| Najib's poor leadership stalling economic reforms, says Pakatan Posted: 01 Feb 2012 04:13 PM PST
| Najib's poor leadership stalling economic reforms, says Pakatan Posted: 01 Feb 2012 03:06 PM PST | | Asia's family businesses face new challenges Posted: 01 Feb 2012 03:00 PM PST  By Martin Abbugao
SINGAPORE: From India's Ambani empire to the Li dynasty of Hong Kong, family firms are a pillar of Asian economies, but rising globalisation and generational shifts are throwing up new challenges. Breaking cherished traditions to hire non-relatives to key management posts as companies diversify and compete in a fast-changing global market is one such hurdle, analysts say. The need for greater transparency and accountability, especially for non-listed family companies, is a major factor, while careful planning on leadership succession can prevent potentially ruinous feuds. Joseph Fan from the Chinese University of Hong Kong singles out family succession as an "extremely challenging issue" being addressed as many Asian firms make the transition from elderly founders to their offspring. "If family disputes lead to decisions that damage the businesses, this could cause broader damage to these (regional) economies," he said on the website of the International Finance Corp, the World Bank's private sector arm. Experts say more than 70 percent of Asian firms are family-owned, defined by Credit Suisse as those where a family or individual in the clan controls at least 20 percent of cash-flow rights. A Credit Suisse study last year showed family enterprises made up half the listed companies and 32 percent of total market capitalisation in 10 Asian economies covered in the research. They are also major employers, accounting for 57 percent and 32 percent of staff at listed companies in South Asia and North Asia, respectively. That makes their survival crucial to the region's emerging economies. But with such fortunes at stake, family feuds are inevitable. Family disputes India's richest man Mukesh Ambani became locked in a bitter dispute with his brother Anil over their father's vast Reliance empire when the patriarch Dhirubhai Ambani died in 2002 leaving no will. An acrimonious five-year scrap over the assets forced their mother to intervene and carve the empire into two, although recently there have been rumours of a personal and business rapprochement between the brothers. Last year the family of Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho was embroiled in a bizarre row over the future of his multi-billion-dollar empire, with the 90-year-old accusing relatives of forcing him to relinquish power. Ho's sprawling clan comprises at least 17 children born to four women who he refers to as his wives. The saga has seen Ho — a one-time playboy considered the father of Macau's casino scene — publicly battling two branches of his family over SJM Holdings, the centrepiece of a fortune worth at least $3.1 billion. "The needs and desires of family members and the desires of the business may not always coincide," Sajen Aswani, a third-generation member of the family-run Tolaram Group in Singapore, said without referring to any particular case. "So the challenge of the leadership of family business is to ensure that there is harmony between the two," said Aswani, whose firm is a member of the Family Business Network, a global organisation of such firms. Asia's richest are dominated by family money, often starting with a company founded by an entrepreneurial patriarch. Hong Kong's Li Ka-shing is Asia's richest man with his flagship Cheung Kong Holdings and his billionaire son Richard is head of PCCW, Hong Kong's largest telecom company. South Korea's Samsung, whose founder Lee Byung-Chull started off in the 1930s selling fish and produce to China, and LG Group which is another family-controlled conglomerate, have become household names globally.
The main challenge But many of Asia's lesser known small and medium-size enterprises are also run by families. Deb Loveridge, Asia Pacific managing director at human resource services firm Randstad, said that as family businesses become more sophisticated, hiring qualified non-kin to key posts has become essential. Loveridge said research showed that a primary challenge for companies across Asia — be they family owned or not — is finding talented leaders to take the business to the next stage of growth. Non-family firms can draw from the depth of their global operations, but family firms have a much more limited pool to choose from. "Family companies will do well to acquire new talent," Loveridge said. "The question for them though is opportunities they can provide five and 10 years on in order to retain those people and develop them so can they see the longer term career path." "How does a person achieve that career path if within a family structure key positions are held by family members?" Some Asian family firms are already breaking with tradition. India's Tata group last year named a successor to its veteran chairman and business icon Ratan Tata, by appointing a non-family member at the helm for the first time in the conglomerate's 143-year history. But many are not so nimble, and choose to stick with family members even if they possess few management skills. Fan from the Chinese University of Hong Kong said his research found that five years after a company founder hands over leadership to the next generation, the firm "declined in value by an average 60 percent". AFP 
| | 'Umno warlords will not let Najib succeed' Posted: 01 Feb 2012 03:00 PM PST  Sometime ago I met The Economist correspondent Dr Richard Cockett who asked me whether Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak will succeed in his transformation ideas.
I said, Najib will not suceed. And why not? Because Umno won't let him succeed. Take the case of his New Economic Model (NEM). Nowadays we hardly hear about it. In the 2011 Umno general assembly, Najib did not even mention it. Instead he devoted much of his speech sounding very combative and full of vehemence. What he did at the time was to actually retrograde to Umno cavemen politics – stick and stones. So how is he going to push his tranformation agenda? Knowing Najib, he will revert to the 'old' tested ways of 'patronage'. He will select cronises and push through his economic agenda by giving directly negotiated projects masked by seemingly transparent methods. The 'chosen few' will be recommended by the "man who can walk on water" (former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad). Najib's ideas rejected If you recall, in the 2010 Umno general assembly, all Najib's big ideas were rejected and thwarted by Umno delegates. They were obviously mirroring the general objection to Najib's adventurist ideas which were his alone and most probably, scripted by expensively paid consultants. His idea of 1Malaysia with the hazy notions of inclusiveness and outward readiness was immediately rejected by the delegates who insisted on a "Malay first" policy on everything. So what 1Malaysia is Najib talking about? Najib's plans to transform the economy and especially that of the Malays through his NEM founded on hazy notions of affirmative policies based on free market economics and affirmative policies based on merits were met with howls from delegates who insisted on the continuation of NEP-like policies. In the end, Najib was left standing alone and could only muster his last trump card to claim high pedestal, and that is that he is the son of Tun Razak (second prime minister). No one can dispute that. Genetically he is, but culturally, he isn't. Najib doesn't have the leadership qualities of Tun Razak. Najib up against Umno wall How can he push his liberalist economic agenda through a mindset accustomed to patronage? Will the Umno warlords, who have only known survival through the party's patronage system allow an anointed successor, even if he is the son of Tun Razak, to dismantle a system that has provided them with succor? Now, that would be suicidal. Better to sacrifice Najib than allow a system that has spawned hordes of tenderpreneurs from being replaced his blasphemous idea. In short, Najib faces a brick wall in Umno and has nowhere to go. Either he faces the Umno firing squad or capitulate. How then is he going to push his transformation agenda? The writer is a former Umno state assemblyman and now a DAP member. He is a FMT columnist. 
| | Fuziah: AELB, Mosti caved in to 'unknown pressure' Posted: 01 Feb 2012 05:20 AM PST  PETALING JAYA: Kuantan MP, Fuziah Salleh, believes that an unseen but powerful hand was behind the granting of a temporary operating licence (TOL) to Lynas Corp.
