揭依布拉欣拥有赌博公司股权赛夫丁嘲讽他“正牌马来斗士”

揭依布拉欣拥有赌博公司股权赛夫丁嘲讽他“正牌马来斗士”
3月23日傍晚 7点32分

国会报道

继被揭在华裔富豪陈志远控制的上市公司担任董事，而暴露出其表里不一的“双面人”面目后，以极端马来民族主义出位言论著称的亲国阵独立议员依布拉欣阿里，再度遭爆料与陈志远的公司有关联！这回是由公正党马樟国会议员赛夫丁（左图）在辩论元首御词时揭穿，依布拉欣在陈志远控制的一家赌博公司拥有股权。他籍此出言嘲讽土著权威组织主席兼巴西马国会议员，是一名“正牌的马来斗士”。“巴西马议员，正牌的马来斗士也有股权，这是马来斗士的真面目。”要求财政部解释赌博执照有关赌博公司名为Ascot Sports，获得大马公司发出20年的经营执照，来展开赛马、足球和其他体育项目的赌博。也是公正党秘书长的赛夫丁更要求，财政部针对发出有关赌博执照的举动作出解释。“这家公司的收入是高达10亿令吉，但只是缴付2000万令吉的执照费。”不点名指责马哈迪发执照“这个执照肯定是财政部长发出。据我了解是阿都拉掌权之前的财政部长兼首相。”尽管他没有点名，但明显是指责前首相马哈迪。他也讽刺说，“这名财政部长也是巫统主席。巫统是一个注重种族、宗教和国家的政党”。他也补充说，这些资料都是取自前华尔街日报编辑巴里韦恩（Barry Wain）所撰写的马哈迪评传《马来西亚独行侠：在动荡时期的马哈迪》，这本书至今还是被海关扣押，不得公开发售。曾任陈志远上市公司董事拉惹柏特拉日前是在《今日马来西亚》网站上撰文揭露，依布拉欣曾在一家上市公司Dunham-Bush大马有限公司担任董事的职位，这家公司与陈志远有关联，并揭露后者一边抨击华裔富商，一边却接收他们公司的股权出任董事，根本就是表里不一的“双面人”（右图）。“依布拉欣正通过其土著权威组织（Perkasa），来对抗像陈志远这样打枪马来人权利，以及把马来人变成自己国家奴隶的华 人。但是，依布拉欣却曾经为华人如陈志远打工。”“其土著权威组织支持者和成员是否知道依布拉欣的另一面？他们知道像依布拉欣这样对抗陈 志远和华人的人，却跟陈志远同眠？”


http://malaysiakini.com/news/127311

呛声华人却当陈志远公司董事柏特拉揭依布拉欣是“双面人”

呛声华人却当陈志远公司董事柏特拉揭依布拉欣是“双面人”
王德齐3月12日傍晚 6点44分
以极端马来民族主义出位言论著称的亲国阵独立议员依布拉欣阿里近日频频炮轰“华人掌握国家经济”，甚至是指责“华人将在下届大选接管大马”；但是著名部落客拉惹柏特拉今日却揭露，依布拉欣阿里曾经在其中一名遭他点名炮轰的华裔富豪，陈志远旗下的公司担任董事，形同“自打嘴巴”。呛声陈志远却曾经与他同眠拉惹柏特拉（右图）是在《今日马来西亚》网站 上撰文揭露，依布拉欣曾在一家上市公司Dunham-Bush大马有限公司担任董事的职位，而这家公司是与陈志远有关联。他在《骗徒和巫师》（Fakes and Shamans）一文质疑说，“依布拉欣正通过其土著权威组织（Pesaka），来对抗像陈志远这样打枪马来人权利，以及把马来人变成自己国家奴隶的华 人。但是，依布拉欣却曾经为华人如陈志远打工。”“其土著权威组织支持者和成员是否知道依布拉欣的另一面？他们知道像依布拉欣这样对抗陈 志远和华人的人，却跟陈志远同眠？”他出示Dunham-Bush大马有限公司在2003年的财政报告（左图），其中列明依布拉欣担任独立非执行董事（从2000 年8月开始受委）和稽查委员会成员的职位。至于董事局副主席则是陈志远的胞弟陈志成（Danny Tan Chee Sing）。依布拉欣：这又有什么问题？对此，依布拉欣通过短讯回复《当今大马》的询问时 直认不讳，并再三反问记者“这又有什么问题？”“Dunham-Bush里面也有其他股东，它是一家冷气机公司，这又有什么问题？”辩称从更大角度谈宏观经济依布拉欣强调，本身在提出马来权益受到威胁时， 是从更大的角度来谈论宏观的经济课题。“就算我和许多华裔朋友做生意，并且拥有华人伙伴，这又有什么问题？就算是他集团的首席执行员，难 道我说陈志远从政府获得很多好处有错吗？哈哈！”“我只是要证明这个（华裔）社群有许多大公司获得垄断生意、津贴等等。因此，不能像杨忠 礼集团的杨肃斌这样要求‘小弟’（指马来人）去面对残酷的竞争。”他在短讯尾声中也讽刺说，“《今日马来西亚》真可怜”。2006年转卖给荷兰公司下市Dunham-Bush大马有限公司是一家冰 箱和冷气系统生产商公司，一度在大马股市二板上市，并由陈志远掌控的成功集团拥有。不过，成功集团已经在2006年将这家子公司，卖给一 家荷兰公司Agromash控股公司。Dunham-Bush大马有限公司接着在2007年下市。炮轰陈志远等头家垄断经济依布拉欣也是巴西马国会议员，他在308全国大选后不久，领导 土著权威组织举行多场示威活动，并发表捍卫马来人特权的言论，其中一些因为种族味道过于浓烈，而掀起争议。土著权威组织在近期也带领多个 马来组织筹组马来咨询理事会，公开反对新经济模式进一步自由化我国经济，并且要求维持旧有的新经济模式（NEP）元素，以保障马来人的经济利益。他 在接受《当今大马》访问更声称，华裔依然掌控国内超过60%的经济，马来人及土著被远抛在后，只控制少过20%，而且优势日益下滑。因此，这也是为何他们 认为需要持续扶弱政策。他也指责，少数人和“头家”，包括糖王郭鹤年及成功集团掌控人陈志远，垄断我国经济，并警告这将造成政治不稳定， 甚至引起社会混乱。


http://malaysiakini.com/news/126391

Mahathir squandered RM100 bil

Mahathir squandered RM100 bil, says new book

From Malaysiakini

Malaysia has squandered an estimated RM100 billion on financial scandals under the 22-year rule of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, according to a new book about the former prime minister.

