Lobby group fast-tracking ‘apartheid’ case to US Congress

Hindraf chief Waythamoorthy's current tour of US to highlight Malaysia's discriminatory policies, prompts powerful Hindu American Foundation to set up early date.

 

GEORGE TOWN: The Hindu American Foundation (HAF), an influential lobby group, is setting up a comprehensive US Congress briefing on the Malaysian government’s marginalisation policies on minority communities, the organisation said in a statement today.

Hindraf Makkal Sakti supremo P Waythamoorthy’s current briefing to various US departments and officials on the alleged ‘Institutionalised Racism and Religious Discrimination in Malaysia’ has prompted HAF to brief the US Congress sooner than later.

HAF indicated that US officials were convinced that Malaysia has hallmarks of a racist state which has been virtually overlooked by the international community.

HAF human rights coordinator Dr Ramesh Rao said the Malaysian government must amend policies that disadvantaged citizens economically due to race and religion if the country wished to be part of today’s global economy.

He has also called on the US State Department and Congress to engage Malaysian counterparts to uphold democratic values.

“This is imperative if the US stance on freedom of religion and human rights is not to be jeopardised in Southeast Asia and to ensure that the seeds of religious extremism are not planted in Malaysia,” said Ramesh.

Waythamoorthy, accompanied by HAF’s associate director Jay Kansara and Ramesh, has thus far briefed representatives from 10 House and Senate offices, including key subcommittees, the Tom Lantos Commission on Human Rights and the US State Department.

Waythamoorthy also briefed senior officials of the American Jewish Committee. He also addressed a group of students, professors and ordinary people at a special forum organised by NGO, Sanatana Satsang, at the University of Maryland, College Park.

One briefing was held in the US House of Foreign Affairs Committee hearing room in the Rayburn House Office Building which was attended by congressional staffers, think tank and human rights activists, and embassy officials.

Waythamoorthy is on a mision to generate awareness among US officials on human rights violations faced by Hindus, Christians, and other ethnic minority groups in Malaysia.

“I thank HAF for sponsoring and organising the congressional briefing and arranging meetings with staff members of strategic offices,” Waythamoorthy told FMT.

If HAF succeeds in convincing the US Congress and the White House that the Umno-helmed Putrajaya administration was indeed practicing discriminative policies against minorities, Malaysia could be slapped with Washington-initiated economic sanction.

This may even lead to sanctions imposed by the European Community and economic powers.

Waythamoorthy received a death threat ahead of his briefing in the US on the deteriorating human rights condition, especially violations on the minority ethnic Indian community.

Article 153 of the Federal Constitution

HAF said Waythamoorthy told US officials that the state control of government administration, educational institutions, and economic programmes have all been designed to favour and enrich only the majority Malay-Muslim community.

The thrust of Waythamoorthy’s briefings was that ethnic Indians and other minorities who have been living in Malaysia for generations before independence, should be treated as equals and be enabled to take part in mainstream Malaysian society.

HAF’s recent annual human rights report prominently featured the discrimination faced by Malaysian Hindus in education, economic and social advancement opportunities.

A powerful US lobby group, HAF contended that the Malaysian government had sanctioned destruction of Hindu temples, monuments and settlements.

HAF also claimed that the Putrajaya administration has tolerated various acts of criminal intimidation, violence and death threats against minority communities.

HAF said Waythamoorthy briefed US officials on Bumiputera policies which provided overwhelming economic and social benefits to ethnic Malay-Muslim citizens, while discriminating against minorities vis-a-vis Article 153 of the Federal Constitution.

He had also highlighted that religious minorities were increasingly subjected to Islamic syariah laws despite the country having a parallel secular judicial system.

Waythamoorthy said countless ethnic Indians were denied citizenship and legal documents by the Malaysian government, in spite of their roots dating back several generations.

As a consequence, they have been unable to obtain driver’s licenses or passports, acquire property, attend school, and seek medical care, rendering them virtually stateless.

