REINSTATING INTEGRITY
MALAYSIA, BEING LEAD BY MALAY LEADERS, WHO ARE MUSLIMS, SINCE INDEPENDENCE ON 31st AUGUST, 1957, HAVE ENJOYED PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT, IN PEACE AND HARMONY IN A DEMOCRATIC, MULTIRACIAL, MULTILINGUAL, MULTIRELIGIOUS AND MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
IT USED TO BE AN INSPIRATION TO MUSLIM COUNTRIES, A MODEL TO THE THIRD WORLD AND NON ALIGNED NATIONS. RESPECTED BY FRIENDS AND FOES FOR ITS VIGOROUS DEVELOPMENT AND STAND ON NUMEROUS GLOBAL ISSUES.
IT IS UNFORTUNATELY AN INFAMOUS NATION NOW FOR ITS CORRUPTION AND IRRESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP, AT THE HIGHER LEVELS, IN POLITICS AND THE CIVIL SERVICE, WHICH HAS BROUGHT DISGRACE TO THE NATION.
SINCE 1st MUHARAM, THE MUSLIM NEW YEAR, THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD s.aw. LEFT MECCA TO MADINAH ON A 'MIGRATION' WHICH IS CALLED THE 'HIJRAH'.
IT IS ON THIS SAME OCCASION THAT WE CALL UPON ALL MALAYS, MUSLIMS, BUMIPUTRAS AND CITIZENS OF THE COUNTRY TO MIGRATE FROM THE DISGRACED LEADERSHIP OF UMNO AND BARISAN NATIONAL TO BERSATU AND THE NEW CITIZEN'S COALITION.
TODAY, 13th OCTOBER, 2016 WOULD HAVE BEEN A HAPPY DAY FOR ME TO CELEBRATE MY 53rd ANNIVERSARY OF BEING INTRODUCED TO UMNO WHEN I REGISTERED AS A MEMBER ON 13th OCTOBER, 1963 AT THE UMNO SEREMBAN TIMUR DIVISION HQ AT JALAN LEMON, SEREMBAN. DESPITE BEING UNHAPPY AND DISILLUSIONED WITH THE STATE OF AFFAIRS IN UMNO I AM HAPPIER NOW OF MY MIGRATION TO 'BERSATU' AS IT PROMISES LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL WITH THE HOPE FOR A BETTER FUTURE FOR MALAYSIA.
THIS ARTICLE IS IN RELATION TO THIS MIGRATION. A MIGRATION TO A NEW POLITICAL PARTY AND A NEW CITIZEN'S COALITION..
1. A new political party was registered on 8th September, 2016. It could be the beginning of a new era. It certainly means the beginning of the end to the current most tragic, and disgraceful era in the history of Malaysia.
2. This new party, though initiated by ex-UMNO leaders and members, is not a duplicate of the current corrupted UMNO. It is only meant to inherit only the good values of earlier UMNO leaders as the current UMNO leadership has abandoned them.
3. The new party will also be open-minded and PERSUADABLE ( Al Pittampalli - The author of a book entitle PERSUADABLE on How Great Leaders Change Their Minds to Change the World ) by all ideas beneficial to the nation and will scrutinize all criticisms, constructive or otherwise, in order to improve its performance.
MALAYSIA, BEING LEAD BY MALAY LEADERS, WHO ARE MUSLIMS, SINCE INDEPENDENCE ON 31st AUGUST, 1957, HAVE ENJOYED PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT, IN PEACE AND HARMONY IN A DEMOCRATIC, MULTIRACIAL, MULTILINGUAL, MULTIRELIGIOUS AND MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
IT USED TO BE AN INSPIRATION TO MUSLIM COUNTRIES, A MODEL TO THE THIRD WORLD AND NON ALIGNED NATIONS. RESPECTED BY FRIENDS AND FOES FOR ITS VIGOROUS DEVELOPMENT AND STAND ON NUMEROUS GLOBAL ISSUES.
IT IS UNFORTUNATELY AN INFAMOUS NATION NOW FOR ITS CORRUPTION AND IRRESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP, AT THE HIGHER LEVELS, IN POLITICS AND THE CIVIL SERVICE, WHICH HAS BROUGHT DISGRACE TO THE NATION.
SINCE 1st MUHARAM, THE MUSLIM NEW YEAR, THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD s.aw. LEFT MECCA TO MADINAH ON A 'MIGRATION' WHICH IS CALLED THE 'HIJRAH'.
IT IS ON THIS SAME OCCASION THAT WE CALL UPON ALL MALAYS, MUSLIMS, BUMIPUTRAS AND CITIZENS OF THE COUNTRY TO MIGRATE FROM THE DISGRACED LEADERSHIP OF UMNO AND BARISAN NATIONAL TO BERSATU AND THE NEW CITIZEN'S COALITION.
