PRUDENCE

Looking at the current meltdown at the Wall Street I could not but remember about the Economic and Financial Crisis that hit our country and the whole of Southeast Asia in 1997.

I remember the friends irrespective of race in the corporate world including myself that were affected in the economic turmoil and meltdown at the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange .

From then onwards I have always reminded my children of the need to be prudent at all times.

Today I would like to share with my readers one quotation that I have always remembered since 1997:

"Money is never spent to so much advantage as when you have been cheated out of it;
for at one stroke you have purchased prudence"

Arthur Schopenhauer
(1788-1860)

CALUN 'KUDA HITAM' BAKAL MUNCUL?

Oleh ARSHAD KHAN - UTUSAN MALAYSIA

KUALA LUMPUR 27 Sept. - Calon-calon 'kuda hitam' atau nama-nama yang tidak disangka akan muncul menawarkan diri untuk merebut jawatan tertinggi UMNO pada pemilihan yang dijadual berlangsung Mac tahun depan.

Menteri Penerangan, Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek berkata, kemunculan calon 'kuda hitam' itu akan bergantung kepada keputusan Presiden UMNO, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi mahu mempertahankan jawatannya atau tidak.

Beliau menegaskan, andainya Abdullah tidak mempertahankan jawatan tersebut, maka kemunculan calon 'kuda hitam' adalah bagi jawatan kedua iaitu Timbalan Presiden UMNO.

"Jawatan nombor satu mungkin tidak (ditandingi) kerana Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak sudah dilihat sebagai pengganti jawatan berkenaan," katanya kepada Mingguan Malaysia ketika dihubungi di sini hari ini.

Namun kata beliau, dalam senario politik hari ini, belum ada sesiapa yang boleh dikatakan secara pasti akan menduduki jawatan kedua tertinggi parti jika berlaku kekosongan.

Tambah beliau, dalam konteks kemunculan calon 'kuda hitam' itu, bermakna jawatan nombor dua parti iaitu Timbalan Presiden UMNO tidak semestinya ditandingi secara solo oleh Naib Presiden yang menjadi sebutan untuk jawatan itu kini, iaitu Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

"Selepas hari raya ini, dua atau tiga nama baru dijangka timbul untuk berada dalam persaingan, nama-nama ini akan memeranjatkan masyarakat umum," katanya.

Malah kata beliau, tidak semestinya calon yang tampil untuk merebut jawatan Timbalan Presiden UMNO itu datangnya daripada kalangan Naib Presiden parti sedia ada.

Menerangkan lebih lanjut konsep 'kuda hitam', beliau berkata, dalam pertandingan lumba kuda, umumnya penonton akan memandang kepada kuda-kuda yang cerah kerana lebih cantik dan senang dilihat.

"Namun ketika perlumbaan berlangsung, di hujung persaingan, kuda hitam akan muncul dan menarik perhatian penonton," katanya.

Justeru kata beliau, dalam konteks pertandingan dalam UMNO, calon 'kuda hitam' mampu mewujudkan pertandingan yang sengit kerana keputusan akan terletak di tangan akar umbi untuk menentukan pemimpin pilihan mereka.

Beliau berkata, teori 'kuda hitam' itu kukuh pada pemilihan kali ini kerana selepas satu tempoh yang lama, wujud kemungkinan jawatan Timbalan Presiden UMNO dipertandingkan.

Katanya, kemunculan calon jenis itu sama ada secara sukarela menawarkan diri atau mungkin keadaan akan membawanya ke tengah pertandingan.

Namun katanya, tidak ada jaminan 'kuda hitam' berkenaan boleh menang tetapi mungkin mampu mewujudkan persaingan yang sengit.

Katanya, kemunculan calon 'kuda hitam' dalam pemilihan UMNO selepas hari raya mungkin tidak ramai bilangannya tetapi pasti akan memeranjatkan.

PERALIHAN LEBIH AWAL - KEPUTUSAN MESYUARAT KHAS MT UMNO SEMALAM

Oleh MARHAINI KAMARUDDIN
dan HERMAN HAMID
UTUSAN MALAYSIA

KUALA LUMPUR 26 Sept. – Peralihan kuasa yang dipersetujui antara Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi dengan Timbalannya, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak akan berlaku setahun lebih awal daripada pelan asal pada 2010.

Bagi membolehkan proses peralihan tersebut berjalan lancar, Perhimpunan Agung UMNO yang dijadual berlangsung pada Disember ini akan ditangguhkan kepada Mac depan.

Mesyuarat bahagian yang akan bermula 9 Oktober ini bagaimanapun diteruskan mengikut jadual.

Keputusan menangguhkan perhimpunan agung parti itu yang juga membabitkan pemilihan peringkat tertinggi dicapai pada mesyuarat khas Majlis Tertinggi (MT) UMNO yang dipengerusikan oleh Abdullah di Menara Dato’ Onn, Pusat Dagangan Dunia Putra (PWTC) hari ini.

Ditanya sebab penangguhan, Presiden UMNO itu berkata, ia bertujuan “mempermudahkan pelan peralihan kuasa lebih awal.”

“Kalau kita nak awalkan (peralihan), tidak adalah lagi original (pelan asal) 2010 itu... tak timbullah perkara itu,” kata Perdana Menteri ketika ditanya adakah pelan peralihan kuasa pada Jun 2010 akan dikekalkan pada sidang akhbar selepas mempengerusikan mesyuarat khas itu.

Mengulas keputusan MT meneruskan mesyuarat bahagian di sebalik desas-desus mengenai penangguhannya, Perdana Menteri berkata, ia bagi menghormati keputusan akar umbi dan mengelakkan timbul perbalahan.

“Itulah sebaik-baiknya kerana kita memegang dan menghormati keputusan yang telah dibuat, yang telah pun jelas dan semua pun bersedia untuk mengadakan mesyuarat masing-masing,” ujarnya.

Ketika diminta menjelaskan maksud peralihan kuasa awal, beliau berkata: “Ia adalah untuk membuat penyerahan segala apa juga yang diperlukan, peraturan-peraturan apa yang hendak saya laksanakan nanti. Apa juga dengan ini akan diputuskan antara saya dan Najib.”

Ditanya adakah ini bermakna beliau tidak akan mempertahankan jawatan Presiden pada pemilihan parti Mac depan, beliau memberitahu, pengumuman mengenai keputusannya akan dibuat sebelum mesyuarat bahagian bermula pada 9 Oktober ini.

Abdullah bagaimanapun menyangkal andaian bahawa keputusan melaksanakan pelan peralihan kuasa lebih awal dibuat kerana menerima banyak tekanan termasuk daripada anggota MT.

“Tidak. Tidak ada kena-mengena semua itu. Ia semua berhubung kait dengan kerja saya. Bila kerja habis, habislah,” katanya.

Menurut Abdullah, tidak ada sebab anggota MT mengenakan tekanan untuk beliau melepaskan jawatan, malah perkara itu tidak langsung ditimbulkan pada mesyuarat hari ini.

Perdana Menteri turut menolak kemungkinan bercuti lebih awal ekoran perubahan pelan peralihan kuasa itu.

“Saya akan bercutikah? Tak tahu pula. Macam mana awak tahu? Tidak, tidak... saya tak akan bercuti. Saya ada banyak kerja hendak dibuat,” katanya.

Abdullah yang ditanya kesediaannya melakukan pengorbanan besar dengan mengundur diri demi kebaikan UMNO menegaskan, beliau sayangkan parti itu dan tidak akan sekali-kali meninggalkannya biarpun dalam keadaan sukar.

“Saya tidak pernah tinggalkan parti, saya tidak menyertai UMNO 46 (Semangat 46), saya tidak sertai parti lain, malah saya tidak pernah berada atas platform pembangkang untuk menentang UMNO.

“Tidak ada rekod saya menentang parti pada bila-bila masa pun,” tegasnya.

Ditanya sama ada UMNO mempunyai cadangan untuk mengehadkan tempoh jawatan Presiden selama tiga penggal seperti yang diamalkan MCA ketika ini, beliau berkata, parti itu tidak mempunyai rancangan untuk berbuat demikian.

REPORT LODGED AGAINST TERESA FOR INSULTING EGG

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 24, 2008) : The Seputeh Umno Youth division lodged a police report today against Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, claiming she had insulted the Royal Malaysian Police and the egg, which is an essential food of the underprivileged.

The division’s deputy head Alawi Dahalin and several other members lodged the report at the Brickfields police station.

Alawi said he had heard Kok complain about the food she was given while detained under the ISA, at a press conference at the DAP headquarters in Petaling Jaya, shown on the night news on TV on Sept 20, a day after she was released from custody.

He said Kok had said the food she was served was "fit only for dogs".

"By saying this, she had insulted the police and the poor. Eggs are an important food for low-income earners and the poor. As an elected representative of the people she should not have said that," he said.



Now that Teresa is a state Exco of Selangor she has become very arrogant.

NO GOVERNMENT BAIL-OUT OF BANKING SYSTEN EVER GOING TO BE PRETTY. THIS ONE DESERVES SUPPORT ?

Sept 25th 2008

The Economist



SAVING the world is a thankless task. The only thing beyond dispute in the $700 billion plan of Hank Paulson, the treasury secretary, and Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, to stem the financial crisis is that everyone can find something in it to dislike. The left accuses it of ripping off taxpayers to save Wall Street, the right damns it as socialism; economists disparage its technicalities, political scientists its sweeping powers. The administration gave ground to Congress, George Bush delivered a televised appeal and Barack Obama and John McCain suspended the presidential campaign. Even so, as The Economist went to press, the differences remained. There was a chance that Congress would say no.

Spending a sum of money that could buy you a war in Iraq should not come easily; and the notion of any bail-out is deeply troubling to any self-respecting capitalist. Against that stand two overriding arguments. First this is a plan that could work (see article). And, second, the potential costs of producing nothing, or too little too slowly, include a financial collapse and a deep recession spilling across the world: those far outweigh any plausible estimate of the bail-out’s cost.
Mr Market goes to Congress

America’s financial system has two ailments: it owns a huge amount of toxic securities linked to falling house prices. And it is burdened by losses that leave it short of capital (although the world has capital, not enough has been available to the banks). For over a year, since August 2007, central bankers, principally Mr Bernanke, have been trying to make this toxic debt liquid. But by September 17th, following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the nationalisation of American International Group earlier that week, the problem started to become one of the system’s solvency too. The market lost faith in a strategy that saved finance one institution at a time. The economy is not healing itself. If credit markets stay blocked, consumers and firms will enter a vicious spiral.

Mr Paulson’s plan relies on buying vast amounts of toxic securities. The theory is that in any auction a huge buyer like the federal government would end up paying more than today’s prices, temporarily depressed by the scarcity of buyers, and still buy the loans cheaply enough to reflect the high chance of a default. That would help recapitalise some banks—which could also set less capital aside against a cleaner balance sheet. And by creating credible, transparent prices, it would at last encourage investors to come in and repair the financial system: this week Warren Buffett and Japan’s Mitsubishi-UFJ agreed to buy stakes in Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Some banks would still not have enough capital, but under Mr Paulson’s original plan, the state could put equity in them, or, if they become insolvent, take them over and run them down.

