Umno Goes Offensive With All Its Machinery?

First, it was the judiciary and the police force and now, we have the MACC and some so called organisations namely, Pekida and Pewaris, joining the foray. The corrupted trying to pin corruption unto others with the help of their machinery and their thugs trying to send out warnings through racist spinning of issues. And what does all these tells us?

Our country is definitely going down to the hyenas.

Forget about those popularity survey. Forget about the recent manipulated stock market spike up. These are just publicity stunts. At the end of the day, majority of the rakyat are going to end up as losers.

Again, Dean Johns does it best with his latest.

Umno's war against Malaysia

Dean Johns

The suspicious death of Teoh Beng Hock last week while in the custody of the Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission (MACC) has provoked such an outpouring of rage against the Umno-dominated Barisan Nasional government that there's little point in adding my two cents' worth.

Except to make the point that, rather than reacting to every successive atrocity as if it were an isolated case, it's time to put all the pieces together and face the big picture: that Umno is waging an increasingly uncivil war against the Malaysia that most Malaysians stand for.

Since the decimation of long-term allies like the MIC and MCA in the 2008 general election, and a string of electoral setbacks of its own since then, Umno has been steadily escalating hostilities in its fight to regain lost ground.

Admittedly it hasn't yet resorted to the ultimate weapon of so many other rotten, repressive regimes - the replacement of the ballot with the bullet.

But it has taken to using money as ammunition more blatantly than ever, as in its infamous repurchase of power in Perak and the case of the bridge and other bribes that recently almost bought it victory in the Manek Urai by-election.

And in clear contradiction of its claim to be committed to the concept of equality for all in '1Malaysia', it has been shamelessly practising its traditional and highly successful 'divide and conquer' tactic through the promotion of conflict.

Recently-proposed 'unity' talks with Islamic party PAS appear to have made considerable impact. It has caused bad blood if not yet outright hostility between PAS factions, and weakened many voters' faith in the party's future as a force in the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat.

And the current commander-in-chief of Umno, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, has given the lie to his brave new '1Malaysia' war-cry by firing-off a salvo declaring it the bounden duty of every Malay and thus every Muslim to enlist in the Umno cause.

As ever, Najib's assault on the hearts and minds of the nation are being strongly supported by Umno's propaganda brigade, the mercenaries and camp-followers of Malaysia's mainstream media.

Recent examples of guerilla journalism in support of the Umno cause include an article by New Straits Times Group managing editor Zainul Ariffin Isa, who accused critics of the MACC over Teoh's death of trying to “demonise Malay institutions”. Another was the craven call by Wong Chun Wai, group chief editor of Star, not to “politicise” the situation.

But this war goes far beyond words. The shock-troops in Umno's increasingly savage assaults on Malaysia, its citizens and constitution are the police, judiciary and other supposedly impartial protectors of the populace, like the Electoral Commission and the MACC.

These renegade organisations have apparently abandoned all but the thinnest pretence of neutrality in favour of serving as hired guns for Umno.

The MACC, for example, mounts ferocious attacks on corruption, but only when this is alleged to have been committed by Umno's enemies, opposition parties and their supporters. Arguably unfounded accusations of alleged infractions by Selangor Pakatan assemblypersons are being dealt with so severely, as to result in the death of an innocent bystander.

Meanwhile, it completely ignores far more tempting targets like Umno's Dr Mohd Khir Toyo, a former menteri besar of Selangor who has allegedly amassed and spent a fortune way beyond his legitimate means.

The MACC also suspiciously lacks aggression in its pursuit of dozens of other Umno and Umno-related prey, like the perpetrators of the RM12-billion Port Klang Free Zone atrocity.

Similarly, the force supposedly charged with guarding the nation's electoral system, the EC, appears utterly derelict in its duty when it comes to the gerrymandering, roll-stacking and vote-buying on which Umno's survival so heavily depends.

Losing battle

But when it comes to crimes in Umno's war against Malaysia, the EC and MACC look like pacifists compared with the police. However many deceased electors that the EC carries on its voter rolls, I've never heard it accused of actually killing any. Nor, as far as I know, has the MACC been suspected of torturing and murdering witnesses before the case of Teoh.

The police have accounted for so many victims, either killed in suspicious shoot-outs or dead as a result of 'accidents' or mysterious 'illnesses' in custody. So many of the deceased are Indians and Chinese Malaysians or foreigners that the scale of these activities almost amounts to ethnic cleansing.

Nobody knows the true toll the police take of Umno's enemies, however, as their activities are shrouded in secrecy. Few cases, if any, are ever properly investigated or prosecuted, even when they come to public notice or achieve outright notoriety like those of Altantuya Shaariibuu and A Kugan.

