MAIKA Holdings Bhd's current state belies its euphoric start. Many, a lot of them rural folk, were swept away by the fancy promises of future profits by its promoters and the fact that their hard-earned monies, ploughed in to buy Maika shares, would turn them into stakeholders of the national economy.
For many working-class Indians, it was not solely the promise of wealth but the belief that this was the start of the walls of economic barriers being pulled down to raise the status of the community. Some called it a "certificate of pride". On hindsight, this would turn out to be highly naive.
But there were also many urban Indians who were smitten by the idea of investing for decent returns and scooped up Maika shares; some of them have sold their shares over the years as the realisation crept in that chances of reaping returns were thinning out.
Maika was set up in 1983 as the MIC's investment arm, to shore up the corporate equity of the Indian community from a paltry 1% to an ambitious 7%. It is the brainchild of long-serving MIC chief Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.
With that main agenda, the drum roll befitting a major festival began in 1984, with the intention to court thousands of Indians to subscribe for the restricted public issue of 50 million Maika shares at RM1 a piece, which was raised to 100 million shares due to the overwhelming response.
The picture of hopeful crowds which thronged the branches of United Asian Bank back then stands in start contrast to that of frustrated shareholders at highly-strung Maika AGMs caught up in fist fights and angry words under the hawk eye of hundreds of security personnel years later.
Many had pawned their jewellery and other valuable possessions and borrowed, undeterred by the then high interest rate regime, which resulted in a two-fold oversubscription for the shares.
One of them is management consultant S. Nadarajah, who was then 25 years old and employed as a clerk in a Chinese firm. He borrowed to buy 1,000 shares which, as a result of a four-for-one bonus issue, today has grown to 1,250 shares. Much to the chagrin of his mother, who was somewhat sceptical, his father too went ahead and borrowed to buy another 1,000 Maika shares.
"I was socially conscious. I didn't just invest for returns. I deeply believed that it would help the Indians who were under-performing in terms of job opportunities and economic development. I had hoped the company would flourish," says Nadarajah.
And it did for a bit. It was reported that in the first financial year, Maika made a pre-tax profit of RM2.17mil. Maika's first chairman Tan Sri G.K. Rama Iyer, the former secretary-general of the Primary Industries Ministry, was appointed in 1985. Dividends of between 3% and 8% were paid in 1985, 1986,1988, 1991 and from 1993 to 1995. There was also a bonus issue in 1996.
Sadly, it didn't take too long for sentimental expectations to match reality. As a business concern, Maika was not flourishing. In fact, it was anything but. The company was besieged by operational losses as a result of questionable ventures and when it did make operative profits, they were at best unimpressive. The seeds of discontent and upheaval was beginning to sow in the community.
The cracks started showing in 1987 and many attributed this to its overzealous expansion into a smorgasbord of businesses including commodities, petrol service station, cattle rearing, aquaculture, fruit farming, chopstick manufacturing and soft drinks.
According to news reports, the group suffered losses of RM532,025 in 1987, RM521,811 in 1988, RM3.09mil in 1989 and RM4.69mil in 1990.
At its peak, Maika had some 18 subsidiaries, most of which were inactive or loss making, with the exception of Oriental Capital Assurance Bhd. One of its memorable ventures include the acquisition of Anthonian bookstore, which further contributed to the losses.
It also made profits from the "sale of investments'' which usually involved government-allotted blue chip shares such as Telekom Malaysia Bhd, TV3 and Tenaga Nasional Bhd, proceeds of which were used to write off debts and losses.
Many opined that Maika should not have been so hasty to sell those shares as in current times, those shares could be worth a handsome sum.
In the mid-80s, it acquired 386ha of the Tumbuk oil palm estate for RM13mil from the National Land Finance Co-operative Society (NLFCS).
Of the countless many subsidiaries it had formed, only one appeared to be a prized asset - one of the earliest insurers in the country Oriental Capital Assurance Bhd (OCA, formerly known as United Oriental Assurance Sdn Bhd).
