PKFZ scandal far from over: Ong

By Malaysiakini

Ong Tee Keat, the man who exposed the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal, believes the case is far from over.

Despite the arrest and impending trial of former Port Klang Authority (PKA) general manager OC Phang and three others in relation to the scandal, the former transport minister remains convinced there is more left to be uncovered.

Ong (right), who was dropped from Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s cabinet in a recent reshuffle, stressed that he has first hand information on those implicated in the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) audit report on the scandal, but declined to go into detail.

Take a hike, PKR

By Malaysian Mirror

ONCE again we hear of trouble, turbulence and turmoil in a political party that talks every other day about taking over the government in the next general elections. We will tolerate their nonsense no more. Yes, even if it means throwing out the baby with the bath water!

Please, please PKR stop pushing your fanciful dreams about occupying Putrajaya when you are in such a pathetic and pitiful state with your prima donna politicians parading their shameless petty and puerile politics in public.

As a party you have become laughable, and as RPK predicts you could be facing your last days! Your political representatives are resting on their laurels and the increasing number of loudmouths and loose cannons are just longing to blast the party into oblivion!

Living in fear of rape and destruction

By Sarawak Report

Like all Sarawak’s indigenous people, the Penan are faithful practicing Christians who  treat their women with respect and do not take more than one spouse.

Despite the temptations of the modern world they live a simplistic god-fearing life eating mainly from the forest.

Last Sunday, several gun-waving policemen threatened the Penan community in Long Sebayang, who had erected a blockade in protest against the savage destruction of their hereditary lands by Lee Ling Timber Company, which incidentally is linked to Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s sister Raziah Mahmud.

The incident is not new.

The Launch of Friends of Pakatan Rakyat – ONLINE REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

Friends of Pakatan Rakyat (FPR) is being officially launched as an organisation to rally the support of Malaysians who share the vision of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition for a better Malaysia. The launch will be held on the Sunday 4th of July 2010 in London and officiated by Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, the Pakatan Rakyat Secretariat Coordinator.

10MP: Cronies First, Corruption Now

By Pak Bui

The 10^th Malaysian Plan (10MP) is a misnomer. It does not serve Malaysian interests, and there is no viable planning on display.

The 10MP was “unveiled” with typical fanfare in Parliament like some work of art. The document was bound in a gaudy colourful cover, designed to distract from its lack of content and economic innovation. The 10MP is another prime example of outward appearance trumping substance in Malaysian politics.

Its true slogan should have been splashed across the cover: “Cronies First, Profits Now” (to paraphrase Apco and 1Israel).

A KEY QUESTION FOR TAIB

Who is the owner of the Taib family’s real estate fortune?

By Sarawak report

Sarawakians are entitled to a clear answer, backed by documentary evidence, as to who actually owns the Taib family’s massive property portfolio.  A politician such as Abdul Taib Mahmud ought under law to be required to declare all his assets, so that he can be held accountable.  However, he does not.

The Chief Minister earns just 20,000 Malaysian Ringgit a month, yet his family owns a property empire worth hundreds of millions US dollars in countries across the world.  So far, the story that the Chief Minister has sought to maintain is that his entire family (male and female, young and old), are excellent business people, who suddenly and simultaneously discovered their talents in the early 1980s, right after he took power, and built their fotune through legitimate means or grand marriages to wealthy foreigners.

Only Connect . . .

By Bunga Pakma

Merciless Necessity drove me away from HU these past two weeks.  Shortly after arriving back in Sarawak for a well-deserved rest, my laptop began behaving capriciously. First it would accept only certain letters I typed, and then the keyboard and trackpad ceased to respond at all.

Are any of you out there old enough to remember the pocket transistor radio? These suddenly became a very popular toy in the early 60s, the perfect thing to listen to Elvis and the Beatles on. Alas, these little radios were doomed to short lives.  First the telescoping antenna got bent, and lost its top sections, then the volume dial developed “dead” spots here and “staticky” spots there, and finally the thing stopped working altogether. You threw it away and (maybe) bought another one.

Computers are the transistor radios of the 21^st century.

Needed – clear master plan for PKR Selangor

By FMT

A second PKR MP has stepped forward to voice her stand on the alleged uprising against Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim.

Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar acknowledged that while Khalid’s personal plans may be well-intentioned, they are unfortunately not always in tandem with the thoughts of other party leaders.

“This is why he is perceived to be arrogant,” she said. “On the other hand, we have parliamentary and party leaders with very good ideas but which are not harnessed in a cohesive form. This is where the gap exists.”

