Najib abusing his position to save Utusan!

Recently Najib gave Utusan Malaysia his endorsement when he urged government departments, government-linked companies (GLCs) and Bumiputera firms to advertise more in the Umno-owned Bahasa Malaysia daily to ensure the newspaper's capability to compete in the long term. This is an outright abuse of his position and wrong! Utusan is a private company spewing out racist lies and slander. On top of that to name a street road after this UMNO own company is a shiok sendiri exercise that is abusing his power! 

I like the response from the article below taken from Malaysian Insiders.

How far does one go to support fiction? In Utusan Malaysia's case, it goes as far as getting government departments and state companies to advertise in the Umno-owned newspaper to ensure its survival.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's push for his party paper today to get such advertisements has to be seen in that light - an endorsement for fiction writing which the daily indulges in from time to time.

After all, no other Malaysian newspaper has lost as many defamation cases as Utusan Malaysia in the last few years.

In opening the 75-year-old newspaper's new office today, Najib said Utusan cannot rely solely on circulation to stay in business and that advertising is needed to keep the news company afloat.Despite its fiction writing putting Malaysians at loggerheads with each other, here comes the prime minister asking Malaysian taxpayers to fund this party newsletter to ensure it can compete in the future.

And this is where money from the GLCs and government departments come in. After all, most of the private sector have ditched advertising in the daily over its racial slant in recent years.

But make no mistake, the advertising ringgit from GLCs comes from taxpayers, many of them educated Malaysians who live in urban areas - the same voters who rejected the politics of racism and chauvinism espoused by Utusan Malaysia.

What would they think of this latest move then, to use their hard-earned money to support a paper prone to fiction? Wouldn't that money be better used to mitigate the effects of rising costs?

Is keeping Utusan afloat a priority for this government over the livelihood of most Malaysians?

And renaming the Jalan Enam road where the Utusan Malaysia office is to Jalan Utusan is a priority and pride for this government?

“Jalan Enam has no meaning. It will be renamed Jalan Utusan,” Najib announced at the opening of the newspaper's new building.

What really has no meaning is supporting such fiction that causes racism and makes people argue with each other. That is what Utusan and its editors have done and were found guilty and fined in a court of law.

This government has a country to run and an economy to grow, not put priority on helping a newspaper survive because it belongs to the ruling party. - September 13, 2013.

The VINDICATION of Lim Kit Siang!

Finally Tanda Putera admitted to their slander. But the damage is done! How do they fix this? What is more sickening is that this film cost the govt RM4.8million.

Tanda Putera producer finally apologises to Lim

11:45AM Sep 13, 2013

More than a year after the film 'Tanda Putera' was embroiled in controversy with its Facebook page accusing DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang of urinating on a flagpole, the film's producer has finally issued an official apology.

"We, Messrs Pesona Pictures Sdn Bhd, unreservedly apologise to Lim Kit Siang for the embarrassment caused by the abovementioned publication which is devoid of truth," it said in a statement uploaded on Facebook this afternoon.

In an earlier posting yesterday, theFacebook site of the film based on the May 13, 1969 race riots attributed the faulty allegation it made July last year to a junior social media administrator.

"The administrator at that time, who was also our friend, received a link from a visitor who sent a picture of Lim Kit Siang with the wrong caption.

"Our junior administrator did not do it on purpose, but he thought it was correct, so he uploaded it," the posting reads.

The caption had said Lim urinated on the flagpole outside the house of the then Selangor menteri besar Harun Idris.

Yesterday's 'Tanda Putera' Facebook statement said the mistake was promptly rectified and claimed that the administrator and film producer have since apologised, though it did not specify to whom.

However, it noted that there were demands for an apology onFacebook where the posting originally appeared: "No problem, we will do it (apologise on Facebook)," the posting says.

"The picture and caption were not our creations but were sent to us," it adds.

Elaborating on the faux pas in the latest official apology today, the film's producer said Lim's photograph and erroneous caption was posted on theirFacebook page by a subscriber and was spotted by the page's administrator.

