemungkinan wujudnya trend polarisasi seperti yang dipamerkan oleh pengundi Cina di Semenanjung Malaysia.

KUALA LUMPUR: Walaupun sudah seminggu berlalu, keputusan pilihan raya negeri (PRN) Sarawak masih menjadi topik perbincangan khususnya mengenai gelombang pengundi Cina yang dilihat telah menolak Barisan Nasional (BN) di negeri itu.
Perkembangan ini menimbulkan kebimbangan tentang kemungkinan wujudnya trend polarisasi seperti yang dipamerkan oleh pengundi Cina di Semenanjung Malaysia.

Bagaimanapun, analisis menunjukkan bahawa pengundi Cina di Sarawak tidak menolak BN sepenuhnya.

Pada PRN Sarawak ke-10 baru-baru ini, pengundi Cina di kawasan bandar dikatakan mengundi DAP untuk mempamerkan kebosanan dan rasa tidak puas hati mereka yang begitu mendalam terhadap Parti Rakyat Bersatu Sarawak (SUPP) yang mereka lihat gagal memperjuangkan kepentingan mereka.

Ramai ahli politik, pemimpin masyarakat dan individu Cina di negeri itu berkata mereka tidak faham kenapa ada ahli politik tertentu cuba membuat tafsiran tentang keputusan pilihan raya negeri itu berdasarkan kaum.
Kaum Cina di Sarawak berkata kebanyakan orang luar membuat andaian silap mengenai keputusan pilihan raya berkenaan kerana mereka tidak memahami gaya politik tempatan.

Mereka berkata kebanyakan orang Cina mengundi pembangkang, terutama DAP, untuk memberi isyarat jelas bahawa mereka sudah bosan dengan perkara tertentu, termasuk faktor yang melibatkan Ketua Menteri Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud dan timbalannya Tan Sri Dr George Chan.

“Pertama ialah untuk memprotes kedudukan Taib yang didakwa menguasai begitu banyak kepentingan perniagaan dan kedua, untuk menunjukkan protes mereka terhadap SUPP di bawah pimpinan Chan yang tidak memainkan peranannya untuk menolong rakyat yang diwakilinya,” kata seorang pemimpin masyarakat dari Sibu.

Beliau berkata sekiranya benar semua orang Cina benci BN, sudah tentu mereka bertindak secara habis-habisan untuk memastikan BN tidak mendapat majoriti dua pertiga, memandangkan ramai juga pengundi Bumiputera menolak BN di sesetengah kawasan.

“Ia lebih merupakan protes mengenai isu tempatan, bukan terhadap BN secara menyeluruh. Jika tidak, tentulah tidak terdapat lebih 20 peratus undi kaum Cina yang berpihak kepada BN,” katanya.

Isu terkini mengenai Taib, yang mungkin merupakan antara ahli politik paling berpengalaman di Malaysia, ialah berkaitan begitu banyak kepentingan perniagaan yang dikuasai oleh keluarganya dan perkara ini menjadi perhatian utama pengundi, khususnya dari kawasan bandar dan pinggir bandar.

Satu lagi perkara yang dijadikan isu besar oleh pembangkang pada pilihan raya baru-baru ini ialah tempoh Taib menerajui negeri itu yang telah begitu lama dan wujudnya gesaan secara senyap dalam kalangan pelbagai pihak agar beliau berundur. Malah, selepas pilihan raya itu, isu berkenaan masih hangat.

Seorang lagi pemimpin masyarakat Cina berkata kebanyakan pengundi Cina tidak menentang BN secara sepenuhnya, dan menurut beliau: “Apa yang kami mahu ialah agar beberapa ketidakadilan dan keadaan yang merugikan kami, diperbetulkan. Kami hanya orang biasa yang bersungut tentang perkara yang dianggap wajar.”

Di sebalik semua itu, kata beliau, Taib tetap berjaya menerajui BN untuk mengekalkan majoriti dua pertiga dalam Dewan Undangan Negeri dengan agak mudah.

Malah, parti pimpinan beliau, Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, menang kesemua 35 kerusi yang ditandinginya dengan memperoleh 68.3 peratus undi popular.

Pengundi Cina juga, kata pemimpin masyarakat itu, mengharapkan agar kebimbangan mereka, apabila melihat anak mereka terpaksa meninggalkan Sarawak untuk mencari rezeki di tempat lain dan penyelesaian dicari kepada iklim perniagaan yang tidak memberangsangkan.

