Jonker walk in the hands of the joker of a bonker wanker CM..!

Saturday, 29 June 2013 09:40

'MCA go home' vs 'Where was DAP 13 years ago?' at Jonker Walk

As evening approached, Jonker Street in Malacca appeared visibly empty except for the occasional passing car and other vehicles parked over the faded stall lots on both side of the road.

The fate of the popular Jonker Walk night market there appeared uncertain as the state government had ordered the road to be opened to traffic, making it impossible for traders to conduct their business.

By 5pm, at the far end of the street, a small group of DAP state representatives, clad in black ‘Save Jonker Walk’ T-shirts had assembled and were preparing to cordon off the road in defiance of a state government directive.

However, a group of over 100 MCA supporters a stone’s throw away beat DAP to it as they moved to close off one end of road, chanting “Cordon off Jonker Street” and holding up banners such as ‘Traffic jam is a joke’ - mocking the state government’s justification of its directive.

(Now isn't this just quaint,  DAP la ,  MCA la .. bloody hell, it is like a free for all melee to score feel good points among the chinese community)

Malacca MCA chief Gan Tian Loo, who is also the Jonker Walk committe deputy chairperson, was among the crowd.

“The traders are asking for the road to be closed as before and we are here to hear their wishes and bring their voice to the state government,” he said as sound of honks in support filled the background.

However, Gan (right) took a guarded approach, denying that he was leading the protest, adding that he was merely there to “survey” the site after receiving several requests from the traders.

 (see la, still worried about what his political BN masters will think , so it is like hands on  covering his craphole as he walkabout surveying , even Nazri has more guts , speaking out against the closure)

As traders begin to push their carts pass the protest to set up their stalls on Jonker street, the protesters applauded them like heroes. ( score 1 point for MCA)

However, after just 15 minutes, the spotlight shifted to DAP as the party’s supremo Lim Kit Siang  made a surprise visit, flanked by the party’s top leaders including Seremban MP Anthony Loke and Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua, as well as representatives from north Johor and Negri Sembilan.

( surprise visit?  I doubt that,They probably heard MCA is planning this protest and ain't no way, they will let MCA outmanuever them in scoring some political mileage from Malaccans.so sneaky this PR guys, just appeared out of nowhere, timing was perfection , stealing the thunder from MCA .. Nice play PR , salute!)
 (another thought , how the heck did the DAP big guns get there so fast and in numbers ? think it may have been a call for reinforcements.." tiu sui " as cantonese say.." from the small group of DAP state reps already there,still LKS Tony Pua,Anthony Loke,  there in 15 mins, whoa..planned ?  Hmmmmm ! )
  ( WOW , LKS and 2 other big guns, that is worth 3 points man..so MCA 1--DAP 3 )

Visible animosity

Despite the common cause, some MCA and DAP members threw insults at each other with shouts of “MCA go home” and “Where was DAP 13 years ago?” ( play fair la,both sides, why kick each other in d balls, just once lah, put differences and political rivalry aside, n  come together and champion the common cause close to the people's sentiments,)

DAP had opposed the setting-up of Jonker Walk 13 years ago, citing poor initial planning but is now in favour of preserving the tourist destination.

( what do u expect ! hardly shocking at all, this is politics after all, anything for mileage and feel good factor that can be translated into votes later)

Pakatan’s high-powered delegation, including Malacca PKR chief Shamsul Iskandar Akin and Malacca PAS commissioner Adly Zahari, proceeded past the MCA protesters for a ceramah from behind a four-wheel-drive vehicle as the enthusiastic crowd quickly swelled to close to 500. ( PKR and even PAS in the fray, MCA trailing now , aiyah , where is UMNO n MIC when U need them ! MCA has to be the Lone Ranger on this one )

“Previously the state government wanted to level Bukit Cina but the people of Malacca were successful in defending it, likewise we will prevail with Jonker Walk,” declared Lim.

Bukit Cina is Malacca’s largest Chinese cemetery situated in the heart of state.

He further accused the BN government of embarking on “national retaliation” over the last general election results rather than “national reconciliation”.

Later, PKR’s Shamsul, who thwarted former Malacca chief minister Ali Rustam’s ambition for federal politics by defeating him in Bukit Katil, said his constituency had similarly faced retaliation from the state government.

“We have a Chempaka Ramadhan market where the tender had been issued and permits issued but they were suddenly frozen because it is in Bukit Katil and BN lost there.

“The Chempaka Ramadhan market is mostly run by Malays while Jonker Walk is mostly Chinese, and the state government is taking revenge regardless of race,” he said.
  ( seriously has a point on the retaliation bit, there seems to be a worrying pattern being exhibited))

‘Motion against CM’

Meanwhile, Malacca DAP chief Goh Leong San said his party will move an emergency motion in the state assembly on Monday to remove Malacca Chief Minister Idris Haron for the decision.