"Innocently believing the same to be in some manner relevant to the movie Tanda Putera, he proceeded to copy and save them onto theFacebook's photo album.

"The publication thereof was purely an inadvertence, without any malice or bad faith intended," it said.

However, the company said it stood by the content of the 'Tanda Putera' film.

Apology missing
This is the first public apology made. It was absent in the prominent public rebuttal by film director Shuhaimi Baba on Aug 15, 2012, almost a month after the controversy first erupted.

Shuhaimi (right) had merely said that the erroneous posting was removed and that at no point did Lim appear in the film.

However, she insisted that the urination incident was real, though not by Lim himself.

'Tanda Putera' chronicles the relationship between former prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein and his deputy Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman in the midst of the 1969 race riots, which continues to be a divisive topic, and more so today as a result of the controversial film.

Lim has repeatedly denied the urination incident, seen as a provocation for the 1969 race riots, pointing out that he was in Sabah when the May 13 tragedy broke out in Kuala Lumpur.

He had also urged the filmmakers to apologise over the allegation.

On Monday, Lim, who is also DAP national adviser, commenced legal action against Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia and former information minister Zainuddin Maidin for repeating the 'urination' allegation against him.


AND even through Tanda Putera has completely bomb in the box-office, the film director Datin Paduka Shuhaimi Baba has already begun work on her next movie for which she is expecting another government grant!!!! WTF!

WE NEED TO VOTE BN GOVT OUT TO SAVE MONEY ON USELESS FILMS!

Is this not a cruel and evil sentence!?? What kind of Judge is this?!?

Its been a long time since I posted but when I read this I cannot tahan! We need a change in govt to get rid of judges who are not doing justice in our Country!

3 who protested against Zambry as Perak MB go to jail

Ahmad Fadli KC 4:33PM Sep 13, 2013

Thirteen people, some of whom are single mothers and cancer patients, who protested at the appointment of Zambry Abdul Kadir as the new menteri besar at the Ubudiah Mosque in Kuala Kangsar four years ago, were today ordered to serve their two years’ jail sentence at Tapah prison.

This follows the Kuala Kangsar Sessions Court finding them guilty of participating in an illegal assembly and fining them RM5,000, after refusing to grant an application for a stay of the sentence pending appeal.

The two years’ jail is the maximum jail sentence accorded for illegal assembly under the Police Act.

Sessions judge Norsalha Hamzah ordered the sentence to run from today as she refused to grant a stay.

According to lawyer Augustin Anthony, as a result of the court not granting a stay order they will file a formal application at the Taiping High Court on Tuesday at the earliest. Monday is a holiday as it is Malaysia day.

The 13 were protesting the appointment of Zambry as the new Perak menteri besar from BN, when the Pakatan Rakyat government under the stewardship of Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin fell.

This happened as a result of three Pakatan assemblypersons defecting to BN, resulting in the government’s collapse and leading to a constitutional crisis.

Augustin said the lawyers are upset as the court did not consider granting a stay as they had argued that some of the accused are single mothers.

“Some of them are also cancer patients,” he toldMalaysiakini, adding that despite such grounds the court refused to grant a stay.

Among the lawyers representing the accused were Aminuddin Zulkifli and Zamri Ibrahim.

BN Ministers are Idiots! (Penan Issue)

Keruah Usit 12:14PM Jul 27, 2013

ANTIDOTE The first-term Sarawak state assembly representative for Telang Usan in Baram, Dennis Ngau, has spread ripples of disbelief and laughter in the social media following his remarks on the rape of Penan women and schoolgirls.

Ngau made his remarks in response to a PKR accusation that Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim, had misled a regional forum by making a verifiably incorrect claim. The minister had said that the recommendations of her ministry's Task Force Report, on sexual violence by loggers in Baram, had already been carried out. 

Rohani (left)said this at the Seventh Meeting of the Asean Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children, which was held in Kuala Lumpur from July 22 to 24.