Nurul’s statement followed reports that a group of MPs are allegedly hatching a plot to oust Khalid. The group is said to be linked to PKR vice-president Azmin Ali, who has since denied any knowledge or involvement in the plot.

Ku Li on corruption and Exocet missiles

By Razaleigh Hamzah @ Makaysiakini

The word ” comes from a Latin word meaning ‘to break’ or ‘to destroy’. Corruption is a cancer that steals from the poor, eats away at governance and moral fibre, and destroys trust.

Although corruption exists in both the private and public sector, the corruption of the public sector is a more fundamental evil. This is because the public sector is the enforcer and arbiter of the rules that hold us together, the custodians of our common resources.

It is time we recognise corruption as the single biggest threat to our nation. In our economy, corruption is the root of our inability to make the economic leap that we know we are capable of. There is no other reason why a country so blessed with natural resources, a favourable climate and such immense talent should not have done a lot better than we have.

POLICE GANGSTERS

By Sarawak Report

The once proud, well-trained Sarawak police force are now mere lackeys of the timber companies, as events yesterday make only too obvious.

The Penan, who have been erecting peaceful jungle blockades in protest at the savage destruction of their hereditory lands,  were yesterday confronted in Long Sebayang,  Limbang by gun-waving policemen.  They were acting on behalf of Lee Ling Timber, the other party to the dispute.

According to the respected Swiss Charity the Bruno Manser Foundation, the unprofessional, threatening and downright illegal episode came in the wake of an attack the previous day by a logging company employee on one of the Penan.  The tribesman (and rightful owner of the land, according to Native Customary Rights recently upheld in the Federal Malay Court) had been viciously hit in the face.

Can Khalid appease growing detractors?

By Aidila Razak @ Malaysiakini

PKR Selangor chief and Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim may need to reconsider running for a top post at the November party polls, as the party continues to put his administration under scrutiny.

Already smarting from the tongue-lashing at the PKRcongress in Kota Bharu, Kelantan last month, Khalid (right ) is facing yet another round of criticism, as the party zeroes in on state policies at its Shah Alam retreat this weekend.

Information chief Latheefa Koya said that among the aims of the retreat is to find a way for the party to have more say in state affairs – an indication of latent unhappiness with the MB’s administration. 

S’wak BN meet to undertake four ‘arduous’ tasks

By Joe Fernandez

The Sarawak BN meet, scheduled for this weekend in Kuching, has reportedly set up four arduous tasks for itself as a decision is about to be made on whether to go for snap polls.

“These tasks are to consider four major themes for the forthcoming state elections,” confirmed a key Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) polls strategist last night.

The first of these tasks is to strategise on the polls theme that Sarawak needs to be administered by homegrown parties and “not those imported from Peninsular Malaysia”.

Timber company official assaults Penans at blockade

By Patrick Lee @ FMT

A group of Penans were reportedly assaulted after they defied a police order to dismantle a blockade leading to a timber site at Long Sebayang in Sarawak’s Upper Limbang region.

According to the Swiss-based activist group Bruno Manser Fund (BMF), at about 8pm last Sunday, a manager of Lee Ling Timber threatened one of the Penans with a parang.

The manager known only as Ah New, also punched one of Penans in the face and threatened the natives that he would bring in ‘more gangsters to the blockade site’, said a source, according to BMF.

Police accused of defending Taib family’s interests

By Keruah Usit @ MalaysiaKini

Sarawak police have been accused of sanctioning violence by a timber company, Lee Ling Sdn Bhd, at logging road blockades in Upper Limbang.

Raziah Mahmud, sister to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, sits on the board of directors of Lee Ling’s parent company, Quality Concrete.

According to indigenous rights advocate, the Bruno Manser Foundation (BMF), Lee Ling drove three plainclothes police officers, in company vehicles, to the site of the makeshift blockades across Lee Ling’s timber track near Long Sebayang on Sunday.

Why political parties refuse to reform

By Regina Lee @ Malaysiakini

Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah ( right )has spoken out again against corruption, almost synonymous with Malaysian politics and his own party Umno.

He also raised eyebrows when offering insight into how cash changed hands – a dreary look into the inner workings of a political party and the corrupt.

“No domain seems safe. Some say that the humble school canteen is the domain of party branch chiefs.

