24 January 2012

Chinese, M’sians at crossroads for future generations

OngTeeKeat.net
by Dato' Sri Ong Tee Keat
on Sun, 2012-01-22 23:27


AS MALAYSIAN Chinese celebrate to welcome their lunar year of the Dragon, their future is at the crossroads of sorts.

For the majority of the ethnic Chinese, they believe the Dragon Year is the best time to have babies.

For some reasons or others, they believe that Dragon babies are superior and that they have a brighter future than others.

Whatever the ancestral or traditional beliefs of the community are, there is no future for anyone if a nation collapses - socially, politically and economically.

A baby boom is expected but the fast growing debts of Malaysia at RM455 billion or up 11.9 per cent last year compared with 2010 must be the biggest worry for all Malaysians this year.

This is compounded by the recently released Global Financial Integrity (GFI) report that Malaysia was identified as the 4th most corrupt nation in the world, losing a total of US$338 billion (RM1.08 trillion) in illicit outflows over the first decade of the century.

The country’s astronomical capital flight activities show how devastating corruption or ill gotten gains can inflict on a nation’s health.

Beyond doubt, politicians who govern this country are to be held responsible for the sad state of our financial standing in terms of international reserves. However, we are equally responsible for misplacing our trust on the wrong leaders in high public offices.

I need not dwell into the details because the mounting expose of financial scandals is public knowledge and testimony to the erosion of integrity and competitiveness of our nation.

Graft is no selective “terminal disease” to a nation or any quarter or political party. It has been a long existing malaise perpetrated by individuals or a group of individuals at certain levels of power or positions of influence.

Similarly, we don’t need leaders who merely excel in finger pointing and point scoring. Indeed, trouble-shooting a nation's problems has never been an easy task. To reform the system sufficiently mired by some deeply entrenched norms is another enormous challenge.
Any notion that mere change of guards is the only way out in resolving the issues at hand is nothing but mere partisan propaganda that is being drummed up prior to the poll.

Mere change of guards without evolutionary changes in the prevailing partisan culture and the minds and psyche of the people at large could hardly bring us to the desired destiny.

In realising healthy bi-partisan / coalition politics aimed at providing meaningful check-and-balance within the political system, we truly need partisans of high integrity and good aptitude from both coalitions be elected to serve the populace.

In view that, the 13th General Election is likely to be called within this Dragon Year. Malaysians, especially the Chinese community, must therefore put more thought into the choice of their leaders to ensure their Dragon babies’ future is secure.

Malaysia needs to be healed – socially, politically and economically - and this can only be carried out by honest and trustworthy individuals or leaders.

Gong Xi Fa Cai to Malaysians, particularly my community, with the hope that we are wiser by another year in making our choices.

ORIGINAL POSTING : OngTeeKeat.net

15 January 2012

Ong Tee Keat is not Joining Opposition Party

January 15, 2012 12:05 PM
By Alan Ting


Tee Keat Denies He Intends To Join Opposition Party
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 15 (Bernama) -- Former MCA president Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat today dismissed rumours that he intends to join a party in the PKR-DAP-PAS opposition pact.

Ong, who is the MP for Pandan, said he did meet opposition leaders as rumoured but denied that he had had talks on joining any of the opposition political parties.

"Previously, they (the rumours) said I will join PKR. After that was proven to be not true, they said I will join the DAP on Jan 20. What next? PAS?" he said when contacted by Bernama.

However, Ong, who is a former transport minister, remained coy about his next political move except to say that he will make an announcement at the appropriate time.

"I will cross that bridge when it comes. But, for now, I'm concentrating on my work as a member of parliament, helping people in the constituency," he said.

This is not the first time rumours have emerged about Ong planning to join another party.

Last October, online news portals claimed that Ong met Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Selangor DAP chief Teresa Kok on separate occasions, and had possibly discussed his joining the opposition pact. However, Ong denied the reports.

In a interview published by an English language daily last week, Ong vowed to defend his Pandan seat even if he is dropped by MCA.

In the past few days, speculation has been intense that he would leave MCA and join an opposition party on Jan 20.

It comes following the simultaneous resignation of two MCA grassroots leaders closely linked to him -- Penang MCA Youth chief Eng Hiap Boon and Johor's MCA Taman Desa Skudai Flats Branch deputy chairman James Wu Chee Heng -- at the end of last year.

