Deputy Premier Najib in Trouble?
Pressure mounts in Kuala Lumpur to put the brakes on a scandal-tainted Malay politicoSpeculation is increasing in Malaysia that of one of the country ‘s elite politicians, Deputy Prime Minister Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, is in serious trouble due to a series of messy scandals.There is considerable speculation that Najib, the son of Malaysia’s second prime minister, will be forced to step down from national politics. One rumor has him becoming chief minister of his native Pahang state, although the exit route for most discredited or politically suspect figures in Malaysia is a diplomatic or other posting overseas, according to sources contacted by Asia Sentinel. In any case, on March 13, he became sufficiently concerned that he called a press conference in his Perak constituency to deny rumors that Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was considering dumping him in favor of Muhyidin Yassin, currently minister of agriculture and agro-based industries and a Badawi ally.
Najib is said to be fighting back on a several fronts, making the rounds of the old bulls of the United Malays National Organization, Malaysia’s biggest political party, in an effort to save his career. In January, Najib reportedly flew to London to attempt to meet with Mahathir Mohamad, the octogenarian former prime minister who still carries considerable clout inside UMNO, in an attempt to shore up his support. Mahathir reportedly declined to see him.
In particular Najib has been wounded by speculation of his involvement, however peripheral, in the murder of Altantuya Shaariibuu, the 28 year-old Mongolian beauty whose body was found in a patch of jungle outside a Kuala Lumpur on October 20. Two policemen from an elite Special Operations Force whose ultimate boss was Najib were arrested for the crime. Altantuya disappeared after attempting to confront Abdul Razak Baginda, the head of a think tank closely tied to Najib, over support for her 18-month-old son. Razak Baginda is also facing charges for conspiring in the murder
Originally, a third member of the force – a 22-year-old woman lance corporal – was also arrested. She was never named in news stories by Malaysia’s government-friendly press and was released a week later without being charged. There is widespread speculation in Malaysia that she is the aide-de-camp and bodyguard to Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor.Razak Baginda is scheduled to go on trial in June. The case leaves open the question of how two – and possibly three ‑ elite police officers became involved with a political analyst who has no formal government authority. The top leadership of UMNO, the dominant force in the ruling national coalition, have been tiptoeing gingerly around the case ever since the arrests in November.
Razak Baginda, originally scheduled to go on trial in March 2008, had his trial date moved up by months in an unusual move. That has raised additional questions in political circles over whether the move was engineered by Prime Minister Ahmad Abdullah Badawi or individuals close to him because there is evidence that would tie Najib to the case.Kuala Lumpur’s energetic blogs are buzzing with rumors that prosecutors have a letter indicating that Najib asked Malaysia’s Immigration Department to issue the doomed Altantuya a visa, and that at one point Najib, Razak Baginda and Altantuya were said to have gone overseas from Malaysia together, although others point out that visitors from Russia, China, Mongolia and from lots of other countries can get visas very easily to visit Malaysia.
In addition to questions over the murder case, Najib is also under fire for the 2002 purchase by the Malaysian Ministry of Defense of three submarines that cost the treasury RM$4.5 billion (US$1.3 billion) for which a company controlled by Abdul Razak Baginda was paid a commission of RM510 million (US$147.3 million) in a sale that included no competitive tenders.
Although Najib was cleared in an investigation at the time of the purchase, his position has been weakened enough by the Altantuya scandal that opposition politicians, particularly onetime Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, have again begun to assail him over it. On the Al-Jazeera television network, Anwar Thursday also questioned commissions paid over the purchase of 18 Russian Sukhoi-30 jet fighters in 2003 when Najib was defence minister."There are complicities over the huge and massive commissions accrued by the government involving the Defence Ministry, Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak," said Anwar during the interview.
Najib said he wouldn't respond to Anwar's charges. But, he told reporters recently, "Don't listen to the stories on the internet...they are all a myth. We should not react hastily, we must stick to principles and the truth...what is important is that we understand and know who will help us."
Driving Najib from national politics would be difficult. In addition to the cachet he enjoys from being his father’s son, as deputy party president he has strong ties among UMNO leaders in a career that goes back to 1978 as a functionary in the very strong UMNO Youth wing. The party’s nearly 200 division chiefs are key to his political wellbeing, and reports are that he has been wooing them assiduously, arranging in some cases for overseas junkets.
And, as UMNO goes, so goes Malaysian politics. Despite its endemic corruption and the pervasive sense of rot at the top, it appears highly unlikely that any outside political force could even dent it. Anwar Ibrahim, who was jailed on charges of sexual abuse that were widely perceived as spurious, has been leading a reform party movement, making speeches across the country about party corruption and in particular Najib’s connection to it.But few believe Anwar has any chance to take down UMNO. The odds are instead that if Najib were to be sent packing, it would be at the behest of UMNO leaders who have decided he is too hot to handle, not by the country’s full electorate.
Source :
Asiasentinel.com (30 March 2007)
http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=436&Itemid=31
Other Related Links
Annuar Ibrahim Website
http://www.anwaribrahimblog.com/index.php?s=Altantuya&sbutt=Go
Friday 30 March 2007
Friday 23 March 2007
Umno : Why it has to give up NEP (ALI BABA way of Doing Business)
Musa: Brief Umno on why it has to give up NEP
Source : The Star
By MEERA VIJAYAN
Date : 23 March 2007.
