Najib Afraid of debate with Anwar

Kuching
Wednesday, 12th Jan 2010

As expected, Prime Minister Najib Razak has chickened out of a national debate on the economy with Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim on the basis that voters did not need such exercises to decide whom they wanted to lead the country.

“If we want to debate, there must be an outcome from the debate. I do not see one and what is important is public opinion,” Najib told reporters on Wednesday.

The PM’s excuse is regarded not only as weak but also odd, given that just the day before, he had gone on Twitter and Facebook to improve his rapport with the public and many Malaysians had not hesitated to ask if he would accept the debate challenge.

Contrary to Najib's claim, there is widespread interest especially amongst the urban population because many are concerned about the direction of the economy. Most believe Najib is not doing enough, while many even think that he has not done anything at all except announce huge trillion-ringgit ‘transformation’ projects that even those with the scantiest financial knowledge know the country does not have enough money to undertake.

Mid and low-income groups squeezed by multiple price hikes across consumer essentials including petrol, sugar and gas are also demanding answers from his administration.

“Of what use is a government that cuts subsidies to help the poor so that they can maintain the subsidies they give to the wealthy crony companies. Look at the Independent Power Producers, the government is subsidising them to the tune of RM19 billion, the toll road concessionaires RM4 billion,” Anwar had said when proposing the debate on Tuesday.

“The Auditor General himself has estimated the loss due to leakage and corruption is RM28 billion. That is the real shame to use the term subsidy for what is really 'assistance' to the billionaire crony companies.”

The fear of accounting to the people

But although the challenge came from the Pakatan de-facto head, it was actually Najib, whose careless comments opened the door for Anwar to seize the initiatrive and demand clarity for the Malaysian public.

In a bid to score political points off his arch rival, Najib had suddenly lambasted the Pakatan’s 10-point 100-days reform plan unveiled last month. Not only was he late in his criticism of the plan, he also insisted that the Pakatan would lead Malaysia to financial ruin.

Meanwhile, to help him out of the hole he dug for himself, Umno leaders including Minister in his own department Nazri Aziz, Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and even scandal-tainted Information minister Rais Yatim have rushed to ‘beg’ him to ignore Anwar.

They also offered to debate Anwar on his behalf. Perhaps, they did not realize it but their swiftness in offering to bite the bullet for their boss was actually an insult to him. It signalled their lack of confidence in him to take on Anwar who is famed for his oratorical skills and political savvy.

Najib too appeared to have little faith in himself. “I will not stop him,” said Najib, when asked if he would accept Khairy’s offer to stand in for him.

His lame-duck approach is unlikely to go down well with the Malaysian public.

“It is unbecoming of a prime minister to shy away from a national debate against his counterpart in the opposition. Yes, to some people, it is a contest of debate skills, body language, facts and so forth but above all, the debate is supposed to help put to rest a lot of the people’s concerns about the economy and the country's future," Taiping MP Nga Kor Ming told Malaysia Chronicle.

"Furthermore, such a debate is bound to be televised. Both men will surely behave civilly to each other, so there is no reason for Najib to fear a public discourse with Anwar. What is there to be scared of? It is just a debate between two Malaysian leaders for the Malaysian people. What is so difficult about that?"

Mupok Aku

Truly What Benefits Will 1Malaysia Have For the Dayaks

Kuching

Tuesday, 28th December 2010

To all my dayak brothers, please dont just say 1Malaysia because 

It just a rethoric!

Not less than 12 times daily, Barisan Nasional Propaganda tools in the form of RTM1, RTM2, TV3 and TV7 are playing the 1Malaysia advertisement to fool Malaysians especially the dayaks.

Being the dayak myself, today I am going to write about what the 1Malaysia Concept really means for the dayaks.

Before going further let's me publish here the excerpt on the meaning of 1Malaysia as propagate by PM Najib and Barisan Nasional leaders (inclusive the dayak politicians who support 1Malaysia).