-- BERNAMA

08 January 2012

Ong Tee Keat : ‘I will certainly contest’

NST 08 January 2012
Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat says he will face his electorate when he contests his Pandan seat in the next election.
Isolated by MCA after he lost his presidency in a power tussle in 2010, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, who managed to retain his Pandan seat in the March 2008 ‘political tsunami' when his surrounding parliamentary and state seats fell into the hands of the opposition, tells Tan Choe Choe that he will decide his own political destiny

Question: Since your defeat in the power tussle in MCA, have you ever talked to Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek? How is your relationship? Do you hate him?

Answer:  There's no relationship. I've not talked to him at all. Why should I harbour hatred? It was nothing personal. More so, hatred is a form of self-punishment. So for what? I just want to see the party be effective in its role, in accordance with the spirit  of the party's constitution, which clearly spells out that the role and function of the party is to be the custodian of rights for all Malaysians, not just a particular sector.

Question:  It seems some Malaysians have come to view you as a sore loser.

Answer: Have I questioned the outcome? Never. You cannot stop certain individuals -- especially since we have a lot of hired snipers in cyberspace nowadays. Kindly-worded well-wishes, we take as a form of encouragement. If it's brickbats that you don't think you deserve and you know very well who perpetrated it, then just laugh it off. Why get upset and penalise yourself just because someone said something unkind? Life has to go on man (laughs).

Question:  Many people think that if you're not going to be fielded as a candidate in the next election, your political career is as good as over. What is your Plan B?

Answer: There is no Plan A or B. I've said as early as last year -- with no intention of threatening anyone -- that I'm the one who's going to decide my own political destiny. I know what I want and I know where I'm going. I will certainly contest. But if I were to elaborate, they will say you are issuing a veiled threat. I don't have the mood or time to respond to these because I don't mean any of that. I have my commitments, my own political ideals, and destiny, and these shouldn't be swayed by anybody. I certainly won't allow my political destiny, including the realisation of my ideals, to be dictated by certain party forces. So long as I'm a Malaysian, I'm entitled to the right to vote as well as contest in the name of parliamentary democracy.

Question: So what will it be if you don't get fielded as a candidate?

Answer: Without issuing any threat to anybody, I maintain that I will face my electorate in Pandan. I know party insiders frown upon me on this as they interpret it in  1,001 ways. But that is beyond my control. I'm just talking about my rights.

Question:  That means there's a possibility if you're not fielded by Barisan Nasional, you'll go independent or join the opposition?

Answer:  Well, the logic is pretty clear, isn't it?

Question:  If it goes that way, which is preferred? Independent or opposition?

Answer:  I will cross that bridge when I come to it. But so far, bearing in mind that I was elected on a BN ticket in 2008, it's only fair for me to continue with my constituency service on this BN platform now. 

Question: Have you talked to BN chairman, Datuk Seri Najib Razak?

Answer:  One of the discussions we had was in last January, when we talked about the constituency service in Pandan, like any other MPs. I never brought up the issue of candidature. The BN candidature is the prime minister's prerogative. So far, my focus is on the effectiveness of my constituency service. I see no reason to bring this (candidature) up. His prerogative is his alone. Whether or not I have been effective in serving my constituents, that has to be judged objectively. I'm not blowing my own trumpet. Not just BN, but the people will judge.

Question:  You still believe in the system, that you would be judged objectively on your service, and that your effectiveness will get you fielded again as a candidate for Pandan?

Answer:  Certainly I'm not as naive as I was when I was a rookie years ago. To sum up my personal experience, either as an MP or a public office holder at one time, I must say that sometimes justice may not prevail or it may only prevail after a long, long time. Perhaps, after the fall of the personalities involved. There are no hard and fast rules. To say an absolute yes or no is not quite right.

Question:  Do you think you have any chance at all of being fielded as a candidate in the coming general election?

Answer: Who am I to speculate? I'm in no position to say that. Moreover, I have had no dealings with MCA in the past two years. I'm appreciative of the people's support that has been spurring me on, because in any programme or activity involving the people, it's the people who make things work.

Question:  Is remaining in MCA desirable to you now?

Answer:  As an MP, I need to gauge the effectiveness if I were to remain a member of a certain political party -- to assess the effectiveness of my involvement and affiliation. But in this respect, if I were to do a similar assessment, I simply don't see the effectiveness.