“Article 153 is a deep-rooted racist provision in the Constitution which sanctions racist policies to the disadvantage of the minority non-Malay population,” said Waythamoorthy.

He said that the Malaysian government had wielded draconian laws like the Internal Security Act (ISA) to detain anyone, who questioned Article 153.

“The current Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers had openly threatened non-Malays with violence should this provision be questioned,” the statement quoted Waythamoorthy as saying.

Athi Shankar - Free Malaysia Today

Tahniah Selangor - Budget 2012

Keadilan mengalu-alukan Belanjawan Selangor 2012 yang bertemakan Selangorku: Hasil Negeri Untuk Rakyat yang dibentangkan Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

Bagi pihak Kepimpinan Pusat Parti Keadilan Rakyat, saya mengucapkan tahniah kepada kerajaan pimpinan Tan Sri Khalid yang berjaya meningkatkan hasil negeri serta memastikan pengagihan khazanah negeri secara adil dan prihatin. Anggaran peningkatan hasil cukai (8.23%) dan hasil bukan cukai (40.12%) untuk tahun 2012 menampakkan pengurusan ekonomi negeri yang menjanakan pembangunan yang cukup pesat.

Dengan peningkatan hasil yang cukup baik ini, kerajaan negeri tidak bertindak berbelanja secara tidak wajar. Sebaliknya, simpanan tunai kerajaan Selangor kini telah mencecah RM 1.2 bilion - jumlah tertinggi sejak 28 tahun. Pengurusan wang yang beramanah ini adalah bukti komitmen Pakatan Rakyat terhadap pemerintahan berintegriti yang tidak berbelah bagi.

Jumlah simpanan wang ini harus dibandingkan dengan hutang kerajaan persekutuan yang telah mencecah RM 400 bilion. Jumlah hutang ini amat membimbangkan; tanpa reformasi yang mendalam, Malaysia mungkin akan menghadapi masalah yang sama dengan negara-negara Eropah yang berdepan dengan krisis ekonomi yang cukup parah.

Tidak seperti kerajaan sebelumnya, kerajaan negeri Pakatan Rakyat pimpinan Tan Sri Khalid berjaya menghentikan ketirisan dan rasuah dahulu yang merugikan rakyat sehingga ratusan juta ringgit. Sebagai contoh, apabila Pakatan Rakyat mengambil alih pada Mac 2008, tiada sebarang rekod berkenaan hutang RM 391 juta Syarikat Talam kepada kerajaan Selangor. Walaubagaimanapun, pimpinan baru kerajaan negeri yang meneliti setiap aspek pengurusan wang rakyat berjaya mengenalpasti serta mengutip balik wang yang dihutang oleh pihak swasta kepada rakyat.

Hasil pembasmian ketirisan dan rasuah, ratusan juta ringgit berjaya dijimatkan dan dibelanjakan balik demi kebajikan rakyat. Bagi 2012, kerajaan Selangor akan menyambungkan segala inisiatif kebajikan di bawah program Merakyatkan Ekonomi Selangor, serta menambahkan lagi RM 300 juta (hampir 15% belanjawan sepenuhnya) di bawah Geran Selangorku untuk meningkatkan lagi dana untuk meringankan beban ekonomi rakyat.

Kita mengalu-alukan semua progam kebajikan ini yang memanfaatkan rakyat yang menghadapi cabaran ekonomi yang semakin perit. Sasaran bantuan negeri termasuk rakyat berpendapatan rendah di kawasan bandar dan luar bandar, golongan petani dan nelayan, serta orang kelainan upaya.

Program kebajikan kerajaan Selangor bersifat menghakupayakan rakyat supaya mampu berdikari, bukannya bersifat pertolongan 'one-off' sepertimana yang dilaksanakan oleh kerajaan persekutuan. Pendekatan ini menunjukkan komitmen Pakatan Rakyat untuk memastikan setiap rakyat berpeluang mencari pekerjaan bermaruah dan pendapatan yang mencukupi serta setara dengan kos sara hidup.