According to Barry Wain, author of the soon-to-be launched ‘Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times’, direct financial losses amounted to about RM50 billion.

This doubled once the invisible costs, such as unrecorded write-offs, were taken into account. The RM100 billion total loss was equivalent to US$40 billion at then prevailing exchange rates.

Barry, who is a former editor of the Asian Wall Street Journal, says most of the scams, which included a government attempt to manipulate the international tin price and gambling by Bank Negara on global currency markets, occurred in the 1980s.

‘Malaysian Maverick’ is the first independent, full-length study of Mahathir, who retired in 2003 after more than two decades as premier. The book will be published globally next week by Palgrave Macmillan.

Wain writes that the Mahathir administration, which took office in 1981 with the slogan, “clean, efficient, trustworthy”, was almost immediately embroiled in financial scandals that “exploded with startling regularity”.

By the early 1990s, he says, cynics remarked that it had been “a good decade for bad behaviour, or a bad decade for good behaviour”.

Secret military deal with US

The book also reveals that:

• Mahathir, despite his nationalistic rants, signed a secret security agreement with the United States in 1984 that gave the Americans access to a jungle warfare training school in Johor and allowed them to set up a small-ship repair facility at Lumut and a plant in Kuala Lumpur to repair C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.

• Mahathir used a secret fund of his ruling Umno to turn the party into a vast conglomerate with investments that spanned almost the entire economy.

• Mahathir’s Umno financed its new Putra World Trade Centre headquarters in Kuala Lumpur partly with taxpayers money, by forcing state-owned banks to write off at least RM140 million in interest on Umno loans.

Wain, who is now a writer-in-residence at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, however credits Mahathir with engineering the country’s economic transformation, deepening industrialisation and expanding Malaysia’s middle class.

But Mahathir had undermined state institutions, permitted the spread of corruption and failed to provide for Malaysia’s future leadership, he says.

Related Article:

Do you know that:

Last year, Petronas gained a total pre-tax profit of RM86.8 billion and so far, it has earned about RM600 billion. As the surge of international oil prices, it’s profits will as well substantially grow. But the government has reduced fuel subsidies by a wide margin, turning Malaysia into one of the world’s most expensive oil price oil-producing countries. It makes the people wonder where the huge profit of Petronas has gone?

Former Work Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said in the Parliament last year that the government has compensated a total of RM38.5 billion to 20 highway companies. Also, as the government has stopped building the Scenic Bridge in Johor, it has to compensate RM300 million construction cost to the bridge contractor. Isn’t the spending of such huge amount a waste?

Former Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim revealed that the Central Bank has lost RM30 billion in foreign exchange trading in the 1990s. Who was the manipulator behind it? (Second Finance Minister was in charge of Bank Negara’s Forex trading at that time)

Malaysia Airlines was said to have suffered losses every year. But why to spend RM1.55 million to buy three paintings to decorate its chairman’s office? And why to spend RM7,525 per day to recruit a foreign senior general manager?

Proton Holdings bought a 57.75% stake in MV Agusta for €70 million but sold it at €1 (RM4.50) a year later, causing Proton to lose €75.99 million (RM 348 million)?

Other excesses and wastages:

1. The Bank Bumiputra twin scandals in the early 1980s saw US$1 billion (RM3.2 billion in 2008 ringgit)

2. The Maminco attempt to corner the world tin market in the 1980s is believed to have cost some US$500 million. (RM1.6 billion)

3. Betting in foreign exchange futures cost Bank Negara Malaysia RM30 billion in the 1990s.

4. Perwaja Steel resulted in losses of US$800 million (RM2.56 billion). Eric Chia, was charged with corruption for allegedly steering US$20 million (RM64 million) to a Hong Kong-based company

5. Use of RM10 billion public funds in the Valuecap Sdn. Bhd. operation to shore up the stock market

6. Banking scandal of RM700 million losses in Bank Islam

7. The sale of M.V. Agusta by Proton for one Euro making a loss of €75.99 million (RM 348 million)

8. Wang Ehsan from oil royalty on Terengganu RM7.4 billion from 2004 – 2007

9. For the past 10 years since Philharmonic Orchestra was established, this orchestra has swallowed a total of RM500 million

10. In Advisors Fees, Mahathir was paid RM180,000, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (women and social development affairs) RM404,726 and Abdul Hamid Othman (religious) RM549,675 per annum

11. The government has spent a total of RM3.2 billion in teaching Maths and Science in English over the past five years. Out of the amount, the government paid a whopping RM2.21 billion for the purchase of information and computer technology (ICT) equipments which it is unable to give a breakdown.

12. The commission paid for purchase of jets and submarines to two private companies Perimeker Sdn Bhd and IMT Defence Sdn Bhd amounted to RM910 million.

13. RM300 million to compensate Gerbang Perdana for the RM1.1 billion “Crooked Scenic Half-Bridge”

14. RM1.3 billion have been wasted building the white elephant Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facilities on cancellation of the Malaysia-Singapore scenic bridge

15. RM 100 million on renovation of Parliament building and leaks

16. National Astronaut Programme – RM 40 million

17. National Service Training Programme – yearly an estimate of RM 500 million

18. Eye on Malaysia – RM 30 million and another RM5.7 million of free ticket

19. RM 4.63 billion, ’soft-loan’ to PKFZ

20. RM 2.4 million on indelible ink

21. Samy announced in September 2006 that the government paid compensation amounting to RM 38.5 billion to the highway companies. RM 380 million windfalls for 9 toll concessionaires earned solely from the toll hike in 2008 alone.