Umno should have a special briefing to explain to its members why it was time to give up the New Economic Policy (NEP) for the success of the Iskandar Development Region (IDR).
Iskandar Development Region Authority (IRDA) advisory council member Tun Musa Hitam who proposed this also volunteered to be one of the speakers at the briefing.
He said that there were already hundreds of Malays who had the capability to do business and on merit. As someone who had been active in Umno for several decades, Musa said, he realised that there was a need to have a change in mindset to draw investors to the country.
“The briefing should explain what the IDR is, its implications to the country and to the Malays,” he said during a press conference at Danga Bay after the book launch of The Reluctant Politician: Tun Dr Ismail and His Time.
In the last few decades of the NEP, the country used to have an Ali Baba way of doing business where Ali would give his name and Baba would do all the work. “As time went on, Ali and Baba became equal and Ali was able to deliver as much as Baba. Now, there are even Alis who are using the Babas not as sleeping partners but as equals,” he quipped.
Musa also said that foreign investors who came to the country were not interested in the NEP, cronyism or nepotism as their primary focus was on making money. He suggested that instead of imposing conditional approvals, a more palatable method would be to provide potential foreign and local investors with a list of Malay entrepreneurs who were capable of doing business and leaving it the investors to decide.
Musa said that he had already asked for a computerised master list of all Malay entrepreneurs to be drawn up and the list would include their current grades as well as their past performance and track record which would be made available to any investor. “The IDR is an opportunity to demonstrate that we have arrived and we are able to do this,” he said.
Source :
(The Star) 23 March 2007
Source : The Star
By MEERA VIJAYAN
Date : 23 March 2007.
Umno should have a special briefing to explain to its members why it was time to give up the New Economic Policy (NEP) for the success of the Iskandar Development Region (IDR).
Iskandar Development Region Authority (IRDA) advisory council member Tun Musa Hitam who proposed this also volunteered to be one of the speakers at the briefing.
He said that there were already hundreds of Malays who had the capability to do business and on merit. As someone who had been active in Umno for several decades, Musa said, he realised that there was a need to have a change in mindset to draw investors to the country.
“The briefing should explain what the IDR is, its implications to the country and to the Malays,” he said during a press conference at Danga Bay after the book launch of The Reluctant Politician: Tun Dr Ismail and His Time.
In the last few decades of the NEP, the country used to have an Ali Baba way of doing business where Ali would give his name and Baba would do all the work. “As time went on, Ali and Baba became equal and Ali was able to deliver as much as Baba. Now, there are even Alis who are using the Babas not as sleeping partners but as equals,” he quipped.
Musa also said that foreign investors who came to the country were not interested in the NEP, cronyism or nepotism as their primary focus was on making money. He suggested that instead of imposing conditional approvals, a more palatable method would be to provide potential foreign and local investors with a list of Malay entrepreneurs who were capable of doing business and leaving it the investors to decide.
Musa said that he had already asked for a computerised master list of all Malay entrepreneurs to be drawn up and the list would include their current grades as well as their past performance and track record which would be made available to any investor. “The IDR is an opportunity to demonstrate that we have arrived and we are able to do this,” he said.
Source :
(The Star) 23 March 2007
Malaysia scraps bumi policy to attract foreign investment ?
Malaysia scraps bumi policy to attract foreign investment ?
Malaysia scraps bumi policy to attract foreign investmentIn its biggest and boldest move to attract more foreign investment, Malaysia is scrapping, in Johor's new economic zone at least, policies that have favoured bumiputeras — the ethnic Malay majority — since the 1970s.
While the details have yet to be spelt out, foreign investors in Johor's Iskandar Development Region (IDR) will not be encumbered with providing 30 per cent equity to a bumiputera partner. The move is aimed at creating a new engine of growth in Johor's southern part so that over the next five to 20 years, it will grow into a major regional financial and manufacturing hub, providing jobs for 800,000 workers. Separately, the Government is abolishing property gains tax in Malaysia to boost the flagging property market and lure foreign investment.
While lauded in the early years, the pro-bumiputera policies — which seek to raise the Malay share of the economic pie to 30 per cent — have since been criticised for having been abused. Hence, analysts say their abolition in the IDR is a crucial step forward towards attracting foreign investment.
Development of the vast 2,200 sq km IDR, more than three times the size of Singapore — and packed with infrastructure, homes, offices, theme parks, hotels, factories and hospitals — will require a massive injection of funds. Estimates are 50 billion ringgit ($20 billion) over the next five years, rising to $160 billion over 20 years.
Luring investment over, when it is being sucked into countries like China and Vietnam, is not going to be easy. "Competition for global investment will become increasingly intense," said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at an investment conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Malaysia, South-east Asia's third largest economy, saw foreign direct investment in 2005 falling to 15 billion ringgit from 17.6 billion ringgit in 2004. Figures for 2006 are not available yet but Mr Abdullah is not waiting for them to confirm the falling trend. He announced tax incentives — exemptions from corporate income tax and the withholding of tax on certain payments for 10 years — to draw investors to the IDR.