“Dalam hal ini, SUPP dilihat gagal menyalurkan kebimbangan sebenar dan sungutan pengundi yang tinggal di kawasan tradisinya,” katanya.

Pemimpin Cina Sibu, Temenggong Vincent Lau, membuat kesimpulan menarik mengenai anggapan masyarakat Cina di Sarawak terhadap SUPP dengan berkata: “Setiap kali mereka (SUPP) membuat keputusan, ia sama ada silap atau tidak mempunyai arah tuju politik. Itulah sebabnya orang hilang keyakinan terhadap parti itu.”

Lau berkata para pemimpin SUPP perlu melakukan muhasabah diri dan berhenti daripada bercakaran sesama mereka kerana perbuatan itu telah menjerumuskan parti berkenaan ke dalam satu demi satu krisis dan akhirnya menyebabkan ia mencatat pencapaian buruk pada pilihan raya negeri kali ini.

“Sekiranya mereka terus bergaduh sesama sendiri, maka parti itu mungkin terpaksa tutup kedai. Jika ini terjadi, ia memalukan masyarakat Cina di negeri ini dan sudah tentulah, perkara sebegitu tidak ingin dilihat oleh rakyat,” katanya.

Lau berkata berdasarkan pengamatannya, para pemimpin, pekerja parti dan anggota peringkat akar umbi dalam SUPP, telah gagal bekerja sebagai suatu pasukan sejak beberapa tahun lepas dan inilah yang menyebabkan parti itu menjadi tidak berkesan dan dilihat sebagai “menipu rakyat.”

Oleh itu, katanya, tidak hairanlah semakin ramai yang bosan dengan SUPP dan kegagalan parti itu menunaikan janjinya telah menyebabkan mereka berpaling tadah serta memberi undi kepada DAP.

Mungkinkah kewujudan sebuah parti baru berasaskan kaum Cina boleh menjadi jawapannya?

- Bernama

No thought for the environment

Casey Lee

Local councils have no say in any projects because once they are approved, nobody can stop the developer, says Sabah Environment Protection Association.

KOTA KINABALU: The fast-tracking of development projects in Sabah has come with an enormous cost to the environment, according to the Sabah Environment Protection Association (Sepa).
Sepa president Wong Tack said companies and agencies are literally bulldozing through anything and everything once their projects are approved.

“This is the saddest thing that has happened in Sabah. Our mangrove on the east coast are disappearing at a rapid pace…

“Projects are being approved by the state cabinet and after that, they (developers) can just bulldoze through anything and overwrite all the government agencies.

“The door to companies and agencies to overstep the boundaries and requirements of the law is wide open under this government policy,” Wong told FMT recently.

He was referring to a statement issued by the government that the development of the three-phase Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC) complied with the “highest standards of environment practice”.

Wong said Sepa, on discovering the POIC, had called for a review of the project. “We asked them to review the development of POIC, involving 4,500 acres of coastal land, the majority of it involving healthy mangrove.

“Close to 1,000 acres have been developed in phase one and two and more than 600 acres of healthy mangrove removed.

“But Tan (State Minister of Industrial Development Raymond Tan) said the three-phase project was conducted after proper Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies.

“He said that what was done here is according to the highest standards of environmental practice. But the Environmental Protection Department director Yabi Yangkat personally went up there and issued the highest compound (fine) for total violation,” Wong said, adding that “even Tan’s own environmental consultants had voiced their serious concerns” over the project.

“Yet Tan maintains that the development was done in the highest environment practice. What is this?” added Wong.

No proper planning

Wong is unhappy that the ministry did not have public consultation with non-governmental organisations, saying that Tan should seek the advice from Sepa and not vice-versa.

“What kind of planning is that? The right way is to have public consultations. When they have a problem, they ask us to come and see them. It’s wrong.

“Nobody is allowed to question. Local councils lose their right to voice out breaches of their by-laws because when the  cabinet approves, everything is overwritten,” said Wong.

He also questioned the capacity of the elected representatives in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly to understand environmental issues.

“I want to ask how many elected representatives sitting in the assembly that day who approved this POIC understood that they would be clearing off a massive acreage of mangrove.

“Even Tan didn’t know. So this cabinet green light is blindly approved. One man put up his  hand saying, ‘I approve this’, then another seconds this and the project is approved.”

He said the state cabinet and central planning unit are overwriting the local authorities and government agencies at the expense of the environment.