The economics behind this is sound. Government support to the banking system can break the cycle of panic and pessimism that threatens to suck the economy into deep recession. Intervention may help taxpayers, because they are also employees and consumers. Although $700 billion is a lot—about 6% of GDP—some of it will be earned back and it is small compared with the 16% of GDP that banking crises typically swallow and trivial compared with the Depression, when unemployment surged above 20% (compared with 6% now). Messrs Bernanke and Paulson also have done well by acting quickly: it took seven years for Japan’s regulators to set up a mechanism to take over large broke banks in the 1990s.

Could the plan be better structured? Some economists want the state to focus on putting equity into the banks—arguing that it is the best way to address their lack of solvency. In theory you would need to spend less, because a dollar of new equity would support $10 in assets. Yet the banks might not take part until they were on the ropes and, if house prices later fell dramatically more, the value of the banks’ shares would collapse. The threat of the government taking stakes would scare off some private investors. And in the charged atmosphere after this bail-out meddling politicians, as part-owners, would have a tempting lever over the banks.

Mr Paulson’s plan also has its shortcomings. He will find it hard to stop sellers from rigging auctions, if only because no two lots of dodgy securities are exactly the same. Taxpayers may thus pay over the odds and banks may be rewarded for their stupidity. Yet these costs seem small against the benefit of putting a floor under the markets. And fine calculations about moral hazard are less pressing when investors are fleeing risk.

If the economics of Mr Paulson’s plan are broadly correct, the politics are fiendish. You are lavishing money on the people who got you into this mess. Sensible intervention cannot even buy long-term relief: the plan cannot stop house prices falling and the bloated financial sector shrinking. Although the economic risk is that the plan fails, the political risk is that the plan succeeds. Voters will scarcely notice a depression that never happened. But even as they lose their houses and their jobs, they will see Wall Street once again making millions.
Buckle a little, but do it briefly

In retrospect, Mr Paulson made his job harder by misreading the politics. His original plan contained no help for homeowners. And he assumed sweeping powers to spend the cash quickly. He was right to want flexibility to buy a range of assets. But flexibility does not exclude accountability. As complaints mounted, Mr Paulson and Mr Bernanke buckled—agreeing, for instance, to more oversight. Now that Messrs McCain and Obama have returned to Congress to forge a deal, more buckling may be necessary. Ideally, concessions should not outlast the crisis: temporary help for people able to stay in their houses, a brief ban on dividends in financial firms, even another fiscal package. They should not be permanent or so onerous that the programme fails for want of participants—which is why proposed limits on pay are a mistake (see article).

Mr Paulson’s plan is not perfect. But it is good enough and it is the plan on offer. The prospect of its failure sent credit markets once again veering towards the abyss. Congress should pass it—and soon.

THE FINANCIAL CRISIS - WHAT NEXT

Sep 18th 2008
The Economist

Global finance is being torn apart; it can be put back together again



FINANCE houses set out to be monuments of stone and steel. In the widening gyre the greatest of them have splintered into matchwood. Ten short days saw the nationalisation, failure or rescue of what was once the world’s biggest insurer, with assets of $1 trillion, two of the world’s biggest investment banks, with combined assets of another $1.5 trillion, and two giants of America’s mortgage markets, with assets of $1.8 trillion. The government of the world’s leading capitalist nation has been sucked deep into the maelstrom of its most capitalist industry. And it looks overwhelmed.

The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch’s rapid sale to Bank of America were shocking enough. But the government rescue of American International Group (AIG), through an $85 billion loan at punitive interest rates thrown together on the evening of September 16th, marked a new low in an already catastrophic year. AIG is mostly a safe, well-run insurer. But its financial-products division, which accounted for just a fraction of its revenues, wrote enough derivatives contracts to destroy the firm and shake the world. It helps explain one of the mysteries of recent years: who was taking on the risk that banks and investors were shedding? Now we know.

Yet AIG’s rescue has done little to banish the naked fear that has the markets in its grip. Pick your measure—the interest rates banks charge to lend to each other, the extra costs of borrowing and of insuring corporate debt, the flight to safety in Treasury bonds, gold, financial stocks: all register contagion. On September 17th HBOS, Britain’s largest mortgage lender, fell into the arms of Lloyds TSB for a mere £12 billion ($22 billion), after its shares pitched into the abyss that had swallowed Lehman and AIG. Other banks, including Morgan Stanley and Washington Mutual, looked as if they would suffer the same fate. Russia said it would lend its three biggest banks 1.12 trillion roubles ($44 billion). An American money-market fund, supposedly the safest of safe investments, this week became the first since 1994 to report a loss. If investors flee the money markets for Treasuries, banks will lose funding and the contagion will suck in hedge funds and companies. A brave man would see catharsis in all this misery; a wise man would not be so hasty.
The blood-dimmed tide

Some will argue that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury, nationalising the economy faster than you can say Hugo Chávez, should have left AIG to oblivion. Amid this contagion that would have been reckless. Its contracts—almost $450 billion-worth in the credit-default swaps market alone—underpin the health of the world’s banks and investment funds. The collapse of its insurance arm would hit ordinary policyholders. At the weekend the Fed and the Treasury watched Lehman Brothers go bankrupt sooner than save it. In principle that was admirable—capitalism requires people to pay for their mistakes. But AIG was bigger and the bankruptcy of Lehman had set off vortices and currents that may have contributed to its downfall. With the markets reeling, pragmatism trumped principle. Even though it undermined their own authority, the Fed and the Treasury rightly felt they could not say no again.

What happens next depends on three questions. Why has the crisis lurched onto a new, destructive path? How vulnerable are the financial system and the economy? And what can be done to put finance right? It is no hyperbole to say that for an inkling of what is at stake, you have only to study the 1930s.

Shorn of all its complexity, the finance industry is caught between two brutally simple forces. It needs capital, because assets like houses and promises to pay debts are worth less than most people thought. Even if some gain from falling asset prices, lenders and insurers have to book losses, which leaves them needing money. Finance also needs to shrink. The credit boom not only inflated asset prices, it also inflated finance itself. The financial-services industry’s share of total American corporate profits rose from 10% in the early 1980s to 40% at its peak last year. By one calculation, profits in the past decade amounted to $1.2 trillion more than you would have expected.

This industry will not be able to make money after the boom unless it is far smaller—and it will be hard to make money while it shrinks. No wonder investors are scarce. The brave few, such as sovereign-wealth funds, who put money into weak banks have lost a lot. Better to pick over their carcasses than to take on their toxic assets—just as Britain’s Barclays walked away from Lehman as a going concern, only to swoop on its North American business after it failed.
The centre cannot hold

Governments will thus often be the only buyers around. If necessary, they may create a special fund to manage and wind down troubled assets. Yet do not underestimate the cost of rescues, even necessary ones. Nobody would buy Lehman unless the government offered them the sort of help it had provided JPMorgan Chase when it saved Bear Stearns. The nationalisation that, for good reason, wiped out Fannie’s and Freddie’s shareholders has made it riskier for others to put fresh equity into ailing banks. The only wise recapitalisation just now is an outright purchase, preferably by a retail bank backed by deposits insured by the government—as with Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, Lloyds and HBOS and, possibly, Wachovia with Morgan Stanley. The bigger the bank, the harder that is. Most of all, each rescue discourages investors from worrying about the creditworthiness of those they trade with—and thus encourages the next excess.

For all the costs of a rescue, the cost of failure to the economy would sometimes be higher. As finance shrinks, credit will be sucked out of the economy and without credit, people cannot buy houses, run businesses or as easily invest in the future. So far the American economy has held up. The hope is that the housing bust is nearing its bottom and that countries like China and India will continue to thrive. Recent falls in the price of oil and other commodities give central banks scope to cut interest rates—as China showed this week.

But there is a darker side, too. Unemployment in America rose to 6.1% in August and is likely to climb further. Industrial production fell by 1.1% last month; and the annual change in retail sales is at its weakest since the aftermath of the 2001 recession. Output is shrinking in Japan, Germany, Spain and Britain, and is barely positive in many other countries. On a quarterly basis, prices are falling in half of the 20 countries in The Economist’s house-price index. Emerging economies’ stocks, bonds and currencies have been battered as investors fret that they will no longer be “decoupled” from the rich countries.

Unless policymakers blunder unforgivably—by letting “systemic” institutions fail or by keeping monetary policy too tight—there is no need for today’s misery to turn into a new Depression. A longer-term worry is the inevitable urge to regulate modern finance into submission. Though understandable, that desire is wrong and dangerous—and the colossal success of commerce in the emerging world (see article) shows how much there is to lose. Finance is the brain of the economy. For all its excesses, it allocates resources to where they are productive better than any central planner ever could.

Regulation is necessary, and much must now be done to improve the laws of finance. But it must be the right regulation: an end to America’s fragmented system of oversight; more transparency; capital requirements that lean against booms and flex with busts; supervision of giants, like AIG, that are too big and too interconnected to fail; accounting that values risks better and that everyone accepts; clearing houses and exchanges to make derivatives safer and less opaque.

All that would count as progress. But naive faith in regulators’ powers creates ruinous false security. Financiers know more than regulators and their voices carry more weight in a boom. Banks can exploit the regulations’ inevitable blind spots: assets hidden off their balance sheets, or insurance (such as that provided by AIG) which enables them to profit by sliding out of the capital requirements the regulators set. It is no accident that both schemes were at the heart of the crisis.

This is a black week. Those of us who have supported financial capitalism are open to the charge that the system we championed has merely enabled a few spivs to get rich. But it helped produce healthy economic growth and low inflation for a generation. It would take a very big recession indeed to wipe out those gains. Do not forget that in the debate ahead.

BAILOUT WORRIES HIT WALL STREET

# Worry grows as bailout debate continues
# Bernanke says bailout needed to curb economic risk
# Nasdaq bucks trend, rises on tech hopes
# Dow down 0.3%, S&P off 0.2%, Nasdaq up 0.1%
NEW YORK - THE Dow and S&P 500 edged lower on Wednesday as uncertainty about when Congress might approve a proposed US$700 billion (S$996 billion) financial sector bailout offset Warren Buffett's US$5 billion bet on Goldman Sachs.

Fear that congressional wrangling could delay or weaken the Bush administration's plan to mop up bad mortgage debt from banks' balance sheets kept stocks in check throughout the day.

The Nasdaq, though, clung to slender gains on hopes that technology spending would increase once a version of the bailout plan becomes law. The Dow and S&P declined for the third straight day.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged Congress' Joint Economic Committee to pass the bailout, saying delay would keep lenders from extending credit to households and businesses, but lawmakers voiced doubt about the size and scope of the plan.

'The resistance we're seeing in Washington (to the bailout bill) is understandable, but frightening at the same time. The longer this drags on and the more bickering we see, the more frightening it is,' said Mr Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 29.00 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 10,825.17. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 2.35 points, or 0.20 per cent, at 1,185.87. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 2.35 points, or 0.11 per cent, at 2,155.68.

Despite uneasiness about the bailout, traders said Mr Buffett's decision to invest US$5 billion in Goldman Sachs was encouraging. Goldman's stock rose 6.4 per cent to US$133, while the Class A stock of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett's holding company, added 3.5 per cent to US$133,300.

'When Buffett jumps in the pool, others may follow,' said Mr Andre Bakhos, president of Princeton Financial Group in Princeton, New Jersey. 'That says to investors that all is not lost.'

