Barry Wain | Far Eastern Economic Review

Malaysia’s planned leadership transition at the end of March from Ahmad Abdullah Badawi to Mohamed Najib Razak masks a fundamental reconfiguration of Malaysian politics. The United Malays National Organization is in long-term decline, after losing support among Malays for at least a decade. Non-Malays are increasingly reluctant to back the 12 other parties in the UMNO-led National Front coalition, especially those representing ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities, given their limited ability to influence government policy. Doubts that the National Front will be viable much longer without a major overhaul are mounting at a time when the political opposition is surging, reorganized and invigorated by the charismatic former deputy premier, Anwar Ibrahim.

The magnitude and complexity of Mr. Najib’s challenge can be gauged by the fate of the hapless Prime Minister Abdullah, who is being forced out early in his second term by UMNO power brokers after losing five of 13 state governments and the National Front’s two-thirds majority in Parliament in last March’s general election. Mr. Abdullah recognized what needed to be done: He won a landslide in 2004 by promising to end pervasive corruption, substitute transparency for cronyism and inject integrity into weakened state institutions. When he failed to deliver, obstructed by entrenched UMNO interests and hobbled by lassitude, he was punished by the electorate last year—and UMNO’s inexorable slide resumed.

Mr. Najib’s background doesn’t recommend him for the role of reformer, which is what is required to recover the affection of disenchanted voters. The son of the country’s second premier, Abdul Razak Hussein, and a nephew of Hussein Onn, the third premier, Mr. Najib is from an aristocratic family that is staking its claim to be Malaysia’s first political dynasty. A cousin, Mr. Hussein’s son Hishammuddin Hussein, is education minister and head of UMNO Youth. The youngest member to sit in Malaysia’s Parliament, Mr. Najib was only 22 years old when he was elected to represent the Pekan constituency formerly held by his father, who died in office in 1976. At 23, he was a deputy minister and at 29 he became chief minister of his home state, Pahang. Since joining then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s Cabinet at 32, Mr. Najib has held senior portfolios for the past couple of decades, without questioning the ethnic-based political system or proposing significant innovations in his areas of direct policy responsibility. “He is not only part of the system,” says one close associate and supporter. “He trusts the system. He is the system.”

(more…)

Oleh Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin

Saya menyangkal dakwaan Sayuti Omar (MSO) di blog beliau yang menyatakan bahawa PM Abdullah dan YB Dato’ Seri Anwar berunding di Hulu Langat.

Kehadiran kedua-dua pimpinan adalah di atas jemputan Al-Fadhil Tuan Guru Syeikh Mahmud Al-Majzub (yang lebih selesa dikenali dengan panggilan Tok Ayah) bersempena dengan majlis Maulid Rasul dan Sambutan Tamat Latihan Kerohanian 40 tahun di Madrasah Nurul Iman, Hulu Langat, Selangor.

Program yang dimulakan sejak daripada awal pagi turut diisi oleh para penceramah jemputan khas dari dalam dan luar negara termasuk saya sendiri. Yang menarik ialah ucapan Sami Di Raja Thailand yang memberikan beberapa dimensi yang menyegarkan mengenai keamanan sejagat. Pada beliau setiap insan itu dijadikan dengan kejadian yang sempurna bertujuan untuk bersama-sama menjadikan dunia ini satu tempat kediaman yang aman bagi seluruh ummat manusia.

(more…)

Terlalu banyak andaian dan tafsiran mengenai kehadhiran saya dan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi di Hulu Langat tengah hari tadi.

Saya dijadual ke Madrasah Nurul Iman untuk sambutan Maulidur Rasul dan meraikan Tuan Guru Sheikh Mahmud. Di antara tetamu adalah ulama’ dari Indonesia, Gambia, India, Patani dan lain-lain. Turut sama adalah ketua sami Buddha dari Bangkok serta bekas Timbalan Perdana Menteri dan Menteri Kehakiman Thailand Profesor Dr. Bhokin.

Saya dan Azizah terlambat tiba kerana terpaksa melayani karenah dan drama di Mahkamah Tinggi termasuk urusan ikat jamin!

Sebaik menghampiri kawasan madrasah, saya diberitahu Datuk Seri Abdullah telah pun tiba. Saya disambut Sheikh Mahmud dan menjamah hidangan bersama Datuk Seri Abdullah, Profesor Bhokin dan para ulama’ yang hadhir.

Kami dapat ngobrol biasa untuk seketika. Selesai bersama berjemaah Zuhur, kami berlepas ka Parlimen.

ANWAR IBRAHIM

Malaysiakini | 10 Mac 2009

Menteri Besar dan barisan exco kerajaan Selangor dijangka mengumumkan jumlah aset masing-masing minggu ini dalam laman web rasmi kerajaan negeri.

Sewaktu mengambil alih kerajaan negeri tersebut pada Mac tahun lalu, sebahagian mereka tidak bersedia mengumumkan jumlah awal aset – khususnya jumlah pegangan saham – dengan “alasan keluarga”.

Dalam ucapan Sultan Selangor sewaktu merasmikan sidang penggal kedua Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) hari ini, baginda bertitah pengisytiharan aset tersebut dibuat bagi melaksanakan dasar pentadbiran baik yang dipromosikan dalam konsep kompeten, kebertanggungjawaban dan ketelusan.

(more…)

Bahagian 1:

Bahagian 2:

Bahagian 3:

Mahkamah Sesyen hari ini telah memindahkan kes perbicaraan Anwar Ibrahim ke Mahkamah Tinggi sekalipun ianya mendapat bantahan keras dari pasukan peguambela Anwar.