Will there be rumblings within the bumiputera ranks since the group has long enjoyed privileged access to government contracts? Johor's Chief Minister, Mr Abdul Ghani Othman, speaking on the sidelines of the conference, insisted he did not fear any political fallout, saying that foreign investment rules favouring bumiputeras will be relaxed in the IDR "in defined areas of certain kind of activities". Mr Abdullah said fiscal incentives would cover six key sectors — creative industries, educational services, financial advisory, healthcare, logistics and tourism."
It shows that at the top ranks of the system, there are people thinking well," said Singapore economic analyst Manu Bhaskaran, according to Bloomberg. The bumiputera policies and all the related problems, he said, do turn off foreign investors.
Hints that Malaysia would scrap its policies favouring bumiputeras surfaced early in the week when IDR adviser, former Deputy Prime Minister Musa Hitam, said such a move was necessary to attract foreign investors to the project. Contract awards "will have to be on merit," Mr Musa, the deputy leader from 1981 to 1986, told Bloomberg on Monday. "The Malays will have to face competition."
But the modern bumiputera businessmen were no longer inept, he told Today. To help foreign investors pick the right bumiputera companies to be their partners or subcontractors, the Government was in the process of preparing a register of companies, detailing their past projects, and grading them according to the level of proficiency with which they handled the projects, he said.
Six companies from Singapore — two of them major ones — are also interested in Johor, Malaysia's High Commissioner to Singapore N Parameswaran told Today.
Source :
Channel New Asia
23 March 2007
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/265813/1/.html
Malaysia scraps bumi policy to attract foreign investmentIn its biggest and boldest move to attract more foreign investment, Malaysia is scrapping, in Johor's new economic zone at least, policies that have favoured bumiputeras — the ethnic Malay majority — since the 1970s.
While the details have yet to be spelt out, foreign investors in Johor's Iskandar Development Region (IDR) will not be encumbered with providing 30 per cent equity to a bumiputera partner. The move is aimed at creating a new engine of growth in Johor's southern part so that over the next five to 20 years, it will grow into a major regional financial and manufacturing hub, providing jobs for 800,000 workers. Separately, the Government is abolishing property gains tax in Malaysia to boost the flagging property market and lure foreign investment.
While lauded in the early years, the pro-bumiputera policies — which seek to raise the Malay share of the economic pie to 30 per cent — have since been criticised for having been abused. Hence, analysts say their abolition in the IDR is a crucial step forward towards attracting foreign investment.
Development of the vast 2,200 sq km IDR, more than three times the size of Singapore — and packed with infrastructure, homes, offices, theme parks, hotels, factories and hospitals — will require a massive injection of funds. Estimates are 50 billion ringgit ($20 billion) over the next five years, rising to $160 billion over 20 years.
Luring investment over, when it is being sucked into countries like China and Vietnam, is not going to be easy. "Competition for global investment will become increasingly intense," said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at an investment conference in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
Malaysia, South-east Asia's third largest economy, saw foreign direct investment in 2005 falling to 15 billion ringgit from 17.6 billion ringgit in 2004. Figures for 2006 are not available yet but Mr Abdullah is not waiting for them to confirm the falling trend. He announced tax incentives — exemptions from corporate income tax and the withholding of tax on certain payments for 10 years — to draw investors to the IDR.
Will there be rumblings within the bumiputera ranks since the group has long enjoyed privileged access to government contracts? Johor's Chief Minister, Mr Abdul Ghani Othman, speaking on the sidelines of the conference, insisted he did not fear any political fallout, saying that foreign investment rules favouring bumiputeras will be relaxed in the IDR "in defined areas of certain kind of activities". Mr Abdullah said fiscal incentives would cover six key sectors — creative industries, educational services, financial advisory, healthcare, logistics and tourism."
It shows that at the top ranks of the system, there are people thinking well," said Singapore economic analyst Manu Bhaskaran, according to Bloomberg. The bumiputera policies and all the related problems, he said, do turn off foreign investors.
Hints that Malaysia would scrap its policies favouring bumiputeras surfaced early in the week when IDR adviser, former Deputy Prime Minister Musa Hitam, said such a move was necessary to attract foreign investors to the project. Contract awards "will have to be on merit," Mr Musa, the deputy leader from 1981 to 1986, told Bloomberg on Monday. "The Malays will have to face competition."
But the modern bumiputera businessmen were no longer inept, he told Today. To help foreign investors pick the right bumiputera companies to be their partners or subcontractors, the Government was in the process of preparing a register of companies, detailing their past projects, and grading them according to the level of proficiency with which they handled the projects, he said.
Six companies from Singapore — two of them major ones — are also interested in Johor, Malaysia's High Commissioner to Singapore N Parameswaran told Today.
Source :
Channel New Asia
23 March 2007
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southeastasia/view/265813/1/.html
Thursday 22 March 2007
Abdullah Badawi : Anti-graft war backfires in Malaysia
Anti-graft war backfires in Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR - It has become evident to many Malaysians that Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's war on graft never really got started. But few would have predicted that three years on, Abdullah and his family would become the target of a mounting chorus of accusations, linked to the same allegations of corruption, nepotism, and abuse of power that the once-reform-minded premier has so publicly campaigned against.