The Australian mining giant received its long awaited TOL today following the Atomic Energy Licencing Board's (AELB) meeting on Monday. The TOL is however subjected to five conditions and a breach of any one of them would result in the suspension or revocation of the licence. Three of those five conditions insist that Lynas disclose the details of its Permanent Disposal Facility (PDF) and take full responsibility of waste management which includes sending it back to the original source if necessary. Not a single detail of the PDF was included in Lynas' Radioactive Waste Management Plan (RWMP) which was available for public viewing for three weeks last month. Most of the public feedback questioned the vagueness of this facility and Lynas' plan to recycle and commercialise the residue. Fuziah, who is Lynas' strongest detractor, pointed out that AELB's insistence on more details of the PDF was a confirmation that Lynas' RWMP is flawed and incomplete. "These are loopholes not conditions," she told FMT in an immediate reaction. "The fact that AELB said it would revoke the TOL if Lynas doesn't meet these conditions shows that they know the licence shouldn't have been issued in the first place. "Their conditions are incongruent with their decision. Hence why I believe that both AELB and Mosti are under tremendous pressure or instruction by an unknown source to approve this licence. "No responsible government would allow its people to be treated like lab rats," she said. Groups to file suit Fuziah said that anti-Lynas groups would now proceed with a judicial review of AELB's decision and would likely file a suit within a week. "Our lawyers sent a letter to AELB last week on behalf of the Kuantan people who oppose the plant. "The letter pointed out that no detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been conducted since last June." "The EIA is a living document and should be frequently updated to include health and social impact assessments. "We thought that AELB would take our letter seriously but they issued the licence instead," Fuziah said. Lynas last week announced that it has raised US$225 million (RM700 million) in bonds to complete Phase One of the plant and will be delaying operations to the second quarter of the year. 
| | Lynas receives 'conditional' licence to operate Posted: 01 Feb 2012 04:11 AM PST  PETALING JAYA: The Atomic Energy Licencing Board (AELB) and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) have granted Lynas Corp its long awaited temporary operating licence (TOL) for its rare earth plant in Gebeng.
In a joint media statement this evening, AELB and Mosti said that the decision was made after taking into consideration public views and feedback on Lynas' application permit. The 300-page document was displayed for public viewing for three weeks beginning January 3 at various locations in Selangor and Pahang. According to AELB, 334 people viewed the documents and 1,123 feedback forms were submitted as of January 26. The Board met on Monday where the decision to award the TOL to Lynas was made. "The awarding of the TOL is subject to a number of conditions and will be suspended or revoked if those conditions are breached,and a reapplication will not be entertained," said the statement. "In addition to that, the residue management for as long as Lynas is under the TOL is the sole responsibility of the company which includes returning the residue to its original source if necessary." Conditional approval AELB and Mosti have set out five conditions for the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP). The first is that Lynas must submit all details of the Permanent Disposal Facility (PDF). Second is for the plan and location of the PDF to be submitted regardless of the findings from research and development, commercialization, recycling and reuse of the residue. Third is for the plan and location of the PDF to be submitted and be granted approval during the duration of the TOL and not exceeding 10 months from the licence awarding date. Fourth is for Lynas to adhere to the terms of financial guarantee under the relevant laws and according to the recommendations made by Lynas (M) Sdn Bhd that US$50 million (RM150 million) be paid in installments to the Malaysian government. And finally the Board has the right to elect an independent consultant to assess Lynas' adherence to the standards and regulations that have been set. The cost of this consultant will be borne by the license. Lynas last week announced that it has raised US$225 million (RM700 million) in bonds to complete Phase One of the plant and will be delaying operations to the second quarter of the year. 
| | Pakatan plots unlikely path to power Posted: 01 Feb 2012 02:36 AM PST  By Stuart Grudgings
DENGKIL: Anwar Ibrahim is free and he knows how to work a crowd. Wading into a throng of supporters at a rally near the capital Kuala Lumpur last week, the veteran Malaysian opposition leader was relishing his unexpected freedom after being acquitted on sodomy charges that could have ended his career.
Microphone in hand, he drew loud laughs and cheers as he wisecracked about government's "cronyism" and what he said were its attempts to label him a homosexual. The High Court acquittal in January of the opposition's only true unifying figure has given the three-party alliance a formidable campaigner in national elections expected within months, adding to its momentum after historic gains in 2008 elections. Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak is expected to call the election by June while economic growth remains relatively strong, well before his mandate ends in March 2013. Halijah Ismael, a middle-aged woman watching from her stall selling traditional medicine, said it was time to give Anwar a chance at governing after 55 years of unbroken rule by Umno and its allies. "Enough is enough," said Halijah, who said she used to be active in a local Umno political group before growing disillusioned. The polls will be a test of whether Najib's gradual efforts to reform the state-heavy economy and its race-based political system are enough to reverse 2008′s shock losses that deprived the ruling coalition for the first time of its prized two-thirds majority in parliament. Backed by Umno's well-oiled election machine, Najib will probably win the election. The government controls most newspapers and television stations and has already started using its largesse, handing out cash payments to low-income families and raising pay and pensions for civil servants. But the opposition and many analysts believe that weariness with the ruling coalition will enable Anwar's coalition to extend its gains from last time, when it won five state governments out of 13 and 82 seats out of 222 in the national parliament. That could prove politically fatal for Najib by prompting powerful conservative elements in Umno to revolt, paving a future path to power for the opposition if the government swings too far to the right. Anwar and other opposition officials told Reuters they have a two-pronged strategy for the election. First, they will make a stronger pitch to ethnic Malays in rural areas who have traditionally supported Umno, hammering on recent corruption allegations against government officials. "We have learnt from our failure to get support from the rural heartland," Anwar told Reuters in an interview at his PKR headquarters on Kuala Lumpur's outskirts. Two-pronged strategy
Second, they will tout what they see as economic success stories in states that have been governed by the opposition since 2008. The opposition government of Penang state in Malaysia's northwest, for example, has dismantled preferential treatment for ethnic Malays in public tenders and attracted more investments than any other state in 2010. Anwar says he would move quickly to reform the pro-ethnic Malay affirmative action system – enshrined in the 1971 New Economic Policy – that he says unnecessarily raises tensions with minority Chinese and Indians while mostly benefiting a well-connected, wealthy few. "We have to go down and tell the Malays that our policy, a more transparent policy, would benefit them more than the New Economic Policy that is enriching the leaders and their cronies," Anwar said. Opinion polls show the majority of ethnic Malays support affirmative action policies, but Anwar aims to tap into a growing suspicion that the system mostly benefits elites and fuels corruption. He says he would introduce a policy based on economic need rather than race. Malays account for about 56 percent of Malaysia's 28 million population, with Chinese and Indians making up 33 percent and 11 percent respectively.  The opposition is placed to make big enough advances that "Najib will more or less lose his mandate within Umno," said Wan Saiful Wan Jan, the head of the IDEAS thinktank in Kuala Lumpur.
"The nationalist side within Umno will become more vocal and that will destabilize Najib's reforms," he said. Anwar pledges to make the judiciary independent, lift restrictions on the media and hold more open tenders for government contracts, which he says are too often handed out to Umno "cronies." The government says the inexperienced opposition cannot be trusted with power and is making promises it can't keep, such as writing off student loans and reducing fuel prices. "This is a recipe for economic disaster. One need not be an economist to figure out that this will destroy the economy," Najib was quoted as saying by state news agency Bernama last week. Battle for frontline states
The charismatic Anwar's acquittal allows him to write another chapter in his remarkable political comeback. The former student radical climbed the ranks of Umno to be deputy prime minister before being fired in 1998 by then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and charged with corruption and sodomy. He spent six years in jail before a court overturned the charges, which Anwar said were politically motivated, only to face fresh allegations in 2008 that he sodomised a former male aide. State prosecutors quickly appealed his latest acquittal, meaning the issue will likely loom throughout the campaign. The 64-year-old Anwar's freedom to campaign adds an X factor to an election that was already tough to call given a scarcity of reliable opinion polls. Pollsters failed to predict the extent of opposition gains four years ago, a result that prompted a 10 percent one-day plunge in Kuala Lumpur's main stock index as risk-averse investors took fright. Anwar invokes the spirit of the Arab Spring in Malaysia, whose government is struggling to retain support among younger, urban voters and has some of the region's strictest security laws. Najib last year repealed two of the most notorious laws, but a new bill that bans street protests has been criticised by human rights activists as repressive and cast doubt on his reformist credentials. "I say an Arab Spring in terms of the spirit and enthusiasm of the masses to rise against a corrupt establishment, but we still have an avenue through elections," Anwar told Reuters. To improve on its 2008 performance, the opposition needs to make headway in three key states – Sabah and Sarawak on the eastern island of Borneo, and Johor, which borders Singapore. The ruling coalition effectively won the election in those states in 2008, restricting the opposition to just three parliamentary seats out of 83. Anwar said that he was confident of winning 8-10 seats in Sarawak, where the opposition made strong gains in a state election in April. Ong Kian Ming, a political scientist at Kuala Lumpur's UCSI university, said voting trends suggested the opposition could win between 10 and 20 seats in those three "frontline" states – not enough to form a government, but maybe enough to prompt unrest within Umno that would force Najib out. Still, the opposition faces an uphill struggle in rural areas, where voters are more conservative and more likely to get their news from pro-government media than from websites like Malaysiakini.com that are the main outlet for critical reporting on the government. "I think the country as a whole is just not ready yet for that change to happen," said Wan Saiful. - Reuters 
| | Isu kepala babi: Selangor tawar RM10,000 Posted: 01 Feb 2012 02:20 AM PST  SHAH ALAM: Kerajaan Negeri Selangor menawarkan ganjaran wang tunai sebanyak RM10,000 kepada mana-mana individu yang dapat memberikan maklumat mengenai penemuan satu kepala babi di Masjid Nurul Iman, Batu 18 Rawang awal pagi semalam.