Following a directive from Bank Negara that all insurance companies need to shore up their paid-up capital to RM100mil by end-June 2001, OCA proposed a rights and bonus issue. Maika's share of the rights issue totalling 31.5 million shares at RM1 each was part-financed by a syariah facility of RM28.3mil from the former Southern Bank Bhd (now part of CIMB Bank Bhd) at an interest rate of between 8.5% and 9% per annum. The loan was taken on a
short-term basis with the understanding that the insurance company would be listed on Bursa Malaysia. That, however, had failed to materialise. As at Aug 15, 2007, the outstanding loan obligations of Maika to CIMB and Danaharta Managers Sdn Bhd totalled some RM55.6mil including interest. Those debts remain outstanding till today.
By 2000, creditors were knocking on its doors demanding repayments. To fully settle a revolving credit facility of RM23mil which was demanded, the company disposed of 755 acres for RM38mil cash in 2005. According to Maika's annual report 2006, some RM10mil of the proceeds were also used to part-settle the syariah facility which expired at end-September 2006; the principal amount outstanding was RM18.3mil which matured in September 2007.
But that was not all. In 2000, it was stated in the company's 2006 annual report that Danaharta Managers demanded full repayment of a debt of RM23mil which was classified as non-performing and which ballooned to RM34mil as at 2006 due to a default in guarantee obligations and interest accrued. A small portion of that debt has been settled through foreclosure of assets. Maika has managed to stave them off on the premise that it would restructure itself by selling its Tumbuk estate, investment assets and through a cash call via a rights issue. In the event the financial restructuring fails to materialise, the company and its affected subsidiaries may be required to cease being in business, it had said in the annual report. However, it added that its stake in OCA, if disposed, would be able to fully satisfy the debts and raise additional funds for suitable business opportunities.
Till today, these issues remain outstanding
Monday, June 28, 2010
Looking beyond Maika.....
THE curtains are being raised on the crumbling house of cards in the most protracted prickly issue among the Malaysian Indian community. For over two decades, Maika Holdings Bhd, MIC's investment arm, initially touted as the "all Indian dream", has been riddled with deep distrust, intense suspicion and weakened by scandal.
So, it was not surprising that when Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd executive chairman Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam first revealed his plans to takeover Maika in a rushed press conference in late April, instead of stemming the voracious speculation which was his original intent, he had re-ignited the long pent-up suspicion.
Questions aplenty flowed on steady stream: Is this rescue a political play?
Is it a brokered settlement with the MIC leadership? How many layers of agenda are there in this exercise?
What's in it for Gnanalingam? Are the poor Indians, who have long endured this debacle, getting a raw deal?
It didn't help at all that the takeover plan was revealed by politicians just days before the Hulu Selangor by-election, which was perceived by many as an attempt to woo voters.
Truth is, as CIMB Group chief executive Datuk Seri Nazir Razak put it: "It's a very simple deal." (CIMB is adviser and financier of the special purpose vehicle G Team Resources & Holding Sdn Bhd formed to undertake the exercise. G Team is equally owned by Gnanalingam and Datuk S.Kunasingam).
At a press conference to announce the conditional takeover offer on Wednesday, Nazir started out his speech this way. "I'm intrigued that when I announce billion dollar deals, the room (venue of the press briefing) is only half full but today, it's very full. There must be a lot of interest." An understatement, indeed.
If you strip out the past, the highly-strung sentiments and the politics from the deal, Gnanalingam's plan - to wrest control of Maika, pay back shareholders their original investments, manage the debts, flog off its two valuable assets (an agricultural land in Sepang and a 74.1% stake in Oriental Capital Assurance Bhd), the excess proceeds of which will be channelled into a fund for the community and finally close the chapter on the scandal-ridden company - is a solution which gets most people thinking - "Why couldn't this have been done much earlier?".
Unfazed by critics and quite confident he will be able to garner over 50% of Maika shares, a condition for the offer, Gnanalingam, who is also co-chairman of the Cabinet sub-committee on Indian affairs, remarks: "A
thousand opinions are not better than one action plan."
"If we can't solve this first problem, it's no use being on the committee.
That's why I'm doing this." A simple deal, indeed G Team has proposed to acquire all 125 million shares in Maika at 80 sen per share or RM100mil cash (the 25 million shares arose from a four-for-one bonus issue in 1996). The offer is conditional upon G Team receiving more than 50% of the voting shares of Maika. Once the offer becomes unconditional, it will also trigger a general offer for OCA shares.
On May 14, 2010, in what is the first sign that the deal has moved one step ard, Maika's board of directors confirmed that they had received a takeover offer, further stating that they were not seeking an alternative person to make a takeover offer of the company's shares other than G Team.