But shares of Citigroup were a top drag on the Dow and S&P, falling 5.2 per cent to US$18.96, while shares of economic bellwether General Electric slipped 1,4 per cent to US$24.59.

Overall sentiment on Wednesday towards financial shares, the hardest-hit sector throughout the year-long credit crisis that has rattled Wall Street, was mixed.

'Whether Buffett has called a bottom, I don't think anyone knows,' said Mr Ablin. 'My bottom line is, yes, financial stocks are as cheap as they've ever been, relative to the rest of the market. Problem is, the same was true last October.'

Among Nasdaq gainers, software maker Oracle Corp rose 1.3 per cent to US$19.95 while iPod maker Apple Inc added 1.5 per cent to US$128.71. Microsoft added 1.1 per cent to US$25.72.

The market got a brief lift from reports suggesting the Bush administration might accept curbs on executive pay as a condition for passage of the bailout, as insisted upon by Democrats, but a Treasury Department source told Reuters no such deal had been reached.

About 1.08 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, well below last year's estimated daily average of roughly 1.90 billion, while on Nasdaq, about 1.81 billion shares traded, also below last year's daily average of 2.17 billion.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by a ratio of about 3 to 2. On the Nasdaq, decliners beat advancers by about 2 to 1. -- REUTERS

HARGA MINYAK TURUN 10 SEN

KUALA LUMPUR 24 Sept. - Kerajaan mengumumkan harga runcit petrol RON97 dan 92 dikurangkan sebanyak 10 sen iaitu daripada RM2.55 kepada RM2.45 seliter dan RM2.50 kepada RM2.40 seliter, berkuat kuasa mulai esok.

- Utusan

PEMUDA NAFI 'BADAN PAS, BAJU PKR'

Malaysiakini

Jimadie Shah Othman | Sep 24, 08 3:50pm

Pemuda PAS menafikan ahli-ahli parti itu terikut-ikut dengan rentak PKR sehingga lebih meyakini usaha penggantian kerajaan oleh penasihatnya Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim berbanding nasihat pemimpin mereka sendiri. Rentetan pergeseran terbuka tokoh-tokoh PAS terhadap projek 16 September anjuran Anwar, ahli-ahli parti Islam seumpama itu khususnya anak muda dikritik sebagai "berbadan PAS tetapi berbaju PKR". Kritikan keras mursyidul am PAS kepada pesuruhjaya Terengganu, Datuk Mustafa Ali minggu lalu berhubung projek Anwar itu didakwa menunjukkan Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat "lebih tebal fanatiknya" terhadap penasihat PKR berbanding semangat mempertahankan dasar parti sendiri. Ketua Pemuda PAS Salahuddin Ayub bagaimanapun menjelaskan pengaruh PKR dan Anwar tidak sampai menghakis identiti Pemuda PAS. Perkara ini yang diungkitkan oleh seorang pemimpin PAS Kedah tidak pernah menjadi isu dalam mesyuarat dewan itu sama ada di peringkat pusat atau negeri, tambahnya. Salahuddin mengulas pandangan sasterawan terkenal Azizi Abdullah yang mendakwa ramai ahli PAS, khususnya Pemuda sangat terpengaruh PKR khususnya dalam kempen pilihanraya, termasuk di Permatang Pauh bulan lalu. Menulis di blognya (aziziabdullah.blogspot.com), pengarang novel Seorang Tua di Kaki Gunung itu yang pernah menjadi calon PAS berkata "sangat payah hendak membezakan yang mana PKR, yang mana orang PAS". "Sebenarnya telah kelihatan ramai ahli-ahli PAS semacam sudah menjadi ahli PKR, malah mereka lebih PKR daripada PAS, mabuk rasa, mabuk nama," katanya, yang pernah dilantik pengarah Majlis Tindakan DUN parti itu. "Terakhir, dari mulut ke mulut, mereka (ahli PAS) impikan peralihan kuasa melalui PKR dan apabila ada pemimpin PAS berceramah, mereka akan merungut dan membebel mulut jika pemimpin PAS mengupas soal peperangan Kubra atau nuzul Quran dalam konteks politik kini, kerana pemimpin PAS itu tidak mengulas dengan penuh semangat bagaimana peralihan kuasa dan kewibawaan Anwar menjadi pemimpin." Azizi berkata, ahli-ahli PAS tidak lagi melaungkan takbir tetapi "reformasi" dalam ceramah-ceramah dan lebih banyak menghabiskan masa di pondok panas PKR daripada pusat PAS ketika menghadapi pilihanraya. "Memang muak pun melihat ramai ahli-ahli PAS, terutama kalangan anak-anak muda, apabila berbadan PAS tetapi berbaju PKR. "Sesekali semacam hendak menyindir betapa akidah kepartian mereka sangat senang digoncang hinggut oleh pengaruh apa yang dianggap 'reformasi'," katanya. Ahli-ahli PAS juga didakwa terikut-ikut dengan pendirian PKR terhadap ahli parlimennya Zulkifli Nordin berhubung tindakan membantah forum 'Memeluk Islam' anjuran Majlis Peguam, Ogos lalu. Dihubungi Malaysiakini hari ini, Salahuddin menyifatkan pandangan Azizi itu "tidak menggambarkan hakikat sebenar" yang berlaku. Menyentuh kerjasama dalam pilihanraya kecil tersebut, Salahuddin berkata, beliau mengarahkan ahli-ahli Pemuda PAS membantu PKR dalam muktamar dewan itu atas semangat setiakawan Pakatan Rakyat. Menurutnya, oleh kerana pilihanraya kecil itu ditandingi Anwar, sudah tentu baju, poster dan kemeja T PKR dibekalkan dan dipakai oleh ahli-ahli PAS. "(Perbuatan itu) bukan penghakisan (pengaruh PAS) atau asimilasi, (dakwaan) itu tidak benar. Kita tetap dengan entiti dan identiti PAS," katanya. Beliau berkata, dakwaan sekarang tidak lagi kedengaran laungan takbir sebaliknya diganti dengan "reformasi" juga tidak tepat. "Dalam program PKR, program Anwar, sudah tentu laungan reformasi itu lebih (kuat) kedengaran," katanya, yang juga ahli parlimen Kubang Kerian. Mengulas pengaruh PAS terhadap golongan muda saat ini, Salahuddin berkata, sokongannya sentiasa meningkat dari masa ke semasa. "Daripada lebih kurang 1,000 ahli baru setiap bulan, 60 peratus orang muda," katanya. Exco Angkatan Muda PKR Kedah, Hasrul Muhaimin Hasbi pula mengakui bahawa PKR dan penasihatnya memang lebih popular di kalangan orang muda tanpa mengira parti. "Anwar popular di kalangan orang muda kerana imej mudanya itu jelas. Orang kenal Anwar sejak daripada beliau muda-muda di zaman sekolah dan universiti lagi. "Imej muda itu membuatkan orang tertarik dan rasa dekat," katanya kepada Malaysiakini. Tambahnya, yang menjadi calon PKR di Kuah, Langkawi dalam pilihanraya umum lalu, sejarah kelahiran parti itu melalui siri demonstrasi pada 1998 membuka peluang kepada pembabitan golongan muda. Hasrul berkata, dalam pemerhatiannya, penyokong pembangkang lebih selesa dengan imej, dasar dan pendekatan PKR kerana PAS lebih menekankan soal agama sehingga menimbulkan rasa kurang selesa anak muda yang pelbagai latar belakang. "PAS ini banyak golongan ahli agama, dua tiga kali dia pergi kena nasihat, lepas itu dia seganlah nak pergi. Yang tidak pakai tudung, sudah tentu tidak pergi (mendekati PAS)," katanya. Bagaimanapun, persoalan "curi ahli" tidak timbul kerana, menurutnya, ia cuma "membuang masa" dan bagi penyokong pembangkang, kedua-dua parti itu "sama sahaja". "Mereka anggap PAS dan PKR sama saja. Mereka tidak peduli PAS atau PKR atau DAP, asalkan pembangkang, dia sokong. "Mungkin juga kita sedang menuju sistem dua parti yang hanya ada kerajaan dan pembangkang," katanya. Kritikan Azizi kini semakin tersebar meluas di Internet, khususnya di kalangan ahli dan penyokong PAS. Ia mengukuhkan lagi tanggapan bahawa pemimpin-pemimpin parti itu terbelah dua dalam isu penggantian kerajaan 16 September, yang mula ketara sejak muncul isu rundingan dengan Umno dan kerjasama dengan Pakatan Rakyat beberapa bulan lep

SEPT 11 SUSPECT GRILLS US JUDGE ON RELIGION

REUTERS
GUANTANAMO BAY (Cuba): Accused Sept 11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed asked a US military judge whether he belonged to an "extremist" religious group, at an unusual Guantanamo war-crimes court hearing on Tuesday.

Mohammed, acting as his own attorney, asked Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann about his views on religion and torture at a pre-trial hearing of five accused Sept. 11 co-conspirators.

"We are well-known as extremists and fanatics, and there are also Christians and Jews that are very extremist," Mohammed told the judge.

"If you, for example, were part of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson's groups, then you would not at all be impartial towards us," he said, referring to US evangelical Christian leaders who have denounced Islam as violent.

Kohlmann replied that he did not belong to a congregation. "When I have attended church, I was a member of various Lutheran churches and Episcopal churches, and I have not attended any of them for a long time because I have moved so often," the judge said.

Kohlmann dismissed as "inaccurate," an assertion by co-defendant Ramzi Binalshibh that he had a "Jewish name."

Kohlmann was also asked about how he followed news coverage on the day of the attacks and replied that his memory was imprecise. He also said he had no opinion on the facts of the Sept 11 incident, which triggered US President George W. Bush's "war on terror."

Binalshibh, Mohammed and three other defendants -- Mustafa Ahmed al Hawsawi, Walid bin Attash and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali -- are charged with conspiring with Al Qaeda to kill civilians in the attacks.

The men face 2,973 counts of murder, one for each person killed when hijacked airliners crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field. Prosecutors want to execute them if they are convicted.

Extensive exploratory questioning of a judge's qualifications and bias by the defense is unique to military courts, including the commissions set up by Congress to try suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo US Naval base.

Defence attorneys said they had not yet decided whether to ask Kohlmann to disqualify himself based on his answers.

Mohammed is one of three Al Qaeda suspects known to have been subjected to CIA waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning used in interrogation that human rights groups consider torture. He asked Kohlmann about a high-school seminar the judge conducted in 2005 on interrogation and torture, and about his views on waterboarding.

Kohlmann said he had given two articles to the class at his daughter's high school, discussing the pros and cons of harsh interrogation techniques in circumstances such as when a suspect knows of an imminent attack. "I set out the scenarios ... to try to show it's a complex question," he said.

Binalshibh was absent from Monday's session, but appeared on Tuesday after his co-defendants urged him in letters to appear rather than be brought in by force under the judge's order.

Binalshibh appeared relaxed and unrestrained at the hearing, and chatted with co-defendants.
Kohlmann put a firm stamp on court proceedings.

He ruled out a late start to accommodate the Ramadan fasting schedule of the five Muslim defendants, and brushed off a request to end the day early for Ramadan. He denied Mohammed's request that he order some women participants to dress more modestly.