In any event, the Malaysian police have more vital missions to perform than investigating their own affairs. Like tear-gassing, beating and arresting unarmed citizens who peacefully assemble to protest against Umno; blocking roads to prevent anti-Umno rallies; and massing outside polling stations and opposition ceramah (political talks) to put the fear of God into Umno's enemies.

With all this muscle on its side, however, and a seemingly limitless supply of pillaged public money in its war-chest, Umno sometimes finds itself fighting a losing battle. But it always seems to have an arsenal of alternative weapons and fallback strategies for times like this. Like the well-worn trick of calling a truce and surrendering to public demand for a royal commission.

But, as we've seen since the one conducted on the police force a few years ago, and more recently on the judiciary, royal commissions are nothing but diversionary tactics designed to buy Umno time to regroup and rearm before going back on the offensive.

As offensive as Umno is, however, and as weary as most Malaysians must be after 50 years of fighting in vain for fairness, equality, justice and freedom, at least there's consolation in the knowledge that nothing lasts forever. There's always the chance that Umno will finally self-destruct like the Marcos regime in the Philippines or the Suharto military dictatorship in Indonesia.

I just hope that the forces of enlightenment, progress and active but peaceful resistance can somehow finally defeat the warmongers and whoremongers of Umno before they utterly destroy Malaysia the way the generals and their army have devastated Burma, and Mugabe and his 'war veterans' have totally trashed Zimbabwe.

Timely Reminder For The Record...

Catalogue of corruption

I’d love to be able to compute what BN blundering and plundering has cost Malaysia as a nation and each Malaysian personally, but thanks to media suppression, partisan regulation and legislated secrecy, nobody really knows.

Some idea of the staggering amount can be gleaned from an excellent article that one of my contacts sent me from MalaysiaToday.

Written by ‘ez42get’, it reminds me that in the March 15, 2004 issue of Time Asia magazine, Daniel Lan, the Southeast Asian economist with Morgan Stanley in Singapore, was quoted as estimating that Malaysia "may have lost US$100 billion (RM320 billion) since the early 1980s to corruption".

The article also contains a long, long catalogue of crimes and incompetency, although these are just "the tip of the iceberg" according to its author. They include:

The Bank Bumiputra scandals of the early 1980s (Cost, RM3.2 billion)

Maminco’s 1980s attempt to corner the global tin market (RM1.6 billion)

Bank Negara losses on foreign exchange futures in the 1990s (RM30 billion)

Perwaja Steel losses (RM2.56 billion)

Bank Islam scandal (RM700 million)

Wang Ehsan from Terengganu oil royalty (RM7.4 billion)

Shoring-up of Valuecap Sdn Bhd with public funds (RM10 billion)

Commissions to Perimeker Sdn Bhd and IMT Defence Sdn Bhd on fighter and submarine deals (RM910 million)

Non-itemised IT equipment purchased for schools (RM2.21 billion)

Soft loan to PKFZ (RM4.63 billion)

Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex for cancelled crooked bridge to Singapore (RM1.3 billion)

Compensation to Gerbang Perdana for cancellation of crooked bridge contract (RM300 million)

Two bailouts of Malaysian Airlines System (RM7.9 billion)

Bailout of Putra LRT system (RM4.5 billion)

Bailout of STAR-LRT system (RM3.256 billion)

Bailout of Kajian Makanan dan Gunaan Orang Islam (RM8.3 billion)

Compensation paid to 20 highway companies, as announced in 2006 (RM38.5 billion)

I make that about RM126 billion so far, or, according to my possibly somewhat suspect arithmetic, around $4,680 for every man, woman and child in Malaysia. But we’ve barely even started yet.

Read the complete article by Dean Johns here..

who is worry now...

First glimmer of freedom?
Dean Johns

The opposition’s sparkling performance in the 12th general election so vividly signaled the rakyat’s burning desire for freedom from corruption, injustice and repression that I fancied for a while that even Barisan Nasional could hardly avoid seeing the light.

But the forces of darkness weren’t so much illuminated as dazzled, caught like roadkill in oncoming headlights. And when they regained their night-sight and realised they’d survived the onslaught, they reverted to their old reality-blinkered, blind-arrogant ways.

First burying their heads in the sand, then pointing their fingers at everybody but themselves for their electoral scare, and forming a "new-look" cabinet featuring incumbents with somewhat murky reputations, like Najib Abdul Razak and Hishammuddin Hussein, and that mysteriously recycled shady character, Muhammad Muhammad Taib.