Perkara itu diumumkan Exco Kebajikan, Hal Ehwal Wanita, Sains, Teknologi dan Inovasi, Rodziah Ismail ketika sidang media selepas mesyuarat exco kerajaan negeri di bangunan SUK di sini petang ini. Beliau berharap orang ramai dapat membantu polis dengan memberi maklumat untuk menangkap individu yang tidak bertanggungjawab tersebut dengan menghubungi talian di 1-800-888-2824. "Ini bukan kali pertama perkara ini timbul dan kesan dari itu kita tak mahu ramai pihak jadikan ia isu sensitif. "Malangnya yang lepas tiada tangkapan. Mungkin dengan usaha orang awam membantu polis maka akan membawa mereka yang lakukan hal ini dengan secepat mungkin. Itu objektif kita," kata Rodziah yang juga Ahli Dewan Negeri (Adun) Batu Tiga. Menurut Adun Rawang Gan Pei Nei, satu kepala babi ditemui di perkarangan masjid berkenaan pada jam lima pagi semalam oleh ahli jawatankuasa masjid apabila mereka membuka pintu pagar utama untuk membuat persiapan solat Suboh. Syabas guna taktik paksaan Sementara itu, syarikat konsesi air, Syarikat Bekalan Air Selangor (Syabas) pula didakwa menggunakan taktik paksaan agar kerajaan negeri meluluskan pembinaan Loji Rawatan Air Sungai Langat atau Langat 2. Exco Kesihatan, Pekerja Ladang, Kemiskinan dan Kerajaan Prihatin Dr Xavier Jayakumar menyatakan rasa kesal di atas hal itu sambil menyifatkan taktik terbaru Syabas itu sebagai tidak beretika. "Taktik terbaru Syabas yang tidak meluluskan pembangunan baru dan pada masa depan dengan alasan bekalan air tidak mencukupi seperti yang didedahkan oleh Menteri Tenaga Teknologi Hijau dan Air, Datuk Seri Peter Chin Fah Kui dalam kenyataan semalam adalah tidak beretika dan mesti dikutuk," kata Xavier. Dr Xavier yang juga Adun Sri Andalas menegaskan kerajaan negeri tidak akan menentang pembinaan Langat 2. Dalam pada itu, Exco Perumahan, Pengurusan Bangunan dan Setinggan, Iskandar Abdul Samad menasihatkan Datuk Seri Noh Omar untuk tidak mempolitikkan masalah rakyat. Katanya, Menteri Pertanian dan Industri Asas Tani itu sepatutnya
bersungguh-sungguh membantu pembeli rumah di Ukay Bistari,Hulu Kelang daripada hanya mencari publisiti. Iskandar berkata, terdapat kekeliruan dan persoalan ketika majlis serah kunci oleh Noh kepada pembeli pangsapuri Residensi Bistaria 30 Januari lepas. "Ada laporan dari Majlis Perbandaran Ampang Jaya menunjukkan pemaju pada majlis itu belum lagi memohon untuk mendapat Sijil Layak Menduduki atau CF. "Oleh itu saya menasihati Datuk Seri Noh supaya tidak mempolitikkan masalah rakyat tapi sebaliknya menumpukan masa, tenaga untuk selesai isu National Feedlot Corporation (NFCorp) yang membabitkan kementerian beliau," kata Iskandar yang juga Adun Cempaka. 
| | Eight drown, six missing as boat capsizes Posted: 01 Feb 2012 02:09 AM PST KUALA LUMPUR: Eight people drowned while six others were missing after a boat capsized off Kota Tinggi in Johor on Wednesday. Initial investigation revealed that the boat was ferrying 25 people of Afghan, Pakistani and Iraqi origin. The boat was en route to a neighbouring country illegally via Malaysia, police told state news agency Bernama. Eleven people on board were rescued as search is underway for the six missing. Police said the dead bodies were sent to a hospital for autopsy. - Xinhua
| | MACC vows to chop down illegal loggers Posted: 01 Feb 2012 02:01 AM PST  KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has pledged to go after all illegal loggers throughout Malaysia regardless of their political affiliations.
MACC's director of investigations Mustafar Ali told the media today that the agency was not interested in the timber companies' political links but in their activities. "There have been many allegations of such links between timber tycoons and politicians but we don't care who they are," he said at the launch of Transparency International (TI) Malaysia's "The Forest Watch Project". "MACC is very transparent, professional and independent in carrying out its duties and as long as a person is involved in corrupt activities, we will go after them." Mustafar was however unable to provide information on how many perpetrators had been charged to date. But he pointed out that amendments to the National Forestry Act 1984 had pushed the number of illegal logging cases in Peninsular Malaysia from 419 in 1993 down to 24 in 2011. He added that 88 complaints on illegal logging were received by MACC last year but few were investigated due to lack of solid evidence and witnesses. "It's difficult for us to act based on generic information like allegations or poison pen letters," he explained. "But the MACC takes the issue of corruption in forestry very seriously." "We are not just fire-fighting by going after the perpetrators but also looking into the system and procedures from logging concessions to the workers involved." Probe on Taib
Illegal logging and corruption are particularly rife in East Malaysia and the most high-profile name linked with these activities is that of Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud. Taib is currently being investigated by MACC for his alleged involvement in timber corruption. But since the case was opened last June, MACC had kept mum over the status of the investigation.  Even today, Mustafar refused to divulge any details on the probe and merely assured the the media that it was proceeding.
TI president Paul Low meanwhile expressed confidence that the file on Taib would not be quietly closed without MACC's findings being made public first. However, he pointed out that throrough work was required to unearth these findings and that MACC would need more time. "Fighting corruption in forestry doesn't just involve enforcement but also policies and processes," he explained. "Policy relates to how much land should be cleared and how much should be gazetted as forest reserve." "The process involves the awarding of projects to selected companies under an open tender. And here transparency of specifications and conditions must be available before the tender is opened." "There are so many allegations being made and the best way to put a stop to them is to have a more transparent and a stricter tender process especially by the state governments."