Kota Melaka MP Sim Tong Him questioned the ‘Malaccan-ness’ of Idris for wanting to remove an important attraction in the state.

He also praised MCA for also protesting against the state government decision, but created an awkward moment when he repeatedly invited Malacca MCA chief Gan on stage.

Gan, who had earlier criticised the DAP for turning Jonker Street into a political ceramah, was nowhere to be seen.

 ( what ? and MCA is an NGO??? Ass and Donkey.. same animal ! MCA = Ass, Dap can be donkey, coz  Ass can also mean the smelly part of the human anatomy where the rectum is..! )

( see what i mean above about covering his craphole , bleeding coward, scared to be miscontrued as sleeping with the enemy. Why be there if you ain't gonna show your balls.That is  MCA for you lo , always worried that BN or  in default big brother UMNO , will screw their Buntuts pecah))

Unable to locate Gan, the hour-long ceramah was ended as Pakatan’s leaders went around to greet traders who were able to go about their business, thanks to the cordon by MCA and DAP.( or of course hiding la, totally outnumbered and outgunned by PR , poor MCA , want to champion a chinese cause but got beat to it and hijacked by PR) 

Despite the animosity, Malacca MCA Wanita Chief Kian Sit Har, who was present and had previously broken ranks to openly support electoral reform group Bersih, viewed the double protest by her party and DAP positively.

“It is good, the more people there is, the more strength we have.

“I hope the chief minister will heed the people’s urging,” she said.

 ( macam ini la MCA, this MDM probably has bigger balls (no disrespect but admiration ) than the GAN dude, this is how MCA can endear themselves back into the community's psyche.!  CSL , U  " Hum Sup Lo"  U !   "that;s horny or lecherous  old man" in cantonese ,--- stop viewing porn and participate in the porn productions by UMNO 's octo X ( thats 8 times X  ) rated production house - and learn from this sweetheart of a Lady)

Personally , I think DAP scored more than MCA in this round..

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Well guess the good thing out of this fracas is that , people are no longer going to take things sitting down , especially when it is bread and butter issues and perceived bullying by Gomen .. 

And whether it was political retaliation or traffic congestion problem , you draw your own conclusions but read the last  news article below "Tony Pua's jumps into Jonker walk issue...1st ".

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'Act like a leader and not a petty, cowardly politician' - Tony tells new Malacca MB

Yesterday evening, I had joined Members of Parliament for Gelang Patah, Seremban, Rasah, Bakri and of course, Kota Melaka and Bukit Katil to visit and protest the UMNO’s political vengeance against Malaccans by opening Jonker Walk to motor traffic.

The visit and protest has attracted hundreds who unanimously demanded that the Melaka state government withdraw the order to the Melaka City Council to open Jonker Walk which has become a celebrated tourist landmark in Malaysia, famed for its weekend night market.

The protests expressed over the past week by various parties have resulted in the Melaka Chief Minister backtracking and twisting the rationale and decisions to open up Jonker Walk.

Fulfilling the people's wishes

While initially Datuk Idris Haron had told Kwong Wah Daily that the move was to “fulfil the people’s wishes” in reaction to MCA candidates being defeated by DAP, now he claims that the move has nothing to do with political retaliation, and everything to do with easing traffic congestion in Melaka City.

full report here : malaysia-chronicle

Thursday, 27 June 2013 19:30

Now Malacca says 'we never wanted to close Jonker Walk night market'

MALACCA - The state government never had any intention to close down the Jonker Walk night market, said state Housing, Local Government and Environment exco Datuk Ismail Othman.

"There was never any decision to shut down the night market. The whole issue was blown out of proportion due to misunderstanding over our decision to open Jalan Hang Jebat, also known as Jonker Street, to traffic over the weekends.

"Closing down the night market and opening up the road to traffic over the weekends are two completely different issues," he told reporters at Seri Negeri here today.

Ismail said the licensed traders could continue to run their businesses as usual over the weekends.

"However, as the road would now be open to traffic, the traders would need to shift their stalls to the sidewalk and the side alleys.

"We made the decision to open up the road due to numerous complaints of terrible traffic congestion over weekends and public holidays," he said.

Ismail said the public and tourists alike complained of having to wait up to four hours just to reach the Malacca city centre from the Ayer Keroh toll, a journey which normally take about 30 minutes.

"We hope the decision to open up the road will help ease traffic congestion, especially in the city centre.

"There was never any intention to restrict the traders from doing business, so we hope the issue has been cleared up," he said.

Also present at the press conference was state Tourism, Coastal, River and Island Committee deputy chairman Datuk Ghazale Mohammad.

Ghazale said the traders were expected to continue complying with the rules stipulated under their licence, such as clearing up after themselves once the night market closed for the day.