On Badawi's Son and Son In Law - Kamaluddin and Khairy Jamaluddin
Much attention has focused on the meteoric rise of Abdullah's only son, Kamaluddin, and his son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin - both for the most part political and business unknowns before Abdullah assumed the premiership in 2004. While their role cannot be overlooked in what increasingly has the markings of a family business empire in the making, Abdullah's approach to managing the country has done little to break the endemic patronage that has long hobbled Malaysia's political and economic progress. Indeed, his style of governance may in fact be encouraging it
A turning point in Abdullah's premiership arguably came last October in the run-up to the general assembly for the ruling party he heads, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO). At the time, Abdullah's promise to battle corruption "without fear or favor" was meeting resistance among the conservative party's old guard. Then, on the eve of the assembly, in an apparently unprecedented move by a Malaysian prime minister, Abdullah reportedly distributed RM3 million (more than US$856,000) to each division chief for "development" purposes.
Opposition critics at the time said the gesture smacked of vote-buying. Abdullah for his part has denied any foul play. At the very least, the gesture signaled to the party's old guard that Abdullah is as committed as his predecessor - former premier Mahathir Mohamad - to oiling UMNO's patronage machine. And even where the UMNO elite have not benefited directly from Abdullah's style of governance, they have been able to take stock in what appears to be a man being swallowed by the system he had earlier promised to change.
Most recently, Abdullah was accused of procuring a new $50 million jet for his personal use. The plane, he explained, was being leased from a government company for use by top officials, including the king. Either way, Abdullah's administration has shown a special fondness for the country's royal sultanates. His government directly awarded a RM400 million palace project to two little-known companies, Kumpulan Seni Reka and Maya Maju.
In response to the contract, opposition leader Lim Kit Siang asked in Parliament: "Who are [the companies]? Are they a crony company? Why wasn't there an open tender? Why wasn't there a contract? Why do we need this new palace?" Those questions are still being debated, but the opposition is making much hay of the allegations for its own political benefit.
Meanwhile, Abdullah's own family members have during his term likewise, fairly or unfairly, found themselves at the center of controversy. His son Kamaluddin's business activities, including his position as leading shareholder of Scomi Group, a local oil-and-gas company, have come under particularly sharp scrutiny. Scomi's share price skyrocketed 588% four months after listing on the local bourse in May 2003.
While the growth of Malaysia's energy industry has since certainly played a role in pumping up the company's shares, Kamaluddin's family clout is also thought to have inflated investor confidence. Mahathir, now a vocal Abdullah critic, estimates that Scomi has secured RM1 billion worth of government contracts during Abdullah's tenure. Industry analysts, meanwhile, are perplexed as to how Kamaluddin, 38, could suddenly be worth an estimated $90 million.
More controversially, a Scomi subsidiary, Scomi Precision Engineering, was fingered in 2004 by US and European intelligence officials for supplying dual-use centrifuges to Libya, which allegedly could have been used in the country's covert nuclear-weapons program. The company was hastily cleared of any wrongdoing by both the Foreign Ministry and police, even as the United States was applying pressure for full disclosure about Scomi's business dealings.
Defending family honor
Meanwhile, Abdullah has stoutly defended his son's independence as a businessman, saying that Kamaluddin "has never abused his ties with me ... He has never asked help from the government or anything that required a bailout for him." Abdullah has likewise defended his son-in-law Khairy's recent advances in politics and business, which have drawn opposition scrutiny.
Khairy, deputy chief of UMNO's youth wing, has been described in some political circles as "Malaysia's most powerful 31-year-old". Several of Khairy's closest confidantes are also known to be close to Abdullah, including businessman and newspaperman Kalimullah Hassan, whom the premier appointed editor-in-chief of the UMNO-controlled New Straits Times newspaper.
Both Khairy and Hassan have been linked to controversial financial dealings at ECM Libra-Avenue Capital. On December 27, 2005, ECM chairman Hassan along with two other company co-founders announced that they would each sell 1% of their shareholdings in the company to Khairy in a deal that was transacted at 71 sen per share, for a total of RM9.2 million. Khairy is on record saying that the deal was financed through the company, but many viewed his invitation to join ECM as a way to earn the company valuable political connections.
Soon thereafter, ECM acquired government-linked financial company Avenue Capital Resources and reportedly was not required to raise any outside capital to make the multimillion-dollar acquisition. Critics, including most prominently former premier Mahathir, say the deal lacked transparency. ECM has persistently denied any foul play.
Khairy has also been loosely linked to Khazanah Holdings, the state-run investment arm that Abdullah chairs and which manages an estimated RM25 billion worth of government funds. Two years ago, Khairy was widely tipped to become Khazanah's chief operating officer, but amid a public outcry the appointment didn't go through.
However, Ganendran Sarvananthan, 29, Khairy's close friend during his time in school in England, was in February 2006 appointed to the surprisingly senior position of Khazanah's executive director of investments. It is of course entirely possible that there is no political connection to any of Abdullah's family's growing businesses, as the embattled premier has consistently argued. But with opposition criticism mounting, if Abdullah were true to his word about an "unconditional" anti-corruption drive, the authorities should have probed at least some of the allegations. To date, no such probes have been launched.