22. RM32 million timber export kickbacks involving companies connected to Sarawak Chief Minister and his family.

Bailouts -
23. Two bailouts of Malaysia Airline System RM7.9 billion

24. Putra transport system, which cost RM4.486 billion

25. STAR-LRT bailout costing RM3.256 billion

26. National Sewerage System costing RM192.54 million

27. Seremban-Port Dickson Highway costing RM142 million

28. Kuching Prison costing RM135 million

29. Kajian Makanan dan Gunaan Orang Islam costing RM8.3 million.

30. Le Tour de Langkawi costing RM 3.5 Million

31. Wholesale distribution of tens of millions of shares in Bursa Malaysia under guise of NEP to cronies, children and relatives of BN leaders and Ministers worth billions of ringgits.

32. APs scandal had been going on year-after-year going back for more than three decades, involving a total mind-boggling sum of tens of billions of ringgits

33. Alienation of tens of thousands of hectares of commercial lands and forestry concessions to children and relatives of BN leaders and Ministers worth tens of billions of ringgits

34. Travel around Malaysia and see for yourself how many white elephants like majestic arches, roads paved with fanciful bricks, designer lamp posts, clock towers, Municipal Council buildings that looks more like Istanas, extravagant places of worship, refurbishment of residences of VIPs, abandoned or under-utilised government sports complexes and buildings, etc! Combined they could easily amount to the hundreds of billions of ringgits!

35. Wastages and forward trading of Petronas oil in the 1990s based on the low price of oil then. Since the accounts of Petronas are for the eyes of Prime Minister only, we have absolutely no idea of the amount. Whatever amount, you bet it is COLLOSSAL!

In Time Asia magazine issue on March 15 2004, South East Asian economist at Morgan Stanley in Singapore Daniel Lian, figures “that the country may have lost as much as U$$100 billion (RM320 billion) since the early 1980s to corruption.” Mind you, this is only corruption and it does not include wastages!

All the rakyat’s hard earned money down the drain and they have the audacity to raise fuel prices and asking the people to change their lifestyles.

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Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

• Mahathir Book Too Hot for Malaysian Authorities
• Book Review: Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times
• Singular Malaysia is an ongoing project that started in 1957, not this year.
• Mahathir Squandered RM100 Billion During 22 Years, Says New Book!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 9:58 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

1. dreamlady Says:
   November 25, 2009 at 10:54 am | Reply

   I could only sum Mahathir up as the mother of all crooks!!

2. Alan Goh Says:
   November 25, 2009 at 11:01 am | Reply

   Mr.Barry Wain,you failed to mention that in 1988
   Dr.Mahathir screwed up the Judiciary by sacking the
   Lord President,Tun Salleh Abbas.As a result,we have
   this joker lawyer,V.K.Lingam of the now famous quote,
   it looks like me,it sounds like me but not me.And Correct,Correct,Correct over the appointment of
   Lord President post,mind you.

   What about Malaysia educational system,Dr.Mahathir
   did away with English and replaced it with Bahasa
   Malaysia.Only after the end of his 22 yrs tenure as PM did he realised that Malaysia education is a total
   failure and tried replacing English as a compulsory
   subject for maths and science.Mr.Barry Wain,you only
   mentioned the financial loss caused by Dr.Mahathir.What about the judiciary,educational etc.etc.When once Malaysia,a country rich in resources,whose currency was RM0-90cts to Singapore
   $1/-in the sixties, is now the opposite,RM2.45 to S$1-00 all these are the legacies of the great Dr.Mahathir.

http://bangmalaysia.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/mahathir-squandered-rm100-bil-says-new-book/