And after rejecting one request by the lead prosecutor for a bathroom break, Kohlmann relented 3 1/2 hours into the morning session, with an admonition that court participants should watch their fluid intake. "You all should be able to go as long as me without having to step out," he said.

DR M SLAMS US BAILOUT PLAN

NEW STRAITS TIMES

ALOR STAR: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad has rapped the United States government for its intervention in the country's troubled financial sector.

He said the US government was practising double standards when it criticised Malaysia for helping out some troubled local firms during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

"The US ran us down when we wanted to help some of our companies which were hard hit by the financial crisis then.

"Today, the American government is doing the same thing and it is all right, but when we did it, it was wrong," he said after giving Raya gifts to more than 100 poor and needy folk in Kampung Pida 7 in Jerlun near here yesterday.

Present were his wife Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali and Jerlun MP Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir. The former prime minister was asked on the US government's bailout plan involving more than US$180 billion (RM615 billion) for a number of American firms facing financial turmoil .
Asked about the government's decision not to re-peg the ringgit, he said the government should consider doing so against the currency of the nation that Malaysia does the most trading with.

Asked if the price of petrol should be further reduced, Dr Mahathir said the government should do so since the price of a barrel of petroleum has gone down substantially.

"I know this would also reduce our petrol earnings but that is something that the government should do to cushion the effects," he said.

LAPORAN PALING GILA

Oleh ZULKIFLI JALIL- UTUSAN MALAYSIA

PUTRAJAYA 23 Sept. – Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi menyifatkan laporan agensi berita AFP bahawa perundingan sedang dibuat antara wakil pembangkang dan kerajaan mengenai peralihan kuasa sebagai ‘laporan paling gila’ yang pernah didengarnya setakat ini.Perdana Menteri menegaskan, pihak berkenaan sepatutnya berfikir dahulu sebelum mengeluarkan laporan seumpama itu.

“Ini laporan ‘paling gila’ yang pernah saya dengar.

“Tidak ada sebarang mesyuarat dengan orang (Ketua Pembangkang) Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,” katanya kepada pemberita selepas mempengerusikan mesyuarat Majlis Ekonomi di Pusat Konvensyen Antarabangsa Putrajaya (PICC) di sini hari ini.

Laporan AFP mendakwa Ketua Penerangan Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), Tian Chua sebagai berkata bahawa pakatan pembangkang telah mula berunding dengan kerajaan berhubung peralihan kuasa selepas “mendapat sokongan mencukupi daripada Ahli-Ahli Parlimen untuk menumbangkan kerajaan.”

Laporan itu yang dilihat sebagai sebahagian daripada perang saraf PKR mendakwa Abdullah enggan bertemu dengan Anwar tetapi para pegawai dipetik sebagai berkata ‘kontak’ dibuat melalui orang tengah.

Di KOTA BHARU, Anwar terus berdolak dalik mengenai bila pakatan pembangkang dapat mengambil alih kerajaan daripada Barisan Nasional (BN), tetapi kali ini nada Penasihat PKR itu jelas berbeza kerana ia tidak seyakin seperti sebelum kegagalannya membentuk kerajaan menjelang 16 September lalu.

Ahli Parlimen Permatang Pauh itu mendakwa, faktor utama yang menghalang peralihan kuasa tersebut adalah prosedur Parlimen yang memberikan kuasa kepada Perdana Menteri untuk memanggil persidangan khas.

“Kalau (kita) tengok prosedur Parlimen, hanya kuasa Perdana Menteri untuk memanggil sidang khas bagi usul undi tidak percaya. Peruntukan Parlimen pula tidak jelas mengenai kedudukan untuk membawa usul khas seperti ini,’’ katanya kepada pemberita selepas mempengerusikan Mesyuarat Perhubungan PKR Kelantan di Kota Bharu petang ini.

Sementara itu, Anwar berkata, beliau tidak pernah menggunakan khidmat orang ketiga untuk bertemu dengan Perdana Menteri bagi membincangkan peralihan kerajaan.

"Saya bersetuju dengan Abdullah bahawa memang tidak ada pertemuan dengan pihak ketiga secara langsung walaupun ada usaha daripada pelbagai pihak untuk memastikan pertemuan itu berhasil.

"Dengan ini saya memperbetulkan kekeliruan daripada kenyataan Ketua Penerangan PKR, Tian Chua yang dibuat baru-baru ini," katanya.

Anwar, bagaimanapun, tidak memohon maaf kerana membiarkan Tian Chua membuat dakwaan yang tidak benar itu kepada wartawan AFP.

Dalam perkembangan sama, Tian Chua hari ini mendakwa Anwar kini menumpukan usaha meyakinkan pemimpin Pas terutama Mursyidul Am parti itu, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat dan Presiden parti, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang untuk meredakan kekhuatiran bahawa ahli-ahli Parlimen beragama Islam akan diketepikan jika pakatan pembangkang mengambil alih kerajaan.

“Kita perlu berbuat demikian sebelum meneruskan bentuk tindakan yang seterusnya,’’ katanya kepada Bernama tanpa mendedahkan bentuk tindakan itu.

Minggu lalu, Anwar mahukan jawapan daripada Perdana Menteri selewat-lewatnya hari ini untuk mengadakan sesi Parlimen tergempar dalam usaha membawa usul undi tidak percaya terhadap Abdullah.

Anwar mendakwa beliau mempunyai sokongan daripada 31 anggota Parlimen BN yang akan lompat parti, satu dakwaan yang menimbulkan kemarahan para pemimpin BN kerana ia dianggap suatu pembohongan Anwar untuk menjejaskan kestabilan politik negara .

Bagaimanapun, Abdullah menolak cadangan Anwar itu.

Sebelum itu, Anwar secara terbuka mengumumkan bahawa beliau akan mengambil alih kerajaan pada 16 September tetapi tarikh itu berlalu begitu sahaja kerana BN masih kekal memerintah negara.

Ini menyebabkan banyak pihak melabelkan Anwar sebagai pembohong.

RAJA PETRA TO BE DETAINED 2 YEARS UNDER ISA

By M. MAGESWARI-THE STAR

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Today editor Raja Petra Kamarudin was served with an order Monday night that would see him detained in Kamunting for two years under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Raja Petra will be held without trial under Section 8(1) of the ISA, reporters were told by his lawyers, who were at the High Court hear to argue their habeas corpus application on Tuesday. The detention order was signed by Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar on Monday night.

On Tuesday, DPP Abdul Wahab Mohamad raised a preliminary objection over the blogger’s habeas corpus application saying that Raja Petra’s detention by the police under the Section 73(1) of the same Act has become academic.

DPP Abdul Wahab confirmed that he had been informed Tuesday morning of Raja Petra’s detention under the minister’s order which was effective Monday.

“The applicant is no longer detained under Section 73 (1) of the Act and we strongly contend that all the issues pertaining to the said detention have now become academic since the detention order under Section 8(1) of the Act came into effect,” he said.

DPP Abdul Wahab said the police no longer have authority on the applicant and that the burden has shifted to the Home Minister.

“Thus, any illegality in the prior arrest and detention cannot be the subject matter of inquiry. Any previous issues which transpired before the issuance of the detention order cannot be subject to judicial inquiry.

“I seek your indulgence to strike out the application,” he submitted before High Court judge Suraya Othman when the case was mentioned Tuesday.

Raja Petra had filed a habeas corpus application on Sept 16 to get a court order for his release. The blogger named the Inspector-General of Police as the respondent in the application.

In a supporting document affirmed by Raja Petra’s wife, Mable @ Marina Lee Abdullah said she believed that Raja Petra was detained under ISA on Sept 12 to silence him as well as to extract information concerning his sources.

His lead counsel Malik Imtiaz Sarwar argued Tuesday that the minister’s action was only to defeat the wrongful detention application by his client and it was unacceptable.

Malik argued that Raja Petra’s detention by the police under Section 73(1) of the same Act was without basis, unconstitutional and in bad faith.

He submitted that the minister’s order was inter-related with the detention order by the police and that the applicant could still challenge the validity of the said order. “It is a very urgent matter and there is no evidence to suggest that he (Raja Petra) is a threat to national security. He just put in his comments,” he said.

Justice Suraya asked both parties to file in further written submissions before hearing the matter again on Oct 28.

Speaking to reporters later, Malik said he would file another application for his client under Section 8 of the Act.

Earlier, Raja Petra’s wife Marina and Seputeh MP Teresa Kok were spotted chatting with former de facto Law Minister Senator Datuk Zaid Ibrahim as they sat at the public gallery.

RAJA PETRA DITAHAN TAHUN BAWAH ISA

RANTAU PANJANG 23 Sept. - Menteri Dalam Negeri, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar mengesahkan pengendali laman web Malaysia Today, Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin telah ditahan selama dua tahun mengikut Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) dan dihantar ke Kem Tahanan Kamunting, Taiping.

Syed Hamid berkata, beliau sendiri telah menandatangani perintah penahanan Raja Petra untuk tempoh dua tahun itu.

"Semalam, saya telah menandatangani penahanan Raja Petra untuk dua tahun ke Kamunting setelah berpuas hati dengan alasan yang cukup untuk menahannya," katanya kepada pemberita selepas mengadakan lawatan ke sempadan Malaysia-Thailand di sini, hari ini.

Raja Petra telah ditahan di bawah ISA kerana didakwa boleh mengganggu dan mengancam keselamatan serta ketenteraman awam pada 12 September lalu.

Selain Raja Petra, dua lagi yang turut ditahan adalah anggota Parlimen Seputeh, Teresa Kok dan wartawan Tan Hoon Cheng tetapi Teresa dan dan Tan telah dibebaskan.

Syed Hamid berkata, penahanan Raja Petra itu berasaskan kepada penulisannya yang mempunyai unsur menghina dan boleh membangkitkan kemarahan umat Islam.

"Oleh itu pihak polis telah mencadangkan (Raja Petra ditahan) dan selepas saya membaca kertas asas (siasatan) mendapati kita mempunyai alasan kukuh untuk terus menahan Raja Petra bagi tempoh itu," katanya.

Bagaimanapun, beliau berkata, kerajaan akan membuat kajian pertamanya iaitu tiga bulan pertama untuk melihat sikap Raja Petra ketika ditahan.

"Selepas itu kita membuat semakan untuk enam bulan berikutnya sama ada Raja Petra boleh dibebaskan atau tidak," katanya.

Beliau meminta masyarakat memahami kenapa kerajaan bertindak menggunakan ISA kerana apa yang lebih penting adalah menjadikan mereka sebagai masyarakat yang boleh menyumbang kepada pembangunan negara.

- Bernama

PERSOAL KES KARPAL 'SENYAP'

UTUSAN MALAYSIA

KUALA LUMPUR 23 Sept. – Beberapa pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) menuntut tindakan lanjut ke atas Pengerusi DAP, Karpal Singh berhubung kenyataannya yang mempertikaikan kuasa Sultan Perak dalam isu pertukaran Pengarah Jabatan Agama Islam Perak (JAIP), Datuk Jamry Sury disegerakan.

Kesemua NGO berkenaan rata-ratanya mahukan kes itu digerakkan dan mempersoalkan kenapa ia didiamkan sedangkan melibatkan maruah raja Melayu yang sangat mulia kedudukannya dalam masyarakat Melayu.