Empowering the citizens According to Low, illegal logging activities were "under control" in Peninsular Malaysia but still rampant in Sabah and Sarawak. When asked  for statistics, however, he admitted that TI had not compiled them yet. Neither had "The Forest Watch Project" been launched in East Malaysia although Low emphasised that there were "obvious plans" to heighten public awareness of the project there. The project is a three to five year initiative involving the use of Google Earth to monitor and assess forest cover changes. The public is encouraged to act as the eyes and ears of the forest by viewing satellite images of forests in Malaysia and alerting the authorities via www.timalaysia-forestwatch.org.my on any suspicious activities. "It's about empowering citizens to do survelliance," Low said. "Their reports will be received by teams within TI and the Forestry Department for further investigation and action." 
| | Lim ticks off Najib over ang pow fiasco Posted: 01 Feb 2012 01:35 AM PST  GEORGE TOWN: Malaysians will be convinced that Perkasa has no links with Barisan Nasional only if Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and Umno openly cut off all ties with the Malay supremacist organisation.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng criticised Najib for attemping to fool the public into believing that the taboo white ang pow envelopes distributed by Perkasa at its Chinese New Year do last Sunday had nothing to do with BN. In trying to distance his government from Perkasa, Najib has said that the incident was a learning experience for race relations in Malaysia. Lim said Najib's failure to condemn Perkasa showed how protective Putrajaya is of the organisation even at the expense of trampling on the sensitivities of the Chinese community. "How can he dismiss this disrespectful and insensitive gesture so frivolously when white packets are traditionally used for Chinese funerals?" asked Lim in his blog posting today. The Penang Chief Minister said time and time again Malaysians have seen Perkasa and its chief Ibrahim Ali getting away with most seditious actions and statements. When Perkasa can get away with such vile and seditious threats, he said it was crystal clear that the organisation has the full backing of Umno and the BN leadership. Despite acts such as burning the portrait of Bersih 2.0 leader S Ambiga, calling her as a "dangerous Hindu woman" and threatening the Chinese not to come out on July 9 last year to join the Bersih 2.0 rally, no action has been taken on Perkasa. 'MCA is tacitly collaborating with Perkasa'
He said Najib was trying to distance himself from the ang pow fiasco by claiming that Ibrahim, as an independent MP without any official position, has nothing to do with BN and the government. "But no one believes this," said Lim. "In an interview with Al Jazeera two years ago, he defended Perkasa saying they are "not so extreme" if one understood their demands." Lim alleged that Umno and BN leaders have consistently supported Perkasa, attended its functions and have even adopted their views on national policies. He said MCA is tacitly collaborating with Perkasa, noting that Sri Desa Branch chief and Seputeh division committee member Tiew Chew Ming had said "Perkasa fights for all people regardless of race." Lim said that the late Dr Zainal Aznam, a member of the National Economic Advisory Council (NEAC) which drafted the New Economic Model (NEM), had blamed the BN government for submitting to Perkasa's demand by dropping the proposed Equal Opportunities Commission. The commission was to be part of the NEM. "The PM must realise that his open support has emboldened Perkasa to act in an insolent manner, preaching hatred and extremism not to mention exposing his 1Malaysia as empty sloganeering," said Lim, the Bagan MP. Also read: White 'ang pow' nothing to do with govt, says Najib 
| | Ibrahim Ali jamin tiada lagi 'angpau putih' Posted: 01 Feb 2012 01:28 AM PST  RAWANG: Presiden Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa) Datuk Ibrahim Ali memberi jaminan pihaknya tidak akan memberikan angpau berwarna putih semasa menyambut perayaan Tahun Baru Cina pada masa akan datang.
"Jika Perkasa anjurkan jamuan Tahun Baru Cina selepas ini saya jamin peristiwa lepas tidak akan berlaku lagi," katanya kepada pemberita selepas melawat Masjid Nurul Iman Batu 18 di sini hari ini. Mengakui kesilapan itu, beliau mempertahankan insiden itu tidak disengajakan apabila jamuan yang diatur dalam masa singkat itu sebenarnya memberikan sampul surat putih, bukannya sampul duit raya. Katanya, pihaknya gagal mencari angpau merah memandangkan banyak kedai tutup semasa perayaan dan memutuskan untuk memasukkan wang RM10 ke dalam sampul surat berwarna putih. "Perkasa tiada niat langsung mengguris sensitiviti masyarakat Tionghua, kami ikhlas membelanjakan duit meraikan perayaan Tahun Baru Cina," katanya. Malah katanya tiada seorang pun tetamu menegurnya tentang kesalahan menggunakan sampul warna putih. "Kenapa tak tegur saya ketika itu sedangkan ada wartawan berbangsa Cina buat liputan tapi terus hentam saya dalam media," soalnya. Pemberian angpau berwarna putih pada satu perhimpunan Tahun Baru Cina anjuran Perkasa pada Ahad lepas di Kampung Baru, Kuala umpur menimbulkan reaksi negatif pelbagai pihak kerana dianggap menghina adat resam kaum Cina yang biasanya diberikan semasa majlis kematian. 
| | Cameron Highlands BN a 'mess of disunity' Posted: 01 Feb 2012 01:25 AM PST  KUALA LUMPUR: A veteran Umno member has decried what he calls a "mess of disunity" in Barisan Nasional's Cameron Highlands division, laying the blame on Umno division chief Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail.
Cameron Highlands BN is now split into two factions, with one side pledging support for MP SK Devamany and the other backing MIC president G Palanivel's alleged attempt to replace him as candidate for the constituency in the coming election. Since FMT reported on Monday that Wan Rosdy had a secret meeting with Palanivel (main photo), the rival groups have come out in the open to declare their stand. Mahiruddin Ahmad Khairuddin, who has been a member of Cameron Highlands Umno for 20 years, told FMT many members of the division were unhappy with Wan Rosdy's leadership, often accusing him of using his position for personal gain. Mahiruddin alleged that the now famous secret meeting was an instance of the division chief's attempt to feather his own nest. "We want him to explain what was discussed in the meeting," he said. He said he had written to the Prime Minister and the Pahang Menteri Besar to complain about Wan Rosdy's "destructive" leadership. According to him, Cameron Highlands BN has become weak not because of any shortcoming attributable to Devamany, as alleged by Palanivel's supporters, but because of Wan Rosdy's leadership of the Umno division. In the last two days, Umno Youth and Puteri Umno, along with MIC Youth and the Felda Youth Council, have proposed that Palanivel be fielded in Cameron Highlands in place of Devamany. But Wanita Umno and several NGOs have declared their support for the incumbent. Mahiruddin scoffed at the Felda Youth Council's declaration of support for Palanivel, saying its officials knew nothing about the MIC leader. "How many times have they met Palanivel?" he asked.  He challenged Puteri Umno to give a convincing explanation of why it thought two terms was enough for Devamany, noting that Wan Rosdy was also in his second term as the state assemblyman for Jelai.
He also urged Umno's national leadership to take action against Cameron Highlands Puteri Umno treasurer Norzalina Mohd Noor for threatening to cast spoilt votes against Devamany (photo). He said BN should choose candidates who would bring benefits to ordinary citizens, not those who would use politics for personal gain. Meanwhile, Belia 4B Cameron Highlands has declared its support for Devamany. "Devamany is a down-to-earth leader," said Razali Mohd Sani, vice chairman of the youth group. "He has never missed any Belia 4B programme and he has the support of the younger generations of Malays." 
| | 'Mereka tak faham, tembak tak betul' Posted: 01 Feb 2012 01:12 AM PST  ALOR SETAR: Menteri Besar Kedah Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak berkata pihak yang mempertikaikan keputusan Kolej Universiti Insaniah (Kuin) menggantung lima pelajarnya, tidak memahami undang-undang yang digunakan universiti milik kerajaan negeri itu.