TODAY, 13th OCTOBER, 2016 WOULD HAVE BEEN A HAPPY DAY FOR ME TO CELEBRATE MY 53rd ANNIVERSARY OF BEING INTRODUCED TO UMNO WHEN I REGISTERED AS A MEMBER ON 13th OCTOBER, 1963 AT THE UMNO SEREMBAN TIMUR DIVISION HQ AT JALAN LEMON, SEREMBAN. DESPITE BEING UNHAPPY AND DISILLUSIONED WITH THE STATE OF AFFAIRS IN UMNO I AM HAPPIER NOW OF MY MIGRATION TO 'BERSATU' AS IT PROMISES LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL WITH THE HOPE FOR A BETTER FUTURE FOR MALAYSIA.
THIS ARTICLE IS IN RELATION TO THIS MIGRATION. A MIGRATION TO A NEW POLITICAL PARTY AND A NEW CITIZEN'S COALITION..
BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA
1. A new political party was registered on 8th September, 2016. It could be the beginning of a new era. It certainly means the beginning of the end to the current most tragic, and disgraceful era in the history of Malaysia.
2. This new party, though initiated by ex-UMNO leaders and members, is not a duplicate of the current corrupted UMNO. It is only meant to inherit only the good values of earlier UMNO leaders as the current UMNO leadership has abandoned them.
3. The new party will also be open-minded and PERSUADABLE ( Al Pittampalli - The author of a book entitle PERSUADABLE on How Great Leaders Change Their Minds to Change the World ) by all ideas beneficial to the nation and will scrutinize all criticisms, constructive or otherwise, in order to improve its performance.
THE FEAR OF A WORD - BERSATU
4. The new party is however not allowed to call itself BERSATU or UNITY despite being registered as Parti Pribumi BERSATU Malaysia or Malaysia Bumiputra United Party.
5. I could only think of three possible reasons for this prohibition. Firstly, at every UMNO General Assembly or lesser UMNO gatherings, the UMNO's song will be sung. The song is entitled BERSATU. Should the new party be allowed to call itself BERSATU then when the BERSATU song is being sung at any UMNO event it will remind the crowd, paid to attend the function, of the new party.
6. By the way, for the record, the UMNO BERSATU SONG was initiated by Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah, who vetted the lyrics written by Dato' Johari Salleh and handed over to me, as the Secretary General of UMNO at that time, who introduced the song to the UMNO General Assembly after getting the approval of Tun Dr. Mahathir, who was then the President of UMNO. Tun Dr. Mahathir was UMNO member No. 001 an I was No. 007. The UMNO song can therefore be taken over by the new party by just changing the word UMNO with BERSATU with minor adjustments to suit the grammar.
7. The second reason could be because the word BERSATU is considered hijacked by UMNO to mean UNITY IN THE DEFENSE OF 1MDB SCANDAL. It is therefore a dirty word. If that's the reason then the prohibition on the use of the word BERSATU, by the new party, is an honest recognition by the UMNO-led government that our BERSATU is different from their BERSATU.
8. Our BERSATU preached a new effort for UNITY IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION AND MISMANAGEMENT. It is a call for a responsible and respectable government. It is an effort at REINSTATING INTEGRITY.
9. The third reason is that the current ruling party, which will be the future opposition party in Parliament, and many more state assemblies, is really afraid of Parti Pribumi BERSATU Malaysia. Statements by UMNO leaders reassuring themselves, in a state of denial, that they do not fear BERSATU are obvious indication of the existence of fear which calls for such unnecessary self-consoling statements. Much effort has also been made at discrediting Tun Dr. Mahathir and other founders of BERSATU which increases the popularity of the initiators, promoters and founders of BERSATU.
NO MORE FIXED DEPOSIT STATES FOR BN
10. Looking at the current political scenarios in Sabah and Johore it is obvious that the states can no more be assumed as fixed deposit states for the Barisan Nasional. By that it means the two states cannot anymore help in subsidizing the seat deficits accumulated by Barisan National, in other states, in order to maintain a majority in Parliament. Sarawak has no UMNO and could therefore align with any party, or join any coalition with the new winning group in Peninsular Malaysia.
11. The recent, yet unconfirmed, likely news of the registration of immigrants, as voters, by the Sabah UMNO appears to confirm the current weakness of BN in Sabah. Due to the large area covered by each constituency and the distances between developed centers in the state, it appears feasible, though it might be more difficult to do so in peninsular Malaysia, particularly when the immigrant voters are of recent arrival and not yet familiar with the Malay language. Their darker, slim and wondering look, added with the shabby or over-smart dressings, do not help remove the suspicion of their origin, due to the colour of their skin. BUT WATCH FOR OTHER TRICKS.
12. After the appointment of Dato' Shahruddin as the Secretary General of the new party, he is automatically expelled from UMNO thereby, being a state assemblyman, the Johore State Legislative Assembly has, for the first time in history, lost its 2/3 majority.