SUPP says DAP may have incited 'reward-seekers'

Regina Lee

The Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) has slammed back at reports that '100 people approached the party headquarters demanding for election money'.

The party's Sibu division bumiputera unit chief Andrew Shilling said though there were several people waiting at a coffee shop below the party's office in Sibu, they could have been incited to assemble there by the Opposition.

"Most of the people waiting downstairs were not even BN supporters. I was told that they were DAP supporters. Of course (DAP) would have given them that information (that money was being given out).
"They were probably paid to buat kacau and make a scene. I'm sorry to say this, but this is a West Malaysian culture.

"They just wanted to make a ruckus," Shilling (right) told Malaysiakini.

The Sibu Election Watch (SEW) has claimed that more than 100 people were waiting in a shoplot below the party headquarters, demanding the balance of their payout.

According to SEW, the voters were expecting a balance of RM400, after being paid RM100 right before the recently concluded Sarawak election, for casting their votes for the SUPP candidate.

Sarawak DAP chief and Bukit Assek assemblyperson Wong Ho Leng tweeted on that day that the people were Iban voters from Rasau and Bawang Assan.

'Money was for campaigning work'

Shilling, who is also political secretary to the Sarawak chief minister, admitted that a meeting was taking place in the SUPP office with several Iban tuai rumah (longhouse chiefs) at the time of the incident.

According to him, 18 chiefs and community members from six longhouses in the Sungai Rasau area were meeting with him to receive payment for their work in the campaign for SUPP during the election.

"They hung posters and banners for us. And then they also received petrol allowances. They did some petty jobs for us," said Shilling.

Asked how much the remunerations were, he refused to answer and said: "I can't comment on the amount. But they were enough, lah."

Shilling also rubbished the Sibu Election Watch, saying it was not even a registered body.

"I actually don't even know what happened downstairs. Who is (SEW) anyway? Are they registered? They are not, aren't they?

"Anyone can claim that they are SEW. Of course they have the right to comment but they must be truthful," he said, reiterating that the claims of vote buying were "baseless".

'Don't think Iban votes can be bought'

Responding to the numerous allegations by DAP that SUPP had been buying votes, Shilling, who is Iban by ethnicity - said his community could not be bought easily.

"We Iban... don't look down upon us as far as money is concerned. We cannot be enticed by money.

"We're not like that - easily bought," he said.

Shilling, who has helmed the party's bumiputera unit in Sibu for eight years now, said SUPP has always had a good relationship with the bumiputera community in Sarawak.

"The tuai rumah and some of the Iban people used to come and see us in the office. They'll come and see me with all kinds of problems, whether they are unhappy with something, or they want help to write a letter, or whether they want us to recommend an application to the wakil rakyat.

"SUPP has had the Iban support even in the last state election and we have the right to choose our assemblyperson."

He said Bawang Assan assemblyperson and SUPP deputy secretary-general Wong Soon Koh (above) was capable in terms of bringing development and progress to the rural areas.

"In the rural areas, we still have to develop the basic amenities. Towns already have everything there. So there is still a very different mindset in the rural areas," said Shilling.

Wong retained his Bawang Assan seat against DAP's newcomer Alice Lau with a 1,808-vote majority. In the constituency with a sizeable 33.64 percent Iban voters, DAP has angrily claimed that its loss was the result of vote buying.

Letter from death row: Me and my lifeYong Vui Kong

Sabahan Yong Vui Kong, 21, is on death row in Singapore for drug trafficking. Malaysiakini is publishing Yong's final letters to Yetian, a member of the Save Vui Kong Campaign, in the next 11 weeks as he faces death.

Yetian,

Yun Leong brought your letter when he came to visit me on Monday. He told me that the first letter has been published.

Thank you, and thank you to all the kind-hearted strangers who have helped me. Thank you to all those who read my letters. I hope that everyone can read them. This is the only way for me to connect with the outside world.

Yetian, you said that life is very precious.

To me, life is the most important thing in the world. There are many things that mean a lot to me. But even if you have a lot of money, or many material possessions, you still only have one life.

In the past, I did not value or respect my life. It was only later that I realised those who do not respect their own lives, cannot expect others to respect them.

After turning to Buddhism, I realised that I have a responsibility in life.

I watch my fellow inmates losing their lives, one by one, because of they were ignorant, or easily misled. It breaks my heart. Amitabha. I know I'll be just like them. So I would like to use every remaining day of my life to tell people my story.