He added that traffic police would be stationed there to monitor the traffic flow.

Previously, the street is closed to traffic every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 6pm to make way for the night market which has been in operation since 2000.

There was a huge public outcry over the decision to reopen the road to traffic on weekends starting tomorrow.

NST

Tony Pua jumps into Jonker Walk issue, saying there’s a cover-up

BY ELIZABETH ZACHARIAH

JUNE 26, 2013

Tony Pua has accused Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz of "covering up" the Malacca state government's closure of Jonker Street.

The PJ Utara MP said that while Nazri had seemingly "appealed" to Malacca Chief Minister Datuk Idris Haron not to close down the popular tourist spot,  he had also reached a "compromise' with Idris.

"Nazri claimed that the CM had ordered Jonker Street to be closed for four weeks to study the traffic flow.

"This is a compromise and it is unacceptable," Pua said.

He said that this was because idris himself had admitted the move was an act of retaliation against the non-Malay community in Malacca.

"I have with me a copy of the memo issued by the mayor of Malacca city council which instructed the full closure of the market, wih no mention of the so-called traffic study."

Idris had earlier said that the decision to reopen the roads was made after the state government received complaints of traffic congestion every weekend.

Some users had complained that it took four hours to reach Malacca city from the Ayer Keroh toll plaza.

Idris was also quoted by Utusan Malaysia as saying the state executive council did not order Jonker Walk, the popular weekend night market, to be closed but to open the roads previously closed to make way for it.

"My previous statement has been misinterpreted. The state executive council has never ordered the businesses along the road at Jonker Walk to be closed down.

“I just ordered the roads previously closed every Saturday and Sunday to be reopened to traffic to avoid congestion into the city," he told Utusan Malaysia yesterday.

However, according to a letter sent to the Jonker Walk committee last Thursday, it clearly stated that hawkers are not allowed to set up stalls on the roads or have equipment in the area. - June 26, 2013.

Religious Bigotry..The " Sally Yen" insult of Islam.!

Police report over Facebook post on Islam and Prophet Muhammad

A bit of chaos erupted recently when a "Sally Yen" had comments insulting Islam and the Prophet recently on her FB...
But as it turned out the profile picture was fake and uploaded from a site in China , photo taken by a photographer from China named We Tang.
It is suspected that the "Sally Yen" may be a trouble maker , a phony FB account, bent on causing racial disharmony.

Now the question on everyone's minds is ..Who really is this "Sally Yen?".





Why so angry?

I think the interpreted insult  on the FB  posting may have been  on the final sentence  "jadi agama islam adalah agama  Dajal" . That really is insensitive and  inflammatory !

Always thought the word  "dajal"  meant "devil" but apparently not.! Took the liberty to google it and was a hefty read..just a condensed version here..

Dajjal is an Arabic word derived from dajl. Dictionaries define Dajjal as "liar, fraud, a seditious and damned person who confuse the minds, hearts, good and bad, the right and the wrong, who hides the
real face of something by gilding it, who wanders everywhere." Dajjal is also called al-Masih ad-Dajjal "The False Messiah. In a hadith he is mentioned as "Masih al-Dalalah" "The Messiah of Misguidance. The word also can  mean  "the deceiver" in Arabic.
   The important personalities that are mentioned in the end times are: Dajjal, Mahdi and Hazrat Jesus (Christ)... The first one is the  destroyer of  all  things relating to  religion, belief, ethics, virtue and
humanity, to inflict despotism, oppression and terror; the others are the people that will struggle against him .
 in the dark  period when Dajjal starts to inflict his evil  actions, Mahdi and Hazrat Jesus will be the  spiritual saviors and will become the greatest support and source of  strength, morale and hope for believers.

Ad-Dajjal or Degghial is, in Islam, an evil figure who will appear in the end times in Islamic eschatology.
He is a counterpart to the Antichrist prophesied by Christianity. Like the Antichrist, various hadith, or traditions, are preserved about ad-Dajjal.

He will deceive the faithful, teaching them that Heaven is Hell and vice versa. He will have the power to work miracles in order to mislead believers.  He will revive the dead, and claim to be a god. He will rally Jews to his support.

( The early followers of Jesus were Jews and  the core doctrine of Christianity rest on the death and the miraculous resurrection without which Christianity will lose it core essence.. this part will make it very difficult to reconcile the 2 faiths, since it seems to imply that the Christian God is actually  Dajjal and Jesus is a Prophet but not son of God, but Jesus does have a role to play in the end times.   

Islam as a  version of Christianity ??  

From RPK's blog -- On top of that, Prophet Muhammad is reported to have said that he is not introducing a new religion but is perfecting/improving the old religions of Abraham. Hence Islam is NOT a new religion. It is ‘Version 3’ of Christianity, which is in turn ‘Version 2’ of Judaism -- if I may be permitted to use that modern/IT terminology to explain what I mean. And in that same spirit, the ‘operating system’ for Versions 1, 2 and 3 is the religion introduced by Abraham.    (http://www.malaysia-today.net.)