Dennis Ngau rode to the minister's rescue, but stumbled. "I did not read the Task Force Report, but I'm sure the government took it seriously and at times may have to adjust to suit the local environment," he was quoted as saying by the Borneo Post. 

Instead of saving the minister, Ngau appears to have trampled her underfoot. His verbal slapstick has drawn even greater attention to the minister's controversial claim.

Sarawak PKR vice-chairperson and state assemblyperson for Batu Lintang See Chee How had on July 23 challenged the minister for trying to paper over the scandal surrounding the loggers' sexual assaults. 

"I am disappointed with the minister as she did not speak the truth at the international forum," See, a human rights lawyer, told the press.

"I regret the minister was misguided and wrongly advised into making an embarrassing statement that most of the recommendations listed in the National Task Force Report were executed," he went on.

"Someone commented that BN ministers lie to the Malaysian public on a daily basis. They do. But misleading an international or regional audience is serious."

Task Force's shocking findings

Loggers in Baram have raped girls as young as 10 years old. These crimes were uncovered by a federal Cabinet Task Force in September 2009. 

The ministry's Task Force was unanimous in the finding that "sexual abuse of Penan girls and women by outsiders dealing with the Penan, including logging company employees and traders, had indeed taken place." Their brief visit, over four days, documented eight cases of sexual abuse.

According to the Task Force, the roots of this sexual violence included poverty, isolation, excessive dependency on logging companies for transportation to clinics and schools, mistrust of the authorities among the Penan and prejudice towards the Penan. 

The Task Force had recommended far-reaching improvements in transportation of schoolchildren, infrastructure, birth and citizenship registration, healthcare and education, and in the self-determination of the Penan.

These findings were then broadened in July 2010 by another investigation by the Penan Support Group, a coalition of NGOs. The PSG uncovered seven new instances of sexual violence, and tied these in with the wider socio-economic deprivation of rural communities. 

Logging companies offer powerful support and generous donations to the ruling political elite. They own newspapers, infrastructure and even politicians.

‘No further action' by government

Five years later, the Penan face exactly the same challenges, and are as vulnerable as ever to sexual abuse. Not a single rapist has been brought to justice: the police blame a lack of funds for their failure.

"The complaints lodged with the police on sexual assault against Penan women have been classified as ‘NFA' (no further action)," See said.

"Until today, there has not been any arrangement done to ferry Penan children to their boarding schools and back to their settlements."

Penan settlements in Baram Tengah have had to rely on a single four-wheel-drive vehicle, purchased for them by the Selangor and Penang state governments, to have access to distant schools and hospitals.

See (left) noted that the Sarawak government had gone as far as sponsoring a women's empowerment workshop in Baram, conducted by a local NGO, Sarawak Women for Women Society. But, he added, there was no additional effort put into the health services, national registration and pre-school classes in Baram, as recommended by the Task Force.

"However, I welcome the commitment by the federal minister to visit the Penan community in Sarawak to review the implementation of the recommendations made in the report, and I hope she will make full and frank disclosure of her report later," he said.

See was more direct in calling Dennis Ngau's outburst "the confession and proof of a failed assemblyman" in a social media remark.

"This is the single most important cabinet report affecting the people of Ngau's constituency, he didn't bother to read (it) but quickly jumped up to defend the mediocre minister, and is making it worse for her now," See observed.

Ngau had told the Borneo Post that the BN government had engaged with the Penan in dialogues and meetings "to make them understand why they must accept development".

He also appeared to doubt the findings of rape by the ministry's Task Force, telling the Borneo Post that "the Penan that I met and asked even denied that such thing [sic] even occurred". 

---

KERUAH USIT is a human rights activist - ‘anak Sarawak, bangsa Malaysia'. This weekly column is an effort to provide a voice for marginalised Malaysians. Keruah Usit can be contacted at keruah_usit@yahoo.com

Janji di tepati!! TNB increase tariff!

FROM MALAYSIAKINI

Kua Kia Soong 10:37AM Jul 27, 2013

COMMENT In my recent article ‘Damned Dams & Noxious Nukes: Questioning Malaysia's Energy Policy' (Suaram 2013, p 2), I had warned that the government would surely raise electricity tariffs after the 13th general election.