Maika shareholders are expected to receive the offer document within 21 days and the offer will remain open for at least 21 days with an option to further extend.
G Team has been given a time-frame of one year by the central bank to dispose of its stake in OCA. As for the encumbered land, once its title and valuation have been verified, a committee would be set up to determine the best way to realise the value of the land.
Should the exercise result in a financial gain, the monies will be donated to an established charity for the benefit of the Malaysian Indian community while any loss will be borne by G Team. G Team does not plan to continue the operations of Maika.
"It is our intention to close the chapter (of Maika)," said Gnanalingam.
And this - "There's no political involvement in this exercise. I feel Indians should resolve the issues themselves and as quickly as possible."
The big question - is it a fair offer?
The offer price has drawn mixed response.
"He (Gnanalingam) is a businessman. He is only talking of giving shareholders their original investment value. If he's willing to pay RM1 for 125 million shares, then it's reasonable. What happens to those who bought the bonus shares at RM1? After waiting for 26 years, not many people are going to be happy with the offer," says Datuk S. Subramaniam, president of Nesa Cooperative. (Nesa Cooperative filed and won a court order to stop the sale of OCA back in 2007)).
Gnanalingam, a former tobacco and advertising executive and now port owner since 1996, was ranked the 13th wealthiest man in the country with a net worth of some RM800mil by the widely followed rich index by Forbes last year. With that in mind, there are many who ask "Why couldn't he pay more?"
Here's why.
Maika's latest net tangible asset stood at 23 sen per share; at the offer price of 80 sen per share, the offer translates to 3.5 times book. In addition, it has liabilities of some RM60mil. (Maika's 2006 accounts show that it has two debts - RM34mil owing to Danaharta Managers and RM18.3mil owing to CIMB, which total RM52mil.)
In fact, according to a source, one of Maika's creditors, Danaharta Managers, had earlier agreed to take a haircut on the outstanding debt. In a letter to shareholders dated August 2007, Maika's then chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Manaff alluded to that. He said the board was hopeful of obtaining a substantial waiver of the accumulated interest of nearly RM20mil owing to Danaharta Managers. If this is still the case, then the debts ought to be lower than estimates.
But sources close to the offeror reveal that since news of a potential takeover has surfaced, the creditors have been less amenable to providing the haircut.
Back to the valuation. The Tumbuk Estate in Sepang is worth RM10mil while based on its latest available book value as at 2008, OCA is said to have a net tangible asset of RM102mil.
Based on 1.5 times book value, Maika's stake in OCA is worth some RM113.4mil. If you total the value of OCA with that of the land and minus the debt, it comes up to some RM63mil, as opposed to the total purchase price of RM100mil.
It is believed that in FY2009, OCA returned to the black after a three-year loss streak. A company source said the insurer's latest NTA stood at RM120mil as at end-December 2009. Based on those figures, Maika's stake in OCA at 1.5 times book comes up to RM133.4mil which, after including the land and debt, totals RM83.4mil.
"However you skin it, it's going to be pretty tough to get it to RM100mil," says Nazir, adding that it is an offer at fair value based on what is available at this point. "It's fairly offered to everyone and we hope majority will accept."
But there may be one stumbling block to the sale of OCA which has been there since 2007 - Nesa Cooperative's court order to freeze the sale of OCA.
"I have repeatedly said that at any time when an offer is made and the price is reasonable, we will apply to lift the injunction. We know there were offers in the past which valued the company at RM130mil and RM149mil. So, as far as the insurance company is concerned, these are the parameters. If the price is reasonable, there's no problem," says Subramaniam, who owns some 8,000-10,000 shares/
Disgruntled shareholders
Many shareholders appear only too relieved that the latest takeover offerwould finally mean closure to the painful Maika saga, especially so for those who have written off the possibility of ever getting their monies
back.
In fact, along the years, many shareholders were said to have sold their shares at 50-80 sen to interested parties. "These people were poor and desperate to raise any cash they could," says an observer.
And there are others who believe they should hold out for a better price.
One of them is S. Nadarajah, a management consultant.
"We welcome the move. But what's important is the price, which I feel is ridiculously low. It looks more like foreclosure value than real market value. OCA has considerable value that can be unlocked. It's a much sought after business," he says.
