Merge??

Don’t fear merger, says Mawan
By Ting Tieng Hee, The Borneo Post Press,
Thursday (10th July 2008)

Proposal to merge SPDP and PRS should not alarm any party as it has good intentions: President

KUCHING: The proposed merger of Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) and Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) should not alarm any party, said Dato Sri William Mawan Ikom.

“Nobody need to fear about the proposed merger of SPDP and PRS as we are in for good purposes and intentions,” the SPDP president told reporters at his office at Bangunan Baitulmakmur in Petra Jaya yesterday.

He said SPDP, as a multiracial party, was committed to be always loyal, friendly and a team worker as far as unity in the country and unity in the government was concerned.

Mawan said the merger was a serious effort and something that was broad-based and a long-term planning to consolidate not only BN component parties in the state but also the Dayak community.

“We have given a very thorough thought into this merger as a party and that’s why we put a very solid and deep commitment into it long time ago by forming our committee which is headed by our deputy president and a lot of senior members,” he added.

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Pak Lah's new ultimate pet

Though I am not a very brilliant political analysis, there is one thing that reminded me on the unity of the aborigines. In his book, “The Broken Shield” the writer told that the aborigines have faced several failures under one political party. First, SNAP was told to be the answer to the aborigine’s unity but was not. Then Pesaka made a very substantiate political manifesto to be the aborigines’ help but Rahman, Taib and Jugah made it as the business opportunity to accumulate wealth. The aborigines were united firmly under one party since many years. The sub-party is PBB and another sub-party is PBDS. These subs were merged to form one political entity for the aborigines.

After PBDS faced a very shame crisis between “sifu” and “apprentice”, the aborigines have to accept the fact that thay cannot unite themselves under one “dream” party. SPDP and PRS were form to prove that the aborigines have no gut to appose their fellow aborigines. As I always say, “if there is one aborigine, there is one political party and if there are many aborigines, there are many political party”. Almost the same to Indians and Chinese where there are many version of “separatist” among them. That is why they are marginalized because they cannot accept unity but have to separate to gain wealth and titles.

The aborigines should not merge to be another “brotherhood of underdog” to Pak Lah. It is not a threat to PBB or SUPP in general but another threat to the aborigines themselves. I do not see any goodness from this merging proposal unless Mawan and Masing can prove that they are good two Iban leaders. We have seen how Moggie was made a living sacrifice at the Ming Court Hotel and someone told that “he” is innocent from such accusation of money politic. That was a very good back stabbing work of the Iban to be a paramount leader among the tribes of aborigines.

Yes, I know that we cannot join PBB because of so many issues. Taib could not accept the aborigines because Melanau and Malay are dominating the party. There should be no such thing so called “kacau daun” in PBB. If Barisan Nasional care for the aborigines, Pak Lah should give us an advice to be under one political party and not another big “running dog”. Of course, we cannot be in one political party because we will be left behind in term of bargaining power and distribution of wealth. But, have Bengoh receive something from SUPP instead of Kampung Tun Abdul Razak? I went around some of the villages under Riot constituency and there are many wooden houses and dusty road too.

Someone is telling me that Manyin is a very great leader and not a traitor. Well, tell me if he can bring all the Bidayuh under PBB or elase we can called him as father of running dog. Yes, I do not know much about politic as what some of you may think of. I have my eyes to see what is going on with the aborigines and have ears to listen to their grief. The ting is that, I am not a liar to the aborigines but not to merge them to be another running dog!!

Pick of The Week

Ghost of The Nation.

Taken from che det blog

THE APOLOGISTS

1. At a press conference called to explain about the police report on judge Ian Chin, a Western reporter blamed me for the authoritarian rule of Prime Minister Dato Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

2. It seemed that he had inherited this behaviour from me. And she suggested that I was worse than Dato Seri Abdullah.

3. The Western press and my detractors among the opposition and certain members of the local press had of course labelled me a dictator when I was Prime Minister.

4. Labelling is one way to destroy the image of a leader and to reduce his popularity.

5. Lee Kuan Yew labelled me "the Malay Ultra" and the Chinese in Malaysia were shocked when I was named the Deputy Prime Minister by Tun Hussein. They thought I would be dispossessing them of their wealth and rights in favour of the Malays.

6. But soon after I took office they changed their minds and became very supportive. Before I stepped down the Chinese electorate ensured that I got the 2/3 majority in 1999, the last election over which I presided.