But maybe Judaism, seems more similar in the approach to monotheism..
 The dispute between Christianity and Islam  lies in the doctrine of the Trinity,- Father , Son and Holy Spirit  as one Godhead and the resurrection- .that Islam counters   never happpened- but only acknowledges Jesus as a prophet . Muslim scholars will vehemently brush the doctrine of christian beliefs  and teachings aside , no such thing as the Son of God or Holy spirit )

 Any way...,back to Dajjal.

The appearance of the Dajjal will correspond with the appearance of the Mahdi, who will rally the faithful on earth to oppose him. Eventually, Isa, the Islamic name for Jesus Christ, will return from Heaven and vanquish the Dajjal.
Here, Jews will view Dajjal as their “Messiah” whose advent, according to them, has been foretold in their religious books and traditions. Of course as Muslims know,  the person whose coming was
foretold in their books was Hadhrat Isa ( Jesus ) but since the Jews never accepted him as such, the Dajjal will be their “Messiah.” Hence, his major followers will be the Jews.
The main aim of Dajjal will be to try and convince people that he is God Almighty. He will try and deviate people from the Right Path and join his ranks.

Signs of his coming

Hadith attributed to Prophet  Muhammad indicates that HE  taught about the  many signs of the appearance of the Dajjal, and exhorted his followers to recite the first and last ten verses of Sura Al-Kahf, as protection from the trials and  mischief of the Dajjal.

The following signs are ascribed to Ali in the coming of Dajjal:

People will stop offering the prayers..... ( Thankfully , still fervently observed by the faithful and evn not so faithful)
Dishonesty will be the way of life.......( Hmmmm???  )
Falsehood will become a virtue......  ( Another thought provocateur ? )

People will mortgage their faith for worldly gain.....( more truth in this than realised)
Usury and bribery will become legitimate................(.this sounds soo  familiar)

Imbeciles would rule over the wise.......................( Cannot agree more-- my favourite of the signs)

Blood of innocents would be shed...( Relieved we haven't come to that yet here, but common around the world , terrorist who profess the muslim faith and their lunatic kafir counterparts))

Pride will be taken on acts of oppression....... ( human nature , power corrupts )

The rulers will be corrupt...( don't wanna go there! may be  semut monitoring)
The scholars will be hypocrites..( you decide....! )
There will be acute famine at the time...(soon)
There will be no shame amongst people..?
Many people would worship Satan...( sign of the times, already happening )
There would be no respect for elderly people  ( God forbid)


This Kid puts the shame into religious bigotry..."I m not gonna judge you by the funny hat you wear".People are the same everywhere, We all come from the same ancestry if we trace it back far enough!!




Muslim compassion



To be fair in the PROPHETS defence,this video says it all ,very enlightening explanation of all the accusations by the "Sally Yen".

I seriously doubt that anybody can be as forgiving as this Muslim man..!
http://dumdumtrivia.blogspot.com/2013/06/listen-to-this-muslim-man.html

Malaysians can breathe good air now instead of haze!

Your nose and eyes are right 

Good Air , can see all the way to Genting Highlands in the hills background from Kepong

The malaysian insider

BY TRINNA LEONG      JUNE 27, 2013

Malaysians returned from lunch today with their reliable nose index telling them what the figures have confirmed this morning, that the worst of the haze is over for now, though not before it claimed two lives in Johor. 

The smoke that rolled over the peninsula from the weekend has mostly shifted north out of the country. 

The readings on the haze are now good to moderate in most parts of the nation. 

Muar took the brunt of it over the weekend with a spike of 746 and it was there that the two died from breathing respiratory-related illnesses on Monday. 

Today, only three areas of the nation reported unhealthy levels at 7am Just two days, there were 25. 

Locations with unhealthy API readings are; the district of Banting in Selangor (104), Nilai in Negeri Sembilan (144) and Bukit Rambai in Malacca (111).

This morning’s 7am API readings show 16 locations with APIs below 51, most of which are situated in Borneo and the northern states in Peninsular Malaysia. 

On Tuesday morning, only one area had an API that was ‘good’. Port Klang, the country’s busiest port, saw a continuous drop in its API to a moderate 73. 

Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur’s API is at 77 with the air in the states of Perak and Johor hovering between ‘good’ and ‘moderate’ API levels. 

Districts that were previously charting high APIs have significant improvements with the API readings after periodic rainfall in the last two days cleansed the air. 

Forest fires in Sumatra that have been causing the thick smog in Malaysia and Singapore are also being tackled by 5,300 disaster personnel sent by the Indonesian government. - June 27, 2013.