Question:  You have said MCA is "irrelevant", it sounds like you are likely to leave MCA.

Answer:  Well, people can interpret it in  1,001 ways.

Question:  I don't want to interpret. Why don't you tell me?

Answer: When I get such questions, I must speak my mind. But when I do, I get a lot of brickbats from the current leadership because those who are in power, largely, have a denial syndrome. Actually my exact words were "going to be irrelevant". We will be if we continue with the existing modus operandi. But unfortunately, people interpret it in their own way. And some choose to deny it. In Malaysia's partisan politics, denial has been the order of the day. Those who are being criticised find it hard to swallow their bitter pill. If we want to embark on any kind of transformation or reform, so long as we have this kind of denial syndrome, it will be our stumbling block.

Question: Penang MCA Youth chief  Eng Hiap Boon had announced that he's quitting the party and he claims there's a mass exodus. There's speculation about you being the mastermind of it all. What's your comment?

Answer: Yes, he has been my aide until my exit from the cabinet. Even now on the non-governmental organisation  platform, he has been helping me in community work nationwide. Now, even if my own family members were to quit the party, do you think I would have any kind of control over them? This is his own choice. Any quarters, especially party insiders, if they were to cast doubts or link Eng's exit and the exodus from the party to me, I must say that is very unfair to Eng. You are casting doubts on his own (ability to make) decisions. He's a mature person.

Question: Do you think more will be leaving MCA?

Answer: I don't know. These (in the exodus) are grassroots members. No doubt I was the president before, but I can't claim to know many of them. News reports point at me as the person behind this exodus, not just in Penang but in other places, too. When the news was out, I was in Taiwan, attending the worldwide conference of the Buddha Light Association, of which I'm the vice-president. I couldn't help but have a good laugh.

Firstly, party insiders have been labelling me a lone ranger over the years. Now, they blame the exodus on me. Don't you think that's contradictory? If I'm such a lone wolf, how can I wield such influence?

Question: What are your political aspirations now? A leadership post, a ministership? To get back what you have lost?

Answer: I've had the opportunity to assume the MCA presidency and a ministership. I'm not hungry for that. Over the years, with or without the political platform, I had been strongly committed to what I call a nationhood devoid of zero-sum mentality. I've observed that in our country, our social fabric has been heavily compartmentalised. Chinese with Chinese, Malays with Malays and so on. Even when we have so-called interaction, it's confined to the superficials, like during festivities; mentally or rather in terms of our psyche, we don't really interact. We don't appreciate each other's norms and taboos, the so-called inner soul of our respective ethnic groups.

I wish that one day all Malaysians can discard the kind of mentality where we tend to think that your gain is my loss, that a particular ethnic group can only make headway in the pursuit of their interests at the expense of others. That is my aspiration. In my active years in politics, I see this being cultivated and perpetuated by some irresponsible or point-scoring politicians looking to get a spot in the limelight and to climb up the political ladder. We don't have to single out anyone. This has been the norm among many politicians.

Original Post : New Straits Time

04 January 2012

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

3 Jan 2012

PRESS STATEMENT BY:-
TAN SRI DATUK ROBERT PHANG MIOW SIN

Justice of Peace
Chairman – Social Care Foundation
31st Dec 2011

Originated from : http://phangstraighttalk.blogspot.com


PLEASE DO NOT INSULT THE WISDOM AND INTELLIGENCE OF THE TAX PAYERS AND RAKYAT OR THEY MAY JUST TURN AWAY FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DAY.

1. In the past few weeks, the MACC has been very prolific. Many advertorials have been published in the main stream newspapers of the MACC’s achievements in eradicating corruption. The conviction of former Selangor MB Dato Seri Khir Toyo to 1 year imprisonment seems to boost the MACC’s image.
Dato Seri Khir Toyo 
2. The MACC blazed the trail again when on the 21st December 2011, the MACC announced the arrest of five (5) civil servants for bribery in separate places in Kedah. On Tuesday 27th December 2011, the husband of the ex-CEO of the Iskandar Investment Board (IIB), Mohd Amin Suhaimi, was charged in Johor Bharu for corruption. It seems strange that the ex-CEO herself was not charged. Then on Wednesday 29th December, a former IIB senior V-P, Rostam Razali, was fined RM20,000 after he pleaded guilty for abuse of power in disclosing confidential tender price information.
Mohd Amin Suhaimi