7. But the Western journalists prefer to retain their own fiction about my being a dictator, my anti-Chinese feelings and my being corrupt and favouring my cronies. Now their journalists would read these old reports and presume that they were God-given truths. They never ever do any real research. And so every time I criticise the Abdullah Badawi regime, they and the local Abdullah apologists would rebut by saying that I was worse when I was Prime Minister.

8. In particular my alleged authoritarian management of the party and the Government. What they ignore is the fact that during my Presidency of UMNO, other leaders were not afraid to challenge me.

9. Dato (now Tun) Musa Hitam, my first Deputy resigned from his position in the Government and the party. I was naturally angered by his action. But the Supreme Council of UMNO decided to send a delegation to appeal to him to come back. I did not oppose this move, and accepted his decision to return as Deputy President of UMNO but not as Deputy Prime Minister.

10. I had to appoint (Tun) Ghaffar Baba as Deputy Prime Minister.

11. Then Musa persuaded his arch enemy, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to contest for President against me while he contested for Deputy President.

12. The two were supported by (Dato Seri) Abdullah Badawi, (Dato Seri) Syed Hamid Albar, (Tan Sri) Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir, (Dato Seri) Rais Yatim and many others. They went around the country to persuade UMNO divisions and members to dump me and elect them at the UMNO General Assembly.

13. I did not stop them from campaigning although they made scurrilous allegations against me. UMNO members were not prevented from attending campaign meetings held by them. It is believed that money was used to persuade UMNO delegates to the General Assembly to vote for them.

14. In the event I just managed to win with a 43 vote majority while my running mate, Ghaffar had a 41 vote majority.

15. Tengku Razaleigh's supporters took this issue to court seeking to force a new election. The court decided that UMNO was an illegal party. I had to re-register UMNO as New UMNO, UMNO Baru. Tengku Razaleigh formed a new party which he called Semangat 46 or Spirit of '46 (the year UMNO was formed).

16. Both parties tried to attract the members of the former UMNO. UMNO Baru (New UMNO) gained the most number of the former members and new members.

17. Dato Seri Abdullah opted to join UMNO Baru. Even though he supported Tengku Razaleigh I did not stop him. However I did not appoint him as a Minister.

18. Semangat 46 did badly in the General Elections in 1990 and again in 1995. Tengku Razaleigh dissolved the party and rejoined UMNO. I did not bear a grudge against him. His colleague Dato Seri Rais Yatim was reappointed a Minister.

19. Dato Seri Abdullah Badawi contested for membership of the UMNO Supreme Council and won. At the next election he contested for Vice President and came in second.

20. After that I concluded that UMNO members wanted him and I reappointed him as a Cabinet Minister. I could not ignore the wishes of UMNO members. The party belongs to them, not to me alone.

21. He then went on to be made Deputy Prime Minister and was accordingly elected by UMNO Assembly as Deputy President.

22. All these things were possible when I was President of UMNO and Prime Minister. But the moment I stepped down I was not allowed to meet UMNO Ministers and other UMNO leaders and they were not allowed to meet me or attend any function where I spoke. This remains the directive to this day.

23. UMNO members who invited me to speak were called up by UMNO Menteri Besar and the Police and told to withdraw their invitation. After that UMNO branches stopped inviting me. They had to persuade NGO's to invite me so that the few brave souls among them could attend anonymously. UMNO Members of Parliament and State Assemblymen would not attend even the NGO organised meetings.

24. Invitations by universities are not allowed and a few who did had to withdraw their invitations.

25. When I requested to see Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak, the UMNO Deputy President and Deputy Prime Minister after the Election he said he had to get the permission of the Prime Minister.

26. After a long time when the Press asked if I had met the Deputy Prime Minister, I had to explain that I had not because the Deputy Prime Minister had not obtained the permission of the Prime Minister yet. When I was Deputy Prime Minister I never had to get the permission of the Prime Minister to see anyone. Neither had my four Deputies to ask permission from me. They were free to see anyone they liked.

27. After the Press reported my reply, the Prime Minister denied he did not give permission. Subsequently Dato Seri Najib invited me to see him in his house. I went and I found that he was not willing to go against anything the Prime Minister said or did. It was obvious that he was afraid of the Prime Minister. Why he is afraid I do not know. But all the Cabinet Ministers, Members of the UMNO Supreme Council, Divisional Heads are afraid of Prime Minister Abdullah. They were never afraid of me when I was Prime Minister.

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Rumors Have It?

Bloggers too to be blamed for rumours: PM

The Borneo Post Press, Tuesday (8th July 2008)

KUALA LUMPUR: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi wants bloggers to stop speculating and spreading rumours on the Internet as this is another cause of the unsettled political situation in the country.