Conspiracy to defraud.?? Indelible ink fiasco and other sheenanigans of the EC

Indelible ink that turns out to be edible ink , phantom voters, electoral roll discrepancies and on and on.! That suggest intent already to defraud.

Maybe the PR  Lawyers should have a 2nd  look at the common law definition of conspiracy to defraud  and see if it can be made to stick to the EC . Election petition not withstanding. 

 If the burden of proof is sufficient to incriminate them , throw the book at them.

The fiasco with the incredible indelible ink that turns out to be ink edible is already sufficient  grounds  for an inquiry. Hopefully an RCI. 

Conspiracy to Defraud

Conspiracy to defraud is a common law offence.  The offence of conspiracy to defraud requires that two or more individuals dishonestly conspire to commit a fraud against a victim. The offence is extremely wide. It is sufficient for the fraudsters to know that the result of their actions will necessarily result in the defrauding of the victims. The fraudsters do not have to intend to defraud the victim as the primary purpose of the conduct. The offence does not require deception or an intent to cause financial loss.

Acts which may be non-criminal, for example a tort, may become criminal where a conspiracy to defraud exists. In other words an act can be carried out by one Defendant independently and this act would not amount to a criminal offence. Conversely the same act carried out by two persons may constitute an offence of conspiracy to defraud.

Conspiracy to defraud requires an element of dishonesty. However the current definition of dishonesty means that activities which may not normally be a criminal offence may be found to be fraudulent if a jury finds them to be dishonest. Consequently prosecutors have an extremely wide discretion as to whether to commence criminal proceedings for conspiracy to defraud and this can potentially result in unfair prosecutions.

The standard definition of a conspiracy to defraud was provided by Lord Dilhorne in Scott v Metropolitan Police Commissioner, when he said that

it is clearly the law that an agreement by two or more by dishonesty to deprive a person/persons of something which is theirs or to which he is or would be entitled and an agreement by two or more by dishonesty to injure some proprietary right of his, suffices to constitute the offence of conspiracy to defraud.

In simple terms: Knowing you were going to commit fraud, by obtaining something by deception.

 Person/persons guilty of conspiracy to defraud is liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment .


Themalaysianinsider.com

Food colouring, not chemicals, was in the indelible ink used in the general election, the Election Commission (EC) admitted today in the Dewan Rakyat.

"No chemical was used in the ink but it was instead replaced with permitted food colouring," said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim in his reply to Segambut Member of Parliament Lim Lip Eng.

His statement was in stark contrast with the EC's claim that it used silver nitrate in the ink. He said the absence of the required chemical was the reason the ink was easily washed off.

 Malaysian Insider comments:

Not only the indelible become delible but edible as well, Ahhh..that was where they made the mistake, they ordered the wrong ink !? it was supposed to be edible ink ! don't be surprised next that the EC blames it on a typo..

busukbelacan

1 kg of potassium permanganate ( very dark purple)( costing RM50) can do the job easily compared to RM 7 million food dye !! Moreover it oxidises into black ink which is indelible !!
The EC commission top brass must have pocketed millions for this food dye ink !!

PNL

Get the RM7.1m back then lock them up - WELD shut the cell door and GIVE them back the key!!!

ayam5656

Let's see what fruit gives purple colouring:

Grape
Cranberry
Raspberry
Blackcurrant
Mangosteen skin
Markisa
Dragonfruit

Any other fruits missed out ??

SaSagoo

The rotten fruit coming out from EC Chairman's and BN's mouth!

ayam5656

Why no response from BN MPs ?
Busy drinking the edible ink, izzit ???

PandaiTapiBodoh

They were "dye-ing" to "make a quick killing"

Paul Warren

Food colouring also is made up of chemicals. Where does this bloke think food colouring comes from? Natural colours is it? This artificial colours that was required would not have even cost R500,000 to do. Why pay so much for?

fairplaylee

Tax payers money gone to waste and who profited? EC are really liars and cheated the Rakyat. So can we call the 13th GE fraud?.

DotcomSays

EC :" He...he...he...dakwat tak kekal.....KAMI KEKAL.....he....he...he..hentam EC kaw kaw"

Macademia

 after this revelation the resignation of EC is far from sufficient. A revamp of the whole of EC is needed to make it truly independent and with integrity. Blatant bias by the EC leaders, now-exposed cheating...this shouldn't be the way Malaysians elect their future leaders. This is more akin to South Africa during apartheid! First class facilities, 3rd class mentality and now pre-historic political system

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More on the Indelible ink controversy

27th june 2013

If the word Misfeasance is interpreted by Wikipedia as someone taking inappropriate action or give intentionally incorrect advice, in my opinion, the Election Commission Chairman, Abdul Aziz Yusof and his deputy, Wan Ahmad Wan Omar, have committed it!