“The golf course becomes a favoured way to pass the cash over. We can place bets for RM5,000 a hole. For some reason, one party keeps losing. And there are 18 holes. Money thus obtained is legal. It can be banked (in),” he said.

The way forward for PKR

by FMT

PAS has just wrapped up a successful congress, while DAP recently basked in the afterglow of its Sibu by-election victory. PKR, on the other hand, is still fighting off attacks from former party colleagues and is considered to be the weakest link in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

The party elections in December, therefore, could well be a golden but final opportunity for PKR to pull itself together before the next general election. To gain an overview of the party’s possible route forward, FMT spoke to one of its more vocal members, Zaid Ibrahim.

As PKR’s central leadership council member, Zaid has consistently voiced his recommendations on rebuilding the party to the leadership. For this interview, however, he made it clear that he was not speaking on behalf of the party but only on the basis of his observations in the past one year.

Blaming foreign workers for our sky-rocketing crime

By Pak Bui

A friend was almost in tears when she told me she had nearly been raped. She had gone to pick up her mother from a place of worship at 8pm, and had parked her car some thirty metres down a side road from a busy four-lane thoroughfare in a residential area in a large city.

She had left her car and opened a passenger door to remove some belongings to place in her boot. Someone attacked her from behind and pushed her into the back seat. Her assailant bit her on her face and neck. He reached up to switch off the light on the ceiling of the car, and while he was distracted, my friend kicked him in the groin.

She climbed to the front seat and began pressing desperately on the horn. The man bolted when she began sounding the horn. My friend drove away with bruises and cuts on her face. She said she is certain the man was a foreign worker.

Can we still trust Umno to run the country?

By Richard @ malaysianmirror

IN two days time, it will be my 56th year of being born and bred in this country, Malaysia. I am the fourth generation and till today I am still treated as a pendatang and second class citizen. I have seen premier after premier taking reign as leaders with such great promises for all of us but at the end of the day, it remains the same…do not challenge our ketuanan Melayu status. You are here just because we allow you to do so.

I had high hope and expected the current premier to be different from his predecessors, but alas, just like the others he succumbed yet again to the demands of his own team and members. He simply cannot put his plan into action just because he is afraid to lose his premiership. So, he is playing with time, talking about his election date surprises, walk-about to meet the people, which in fact turns out that his security detail has more men than the people he wanted to meet and lately, buying (not adopting) a pussy cat to play with.

The amoral majority is taking over

By Keruah Usit

A kindergarten teacher related an unsettling tale to me. She said a pretty little girl in her class, one of her favourites, had come to her one day and complained that she was in pain, and bleeding from her genitals. The girl said that her father had caused it, “with his finger”.

The girl’s older brother, also attending the same kindergarten, told the shocked teacher that their mother knew about the girl’s trauma. The teacher invited the girl’s mother to the kindergarten for a private discussion. The mother, a housewife, appeared unperturbed. She told the teacher the girl had simply been playing and had carelessly inflicted the injury on herself.

The teacher was torn between wanting to report the girl’s predicament to the authorities, and wanting to avoid controversy in the private kindergarten she had built up over the years.

TAIBS’ LUCRATIVE LINKS WITH ONTARIO GOVERNMENT

By Sarawak Report

In with the Government in Canada

The Taib family’s local acumen in channelling government expenditure into their business activities appears to have extended into Canada, according to the information gathered by Sarawak Report into their Canadian property empire.

Their company Sakto’s success in attracting tenancies from state organisations funded by the Canadian tax payer can only be described as enviably impressive.  Their string of developments appear to be a magnet for government bodies in search of office space.  Plaques outside Sakto’s key buildings testify to their trusted status as landlords to Provincial and Federal Government agencies.

Most noticeable is the mass occupancy by no less than eleven Ontario Government Ministries at the company’s Preston Square site.  According to an official press release in 2007  by the Ontario Realty Corporation, the provincial government body responsible for locating offices, these are the:

10MP neither inclusive nor needs-based

By Keruah Usit

A small primary school near Dalat, Sarawak, sits on the banks of a languid river, and is accessible only by boat. Getting there on the small express from Sibu takes almost two hours.

The school is a low wooden building, with a small walkway down to the jetty. Beside the walkway stands a small shack housing a diesel-driven generator.

The classroom, buzzing with 30 children, is neat and clean, with colourful children’s drawings decorating the walls. The children are charming but shy, as in most similar rural communities in Sarawak.

The teacher has a laptop computer, but the Internet remains alien territory for most of the students. Even the electricity supply is not dependable, leaving the children with no ceiling fan or lights when the generator breaks down.