Azizan yang juga Pengerusi Kuin menjelaskan tindakan yang dikenakan bukan mengikut Akta Universiti dan Kolej Universiti (Auku) 1971 kerana Auku adalah bagi Institusi Pengajian Tinggi Awam (IPTA) sedangkan Kuin adalah IPT Swasta (IPTS). "Mereka yang tak faham…tembak tak betul menyebabkan semua orang keliru dan pening kepala. Saya dah beri jawapan (undang- undang) IPTS lain daripada IPTA," katanya kepada pemberita selepas mempengerusikan mesyuarat Exco kerajaan negeri di sini hari ini. Azizan yang juga Pesuruhjaya PAS negeri berkata beliau telah menerangkan perkara itu kepada Presiden PAS Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang dan hari ini beliau mengarahkan setiausaha politiknya supaya ke Kuala Lumpur bersama dokumen berkenaan untuk menerangkannya lagi. "(Pengurusan Kuin) sebagai satu badan bebas, apa keputusan dibuat selagi tak bercanggah dengan prinsip nyata biar mereka putuskan. Kes mahkamah Saya tak boleh campur tangan. Saya pun tak boleh cakap banyak kerana perkara ini telahpun dibawa ke mahkamah…bukan kami tetapi pelajar tu yang bawa ke mahkamah," katanya. Katanya difahamkan Kuin telah melantik peguam Karpal Singh untuk mewakili mereka dalam kes itu. Lima pelajar universiti itu digantung pada April lalu kerana memprotes tindakan universiti mengosongkan asrama mereka di kediaman Ar -Razi, di sini. Bagaimanapun, empat daripada pelajar terbabit sudah dibenarkan menyambung semula pengajian baru-baru ini, manakala seorang lagi masih dalam penggantungan. Sebelum ini, Pengarah Komunikasi PKR Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad dan bekas pensyarah Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (UIAM) Dr Abdul Aziz Bari meminta supaya pakatan pembangkang mengambil tindakan terhadap Azizan kerana mendakwa Menteri Besar itu menyokong kewujudan Auku, sedangkan manifesto Pakatan Rakyat dalam Buku Jingga menjanjikan mereka akan menghapuskan akta berkenaan. Bersetuju dengan Buku Jingga Azizan berkata beliau bersetuju dengan Buku Jingga tetapi pelaksanaan Buku Jingga itu adalah selepas pakatan pembangkang membentuk kerajaan pusat. "Ada yang boleh digunakan sekarang, ada yang tidak boleh. Setiap negeri ada masalah masing-masing. Ada yang sesuai yang dilaksanakan di Semenanjung tetapi tidak di Sabah dan Sarawak. Ada yang boleh di Kelantan tetapi tidak di Kedah. "Bukan saya menentang. Buku Jingga tu bagus tetapi ada perkara kena tunggu suasana yang mengizinkan," katanya. Mengenai kenyataan Abdul Hadi untuk tidak bertanding pada pilihan raya umum ke-13 (PRU-13), Azizan berkata sebagai ketua parti, Abdul Hadi perlu bertanding. "Saya tak tau apa sebab (Abdul Hadi buat kenyataan itu) sedangkan dia masih mampu. Dia asas kepada parti dan tidak ada buat kesalahan apa pun. Malah kalau ikut kesihatan, dia lagi sihat daripada saya," katanya. Ditanya sama ada beliau akan bertanding pada PRU-13, Azizan berkata semuanya bergantung kepada pucuk pimpinan parti. - Bernama 
| | Perkasa mahu rumah ibadat dikawal 24 jam Posted: 01 Feb 2012 12:54 AM PST  RAWANG: Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa) mahu rumah ibadat kini dikawal rapi oleh pengawal keselamatan termasuk menggunakan khidmat polis dan Ikatan Relawan Rakyat Malaysia (Rela) bagi mengelak kejadian provokasi berulang.
Presiden Perkasa Datuk Ibrahim Ali berkata Kementerian Dalam Negeri (KDN) perlu memanfaatkan sepenuhnya tenaga 2.8 juta anggota Rela dengan mengawal semua tempat ibadah termasuk masjid, surau, dan madrasah di seluruh kawasan. Beliau turut menggesa agar rukun tetangga berfungsi membuat kawalan 24 jam, selain mencadangkan agar meletakkan anggota polis mahu pun pengawal keselamatan yang dibiayai oleh Menteri Agama. "Kalau rumah Perdana Menteri dan Menteri boleh letak polis suruh jaga kenapa di masjid tak boleh," katanya kepada pemberita selepas melawat Masjid Nurul Iman di Batu 18 di sini tengahari tadi. Dalam kejadian pagi semalam, satu kepala babi panggang ditemui terletak dihadapan tangga pintu utama masjid tersebut. Kepala itu ditemui siak masjid kira-kira 5.15 pagi ketika hendak membuat persiapan solat Subuh sebelum melaporkan kejadian itu ke balai polis berdekatan. Sehubungan itu, Ibrahim dalam responnya mendesak polis bertindak profesional dengan segera membawa dan menghukum pihak yang tidak bertanggungjawab ke muka pengadilan dengan segera. Sambil mengecam insiden itu, beliau turut mempersoalkan kejadian yang sama pernah berlaku di masjid lain namun polis sehingga kini tidak mengambil apa-apa tindakan. Katanya, ini kejadian keempat selepas insiden yang sama terjadi di Masjid Jumhuriah Taman Datuk Harun dan Masjid Taman Sentosa di Petaling Jaya pada 27 Januari tahun lalu, Masjid Al-Falahiah di Taman Desa Jaya Johor Bahru 30 Disember tahun lalu, serta Surau Akademi Pengajian Islam Universiti Malaya (UM) April 2009 sewaktu pemilihan kampus. Sentimen perkauman dan agama Sementara itu, ditanya mengenai kenyataan Ketua Menteri Pulau Pinang Lim Guan Eng yang turut mengecam insiden itu dan menganggap tindakan itu sebagai pengecut untuk mengapi-apikan sentimen perkauman dan agama untuk Pilihan Raya Umum 13, Ibrahim sebaliknya berkata pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat perlu menunjukkan keikhlasan lebih daripada itu. "Saya mengalu-alukan pandangan beliau tetapi mereka perlu bertindak lebih daripada hanya sekadar memberi kenyataan bersifat gimik politik," katanya. Sementara itu, Ketua Polis Datuk Tun Hisan Tun Hamzah berkata setakat ini pihaknya masih menjalankan siasatan dan memberi jaminan akan menyiasat daripada pelbagai sudut. Katanya, kes itu disiasat dibawah 295 Kanun Keseksaan atas kesalahan mencemarkan tempat sembahyang dengan niat mengaibkan agama. Walau bagaimana pun katanya, masih tiada sebarang tangkapan dibuat. 
| | DAP: Gov't abusing EPF cash to win votes Posted: 01 Feb 2012 12:05 AM PST  KUALA LUMPUR: DAP leader Tony Pua has claimed that Putrajaya is squandering public funds for its election push when it proposed to channel RM1.5 billion from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) into its home loan scheme.
The Petaling Jaya Utara MP said the scheme, meant to help those unqualified for bank loans to purchase homes, was an abuse of public funds for political reasons. It was a proposal announced by Federal Territories and Urban Well-being Minister Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin. The funds would be used to help some 20,000 people who were still renting in the city to buy homes under the Federal Territories Foundation. The Najib administration embarked on a vigorous campaign to aid the urban poor – key constituents to Barisan Nasional's effort to regain the capital city. Only one of the constituencies here is BN held. While Pua supported the idea, he questioned the move to use EPF funds, a move he said had become too frequent when its purpose was to safeguard the retirement funds of its members. As many as 11 million or almost half the Malaysian population contribute to the EPF. The Petaling Jaya MP blasted the government for treating the sovereign fund as a lender "of last resort" and said the EPF was not a social welfare organisation. This could set a bad precedent for the future where the EPF could be exposed to more similar programmes in the future. "By setting a precedent for it to be used as 'social welfare', the EPF can in future be further abused to finance political programmes to win votes under the guise of the same," he said.