Rather, top appointments in the government's fight against graft could be viewed as hindering that process. Former Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) officer Mohamad Ramli Manan recently filed a police report alleging that the ACA's current director general, Zulkipli Mat Noor, was involved in various crimes - from living beyond his means to sexual misconduct - when he was a top cop with the Royal Malaysian Police.
Ramli said the ACA had begun to investigate Zulkipli's conduct beginning in 1997, but since he filed his original complaint to the attorney general's office last July, there have been no signs that the relevant authorities plan to move on the case. The Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity last week decided to call both Zulkipli and whistle-blower Ramli in for closed-door hearings.
As currently constituted, the ACA is not an independent outfit, but rather reports to the Prime Minister's Office. The agency's corruption-related arrests have risen from 339 in 2003, to 497 in 2004, and 485 in 2005, but critics contend that the ACA has merely netted minnows and not any big fish. Indeed, some of the agency's once-prime suspects have later landed in the Prime Minister's Office as top-level appointees.
Transparency and accountability have also arguably been impaired by Abdullah's frequent use of the Official Secrets Act (OSA), which gives the government the right to classify as a state secret any document it deems to be sensitive to national security. The government has used the OSA in many instances to avoid scrutiny, including for deals it strikes without tender with politically connected private companies, opposition politicians say.
No-man mission
Abdullah has frequently said that the fight against corruption cannot be a one-man mission. But his actions have hardly inspired cooperation among the ruling elite, let alone at the grassroots. Instead, his government has moved to take down self-fashioned whistleblowers and maintained sharp curbs on the media. The UMNO-backed New Straits Times newspaper group, for instance, is currently suing two bloggers for defamation over postings that were sharply critical of the government, and Abdullah has in press interviews supported the legal action.
To be sure, an anti-corruption campaign waged by the leader of a party that arguably institutionalized the practice in Malaysia was bound to be a slippery slope. And after three years in power, should Abdullah try to recommit himself to the fight he would run the risk of dissent within UMNO with new general elections on the horizon. "Abdullah has learned that this is the way to do business in UMNO if you want to stay in power," contended Tian Chua of the opposition Justice Party.
If it all sounds familiar, that's because it is. Corruption and patronage within UMNO reached endemic proportions during Mahathir's 22-year rule. He sought through any means possible to catapult the nation rapidly to developed world status by 2020. If someone could get the job done - in business or politics - to Mahathir it often did not matter how as much as when. Those practices continue largely unabated under Abdullah's government, in part because their consequences are not readily visible.
Malaysia still makes a convincing show that economically things are humming along. In the capital city, shiny modern trams dart and slither between glass office towers. Well-groomed highways connect the peninsula's far corners. Unemployment is low. The state-run media gloss over government abuses to paint a picture of economic progress and social harmony. And the unquestioning feudalistic masses digest what they are fed by pontificating politicians.
All the while, however, Malaysia has seen foreign direct investment drop from $3.8 billion in 2003 to $1.4 billion last year. Leaders have struggled to come up with a new vision for the country, with grand pronouncements about becoming an agriculture, biotech and high-tech hub showing few signs of materializing. Meanwhile, corruption is also having long-term adverse social consequences.
Recent opinion polls prioritized the need to tackle graft above rising inflation and unemployment concerns. political analyst Bakri Musa recently noted on his blog: "We are sending precisely the wrong message to our people. That is, in order to succeed or afford a mansion and other trappings of the 'good life', we do not have to study diligently or work hard but merely ingratiate ourselves to the powerful in order to hog our own little spot at the public trough."
Abdullah's sagging anti-graft campaign promises to become a big issue at the next general elections, which some believe could be called in the coming months. The opposition Justice Party has promised to weed out corruption should it come to power, and it has singled out corruption issues as the main plank for building up its meager support base. Yet the party's figurehead, Anwar Ibrahim, has been curiously silent on allegations of corruption linked to Abdullah, UMNO and his family.
Despite his insistence to the contrary, Anwar may be looking to re-enter UMNO, the party he was ignominiously ousted from nearly a decade ago on charges of corruption and sodomy. Rumors abound that he has quietly been cultivating close ties with Abdullah in preparation for just such a move. Despite opposition grumblings and signs of business-as-usual, the general public has hardly shown a level of outrage over recent corruption allegations that would indicate they intend to abandon Abdullah or UMNO's ruling coalition at the next polls.
Source:
March 21 , 2007
Asia Times Online:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IC21Ae01.html
Ioannis Gatsiounis, a New York native, is a Kuala Lumpur-based writer.
KUALA LUMPUR - It has become evident to many Malaysians that Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's war on graft never really got started. But few would have predicted that three years on, Abdullah and his family would become the target of a mounting chorus of accusations, linked to the same allegations of corruption, nepotism, and abuse of power that the once-reform-minded premier has so publicly campaigned against.
On Badawi's Son and Son In Law - Kamaluddin and Khairy Jamaluddin
Much attention has focused on the meteoric rise of Abdullah's only son, Kamaluddin, and his son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin - both for the most part political and business unknowns before Abdullah assumed the premiership in 2004. While their role cannot be overlooked in what increasingly has the markings of a family business empire in the making, Abdullah's approach to managing the country has done little to break the endemic patronage that has long hobbled Malaysia's political and economic progress. Indeed, his style of governance may in fact be encouraging it
A turning point in Abdullah's premiership arguably came last October in the run-up to the general assembly for the ruling party he heads, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO). At the time, Abdullah's promise to battle corruption "without fear or favor" was meeting resistance among the conservative party's old guard. Then, on the eve of the assembly, in an apparently unprecedented move by a Malaysian prime minister, Abdullah reportedly distributed RM3 million (more than US$856,000) to each division chief for "development" purposes.