THE INDIANS
13. Generally the Indians are keeping away from the present national crisis as their high profile civil servants, politicians and businessmen are benefitting from the conflicts of parties with membership representing the bigger racial or ethnic components in the population. After all no parliamentary constituencies have a dominant number of Indian voters on whom alone an Indian candidate could depend in order to win in an election.
14. All Indian candidates depend on the support of non-Indians in order to win a parliamentary seat. But this support, particularly from among the Malays are harder to earn as the image of Indian Samis together with local 'bomohs' being involved in spiritual intervention in Malaysian political affairs is not palatable.
15. Added to this is the cultural deterioration of the lesser Indians, despite their successful descendants being successful in getting the Ministry of Education to remove the word 'PARIAH' from the school text-book novel by Sasterawan Negara Dato' Abdullah Husin's novel entitled INTERLOK. This deterioration, despite India having inherited a glorious civilization, is lamented by no other than Mr. Manogaran, President of Malaysia Tamil Sanggam in his article dated 24th September, 2016 published in MY INDIAN FRIENDS WhatsApp group after his visit to one Hindu funeral, one Sikh funeral besides seeing a Christian funeral. Mr. Manogaran was not happy with the manner and behavior of the relatives attending the Hindu funeral.
16. The Indians are however comfortable in accepting appointments as senators to enable them to be in the cabinet besides their 'famous' businessmen being 'helpful' to UMNO supreme leaders and civil servants, current and retired, of Indian descents being very, very, very helpful in many, many, many ways.
17. Malaysia should not depend on non-citizen Indian bankers to meddle in its borrowing venture, and not obtain assistants from non-citizen Indian managers to meddle with land schemes to the extent of bringing injustice to the Felda land settlers, by swapping their precious land, for depreciating and unreliable investment in shares.
18. We should look for Indians like Sunder Pichai, CEO of Google; Satya Nadela, CEO of Microsoft; Thomas Kurian, CEO of Oracle; Sanjay Kumar Jha, CEO of GlobalFoundries; Nikesh Arora, CEO of Softbank Internet and Media; Francisco D' Souza, CEO of Cognizant; Dinesh Paliwal, CEO Harman International; Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of SanDisk Corporation; George Kurian, CEO of NetApp; Shantanu Narayen, CEO of Adobe; Vinod Dham, Founder Pentium Chip; Vinod Khosla, Founder Sun Microsystems; Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi; Ajaypal Singh Banga, CEO MasterCard; Ivan Menezes, CEO of Diageo; Rakesh Kapoor, CEO of Reckitt Banckiser; LN Mittal, Chairman Arcelor Mittal Steel and Ratan Tata, Chairman Land Rover ..etc... etc.. There are so many very good Indians, why do we chose the destroyers of our institutions.
19. At least one Indian tycoon, needs to be generous if the Malay-led government could stretch to help prevent any litigation being inflicted on him by other non Malaysian Indian authority.
17. Malaysia should not depend on non-citizen Indian bankers to meddle in its borrowing venture, and not obtain assistants from non-citizen Indian managers to meddle with land schemes to the extent of bringing injustice to the Felda land settlers, by swapping their precious land, for depreciating and unreliable investment in shares.
18. We should look for Indians like Sunder Pichai, CEO of Google; Satya Nadela, CEO of Microsoft; Thomas Kurian, CEO of Oracle; Sanjay Kumar Jha, CEO of GlobalFoundries; Nikesh Arora, CEO of Softbank Internet and Media; Francisco D' Souza, CEO of Cognizant; Dinesh Paliwal, CEO Harman International; Sanjay Mehrotra, CEO of SanDisk Corporation; George Kurian, CEO of NetApp; Shantanu Narayen, CEO of Adobe; Vinod Dham, Founder Pentium Chip; Vinod Khosla, Founder Sun Microsystems; Indra Nooyi, CEO of Pepsi; Ajaypal Singh Banga, CEO MasterCard; Ivan Menezes, CEO of Diageo; Rakesh Kapoor, CEO of Reckitt Banckiser; LN Mittal, Chairman Arcelor Mittal Steel and Ratan Tata, Chairman Land Rover ..etc... etc.. There are so many very good Indians, why do we chose the destroyers of our institutions.
19. At least one Indian tycoon, needs to be generous if the Malay-led government could stretch to help prevent any litigation being inflicted on him by other non Malaysian Indian authority.
20. I am aware that many respectable Malaysian Indian professionals, doctors, lawyers, professors and businessmen are most unhappy with the current state of affairs. They could however only mourn in silence and hope for the best. But they can vote in the next election.
21. Respectable Indians and their relatives are welcomed to be associate members of BERSATU.
THE CHINESE
22. The Chinese are split, but the majority is supporting the opposition party whether it is DAP or PKR. Chinese candidates from Barisan Nasional party who loses in elections also depend on appointment as senators for consolation and representation.