Can they afford to service the loans? He also warned that the scheme could also jeopardise applicants' retirement funds. If they cannot afford to get bank help for homes, they would likely have trouble servicing their loans, he added. The DAP publicity chief pointed out that if Putrajaya felt that the housing unit was credit-worthy collateral, why not let banks take it as collateral. "Why are the EPF funds being mobilised for housing loans?" he asked. Home ownership is one of the key issues to win the votes as evident by Putrajaya's intensive policy aimed at easing securing home loans for low income earners who form the huge chunk of the electorate. But opposition leaders said the potential to default was high and used data indicating drastic increase in household debt to back their argument that these policies would expose the country's finances similar to the US subprime crisis. Existing financial institutions should suffice to lend potential buyers, Pua said. 
| | 'Black City Day' march to object MRT project Posted: 31 Jan 2012 11:34 PM PST  KUALA LUMPUR: Chinatown traders today staged a "Black City Day" march from Jalan Sultan to Bukit Bintang to protest against the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) construction here.
Calling it a "Black City Day", some 30 black-shirted traders and their supporters waved black flags on a three-hour "heritage walk" at 9:30am from the Klang Bus Station before ending at the McDonalds Bukit Bintang outlet. (The two locations are also the sites designated for the Jalan Sultan and Bukit Bintang MRT stations. The term 'Black City Day' is also a play on KL's anniversary, Federal Territory Day.) Leading the way was Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) Stanley Yong Yew Wei, who said it was "unwise" for the MRT's project owners MRT Corp to build underground tunnels here. "MRT Corp wants to construct underground tunnels (here)…This is very unwise, because even though they used the best (tunnelling) method in the world, it will not guarantee the stability of the old buildings of Jalan Sultan and Jalan Petaling." "(MRT Corp) should keep the character of KL as it is," he told reporters at a press conference. In mid-August, dozens of lot-owners in Jalan Sultan and Bukit Bintang were told that their buildings were going to be taken through land acquisition for the construction of underground MRT tunnels.  At the time, the lot-owners feared that their buildings would be demolished to make way for the massive public transport project.
Unhappy with being notified about the matter at the very last minute, the lot-owners took their grouses to politicians, and warned the government not to grab their land by force. Since then a large number of the traders have been negotiating with MRT Corp (wholly-owned by the Finance Ministry) over the matter, with some coming to "mutual agreements". Others, such as those who marched today, were opposed to any construction in the area. Instead, they proposed that the government realign the MRT tracks to travel along Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock. Will turn away visitors
The government however, according to Yong, has been ignoring them. "For the last four months, we have been requesting MRT to have a dialogue with us. (But the past) four months has brought us to nowhere," he said. He added that any heavy construction would affect the "two to three million" visitors coming here per month.  DAP's Bukit Bintang MP Fong Kui Lun also attended the march. Dissatisfied, he said that MRT Corp had yet to share the project's "social impact assessment" with the public.
He told reporters that the government had put up a public notice board along Jalan Sultan two days before Chinese New Year. The notice board, he said, was supposedly raised for people to write their opinions about the upcoming MRT. During the march, FMT noticed that the said notice board had a few comments supporting the MRT's construction, most opposed the project. "Re-align the road, we want to come back!" wrote one Isanna from Sweden. A tourist known as Samantha wrote: "Hi, my name is Samantha. I am (an) Australian. Please don't knock down the building. Chinatown is the best part of Kuala Lumpur. Keep it safe xoxo."  An anonymous writer wrote: "Some people have lived here for (a) few generations. Please do not destroy their livelihood!"
Majlis Permuafakatan Perkampungan Warisan chairman Ishak Surin, who was there to give his support, advised the Chinatown traders to keep on fighting for their land. "We are against (the MRT construction), and hope our friends in Jalan Sultan and Jalan Petaling will be firm in (fighting for) their rights," he said. He added that KLites had a responsibility to heritage sites such as Chinatown, and needed to take care of them. 
| | Breaking up wealth concentration Posted: 31 Jan 2012 11:30 PM PST  The past year has seen the government and the opposition unveil their respective economic reform policies. Even if these reform policies and their attendant programmes are implemented they will not be able to resolve the country's economic problems. This is because the policies advocated by both sides of the political divide are merely palliative. They do not address the root or fundamental cause of the problem of structural deformation of the country's economy.
How has this deformation come about? What are its characteristics? And what can be done to bring about a reversal or correction of the deformation so that we have a really transformed economic system that can live up to its full potential? First we need to recognise that wealth in any country – and Malaysia is no exception – is created by economic activity engaged in by individuals or enterprises that bring profits or gains to the entrepreneur. Much of this wealth creation and subsequent accumulation is legitimate. It is based on material reward arising from work (or gift) and is socially and ethically acceptable. It comes from risk-taking and from the social utility and superiority of the products and services generated by the individual or enterprise. Wealth generated and accumulated by individuals through legitimate means and conforming to the norms of justice and fairness is not only desirable but beneficial to society and the economy. But what about wealth that is created or amassed by less than legitimate or illegitimate or illegal means? Is it a minor or non-issue and do we just ignore it as is the case with the Barisan Nasional government? Outflow of massive illegal wealth accumulation
One important clue to the massive wealth capture by illicit means in Malaysia was exposed recently by the Global Financial Integrity, a US-based watchdog. In its study on "Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries" it estimated that Malaysia was fifth in the world on cumulative total illicit financial flows (IFF) since 2000. For 2009 alone, IFF (non-normalised) amounted to approximately U$47 billion (approximately RM145 billion at the exchange rate of RM3.1 = US$1) and over the cumulative nine years, total IFF amounted to US$350 (approximately RM1,086 billion). Two methods of estimation were used in the study, one being the World Bank residual model (using the change in external debt or CED), and secondly, trade mispricing (using the Gross Excluding Reversals method or GER). Through the balance of payments (a component of CED), it captures unrecorded capital leakages i.e. illicit transfers of the proceeds of bribery, theft, kickbacks, and tax evasion. Outflow of unrecorded transfers due to trade mispricing was captured under the GER method. Based on the study, Malaysia's nine-year average normalised i.e. conservative IFF, amounted to US$14.2 billion (42%; RM43.9 billion) due to CED while GER accounted for $19.6 billion (58%; RM60.8 billion). Meanwhile, average non-normalised IFF was US$15.4 billion (44%; RM47.5 billion) due to CED and US$19.6 billion (56%; RM60.8 billion) due to GER. MNCs and Illicit Financial Flows
According to the study, "illicit flows involve capital that is illegally earned, transferred, or utilised and covers all unrecorded private financial outflows that drive the accumulation of foreign assets by residents in contravention of applicable capital controls and regulatory frameworks. Hence, illicit flows may involve capital earned through legitimate means such as the profits of a legitimate business". If taxes were levied on the illegal outflows, the country's finances would have benefitted to the tune of close to US$100 billion. When the GFI's findings were made public recently, the finger of blame for the massive outflows was placed by the MP for Kota Belud, Abdul Rahman Dahlan, on multinational corporations (MNCs). Indeed, MNCs have been a convenient scapegoat for transfer pricing woes in developing countries where they have major operations. One local observer – a specialist in transfer pricing – has demolished this accusation for Malaysia. According to his letter of Dec 27, 2011 to Free Malaysia Today, "transfer pricing has been the one of the most scrutinised subjects by the Malaysian Inland Revenue Board since the Transfer Pricing Guidelines was introduced [in 2003]." He has argued that "more likely than not, where there are cases of transfer mispricing, MNCs would always step forward and rectify the situation. This is so because "getting caught by authorities in doing illegal activities will most likely cause serious damage to business integrity and reputation." He concluded that "compliance by MNCs is one of the most stringent as far as I understand from a corporate culture perspective, or at least for cases I have seen." So if MNCs are not the culprit for the illicit financial outflows, who are the real culprits? The Global Financial Integrity study has noted that besides transfer pricing outflows – MNCs alone are not to blame for this; local conglomerates and GLCs also play the same game with greater insider knowledge – IFF was caused by illicit transfers arising from the proceeds of bribery, theft, kickbacks, and tax evasion. Malaysia is in fact the only country where IFF is caused by a comparable proportion of transfer and non-transfer pricing transgressions. Real culprits in illegal wealth accumulation