1Malaysia’s goal is to preserve and enhance this unity in diversity which has always been our strength and remains our best hope for the future. I hope this website will initiate an open and vital dialogue exploring our Malaysian identity, our purpose, and direction. I encourage each of you to join me in defining our Malaysia and the role we must play in its future. Each of us – despite our differences – shares a desire for a better tomorrow. Each of us wants opportunity, respect, friendship, and understanding - PM Najib Tun Razak

What are the Benefits Of 1Malaysia to the Dayaks

Religion

Majority of the dayaks are Christian. All this while government has been seen as not treated them fairly as compare to the muslims. No assistance were given by government to build or maintainance of their churches or house of worships. Classic example  was how St Luke church destroyed by fire for more than 10 years no government assistance was provided to rebuild the church.

Other than the above example, the Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia, a government agency, had on 

on Dec 15 2010 had issued a press statement saying , firstly, Islam rejects religious pluralism which claims that all religions are equally true and equally good, and secondly , only one religion possesses the perfect and complete revelation, that is, Islam (see the Qur’an, Al-Maidah, 5:3).

With the above , how can 1Malaysia unites  Malaysians of different religions. This I am very sure that the Dayaks that live in the interior are not awared about.

Development

To those from Semenanjung , the development in Sarawak today (year 2010) is equivalent to the development in their country about 50 years back. A house without electricity and clean water, and the kampongs without tar sealed road is something in the past.

But for the dayaks that live in the long house, life without electricity and tar sealed road is something normal. For them development means NCR lands being developed under  JV with Pelita and Peninsular based company and paid with RM 0.50 per  hectare/day divident, and their Wakil Rakyat gave them with RM5000 every  5 years MRP (Minor Rural Project).

Education

 Another important element where the dayaks are still left behind is on education. If one look at the number of students in Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UNIMAS) and University Teknologi Mara (UiTM) we will see that less than 5% of the students   are dayaks.

Business

One of the objective of the New Economic Policy (NEP) is for the Malay equity ownership to reach 30% . But what about the dayaks? So far what is the equity held by the dayaks?

The above points are the stumble block for 1Malaysia. With no effort has been made by Najib or Barisan Nasional or Idris Jala and Koh Tsu Koon to overcome the above stumble blocks will make 1Malaysia remain rethoric and  tool for najib and Barisan nasional to gain back its 2/3 majority in Parliament.

To the dayaks, be they are the Bidayuh, Iban, Kayan, Kenyah or Punan, 47 years ago we were cheated by  the leaders from Peninsular to form-up  Malaysia, this time we should learned the lesson and not one again to be cheated by the leaders from Peninsular Malaysia in the form of Najib Razak  into  saying  their slogan "1Malaysia".

Berubahlah With Pakatan Rakyat, 

PAKATAN RAKYAT’S FIRST 100 DAYS PROGRAMME

Pakatan Rakyat will implement holistic and necessary reforms in the national administration of the economy, education and others. These will be based on principles that have been outlined in the Common Policy Platform.

As a start to this reform programme, we commit to implement the following within the first 100 days of receiving the rakyat’s mandate to rule:

1. Reform the main national institutions of government, such as the Election Commission, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Attorney General’s Chambers and the Malaysian Royal Police Force to introduce transparency and restore accountability of government.

2. Abolish the Internal Security Act.

3. Direct Khazanah Berhad, the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) and all other government bodies that own highway concessions to complete the transference of such highway assets to the government with the purpose of abolishing tolls.

4. Change the structure of national subsidies by reducing corporate sector subsidies (such as the gas subsidies of RM19 billion to independent power producers) and transferring these savings toward subsidies for the rakyat.

5. Recognise the roles and contributions of public servants by re-evaluating the salary structures; starting with an increase in teachers’ allowances by RM500 per teacher per month as a recognition of the importance of their role as educators in nation building.

6. Restoring all private water concessions to the government, making water a public asset of the rakyat.

7. Deploy free Wi-Fi internet services to all Malaysians in the urban and semi-urban areas.

8. Dissolve Felda Plantations to redistribute its estate lands to the second and third generation of Felda settlers.

9. Increase oil royalties to Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu and Kelantan to 20%.

10. Set up a Royal Commission to comprehensively resolve the problems of illegal immigration and citizenship in Sabah.