'Mammoth street rally if graft goes unpunished'

PKR MPs have warned of a mammoth rally if prominent individuals being probed by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) do not face charges after an expected amendment to the MACC Act in March.

Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli pointed out that the MACC has previously claimed that it could not present a solid case against bigwigs due to loopholes in the Act.

"Hundreds of thousands of people were on the street (during Bersih’s push for) electoral reform, but corruption is the Number One enemy of the country and many problems are rooted in corruption,” he told an anti-graft forum in Kuala Lumpur last night.

"This is an early warning to the government and the MACC. If they do not handle (corruption) well, people will get sick of it and march in the streets.

"We start in a consultative way but by March, after the law is amended and (if) ministers are still not charged, I am sure a few us will be instigators (of a mammoth rally)."

This consultative manner, he said, included the forum itself, which was aimed collating ideas to contribute to the drafting of an alternate amendment Bill.

The government's Bill to amend the MACC Act is expected to be tabled when Parliament convenes for its new session in March.

Axe AG over PKFZ foul-up, says DAP

Attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail should be sacked as he failed to secure convictions in the two Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) cases involving prominent MCA leaders, said DAP.

Commenting on the acquittal of former MCA deputy president Chan Kong Choy yesterday, DAP's Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua said Abdul Gani (right) is either incompetent or the charges were "intentionally framed to fail".

Pua, who is also a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member, said that this is because the AG in his testimony in 2009 told the PAC that Chan could be charged with criminal breach of trust.

He said that this was based on the three letters of guarantee which Chan had signed on behalf of the government without approval from the Finance Ministry.

He said that auditors PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC) in their testimony also stated that these letters caused the government to pay the contractual amount to bondholders, despite services not fully rendered.

"(The) AG said that the three support letters issued by Chan were implicitly a form of guarantee from the government to ensure that there would be allocations for Port Klang Authority, to enable it to meet its obligations under the development agreement.

"As a result, Chan can be charged with criminal breach of trust under Section 409 of the Penal Code, read with Section 409B," he said.

Open letter to PM and Cabinet – Lim Kit Siang

I am taking full advantage of the Age of Information Technology which enables the instant communication of information with information travelling at the speed of light to pen this Open Letter to the Prime Minister and all Cabinet Ministers just before they start this morning, their first Cabinet meeting of the New Year of 2014.

I urge the prime minister and ministers to send out a clear and unmistakable message in their first Cabinet meeting to end the drift and loss of leadership and direction to create a united, harmonious, just, competitive and great Malaysian nation.

The Cabinet cannot do better than start their first meeting by discussing and digesting the question eloquently posed yesterday by a Good Samaritan in Malaysia, Tan Sri Robert Phang, who asked “Why are we quarrelling over God?”

In his New Year statement, Phang said: “Happy New Year! I am sure that all Malaysians wish and pray that this year 2014 would be a better year than last year.

But are our prayers in vain when we are so divided as a nation and we are so petty as to quarrel over God?

WHY ARE WE QUARELLING OVER GOD?

7 January 2014
PRESS STATEMENT BY:-
TAN SRI DATUK ROBERT PHANG MIOW SIN
Justice of Peace
Chairman – Social Care Foundation

1. Happy New Year! I am sure that all Malaysians wish and pray that this year 2014 would be a better year than last year. But are our prayers in vain when we are so divided as a nation and we are so petty as to quarrel over God?

2. When we make prayers, we do so in the name of God by whatever name we call Him. We have done so without much problems in the past because to God belongs all things in heaven and on earth. We have done so since independence of Malaya and the founding of Malaysia. Our beloved Prime Minister teaches us to wave our finger to say 1 Malaysia and yet today we are like a nation tattered.

3. As an old man past 74 yrs who had seen our independence and formation of Malaysia, I am troubled by the fractious state that we are in today. Our leaders are so articulate, our government’s cabinet is filled with highly qualified people and yet all that they seem to be capable of is to shout out rhetorics. But these are just hallowed cries with no sincerity to resolve one simple thing that should bind us together – our love for God.

4. I was troubled when JAWI raided Borders Bookstore and charged a Muslim store manager for doing nothing more than selling books. I congratulated Nik Raina Nik Rashid for being brave enough to not yield to the oppression by JAWI. I congratulated Tan Sri Vincent Tan and his son Dato Robin Tan when they fought the Borders case and won. As testimony, Malaysians today hailed Nik Raina as one of 10 inspiring Malaysians. That is the power of the ordinary people – to discern from right and wrong. And yet what has become of our country’s leadership?