My unbranded crystal ball points to BN maintaining Sarawak via rural votes

By Apang

I am very certain about one thing when it comes to the differences between urban Sarawakians and our rural people, apart from the obvious “development” which urbanites take for granted. Rural Sarawak’s 12.9% poverty rate, compared to the urban 1.7%, according to 2004 official data, speaks volumes come election time.

Leave aside the accuracy of such data for now, even though BN is a prime suspect for manipulation. Even the United Nations representative in Malaysia was heard calling on the Statistics Department not to be used by politicians in the manipulation of figures.

Even so, no amount of massaging of poverty statistics is going to hide the facts on the ground, for those who care to venture into rural Sarawak (and not as tourists). The realities certainly put the 12.9% figure into the realms of disbelief.

Defamation suit related to PKFZ put off

By HU Editor

Trial of the defamation suit filed by Bintulu MP Dato Seri Tiong King Sing against Penerbitan Cerdas Maju Sdn Bhd & 6 Ors with Malaysian Parliamentary Opposition Leader Dato Seri Anwar Bin Ibrahim named as Third Party) has been put off to a date yet to be determined.

At the hearing (in the Kuching High Court today) of the Defendants’ application for an Order to re-amend their Joint Defence, an Order for the Third Party (DSAI) to defend jointly with the Defendants and an Order to determine, as preliminary issue, whether the words complained of as defamatory of the Plaintiff were true in substance and in fact, the Plaintiff notified the Court that he intends and will shortly file an affidavit in opposition to object the application.

TAIBS’ FOREIGN PROPERTY PORTFOLIO

Canadian properties worth in excess of a hundred million dollars

By Sarawak Report

Twin glass towers and a swish shopping complex at Preston Square in downtown Ottawa form just part of an enormous foreign property portfolio controlled in Canada by the family of Sarawak Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, according to our exclusive investigations.

These buildings alone are worth at least one hundred million dollars and generate a healthy rental income from some of Canada’s top corporations, including Xerox, Adobe and Sun Life, who rent office space and retail outlets.  Numerous Canadian Government Ministries are also listed at the building.

Anwar says 10MP approaches failed in 8MP, 9MP

By Malaysian Insider

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim slammed the Najib administration for charting “ambitious” goals in the TenthMalaysia Plan (10MP), pointing out similar approaches in the plan had failed in the previous twodevelopment plans.

The Pakatan Rakyat de facto leader told the House that before these “grandiose” goals were celebrated, it was imperative for the government to revisit the failures of both the Eighth and Ninth Malaysia plans.

“Comparisons should however be made first so that we can have an honest assessment of the situation. What do all these grandiose announcements and presentation of policies in the House mean if previous targets were not even met?” Anwar said when debating the 10MP tabled by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak on June 10.

10MP mere rhetoric – Anwar

By MalaysiaKini

The 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) is no more a list of announcements amounting to billions of ringgit, said Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

It is no different to the previous Malaysia plans despite the country’s economy facing a critical crossroad, he said during his 90-minute speech to debate the 10MP at the Dewan Rakyat today.

The RM260 billion economic blueprint is supposed not only to restore the “sluggish economy” but it should also be capable of mobilising the economy out of an impasse suffered for more than a decade.

Anwar predicts doom for Najib’s plan

By Rahmah Ghazali @ FMT

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim is not impressed with the 10th Malaysian Plan (10MP), saying there is little difference between this blueprint and its “failed” predecessors.

According to the Permatang Pauh MP, the government has always over-projected the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the new plan does the same.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak set a six percent growth for the GDP and aimed to reduce deficit from seven to 2.8 percent.

Najib’s plan was given the thumbs up by certain quarters, but Anwar, a former finance minister, felt that it was “just another billion-ringgit announcement.”

SNAP to know fate soon

By FMT

The Sarawak National Party (SNAP) will know its fate next month when the Court of Appeal convenes to decide on its application against deregistration. The much-awaited decision will determine the course which the state’s oldest political party, representing the Dayaks, will next take.

Said SNAP secretary-general Stanley Jugol: “The court will decide at the end of next month.

“Our members are anxiously waiting for the ruling on our application against the decision to deregister the party. I think we have a better chance now because there will be three judges hearing our case.”

SNAP was deregistered by the Registrar of Society (ROS) in November 2002 after the party failed to resolve a protracted leadership crisis between the then party president James Wong and his challenger William Mawan Ikom.