That may be perception more than reality. Sources close to the insurer says a lot need to be done to bolster OCA's waning status. "Yes, it (OCA) is a valuable asset but it is nowhere near to what some Maika shareholders think.
The person who buys the company needs to pump in at least RM20mil to revamp the operations, recruit people and get things back on strong footing. A lot need to be done. Some are saying it ought to be sold for RM200mil. I think that's a pipedream," says the source.
"Coming in and out for Gnanalingam makes sense as he can make almost dollar for dollar return on what he paid for Maika. The downside could be limited unless of course, they take too long to flip it. The longer they take, the less value they will get," adds the source.
Ultimately, whether the offer price is fair would be judged by how much the asset is finally disposed of, which has been promised will be an open and transparent process.
"There's clearly no intention to short-change anyone here. We have to start from somewhere. The key thing is to look forward," says Nazir.
Moving on
Gnanalingam is clearly anxious to separate his takeover plan from the past. Why not? He's not responsible for the controversies that have long dogged the group. "I don't want to go into what happened in the past 26 years. It's irrelevant," said Gnanalingam.
Unfortunately, that may be easier for them to do than the tens of thousands of Maika shareholders, who over the years have had to suffer the crushing realisation that their investments in Maika have painfully diminished. That could mean another thing - that while the cleanup may not take too long, the repair could take much longer.
"Maika is a commercial entity that has been bogged down by political dogma.
That's the main reason for its downfall," says a corporate observer.
Back in the 80s, RM100mil in the coffers was an eye-popping load of money. "If the company had invested most of its money in equities then and sat pretty up until now, it would have billions in its coffers today," says the observer. The colossal loss of opportunity, indeed, is hard to stomach.
"Political parties need to have their own ways of doing things in the business world. But they can't run away from the simple fact that just being granted access, is no guarantee to making returns. It does not mean, you
don't have to manage it. Execution is still the issue whether you are the investment arm of Umno, MCA or MIC," says the astute observer.
There are many issues about the company that are puzzling. Maika has not conducted an annual general meeting for the past three years. The last annual accounts received by members was for financial year 2006. It currently only has a two-member board - Datuk C. Vijaya Kumar, chairman and Vell Paari, the CEO. Paari is also the son of Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, MIC president and the architect of Maika.
Given that there are adequate safeguards and checks and balances in the law,it is deeply distressing that the regulators have not appeared to act in a meaningful way.
At this point, what we do know for sure is that Maika, once trumpeted as the Indian community's answer to uplifting their flagging socio-economic status, is a dismal flop.But what we do not really know is - how exactly did it reach this point?
Once the chapter is closed, will we ever?
So, it was not surprising that when Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd executive chairman Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam first revealed his plans to takeover Maika in a rushed press conference in late April, instead of stemming the voracious speculation which was his original intent, he had re-ignited the long pent-up suspicion.
Questions aplenty flowed on steady stream: Is this rescue a political play?
Is it a brokered settlement with the MIC leadership? How many layers of agenda are there in this exercise?
What's in it for Gnanalingam? Are the poor Indians, who have long endured this debacle, getting a raw deal?
It didn't help at all that the takeover plan was revealed by politicians just days before the Hulu Selangor by-election, which was perceived by many as an attempt to woo voters.
Truth is, as CIMB Group chief executive Datuk Seri Nazir Razak put it: "It's a very simple deal." (CIMB is adviser and financier of the special purpose vehicle G Team Resources & Holding Sdn Bhd formed to undertake the exercise. G Team is equally owned by Gnanalingam and Datuk S.Kunasingam).
At a press conference to announce the conditional takeover offer on Wednesday, Nazir started out his speech this way. "I'm intrigued that when I announce billion dollar deals, the room (venue of the press briefing) is only half full but today, it's very full. There must be a lot of interest." An understatement, indeed.
If you strip out the past, the highly-strung sentiments and the politics from the deal, Gnanalingam's plan - to wrest control of Maika, pay back shareholders their original investments, manage the debts, flog off its two valuable assets (an agricultural land in Sepang and a 74.1% stake in Oriental Capital Assurance Bhd), the excess proceeds of which will be channelled into a fund for the community and finally close the chapter on the scandal-ridden company - is a solution which gets most people thinking - "Why couldn't this have been done much earlier?".