3. Meanwhile in KL, the Permanent Chairman of Malaysian Muslim Welfare Organisation (Perkim) Selangor branch who was also the former International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) Deputy Rector, Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Ariffin Suhaimi, was charged with two other Perkim members, Dato’ Baharin Baba, 58, and Abas Adam, 60 for Criminal Breach of Trust (CBT) by the MACC. The offence was alleged to have happened in the early 2000s.
Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Ariffin Suhaimi
4. While all these seem to show that the MACC would have the stamina and resolve to dig at old records to uncover corruption, abuse of power and CBT, the public has not forgotten the persecution of Dato’ Ramli Yusuff, the former Director CCID, and his lawyer, Rosli Dahlan. The public considers this as a fix-up job by former IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan and A-G Gani Patail achieved with the collusions of the MACC. Musa Hassan was exposed as an incredible witness which is a legal euphemism for calling him a liar. Because of that, the public considers the MACC as a tool of oppression that would do the biddings of A–G Gani Patail and their political masters.
Tan Sri Musa Hassan
Gani Patail
5. Thus, some skeptics say that these recent events are merely to allow the MACC to end 2011 on a high note. It is as if the MACC is trying to erase all the bad publicity for causing the deaths of Teoh Beng Hock and customs officer Ahmad Sarbaini while in the MACC’s custody. The outcome of the Royal Commission of Inquiry and the Inquest have not satisfied the public’s thirst for the truth and justice. Rightly or wrongly, that is the public perception. And perception counts if the government of PM Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak is to lead BN to a successful GE 13.
Ahmad Sarbaini
6. In that regard, I feel compelled to raise the two blatant cases involving YB Senator Dato’ Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Minister for Women and Family Development, in the NFC episode and YB Senator Datuk Dr. Awang Adek Hussein, Deputy Minister of Finance, for admitting he received cash into his private accounts but justified it as for political donations towards social program.
Senator Dato’ Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil
Senator Datuk Dr. Awang Adek Hussein
7. Like the rest of the Rakyat, I am astounded and appalled by the reasons put up by both these two politicians who were rejected by the Rakyat in GE 12 and had to be smuggled into the Cabinet by back door appointments through the Dewan Negara. Their mere presence as Ministers in the Government betrays everything that PM Najib has been saying about winnable candidates. These two were rejected by the Rakyat in GE12 and their involvement in these two scandals will certainly not endear them any closer to the electorates in GE 13.

8. In the case of Dato’ Seri Shahrizat, the evidence are already in the public domain of the misappropriation of the NFC funds granted for the national cattle project instead being used to purchase luxurious condominiums, super cars and fantastic salaries for Shahrizat’s husband and children.

9. The initial statement by the MACC that they only investigate corruption cases and referred the matter to the Police is seen as a feeble attempt to pass the bucket. That was the same thing that happened in the Khir Toyo’s case until I pursued it that led to Khir Toyo being charged. Even so, the Rakyat questioned why Khir Toyo was charged under the Penal Code where the maximum penalty is only 2 years whereas punishments under the MACC Act would extend to 20 years. The Rakyat sees this as a cover up!

10. In the case of Datuk Dr. Awang Adek, his open admission of having received such monies to fund his own “social” programs actually constitute political gratification. That an offence of corruption has been established could not be clearer. But most worrisome to me is the inability of Awang Adek, as our Finance Minister, to realise that what he had done was wrong. For him to justify his conduct spells doom for the country if our national finance is to be managed by a man of such moral fabric.

11. I invite the MACC Chief Commissioner, Dato’ Sri Abu Kasssim, to deliver to both Shahrizat and Awang Adek the lectures that he had delivered to me when I was on the MACC Advisory Panel about the meaning of gratification. Since I am now pursuing a law degree, for these Ministers’ benefit I reproduce s. 3 on Interpretation in the MACC Act:

"gratification" means-
(a) money, donation, gift, loan, fee, reward, valuable security, property or interest in property being property of any description whether movable or immovable, financial benefit, or any other similar advantage;

12. For Sharizat to maintain that her family is justified to get the contracts goes against the provisions of the MACC Act:

23. Offence of using office or position for gratification

(1) Any officer of a public body who uses his office or position for any gratification, whether for himself, his relative or associate, commits an offence.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), an officer of a public body shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, to use his office or position for any gratification, whether for himself, his relative or associate, when he makes any decision, or takes any action, in relation to any matter in which such officer, or any relative or associate of his, has an interest, whether directly or indirectly.