They showed no sign of lightening-up in the heavy-handedness department, either, refusing to release the Hindraf Five from summary detention under the ISA, unleashing the police against the organisers of the celebration of the end of Anwar Ibrahim’s ban from electoral politics, then refusing to renew the publication licence of the Tamil newspaper Makkal Osai.

By this time, despite brighter prospects of honest and transparent governance in the five states won by Pakatan Rakyat, I was starting to feel that the election had been a flash in the pan when it came to sparking an enlightened response from BN.

Fully independent ACA

My gloomy sentiments were soon further dimmed by the government’s refusal to apologise for the 1988 judicial crisis, its attempt to buy the wronged judges’ forgiveness with ex gratia payments from the public purse, and it’s hazy-sounding promise to set-up a panel to "advise" the PM on the appointment of senior judges.

And then came possibly the dimmest post-election moment of all, the elevation of the notorious ‘bocor’ MP, Bung Mokhtar Radin, to deputy leadership of the BN Backbenchers Club. So you can imagine how my eyes lit up and my black mood lifted on the morning of April 21 when I saw the latest news flash on Malaysiakini: "PM: ACA to be fully independent."

I hardly dared read further in case the details snuffed-out the feeble flicker of hope that had been ignited by the headline. But no, the more I read, the more scintillating the story became.

In response to a written proposal from Anti-Corruption Agency director-general Ahmad Said Hamdan and his deputy Abu Kassim Mohamad that the ACA be freed entirely from government control, Prime Minster Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had announced a set of far-sighted reforms.

In summary, these include full independence of the ACA, reporting to a parliamentary Anti-Corruption Committee comprising both government and opposition MPs; a tripling of ACA staff numbers over the next five years; and the passing of new legislation to protect whistleblowers and witnesses.

"Brilliant," I thought to myself, for want of any more lucid or eloquent response, and immediately hit the blogs to see how wiser heads were reacting.

But Syed Jaymal Zahiid had got there before me, and produced an excellent summary entitled "Don’t get excited yet, say watchdogs." Syed quoted Lim Kit Siang as saying that "Reform measures to restore public confidence in the efficacy, efficiency, independence, impartiality and credibility of national institutions, whether (the) judiciary or the ACA, are welcome as they have been long-awaited by the people."

However, Lim reportedly warned that the new ACA should not only be independent nominally but must be spearheaded with the utmost commitment to eradicating corruption and must not become "a second Suhakam which is tasked to be an independent body to protect and promote human rights but is completely unable to do so without the necessary powers and wherewithal."

Moon Hui, co-ordinator of human rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia, was quoted as saying that "people should not get too excited" over the announcement, and adding that the appointment of ACA staff must be done through public consultation via civil society groups, so that "the body can be held accountable directly to the people."

The anti-corruption group Gerak, headed by Ezam Mohd Noor, reportedly greeted the announcement with enthusiasm, calling it "the most significant move taken by the government since the days of reformasi" in initiating change.

The most detailed analysis of the situation that I found was by Nat Tan in his jelas.info blog, in which he remarked that the PM seems to be progressively enacting the PKR manifesto, made a great many thoughtful remarks pro and con accepting the PM’s announcement at face value, and stressed the point, as did many other commentators, that the Election Commission should also be rendered totally independent, and called for the repeal of numerous draconian laws, including the Internal Security Act, the Sedition Act, the Printing Presses and Publications Act and the Universities and University Colleges Act.

With freedom comes fleedom

I couldn’t agree more that there’s a very long way to go before Malaysia can emerge from the long, dark night of Barisan Nasional domination. But thanks to the prime minister’s announcements on reforms of the ACA, at least now there’s a gleam at the end of the tunnel that may well prove to be not the headlamp of the well-known train, but the blazing light of freedom.

One sure-fire sign of the approach of real freedom is what I suppose you could appropriately call "fleadom": the instinct that tells parasites when it’s time to start jumping from old hosts to fresh ones, as you may have noticed some of the editors and columnists of Malaysia’s mainstream press starting to do.

And when freedom is just around the corner, "fleadom" is followed by "fleedom": one-way flights to Perth, Queensland, New Zealand, India or wherever else ill-gotten cash has been stashed for when things get too hot at home.

I haven’t noticed much fleedom yet, but I’ll bet there are plenty of suspects seriously contemplating packing their bags. Now Malaysians have seen glimmerings of freedom from the depredations of corrupt police, journalists, politicians, civil servants and corporate cronies. And they know that if Barisan Nasional doesn’t deliver on its promise to liberate them from the clutches of these crooks, then Pakatan Rakyat will.

simple diagnosis in medical terms..