I want to use the Buddhist philosophy to tell everyone not to make mistakes, not to end up on death row because of drugs. I want to tell them never to take drugs and destroy their lives.

Of course, I hope that I can have more time to meditate, to read more Buddhist books and to absorb more Buddhist philosophy so that I can continue teaching others. But ultimately, this will all depend on fate.

Thinking back to the day Yun Leong came to see me at the detention centre, I was crying like a child. I was so afraid. My hands and legs were trembling as I cried. I had broken down. All my macho bravado had disappeared.

I was very afraid of death. I didn't know what would happen to me after I die.

'I don't blame the Singapore government' 

After reading the scriptures, I dreamed of the Earth Bodhisattva. I saw through many things, and learnt not to cling on to life. This life has been given to me by Buddha. He has made all the arrangements for me, and I accept them.

I am very grateful for my life. I am very grateful towards all those who have worked hard to try to save me, and to ask for the Singaporean president to grant me clemency. If I were to give up now, wouldn't I be letting them down?

I really don't want those who have supported me, helped me and encouraged me to be sad.

I don't know why, but I know that my case has caused a lot of quarrels between people. I said before that life is not something to be wasted, but to be cherished. Quarreling is a waste of life.

I don't blame the Singapore government. I don't blame anyone. I believe that every country has its laws. If you make a mistake and get caught, then you deserve to be punished. I also know that Singapore is governed by rule of law. Asking a country to change its law is a very difficult thing.

I don't yearn for anything. All I want is more time.

I am a death row inmate. I have no right to ask for the abolishment of the death penalty. But I still feel that the death penalty is not a workable solution.

I am grateful to those who have been able to forgive me. It is a miracle that I have been able to live this long. I will take good care of myself, study hard and improve myself.

'I don't yearn to leave prison' 

You asked me what I would do if I were granted clemency.

I don't yearn to leave prison. In fact, that I think this is an excellent place to meditate. I've already devoted myself to Buddhism, but I hope to find a priest who will ordain me one day and officially accept me as a monk.

While I'm alive, I will work hard to share my experience with everyone. I want to be like the priest who visits me here regularly, and tirelessly share the wisdom of Buddhism with everyone.

I will devote my whole life to help those who other people are unable to reach.

Even if I do not get a second chance, I hope that everyone will always remember to give themselves a second chance. Life will be fuller this way.

Yetian, it's been hard on you. You have to write to me even though you have to work. I am really happy, and hope to keep writing. I will stop here today. Amitabha.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
YONG VUI KONG, a Sabahan, was sentenced in November 2009 to death for drug trafficking. He was 19. On April 4, Yong lost his final appeal against a mandatory death sentence. He will be executed in three months unless he is granted clemency by Singapore's president.

Second snippet of sex clip online!

Another short clip of a sex video involving a man resembling opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has made its way onto the Internet.

The video, titled 'Papa Nurul Izzah Part II' was uploaded at 1.30pm today on video sharing website YouTube by a user with the username 'wakparjosudorno'.

According to the user's profile, he claimed to be from Indonesia and joined the site yesterday.

The 1.47-minute video shows a woman walking out of the bedroom into a bathroom and a man putting on his clothes in front of the hidden camera.

In the short footage the man, initially clad in a long towel, can be seen handing another towel to the naked woman prior to her getting into the bathroom.

He then dries his lower body with the towel he is wearing, before taking it off and putting on an undershirt, a pair of underpants, pants and finally his shirt before walking into the adjoining room.

The video clip was edited where the private parts of the man and the woman's naked figure was covered by a pixelised box.

No Thai script in Part 2

But unlike the first video clip released on April 4, the video was without the white strip with the words "Phaholyothin Road, Bangkok, Thailand 10400, Copyright 2011" in Thai script written on it, covering the time and date counter.

In this video clip, the time and date is clearly visible. The date reads 2011/02/21 while the time was between 22:43 and 22:45.

It is believed that this clip was the end portion of the 22-minute video clip screened to journalists at Carcosa Seri Negara on March 21.

The video was also posted on popular blog papagomo.com currently being investigated for distributing the first video clip purportedly from the the Carcosa sex video.

However, at 6.45pm the video was removed from YouTube for "violation" of its policy.

But another user by the name of 'AlamJiwaParadox' has uploaded another video of the same clip which is still viewable at press time.