Unfazed by critics and quite confident he will be able to garner over 50% of Maika shares, a condition for the offer, Gnanalingam, who is also co-chairman of the Cabinet sub-committee on Indian affairs, remarks: "A
thousand opinions are not better than one action plan."
"If we can't solve this first problem, it's no use being on the committee.
That's why I'm doing this." A simple deal, indeed G Team has proposed to acquire all 125 million shares in Maika at 80 sen per share or RM100mil cash (the 25 million shares arose from a four-for-one bonus issue in 1996). The offer is conditional upon G Team receiving more than 50% of the voting shares of Maika. Once the offer becomes unconditional, it will also trigger a general offer for OCA shares.
On May 14, 2010, in what is the first sign that the deal has moved one step ard, Maika's board of directors confirmed that they had received a takeover offer, further stating that they were not seeking an alternative person to make a takeover offer of the company's shares other than G Team.
Maika shareholders are expected to receive the offer document within 21 days and the offer will remain open for at least 21 days with an option to further extend.
G Team has been given a time-frame of one year by the central bank to dispose of its stake in OCA. As for the encumbered land, once its title and valuation have been verified, a committee would be set up to determine the best way to realise the value of the land.
Should the exercise result in a financial gain, the monies will be donated to an established charity for the benefit of the Malaysian Indian community while any loss will be borne by G Team. G Team does not plan to continue the operations of Maika.
"It is our intention to close the chapter (of Maika)," said Gnanalingam.
And this - "There's no political involvement in this exercise. I feel Indians should resolve the issues themselves and as quickly as possible."
The big question - is it a fair offer?
The offer price has drawn mixed response.
"He (Gnanalingam) is a businessman. He is only talking of giving shareholders their original investment value. If he's willing to pay RM1 for 125 million shares, then it's reasonable. What happens to those who bought the bonus shares at RM1? After waiting for 26 years, not many people are going to be happy with the offer," says Datuk S. Subramaniam, president of Nesa Cooperative. (Nesa Cooperative filed and won a court order to stop the sale of OCA back in 2007)).
Gnanalingam, a former tobacco and advertising executive and now port owner since 1996, was ranked the 13th wealthiest man in the country with a net worth of some RM800mil by the widely followed rich index by Forbes last year. With that in mind, there are many who ask "Why couldn't he pay more?"
Here's why.
Maika's latest net tangible asset stood at 23 sen per share; at the offer price of 80 sen per share, the offer translates to 3.5 times book. In addition, it has liabilities of some RM60mil. (Maika's 2006 accounts show that it has two debts - RM34mil owing to Danaharta Managers and RM18.3mil owing to CIMB, which total RM52mil.)
In fact, according to a source, one of Maika's creditors, Danaharta Managers, had earlier agreed to take a haircut on the outstanding debt. In a letter to shareholders dated August 2007, Maika's then chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Manaff alluded to that. He said the board was hopeful of obtaining a substantial waiver of the accumulated interest of nearly RM20mil owing to Danaharta Managers. If this is still the case, then the debts ought to be lower than estimates.
But sources close to the offeror reveal that since news of a potential takeover has surfaced, the creditors have been less amenable to providing the haircut.
Back to the valuation. The Tumbuk Estate in Sepang is worth RM10mil while based on its latest available book value as at 2008, OCA is said to have a net tangible asset of RM102mil.
Based on 1.5 times book value, Maika's stake in OCA is worth some RM113.4mil. If you total the value of OCA with that of the land and minus the debt, it comes up to some RM63mil, as opposed to the total purchase price of RM100mil.
It is believed that in FY2009, OCA returned to the black after a three-year loss streak. A company source said the insurer's latest NTA stood at RM120mil as at end-December 2009. Based on those figures, Maika's stake in OCA at 1.5 times book comes up to RM133.4mil which, after including the land and debt, totals RM83.4mil.
"However you skin it, it's going to be pretty tough to get it to RM100mil," says Nazir, adding that it is an offer at fair value based on what is available at this point. "It's fairly offered to everyone and we hope majority will accept."
But there may be one stumbling block to the sale of OCA which has been there since 2007 - Nesa Cooperative's court order to freeze the sale of OCA.