Keadilan mengucapkan tahniah kepada kerajaan negeri Selangor dan Menteri Besar Tan Sri Khalid atas kejayaan dalam pengurusan hasil negeri untuk rakyat dan harap kerajaan persekutuan akan meneladani pendekatan yang memprioritikan rakyat ini.

Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail ia lah Presiden Parti Keadilan Rakyat

Even more shocking, NFC paid for Shahrizat's RM10mil luxury Bangsar condo

This is one skirmish that Umno Senator Shahrizat Jalil is bound to lose.

Despite calling on her friends - Prime Minister Najib Razak, Agriculture minister Noh Omar and Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin - to counter the "political agenda" of the opposition that she alleges is aimed to weaken her Women's wing, all eyes are now how she will explain an RM10million super-luxury condo paid with funds from the NFC beef production project.

“They said the RM250 million loan for the project was in a tightly-controlled account. Is the condominium for cows to live in?” PKR secretary general Saifuddin Nasution told a press conference in the Parliament lobby on Thursday.

Cast-iron - it was a cash purchase

Saifuddin, who is also the Machang MP, Nasution said the luxury apartment at One Menerung, Bangsar was recorded by in the books of the NFC or National Feedlot Centre as part of a RM83 million “loan” to NMLC, which is controlled by Shahrizat's family.

The project aimed to raise local supply of beef to 40 per cent of consumption was awarded to Shahrizat's husband Mohamad Salleh Ismail and cher hildren to manage and oversee.

PKR has been sounding the alarm bells on the project, but was snubbed in Parliament by the BN MPs. However, a recently released Auditor General's report for 2010 confirmed PKR's allegation. The AG said the project was in a "mess" and had fallen far short of its production target.

On Tuesday, PKR revealed that more than RM83 million was siphoned off from NFC to companies controlled by Shahrizat’s husband, such as NMLC and RPC. It also questioned the RM3million discount granted to RPC, which in turn owns Meatworks, a fine-dining outlet also owned by Shahrizat's family.

Saifuddin told reporters today that RM9,758,140 was transferred from NFC’s CIMB account in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur to Bandar Raya Developments Berhad on December 2, 2009 as full payment for the One Menerung condo.

“It was not from a special trust account. So the Umno Youth chief and minister’s explanations are false. If strict monitoring had occurred, surely RM9.8 million cannot be transferred to buy a luxury condo that has nothing to do with cattle farming. This is a clear breach of trust by Shahrizat’s family,” said Saifuddin.

Khairy the most two-faced?

Just Wednesday evening, Khairy - whose supporters claim the Oxford-graduate is now a 'transformed' and 'cleansed' Umno leader - insisted that the soft loan could only be disbursed after the NFC tabled a working paper and the transaction was approved by the Finance ministry.

Noh had also said that only RM135 million had been drawn by the NFC as the funds have been placed in an escrow account. Najib, the Finance minister, too denied the government soft loan had already been fully disbursed to NFC.

"Khairy's justification of the inter-company balance of RM83 million owed by National Meat and Livestocks Corporation Sdn Bhd (NMLC) is the weakest," PKR strategy director Rafizi Ramli had said in a statement.

"If his claim that there were proper authorization procedures in place before a withdrawal from the “escrow account which is not an escrow account” can be made is true, there should not have been personal expenses charged as inter-company transactions. Unfortunately, our scrutiny of the bank accounts points to numerous personal transactions unrelated to the meat business that should not have been authorised for withdrawals."

Using brains to bluff rather than defend the people

According to Rafizi, if NFC and RFC have to rely on public subsidies in order to remain commercially competitive, then the whole "grand design of a national feedlot project should not have been approved from the onset as it is clearly not commercially viable".

