Najib: Some people were disseminating distrust and ill feeling to strain relations between the races

The New Straits Times Online……

Datuk Seri Najib Razak said some people were disseminating distrust and ill-feeling to strain relations between the races.

Is he talking about:

Ahmad Ismail is a villain, not a hero

Ahmad Ismail reflects racist views in Umno – using racial issues to defend survival of cronies, not Malay rakyat

Barisan’s ugly campaign in Permatang Pauh

Badawi And Najib Okay Merc For Terengganu

Graft in Malaysia’s Defense Ministry ?

Najib says Indians do not have a bad deal

Malay politicians will not let Malays grow up

Dr. Mahathir disgusted that Umno cannot control racism, says Ahmad Ismail should face disciplinary committee

Umno’s Formula – Turn Everything Racial

Utusan Malaysia slammed with RM 30m legal suit for libel

UTUSAN MELAYU SLAMMED WITH RM30M LEGAL SUIT FOR ALLEGED LIBEL BY ISA DETAINEE & MP – THERESA KOK | My Sinchew

UTUSAN MELAYU (MALAYSIA) reported Sep 18, 2008 that the Malay language daily had been served with a Notice of Demand by Member of Parliament and ISA Detainee – TERESA KOK SUH SIM – for alleged libel in respect of a commentary titled “AZAN, JAWI, JAIS, UiTM DAN BA-ALIF-BA-YA” which was published in the ‘Cuit’ column of the UTUSAN MALAYSIA on Sep 10, 2008. The complainant is claiming RM30m for the alleged libel.

The contents of the article said that TERESA KOK hadinsulted Islam which led to her arrest under Malaysia’s detentionwith charges Internal Security Act.

The Company is seeking legal advice on the matter.

Read:

Selangor Cancels Utusan Malaysia Subscription For Unfair Reporting And Stoking Racial Flames

Extremists Fragmenting Malaysian Society And Destroying The Malaysian Identity

Fanning Racial Flames

Syed Hamid Albar orders detention of Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin under ISA for 2 years

Sun2Surf

Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Syed Albar has ordered blogger Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin to be detained under the Internal Security Act for a period of two years, effectively making a habeas corpus application for his release an academic exercise.

Read:

Barisan Nasional government is structurally and inherently incapable of leading Malaysia

Malaysia slips further in Corruption Perception Index

Sun2Surf

The people’s perception on the state of corruption has not changed despite concerted efforts by the government to beef up the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and put in place mechanisms to combat corruption.

Malaysia’s corruption perception score for 2008 remains at 5.1 — the same as last year — and its ranking down from 43 out of 179 countries in 2007 to 47 out of 180 countries in 2008.

Although Malaysia is placed second among the Asean countries, its world ranking is way below Singapore’s, which stands at No. 4.

Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden rank the highest in the world — with identical scores of 9.3 of a possible 10 — and the lowest is Somalia, with a score of only one.

Transparency International (TI) Malaysia president Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said today that when it comes to corruption perception, Malaysia “just has its head above the water”.

“If we start sliding below five, then it is the start of the slippery slope leading down where we need to avoid,” he said.

“Among the contributing factors to this perception index is the failed link between poverty and the misallocation of resources, unfair distribution, and the exploitation of the poor by the rich.”

He said that while efforts and measures to fight corruption have been put in place, there must be strong will power to implement them by the leaders elected by the people, but if these leaders themselves are corrupt, then it make it all the more difficult.

Admitting that perception is something that will take time to alter, Navaratnam said Malaysia’s CPI reflects this, having moved form 5.1 in 2005 to 5.0 in 2006, and then back to 5.1 in 2007 and this year.

“This shows that all that the government has done has not made any impact on the perception. People don’t believe the changes are real or meaningful because they do not see the difference,” he said.

Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam
Navaratnam said the perception will have an impact on business and foreign direct investments as people will shy away from doing business in a country where their cost goes up because they have to fork out money to get things moving.

“If the government is not moving then the people must act,” he said.

“Leaders who do not fight corruption should be replaced because the country cannot carry on like this. Other countries have move forward while we seem to be heading for the slippery slope.

“The government will have to walk the talk if the people tell them ‘if you don’t sack the people who are corrupt, we will sack you’.”

Navaratnam said Asean countries need to do more to address corruption, too, because most of them have fared poorly in ranking and score.

Tan Sri Megat Najmuddin Khas, a TI executive council member and committee member of the Umno disciplinary committee, said addressing money politics in the party is an uphill battle.

He said among the measures being discussed to curb this are putting in mechanisms for transparency in the funding process, enacting laws. ande public funding for political parties.

Read:

Umno runs on system of loyalty and patronage

Umno rife with corruption

Umno politicians in for financial gains

Umno – money politics reach worrying level

Barisan Nasional government is structurally and inherently incapable of leading Malaysia

Sun2Surf

Former Finance Minister and Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah today appealed to all parties to come together in humility, beyond party politics, to hold an honest discussion, in the spirit of shared citizenship to bring the country out of a political and economic crisis.

Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah
“We need to come together to find unity and direction out of this dangerous situation. In doing so, we might turn our crisis into an opportunity and renew our unity and sense of direction as Malaysia,” he said in a statement today.

He said the political impasse was happening at a time of heightened economic, political and security challenges. He noted that:

/> the global economy faces the prospect of a meltdown on a scale last seen in the Great Depression of the last century. As a trading nation, Malaysia is strongly exposed to its effects;

/> the ground-shifting March 8 general election signalled a public sentiment that cannot be ignored;

/> the grievances of Sabah and Sarawak remain unaddressed, risking the integrity of the Federation;

/> misunderstandings over race and religion are ripe for political exploitation, with potentially disastrous consequences;

/> the government now commands even less confidence than it did post-March 8; and

/> rather than share the public’s sense of urgency, our present office-holders have redoubled efforts to frustrate renewal, cut off reform, and silence criticism. These efforts only underscore the weakness of the administration and its will to change.

Razaleigh, who has offered himself as a presidential candidate for the Umno election in December, said: “We can no longer deny that in its present form, and under present leadership, the government, led by the party to which I have given my life, is now structurally and inherently incapable of providing the direction and confidence that the country needs, whether over the long or short term.“

He cited the following indications “that are there for all to see”:

/> The government has been unable to respond to the economic crisis with even a basic plan of action;

/> The recommendations of two Royal Commissions of Inquiry have been ignored or watered down into insignificance;

/> Instead of using elections to renew its leadership, the leadership of the party has retreated into the fantasy world of a “transition plan” which rides roughshod over the party’s constitution and the rights of its members.

This risible attempt to treat public office and party trust as a private bequest between two individuals, one of whom wishes to hold office beyond his democratic mandate and the other to ascend without one, and the continuing effort to force feed the country with this notion, fools no one.

/> The Opposition has made undeniable gains in the number of parliamentarians it commands; and

/> We are beginning to lose grip of the rule of law. The use of the Internal Security Act and of Sedition Laws to target particular individuals further erodes the credibility of the government.

He said Malaysians cannot afford to allow these disturbing trends to play out their destructive course while “we suffer a de facto leadership vacuum, and while the rule of law is uncertain and the Constitution not upheld”.