Mahathir Book Too Hot for Malaysian Authorities

Mahathir Book Too Hot for Malaysian Authorities

Written by John Berthelsen

Thursday, 17 December 2009

Customs sits on a controversial new biography of the former prime minister Malaysian customs authorities have been holding up delivery of 800 copies of an authoritative new biography of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad for the past three weeks at the Port Klang customs office. The book, “Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times,” written by former Asian Wall Street Journal Managing Editor Barry Wain, is a warts-and-all, critical but fair account of Mahathir’s 22 years in power. It is certain to become an essential study for scholars seeking to understand the onetime premier’s reign and its consequences. But maybe not in Malaysia itself unless the locals buy through Barns & Noble (available Jan. 10) or Amazon (Jan. 5) for US$60.75. Reports of the book have created considerable stir in Malaysia after the popular Malaysiakini news website ran reports of it along with a review first published in Asia Sentinel. The book will probably turn up on bookshelves eventually, said one Malaysian source. “There are lots of books on the shelves that are critical of Dr Mahathir. It might be some of his allies that stopped it. But everybody knows about it, it’s just they’re waiting for a hard copy.” Foreign published books air-freighted into Malaysia often go through customs without being checked, or with only a cursory check at the airport. Books sent by ship or by land from Singapore are often stopped for inspection, however, which can mean customs officers spending weeks reading the material. Sometimes they just sit on the book, leaving the publisher with little option but to withdraw it or be faced with being hit with storage charges, leaving the book effectively banned without the government having to face criticism for formally banning it. The reform organization Aliran said the holdup of the books ” is nothing short of crude and reckless censorship, although indirect, the effect is the same. It very undemocratically denies Malaysians reading material that should be made freely available to all and sundry. This book is of particular interest to citizens who are appalled by the disclosure that under Mahathir RM100 billion could have been squandered. They have been waiting anxiously to find out how this atrocity involving a mammoth, mind-boggling amount could have happened without anybody commenting on this extravagance.” The book tells the story of an essentially pragmatic man who managed the always-fraught balance between the country’s races, particularly the Malays and Chinese, relatively well although the New Economic Policy which he inherited from his predecessor, an affirmative action program for the majority race was deeply flawed, creating an entitlement mentality among Malays that largely failed to uplift them economically despite all efforts. Nonetheless, Mahathir, Wain wrote, “wasted no time in transforming Malaysia in line with his vision of a modern, industrialized nation, setting the goal of becoming fully developed by 2020.” Rubber, palm oil and tin, the mainstays of the economy, Wain wrote, gave way to the production of manufactured goods and embraced a high-tech future, making Malaysia one of the developing world’s most successful countries. Mahathir, he said, “relentlessly badgered, berated and browbeat Malaysians, especially Malays, to shape up and convert his dreams into reality. If necessary, he would crucify opponents, sacrifice allies and tolerate monumental institutional and social abuses to advance his project.” Unfortunately that also produced some excesses that the country could take decades to correct. By Wain’s reckoning, the country wasted as much as RM100 billion (US$40 billion at exchange rates at the time) on grandiose projects such as the Perwaja steel plant, which lost an estimated US$800 million and whose executive director, Eric Chia, was charged with embezzling large amounts of money. Chia, however, was freed by a Malaysian judiciary system that Mahathir had basically gutted and rebuilt to serve the interests of the state. Wain writes about Mahathir’s relationship with Daim Zainuddin, the onetime finance minister who dismissed concerns about the commingling of his public and private interests, among a wide range of cronies who ultimately became a rentier class that did huge damage to the country’s coffers. He could be stridently anti-western, breaking with the UK dramatically by establishing a “Buy British Last” program that only ended when Margaret Thatcher, then the iron prime minister of Britain, made a trip to meet with Mahathir himself. Nonetheless, Wain writes, Mahathir’s anti-west rhetoric of the 1980s and 1990s, though reminiscent of the first generation of developing world leaders feeling their way out from under the yoke of colonialism, “was accompanied by a diametrically opposite view of economics. Although a strident nationalist, he was pragmatic and favored the market system that brought prosperity to the industrialized nations.” Like Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore and Indonesia’s Suharto, “Dr Mahathir integrated his country deeply with the Western economies and achieved an enviable development record.” Wain wrote that during a visit to Washington DC in which Mahathir met President Ronald Reagan, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and others, he secretly launched an innocuous sounding Bilateral Training and Consultation Treaty, which Wain described as a series of working groups for exercises, intelligence sharing, logistical support and general security issues. In the meantime, Mahathir continued display a public antipathy on general principles at the Americans while his jungle was crawling with US troops quietly training for jungle warfare. (On Dec. 16, Mahathir slammed what he described as Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s change in Malaysia’s foreign policy to back the United States in a recent flap over an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution criticising Iran for its nuclear program.) That’s all good. But Wain’s exhaustive reprise of the Bumiputra Malaysia Finance scandal of the early 1980s, for instance, in which as much as US$1 billion disappeared from the Hong Kong arm of the government-owned Bank Bumiputra Malaysia, ill-starred forays into currency manipulation by Bank Negara, the country’s central bank, which cost billions, the attempt directed by Mahathir to attempt to corner the tin market in the early 1980s, and other huge missteps apparently didn’t set will with the government’s current leaders. Wain’s book remains on the loading docks, awaiting a decision to deliver it. But for readers who buy Kindle or another electronic reader, it’s easy to get.

http://bangmalaysia.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/mahathir-book-too-hot-for-malaysian-authorities/

Book Review: Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times

Book Review: Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times

Written by John Berthelsen

Friday, 04 December 2009

by Barry Wain. Palgrave Macmillan, 363pp. Available through Amazon, US$60.75. Available for Pre-order, to be released Jan 5. In 1984 or 1985, when I was an Asian Wall Street Journal correspondent in Malaysia, an acquaintance called me and said he had seen a US Army 2-1/2 ton truck, known as a “deuce-and-a-half,” filled with US military personnel in jungle gear on a back road outside of Kuala Lumpur. Since Malaysia and the United States were hardly close friends at that point, I immediately went to the US Embassy in KL and asked what the US soldiers were doing there. I received blank stares. Similar requests to the Malaysian Ministry of Defense brought the same response. After a few days of chasing the story, I concluded that my acquaintance must have been seeing things and dropped it. It turns out he wasn’t seeing things after all. In a new book, “Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times,” launched Dec. 4 in Asia, former Asian Wall Street Journal editor Barry Wain solved the mystery. In 1984, during a visit to Washington DC in which Mahathir met President Ronald Reagan, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and others, he secretly launched an innocuous sounding Bilateral Training and Consultation Treaty, which Wain described as a series of working groups for exercises, intelligence sharing, logistical support and general security issues. In the meantime, Mahathir continued display a public antipathy on general principles at the Americans while his jungle was crawling with US troops quietly training for jungle warfare. That ability to work both sides of the street was a Mahathir characteristic. In his foreword, Wain, in what is hoped to be a definitive history of the former prime minister’s life and career, writes that “while [Mahathir] has been a public figure in Malaysia for half a century and well known abroad for almost as long, he has presented himself as a bundle of contradictions: a Malay champion who was the Malays’ fiercest critic and an ally of Chinese-Malaysian businessmen; a tireless campaigner against Western economic domination who assiduously courted American and European capitalists; a blunt, combative individual who extolled the virtues of consensual Asian values.” Wain was granted access to the former premier for a series of exhaustive interviews. It may well be the most definitive picture painted of Mahathir to date, and certainly is even-handed. Wain, now a writer in residence at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, is by no means a Mahathir sycophant. Advance publicity for the book has dwelt on an assertion by Wain that Mahathir may well have wasted or burned up as much as RM100 billion (US$29.6 billion) on grandiose projects and the corruption that that the projects engendered as he sought to turn Malaysia into an industrialized state. Although some in Malaysia have said the figure is too high, it seems about accurate, considering such ill-advised projects as a national car, the Proton, which still continues to bleed money and cost vastly more in opportunity costs for Malaysian citizens forced to buy any other make at huge markups behind tariff walls. In addition, while Thailand in particular became a regional center for car manufacture and for spares, Malaysia, handicapped by its national car policy, was left out. Almost at the start of the book, Wain encapsulates the former premier so well that it bears repeating here: Mahathir, he writes, “had an all-consuming desire to turn Malaysia into a modern, industrialized nation commanding worldwide respect. Dr Mahathir’s decision to direct the ruling party into business in a major way while the government practiced affirmative action, changed the nature of the party and accelerated the spread of corruption. One manifestation was the eruption of successive financial scandals, massive by any standards, which nevertheless left Dr Mahathir unfazed and unapologetic.” That pretty much was the story of Malaysia for the 22 years that Mahathir was in charge. There is no evidence that Mahathir himself was ever involved in corruption. Once, as Ferdinand Marcos was losing his grip on the Philippines, Mahathir pointed out to a group of reporters that he was conveyed around in a long black Daimler – the same model as the British ambassador used – that the Istana where he lived was a huge mansion, that he had everything he needed. Why, he asked, was there any need to take money from corruption? Nonetheless, in his drive to foster a Malay entrepreneurial class, he allowed those around him to pillage the national treasury almost at will, which carried over into Umno after he had left office and which blights the country to this day. Wain follows intricate trails through much of this, ranging from the attempt, okayed by Mahathir, to attempt to rescue Bumiputra Malaysia Finance in the early 1980s which turned into what at the time was the world’s biggest banking scandal. In the final analysis, much as Lee Kuan Yew down the road in Singapore strove to create a nation in his own image and largely succeeded, so did Mahathir. Both nations are flawed – Singapore in its mixture of technological and social prowess and draconian ruthlessness against an independent press or opposition, Malaysia with its iconic twin towers and its other attributes colored by a deepening culture of corruption that has continued well beyond his reign, which ended in 2002. Mahathir must bear the blame for much of this, in particular his destruction of an independent judiciary, as Wain writes, to further his aims. Mahathir, as the former premier said in the conversation over his mansion and his car, had everything including, one suspects, a fully-developed sense of injustice. He appears to this day to continue to resent much of the west, particularly the British. Wain writes exhaustively of Mahathir’s deep antagonism over both British elitism during the colonial days and the disdain of his fellow Malays (Mahathir’s parentage is partly Indian Muslim on his father’s side), especially the Malay royalty. That antagonism against the British has been a hallmark of his career – from the time he instituted the “Buy British Last” policy for the Malaysian government as prime minister to the present day. Robert Mugabe, in disgrace across much of the world for the way his policies have destroyed what was one of the richest countries in Africa, remains in Mahathir’s good graces. Asked recently why that was, an aide told me Mugabe had driven the British out of Zimbabwe and was continuing to drive out white farmers to this day, although he was replacing them with people who knew nothing of farming. That expropriation of vast tracts of white-owned land might have destroyed Zimbabwe’s agricultural production. But, the aide said, “He got the Brits out.” For anybody wishing to understand Mahathir and the nation he transformed, Wain’s book is going to be a must – but bring spectacles. The tiny type and gray typeface make it a difficult read. And a disclaimer: Wain was once my boss.