Presiden Persatuan Bekas Tentera Malaysia (PBTM), Datuk Muhammad Abdul Ghani berkata, rakyat perlu mengetahui apakah penghujung kepada siri laporan polis yang dibuat pelbagai pihak ke atas Karpal dan mengapa tiada tindakan diambil sehingga kini.

“Jika perkara itu (persoalkan kuasa Sultan Perak) ada asas, ada unsur derhaka dan mempersoalkan undang-undang, maka kita mahu tindakan yang sepatutnya diambil terhadap Ahli Parlimen Bukit Gelugor itu,’’ katanya kepada Utusan Malaysia di sini hari ini.

Pada 18 September lalu, dua buah NGO iaitu Majlis Belia Malaysia (MBM) dan Badan Bertindak Perpaduan Melayu (BBPM), mempersoalkan kenapa masih tiada tindakan diambil terhadap Karpal berhubung isu tersebut.

Menurut Muhammad, undang-undang dan hukuman di sini undang-undang perlu dikuatkuasakan dan “tidak boleh dikecualikan walaupun ia melibatkan seorang ahli politik kanan serta peguam terkenal”.

Arahan

Awal Mei lepas, Karpal dilaporkan mempertikaikan tindakan Sultan Perak, Azlan Shah menitahkan Menteri Besar Perak, Datuk Seri Ir. Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin menarik balik arahan penukaran Jamry yang disifatkan sebagai campur tangan istana dalam pentadbiran negeri.

Karpal mempertahankan kenyataannya itu dan enggan meminta maaf walaupun dikritik pelbagai pihak. Katanya, kenyataan tersebut membabitkan isu perundangan.

Sikap degil Karpal itu yang dilihat banyak pihak sebagai merendahkan-rendahkan darjat seorang raja Melayu telah mendorong beberapa NGO membuat laporan polis.

Pada 22 Mei lalu, Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Musa Hassan berkata, polis telah selesai menjalankan siasatan terhadap Karpal, namun Peguam Negara, Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail pada 5 Jun dilaporkan mengarahkan polis membuat siasatan lanjut.

Kini, banyak pihak yang prihatin dengan kedudukan raja Melayu mula mempersoalkan mengapa kes Karpal itu yang dikendalikan oleh Jabatan Peguam Negara tidak memperlihatkan sebarang perkembangan.

Setiausaha Satu Gabungan Persatuan Penulis Nasional Malaysia (Gapena), Prof. Madya Datuk Zainal Abidin Borhan berkata, ahli politik seperti Karpal sepatutnya memahami batas bila bercakap mengenai kuasa sultan Melayu.

Beliau berharap pihak berkuasa dapat mempercepatkan tindakan lanjut ke atas peguam berkenaan jika siasatan mendapati ada asas untuk bertindak demikian.

“Jangan ganggu kedaulatan sultan,” katanya.

Penyelaras Kumpulan Prihatin, Khairul Arifin Mohd. Munir pula berkata, secara dasarnya apa yang dibangkitkan Karpal mengenai bidang kuasa Sultan Perak itu adalah sesuatu yang sangat serius.

Katanya, Karpal sepatutnya berfikir panjang serta membincangkan isu itu dengan cara baik dan bukannya mempersoalkan kedudukan raja-raja Melayu.

NGO GESA UTUSAN MALAYSIA SAMAN TERESA KOK

UTUSAN MALAYSIA

Oleh NIZAM YATIM

KUALA LUMPUR 23 Sept. – Para pemimpin pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) menggesa Utusan Malaysia menyaman Exco Kerajaan Selangor, Teresa Kok kerana membuat pelbagai tuduhan tidak benar terhadap akhbar itu.

Menurut mereka, langkah tersebut wajar kerana tuduhan Ahli Parlimen Seputeh itu bahawa Utusan Malaysia memutarbelitkan kenyataannya pada 19 September lalu adalah serius dan telah menjejaskan kredibiliti akhbar berkenaan.

Ketua Umum Barisan Bertindak Perpaduan Melayu (BBPM), Osman Abu Bakar berkata, pihaknya hairan kerana tuduhan itu hanya ditujukan kepada Utusan Malaysia dan tidak terhadap TV3, portal berita Internet Malaysiakini dan Sin Chew Daily yang turut menyiarkan laporan sama.

‘‘Saya tidak faham kenapa Utusan Malaysia sahaja diserang. Jika Teresa masih enggan memohon maaf, maka pihak akhbar berkenaan berhak menyaman bagi memulihkan imejnya.

‘‘Kita juga sedang meneliti untuk membuat laporan polis bagi membolehkan siasatan dilakukan terhadap Teresa berikutan pelbagai tuduhannya terhadap kerajaan dan pihak akhbar,” kata Osman kepada Utusan Malaysia di sini hari ini.

Beliau mengulas kenyataan Teresa semalam yang menafikan pernah mengeluarkan kenyataan ‘teruk... mungkin sama seperti makanan anjing’ bagi merujuk kepada makanan yang disediakan kepadanya ketika ditahan di bawah Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA). Teresa sebaliknya menyalahkan Utusan Malaysia yang didakwanya memutarbelitkan kenyataan beliau bagi memburukkan imejnya.

Teresa mendakwa kenyataan sebenar yang dibuatnya ialah ‘lebih baik sedikit daripada makanan anjing.’

Menurut Osman, Teresa perlu sentiasa mematuhi ikrar yang dibuat ketika mengangkat sumpah sebagai Ahli Parlimen iaitu untuk sentiasa bercakap benar ketika di dalam dan di luar Dewan Rakyat.

Timbalan Presiden Gabungan Pelajar Melayu Semenanjung (GPMS), Syed Anuar Syed Mohamed pula berkata, tindakan menyaman Teresa itu adalah wajar sebagai pengajaran kepada semua pihak supaya bercakap benar dan tidak mempolitikkan sesuatu isu.

Beliau berkata, ahli-ahli politik perlu berhati-hati membuat tuduhan terhadap akhbar kerana pihak pengurusan syarikat penerbitan itu turut diberi hak oleh undang-undang untuk menyaman balik bagi memulihkan kewibawaan yang tercalar.

‘‘Saya sendiri ada mendengar kenyataan Teresa seperti disiarkan oleh TV3 yang nampaknya bercanggah dengan penafian yang dibuatnya semalam.

‘‘Jika Utusan Malaysia mempunyai fakta yang jelas dan mencukupi bagi membuktikan wujud percanggahan ini, maka ia boleh meneruskan tindakan saman,” ujarnya.

Dalam pada itu, Presiden Persatuan Pegawai-Pegawai Kanan Polis Bersara Malaysia (RESPA), Mohd. Jamil Mohd. Hassan berkata, tindakan menyaman ahli politik pembangkang bukan sesuatu yang luar biasa kerana ia sering dilakukan oleh pemimpin kerajaan Singapura.

‘‘Budaya pemimpin di republik berkenaan menyaman ahli politik pembangkang sehingga bankrap boleh dibawa ke Malaysia sebagai pengajaran kepada semua pihak supaya berhati-hati dalam membuat tuduhan,” katanya.

Selain pihak akhbar, katanya, kerajaan juga boleh menyaman wakil rakyat pembangkang itu jika benar Teresa menyamakan hidangan dalam penjara seperti makanan anjing kerana ia adalah tidak betul sama sekali.

Presiden Kesatuan Wartawan Kebangsaan (NUJ), Norila Daud pula berkata, tuduhan Teresa bahawa Utusan Malaysia telah memutarbelitkan kenyataannya adalah satu penghinaan terhadap profesion kewartawanan.

Beliau berkata, Exco kerajaan Selangor itu tidak wajar mengeluarkan kenyataan sedemikian kerana ia seolah-olah menyifatkan para wartawan tidak beretika.

‘‘Saya tidak faham kenapa Teresa menuduh Utusan Malaysia memutarbelitkan kenyataannya sedangkan laporan sama turut disiarkan oleh pihak media lain.

‘‘Semua pihak harus sedar bahawa akhbar sentiasa memastikan ia mematuhi etika. Penyiaran berita adalah berdasarkan transkrip daripada sidang akhbar dan dalam kes ini, Teresa sendiri yang mengungkapkan kenyataan tersebut,” ujarnya.

Mengulas isu sama, Presiden Penaja Ikatan Rakyat Insan Muslim Malaysia (IRIMM), Amir Amsaa Alla Pitchay menegaskan, kenyataan Teresa dalam media bahawa hidangan yang diberikan kepadanya adalah lebih baik sedikit daripada makanan anjing adalah bertujuan mendapat publisiti murahan.

‘‘Tidak perlu ia dihebohkan melalui media kerana sebagai Ahli Parlimen, beliau boleh membawa perkara ini ke Dewan Rakyat supaya tahanan ISA diberi makanan lebih sempurna,” ujarnya.

"POI KOLANG"

www.mandailing.org

The most important occurrence of Mandailing migration to 19th century Peninsula Malaysia was during and after the Padri Wars (1816-1833). The economic, social, political, religious and ecological disruptions caused by the war resulted in the movements of people within, as well as out of Mandailing.

According to Asal-Oesoelnja Bangsa Mandailing (The Origin of the Mandailing People), the Mandailing have sojourned (merantau) to Klang and Melaka even before they moved to Tanah Deli in East Sumatra. Klang and other places in the Peninsula were described as well-known destinations for Mandailing migration even before the 19th century. Pahang was famed throughout Sumatra for its gold and attracted Minang miners since the 16th century. The Mandailing and the Minangs have been known to "Pai Kolang" (literally, Go Klang) since centuries ago for centuries.

An important historical source about Mandailing migration is the Tarikh Raja Asal dan Keluarganya (The History of Raja Asal and His Family), a family chronicle written in the 1934 by Raja H.M. Ya'cob, the grand-nephew of Raja Asal, about the migration of Raja Asal, Raja Bilah (Raja Ya'cob's father, and Raja Asal's nephew) and Mandailing noteables to the Peninsula.

The Tarikh attributes Raja Asal's "kesumat" (differences, rivalry) towards the Dutch as a cause of his migration. Family oral tradition also account for family differences as a cause; this points to political rivalry for rajaship under Dutch rule.

At the point of Raja Asal's departure to the Peninsula, the Dutch were introducing corvee coffee cultivation in Mandailing while the Peninsula was experiencing a "period of great discoveries of rich and extensive tin deposits" south of Kedah and north of Melaka.

It was the prospect of mining gold that brought Raja Asal and his clansmen to sojourn to Pahang around the 1840s. The Tarikh named the Mandailing, the Minangs (these are usually Talu or Tolu as the Mandailing calls them), the Rawa and other Sumatrans as those who went to Raub in Hulu Pahang in search of gold. According to the Riwayat Hidup Tuan Abu Bakar (The Memoir of Tuan Abu Bakar), a memoir of a Mandailing migrant written in the 1930s, the Mandailing, Rawa, Minang and Talus were engaged in gold mining in Raub. (These ethnic groups were still to be found in Raub up to 1931). This gold, according to the Riwayat, was sold in Melaka. The Riwayat was written by Abu Bakar, a follower of Raja Bilah and whose father, Raja Pinayungan Lubis Saba Dolok, was a follower of Raja Asal.

Traditionally, a member of the raja (ruling) family would lead a band of his followers comprising a few interrelated clans, on an exodus from a large settlement or village to the frontier to establish control over a new settlement. "Merantau whole clans at the same time, under united command" was the classic pattern of migration, practiced within Mandailing and also outside Mandailing.