Surviving the Doctor
Dean Johns


There have been times when some of us have despaired of Malaysia’s ability to survive 22 years of political malpractice by Dr Mahathir Mohamad, plus four years of further incompetent treatment by his unqualified hand-picked locum, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Cancerous with corruption, riddled with cronyism, half-paralysed with fear and drugged senseless on opiates doled-out by teams of spin-doctors, the nation appeared for decades to have all the symptoms of terminal decline.

But the recent general election demonstrated that Malaysia is more resilient than many gave it credit for.

The people lost their patience with feeling like patients, gave the government and its spin-doctors a dose of their own medicine, and are now hopefully helping restore their nation to robust health.

Umnois looking pretty sick, however, and the prime minister must be acutely aware that ‘PM’ also stands for post-mortem, thanks to the good Dr M’s none-too-gentle ministrations.

According to a Malaysiakini report the other day, Mahathir told a gathering organised by the Pusat Bandar Taman Cempaka Umno branch that the only remedy for Abdullah’s refusal to resign as Umno president is radical surgery.

He urged Umno members to “muster enough courage to cut off the diseased part of the party before the malignant sickness spreads and leads to the demise of the party”.

“The doctor's prescription,” he continued with gruesome glee, “is to cut the sick leg in order to save the other parts so that the whole body can get better and does not die. I feel that if nothing happens, if surgery is not done and we do not discard the gangrenous part, Umno will not be brought back to its former health.

"And the medical theme didn’t end there. At almost the same time as the superannuated sawbones was dispensing his piece of professional advice, Gua Musang Umno division chief Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was telling an extraordinary general meeting of his division that Umno can only be saved by “purging” the party of the "bad, corrupt, uncultured, immoral and unwise" people at the top.

Faced with the choice of purging or amputation, Abdullah was forced to abandon his customary elegant silence and retort that Dr M was the cause of his problems, not the cure. That, in other words, this was a classic occasion for the old exhortation, ‘Physician, heal thyself’.

He was quoted as saying that it was Mahathir who clamped down on press freedom as well as launching Operasi Lalang against political dissidents in 1987.

And asked whether Mahathir would be investigated for his role in the 1987 judicial crisis and other abuses of power, he replied: “As far as this government is concerned, our stand is if there is proof, the agencies can go ahead and charge anyone.

”When the good doctor was asked for his reaction to these counter-accusations, he responded with a characteristic dose of double-talk to the effect that Abdullah was “merely seeming to point out other people’s faults while ignoring his own”.

Optimistic prognosis

This, unlike most of the Doctor’s self-serving sarcasm, unfortunately turns out to be true, as the prime minister, possibly unnerved by threats of medical intervention, has now moved beyond the field of physical therapy to the more rarified realm of psychiatry with the paranoid theory that the main cause of his electoral reverses was “sabotage by Umno members”.

He was quoted as telling a gathering of 1,000 Umno party faithful: "In our analysis, there were at least 14 parliamentary and 22 state seats which we were guaranteed to win. But as a result of sabotage, we lost them."

He then went on to claim that, despite his government’s inability to accomplish and implement all it promised in 2004, “the voters did not reject us”.

The reality, of course, is that voters were so sick of being shabbily treated for as long as they could remember that they rejected him in unprecedented numbers. And now support for him is haemorrhaging badly as Umno power-junkies and their cronies panic at the prospect of losing access to the massive injections of illicit cash that the good Doctor got them hooked on.

Abdullah seems incapable of the obvious remedy for his plight, which is to get rid of the germs that infest his office, cabinet and party and start sanitising Umno’s act.

Meanwhile the Doctor himself, having long forsaken the Hippocratic Oath in favour of the hypocritic approach, is doing everything he can to wash his hands of any blame for the whole situation and treat himself to an image transplant.

Never mind that everybody recalls his bad-side bedside manner whenever he was crossed, his kill-or-cure treatment of the judiciary back in 1988, or the way he took out his spleen on his deputy, Anwar Ibrahim, a decade later.

Today, as he witnesses and pretends to welcome a fresh outbreak of the reformasi epidemic that he fought so viciously back then, you could almost be fooled into believing he was in favour of it all along.

Except when the mask slips, of course, as it did just the other day when he ventured the outrageous suggestion that Malaysia give asylum to the gruesome geriatric Robert Mugabe when the people of Zimbabwe finally succeed in getting rid of him.

But whatever Dr M quacks on about these days, most Malaysians are cured of the need to listen, let alone follow Doctor’s orders, as now they’re increasingly confident that their nation will survive him and eventually recover from his maltreatment.

Just as, if there’s any justice at all, the good doctor will live to see the end of the poisonous regime he prescribed for the nation, and even the death of Umno itself.