While the study has been helpful in providing some hard data on the quantum of the illicit financial outflows, it does not provide much assistance on other key details such as who are responsible for the outflow; the countries of fund relocation; etc. At this stage, we can only hazard a guess as to the likely individuals or parties involved in the non-transfer pricing illicit outflow. The most likely culprits are those who have been able to accumulate enormous wealth and who for various reasons find it expedient or necessary to conceal their wealth accumulation as well as to diversity their wealth havens and assets away from Malaysia. The GFI study does not cover the illicit wealth accumulated locally and not yet remitted to foreign shores. The size of this locally retained illicit wealth is likely to be several if not many times more than that sent abroad. A crude estimate of the extent of legal wealth concentration in the country can be obtained from the 40 individuals identified by Forbes as the richest billionaires for Malaysia. Collectively this group was worth $62.5 billion in 2011. In addition there must be many other extremely wealthy individuals who have avoided making the list through their ability to conceal their wealth and others who though not making the top 40 list still possess enormous wealth. The most widely rumoured name not making the Forbes list has to be Taib Mahmud, the chief minister of Sarawak, who together with his family is reputed to have shares in more than 330 companies in Malaysia alone and more than 400 companies around the globe worth several billion US dollars. Various quarters have questioned the legitimacy of the wealth accumulation engaged in by the chief minister. A recent article in the blogsite Sarawak Headhunter provides in-depth details into what is alleged to be the income stream of the chief minister's financial vacuum machine. These include: - Income from timber licences
- Surcharge on timber exports
- Kickbacks from timber shipping companies
- Agency and other fees levied on shipping companies
- Privatization of government companies
- Illegal logging receipts
- Federal government contracts
- Alienation of state land to plantations
State contracts
The chief minister has refuted these claims and has argued that that his daughter's considerable property empire was amassed through the daughter and son-in-law's business acumen in investing wisely the gratuity which Taib earned from his earlier service in the federal government. This may well be true but if so, it needs to be substantiated by an opening of the financial records and bank accounts of the family and the companies owned or controlled by the family in Malaysia and abroad. Only then can the authorities and public determine the truth of the allegations of financial and political impropriety.  That the chief minister and his family own an extraordinary amount of wealth – held locally and abroad – at least is not denied. Some idea of the enormous size of the Taib family wealth emerged when Taib's daughter-in-law filed a RM400 million claim on her estranged husband, Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib, in court recently, including what she claims is her share of property worth RM300 million.
These tantalizing details of the extraordinary wealth accumulation by Taib and a small group of Malaysians show a common pattern. Firstly, they have all been beneficiaries of the BN government and its policy aimed at working with an elite few individuals in driving the economy forward. Many if not all of the names that appear on the Forbes list are regarded as cronies of past prime ministers Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the present Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, and are widely perceived as owing their considerable wealth to their political loyalty to BN. All the business empires of the former "Sugar King" Robert Kuok, Genting Highlands' late Lim Goh Tong, Public Bank's Teh Hong Piau, YTL's Yeoh Tiong Lay, Astro's Ananda Krishnan, Air Asia's Tony Fernandez and the rising Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary Рdeservedly or undeservedly Рare seen as built on government preference and patronage. This connection is what has provided them with head starts and privileged monopolies without which their enterprises could never have come about, let alone flourish. Getting to the bottom of how the business empires of our richest Malaysians have taken shape may be a useful way of dealing with the thorny question of how wealth concentration Рwhether legitimately derived or under a cloud of illegitimacy Рhas occurred. We should have no illusions about the obstacles that lie ahead of such investigative efforts. We should also be mindful that in countries where illegal wealth accumulation by the leaders of impoverished countries has drawn national and international ire, attempts at recovery of the wealth, much of which has been spirited abroad and stashed in overseas banks and assets, has been a long-drawn and difficult process. Admittedly the hope for any confiscation of illicit or illegitimate wealth is distant and dim. The time may not even be ripe to insist on a full-blown opening up of the records and having the truth come out on how the cr̬me de la cr̬me of our business and political leaders have accumulated their fortunes. But there may be need for public scrutiny in a few special cases in Malaysia despite the concern that such efforts may be construed as an anti-capitalist or anti-BN witch hunt. National discussion on wealth accumulation
The time is right at the least though for a national discussion on what are the pros and cons of the current economic system which encourages the concentration of wealth and its illegal outflows on such a systemic basis, and whether this is the right economic model for the country. The time is also right to focus on sectors and processes which have been the main playgrounds of unfair or illicit wealth accumulation; and to implement actions aimed at decisively containing or neutralising them. Best practice examples are readily available for example, in the natural resource sector of countries with the same natural wealth as us. These countries such as Norway have been able to avoid the mistakes that we have made in exploitation of our mineral and forest resources which have permitted opaque policies and procedures, and condoned corrupt or shady businesses that have reaped windfall illicit gains. For the national discussion on wealth concentration and outflows to take place, we need to break the conspiracy of silence by our political elites that have befitted from the system and that have collaborated in the accumulation of illicit wealth and wealth generated from dubious means. We need the professionals to play their role. We need more studies by academics and civil society to uncover where illicit and less than legitimate accumulations are taking place and what can be done to plug up leakages and bring to justice the offenders and culprits. We need more whistle blowers to step forward. Discussion needs to be followed by action, whether by the Barisan or Pakatan government. This action needs to be more than just the tweaking of economic policy as envisaged by the Pakatan parties. It needs to be a fundamentally new paradigm of development based on the de-concentration of wealth and its more equitable distribution. New paradigm of development
The radically new paradigm of development that puts the spotlight on the wealth of the country (within and outside) as well as on the wealthy, and with a major focus on the eventual breaking down of wealth concentration – beginning with illicit wealth – is needed for three reasons. Firstly, it is a superior approach to the narrowly race-based New Economic Policy model that has dominated the country's economic life and which is based on a simplistic caricature of affirmative action policy. Secondly, our oil wealth is rapidly depleting and our treasury is depleted. Going after wealth that has been illegally accumulated or rightfully belongs to the state will provide the country some breathing space until we get our act together on the other pieces of the bigger economic transformation jigsaw. The final reason is that the primary cause of poverty and stunted development in Malaysia is an economic system that promotes excessive concentration of wealth. So long as the excessive concentration of wealth exists, our poverty and deformed development problem will remain unresolved. It has been said that economics is not only about production and wealth creation. It is also about morality, and the first moral principle is that the strong owe a duty towards the weak. It is the role of government to ensure that the strong and wealthy fulfil their duty and not to encourage them in wrongdoing in their obsessive wealth accumulation. Lim Teck Ghee is the director of Centre for Policy Initiatives.
Also read:
Illicit outflows: Investigate Malaysia's heavy losses
Malaysia's illegal capital outflow tripled in last decade
| | EC: Dubious voters were from pre-2002 Posted: 31 Jan 2012 11:15 PM PST  PETALING JAYA: Prior to having an online database in 2002, anyone could register as a voter without providing supporting documents, said the Election Commission.