Right on cue, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has just announced that there will be an upward review of the electricity tariff. TNB is justifying this increase by claiming that domestic consumers have been subsidised long enough.

However, who have been the main beneficiaries of the government subsidies?

The energy industry in Malaysia has become a mega business and the government has been subsidising private businesses handsomely for at least two decades, even as it announces attempts to remove subsidies for domestic consumers.

In the mid-Nineties when the IPPs first came into the energy production scene, the industrial sector was TNB's largest consumer, with 60 percent of electricity consumption, but it was paying the lowest rates averaging 15.98 sen per kilowatt hour. On the other hand, the domestic and commercial sectors were paying 21.5 sen per unit and 23.3 sen per unit respectively. (New Straits Times, Jan 17, 1996)

But any privatisation exercise can only be called a success if the businessmen who bid for the projects succeed in raising financing from the banks through their own credentials. What is evident in the privatisation contracts in the energy industry of Malaysia is that many of the crony capitalists (who are, strictly speaking, failed businessmen) rely on the Malaysian workers' pension fund, the EPF, through their links with the government.

Thus, then-energy minister S Samy Vellu justified the EPF as the single biggest source of financing for the Bakun Dam project:

"Bakun, you see, they need some government help... They need government help to borrow money. About RM15 billion to generate 2,400MW of electricity, which means Ekran needs to borrow from the EPF," Samy Vellu said. (Business Times, Feb 23, 1995)

Well-connected IPPs

TNB used to be the sole electricity provider in the country but after the blackouts and brownouts in 1992, independent power producers (IPPs) were allowed into the industry.

They were politically well-connected but devoid of any electric power engineering or generating experience, and the power purchase agreements they signed with TNB allowed them highly favourable terms with take-or-pay arrangements for power generation, i.e. if there was no uptake, the IPPs were paid a capacity charge to offset this.

Furthermore, they could pass their cost increases, such as any fuel price increases, to TNB. But TNB itself does not enjoy such a cost-pass-through formula to help it recover any increases in costs.

In 1995, a single IPP made RM800 million in profits - about half of what Tenaga made with all its national plants! Furthermore, the IPPs do not have to invest in transmission or distribution - the expensive parts of the business. (Sunday Star, Sept 1, 1996)

If we compare the generation costs of TNB and the IPPs, we will have an idea of TNB's problems. In 1997, TNB was paying between 11.8 sen and 15.5 sen per unit of electricity to the five IPPs while its cost of generating electricity was less than 10 sen per unit. (The Star, April 20, 1997)

To solve these contradictions, TNB saw the only way out as raising electricity tariffs and to urge consumers to use more electricity, including drying their clothes with electrical appliances! Either way, Malaysian consumers lost out and the need for energy conservation was put off once again despite the pious declarations at the Rio conference.

Apart from the dice being loaded in favour of the IPPs, they also built power stations at sites of their own choice, not where they were needed. Thus, YTL built a station at Paka, Terengganu, (where the gas supply comes in) although electric power was desperately needed in the north and central regions.

The admission of the IPPs into the energy industry and subsequent flip-flopping policies reflect the total lack of planning and well-thought out energy policy.

The costs of excess capacity

TNB has been keeping a reserve margin in excess of 30 percent over the nation's total demand. In fact, this reserve margin was boosted to 42 percent after the commissioning of two new power plants in 2003. With rising operational costs, including that of excess capacity maintenance, TNB was forced to cut its reserve margin to just below 25 percent. This move was estimated to save the corporation RM1 billion in maintenance cost a year:

"Tenaga has to bear the cost of managing excess capacity on its own. It pays independent power producers about RM500,000 for every megawatt a year and normally draws less than four-fifths of that power... Imagine how much Tenaga spends to manage about 1,500MW of excess capacity from the IPPs!" (New Straits Times, Aug 30, 2003)

There is thus no justification for the Bakun Dam which harnesses 2,400MW electricity when the demand for energy in the whole of Sarawak state was only around 400MW in 1997. The original intention was for the electricity produced to be transmitted 665km to the west coast of Sarawak and a further 670km to Peninsular Malaysia, through high-voltage undersea cables that have never been tested through this distance anywhere in the world!