If the whole point of spending RM250 million of public funds on this national feedlot project is to cut reliance on imported meats, it is common sense that the locally produced meat must be cheaper than imported ones! But it is not, Rafizi added.

Meanwhile, PKR Women's chief Zuraida Kamaruddin has called on Shahrizat to resign and prove that "women have more integrity than the others in BN".

But it highly unlikely that Shahrizat, who is well-known for her 'baggage', will heed her advice.

“The honourable thing for her to do is to resign from government and leave politics given that there will be more exposés on this scandalous project. Only her resignation can save the honour of Wanita Umno members who have become embroiled in this scandal,” said Zuraida, who was also at the press conference with Saifuddin.

"She should be above the rest of her Barisan Nasional and show that women have more credibility and integrity.”

Maria Begum, Malaysia Chronicle 

5 reasons why Penang won't go to the polls this year if Najib dissolves Parliament

As speculation rises whether Prime Minister Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak will call for snap elections on this auspicious date of 11 November 2011, there are 5 key reasons why Penang will not follow suit and hold concurrent elections with the federal parliamentary seats this year.

One, BN has still not fulfilled its promise to repeal the Internal Security Act and disbursed RM 500 to all households earning below RM3,000 per month.  Questions are raised as to whether BN will conduct a mere cosmetic exercise of repealing the ISA but replacing it with two ISA-like laws. resulting in Malaysians ending up with two ISAs instead of one.
The disbursement of RM100 to students this year when this measure is included in the budget is for 2012 and not 2011 raises questions of legality especially when the 2012 Budget has still not being passed in Parliament. Further if the RM100 is to be paid this year when it is not budgeted in this year 2011 budget, where is the Federal government getting the money from.

Lest we forget Malaysia recorded a budget deficit this year as has been a deficit for 15 years. The National Deficit for 2010 is RM43.27billion, for 2011 is RM45.51 billion whilst the 2012 projected deficit for is RM43billion. (4.7% out of RM918 billion nominal GDP projected). Where is the Federal government going to get the extra RM530 million for giving to school students RM100 this year when it is not budgeted for 2011 and will only increase the 2011 deficit further?

Two, holding general elections now would be unfair to those performing the haj as they will be denied their right to vote and determine the next government. The last batch of the Haj pilgrims are not expected back until Dec 11 and almost 30,000 Malaysians went to Mecca to perform their pilgrimage

Three, the failure and refusal by the BN government to explain the misappropriation of funds, gross irregularities and abuses of power as outlined in the 2010 Auditor-General’s Report. The 2010 Auditor-General Report reminds Malaysians of everything that is wrong in the BN Federal government. Night-vision marine binoculars costing only RM 1,940 are bought at a price of RM56,350, a TV LCD and DVD player bought with a contract price of RM16,100 was supplied with an inferior brand valued at only RM195; RM770,000 was spent to supply electricity to one house.

The Auditor-General's Report said nine ministries or departments had overspent their operating allocation for last year by a total of RM3.73 billion and even a Minister Datuk Shahrizat Abdul Jalil is involved when a RM73.6 million cattle-farming project is given to her family’s company. Her husband is the Executive Chairman while her son is the CEO. The rest of her children, meanwhile, are executive directors.

Many  questions remained unanswered about this National Feedlot Corporation project in Gemas, Negri Sembilan. Chief amongst its failures is its production of only 3,289 heads in 2010 or 41.1 per cent of its intended target of 8,000 heads. The AG's report also cites poor management as a key factor and points to other failings such as its failure to train enough farmers, a 5,000-acre farmland that is overgrown and poor maintenance of its facilities.
Naturally, Malaysians are concerned about public money which includes an additional soft loan of RM250 million being used to fund this "family business", especially when it is turning out to be a monumental failure. In addition, Sharizat has still to deny reports of how the funds were used on non-cow related purposes including an allegation by PKR that nearly RM10 million was spent to purchase a high-end condominium.