Opposition critics at the time said the gesture smacked of vote-buying. Abdullah for his part has denied any foul play. At the very least, the gesture signaled to the party's old guard that Abdullah is as committed as his predecessor - former premier Mahathir Mohamad - to oiling UMNO's patronage machine. And even where the UMNO elite have not benefited directly from Abdullah's style of governance, they have been able to take stock in what appears to be a man being swallowed by the system he had earlier promised to change.
Most recently, Abdullah was accused of procuring a new $50 million jet for his personal use. The plane, he explained, was being leased from a government company for use by top officials, including the king. Either way, Abdullah's administration has shown a special fondness for the country's royal sultanates. His government directly awarded a RM400 million palace project to two little-known companies, Kumpulan Seni Reka and Maya Maju.
In response to the contract, opposition leader Lim Kit Siang asked in Parliament: "Who are [the companies]? Are they a crony company? Why wasn't there an open tender? Why wasn't there a contract? Why do we need this new palace?" Those questions are still being debated, but the opposition is making much hay of the allegations for its own political benefit.
Meanwhile, Abdullah's own family members have during his term likewise, fairly or unfairly, found themselves at the center of controversy. His son Kamaluddin's business activities, including his position as leading shareholder of Scomi Group, a local oil-and-gas company, have come under particularly sharp scrutiny. Scomi's share price skyrocketed 588% four months after listing on the local bourse in May 2003.
While the growth of Malaysia's energy industry has since certainly played a role in pumping up the company's shares, Kamaluddin's family clout is also thought to have inflated investor confidence. Mahathir, now a vocal Abdullah critic, estimates that Scomi has secured RM1 billion worth of government contracts during Abdullah's tenure. Industry analysts, meanwhile, are perplexed as to how Kamaluddin, 38, could suddenly be worth an estimated $90 million.
More controversially, a Scomi subsidiary, Scomi Precision Engineering, was fingered in 2004 by US and European intelligence officials for supplying dual-use centrifuges to Libya, which allegedly could have been used in the country's covert nuclear-weapons program. The company was hastily cleared of any wrongdoing by both the Foreign Ministry and police, even as the United States was applying pressure for full disclosure about Scomi's business dealings.
Defending family honor
Meanwhile, Abdullah has stoutly defended his son's independence as a businessman, saying that Kamaluddin "has never abused his ties with me ... He has never asked help from the government or anything that required a bailout for him." Abdullah has likewise defended his son-in-law Khairy's recent advances in politics and business, which have drawn opposition scrutiny.
Khairy, deputy chief of UMNO's youth wing, has been described in some political circles as "Malaysia's most powerful 31-year-old". Several of Khairy's closest confidantes are also known to be close to Abdullah, including businessman and newspaperman Kalimullah Hassan, whom the premier appointed editor-in-chief of the UMNO-controlled New Straits Times newspaper.
Both Khairy and Hassan have been linked to controversial financial dealings at ECM Libra-Avenue Capital. On December 27, 2005, ECM chairman Hassan along with two other company co-founders announced that they would each sell 1% of their shareholdings in the company to Khairy in a deal that was transacted at 71 sen per share, for a total of RM9.2 million. Khairy is on record saying that the deal was financed through the company, but many viewed his invitation to join ECM as a way to earn the company valuable political connections.
Soon thereafter, ECM acquired government-linked financial company Avenue Capital Resources and reportedly was not required to raise any outside capital to make the multimillion-dollar acquisition. Critics, including most prominently former premier Mahathir, say the deal lacked transparency. ECM has persistently denied any foul play.
Khairy has also been loosely linked to Khazanah Holdings, the state-run investment arm that Abdullah chairs and which manages an estimated RM25 billion worth of government funds. Two years ago, Khairy was widely tipped to become Khazanah's chief operating officer, but amid a public outcry the appointment didn't go through.
However, Ganendran Sarvananthan, 29, Khairy's close friend during his time in school in England, was in February 2006 appointed to the surprisingly senior position of Khazanah's executive director of investments. It is of course entirely possible that there is no political connection to any of Abdullah's family's growing businesses, as the embattled premier has consistently argued. But with opposition criticism mounting, if Abdullah were true to his word about an "unconditional" anti-corruption drive, the authorities should have probed at least some of the allegations. To date, no such probes have been launched.
Rather, top appointments in the government's fight against graft could be viewed as hindering that process. Former Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) officer Mohamad Ramli Manan recently filed a police report alleging that the ACA's current director general, Zulkipli Mat Noor, was involved in various crimes - from living beyond his means to sexual misconduct - when he was a top cop with the Royal Malaysian Police.
Ramli said the ACA had begun to investigate Zulkipli's conduct beginning in 1997, but since he filed his original complaint to the attorney general's office last July, there have been no signs that the relevant authorities plan to move on the case. The Parliamentary Select Committee on Integrity last week decided to call both Zulkipli and whistle-blower Ramli in for closed-door hearings.