“I want to tell the blogs to stop all these as they are also responsible for what has happened. The best thing they could do is to stop,” he told reporters after holding several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the 6th D-8 Heads of Government Summit here yesterday.

The summit proper of the eight Developing Islamic Nations (D-8) is scheduled to begin in the federal capital today.

The prime minister was commenting on the current political situation in the country, which seemed unsettled since the last general election in March.

Yesterday Abdullah said he was aware that the people were fed up with the political bickering that is going on in the country and pledged to give priority to the needs of the people.

“Slandering has become more rampant. One no longer cares whether the accusations are true or otherwise,” Abdullah told Bernama on Sunday.

He said this in reaction to a front page report by an English language daily on Sunday which highlighted the reaction of the people and community leaders over the political exchanges in the past few months.

“Whatever the truth, the truth will come out…don’t worry about it,” Abdullah said yesterday.

Asked how the government intended to stop these rumours and allegations on the Internet, he said: “When the truth comes out, all these will stop, we will make sure of that.” — Bernama

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I did not know her. I swear in the name of Allah. I did not sodomized him. I will prove that I did not.

The Bloggers are blamed to spread rumors. By then, the lost 5 states to opposition are rumors? The Raja Petra detention for doing nothing is rumors? How about those news in main stream media? They (mainstream media) are now busying with Nikko in Peang and badly blame Guan Eng for loosing the investors. Before, Selangor was blamed for rearing pig inside the town. Now the “Barisan Nasional” is giving sweet to Nik Aziz by building east peninsular coast biggest oil tank.

In Perak, the logging activity could not be done at certain place because it will bring up to water pollution problem. But, the illegal logging at the Orang Asli villages was made legal.

We have been fed by liars and mind manipulation by the printed media and TV that belong to Barisan Nasional. As I watched news last night, Najib was standing beside Badawi as hi smiled at Badawi warning. Actually, there are no rumors in blogs. Tun Mahathir does not spread rumor in his blog. Yes, it is all about covering the cruelness of murders and rapers. Now they are save as Prime Minister has used police and laws to shut the people’s mouth. The best thing he can do is to clean the government and not blaming innocent bloggers.

The Step Children’s Grievance

What do Sabahans and Sarawakians want?
By James Chin, The Borneo Post Press (Friday, 4th July 2008)

EAST Malaysia is very much in the news lately. With more than a quarter of MPs coming from there, it is generally acknowledged that they were the key to Barisan Nasional’s continued hold on power.

Since March 8, MPs and other politicians from Sabah have grown more vocal about the ‘neglect’ of East Malaysia since independence, making subtle references to the possibility that they could easily switch their support to Pakatan Rakyat if the federal government does not resolve their grievances.

There are several main grievances and their resolution may not be forthcoming in the short term.

The first issue is the date of independence. In the peninsula, independence is often taken to be 1957 when self-government was put in place. In East Malaysia, they see the proper date of independence as 1963 when the Federation of Malaysia was established.

Additionally, there is some unhappiness with the term Sabah and Sarawak ‘joining’ Malaysia when in fact Malaysia did not exist before 1963. For East Malaysians, Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore and Malaya came together as equal partners to form the Federation of Malaysia. Using the term ‘join’ implies that East Malaysia joined an existing political entity as junior partners.

The second big issue is the federal government’s commitment to a set of state rights guarantees attached to the Malaysia Agreement, commonly referred to as the ‘20 Points’.

Among the key points were:

• Islam’s status as the national religion was not applicable to East Malaysia;

• Immigration control was vested in the state governments;

• Borneonisation of the civil service would be a high priority and English can be used as an official language;

• No changes to the ‘20 Points’ guarantees can be made without the agreement of the Sabah and Sarawak state governments. A clause was inserted giving all the parties the right to review the 20 Points after 10 years, ie, 1973.

• The natives of East Malaysia would be on par with the Malays and other indigenous groups in the peninsula, ie full Bumiputera status.

Taken as a whole, the 20 Points, if read in their entirety, give the East Malaysian states considerable political autonomy. However, the public view in East Malaysia is that there has been considerable dilution of the 20 Points for the past 45 years.

For Sabahans, the issue of immigration control is widely seen as a joke given the large number of illegal migrants in the state. Depending on who you talk to, the number of illegals in the state is between 1-1.5 million.