http://bangmalaysia.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/book-review-malaysian-maverick-mahathir-mohamad-in-turbulent-times/

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Mahathir Squandered RM100 Billion During 22 Years, Says New Book!

Malaysia has squandered an estimated RM100 billion on financial scandals under the 22-year rule of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, according to a new book about the former prime minister.

According to Barry Wain, author of the soon-to-be launched ‘Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times’, direct financial losses amounted to about RM50 billion.

This doubled once the invisible costs, such as unrecorded write-offs, were taken into account. The RM100 billion total loss was equivalent to US$40 billion at then prevailing exchange rates.

Barry, who is a former editor of the Asian Wall Street Journal, says most of the scams, which included a government attempt to manipulate the international tin price and gambling by Bank Negara on global currency markets, occurred in the 1980s.

‘Malaysian Maverick’ is the first independent, full-length study of Mahathir, who retired in 2003 after more than two decades as premier. The book will be published globally next week by Palgrave Macmillan.

Wain writes that the Mahathir administration, which took office in 1981 with the slogan, “clean, efficient, trustworthy”, was almost immediately embroiled in financial scandals that “exploded with startling regularity”.

By the early 1990s, he says, cynics remarked that it had been “a good decade for bad behaviour, or a bad decade for good behaviour”.

http://maidoali.wordpress.com/2009/11/25/mahathir-squandered-rm100-billion-during-22-years-says-new-book/

Press self-censorship in Malaysia: a case study

Press self-censorship in Malaysia: a case study

NO HOLDS BARRED

Wednesday, 24 February 2010 Super Admin

Aiyoh! Do all Chinese prostitute themselves like this? I hope not or else this country is doomed. Hmm…what did that special officer to Prime Minister Najib say in the 1Malaysia seminar in Melaka: all Chinese came to this country as prostitutes? Well, at least The Star and its owners, MCA, did. And they are still prostituting themselves.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

No offence meant

It has been brought to our attention that a commentary piece in The Star headlined “Persuasion, not compulsion” on the recent caning of three women for syariah offences has offended certain quarters.

We would like to categorically state that there was no intention to insult or offend Muslims with the article by managing editor P. Gunasegaram that was published last Friday.

The Star sincerely apologises to those who were offended by the content of the article.

As a newspaper that bills itself as The People’s Paper, we strive to serve all our readers’ interests and are mindful of the need to be sensitive to their beliefs.

The Star, 24 February 2010

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Muslims instruct goodness and rule out evil as to Allah's command to "command what is right and forbid what is wrong" (Surah Luqman, verse 17)

There is no compulsion where deen is concerned. Right guidance has become clearly distinct from error. Anyone who rejects false deities and believes in Allah has grasped the Firmest Handhold, which will never give way. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing. (Surah al-Baqara, verse 256)

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Based on the Deen-i Islam, the very first requirement from humans is their sincerity, their ikhlas, their inner honesty, cordiality, so that whatever they perform should be as they wished from inside; and that they must never act for show-off and hypocrisy. The very first thing that Islam disapproves is hypocrisy (the state of a munafiq), that is, acting outward in dishonesty for a purpose, while the inner beliefs contradict with outward actions. For example, performing Salaat or fasting or wearing head-cover because of being forced to, without an inner warm reception, never make someone a believer. On the contrary, it turns a person into a munafiq, i.e., hypocrite.

If someone had at least some faith (iman) in spite of not being able to fulfil some practices, he is at least not an unbeliever. But if we force someone to take some unwilled actions, and if he performs those actions under our pressuring, then we will be pushing that person into hypocrisy and have undergone the responsibility of his misbehaviour.