Both no longer enjoy public confidence, and If they do not resign, the Opposition should table a motion in parliament for the plea to be made to the Yang Dipertuan Agong to sack them, and the entire council, so as to protect the good name of the Agong.

The blatant lies told by the Election Commission duo about the controversial ink used in the last General Election also calls for a special inquiry by the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament and the Auditor General's office so that the truth can be known to the public and a decision should also be made to see if there was indeed a breach of public trust and an act of misfeasance.

At least in my opinion, the breach of trust is criminal in nature as it involves a total of RM7.1 million of public funds - and the EC chairman and his deputy were found to be anything but honest about the use of indelible ink.

A whopping RM7.1 million Spent

The cost of purchasing the ink is far too high. Even with the worse case scenario, where the indelible ink uses silver nitrate, a bottle costs only US$5. With 26,000 voting streams, and each stream with 800 voters, and we supply two bottles each to be safe, we are talking about a total of 52,000 bottles for the entire country. This is a total of US$260,000 or in Ringgit Malaysia, nothing more than one million Ringgit. There is nothing really special about the ink bottles or the brush used, because there are truly no reasons for such aesthetically designed bottles or brushes. If it indelible ink, it is indelible ink, stupid!

Why has the EC spent a whopping RM7.1 million on the controversial ink? Assuming that you are spending RM6.9 million on 99.99% pure silver alone, you can get at least 2 metric tonnes and it will not cost you RM200,000 to ship that amount of pure silver from London to Kuala Lumpur. What transportation costs are we talking about when the ink bottles were all part of the voting equipment to be shipped across the country during the run-up to GE13?

In my opinion, the EC duo had not only committed public breach of trust when they spoke to the public about the indelible ink, but the case is in fact criminal in nature, because it involves such a huge amount of public funds.

 Full report:http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/

What have you been smoking Tan Sri?

Monday June 24, 2013

Conversation with a M'sian angry with the Govt

Transformation Unplugged by Idris Jala

Idris Jala

Things are never as bad as they seem

RECENTLY, I had a robust conversation with a Malaysian. He was very angry. He had so much to complain about everything in our country. To him, nothing is right in Malaysia.

I reproduce my responses to his complaints, in the hope that it might shed some light and provide some hope to those who feel our country is in a hopeless decline.

To maintain his anonymity and privacy, I simply call him “Angry Malaysian”:

Angry Malaysian (AM): I think Malaysia is the most corrupt country in the world. If the Government is not corrupt, we will solve all the problems in this country. There will be no poverty and everyone in Malaysia will be prosperous and happy.

Idris: That's not true. Last year, Malaysia improved in Transparency International (TI)'s Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Malaysia's 2012 score improved compared to 2011 to 49 out of 100 from 4.3 out of 10 (TI's new scoring methodology changed in 2012 from assigning a score between 1 to 10 in 2011 to 1 to 100 in 2012) . Also Malaysia's ranking improved from 60 in 2011 to 54 in 2012.

It is equally wrong to say that the only solution to poverty, prosperity and happiness is government corruption.

Almost all the countries that are ahead of Malaysia in the world corruption ranking still have absolute and relative poverty.

For instance, not everyone in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany or Singapore is rich.

Crime still exists in these countries.

Whilst there is hardly any corruption in many rural villages in Malaysia or anywhere else in the world, yet the people are still poor.

When I grew up in Bario, in the Borneo highlands we were almost isolated from the rest of the world and there was no corruption in the village.

Yet, we were poor.

We should stop looking at corruption as something that leads to other peoples' problem the poor, the marginalised and expect only the Government to tackle the issue.

It is true that corruption must be eradicated in the interest of creating a level-playing field and enhancing standards of living.

The Government is serious about implementing this through various initiatives.

Whilst we deploy policy measures to arrest corruption, there is also a responsibility upon every Malaysian to ensure they do not engage in or encourage corrupt practices.

As long as there is giving, there will be taking it is a vicious cycle. Eradicating corruption is not the job of the Government alone, it is a shared responsibility.

AM: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said at a rally before GE13, that Malaysia's illicit capital outflow over 10 years of RM873bil, as reported by Global Financial Integrity, is proof that corruption is the scourge of Malaysia.

According to him, if we stop this corruption by the Government and its cronies, there is enough money for Malaysia.

Idris: Bank Negara has refuted this claim.

It has clarified that 80% of illicit capital outflow is trade mispricing or transfer pricing.

This means private companies produce receipts or invoices which differ from the actual amount of money transacted, usually to pay lower taxes to the Government.

This is not government corruption.

Bank Negara established that the remaining 20% of illicit capital outflows is due to “errors and omissions”, which includes small residual amounts due to illegal business and corrupt practices.