Peguam Sulaiman Abdullah memfailkan bantahan awal memohon keputusan tersebut didengar di hadapan Hakim SM Komathy Suppiah namun ditolak oleh Hakim Rozana Ali Yusoff.

Rozana merupakan hakim yang mendengar prosiding di Mahkamah Sesyen hari ini memandangkan Komathy dilaporkan sedang bercuti.

Peguamcara II, Yusof Zainal Abiden telah memohon supaya kes tersebut dipindahkan selepas hakim Mahkamah Tinggi, Mohd Zabidin Md Diah memutuskan sijil pemindahan kes yang ditandatangan Peguam Negara, Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, boleh diterima di bawah Seksyen 418A Kanun Prosedur Jenayah.

Bagaimanapun, Sulaiman berhujah bahawa di bawah seksyen tersebut, kes berkenaan sepatutnya dijalankan di hadapan hakim yang mendengarnya (Komathy).

Sementara itu, Yusof berhujah bahawa mahkamah harus memindahkan segera kes tersebut kerana Rozana hanya membantu dan mahkamah harus menerima apa juga perintah atau penghakiman yang telah dibuat.

Sulaiman pula membantah dan mengulangi bahawa seksyen berkenaan memberi arahan khusus bahawa kes itu disebut di hadapan hakim yang mendengarnya (Komathy).

Rozana bagaimanapun menolak bantahan Sulaiman dan berkata bahawa perintah telah dibuat dan oleh itu, mahkamah tidak perlu lagi menunggu Komathy balik bertugas.

Beliau juga berkata tidak wujud prejudis terhadap kes tersebut jika ia dipindahkan ke Mahkamah Tinggi hari ini.

Dalam satu kenyataan, Anwar menyatakan keputusan tersebut merupakan satu bentuk ‘pendakwaan politik’.

Tegas beliau, fokus utama kini ialah tentang pergolakan politik di Perak serta tiga pilihan raya kecil yang akan diadakan di Bukit Selambau, Bukit Gantang dan Batang Ai.

Anwar turut mempersoalkan tindakan hakim yang kelihatan cukup terburu-buru untuk memindahkan kes perbicaraan tersebut.

Pada 6 Mac lalu, notis rayuan berhubung keputusan Hakim Zabidin — yang membenarkan permohonan pemindahan perbicaraan ke Mahkamah Tinggi oleh pasukan pendakwaan – telah difailkan oleh pasukan peguambela Anwar di Pejabat Pendaftar Mahkamah Tinggi dan Pejabat Pendaftar Mahkamah Rayuan.

Sementara itu pada 7 November tahun lalu, Hakim Komathy menolak permohonan untuk memindahkan kes tersebut, sambil berkata “kes ini menimbulkan situasi yang unik di mana sebarang pembabitan Abdul Gani Patail dalam kes ini akan menjejaskan keyakinan rakyat terhadap kehakiman kes jenayah”.

Komathy juga dilapor berkata, terdapat persefahaman bahawa Abdul Gani Patail tidak akan terbabit dalam kes ini. Jaminan itu diberikan oleh Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad selepas ditemui Presiden PKR, Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Abdul Gani masih disiasat oleh Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) yang dulunya dikenali sebagai Badan Pencegah Rasuah (BPR), ekoran laporan polis yang dibuat oleh Anwar yang mendakwa berlaku pengubahan bahan bukti dalam kes ‘mata lebam’ pada 1988.

Perbicaraan ditangguh ke tarikh 1 hingga 24 Julai akan datang dan jaminan bon peribadi dilanjutkan sepanjang prosiding.

PEJABAT DATUK SERI ANWAR IBRAHIM

The Malaysian Insider | March 9 2009

KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 — Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has expressed his bewilderment at the delay in introducing the second stimulus package.

Speaking on satellite television channel Astro Awani tonight, he said that Parliament has been in session for four weeks but the tabling of the “mini-budget” has been delayed for political reasons.

“I do not know why the government has been delaying the second stimulus package. Parliament has been in sitting for four weeks but they are waiting because of a political agenda,” he said.

(more…)

By Dinda Elliott

What is it that makes some people so courageous, willing to risk everything for something they believe in? I am asking myself this question, thinking about how we Americans take so much for granted in the freedoms we enjoy every day.

In the cool, high-ceilinged villa that is home to Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s former deputy prime minister, who spent six years in solitary confinement after challenging then prime minister Mahathir Mohammad, the drone of Islamic music fills the living room. The Anwar family is religious–his wife and daughters, now both politicians in their own rights, proudly wear tudongs, Malaysian headscarves reflecting Islamic modesty–and I figure the music is part of the Muslim atmosphere of their daily lives. But I am a little worried that my tape recorder will not pick up Anwar’s soft voice above the din. I have waited ten years for this interview.

From Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR – MALAYSIA’S economy is ‘buckling under the pressure of a global recession’ and could contract by two percent this year, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has warned.

Mr Anwar, who was finance minister before being ejected from the ruling Barisan Nasional-controlled government in 1998, said at least 400,000 people risk losing their jobs in 2009.

‘The days and months ahead will not be easy,’ he said in comments published on his blog late on Sunday.

‘Our economy is buckling under the pressure of a global recession. Every month that passes more factories are closed and more jobs are lost. Some groups have predicted nearly 400,000 more are at risk in 2009,’ he said.

(more…)