The current total energy demand in the whole of Sarawak is only 1,000MW, so the government has been trying to attract the biggest energy guzzlers, such as aluminium smelters that happen to be the most toxic as well. These environmentally polluting industries are then touted as part of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score).

In fact, hydro-electric power dams and toxic aluminium smelters are all industries rejected by developed countries. None of these countries, especially Australia, wants to have toxic industries in their own backyard. Lynas is but the most recent example.

But the Sarawak state government is willing to have these mega projects for rather dubious purposes. The desperate chase for investments to take up the excess Bakun energy after the dam has been built shows a total lack of economic feasibility studies which should have been done long before the dam was built. Is it surprising therefore that many Score contracts have been given to companies owned by members of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud's family?

As long as the full eight-turbine capacity of the Bakun dam is not being fully utilised, it will not be economical as the same amount of water is required to run one or all the turbines. It is comical to see the same vacillating suggestion being made every time the government is faced with this conundrum, namely, to resurrect the submarine cables to transmit the surplus power to the peninsula!

The recent blackout throughout Sarawak has been attributed to a glitch at the Bakun dam which triggered the state-wide blackout. Has the cost of the blackout been worked out yet?

The Bakun dam project cost has ballooned to well over RM8 billion. At the end of the day, the project will be a yoke around Malaysian consumers' necks and we will have to pay high tariffs to cover the losses incurred by the developer and/or TNB.

More mega-dams for us to subsidise

But the monstrous Bakun dam is not all that has been dreamed up by the Sarawak state government. The 944MW Murum dam is soon to be impounded. Like Bakun, this latter dam project is in violation of international standards on indigenous rights as guaranteed in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), of which Malaysia is a signatory.

As with the Bakun dam, none of the studies related to the projects have been transparent. The affected Penan and Kenyah have stated that they have never been asked for their consent, as demanded by the UNDRIP.

The project developer, Sarawak's state-owned electricity generating company, Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) has not provided indigenous communities with an opportunity to grant or withhold their "free, prior and informed consent" for the project as required by UNDRIP. Even in cases where there was agreement, the resettlement plan was not made known to the indigenous peoples prior to the start of the construction, and they were not informed about the project's impacts.

The social and environmental impact assessment (SEIA) for the Murum project is seriously flawed. International standards - including the World Bank IFC Performance Standards - universally require that the SEIA must be completed during the design phase, before the government approves the project and before construction begins.

This was not the case with the Murum Dam Project. The SEIA process only began after construction of the project was already under way.

When the 944MW Murum Dam costing RM3.5 billion comes on stream, the total installed capacity of the two dams will be 3,344MW. The combined cost of the two dams is RM10.8 billion. There are also plans to build more dams - 1,400MW in Balleh, 1,000MW in Baram, 150MW in Limbang and 300MW in Metjawah, among others.

Sarawak's existing capacity to generate electricity (viz. 1,300MW) without the Bakun dam already exceeds the peak demand of 1,100MW. Electricity generated cannot be stored. Unused power will be wasted. The government hopes that energy guzzling industries such as aluminium smelters will come and take up this surplus of energy...

In such a state of affairs, who is subsidising whom? Don't even mention building noxious nuclear plants!

---

KUA KIA SOONG, a former MP, is adviser to human rights NGO Suaram.

BN logic of "winnable" candidates!

These are some of BN "winnable" candidates for this coming GE13!
1. Ceylyn Tay Wei Lung a.k.a Ms Equality
She tells Malaysians that that in Malaysia, the Chinese community cannot expect equal treatment because of their small numbers. 




2. Jessie Ooi a.k.a Ms Tow Truck Driver

3. Datuk Zulkifli Noordin
This guy is the best lah!
 Apart from calling Indians "Keling", just check out what else he says in these you tube and ask yourself if this is somebody you want in government?