Based on the Bank Negara report released in March, it is totally wrong to say that RM873bil of “illicit capital” outflow is due to government corruption.

AM: Twenty years ago, Malaysia was on par with South Korea in many ways for example GNI (gross national income) per capita. Even in soccer, we used to beat them. I believe Malaysia lost its competitiveness because of the New Economic Policy (NEP).

If we remove the NEP, then Malaysia will immediately improve its competitiveness and catch up with South Korea.

Idris: It is true that South Korea has made a lot more progress compared to us.

However, I do not agree that as soon as we abolish NEP, Malaysia will be on the road to catching up with them.

The South Koreans did it because they did not complain incessantly about not getting government contracts. They did not incessantly complain about everything that was not perfect around them.

They simply focused on innovating their products to be the best in the world and trained their sights on marketing and selling them in the world market.

AM: A lot of people, particularly non-bumiputras, are leaving Malaysia in droves because of unfair policies such as the NEP. Many of them migrate to Singapore where there is no NEP and it is a fair society.

Idris: That's not true. A Mindshare survey of 2,000 Singaporeans carried out last year showed that over half of them (56%) wanted to migrate, although there is no NEP in Singapore.

According to the World Bank, Singapore had 300,000 migrants in 2010, nearly 10% of Singapore citizens. Reasons for migration are complex and varied and cannot be just pinpointed to the NEP.

AM: The Government collects lots of taxes from all of us. So many of us work hard only to pay so much in taxes. The Government wastes the tax revenue through corrupt practices and cronyism.

Idris: I don't agree that Malaysia is taxing everybody and also over-taxing the people. First, Malaysia has a population of 29 million people.

Last year, our working population was 12.5 million people. Out of this, only 1.5 million people were registered taxpayers but only 1.2 million paid taxes.

Second, most of the government tax revenue comes from Petronas and the oil and gas companies, followed by other corporate taxes and then by the 1.2 million taxpayers.

Third, it is not true that Malaysia is over-taxing. Its corporate and personal income tax is competitive when compared with all other countries worldwide.

Fourth, Malaysia is one of the few countries that has not implemented the Goods and Services Tax (GST). More than 140 countries have already implemented GST.

Fifth, since Malaysia wants to keep income taxes at reasonable rates, and since the Government continues to pay huge sums of money on subsidies for the rakyat, our tax revenue is insufficient to pay all our operating and developing expenditure.

So Malaysia has a fiscal deficit. Under the leadership of our prime minister, we have been steadily reducing our fiscal deficit from 6.6% in 2009 to 4.5% last year.

AM: I hear that the Government will be introducing GST. This will hurt the poor people and the middle-income group in this country. GST will bring untold suffering to our people and Malaysia's economy will collapse.

Idris: No decision has been made by the government to implement GST.

More than 140 countries worldwide have implemented GST and this includes many developed and developing countries eg the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Singapore, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Indonesia and many more.

Under GST, many items that are typically consumed by the poor and the middle-income group are exempted from GST. Some items are “zero rated”, which also reduces the impact of GST. This is why the implementation of GST was done in many developing and poor countries. I don't agree with you that GST will bring “untold suffering to our people”, nor will our economy collapse. Let's be clear, these problems did not happen in the 140 countries which implemented GST.

AM: Crime is happening everywhere in Malaysia.

Everyday, I read in the newspapers about street crime and violent crimes. The police are not doing anything. The Government doesn't care about the safety and security of its people.

Idris: The Government considers crime as one of the top national priorities to address. It is indeed one of the National Key Results Areas (NKRA) under the Government Transformation Programme (GTP).

The Deputy Prime Minister, Home Minister, IGP and the police are all working hard to implement initiatives to fight crime. As a result of our collective efforts, crime has dropped from 575 cases per day in 2009 to 407 cases per day in the first five months of 2013, which is an improvement of over 29%.

But that does not mean crime does not occur. It still does, but the rate has reduced. Whilst we take note of this, we continue to address problem areas and ensure we continue to make our streets, villages, towns and cities safe. This is a priority. It is pertinent for us to look into UK's experience in 1998, when ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair launched an intense nation-wide program to fight crime.

Significant amount of resources were provided to strengthen UK's police force to fight crime. This program succeeded in turning around crime trend.

However, while the crime rates have started to drop in 1998, the general UK public perception was the exact opposite believing that crime rate continued to increase.

It was only six years later, in 2004, that the UK public perception of crime finally started to turnaround. This was how long it took for the UK public to catch on with their country's improving crime situation.

Malaysia is experiencing this same syndrome, called the “Crime Perception Lag”.

We are in the third year of the Crime NKRA program - half-way into the perception lag period experienced by the UK.

I believe we need to redouble our efforts to fight crime by strengthening police presence in our streets, improving investigation and prosecution outcomes, engaging the larger community to fight crime via to be United Against Crime, and incorporating Safe City elements in the development of our cities and townships.