Four, the Parliamentary Select Committee of Electoral Reforms have still not completed its hearings to carry out reforms to ensure a free, fair and clean elections. Failure to do so would permit the dirtiest general elections in history with phantom voters and illegal immigrants being transformed magically to citizens and voters in a few hours. Would Malaysia’s destiny be determined by Malaysian citizens or phantom voters and illegal immigrants?

Five, the national agenda for the end of this year should be focused on flood prevention and mitigation. Malaysians should learn from the horrors of floods in Thailand that has caused tragic loss of life and huge financial losses. To hold general elections now during the rainy monsoon season when flood victims are more bothered about surviving than voting, would be not only be a denial of their democratic right of choice but cruel and inhumane.
If Najib insists on calling snap polls this year, then the Penang Pakatan Rakyat will hold a special convention where a recommendation will be made not to hold the state election together with the federal parliament.

Lim Guan Eng is the Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary-general

Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia: House brand, sales puff or sub-standard goods

I was personally very flattered to read that my first article as a columnist for the Malaysia Chronicle, "Who is the one short-changing Malaysians - BN or Pakatan", had garnered a response from Mohd Zain, the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism. This is the fastest I've seen the civil service react to anything I've put out, so once again let me express my gratitude.

What the Secretary-General has completely missed is the entire context of my comments about Kedai 1Malaysia (KR1M). First of all, for the Minister Ismail Zabri to mention that some items were "up to 50%" cheaper, is misleading in itself. This is a common ploy used by supermarkets and video stores. You can go up to a pile of DVDs which say "up to 70% off" but find the ones actually worth watching only 10% off.

Again, the penchant for public relations or sales puff

When the Minister and the Prime Minister had announced the entire KR1M concept which would aggressively combat against rising costs, and mentioned that they would have 250 products available, naturally one would assume that we would be able to save a couple of bucks. However, by coming out and trying to 'clarify' the nature of the comments, I would submit that the Minister has misled the public with his "up to 50%" comment.

Furthermore, the statement failed to actually cite examples as to the products which were actually 50% off! What is more puzzling is that there was no attempt to establish what the benchmark prices are in the first place. Could it be that discounts are based on Recommend Retail Prices (RRP) of certain products? Is the Minister unaware that hypermarkets and supermarkets offer discounts of RRP items on a daily basis? If so, how are the 'discounted' prices found in KR1M any different?

Must be comparable to other house brands

Let's talk about his claim that KR1M products have to be compared against similar branded products, but not house brands. So then, what's the point? I can buy Dettol if I could afford it rather than house brand disinfectant. Or I could buy Coca-cola rather than Tesco cola. This is on the basis that I have a choice as a consumer to purchase items as according to my budget.

But isn't the point of KR1M to save money? How then can your KR1M brand, which is obviously a house brand, not be compared to other house brands? This in itself defies logic. Who defines 'similar branded items' anyway? Is there any assurance that the quality of the KR1M brand is better or exceeded the other so-called 'similar branded items'?

Don't stuff the public with sub-standard poor quality goods

It has just been reported that items found in KR1M are suspect for quality. Tony Pua, who was one of those responsible for uncovering the scandal in the first place, today announced that fresh milk had been sold at the stores contained E. Coli, and was backed up by Dzulkefly Ahmad. Furthermore 8 items out of the 250 had been found to contravene the Food Act 1983 and the Food Regulations 1985. How can the Minister defend this, especially as the Ministry is supposed to overlook the operations of KR1M directly?

Lastly, the RM40 million subsidy paid for CAPEX purposes for refurbishment and upgrade of the premises. Let's look at the numbers. According to their website, there are currently six KR1M stores in operation, with the latest one opening in Melaka.