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It has been many years the “Malay” has neglected the grievances of the Sabahans and Sarawakians. The “denial of service” attitude is the only way to hold the angered step children. Though Kelantan is secured by PAS politically, the “Malay” government still put their wide eyes at the state. He same happening to Pulau Pinang, Selangor, Kedah and Perak too as there are now the lost treasure of the pirates.

What was going wrong with Sabah and Sarawak? We have to put a little bit blame to those who were money greed. First, we should put Tun Jugah as the non-schooling “tuai rumah” for selling Sarawak to Abdul Rahman through out special agent, Cobbold Commission. He was then given a large scale of logging concession together with those who agreed to sale the land of hornbill. Sarawak was sold as cheap as a plate of dinner meal and a night stay in a cheap hotel in Malaya. Now, Sarawak has lost it oils and timber to UMNO in order to be saved from “communist” attack and Indonesian “confrontation”. We should not join Federation of Malaysia if we love the people of Sarawak. That should be the first thought of Tun Jugah. Somehow, it as always right when people say money is root of evil. The Aborigines, is now have no right to their mother lands ad they are declared as “stale land”. There will be no an Iban chief minister as the “ Malayism policy” allowed only “muslim malay” to rule over the state. Though Sarawak has less problem with illegal immigrants, most of the MPs are not appointed because they are not “Malay” though they are converted to muslim in order to enjoy the “Malay” supreme special rights. Though there will be more money to be added soon, Sarawak will never get the right answer from Badawi on the future of the state.

The Sabahan has to bow down to Musa Aman as the mindless Tun Mustapha Harun sold Sabah to UMNO with 1 unit personal Boeing and houses. Donald Stephen was killed at Sembulan, Sabah as he asked for Sabah independent in Labuan due to oil royalty issue. Harris Salleh was then being enthroned to rule over vast tribes of Sabah with primary two certificates. He was gunned down by PBS, the aborigine’s party lead by Pairin Kitingan. The political scenario in Sabah has no happy ending as the state is facing poverty and illegal immigrant. They are facing economic struggle as they receive less form the federal government. The government (under Najib order) is reducing the number of illegal immigrants in Sabah after SAPP was said to give no-confident vote to Badawi. Although it is seem to be the persuasion to the Sabahan, the long time wound has not been cured as the government has no answer to demolish IMM13 documents. The Sabahans are loosing their lands to the local developer (FELDA) as they are intimidated with guns and spears. The saga will soon continue on as the Federal government is busy with Najib and Anwar clown show though Badawi admitted that there is no problem with the current government.

The Sabahan and Sarawakians have to think now or regret later. If there is a chance to get independent from “Malay” government, it is now to voice it out or else we are just crying inside our closet. In fact, these two states have lost a lot in order to be independent under the “Malay” present government. The time has come to Badawi to examine the Sabah and Sarawak royalty to Barisan Nasional. The 20-point memorandum must be uphold so that the step children can be console after a long years of grievances. If not, we better consult for independent and out of the “sovereign” UMNO country since we are staying inside a small toilet in a big mansion.

Pick of The Week

The Oil-for-Food scandal revisited

Malaysia Today

On Sunday, the BBC reported as follows:

The Iraqi government has said it will file lawsuits in US courts against firms and people suspected of illegally profiting from a UN programme. The UN oil-for-food programme allowed Saddam Hussein's government to sell oil in order to buy humanitarian supplies during UN sanctions from 1996-2003. An inquiry found that 2,200 firms paid $1.8bn in bribes to Iraqi officials.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said in a statement that the legal action was to recover damages and hold those who benefited from the illegal activity accountable for their actions. "The oil-for-food programme was subject to huge financial scandals by companies and others [who] conspired with Saddam Hussein to embezzle large sums of money through kickbacks, inflated prices and the supply of shoddy goods," he said.

A UN-commissioned inquiry headed by former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker found that 2,200 companies in 66 countries had paid kickbacks to Iraqi officials to win supply contracts under the $60bn (£30bn) programme. The Iraqi statement did not name the firms or people the legal action will target nor when and in which courts the suits will be filed.

Two years ago, this was what the BBC said:

More than 2,000 firms linked to the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq were involved in making illicit payments to the Iraqi government, a report says. It found Saddam Hussein received $1.8bn (£1bn) from firms including Daimler Chrysler and Volvo, and it also named individuals said to have benefited.

More than half of the 4,500 companies - from 60 countries - involved in the oil-for-food programme paid kickbacks or surcharges to the Iraqi government, Mr Volcker reported. The single largest bribe came from a Malaysian trading company, Mastek, which paid Iraq $10bn over a prolonged period, the report found.

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