Well, that was the gist of my conversation with the AM.

Yes, things are not perfect in this country of ours. Where is it perfect? But we have a lot going for us and it is up to us each and every one of us - to grasp the opportunities available to progress and help our country and ourselves to become developed.

Things are never as bad as they seem.

Datuk Seri Idris Jala is CEO of Pemandu and also Minister in the Prime Minister's Department. All fair and reasonable comments are most welcome at idrisjala@pemandu.gov.my

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/6/24/business/13273763&sec=business

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If the Tan Sri wrote the article, then he needs a head check. If someone else wrote it for him, he still needs a head check.

AsamLaksa

I refer to the article titled “Conversation with a M’sian angry with the Govt” by Tan Sri Idris Jala. 

My immediate reaction was incredulity followed by the “I pity the fool” feeling. then I wondered what was the Tan Sri smoking. Hahahaha! I felt that if the Tan Sri wrote the article, then he needs a head check. If someone else wrote it for him, he still needs a head check. Lastly, I think the editors who allowed publication of the article needs to be institutionalised - This is one article that is seriously counterproductive! Hahahaha!

Ok, now seriously, I understand what Tan Sri Idris Jala (TSIJ) was trying to sell, that things are not so bad under BN rule. Then he appears to try to win over the ‘Angry Malaysian’ over with arguments citing facts and figures.

I agree that things are not so bad in Malaysia under BN rule. In fact things are improving but doesn’t mean that I’ll just sit back and spend my days under the sun (mind you, when it is not hazy). Does TSIJ expect Malaysians to be the docile domestic abuse victim that makes excuses like, “he/she used to punch me every day before but now it is just every other day so I am alright as things are improving”?

I give a big FAIL on the part of trying to win over Angry Malaysian and I do not even need to refute the facts and figures provided. Firstly, TSIJ used a counterproductive approach and secondly he misses the point completely! Now, I am not here to refute his individual points because I’ll just end up like him, missing the whole point. It is like discussing about the quality of the dog bark rather than finding out why is the dog barking at all.

On TSIJ’s approach, his first error is in labelling the critics of the Malaysian government as ‘angry’. Grrrrrrr! You do not use a negative adjective to describe those you want to reach out to. Imagine going into peace talks with the Taliban and addressing them as the ‘terrorist’ Taliban.

His second error is in trying to squeeze in facts and figures without balanced analyses including the pros and cons thus showing a lack of sincerity.

Thirdly, there is no point shoving facts and figures when the other person perceives that the real life situation is not mirrored in the facts in figures. What does it mean to you that crime rate is falling when you were mugged yesterday?

An additional note, there is the customary diversionary sort talk of “not everyone in X country is better” which never convince anyone. You can pick and choose to highlight things better or worse off in every country in the world.  Even Gaddafi’s Libya had free education including tertiary level and every citizen gets a roof over their heads.

The end result is basically highlighting TSIJ giving a talk which he could have more effectively convey his message in bite size articles that deals with one topic at a time. The danger of having too many points in one article is that you lose your audience and that one error and you risk discrediting the whole article.

I say TSIJ misses the whole point in trying to address the concerns of Malaysians. TSIJs need to find the real Malaysians and then decipher their real grouses. Instead what he did with this article is him reasserting himself as a part of the propaganda machinery.

If you ask Malaysians what trouble them in Malaysia, they can give you a long list which would include crime and security, corruption, race relations, religion, economy, taxes, and so on. In fact, these are not unique to Malaysia. The same headache list occurs all over the world. The truth is that we all live with this headache list and life goes on.

So, what really ails the BN led Malaysian government? This is where TSIJ misses the point or does not want to mention. He was in business so he should know what makes a deal go smoothly.

The answer is trust. The fact is that many Malaysians have lost trust and faith in the BN led government and government machinery. The BN led government and Malaysian government machinery appears self-serving and out of touch of the day to day lives of Malaysians (this is also a warning to PR which may end up with their own brand of ‘Angry Malaysian’).

You can quote Bank Negara few will believe it as they do not trust it. You can quote drop in crime and corruption and few will believe it because everyone knows someone who has paid a bribe to the police or knows someone’s property which was burgled. You can quote Transparency International but few really care or understand what the numbers mean.

What any Malaysian government needs is to foster trust towards the government and government machinery. You do not do this by quoting facts and figures. You do not do this by arguing with logic. All you need to do is speak to the people who put the need of the nation above themselves, race and religion. Many mentioned answers but time and time again the Malaysian government refuses to listen. If you were to scream out over and over again and you are ignored, my dear TSIJ, you would either become very angry or raving mad.

http://www.malaysia-today.net/mtcolumns/letterssurat/57689-idris-jala-where-are-you-casting-your-net