With an announcement of 22 more stores on the way, this brings it up to 28 stores. With a RM40 million subsidy, the cost of renovation for each store would be RM1.4 million worth of renovation for each store. I'm sure the crony-contractors would be rubbing their hands with glee. Having been to the KR1M located at the Kelana Jaya LRT station, I can confidently say that the renovation would certainly not cost that much. This is the Ministry, once again, pulling a fast one on us.

Other matters including Khairy Jamaluddin

Since I have the government's attention, and they are so keen to read my columns, can the Defence ministry explain about the Skudai land deal? Can the MACC let us know why they are so keen to investigate Petronas but not the National Feedlot Centre? Or get the right people from the Port Klang Free Zone? Can the Ministries give explanations about the sheer incompetence in procurement, as the MACC has declared there was no corruption involved?

Khairy Jamaluddin has fed us with a true cock-and-bull story today, by saying that the Rakyat's money is well spent when invested into a RM10 million condominium. If it was such a good investment, why didn't they proudly shout about it before?

Stop being so bitter about the opposition holding press conferences to talk about their achievements when it is clear that Barisan Nasional is doing very little to do things right. While you're at it, stop trying to feed us lame excuses by calling them clarifications.

Douglas Tan is a DAP member and a Malaysia Chronicle columnist

Muhyiddin and The Bankruptcy Years

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s stand of “Malay First, Malaysian Second” has already blackballed him in the eyes of many Malaysians, although he and his advisers do not believe this to be so.

Instead of desisting, they are pushing forward on the premise that Malay racism can still win the day in Malaysia - a country that is almost 40 per cent populated by non-Malays including the indigenous people, Chinese, Indians, Bengalis, Pakistanis, Eurasians and many other small minority groups. This may be the right tack in helping him wrest the Umno presidency from incumbent, Prime Minister Najib Razak, when party polls are held next year.

But it certainly will not help change the direction of Malaysia's long-term decline that coincidentally began when Najib's dad, Abdul Razak Hussein, took over as the second prime minister in 1970. It was then that an affirmative action policy named the New Economic Policy was implemented but it was soon twisted to betray its original purpose of distributing the nation's wealth to the poor, and used instead to benefit the most powerful Umno chieftains, their families and cronies.

How long can Muhyiddin last?

Through the years instead of becoming fully satiated and slinking off to rest like a python stuffed full with the best goodies, the greed got worse. What used to be taken in hundreds of thousands just jumped exponentially to hundreds of millions. And now, if you don't have an extra billion or two, you don't even qualify to be called one of the Umno elite.

Muhyiddin too had his day when he was chief minister in Johor. There he was accused of massive corruption, but because of his grip on Johor divisions, he was promoted to the federal Cabinet rather than for a nice grilling session by the anti-graft agencies. This is the how the game is played in Umno and BN since 1957, when independence was won from the British colonialists.

And this also explains why Muhyiddin feels his best chances still lie in reviving the nationalist fervor amongst the Malays in the country, rather than open up the community and convince them to become more inclusive. Sorry to say but his analysis is out.

It is one thing to refuse to acknowledge that the coffers have been run almost to the ground because that may signify that he also wants to tap the riches that absolute power brings. But refusing to learn the bitter lessons of 5th premier Abdullah Badawi and 6th premier Najib Razak, who both ended up looking like clowns because they chose not to battle the extremist but powerful minority within Umno is sheer stupidity.

How long can Muhyiddin last? Najib may have agreed to give way to him but if Najib had to U-turn after less than a year of trying to liberalize the economy and society, does Muhyiddin think he can succeed with refusing to acknowledge the rights of the non-Malays? Does he think that by merely continuing to out-champion all the other ultras, he will be able to maintain his lead as the defender of the Malays?

If he does, for sure Malaysia will bankrupt before 2019. Do envision a capital flight - no less - should Muhyiddin and his right-wing gang take over. These guys still live in a world where they think no body can tell when they are lying through their teeth and when they are just bluffing. That's right not an iota of credibility left.