23. It is true, as an UMNO minister said, that UMNO could work with the opposition but chose to work with the losers, which of course they could dominate. It was different during Tun Abdul Razak's days when he chose to cooperate with the opposition GERAKAN party by accepting the party into Barisan Nasional and left Penang for GERAKAN to govern.
24. UMNO can of course emulate Tun Abdul Razak by inviting DAP into Barisan National as an additional partner, if not to replace the weakened MCA and GERAKAN. But of course the DAP would not like to be associated with corrupted leaders. UMNO already has the like of Jho Low to make them sustainable.
25. An MCA leader in Selangor has expressed the hope that the UMNO led Barisan Nasional should pay attention to winning in the urban areas instead of depending on the rural voters, which are mainly Malays and Bumiputras. He obviously misread the difference between the mindset of the poorer and lesser informed rural voters, dominated by the manipulated news via the mainstream media, and the mindset of the better informed and more economically independent urban voters. But, as 'Cash Is King' the observant MCA leader could easily be silenced.
26. As Tun Dr. Mahathir has just predicted the future General Election will be racial if the Election Commission is realigning the boundaries of the constituencies by racial considerations. In other words the hope of the MCA leader could just be dismissed.
THE MALAYS
27. The Malays can however take pride in the knowledge that there is at least one ex-Minister of Finance who was prepared to resign from his post, without having to be sacked, due to the rise in his blood pressure when looking into the 1MDB scandalous affairs. As a qualified, knowledgeable and a person of principle, he probably would not resign if he had detected a little sense of guilt in the perpetrators of the scandal. However, his resignation, probably caused by the intention of the Prime Minister to move him out of the Ministry of Finance, came a little too late, and would not release him of the responsibility for having tolerated the evil deeds for too long, unless he does something more.
WHY MEMBERSHIP FOR BUMIPUTRAS ONLY?
28. There is a question raised as to whether limiting the new party's membership to Bumiputras only as being a duplication of the same old group. The answer is YES, but it is the only way for the Malays and Bumiputras to prove that they can rule in dignity and that corruption and mismanagement is not our cultural heritage. There are still many good and uncorrupted Malays and Bumiputras as there are other races in Malaysia, and the world, who are good and uncorrupted.
29. The statement, as reported in the social media, being made by the Prime Minister that he still has enough money to win the next General Election or to buy over 'the frogs,' should UMNO and BN loses, is clear indication of the urgent need for the Malays to prove that there are still enough honest Bumiputras around.
30. At this juncture in our history, it is important for all Malaysians to remember what the Irish patriot Daniel O'Connell said, 'no man can be grateful at the cost of his honour, no woman can be grateful at the cost of her chastity and no nation can be grateful at the cost of its liberty.'
29. The statement, as reported in the social media, being made by the Prime Minister that he still has enough money to win the next General Election or to buy over 'the frogs,' should UMNO and BN loses, is clear indication of the urgent need for the Malays to prove that there are still enough honest Bumiputras around.
30. At this juncture in our history, it is important for all Malaysians to remember what the Irish patriot Daniel O'Connell said, 'no man can be grateful at the cost of his honour, no woman can be grateful at the cost of her chastity and no nation can be grateful at the cost of its liberty.'
31. Non Bumiputras are welcomed to be honorary members of the new party. The honorary members can be witnesses, judges and supporters to the NOTHING2HIDE in the NOTHING2FEAR new government.
TUN DR MAHATHIR OWNED UP THE MISTAKES
HE DID NOT APPROVE
WHEN IT HAPPENS DURING HIS TIME
AS PRIME MINISTER
32. Another question frequently asked is whether the new party initiated by Tun Dr. Mahathir could bring about the necessary reforms as to ensure, among other things, the abolition of corruption, when corruption was also taking place during Tun Dr. Mahathir's period as the Prime Minister.
33. The answer is a big YES. The new party will bring the necessary reform for the good of the nation. Looking at the backgrounds of those who are behind the vehement attack on Tun Dr. Mahathir, when he is merely trying to sort out the mess caused by the 1MDB scandal, you can definitely identify them as beings in the list of those who benefited from corruption, or being devils who thrived with corruption, during Tun's period, and are now taking vengeance against Tun for going against, or displacing them. It will just be their attempt at undertaking an unsuccessful whitewashing process.
THE MURDER OF ALTANTUYA
34. An obvious case to look at is the Altantuya murder. It involves the purchase of the Scorpene submarine. Was the decision to buy the submarine not made during Tun Mahathir's period as the Prime Minister? The French authorities recognized the role of corruption in that deal. But Tun Dr. Mahathir, who could be blamed for the sin of corruption in the purchase during his period as Prime Minister, was spared the blame because the Defense Minister at that time has now become the Prime Minister.