Idris Jala’s Plan To Bankrupt Malaysia

by OutSyed The Box

I was at Astro Awani on Thursday June 10, when the PM tabled the 10th M’sia Plan in Parliament. It was a live telecast and we had to make our comments immediately after the PM tabled the Plan. I dont know if any of you readers saw the telecast.

While I was at the studio I received an sms forwarded to me by one of the UMNO Bloggers who had sent it to Dato Mukhriz Mahathir. The sms said, “Dato, dont say ‘there is nothing new’”. Mukhriz is famous for saying this when Slumberjack tabled something in Parliament once.

I must confess at that time, at a live telecast interview I was impressed by the PM’s 10th M’sia Plan speech. He even mentioned the ‘Sikhs’ – the first time I think a PM had mentioned the Sikhs in Parliament. When analysing his speech I did say that the PM did not say anything about job creation. There was no information on how many jobs were going to be created over the RMK10.

Jomo: 30% bumi equity target unachievable

By Christine Chan @ MalaysiaKini

The 30 percent bumiputera equity ownership target under the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) is not achievable because there is no incentive for bumiputeras to hang on to their shares, said prominent economist Jomo KS (right ).

“You have a situation, where your measure of what it is to bring about Malay progress, is a measure which is bound to fail because of the policy,” he said during a press conference at the Parliament lobby today after briefing Pakatan Rakyat MPs on the 10th Malaysia Plan.

PBB unfazed by new kid on the political block

By FMT

Parti Pesaka Bumiputera (PBB) is unfazed at the emergence of a new party, helmed by a former dissenting member, unhappy with the leadership.

In rubbishing claims that the new party will dent PBB influence in several localities, its information chief Peter Minos said that there would be no significant difference.

“I don’t believe this new party is going to make any impact on local politics. New parties mushroom every time an election comes around. It’s normal.

“But they usually disappear after they lose their seats in the election,” he said.

Sarawak EC rapped over directive to Iban chiefs

By FMT

The Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia) has slammed the Sarawak Election Commission director Takun Sunggah for his ignorance over Iban customs.

Association president Sidi Munan said Sunggah was wrong to say that the longhouse chiefs had the right to accept or reject visitors including political voters canvassing for votes during the election campaign.

Describing the Iban ‘adat’, or custom, as one of absolute hospitality, he said: “Sunggah’s remarks can be regarded as interfering with the Iban ‘adat’ in allowing or disallowing visitors to come to a longhouse during election times.

“There is no such thing in the Iban custom. Iban customs is inviting and hospitable.“

He said Sunggah was sending out the wrong signal’s to the longhouses when he issued such a statement.

Sarawakians, let’s support Bafana Bafana

By Pak Bui

The first World Cup on African soil has exploded onto the global stage. South Africa’s infectious enthusiasm for the Beautiful Game has been nothing short of mesmerising.

Football fans from European hosts of previous World Cups, or even from the joint Asian hosts of Japan and South Korea in 2002, never rivaled the passion, the jubilation, the sheer colour of South Africa’s celebrations.

Many fans would have liked to see Nelson Mandela attend the grand opening ceremony, but he is, after all, 91, and increasingly frail.

And sadly, his great-granddaughter Zenani Mandela had been killed in a car crash at the age of 13, after a pre-World Cup concert.

PAS preps itself for national power

By Bridget Welsh @ MalaysiaKini

The 56th PAS Muktamar in Kota Bharu was a low-key affair, overshadowed by the Fifa World Cup (which made for many red-eyed delegates) and the media’s attention on Malaysia’s 10MP.

Intentionally so, the meeting lacked sharp internal criticism and shocking statements that capture national headlines. The mood was one of self-reflection and obvious restraint, as PAS showed it was struggling to find its way in the new political landscape.

More than any muktamar since the March 2008 polls, the meeting highlighted the strong desire of the Islamic party to win national power and its willingness to transform itself to achieve these ends.

‘Money for everything else but the poor’

By Roselind Jarrow @  FMT

Sarawakian blogger has slammed the federal government’s plan to shift the Parliament house at the cost of RM800 million and its proposed purchase of 256 military tanks and three navy ships for RM10.2billion.

Blogger and activist John Brian Anthony has questioned the necessity for such extravagance in view of the rampant incidences of poverty in Sabah and Sarawak.

“Are these purchases and construction really necessary when incidences of poverty in Sarawak and Sabah are still very high?