MLM Umno

Umno-BN is like a gigantic multilevel marketing scam. The best and the longest was creamed by Mahathir. Badawi managed to get quite a nice slice too, Najib as well. But Muhyddin will be left with the baby! And he deserves it.

In March 2010, he waded into controversy by stating he was "Malay" first rather than "Malaysian first". He defended his statement by stating that there was nothing wrong for other races to do the same i.e. the Chinese could claim themselves to be "Chinese first, Malaysian second" and same for the Indians.

Those who think there is nothing so awful with such a statement must consider that for every action, there is a reaction. Already there are millions of non-Malay chauvinists in town. If you use fire to fight your fellow citizens, surely they will use fire to fight you back. Then, Muhyiddin's next line of thought might be - doesn't matter, we will still win because we outnumber them and the keris or sword of righteousness is on our side. Now, do you see why investors will flee if Muhyiddin becomes PM of Malaysia, although they won't care much if he is just president of Umno!

What about letting Najib continue, did you say? Are you nuts? Or perhaps it is fairer to to put it this way - how do Malaysians want to die?. A slower, more torturous but sure-as-the-sun-will-set death, aka the Najib and Rosmah way? Or quickly and less painfully like a massive heart attack, which is the Muhyiddin way? Hobson's choice? There is Pakatan Rakyat, and Umno has only itself and its false heroes like Muhyiddin and Mahathir to blame for painting the party into a corner. Watch out, but floor space has just run out!

Even to the point of endorsing corruption?

Make no mistake, Muhyidden Yassin is biding his time. He distances himself from the shenanigans affecting Najib and Rosmah. He picks and chooses issue to comment about and he makes sure he stays firmly on the right. As already said, this is fine for the president of the United Malays Nationalist Organization, but not for the prime minister of a Malaysia where nearly 40% of the people are non-Malay.

Muhyiddin's one big Malay flip-flop has been the PPSMI issue, where he was held back by biggest boss - Mahathir. To wobble and allow Mathematics and Science to be taught in English after vowing there would be no concession shows him to be as less a leader as Najib. It has exposed Muhyiddin's Achilles heel. Without the racial cloak, he has nothing - as little if not even lesser talent and intellect than Najib.

But the DPM is not giving up. Already he is calling for audits on the use of Bahasa Malaysia and we can be sure he will support the re-writing of History, the demonization of the LGBT and even come as close to an inch of endorsing corruption so as to win the sweetheart nominations of the greedy Umno warlords.

A very different version of reforms

Under Muhyiddin, racial, religious and sexual politicking are likely to continue to be the Umno-BN's modus operandi. A true and tried method of scaring the Malay vote into maintaining Umno’s grip on power. This is Muhyiddin’s playground, one where he excels as the master opportunist. Tactics to topple and put down political rivals are nothing new to this man. After all. it was how he moved up the political ranks.

He attacked Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's original 2010 transition plan as "too long". During the 2008 general election, the DPM managed to keep his seat, but he was shocked by the election results. He then called for reforms but what he meant as reforms are very different form the Anwar Ibrahim and Pakatan Rakyat reforms. Muhyiddin's reforms do not mean greater democracy but much lesser. His reforms do not mean social justice or racial equality but much greater injustice and inequality.

Now, because there is no one else in the minds of Umno members, Muhyiddin is the obvious choice to replace Najib or to oust Najib. It remains to be seen if the everyday Malays in Umno will wake up in time to save themselves from the brink. For if Malaysia goes down, the ones who suffer the most will be the Malays. They not only form the biggest portion of the population but by insulating themselves with unnecessary racism and religious bigotry, they have become the least professionally mobile in the country.

No, Muhyiddin is no different from his peers. As the last player in the Umno MLM game started by Najib's dad and turned into major big-business by Mahathir and Co, Muhyiddin - if he makes it as PM - sits on the cusp of a new chapter in Malaysian history - The Bankruptcy Years.

Malaysia Chronicle