The Mandailings followed the well-trodden path treaded by the Minangs from the west coast of Sumatra to the east coast of the island, and from there to Melaka or Penang. The route taken by Raja Asal from Mandailing led him to Rao, Pendalian, Tandun, Kesipakan, Patapahan, Pantai Cermin, Pekan Baharu and Bengkalis before he landed in Melaka, and from there to Sungai Ujong before going to Pahang. Raja Pinayungan, the father of Tuan Abu Bakar proceeded from Mandailing to Rao before going to Indragiri (Rokan) and then Melaka in the 19th century. By the early 20th century, the Mandailings found a shorter route to the peninsula via Penang.

From Melaka or Sungai Ujong, Raja Asal and the Mandailing made their way to Pahang, and in all probability took the Penarikan route, the trans-Peninsula crossing up the Muar or Bera river to the Pahang basin. In the 18th century most overland travel to Pahang took the old Melaka-Pahang route. Penarikan means drag-way or portage, where boats and merchandise or both were transported overland from one river to another.

CHUN WAI : BLINKERED RACISM ANALYSIS TO DEMONISE A STATESMAN

Ramblings of 13 million Dollar Plus Man

Wong Chun Wai, kudos for being quick on the draw when it comes to exposing racism or any other misdemeanour of a Malay leader and in this case, the Fifth UMNO President and Fourth Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

From what we have perceived in his blog New Malaysia, Wong, who is the Group Editor in Chief for The Star, is truly the very essence of what Dr Mahathir had intended to highlight in his blog in the posting “Pohon Maaf” which Wong took offence and accused of the former Prime Minister of sharpening racial tones.

This is not the first time Wong had targetted Dr Mahathir for wrongdoings. Among others, corrupt practices as well as curtailing press freedom.

We will address the accusation of Dr Mahathir sharpening racial tones in his blog of the title mentioned above. We all read Dr Mahathir’s blog and his subsequent follow up posting called “Pohon Maaf 2“.

While Wong’s criticisms was on the first and not the second. Reading Dr Mahathir’s posting, it was obvious he was expressing the sentiments of many Malays and what they felt about the whole issue of Deputy PM Najib Tun Razak’s apology on behalf of Ahmad Ismail which was rejected by the non-Malay political leaders, including from the MCA which Wong is serving.

While it can be argued that Dr Mahathir, by bringing in the issue of Wee Meng Chee and Hindraf, it was not whether they apologised or that they were arrested under the ISA, the point is that the non-Malays did not take issue with Wee nor Hindraf when his action and their memorandum was definitely insulting to the Malays.

We do think Dr Mahathir’s views are shared by many Malays who felt that when a Malay commit an act which insulted the non-Malays, the non-Malays are quick to react and chastise him or her but when the non-Malays commit the act, instead of practising similar standards, tend to either be an apologist of the perpetrator or become defensive when criticised by the Malays.

It is so in the case of Wee Meng Chee. No doubt the MCA organised the “apology” for Wee but the intention was to ensure that he would not bear the full brunt of the anger of the Malays.

In short, the MCA was not upset with Wee for demeaning Negaraku and making fun of the Muslim call for prayers, rather to ensure that he goes unpunished. In other words, the MCA did not find Wee’s action as offensive or offensive enough to deserve any punishment other than probably a smack on the hand.

Similarly in the case of Hindraf. If Wong and the rest of the non-Malay community found that Ahmad Ismail’s remarks offensive and deserving a punishent even to the extend of the full force of the sedition laws as proposed by the MCA president wannabe Ong Tee Keat (not forgetting Lim Guan Eng’s police report to the ACA in case Ahmad gets away unpunished), surely similar demand should have been made against the Hindraf leaders by the alert MCA leaders and newspaper editor, the DAP and the rest who are bent on seeing Ahmad crucified for his alleged seditious slurs (alleged because he has denied it and accused Sin Chew of manipulating his speech – in the case of Hindraf, their seditious slurs are there in black and white in the memorandum which Wong could have donwloaded and printed it and judge it as quick as he judged Dr Mahathir).

What can we conclude from here?

Obviously that Dr Mahathir had pointed out that when a Malay makes a remark which hurts the non-Malays, they will come out in full force to condemn and demand for “blood” but when actions or remarks uttered which hurts the Malays, the silence can be deafening or worst, becoming apologists or the defender of the non-Malay perpetrator or perpetrators.

It is obvious that such a racially divide reactions are a sing of the times – the present Umno leadership is too weak to keep his the Malays at bay and equally weak to have any regards from the component parties to trust him to handle the issue fairly.

We may sound like a Dr Mahathir’s apologist but we do not mind being labelled as one as we believe that during his tenure, Malays and non-Malays were kept at bay and any who attempted to cross the unseen lines of racial sensitivities.

Having said that, we go to the second issue of Wong targetting Dr Mahathir. To us, it is a clear signal of Wong’s opportunistic nature to remain as the chief editor in The Star.

As we have stated very early in this article Wong epitomise the very essence of what Dr Mahathir was trying to remind Malaysians, Malays and non-Malays alike, to be wary of.

A simple example will suffice to prove this point. At one time Wong had hailed the present leadership of promoting more openess and freedom for the Press and that it was muzzled during Dr Mahathir’s time.

Lest the public forget, Wong was in the forefront in supporting MCA’s move to takeover the control of two Chinese publications – much to the chagrin of the Chinese community.

The reason the MCA and Wong wanted the takeover was very simple – these publications were highly critical of the MCA. After the takeover, the circulation of the publications went down south but that was not of concern to Wong as it served the purpose of his political masters in the MCA.

To legitimise the move, the MCA leaders and Wong convinced Dr Mahathir that the takeover was necessary, accusing the publications as anti-Umno as much as anti-MCA.

While it does not absolve Dr Mahathir of partaking in the MCA and Wong’s devious move, Wong should not get on the moral high horse to judge others.

Another example would be Wong’s new found courage (after Dr Mahathir had stepped down and spurred on by the present administration) to raise issues of corruption and nepotism during Dr Mahathir’s reign.

Without providing any prove, Wong stated that corruption today was a legacy from Dr Mahathir’s time. It sounds fair as someone who had written on issues like corruption when Dr Mahathir took over would probably had said that it was inherited from Tun Hussein Onn.

But what Wong had written was not a glib as such – it was intended to paint that corruption was caused by Dr Mahathir.

Granted that there were corruption during Dr Mahathir’s rule, Wong was however muted about the corruption and nepotism of the MCA president during that period.

In fact, Wong would never encourage any reports on the questios raised about then MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik’s integrity when his son Hee Liong became a billionaire (mind you, a billionaire) before he was even 30 (the issue was raised by maverick businessman Soh Chee Wen but nary a word in The Star).

It can then be concluded that Wong was merely defending the MCA and his then master Dr Ling, but Wong had then contributed to the issue Dr Mahathir raised – why is it that the non-Malays, in this case Wong, was quick to point corruption and nepotism among Malay leaders but was silent when it comes to their own kind.

Such manner of reporting in actual fact, contributes to the sharpening of the racial tones, painting a picture that all that is bad only involves the Malay leaders and the non-Malay leaders are saints, not by declarations but merely by being silent.

The Malays, Dr Mahathir included, had readily admitted that abuses of power, corruption and all the ills one could think off in a capitalistic democracy. But the silence by Wong and his ilk when it comes to the shennanigans of the non-Malays would, for the short term, triumphed the non-Malays, but it would not contribute anything to the Bangsa Malaysia that Wong is proclaiming to be a champion of.

In that sense, Wong did not miss any points. He only gave us a glimpse of how racist he is, and being paid to be one.

Published in:

• Commentary

on September 7, 2008 at 3:39 am

THE STAR KURANG AJAR TERHADAP PRESIDEN PARTI MELAYU TERBESAR

Malaysia Aktif

Kopitiam Talk
7 September 2008

SERENTAK dengan amaran Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi supaya semua pihak termasuk media tidak mensensasikan isu perkauman ekoran daripada kenyataan Ketua UMNO Bahagian Bukit Bendera ,Ahmad Ismail yang meanggap orang Cina sebagai pendatang, akhbar The Star telah menyiarkan sebuah berita untuk menegakkan kesahihan berita itu walaupun hal sebenar telah dijelaskan oleh Ahmad.

Selain dari itu secara `sembunyi' dengan meletakkan fakta sensitif di bahagian terakhir kandungan berita di muka dalam, The Star 7 September menyiarkan kenyataan berikut oleh Timbalan Ketua Menteri Sarawak, Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam yang tidak perlu saya terjemahkan kedalam bahasa Malaysia:

He said `` the recent incident in which an UMNO leader described the Chinese who do not deserve rights was very regrettable.

“Our right as Malaysian have been guaranteed by the Constitution.

“We have the right to defend these rights. This sort of things (the questioning of citizens right) should not be happening in our country anymore.

“Look at the United States. Right now an African American (Barack Obama) is on the verge of becoming president.”

Kemudian disiarkan pula kenyataan Setiausaha Agung MCA, Datuk Seri Ong Ka Chuan bahawa orang Cina diberikan kerakyatan oleh British kerana kira-kira 300,000 orang Cina mati melawan Jepun di negara ini.

Apa perlunya disiarkan lagi berita seumpama ini?

Kerana dicabar lagi maka orang Melayu boleh menjawab semua kenyataan ini. Di Amerika seluruh rakyatnya dibangunkan menerusi satu sistem pelajaran yang membenarkan hanya bahasa Inggeris sebagai bahasa pengantar. Dengan itu seluruh rakyatnya berfikiran , berjiwa, bersetia dan berbangga dengan Amerika tetapi Sistem Pelajaran Malaysia ternyata gagal kerana sebaik sahaja negara Cina melangkah maju, nasionalisme Cina bersemarak di Malaysia sehingga pelajar Malaysia di Taiwan menghina lagu Negaraku dan orang Cina tidak lagi dapat membuktikan kepada orang Melayu sebagai kawan setia ketika susah dan ketika senang.

Kenyataan Ka Chuan jelas melupakan budi orang Melayu. Beliau hanya ingat pada British dan melupakan budi orang Melayu. Orang Cina tidak akan mendapat kerakyatan Malaya tanpa persetujuan orang Melayu. Presiden MCA mendiang Tun Tan Siew Sin terpaksa memperjuangkan habis-habisan hak kerakyatan bagi orang Cina kerana di tolak oleh orang Melayu. Akhirnya Tunku Abdul Rahman Presiden UMNO berjaya memujuk orang Melayu.

Setelah persetujuan itu, Siew Sin telah menulis sepucuk surat berterima kasih kepada Tunku dan menyatakan tidak akan melupakan hati budi orang Melayu selamanya dan Tunku menjadi sahabatnya hingga ke akhir hayat.

Tetapi ternyata sebahagian besar orang Cina termasuk Ka Chuan sendiri tidak tahu mengenang budi dan termasuk dalam apa yang disebutkan oleh Abdullah Badawi di Parlimen baru-baru ini iaitu ``sukar untuk dicari kawan yang sanggup bersama ketika susah dan ketika senang.”