Its deputy chairman Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said this could be the reason why there were over 42,000 dubious names on the electoral list. "And we had no online system to verify the registered names with the National Registration Department (NRD)," said Wan Ahmad. Yesterday, EC chairman Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof announced the removal of 42,025 dubious names from the electoral roll after checking the data with the NRD for the past three months. The EC had displayed the names for public verification since Oct 27 last year and even extended the dateline from last Dec 31 to Jan 31. Of the 42,025 names, the EC said it could only authenticate 26 of them, while the rest are to be deleted from roll. On how the 42,000 over names were registered in the first place, Wan Ahmad said he was in the dark as well but offered a theory. "Prior to 2002, one can represent a family member to register and even friends can register for one another without providing identification cards for verification," said Wan Ahmad. However, Wan Ahmad dismissed any notion that the dubious voters had cast their votes in the previous polls. "Voters need to produce their MyKad prior to voting. Surely, if there had been discrepancies in the details, they would not have been allowed to vote by our officers," said Wan Ahmad. Asked whether there were other dubious names in the electoral roll, Wan Ahmad said the 42,000 over names were the only ones that could not be verified by the NRD. "We checked the entire 12.4 million registered voters' list and only the 42,000 names were found to be questionable," said Wan Ahmad.
EC should have been proactice With the new electoral roll, Wan Ahmad said he hoped that the public would be satisfied with the EC's clean up process, saying they have followed all procedures by the book. "And we are working hard to ensure that the electoral roll used for the next general election would be the cleanest," he said. Bersih steering committee member Maria Chin Abdullah , however, criticised the EC for taking 10 years to clean up the electoral roll despite being aware of problem. She added that with the advent of the online system, the EC could have cleaned up its list in no time after synchronising its list with the NRD. "They should have rectified it when they first discovered it. For the EC to have allowed dubious names to be in the electoral roll is partly why there are so many irregularities now," said Maria. Maria said the EC should have been pro-active in its approach and not clean up its electoral roll only after a public uproar. "If we hadn't complained, the EC would not have done anything. They should stop this publicity stunt and get down to some real work. "Show us a list that is absolutely clean. It is not our job to complain, it is their job to clean up the roll," she said. Tindak Malaysia, a group that advocates voter rights, said the EC should first decide whether they were working in the interest of the rakyat. Its representative, PY Wong said even the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) set up to clean up the election process had identified many flaws in the system. "And mind you, it is the EC's task to clean up its electoral roll. With Wan Ahmad's statement, should we be worried? I definitely am," said Wong. He also said that if the EC was having problems in cleaning up its electoral roll, it should seek help from other government departments or even non-governmental organisations (NGO). "Nobody really knows how the EC is handling its electoral list. It's shrouded in secrecy and no one can make objections without undergoing tough bureacratic hurdles," he said. On whether he believed the 42,000 over names were the only dubious ones in the list, Wong said it was hard to say as the public has no access to the NRD and EC's database. "PAS had previously claimed there were about 100,000 dubious names in the electoral roll. No one really knows," he said. PSC welcomes clean up Meanwhile, chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on electoral refrom, Maximus Ongkili, welcomed the EC's announcement. He said that the PSC endorses the move to clean-up the electoral roll. "This is part of the cleaning process of the electoral (roll) undertaken by the EC and is endorsed by the PSC," said the Kota Marudu MP in a statement to FMT. Cleaning-up the electoral roll was one of the the eight recommendations made by the commitee in its prelimenary report tabled in parliament last November. It also recommended that Mimos Bhd, a strategic agency under the purview of the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) oversee verification on several hotly contested issues such as two voters with same identification cards, many voters registered under the same address and deceased voters who are still on the electoral roll, among others. FMT learnt that there has yet to be any developments regarding Mimos's role in cleaning up the roll. This contradicted with PSC's announcement in early December that the agency "could already work on verifying the electoral roll" by the end of 2011. When asked to verify this, Ongkili said that Mimos' work was on-going with the NRD and the EC but did not elaborate further. He added that updates on Mimos along with other matters relating to electoral reform will be discussed during PSC's meeting on Feb 9.
Also read: 42,000 dubious voters struck off the list 
| | Japan's Sharp forecasts $3.8 billion loss Posted: 31 Jan 2012 11:15 PM PST TOKYO: Japanese electronics maker Sharp said Wednesday it expected a full-year net loss of $3.8 billion, blaming falling prices, a high yen and the global economic slowdown. The firm expects a net loss of 290 billion yen for the year to March, reversing an earlier projection of a six billion yen net profit. For the nine months to December it made a net loss of 213.5 billion yen, compared with a 21.83 billion yen profit in the corresponding period in the previous year, it said. During the same period, operating loss came to 9.1 billion yen, reversing operating profit of 66.5 billion yen in the previous year, while sales fell 18.3 percent to 1.9 trillion yen, Sharp said. "Major price falls of products and devices such as LCD colour televisions and solar batteries as well as a dramatic increase of the yen" resulted in the lower revenues, the company said in a statement. Sharp booked an extraordinary item of 80.9 billion yen for structural reforms and losses related to the suspension of a large LCD plant in Japan after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March. It also booked corporate tax and other expenses of 115.2 billion yen after revaluing deferred tax assets on its books. For the year to March, the company expects only to break even at the operating level, compared with an earlier forecast of 85 billion yen in profit. It lowered its sales estimate by 8.9 percent to 2.55 trillion yen from 2.80 trillion yen. -AFP 
| | Asian markets mixed as US data, Europe fears weigh Posted: 31 Jan 2012 10:35 PM PST HONG KONG: – Asian shares were mixed in cautious trade Wednesday amid weaker-than-expected US economic data, slumping Japanese corporate earnings and ongoing uncertainty over Europe's debt crisis. Markets were broadly unmoved by official data from China showing manufacturing activity improved slightly in January, while a separate study by HSBC showed a continued contraction, albeit at a slower pace. Tokyo ended flat, edging up 7.28 points to 8,809.79, Seoul rose 0.18 percent, adding 3.45 points to 1,959.24, and Sydney slipped 0.87 percent, or 37.0 points, to 4,225.7. In the afternoon Hong Kong was flat and Shanghai fell 0.21 percent. Wall Street was mixed on Tuesday after the Conference Board's consumer confidence index fell to 61.1 in January from 64.8 a month earlier, showing a downturn in Americans' hopes for an economic rebound. The S&P-Case Shiller Index on home prices across the country fell for the fifth straight month in November, despite record-low mortgage interest rates that analysts hoped would help the sector rebound. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.16 percent while the broader S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq were both flat. Investors have cheered a European Union agreement on stricter controls to maintain balanced budgets across the region, but continued wrangling over a Greek debt writedown has left the public debt crisis still unresolved. Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos has said he hoped to reach a deal with banks "in the coming days" after weeks of complex negotiations aimed at slashing 100 billion euros from the country's 350-billion-euro debt mountain. Without a deal, Athens could not tap a second bailout package, keeping alive worries that the country may default on its debt. "As markets grow thick-skinned to the drawn-out (Greek debt) talks, they still have the potential to cause widespread damage," Justin Harper, head of research at IG Markets in Singapore, said in a note to clients. China said its official purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 50.5 in January, up slightly from 50.3 in December, expanding for the second straight month. A reading above 50 indicates the sector is expanding while a reading below 50 suggests a contraction. Markets also reacted to weak Japanese corporate earnings, dented by the March 11 quake-tsunami disaster, a subsequent nuclear crisis and record flooding in Thailand that dented Japanese manufacturers' supply chains. Exporters have also been struggling with a high yen, which makes their products more expensive overseas and erodes repatriated profits from foreign operations. On Tuesday, electronics giant Toshiba reported a 70 percent dive in nine-month earnings, while automaker Honda's nine-month net profit slumped by almost three-quarters from the previous year. Australian media stocks were broadly higher after Morgan Stanley bought Fairfax shares totalling 7.6 percent of the company in a raid that Dow Jones Newswires reported as having come from mining billionaire Gina Rinehart. Fairfax shares soared on the news and closed 10 percent higher. On currency markets, the euro bought $1.3068 and 99.61 yen in afternoon Asian trade, compared with $1.3080 and 99.74 yen in New York late Tuesday. The dollar stood at 76.17 yen from 76.24. -AFP 
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