BMF SCANDAL
35. Another case, to accompany the above, is the BMF scandal involving the murder of Abdul Jalil, a Bank Bumiputra official on his official duty in Hong Kong. This scandal is included in the list of Tun Dr. Mahathir's sins by the less informed. Little did they ask who the Finance Minister was at that time and who was the Head of Bank Bumiputra at around the period of the scandal. It could be their friends. You should thank Tun Dr. Mahathir for accepting the blames for all the faults during his era although he was not directly involved.
PRACTICE OF NEPOTISM
36. One often quoted case was the so called bailing out of Tun Dr. Mahathir's son's Hong Kong based shipping company with its purchase by PETRONAS. It should be made known that Tun Dr. Mahathir's eldest son is not a fool, is born in a genetically brilliant family, and the son-in-law of a very rich tycoon in Indonesia, whose partner happens to be an Acehnese, the late Bapak Ibrahim Risyad.
37. I therefore had personal knowledge that Mirzan Mahathir did not require his father's political influence to obtain overseas finance to buy a shipping company in Hong Kong. His father in law's financial strength was more than enough incentive, encouragement and security to the bankers. He is in no way comparable to Reeza Aziz, the stepson of the Prime Minister, who depended on the stepfather's generosity to obtain funds for the making of his film 'The Wolf of Wall Street.'
38. During the financial crisis of 1987 Mirzan intended to get out of the shipping business. I was lucky to be an alumni of a German university to know, through an associate on the Board of Directors of Maersk shipping line that they were surprised that Mirzan was prepared to sacrifice by accepting a lower offer by PETRONAS when they could offer a better price, therefore a bigger profit for Mirzan.
39. While we should hail Mirzan for agreeing to accept a lower offer by PETRONAS for the sale of his shipping company, Tun Dr. Mahathir was certainly the influencing factor in Mirzan's decision to sacrifice part of his selling price, as Tun thought that a shipping company owned by a Malaysian should be kept in Malaysian hands, and therefore PETRONAS's offer. I am informed that this purchase, in retrospective, appears to be one of PETRONAS's better investments.
40. As Tun Dr. Mahathir did not regard it as necessary to explain or boast of his wise decisions, his critics went to town as this case appears to effectively smear Tun Mahathir's practice in nepotism.
41. In reply to Tun Dr. Mahathir's message of the intention to eradicate his legacy by selling Proton to foreigners, the reply by a minister was not to reassure the people that such thing will not be done, but he chose to suggest that they could eradicate Tun's legacy by bringing down the Twin PETRONAS Tower. Even arrogance is too kind a word to describe such meanness.
42. One of the things that was never discussed openly was the rationale for having a national car industry. Besides being a necessity for the development of defense industry, such as in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, a national motorcar industry is a necessity besides a steel industry in order to enable any nation to have the capacity to build military trucks, tanks and even war planes. Nobody can imagine a nation having such defense industry without the ability to manufacture wheels for the military vehicles.
43. As Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir saw beyond the ability to manufacture M 16 guns or hand-grenades. He certainly did not believe that Malaysia can be defended, and its security being assured by forever depending on imported weapons, or just appointing local urchins and budding hooligans to lead a red-shirt bunch of mercenaries to parade against well meaning yellow-shirt BERSIH demonstrators who are against corruption and for a fair and clean election.
44. It is a disgrace that the leader, of the RM50.00 per person per day demonstrators, was even compared to the great Malay hero Kiai Salleh of Batu Pahat who rose against the Chinese communist terrorists who attempted to take over power during the transition period for about one week, before the British arrived, after the Japanese were defeated in World War II. Kiai Salleh was not a mercenary and was not paid to do the fighting. He is a Kiai which means a religious teacher. It is an insult to compare Kiai Salleh with our national clown. This is probably another subject which should be addressed by our school - THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CROOK AND A HERO.
45. Perwaja was incorporated to complement the Proton in the build up to a future defense industry. It was unfortunate that the CEO of Perwaja was not up to his enthusiasm in helping to build a prospering steel manufacturing capacity as he promised. Had he succeeded and had Proton been given a chance to prosper Malaysia would have developed into one of the countries in the Muslim world which could supply weapons for the maintenance of peace in the world.
46. It is unfortunate that our Defense Ministers who served during Tun Dr. Mahathir's premiership were not kindled with the thought of improving our defense industry while visiting the foreign made warships parked in Langkawi waters, and staring at the war-planes, manufactured in foreign countries, flying over the sky of Langkawi during the Langkawi International Maritime and Airshow (LIMA) held every two years. To them it might have just been an entertaining business event.
47. One might ask the rational for choosing the late Eric Chia to lead Perwaja. As far as Tun Dr. Mahathir was concerned he was the one who showed the greatest enthusiasm and support for such a project. As there were no other volunteers Eric became the founder CEO. There was of course the question of Eric's record in relation to the mismanagement of Bank Rakyat, but Tun Dr. Mahathir has always been of the opinion that if everybody's background was to be thoroughly checked first before making any appointment, then nothing can take off the ground as everyone who have succeeded in anything would have failed along the way.