Saya menimbulkan pekara ini untuk menunjukan kepada Abdullah bahawa akhbar The Star adalah akhbar “traitor” atau penderhaka. Kalau tidak masakan ia menyiarkan isu yang boleh dijawab lagi oleh orang Melayu. Saya menjawab untuk buktikan jika The Star berbahasa biadab dengan menggunakan orang Cina, maka orang Melayu juga boleh menjawab secara kurang ajar. Jika The Star terus memainkan isu ini maka tidak ada kesudahannya.Tetapi The Star ada agendanya.

Cukuplah dengan penjelasan Ahmad Ismail malahan pula dia bukan mewakili pandangan seluruh orang Melayu. Tujuan The Star memainkan isu ini ialah kerana ia telah berkonspirasi dengan lain-lain akhbar Cina untuk memprojekan UMNO sebagai parti rasis dan perkauman sesuai dengan kehendak Lim Kit Siang.

Pegawai pegawai Kementerian Dalam Negeri yang tidak berpengalaman dan cetek (tidak membaca) tidak nampak semua ini.

Tidak menghiraukan amaran Perdana Menteri dan Presiden UMNO hanya sehari selepas amaran itu diberikan adalah merupakan perbuatan biadab dan kurang ajar. Mereka berani berbuat demikian kerana mereka percaya Abdullah Badawi tidak lagi mendapat sokongan orang Melayu. Abdullah mesti membuktikan dengan pantas bahawa hal ini tidak benar dan sekaranglah kesempatan paling baik untuk membuktikannya.

Perbuatan ini The Star juga merupakan satu cabaran besar kepada maruah Menteri Dalam Negeri, Datuk Seri Syed Abdul Hamid Albar.

Tidak lama dahulu The Star menjuarai para pemblog untuk memberhentikan “politiking” dengan tujuan untuk menutup tangannnya yang memegang pisau. Hari ini 7 September akhbar itu memakai berita Timbalan Ketua Menteri Sarawak dengan kepala berita ”Fed up with politicking” tetapi isi beritanya menjirus minyak keatas api politik perkauman.

The Star tahu bahawa pegawai pegawsai Kementerian Dalam Negeri sangat lemah, tidak tajam politik dan hanya cekap dan bijak membuat teguran terhadap penyiaran lucah dan sebagainya.

Dan apabila Menteri Dalam Negeri yang baru berakap pasal nak tubuh Majlis Media yang sudah pernah ditolak oleh Pejabat Peguam Nagara kerana dikatakan bertindih dengan tugas Suhakam dan telah ``tak jadi” berkali-kali kerana tentangan hebat dari NUJ (Kesatuan Kebangsaan Wartawan Malaysia), maka wartawan-wartawan tahu bahawa menteri ini pun boleh dimainkan.

Sementara menunggu penubuhan Majlis Media, The Star boleh merharajalela dulu.Yang jadi mangsa sebagai akhbar rasis dan perkauman kelak ialah akhbar Melayu kerana bahasa Inggeris yang bersifat antarabangsa mempunyai kekuatan untuk melindungi perkauman Cina dan India. Akhirnya yang perkauman ialah UMNO dan Melayu.

Pak Lah mungkin sudah terlambat.

MUNSYI ABDULLAH

A MASTER STROKE IN BUYING TIME

Analysis-The Insider

SEPT 18 - You got to hand it to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

Two days after he missed his self-imposed deadline of forcing the collapse of the Abdullah administration through the cross over of Barisan Nasional MPs and seemed in danger of swapping credibility for ridicule, he has managed to put the government on the defensive. And probably buy himself some more time.

Today, he challenged Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi to convene an emergency Parliament sitting before Sept 23 so that a motion of no-confidence can be tabled against the Prime Minister.

"We have the numbers. If he wants the details and doesn't believe me, then convene the emergency sitting. The numbers are increasing by the hour. But as of now, it is in excess of 31 MPs. This is not empty talk," Anwar said during a press conference today, adding that Abdullah has no choice but to negotiate with Pakatan Rakyat.

This is the first time since Independence that a sitting PM is being asked to convene a special Parliament session to have a motion of no-confidence tabled against him.

Anwar knows that Abdullah will not take the bait and will probably tell the Opposition leader to be patient and wait for Oct 13 when the House reconvenes.

This answer will:

# GIVE him the time he needs to work the ground and try and persuade some MPs to abandon BN for Pakatan Rakyat. Anwar has been meeting professionals, businessmen, a few former MPs and even members of some prominent Umno families in the past week asking them to join Parti Keadilan Rakyat. He has told a few of them that he has the numbers but was unwilling to share any names of the BN crossovers with them. Some of them have left the meetings - which have taken place at his home in Segambut or at the home of mutual friends - convinced that he does not have 31 BN MPs in his pocket. Others have been willing to give him the benefit of doubt.

# ALLOW him to portray the Abdullah administration as cowardly and unwilling to follow democratic practices. He said as much today noting that any delay to the request for an emergency Parliament session would be seen "as nothing short of a further sabotage of the democratic process and abuse of executive power."

# KEEP alive the prospect of the mass crossover and collapse of the Barisan Nasional. Sure, some seeds of doubt have taken root in the minds of people since the Sept 16 deadline came and went. But in a country where hope in the government is a fast fading commodity, the public still want to believe that Anwar - who has fashioned himself as the saviour of the country can deliver on a promise.

The Opposition icon knows that failure to deliver 31 MPs and oust Abdullah and BN out of Parliament will hurt him in the court of public opinion. His latest challenge to Abdullah suggests that he needs more time to get the numbers.

...
written by Anonymous Comment, September 18, 2008

It's "in excess of 31 MPs..." and not "in access of 31 MPs..." my dear journalists and reporters.

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Target Not Deadline
written by Bala Pillai, September 18, 2008

Sept 16 was a target date, not a deadline.

Put yourself in his shoes, would you do any different, knowing the risks you have if you show your cards too early? Risks of harassment, ISA arrests etc.

You really think that in these circumstances, i.e. an attempted change of ruling party for the first time in Malaysia's history, one can have a hard and fast deadline?

Come on guys!

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• +21
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Political Impasse; and World Economy
written by Huang Siew Hock, September 18, 2008

Wall Street is collapsing with the index plummetting; and the rest of the world is feeling the heat; and losing support rapidly. Malaysia is also experiencing the share market crash in USA. How long this downward trend will last is anybody's guess. When big, established corporations like Lehman Brothers AIG and Merrill Lynch Co. could go down, what about other smaller ones? Practically no chance ! Note that years ago, Barings , the bluest of the blue stock , because of the rogue trader in Singapore, went down; and was taken over by ING. So, all companies, big or small, can go down.

It has compouned Malaysian problems, with the political impasse engineered by Pakatan Rakyat presumably having the majority of MPs . True or false, the confidence could be tested in Parliament. Whether the PM would bite the bullet or not, we do not know. Asking the Opposition leader to name names is just like asking a poker player to show his card! The player is unlikely to show his hand, for here they are playing high stakes. If the PM loses, he leaves. If Anwar loses, then he has to fight another day, with his credibility index plummetting like the share index!

So, an impasse is created. Yesterday, the PM and the dPM swapped Ministerial positions, the former taking over Defence and the latter taking over Finance. Why this sudden reshuffle? Is something on?

To break this impasse, why not go to Parliament and thrash it, once and for all? Then Anwar has to show his card! Even if he has the numbers, will the defectors support him or back out? It is risky business. But he has no choice: his credibility is at stake! Now, the PM's position is also uncertain; and hence may not want to call Parliamnet. So, to PROVE that his challenger is " BLUFFING", put it to the test! There is no point saying Anwar is a " liar." Show that he is a liar! What better place than Parliament to prove your point?

So, PM, go to Parliament; and settle this issue amicably.


S.H. Huang

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• +28
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...
written by Anonymous, September 18, 2008

I'm very sure hne has the numbers to form a new government. He has thrown the challenge to AAB. So, if AAB wants to know who are the defectors & if Anwar is bluffing, then convenes Parliament. That if he (AAB) really has the guts and PLEASE STOP MAKING EXCUSES!!

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• +15
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...
written by Peter, September 18, 2008

You are, but another pro BN analysis attempting to disrupt people's mind. Shame on you....we are not fools.

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• +14
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Missing points
written by Abdullah, September 18, 2008

Before you criticise Anwar and engage in scatalogical spin as if the nation can be run through it (we are looking for honest answers), why not handle these aspects:

1. Anwar holds a constitutiona office: Malaysia's Official Opposition Leader which represents the other side. What makes Abdullah fail to meet him? What does he fear? And if Anwar meets Abdullah and fails to show the list, wouldn't that help Abdullah more than Anwar? What makes Abdullah fail in taking this golden opportunity?

2. Abdullah said Anwar is a "liar" and even couldn't understand the diplomatic language used in writing such letters, (He must the be the certified slow learner Dr. Bakri Musa talks of always), and refused to honour the appeal for a meeting. Then, why do you need to spin pathetically the challenge that he (Abdullah) should then call for an urgent meeting and solve the impasse? Abdullah refused to meet Malaysia's Official Opposition Leader; Abdullah was challenged for a Parliamentary duel, then you go on the rampage with poor spin. Surely, must you descend to such level and whom do you think you are addressing? The ball is in Abdullah's court more than it is in Anwar's court and it is Abdullah would have benefited from both challenges had he played his game well.

3. What do you want Anwar to do? Parade BN MPs and say "here they are"? Are you a caveman or what? You think the man is a naive or what? You think Malaysians don't know they system and the desperation of a leadership that detains women in the Holy Month of Ramadhan or what? Spinning is what has hurt Dollah in March 08 and it seems his pussyfooters don't get it. Sir, look at both sides and provide us with clear cut analysis that doesn't "belittle" the readers.

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• +31
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History
written by goldenscreen, September 18, 2008

History has shown us that most of the so-called political and economic analysis by the status quo is nothing but full of shit. It was full of shit before the General Elections (where a certain Mr. Kalimullah published threats to the nations minorities), before the Permatang Pauh by-election (where a certain Syed Nazri was so confident of predicting Anwar's demise and a certain Zubaidah who was so certain that BN's reforms had won over Malaysians), and it is still full right now with the so-called expert analysis.

Look at the global economy. 2 decades of following the dogma of the Washington Consensus of free trade, the market knows best, non-existent government intervention has led to the biggest crises in world capitalism since the Great Depression. What I've come to realise is that these so-called economic experts and political experts are as much in the dark as normal citizens.

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Bias Analysis?
written by kz, September 18, 2008

Just curious...are you malaysian? you know what the government is capable of doing in order to maintain its power. They just put 3 people under ISA. Anwar does not need to reveal his list now, due to the high possibility that these people on the list may be targeted by BN.

Regarding the Sept 23 deadline, I personally feel that Anwar just doesn't want BN to have time on their side to influence all above mentioned MPs from defecting before Parliament reconvenes. If, according to Abdullah...the first letter sent to Putrajaya did not request for a meeting, don't you think that he would have shoved the letter down our throats and called Anwar a liar on the frontpage of EVERY Malaysian newspaper?

I'm just wondering...what exactly are you trying to "analyze"? It seems to me like you left out a lot of points and factors that should have been considered.