As currently constituted, the ACA is not an independent outfit, but rather reports to the Prime Minister's Office. The agency's corruption-related arrests have risen from 339 in 2003, to 497 in 2004, and 485 in 2005, but critics contend that the ACA has merely netted minnows and not any big fish. Indeed, some of the agency's once-prime suspects have later landed in the Prime Minister's Office as top-level appointees.
Transparency and accountability have also arguably been impaired by Abdullah's frequent use of the Official Secrets Act (OSA), which gives the government the right to classify as a state secret any document it deems to be sensitive to national security. The government has used the OSA in many instances to avoid scrutiny, including for deals it strikes without tender with politically connected private companies, opposition politicians say.
No-man mission
Abdullah has frequently said that the fight against corruption cannot be a one-man mission. But his actions have hardly inspired cooperation among the ruling elite, let alone at the grassroots. Instead, his government has moved to take down self-fashioned whistleblowers and maintained sharp curbs on the media. The UMNO-backed New Straits Times newspaper group, for instance, is currently suing two bloggers for defamation over postings that were sharply critical of the government, and Abdullah has in press interviews supported the legal action.
To be sure, an anti-corruption campaign waged by the leader of a party that arguably institutionalized the practice in Malaysia was bound to be a slippery slope. And after three years in power, should Abdullah try to recommit himself to the fight he would run the risk of dissent within UMNO with new general elections on the horizon. "Abdullah has learned that this is the way to do business in UMNO if you want to stay in power," contended Tian Chua of the opposition Justice Party.
If it all sounds familiar, that's because it is. Corruption and patronage within UMNO reached endemic proportions during Mahathir's 22-year rule. He sought through any means possible to catapult the nation rapidly to developed world status by 2020. If someone could get the job done - in business or politics - to Mahathir it often did not matter how as much as when. Those practices continue largely unabated under Abdullah's government, in part because their consequences are not readily visible.
Malaysia still makes a convincing show that economically things are humming along. In the capital city, shiny modern trams dart and slither between glass office towers. Well-groomed highways connect the peninsula's far corners. Unemployment is low. The state-run media gloss over government abuses to paint a picture of economic progress and social harmony. And the unquestioning feudalistic masses digest what they are fed by pontificating politicians.
All the while, however, Malaysia has seen foreign direct investment drop from $3.8 billion in 2003 to $1.4 billion last year. Leaders have struggled to come up with a new vision for the country, with grand pronouncements about becoming an agriculture, biotech and high-tech hub showing few signs of materializing. Meanwhile, corruption is also having long-term adverse social consequences.
Recent opinion polls prioritized the need to tackle graft above rising inflation and unemployment concerns. political analyst Bakri Musa recently noted on his blog: "We are sending precisely the wrong message to our people. That is, in order to succeed or afford a mansion and other trappings of the 'good life', we do not have to study diligently or work hard but merely ingratiate ourselves to the powerful in order to hog our own little spot at the public trough."
Abdullah's sagging anti-graft campaign promises to become a big issue at the next general elections, which some believe could be called in the coming months. The opposition Justice Party has promised to weed out corruption should it come to power, and it has singled out corruption issues as the main plank for building up its meager support base. Yet the party's figurehead, Anwar Ibrahim, has been curiously silent on allegations of corruption linked to Abdullah, UMNO and his family.
Despite his insistence to the contrary, Anwar may be looking to re-enter UMNO, the party he was ignominiously ousted from nearly a decade ago on charges of corruption and sodomy. Rumors abound that he has quietly been cultivating close ties with Abdullah in preparation for just such a move. Despite opposition grumblings and signs of business-as-usual, the general public has hardly shown a level of outrage over recent corruption allegations that would indicate they intend to abandon Abdullah or UMNO's ruling coalition at the next polls.
Source:
March 21 , 2007
Asia Times Online:
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/IC21Ae01.html
Ioannis Gatsiounis, a New York native, is a Kuala Lumpur-based writer.
Tuesday 6 March 2007
Malaysian Transparency Perception Survey 2007 - Cops get worst score
KUALA LUMPUR (March 5, 2007): Corruption is an acute problem in Malaysia, and the police are perceived to have the lowest level of integrity and transparency compared with other public agencies, according to findings of a new survey.
In the inaugural Malaysian Transparency Perception Survey 2007 by Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) and the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research, both members of the public and corporate sector gave the police the worst score.
TI-M president Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said in ranking the enforcement agencies perceived to have the lowest level of integrity and transparency, 56% of the public named the police, followed by the Road Transport Department (25%) and Customs (19%).
He said 59% of the corporate respondents named the police as well, followed by political parties (52%) and Customs (35%).
"Both sectors felt that government agencies at risk, especially enforcement agencies, remain unchanged, despite all efforts to mitigate such perceptions, but it takes a long time to root out evil and diseases," he told a press conference yesterday.
In the private sector, the building and construction industry was perceived to have the lowest level of integrity by both the public and corporate respondents.
The survey found that human services like health and education were perceived to be the cleanest and the public remained optimistic that the level of integrity and transparency will improve.
Navaratnam said TI-M would like to work with the government to address the problem. "There is no need to criticise all the time because in the end, we want the same goals though in different approaches."