48. After all the Bank Rakyat's fiasco was not the making of Eric Chia alone. Even without Eric Chia the bank had not long ago lent to an Indian businessman vast sums of money merely against the security of numerous monthly post-dated cheques resulting in it's chairman resigning in protest despite his extension as chairman was just being issued by the central bank Bank Negara Malaysia. In addition to that Bank Rakyat's chairman was just arrested for corruption despite having served in the army up to the rank of a Brigadier General in addition to being appointed as an ambassador to represent Malaysia in a foreign land.
49. In making appointments to many posts in the government and the GLCs I noted that Tun Dr. Mahathir was attracted to a person's enthusiasm and business acumen before the person is given a chance to prove himself. Unfortunately Eric was a disappointment.
50. But there were other disappointments for mistakes which Tun Dr. Mahathir committed as humans, such as in identifying Tun Musa Hitam, Tun Abdullah Badawi and Dato' Seri Najib as his ministers, Deputy Prime Ministers and Prime Ministers.
51. Whatever be the losses of Perwaja it was an open book and the culprits involved in causing Perwaja's problems were all punished to the degree that the evidence showed. There was nothing secret about Perwaja's failure and we did not borrow RM42 billion at 6% interest through a bank that charged 10% commission (RM4.2 billion) causing the rot to Malaysia's economy. Eric Chia is nothing compared to the menace caused by Jho Low.
PROTON & PERWAJA
41. In reply to Tun Dr. Mahathir's message of the intention to eradicate his legacy by selling Proton to foreigners, the reply by a minister was not to reassure the people that such thing will not be done, but he chose to suggest that they could eradicate Tun's legacy by bringing down the Twin PETRONAS Tower. Even arrogance is too kind a word to describe such meanness.
DEFENSE INDUSTRY
42. One of the things that was never discussed openly was the rationale for having a national car industry. Besides being a necessity for the development of defense industry, such as in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, a national motorcar industry is a necessity besides a steel industry in order to enable any nation to have the capacity to build military trucks, tanks and even war planes. Nobody can imagine a nation having such defense industry without the ability to manufacture wheels for the military vehicles.
43. As Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir saw beyond the ability to manufacture M 16 guns or hand-grenades. He certainly did not believe that Malaysia can be defended, and its security being assured by forever depending on imported weapons, or just appointing local urchins and budding hooligans to lead a red-shirt bunch of mercenaries to parade against well meaning yellow-shirt BERSIH demonstrators who are against corruption and for a fair and clean election.
HEROES AND NOT CROOKS
TO DEFEND THE COUNTRY
44. It is a disgrace that the leader, of the RM50.00 per person per day demonstrators, was even compared to the great Malay hero Kiai Salleh of Batu Pahat who rose against the Chinese communist terrorists who attempted to take over power during the transition period for about one week, before the British arrived, after the Japanese were defeated in World War II. Kiai Salleh was not a mercenary and was not paid to do the fighting. He is a Kiai which means a religious teacher. It is an insult to compare Kiai Salleh with our national clown. This is probably another subject which should be addressed by our school - THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CROOK AND A HERO.
45. Perwaja was incorporated to complement the Proton in the build up to a future defense industry. It was unfortunate that the CEO of Perwaja was not up to his enthusiasm in helping to build a prospering steel manufacturing capacity as he promised. Had he succeeded and had Proton been given a chance to prosper Malaysia would have developed into one of the countries in the Muslim world which could supply weapons for the maintenance of peace in the world.
LANGKAWI
INTERNATIONAL MARITIME AND AIR SHOW
46. It is unfortunate that our Defense Ministers who served during Tun Dr. Mahathir's premiership were not kindled with the thought of improving our defense industry while visiting the foreign made warships parked in Langkawi waters, and staring at the war-planes, manufactured in foreign countries, flying over the sky of Langkawi during the Langkawi International Maritime and Airshow (LIMA) held every two years. To them it might have just been an entertaining business event.
CHOOSING CEOs
47. One might ask the rational for choosing the late Eric Chia to lead Perwaja. As far as Tun Dr. Mahathir was concerned he was the one who showed the greatest enthusiasm and support for such a project. As there were no other volunteers Eric became the founder CEO. There was of course the question of Eric's record in relation to the mismanagement of Bank Rakyat, but Tun Dr. Mahathir has always been of the opinion that if everybody's background was to be thoroughly checked first before making any appointment, then nothing can take off the ground as everyone who have succeeded in anything would have failed along the way.
48. After all the Bank Rakyat's fiasco was not the making of Eric Chia alone. Even without Eric Chia the bank had not long ago lent to an Indian businessman vast sums of money merely against the security of numerous monthly post-dated cheques resulting in it's chairman resigning in protest despite his extension as chairman was just being issued by the central bank Bank Negara Malaysia. In addition to that Bank Rakyat's chairman was just arrested for corruption despite having served in the army up to the rank of a Brigadier General in addition to being appointed as an ambassador to represent Malaysia in a foreign land.