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• +11
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Malaysian Insider just trying to defend their political masters
written by Lex, September 18, 2008

It is obvious from the tone that this newsite has been taking for the past few days since Sept 16, they are trying to discredit Anwar Ibrahim and his attempt to take over the government. This website is trying to protect its political masters and as Anwar escalates the game, they will escalate the attacks on him. Why am I not surprised?

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...
written by SK, September 18, 2008

Well said, Bala. I couldn't agreed with you more.
Even if someone thinking that this is just a "wayang kulit" show, the Play Master must have been playing it very well and convincing. I believe it is not a question of "if" this will happen, but more of a timing of "when" this is going to happen.
I am very sure many Malaysian shared the same view.

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Analyst's Deliberate Omission
written by Lim Kok Chiang, September 18, 2008

This analysis (without attribution to specific writter) which omit to account for the all-crucial factor of the habitual use of incumbent powers of harrassment , detention and court prosecution against disedents , a custom in Malaysia for the past 50yrs- can only be written through deliberate omission to self-discredit this news -organisation.

What lah u!!!

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• +8
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31 going on....
written by kh, September 18, 2008

on the 16th he had 31 MPs crossing over and numbers increasing by the hour... its 18th today.. still 31 and increasing by the hour... shouldnt it be 33 or something more at least???

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This is getting ridiculous
written by maf, September 18, 2008

If you read the news today, the Tories are leading more than 50% in the opinion poll, and are more likely to win an election. There's been calls from the Tory leader for Gordon Brown to call an early election, but its more of a satirical attack than a real threat.

At the same time, Gordon Brown is facing an internal revolt from his own party members. However, in this democracy, you don't see the opposition asking for Brown to step down, nor asking Labour party member to hop across to the Tories. There will be a Labour party convention soon, which could possibly decide Brown's fate.

In honest truth, I can't see much difference between Brown and Abdullah - flagging economy, record unemployment, high inflation, internal revolt, and flip-floppers. But the way the two democracy are treated are totally different, with one being more civilised than the other.

I think Anwar is playing a game, and it is not a game that we should be playing. These 'defecting' MPs are the same hated MPs who 'supposedly' pillaged and plundered under BN, corrupted to the bone. This are people that the opposition are hoping to support them in the govt? It's much better to ask these 'hoppers' to resign, and new elections to be held - unless they can't be asked to lose their MP status, which is more important than the people!

And to think that Anwar can't publish a list because of ISA threat is a joke. This is 2008, where the arrest of 3 people under ISA had caused public uproar & and a minister to resign. Arresting 31 people would throw the govt out immediately. What Anwar doesn't want is a tit-for-tat on the list, where he will be cajoled to renegotiate with each of them as BN will on the other hand try to 'fish back' these MPs as well. The question is can these MPs be trusted? Or would they jump back to BN once Abdullah steps down??

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...
written by Andy, September 18, 2008

Yes this analysis is biased. No wonder some people mentioned that Malaysian Insider is pro-Abdullah.

Whatever it is, Abdullah challenged Anwar and now Anwar challenged back to Abdullah. If Abdullah really got guts, then he could just take up the challenge.

If this analysis can accuse Anwar is buying time, another analysis can also accuse Abdullah is buying time too.

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...
written by michael, September 18, 2008

Please stop bias analysis!!! We are all frustated with this kind of analysis.

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...
written by Damocles, September 18, 2008

I think that whether Anwar has the numbers or not really isn't that important.
If he has them, then the BN government will tumble faster, good for the people.
If he doesn't have them, then the fall of the government may be delayed.
For sure, this government will go, sooner rather than later because everything is against its continuing.
Also, don't forget that Anwar is our best hope for a new future; a new beginning.
So, give him all the support he needs.

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A master stroke in buying time
written by Billy, September 18, 2008

I fully agree that there is too much at risk for Anwar if he has been hoodwinking the rakyat who have placed so much faith in him in taking over the government from UMNO. He has to thread ever so carefully to bring his plans to fruitation. So to me, its okay if the 916 did not materialise as planned so long as at the end of the day, a decent government can take over and bring sanity back to this beloved country of ours.

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...
written by Indy, September 19, 2008

Sept 16 had already achieved its objective.....preventing zero crossover of PR MP's to BN. Right after the election, Anuar heads straight to East Malaysia and by coming out publicly on a takeover plan, he portrayed PR as strong when in fact it is still brittle; he made the impression that PR had gained the upper hand when in fact it does not. He made everyone BELIEVED Sept 16 is going to happen and hence BN were busy defending when it should be attacking. If BN had been on the offensive right after the election, the freshly elected PR MP's would have been ripe pickings for seasoned BN strategist but somehow it never happened. Now, the door is closed and the initiative had shifted. The one who should have organized a hunt is now being hunted. “He who moves first gains the advantage…. Sun Tzu”

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...
written by one sen, September 19, 2008

i think this is a classic cas of what they call the 'free-rider' problem of the 'prisoner dilemma' problem in social science.

let us say that anwar today has the verbal support 1,000 MPs. these 1,000 MPs would probably tell anwar go get an emergency parliamentary session and we will show our support for you.

but during that parliamentary session, no one from the 1,000MPs is going to volunteer raising his/her hands to support anwar first, lest the other 999 backout the last minute, then that one MP that supports anwar will be in hot soup.
everyone in the parliament is going to wait for the others to raise their hands before they do so, as thisis in their best interest. everyone will think that if there is going to be wave of change, what is the difference if 999 MPS voted or 1,000MPS voted or what is so wrong to raise your hand to support anwar after the other 999MPs have done so. Nothing wrong , as you are acting in the best of your interest.

this is the reason why till now no MP has come out to support anwar yet. even though they want to support him or have pledged support for him, they are waiting for others to come out first, as they do not want to be the odd one, sticking out like a sore thumb by the end of the day.

this is the reason why drastic social and political and economic changes in history are often not brought about by idealism.....changes are brought about by politics of economics...when people go out of work and are hungry...bread and butter issues spur changes, not idealism or reformasi---sorry to say.

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NICE MAN BUYING TIME FOR ANWAR
written by simon li, September 19, 2008

The person NOT having the numbers wants a vote NOW. The Badawi says to Anwar, "No, I have the numbers and you don't, but I want to save your face by refusing your call for a vote. So I am buying time for you to get enough numbers. See? Please thank me, I'm such a considerate and nice guy."

To the nameless fella hiding behind the word "analysis", I say no wonder even Che Det thinks you are an idiot. if you want to spin, don't be a clown and spin to yourself in front of a circus mirror. Your face will look like your posterior and vice versa.

Print this if you dare. It has already appeared in countless blogs.

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Fix the spine
written by Kah Seng, September 19, 2008

This anonymous/uncredited article and "PM in waiting" by Leslie Lau, written with complete ignorance of PM's lack of credibility, Syed Hamid's fumbling abuse of ISA, and the PM's lack of pre-knowledge of ISA arrests, etc etc, really damages this Web site's credibility.

This reminds me of the time when pro-BN articles keep harping on Anwar's "abuse" of prison privileges by trying to get his spine fixed overseas, instead of trusting local hospitals under Bukit Aman security.

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...
written by Shafer, September 19, 2008

Guys,
if you cant stomach a fair analysis (from an alternative news site) that for once, doesnt hit out at the government, you know what to type in the URL bar ;)

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...
written by malaysian, September 19, 2008

if he [Brother Anwar Bin Ibrahim](BABI) really has the guts, reveals the LIST and PLEASE STOP MAKING EXCUSES!!!

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Give Them A Chance
written by Concerned Mal, September 19, 2008

Please, I urge all Malaysians who want to see a new dawn in Malaysia to please give Anwar and his team a chance. Most rational Malaysians want to give the opposition a chance and this is evident from the March 8 and Permatang Pauh elections. Whilst being transparent will work if one was the Government (which the present Government is NOT), Anwar is not yet in Government and he does stand to lose everything by revealing his cards and if the Government takes another action in the ISA direction. No matter how wrong using the ISA is (and we all can see it, though the Government CAN'T/WON'T), I wouldn't put it past the powers that be to use anything during these desparate times. They are desperate men resorting to desperate measures. All good things come to those who wait and we should all pay heed to this lesson including Anwar himself. Let's give him a chance. Have faith and hope that a new dawn will rise for Malaysia's future soon. God knows we need a responsible, right thinking and rational leader to lead us out of the looming doldrums of another global recession. The only blind people are those sitting in Government now.

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...
written by Tail Wags Dog, September 19, 2008

AiYahh! Can't you see-meh? Why PM dares not convene emergency session? Becos he knows-lah. He knows Anwar not bluffing-lah! Poker game strategy - to make rival think you don't have a winning hand when you do. But Badawi not stupid-leh, he won't fall for it.

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Hello, sanity please
written by Hwa Shi-Hsia, September 19, 2008

The majority of the people saying stuff like "Malaysian Insider is pro-BN" are nuts. You're a bunch of fanboys and fangirls. None of us apparently know what is going on inside Anwar's head, so this is a fairly reasonable attempt to figure out why the delay is happening. Like everybody else here I hope the takeover will be soon, but don't any of you wonder WHY it's delayed?

Just because you support a cause doesn't mean it's perfect - nobody and nothing on earth is. Raja Petra (before his arrest) spent quite a lot of words to criticize the Opposition leaders in his articles from time to time, other people cannot kritik ah? Stop foaming at the mouth. Like Shafer said, go somewhere else if you think this site is run by UMNO cybertroopers.

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...
written by Lex, September 19, 2008

I am one of the commentators who posted against this article. All the comments that supports BN and Malaysian Insider have totally missed the point. How on earth can someone be accused of trying to buy more time if he is the one who press for the ultimatum. If DSAI really wants to delay time, he can make some cheap excuses that Parliament is not in session and he needs to wait until Oct 13 to launch the motion of no confidence against Badawi. This is not the case and it is clear that Badawi is the one who does not want to meet him. It is obvious Badawi is buying for time. That's why it shows the true colours of this newsite in their bias analysis. They are saying black is white without resorting to common sense. It's not a question of subjective opinions but a real understanding of the situation. Furthermore, an analysis without a byline is irresponsible and it shows that the authors do not even dare to be associated with this article. I dare Malaysian Insider to put a byline to this analysis.

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...
written by Jeremiah Mahadevan, September 19, 2008

"You're a bunch of fanboys and fangirls"

Hwa Shi-Hsia, I could not agree more. And I am wary of anyone, be they BN supporters or PR supporters, who behaves in this slavish and unthinking manner. Even worse, some betray even a basic understanding of journalism - if "an analysis without a byline is irresponsible", then explain the Economist. Truth be told, it is the unbiased quality of the analysis that many cannot handle, because a lot of you are mere partisan zealots and sheep. Dogmatists dressed up as liberals. And you get what you deserve from whichever of these gangs - be it Badawi's or Anwar's - you may have pledged to blindly follow.

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Selamat Hari Raya
written by ho, September 19, 2008

Maybe he need the Hari Raya (before step down) .. Frankly I wish him well, he willbe released with all the pain (if any), confuse (if any) and can sleep well (or perhaps too much). Thank you Pak Lah.. for this .. you have failed but it open the eyes.. I would say all Malaysian will work harder, the cronies... the family business, they must go... you failed in managing this country.. with or without Anwar.. you failed badly... you and many minister failed as all of you have no clue in managing the country but played the FIRE, talked about races... Selamat Hari Raya.. may god bless you

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