13. To make matters worse for Shahrizat, on 30/12/2011 the MACC charged Datuk Shamsulbahrin Ismail with cheating under s. 420 Penal Code. The facts disclosed in the newspapers showed that the NFC Chairman and Shahrizat’s husband, Datuk Dr Mohamad Salleh, had paid this Datuk who is a Mr Fixit a sum of RM 1.755 million to ensure that the investigations into the impropriety in the NFC scandal can be buried. It seems Shahrizat’s family is now trying to distance themselves from this Datuk. The Rakyat ask – was that why the MACC initially declined to investigate the NFC scandal and passed it to the police? Why is Shahrizat’s husband not charged for attempted bribery since he appears to now be the prosecution witness for having paid the RM 1.755million? Something is not right here.
Datuk Shamsulbahrin Ismail
Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail
14. Let me ask Awang Adek, if he is not the Deputy Finance Minister whether these companies and associates would give him those monies to fund his political programs. The case of Dato’ Harun Idris is on point. That makes it clear that Awang Adek had accepted gratification as defined by s. 16 MACC Act:

16. Offence of accepting gratification

    Any person who by himself, or by or in conjunction with any other person--

(a) corruptly solicits or receives or agrees to receive for himself or for any other person; or
(b) corruptly gives, promises or offers to any person whether for the benefit of that person or of another person,
    any gratification as an inducement to or a reward for, or otherwise on account of--

(A) any person doing or forbearing to do anything in respect of any matter or transaction, actual or proposed or likely to take place; or

(B) any officer of a public body doing or forbearing to do anything in respect of any matter or transaction, actual or proposed or likely to take place, in which the public body is concerned,
commits an offence.

15. As a Minister, Awang Adek is a public officer. Thus, his acceptance of such monies into his personal account constitutes bribery:


    21. Bribery of officer of public body

Any person who offers to an officer of any public body, or being an officer of any public body solicits or accepts, any gratification as an inducement or a reward for--

(a) the officer voting or abstaining from voting at any meeting of the public body in favour of or against any measure, resolution or question submitted to the public body;

(b) the officer performing or abstaining from performing or aiding in procuring, expediting, delaying, hindering or preventing the performance of, any official act;


(c) the officer aiding in procuring or preventing the passing of any vote or the granting of any contract or advantage in favour of any person; or

(d) the officer showing or forbearing to show any favour or disfavour in his capacity as such officer,
commits an offence, notwithstanding that the officer did not have the power, right or opportunity so to do, show or forbear, or accepted the gratification without intending so to do, show or forbear, or did not in fact so do, show or forbear, or that the inducement or reward was not in relation to the affairs of the public body.

16. Once Awang Adek admitted that he had accepted gratification, then there is a presumption that it is corrupt gratification:

       50. Presumption in certain offences.

  (1) Where in any proceedings against any person for an offence under section 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22 or 23 it is proved that any gratification has been received or agreed to be received, accepted or agreed to be accepted, obtained or attempted to be obtained, solicited, given or agreed to be given, promised, or offered, by or to the accused, the gratification shall be presumed to have been corruptly received or agreed to be received, accepted or agreed to be accepted, obtained or attempted to be obtained, solicited, given or agreed to be given, promised, or offered as an inducement or a reward for or on account of the matters set out in the particulars of the offence, unless the contrary is proved.

17. It is abundantly clear that the actions of Shahrizat and Anwang Adek are not defensible. The MACC does itself discredit if it continuously refuse to act with the same speed and efficiency when it involve members of the ruling party. The Rakyat is tired of excuses. In the interest of the BN Government, Shahrizat and Awang Adek should resign and offer themselves for investigation by MACC and other authorities. By resigning, only then can investigations against them be done without the undue influence which cannot be the case if they remain in the Cabinet.

18. As we celebrate New Year, the Rakyat expect a new resolve by the Government and the MACC. If the fight to eradicate corruption is seen as mere lip service, the Rakyat will rise and teach the government a lesson at the ballot box. Before that happens, I urge the government to wake up to today’s realities before the Rakyat say enough is enough!

Happy New Year 2012!

“HUMBLENESS IS GOOD VIRTUE, ARROGANCE SHALL FALL, THE MEEK WILL RULE THE WORLD”.