TUN DR. MAHATHIR'S CHOICES
49. In making appointments to many posts in the government and the GLCs I noted that Tun Dr. Mahathir was attracted to a person's enthusiasm and business acumen before the person is given a chance to prove himself. Unfortunately Eric was a disappointment.
50. But there were other disappointments for mistakes which Tun Dr. Mahathir committed as humans, such as in identifying Tun Musa Hitam, Tun Abdullah Badawi and Dato' Seri Najib as his ministers, Deputy Prime Ministers and Prime Ministers.
NOTHING2HIDE
51. Whatever be the losses of Perwaja it was an open book and the culprits involved in causing Perwaja's problems were all punished to the degree that the evidence showed. There was nothing secret about Perwaja's failure and we did not borrow RM42 billion at 6% interest through a bank that charged 10% commission (RM4.2 billion) causing the rot to Malaysia's economy. Eric Chia is nothing compared to the menace caused by Jho Low.
INDEPENDENT POWER PLANTS
52. Another glaring effort at smearing Tun Dr. Mahathir's name was done by agencies headed by Ministers who should have known better of the correct version of what Tun Dr. Mahathir was blamed for, as their friends were present when the decision to introduce the Independent Power Projects (IPPs) were made.
53. Let me repeat here on what actually happened as I had once explained in the social media. In at least 2 cabinet meetings I saw more than 3 officials from Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) appearing before the cabinet when Tun Dr. Mahathir was stressing on the need for electricity for new industries if we are to provide jobs to our people. As Tun Dr. Mahathir had promised sufficient supply of electricity for industrial needs to potential investors, within a specified period, the cabinet was giving instructions, while listening to their difficulties, in accommodating this requirement.
54. It was during the second appearance that the TNB officials reiterated the impossibility of providing the required amount of electricity, at the normal cost, before the target date which lead to the idea of privatizing electrical supplies to IPPs.
55. In subsequent cabinet meeting the cabinet endorsed the earlier decision and the rest of the responsibility was taken over by the TNB. It was from my late school-mate, the lawyer Mohd Khir of Mohd Khir & Parners that I found out the exorbitant rates that TNB had to pay to the IPPs for the purchase of electricity. I was informed that the Chairman of TNB Tan Sri Ani Arope was opposed to such exorbitant payment. Only then was I made aware that the decision of the cabinet based on information by TNB officials was unknown to TNB's Chairman, who took offence towards the decision.
56. I told the lawyer Mohd Khir that I did not believe the officials were persuaded by the future IPP license holders but was surprised that the Chairman was not briefed on such important decisions.
UNFAIR CONTRACTS ACT
57. As I was informed that the charges by the IPPs were too high, I comforted myself with the belief that the cost factor would have been considered against the possible lost of work opportunities to the Malaysian workers. I also remembered that when the Labour Party Prime Minister Harold Wilson took over the British government he did introduce the UNFAIR CONTRACTS ACT to nullify all unfair contracts signed by the earlier Conservative Government of Harold McMillan. This act can be used should the need appears in the future, when the government reviews the rate. I obtained a copy of the UNFAIR CONTRACTS ACT from Mike Thompson of the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur.
58. Should future Ministers of Finance feel that the charges by IPPs were unfairly high, this act, which I made known to one of them, could have been used.
59. But we chose to blame Tun Dr. Mahathir despite the fact that these very same IPPs were used to siphoned off 1MDB's borrowed money to pay exorbitant prices, when purchased, just before the expiry dates of their licenses, when they will be valueless after having earned vast profits, over the years, which had become an issue for a long period.
60. The reason given by the current BN government for the purchase of IPPs by 1MDB, from the private sector, was to make it state-owned, therefore, they are owned by the people who uses the electrical power of the IPPs. How do you explain then when the same BN government later sold the IPPs to a foreign nation - China.
61. But Tun Dr. Mahathir did not defend himself against all such accusations as the abovementioned. He left it to history to be the judge, after all, since it happened during his period as leader of the nation, he takes responsibility for the period of his leadership as the Prime Minister.
62. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad did not lie to the people and the nation.
THE STRATEGY OF BARISAN NASIONAL
63. As to the current Prime Minister, he and his men are made to believe that MELAYU MUDAH LUPA or MALAYS FORGET EASILY is a factor which gives them the hope that by the time the GE 14 takes place other issues would have taken center stage and the 1MDB scandals would have been forgotten, and all the levies and deprivations caused by the scandal are taken for granted by the tolerant Malaysian population, while there are enough poor people in the country who could be bribed with pittance to vote for the sinners who have robbed the nation.
64. The 1MDB scandal, after all, had served double-edged purposes, as it had been the cause of all recent deterioration in our standard of living and the sinking of our poverty level and therefore generated enough poverty to be subsidized in order to win elections.