5. Why do our leaders encourage religious bigotry? Perhaps the Minister of Home Affairs has forgotten that High Court Judge Dato Zaleha Yusof had declared state religious laws as ultra vires when it goes against the Federal Constitution? Again Perhaps Minister of Home Affairs has forgotten that the same Judge had chided the Minister for abdicating his constitutional duties in not bringing law and order by clarifying the laws? What is the Attorney- General doing in keeping mum over these legal issues?

Bible seizure: Sabah BN leaders must take a stand

KOTA KINABALU:  Sole STAR assemblyman Jeffrey Kitingan today slammed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Joseph Kurup, for his “disappointing” response to the latest asault on Christianity.


Kurup is the MP for Pensiangan constituency in Sabah.

“It is rather foolish for a federal Minister from Sabah to urge the people to remain calm without himself stating clearly his stand and what he will do to resolve the growing menace against religious freedom.

“He is no different from a doctor telling his patient who is suffering and in pain to go home and rest and remain calm without doing anything. Of course, no such doctor will do such a foolish thing,” said Kitingan who is Bingkor elected representative.

Kitingan, who is also chairman of the NGO the United Borneo Front (UBF) and STAR, noted that Sarawak BN leaders had been braver and had taken a stand on the matter with the state’s Chief Minister Taib Mahmud stating that the religious bigotry of the peninsula had no place in Sarawak.

“Another senior Sarawak Minister has now stated there cannot be two sets of legal interpretation on the Allah issue when the Federal Constitution guarantees freedom of religion,” he added referring to Sarawak’s Land Development Minister James Masing.

社會愛心基金會主席丹斯里彭茂燊文告，請即發佈

社會愛心基金會主席丹斯里彭茂燊今日促請馬華中央代表在黨選中慎重和負責任的投票，切勿受到派系和金錢政治的左右，因为馬華重挫后，需要一名有膽識，诚 实，廉政，且敢作敢为，承认过失，重新成为新的领袖，所以馬華中央代表應慎重利用手中的一票，為馬華選出一名夠膽識、求好不討好，能夠帶領馬華走出黑暗， 迎向光明的領導人。

他以“山重水复疑无路，柳暗花明又一村”來勉勵在505全國大選遭受重挫的馬華，但大前提是，馬華必須要重拾華社信心才能自救，因為華裔選票是馬華的資本，缺失了這項協商的籌碼，馬華也將失去談判條件。

他針對本週末的舉行的馬華黨選發表文告說，馬華中央代表離不開基層，基層離不開華社，中央代表的投票趨向如果無法反映華社基層的意願，馬華唯恐自掘墳墓。

有鑑於此，他認為，馬華2400名中央代表背負了重大的使命和華社的期望，代表們理應展現出公道和智慧，更須憑藉良心來投票，以華社的前景為投票指標，唾棄“換票”及“和平方案”等不平等的文化，投選一名能為華社接納，更勇於為華社仗義執言的領導人。

他認為，馬華在來屆大選能否贏回華社的支持，胥視本錢的多寡，而馬華的資本就是華裔選民的支持，一個無法為本身民族擁戴的政黨，又如何能贏取友黨和友族的尊重。

他說，一名為友黨“欽點”的領袖，在為華社爭取權益時必定捆手捆腳，無法為黨和華社帶來最大的利益。他也批评一些在当官和不当官时所作出的行为，前后判若两人，频频将本身之前未能履行的工作用来抨击现任的官员。

他也認為：“當壞人指你是壞人時，你就是好人。”

彭茂燊說，三名候選人當中，摒棄派系和偏見，強弱分明，縱觀從政經驗和記錄，誰優誰劣，誰不畏強權，勇於發言，引致友黨的不快，誰又優柔寡斷，中央代表應該心中有數。

他說：“在處理華社和華教課題，華社要的是當機立斷、決心及勇氣，我們不需要眼淚和乞求。”

他認為，馬華的優勢在於，目前還沒有一個華裔反對黨能替代馬華的角色，因此，遴選一個能帶領馬華走出困局的領導人甚為重要，中央代表任切記勿為五斗米而斷送了馬華的江山。
丹斯里彭茂燊0193131788

China Press (07-12-2013)