UP TO DATE UNDERSTANDING OF ISLAM by Ahmed Hulus

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Actually, after writing about issues involving Islam the last two days I thought I would give this subject a rest. But when I saw what The Star published today I just can’t help myself but, yet again, flog this dead horse, so to speak.

The Star did not mention the real reason why they published that apology above but it does not take a genius to figure out why they did so -- because, as usual, they received a phone call from the ministry that decides at the end of the year whether their newspaper licence should be renewed or not.

That’s right. Your newspaper permit is renewable annually and there has been many an occasion when the ministry holds back the renewal if they consider that newspaper too much of a problem.

Furthermore, the newspaper owners or editors would constantly be summoned to the ministry to be given a piece of the government’s mind. Some newspapers have to make almost weekly visits to the ministry to get a scolding.

This is how censorship is imposed in Malaysia. No doubt the government will claim that Malaysian newspapers, in their wisdom, practice self-censorship. But when they chop your cock off how else to lead your life other than by being a celibate? (Celibacy means to abstain from sex in case some of you do not know that).

The Star was propagating persuasion as opposed to compulsion. I have always said you can’t legislate conduct. You need to educate people. So what The Star said was basically the same thing. Teach them. Don’t force them. And if after teaching them they still don’t follow then there must be something wrong with the education system.

Islam says that you must propagate amar maaruf, nahi munkar. See Surah Luqman, verse 17 above. The Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, has used this phrase before -- amar maaruf, nahi munkar -- and the Umno boys got very upset. They feel it is wrong for Guan Eng to use Arabic words and quotes from the Quran.

That is stupid. The Quran was revealed to all mankind as a message to all mankind, not just to Muslims. So how can it be wrong for Guan Eng to quote from the Quran in Arabic? This is how narrow-minded Umno people are. They should be proud that Guan Eng saw fit to quote the Quran. I am delighted that there are at least some things in the Quran a non-Muslim like Guan Eng finds worthy to quote from.

And see what Surah al-Baqara, verse 256 says -- there is no compulsion in Islam. Is this not what The Star said? And is this not what the Quan also says? So why was The Star made to apologise for saying this? Is not what The Star said a quote right out from the Quran?

Aiyah! Sometimes I feel so disgusted I just don’t see any point in talking about it.

And why should there be no compulsion? Why should we educate and not legislate? Why should we not force people? Well, Ahmed Hulus explained this in his opinion above. If you force people then they do it because they are being forced to do so and not because they believe that this is the right thing to do. In other words, they are not sincere in doing it and this would make them a hypocrite. So compulsion breeds hypocrisy.

If you force someone to go to the mosque to pray and if he would be sent to jail if he does not, then certainly he would go to the mosque to pray. But he is doing it only to avoid jail and not because he believes that going to the mosque to pray is the right thing to do. He in fact does not even believe in your God. But he goes to the mosque anyway while his heart is not in the ritual he has to perform in the mosque.

I suppose this will be just like how a prostitute earns her living. She opens her legs for you because she needs the money. It is not about love. She does not enjoy the sex with you. She is hoping you will get it over and done with quickly so that she can get out of there.

And would not those who are forced to perform certain things for profit, or abstain from certain things because they are afraid of the punishment, be no better than prostitutes -- religious prostitutes? It is something they do because they have no other choice. It is not something they do because they believe in it.

This is the height of hypocrisy.

And this makes The Star a prostitute as well. They do things according to what they are paid to do and not because they believe it is the right thing to do. They do what is necessary to be able to stay in business and make money and not because they want to fulfil a community service. Profit above the nation, that is The Star’s motto, not The People’s Paper, as they claim.

Aiyoh! Do all Chinese prostitute themselves like this? I hope not or else this country is doomed. Hmm…what did that special officer to Prime Minister Najib say in the 1Malaysia seminar in Melaka: all Chinese came to this country as prostitutes? Well, at least The Star and its owners, MCA, did. And they are still prostituting themselves.

The Star was right the first time around -- persuasion, not compulsion. And by apologising for saying the right thing because they want to please the government in the interest of profit makes The Star a prostitute.

Self-censorship my foot.

http://www.malaysia-today.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30340:press-self-censorship-in-malaysia-a-case-study&catid=20:no-holds-barred&Itemid=100087

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毫不留情：大马的自我审查制度（个案研究）

哎哟！华人都是这样把自己当成娼妓的吗？我希望不是，要不然这个国家就完蛋了。嗯……首相纳吉的特别事务官在马六甲的『一个大马』讲座会中说了些什麽呢：所有来到这个国家的华人都是妓女？这样噢，至少《星报》和它的持有人马华就是如此，到了现在他们还自甘当婊子。

没有冒犯的用意

在《星报》评论中一篇名为【信念，不是义务】（Persuasion, not compulsion）的文章中引起了我们的注意，这篇文章提到，最近使用回教法对妇女进行鞭刑冒犯了部分人士。

我们明确的注明我们没有企图让上周五，由主编P.古纳社加兰（P. Gunasegaram）撰写的这篇文章冒犯穆斯林。

《星报》对此文造成那些被冒犯的人表示真诚的歉意。

作为一家标榜为『人民的报章』的报纸，我们努力服务我们所有的读者的利益，同时会留意所需的，对他人信仰的敏感度。

《星报》2010年2月24日

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我的孩子啊！你应当谨守拜功，应当劝善戒恶，应当忍受患难，这确是应该决心做的事情。（三十一章【鲁格曼】第十七条）

对於宗教，绝无强迫，因为正邪确已分明了，谁不信恶魔而信真主，谁确已把握住。坚实的，绝不断折的把柄，真主是全聪的，是全知的。（第二章【黄牛】第二五六条）

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根 据伊斯兰的『教门』（Deen-i 或称 Deen），人类最首要的是他们的真诚心，他们的真心（ikhlas），他们内在的诚意、真挚，居于此点，无论他们所做的事，应该出自于内在的希望；而他 们永远都不该有炫耀和虚伪的举止。伊斯兰教所反对的首件事即是『穆纳菲格』（伪信者，munafiq），即是，因为某个目的而做出放荡的外表，而内在的信 仰与外在的行为起着冲突。比方说，因为被强迫下进行『萨拉』（Salaat，狭义上指祈祷）或禁食，或穿戴头巾，而没有内在的热情的认知，这将永远也不会 使一个人成为信徒。反而，它把一个人变成了『穆纳菲格』，也即是伪信者。