The survey polled 1,025 respondents from the public and 411 from the corporate sector.
Merdeka Centre director Ibrahim Suffian said the survey on the public across Peninsular Malaysia was conducted using the centre's Household Telephone Database between Nov 30 and Dec 8.
Corporate respondents - senior employees or those engaged in business in Malaysia - provided their views through questionnaires.
"The questionnaires were distributed via a network comprising trade and industry organisations, corporate training organisations and directly to participating individuals," Ibrahim said, adding that this was carried out from Dec 11 to Jan 12.
Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee chairman Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad, who launched the survey report, said in his keynote address that "we have neglected something basic - the security and safety of the country, especially for the police".
He said for the situation to improve, adjustments needed to be made to the salary, infrastructure and work conditions of the police.
Commenting on the view that the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) should report directly to Parliament, Shahrir said Parliament had to play its role as an institution before such a measure could be implemented.
He said in order to make progress, politicians must sometimes stop being partisan and be legislators guided by the general good.
The ACA comes under the Prime Minister's Department.
Other key findings include:
• 40% of the public and 52% of the corporate respondents said public sector integrity remained unchanged in the past 12 months;
• 46% (public) and 26% (corporate) expect this to improve in the next 12 months;
• 40% (public) and 54% (corporate) said private sector integrity remained the same in the past 12 months;
• 45% (public) and 29% (corporate) expect this to improve in the next year;
• 30% (public) and 47% (corporate) admitted to having paid bribes or knowing someone who had done so, mainly to avoid inconvenience;
• Bribe-paying experience among the public: Chinese (58%), Indian (23%), Malay (14%). [56% of the people polled were Malay, 34% Chinese and 10% Indian];
• 54% of the public and 71% of the corporate respondents said there was no transparency in government procurement processes.
• 95% of the public and 82% of the corporate respondents supported legislation to protect whistleblowers; and
• 78% of the public and 76% of the corporate respondents want the ACA to report to Parliament.who is also the Preparatory Committee chairman for the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Good Governance, admitted that the government needed to do more on the issue.
Source :
TheSun March 5, 2007
Liew-Ann Phang
In the inaugural Malaysian Transparency Perception Survey 2007 by Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) and the Merdeka Centre for Opinion Research, both members of the public and corporate sector gave the police the worst score.
TI-M president Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said in ranking the enforcement agencies perceived to have the lowest level of integrity and transparency, 56% of the public named the police, followed by the Road Transport Department (25%) and Customs (19%).
He said 59% of the corporate respondents named the police as well, followed by political parties (52%) and Customs (35%).
"Both sectors felt that government agencies at risk, especially enforcement agencies, remain unchanged, despite all efforts to mitigate such perceptions, but it takes a long time to root out evil and diseases," he told a press conference yesterday.
In the private sector, the building and construction industry was perceived to have the lowest level of integrity by both the public and corporate respondents.
The survey found that human services like health and education were perceived to be the cleanest and the public remained optimistic that the level of integrity and transparency will improve.
Navaratnam said TI-M would like to work with the government to address the problem. "There is no need to criticise all the time because in the end, we want the same goals though in different approaches."
The survey polled 1,025 respondents from the public and 411 from the corporate sector.
Merdeka Centre director Ibrahim Suffian said the survey on the public across Peninsular Malaysia was conducted using the centre's Household Telephone Database between Nov 30 and Dec 8.
Corporate respondents - senior employees or those engaged in business in Malaysia - provided their views through questionnaires.
"The questionnaires were distributed via a network comprising trade and industry organisations, corporate training organisations and directly to participating individuals," Ibrahim said, adding that this was carried out from Dec 11 to Jan 12.
Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee chairman Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad, who launched the survey report, said in his keynote address that "we have neglected something basic - the security and safety of the country, especially for the police".
He said for the situation to improve, adjustments needed to be made to the salary, infrastructure and work conditions of the police.
Commenting on the view that the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) should report directly to Parliament, Shahrir said Parliament had to play its role as an institution before such a measure could be implemented.
He said in order to make progress, politicians must sometimes stop being partisan and be legislators guided by the general good.
The ACA comes under the Prime Minister's Department.
Other key findings include:
• 40% of the public and 52% of the corporate respondents said public sector integrity remained unchanged in the past 12 months;
• 46% (public) and 26% (corporate) expect this to improve in the next 12 months;
• 40% (public) and 54% (corporate) said private sector integrity remained the same in the past 12 months;
• 45% (public) and 29% (corporate) expect this to improve in the next year;
• 30% (public) and 47% (corporate) admitted to having paid bribes or knowing someone who had done so, mainly to avoid inconvenience;
• Bribe-paying experience among the public: Chinese (58%), Indian (23%), Malay (14%). [56% of the people polled were Malay, 34% Chinese and 10% Indian];
• 54% of the public and 71% of the corporate respondents said there was no transparency in government procurement processes.
• 95% of the public and 82% of the corporate respondents supported legislation to protect whistleblowers; and
• 78% of the public and 76% of the corporate respondents want the ACA to report to Parliament.who is also the Preparatory Committee chairman for the Asean Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Good Governance, admitted that the government needed to do more on the issue.
Source :
TheSun March 5, 2007
Liew-Ann Phang
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