65. In addition to bribing the poor as 'CASH IS KING' there appears to be CASH as the only power in the absence of any other power, authority, personality or institution, even the monarchy, which is strong enough to stop the menace brought about by the dominating imperial CASH.
66. It is this situation which can be described as the failure of democracy as John Stuart Mill has reminded all who are interested in the maintenance of democracy, not to lay their liberties at the feet of even a great man, or to trust him with powers which enable him to subvert their institutions.
67. What more when the mischiefs are committed by lesser than great man.
TO ERADICATE THE BURDEN
ON FUTURE MALAYSIANS.
68. All those future generation of Malaysians, who will have to bear the burden of national debts when the bonds issued today will have to paid with interests on ever growing foreign and local borrowings, as it falls due in the far future. This future generation is not around to vote during the next 14th General Election.
69. It is therefore the responsibility of all parties opposing the present Barisan National government to ensure that -
69a. The sins of the present government are not forgotten, although some BN pundits thought that if such a memory exists it should then be nullified by sins committed during earlier periods,
69b. The rural poor are continuously being informed in such a way that despite all the 'bribes and donations' they will reject the BN,
69c. The voters feel responsible for the fate of their future generation,
69d. The young educated voters, including those from the rural areas should be able to enlighten their parents, relatives and friends on the wisdom of throwing Najib and his cronies out logs, stocks and barrels.
69e. The government servants. from the Civil, Security and Uniformed services, being ensured of their salary, and time to time bonus or increases in their salaries, despite all the tapings on their social media messages and continuous warnings, transfers and deprivation, should bring about peace to themselves by throwing out the BN government.
69f. The Felda settlers should exhibit their vengeance by voting out the BN for having cheated them by the conversion of their ownership of land into shares which are doomed on the stock exchange market.
69g. All consumers should vote out the BN government for 'orchestrating' the fall in the value of the ringgit therefore causing increases in prices of all imported products.
69h. Above all, the citizens of Malaysia, should not vote for candidates of a political party whose records have proven their untrustworthiness.
69i. Voters should take note that should the Prime Minister steps down then the successor should not be someone who, by feudalistic and dynastic influences, will be ensuring that all sinners will continue to be covered and protected to allow what is lost not to be recovered while all the culprits will go unpunished.
70. IT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THIS 'MIGRATION', OR 'HIJRAH' OF UMNO MEMBERS, AND ALL RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS, TO BERSATU AND THE NEW PEOPLES COALITION, RESPECTIVELY, MUST BE JUSTLY DONE WITH THE PURPOSE OF RETURNING MALAYSIA TO BE A NATION OF INTEGRITY WHICH IS RESPECTED BY FRIENDS AND ADVERSARIES.
71. THERE SHOULD BE SERIOUS REFORMS TO CORRECT DEFICIENCIES IN ALL INSTITUTIONS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHICH WE HAVE BEEN SEEN BEING CORRUPTED OR HINDERED IN THEIR ABILITY TO FUNCTION.
72. IN THIS HONORABLE ENDEAVOUR, THE FUTURE LEADERS OF BERSATU CANNOT, AND SHOULD NOT, MONOPOLISE IN ITS IMPLEMENTATION, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO INHERIT AND BRING ALONG THE BAD AND DAMAGING ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES OF THEIR OLD PARTY, AS THESE ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES WERE THE REASONS THEY LEFT THE PARTY OR WERE BEING EXPELLED FROM IT.
73. May ALLAH swt bless us all in our effort to correct our wrongdoings.
70. IT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THIS 'MIGRATION', OR 'HIJRAH' OF UMNO MEMBERS, AND ALL RESPONSIBLE CITIZENS, TO BERSATU AND THE NEW PEOPLES COALITION, RESPECTIVELY, MUST BE JUSTLY DONE WITH THE PURPOSE OF RETURNING MALAYSIA TO BE A NATION OF INTEGRITY WHICH IS RESPECTED BY FRIENDS AND ADVERSARIES.
LET US DO IT TOGETHER
71. THERE SHOULD BE SERIOUS REFORMS TO CORRECT DEFICIENCIES IN ALL INSTITUTIONS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHICH WE HAVE BEEN SEEN BEING CORRUPTED OR HINDERED IN THEIR ABILITY TO FUNCTION.
72. IN THIS HONORABLE ENDEAVOUR, THE FUTURE LEADERS OF BERSATU CANNOT, AND SHOULD NOT, MONOPOLISE IN ITS IMPLEMENTATION, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO INHERIT AND BRING ALONG THE BAD AND DAMAGING ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES OF THEIR OLD PARTY, AS THESE ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES WERE THE REASONS THEY LEFT THE PARTY OR WERE BEING EXPELLED FROM IT.
73. May ALLAH swt bless us all in our effort to correct our wrongdoings.
Tan Sri,
ReplyDeleteBoleh cerita tak satu lagi iaitu ttg perjanjian konsesi lebuhraya yg dikatakan berat sebelah? Tq.