如果一个人至少有少许的信仰（伊曼，iman），尽管无法符合部分宗教上的落实，他至少不是个『不信教者』。因为如果我们强迫某个人做出一些他不愿意的行为，而如果他在我们的压力下进行这些行为，那我们将把这个人推向虚伪，并承担了他做坏事的责任。

阿末胡鲁斯（Ahmed Hulus）作品《对伊斯兰教的最新认识》（UP TO DATE UNDERSTANDING OF ISLAM）

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其实，在两天前我写了有关回教的课题后，我以为可以暂时搁下，可是当我看到《星报》今天发表的启示后，我欲罢不能，只好老调重题，再来谈一谈。

《星报》没有说明他们发表上述这篇道歉启示的真正原因，可是也无需天才才能理解为何他们要这样做——因为，照惯例，他们收到了一通来自那个决定他们的报章出版准证到了年尾会不会被更新的部门的电话。

这就对了！你的报章出版准证需要每年更新，有好多情况下，部门会吊销准证的更新，如果他们觉得这家报章有太多问题。

在加上，报章持有人或主编会不断的被传召去部门问话，以让政府安心。一些报章几乎需要每周向部门报到，还被臭骂一顿。

这就是大马施加的审查机制。怪不得政府的脑袋中会声称，大马报章实行自我审查（self-censorship）。然而，当他们断了你的根后，除了去当日月神教的教主，你还能干嘛？

《星 报》宣扬的是『信念』（persuasion），反对『义务』（compulsion）。我说了好多次，你不能立法钳制言行，你必须教育人民。因此，《星 报》所说的基本上就是同样的道理。教导他们，不是强迫他们。而教导他们后，他们还是不能跟随，那这个教育系统就真的出了问题了。

伊斯兰教 说，你必须宣扬『amar maaruf, nahi munkar』（捍卫真理，对抗邪恶，或称『止恶扬善』），请参看上述《可兰经》三十一章【鲁格曼】第十七条。槟城首席部长林冠英曾经引用过这句话 『amar maaruf, nahi munkar』，巫统那帮小子非常生气，他们觉得林冠英引用来自《可兰经》的阿拉伯语是错的。

这真是愚蠢，《可兰经》向世人揭示的讯息是给全人类的，而不止是穆斯林。那林冠英引用《可兰经》中的阿拉伯语有何错咎？这就是巫统人狭隘的思想，他们应该对林冠英引用《可兰经》而感到骄傲才对，对于非穆斯林身份的林冠英觉得《可兰经》有些东西可以引用，我感到非常欣喜。

请参看《可兰经》第二章【黄牛】第二五六条——在伊斯兰教中并没有所谓的义务。《星报》难道有说错吗？难道这不就是《可兰经》所说的吗？那为何《星报》要为此道歉？《星报》所引用了，直接来自于《可兰经》，不是吗？

哎呀！有时我感到很厌恶，我觉得没有必要再谈论这件事。

为 何不该有义务呢？为何我们应该教育，而不是立法限制呢？为何我们不该强迫人民呢？阿末胡鲁斯已经在上述他的见解中解释了。如果你强迫人民，那他们会照做是 因为他们是被逼的，而不是因为他们相信这是件正确的事。另个说法，他们不是真诚的在做，而这让他们成为伪信者。因此，义务助长伪信。

如果你强迫某人到回教堂祈祷，而如果他入狱，可是他不从，那很肯定的他将会去回教堂祈祷。可是，他这样做是因为为了避免入狱，因为他相信到回教堂祈祷是正确的。实际上他甚至不信你的神，可是他无论如何都会到回教堂，而在回教堂祈祷时，他心不在焉。

我认为这就像是妓女的生活，她张开双腿因为她需要钱，而不是因为爱。她不是在与你享受性爱，她只希望你尽快完事，好让她能够离开。

那些因为利益而被迫进行某些事情的人，或是为了避免某些事物因为他们害怕惩罚的人，不是和妓女——宗教界的妓女没两样吗？这就是他们的所作所为，因为他们别无他法，这不是他们可以做到的，因为他们不信神。

这就是伪信的最高点。

而这也让《星报》成为一名娼妓。他们那人钱财，替人消灾，而不是因为他们相信这是个正确的事。他们想尽办法来维持他们的生意和赚钱，而不是因为他们想要满足社群的服务。利润摆第一，人民靠边站，这就是《星报》的座右铭，而不是他们声称的『人民的报章』。

哎哟！华人都是这样把自己当成娼妓的吗？我希望不是，要不然这个国家就完蛋了。嗯……首相纳吉的特别事务官在马六甲的『一个大马』讲座会中说了些什麽呢：所有来到这个国家的华人都是妓女？这样噢，至少《星报》和它的持有人马华就是如此，到了现在他们还自甘当婊子。

《星报》是对的，这是头一遭——『信念，而不是义务』，可是，却为正确的事而做出道歉，因为他们想要取悦政府，换取盈利的利益，这使得《星报》成了婊子。

『自我审查』？去死吧！

出处∶Malaysia Today
原题∶No Holds Barred∶Press self-censorship in Malaysia: a case study
作者　　∶拉惹柏特拉
发表日期∶24-02-10
翻译　　∶西西留

国阵体系改革的旧酒新瓶

国阵体系改革的旧酒新瓶

有道是历史是人类的借镜，从历史可以吸取教训，令我们本身更强大。可惜的是这个金科玉律并没有被政治人物彻底的了解和掌握。

国阵这次由巫统副主席希山慕丁统领的修改章程小组已经放话出来，会简化程序，让倾向国阵的个人、政党和非政府组织更容易纳入国阵的体系当中。当然这一切的改变，都是因为308和选票。这种变相的扩张，和513过后联盟过渡为国阵的模式几乎一模一样。只不过老子未竟之工，由儿子来完成。