However Ong Tee Keat, the former MCA President, the only MCA guy who fought hard to find out the truth about the PKFZ scandal is no a "winnable" candidate??!?!?

Wow!! Najib's logic is amazing!!

And to think I haven't even talk about BN's candidates with false degrees yet!

Lets compare this with some of opposition's candidates!

1. Tony Pua
Graduated from Keble College, Oxford University with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics under a scholarship from the MTC Foundation in 1994. Prior to that, he received Asean and Shaw Foundation scholarships to pursue his "O" and "A"-Levels in Raffles Institution and Raffles Junior College.

He worked for Andersen Consulting (now renamed Accenture) as a consultant after he graduated from Oxford. Two years later, in March 1997, he started Cyber Village when demand for e-business consultancy grew.

With his combined savings and those of his parents amounting to RM20,000 and another RM30,000 chipped in by three friends, he went ahead to open an office in Overseas Union Garden, Old Klang Road, KL with four staff.

In August 2001, Cyber Village became the first Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC)-status company to list on the Singapore Dealing and Automated Quotation System (Sesdaq). Its public offer of 400,000 shares drew an over-subscription of approximately 2.7 times.

2. Yeo Bee Yin

Studied at SMJK Seg Hwa. After that, continued her education in Chemical Engineering in Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP) under Petronas Scholarship and graduated with a First Class Honors. 

Worked for Schlumberger, a US oil and gas company, as an international field engineer for oil exploration and production. 

After working for 2 years, she went on to pursue MPhil (Masters in Philosophy) in Advanced Chemical Engineering in Cambridge University under Gates Cambridge Scholarship and completed my master degree with a Commendation. 

(Read her story here! Very inspiring!)

3.  Ong Kian Meng

Professional Experience

• Election Strategist, Democratic Action Party of Malaysia (08/2012-)
• Director, OKM Consulting (07/2010-)
• Lecturer, Faculty of Economics and Policy Science, UCSI University (06/2010-)
• Regional Consultant, Blue Ocean Strategy Regional Center (06/2010-)
• Policy Analyst, Socio Economics Development and Research Institute (SEDAR) (01/2002-06/2003)
• Policy Analyst, Institute of Strategic Analysis and Policy Research (09/2001-12/2002)
• Associate Consultant, Boston Consulting Group (1999-2001)
• Summer Intern, Monetary Authority of Singapore (08/1998-09/1998)

Educational Experience

• PhD. Political Science, Duke University, US (2004-2010)
• M. Phil. Economics, University of Cambridge, UK (1998-1999)
• B. Sc. Economics, London School of Economics, UK (1995-1998)
• A Levels, Raffles College, Singapore (1993-1994)
• O Levels, Raffles Institution, Singapore (1991-1992)
• SMK La Salle, PJ, Malaysia (1988-1990)

Awards and Honours

• ASEAN Scholar (1991-1994)
• Fulbright Scholar (2004-2006)

4. Rafizi Ramli Pengarah Strategi Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

•  This is the guy who help expose the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) scandal.

•  Studied at Kolej Melayu Kuala Kangsar (1990 – 1994) . Won the Anugerah Carey/Bolkiah sebagai Pelajar Terbaik Keseluruhan 
• Continued his studies at University of Leeds , England (1996 – 1999). Received the Arthur Crabtree award 1997, Pelajar Terbaik Tahun Pertama Kejuruteraan Elektrikal dan Elektronik ;Ijazah Kelas Pertama (Tahun Pertama dan Kedua) dan Ijazah Sarjana Muda Kejuruteraan Elektrikal dan Elektronik.
• Earn his Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales (ICAEW) within 2 years and became a ICAEW member in 2003.
• Was accepted into the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) in 2003 when he return to Malaysia.
• Worked in Petronas and promoted to became one of the youngest Senior Manager there.

See his full touching story here too.

My fellow Malaysians! Is it still unclear to you who you should vote for??

Najib! Solve your own Water problem first lah!