这一次扩张的目标，主要是架空成员党原本就所剩不多的影响力，把它转移到巫统，并通过新吸纳的尾巴组织来争取308时所失去的选票。目标应该是土著权威组织（PERKASA），人民力量党，甚至之前纳吉大力拉拢的华总、商联会等华团组织。这是一石二鸟之计。通过拉拢这些非政府组织，可以避免他们在外和国阵抬杠，也可以争取更多的选票（实质效果有待观察）。诸如PERKASA这种激进的组织，既可以在国阵框架内控制他们的意识形态，在必要时，更可以让他们打前锋，在各种议题上让他们做第一线打手。

至于华团等，这也是一种消音策略，更是高明的分拆手段。想一想如果几个主要华团成为亲国阵的臂膀，或者被国阵委任出任主要官职（如；内阁部长），那么这肯定是华裔非政府组织严重分裂的开始。原本就关系和作风都不太相符的董教总、商联会、华总等以后更加不可能合作。想当年80年代华小高职事件时华团都同仇敌忾的精诚合作将绝种了。

所谓的非政府组织，成为国阵的臂膀后，就变成党不党，团不团，简直里外不是人，并且将丧失社会公信力，党团组织加入国阵之前，真的要三思啊。

一 个以联盟为名，但是行集权政党之实的执政联盟，在加入更多的政党和非政府组织，或者是直接招收党员过后，依然没有改变巫统一党独大，增进民主的现象。其因 在于这个“政党”并没有举行选举，也没有任何管道让党员（盟党的党员，或者是直属党员）来决定他们的领导人。有的只是肯定由巫统担任主席、署理主席、总秘 书和总财政的架构，和美其名协商的最高理事会会议，以及行分而治之的国阵精神 。

在这里，有必要解释一下何谓国阵精神 ， 那就是各成员党（或者相关组织）依然只能协调（负责也说不上，因为没有实权）相关族群的事务，并由巫统拍板，做最后的决定！在扩大并招收新成员后，现有的 成员党的力量会被更严重的分薄。无论是一党（组织）一票投票决定，或者在会议上讨论，都显得人丁单薄，形势的天枰不免更严重的倾斜。

如果我们说中国共产党在各个大学、公会、团体、军队等都设有党委组织以便可以置控制权于党委书记之下，那国阵在纳入非政府组织等过后，肯定比共产党更胜一筹。中共还说每十年会彻底更换中国权力核心领导人 – 中共政治局常委，国阵的领导人一不好就是终身制的。由此可见，国阵比共产党更伟大，更独裁！

国阵成员党没有在历史中吸取教训，那就是咎由自取，没得怨天，不能赖人。前路如何，就留四个字 – 好自为之!

http://www.malaysianmirror.com/cn/homedetail/45-2009-08-03-04-46-20/6191-2010-02-25-06-08-58

Monday, February 22, 2010

国阵成员党的紧箍咒

二零一零年二月二十四日 下午二时五十五分

文：黄子豪

国阵近来已经把修改章程事项提上日程。这一次修改章程暂时还看不到其中心概念，但令人感到纳闷的是，国阵成员党几乎对修改章程的事项都不太知晓。在媒体上各成员党领导人依然保持缄默，一副事不关己，己不劳心的模样。

这 其实并不让人感到意外。在国阵的制度里，成员党先天性已经注定成为附庸或更贴切的形容 – 尾巴党，只能摇尾乞怜。这是人为的问题，也是制度的弊病。一般上联盟组成的政府，称之为联合政府（coalition government）。联合政府的出现通常是因为单一政党无法取得过半议席，而必须和其他政党结盟组阁。这种情形之下，联合内阁代表的是各方（或者各族 群、各阶层）的利益。所推行的政策必须符合大多数人的利益。各盟党扮演的角色和贡献的议席显得举足轻重，而拥有充足的谈判筹码。

国 阵组成的多党政府则和联合政府概念完全相反。经过了五十年的演变，国阵已经由巫统彻底的主导。可笑的是，这并不是巫统的政治人物有过人的政治手腕，而是成 员党本身的问题。成员党中的马华是一个不能在华裔居多的选区胜选的华基政党，国大党标榜着维护印度人的利益，但是现实生活中这些印裔领袖任由印度人自生自 灭，自己过着骄奢淫逸的生活。种族政党本身不能赢得本身族群的选票，这绝对是致命伤。所以巫统让给他们、马来人居多的混合选区就变成了救命的稻草。可以想 象这些丧失了本身核心价值的政党一旦离开巫统，就会面临灭顶之灾。

小 党在联合政府最有力的武器，本来就是在政策不符合本身所代表的利益时进行倒阁或退出联合政府，这样就必须重选。最近，荷兰的联合政府，就因为由于未能就是 否延长荷兰军队驻阿富汗期限达成一致，工党因此退出联合政府，造成联合政府垮台。但国阵的小党连议席都必须等待人家施舍时，政党本身还有多大的能力来议政 呢？更遑论退出联盟。联合政府的本质也就丧失了。

到最后巫统一党独大，独自垄断政经大权。至于是巫统的霸权造成成员党的疲弱还是倒反呢？反正不太重要，这已经是先有鸡还是鸡蛋的问题，

从 体制的角度来探讨，国阵是一个拥有超过十个政党的联盟，但是操作方式和一个政党没有分别。原因就是国阵以联盟之名，行集权政党之实。国阵拥有本身的最高理 事会作为最高机制处理联盟事务。但是这个最高理事会的主席、署理主席、总秘书和总财政都由巫统垄断。各党之间并不是平起平坐的。这和一般上联盟的最高理事 会高职或秘书处是轮任或推选出来有很大的分别。这是国阵成员党的紧箍咒 – 既不能离开联盟，也没有门路爬到国阵内的高职，变成有义务，没权利，变相的附庸。

如果未来国阵成员党依然想要立足，就必须趁这个机会，争取回本身所应该扮演的角色，改变现有的困境。时间并不会等待迟钝的从政者。改变与否，就争这次了。

http://www.kwongwah.com.my/news/2010/02/24/28.html

Posted by Tze Howe, 9W2THO at 10:09 PM 0 comments

http://thooi.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post_24.html