"I have repeatedly said that at any time when an offer is made and the price is reasonable, we will apply to lift the injunction. We know there were offers in the past which valued the company at RM130mil and RM149mil. So, as far as the insurance company is concerned, these are the parameters. If the price is reasonable, there's no problem," says Subramaniam, who owns some 8,000-10,000 shares/
Disgruntled shareholders
Many shareholders appear only too relieved that the latest takeover offerwould finally mean closure to the painful Maika saga, especially so for those who have written off the possibility of ever getting their monies
back.
In fact, along the years, many shareholders were said to have sold their shares at 50-80 sen to interested parties. "These people were poor and desperate to raise any cash they could," says an observer.
And there are others who believe they should hold out for a better price.
One of them is S. Nadarajah, a management consultant.
"We welcome the move. But what's important is the price, which I feel is ridiculously low. It looks more like foreclosure value than real market value. OCA has considerable value that can be unlocked. It's a much sought after business," he says.
That may be perception more than reality. Sources close to the insurer says a lot need to be done to bolster OCA's waning status. "Yes, it (OCA) is a valuable asset but it is nowhere near to what some Maika shareholders think.
The person who buys the company needs to pump in at least RM20mil to revamp the operations, recruit people and get things back on strong footing. A lot need to be done. Some are saying it ought to be sold for RM200mil. I think that's a pipedream," says the source.
"Coming in and out for Gnanalingam makes sense as he can make almost dollar for dollar return on what he paid for Maika. The downside could be limited unless of course, they take too long to flip it. The longer they take, the less value they will get," adds the source.
Ultimately, whether the offer price is fair would be judged by how much the asset is finally disposed of, which has been promised will be an open and transparent process.
"There's clearly no intention to short-change anyone here. We have to start from somewhere. The key thing is to look forward," says Nazir.
Moving on
Gnanalingam is clearly anxious to separate his takeover plan from the past. Why not? He's not responsible for the controversies that have long dogged the group. "I don't want to go into what happened in the past 26 years. It's irrelevant," said Gnanalingam.
Unfortunately, that may be easier for them to do than the tens of thousands of Maika shareholders, who over the years have had to suffer the crushing realisation that their investments in Maika have painfully diminished. That could mean another thing - that while the cleanup may not take too long, the repair could take much longer.
"Maika is a commercial entity that has been bogged down by political dogma.
That's the main reason for its downfall," says a corporate observer.
Back in the 80s, RM100mil in the coffers was an eye-popping load of money. "If the company had invested most of its money in equities then and sat pretty up until now, it would have billions in its coffers today," says the observer. The colossal loss of opportunity, indeed, is hard to stomach.
"Political parties need to have their own ways of doing things in the business world. But they can't run away from the simple fact that just being granted access, is no guarantee to making returns. It does not mean, you
don't have to manage it. Execution is still the issue whether you are the investment arm of Umno, MCA or MIC," says the astute observer.
There are many issues about the company that are puzzling. Maika has not conducted an annual general meeting for the past three years. The last annual accounts received by members was for financial year 2006. It currently only has a two-member board - Datuk C. Vijaya Kumar, chairman and Vell Paari, the CEO. Paari is also the son of Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, MIC president and the architect of Maika.
Given that there are adequate safeguards and checks and balances in the law,it is deeply distressing that the regulators have not appeared to act in a meaningful way.
At this point, what we do know for sure is that Maika, once trumpeted as the Indian community's answer to uplifting their flagging socio-economic status, is a dismal flop.But what we do not really know is - how exactly did it reach this point?
Once the chapter is closed, will we ever?
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Malaysia's Anwar in Stress, Under Fire
Defections, disorganization dog Malaysia's opposition party
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, under the stress of a long-running trial accusing him of sexual perversion, is under increasing strain as the point man for his Parti Keadilan Rakyat, or People's Justice Party as he continues to be harried politically as well.
"Some analysts would point out that Anwar has to get PKR's house in order," a think-tank analyst in Kuala Lumpur told Asia Sentinel. "There is growing frustration within Anwar's coalition and his own party." In particular, PKR has lost five members of parliament and five statehouse members to defections in the two years since the Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition stunned the Barisan Nasional, or ruling national coalition by breaking its two-thirds hold on parliament. By contrast, Parti Islam se-Malaysia and the Democratic Action Party have only lost one each.
With a number of PKR state assemblymen now wavering and clearly considering defecting, it is possible that the opposition coalition could lose the states of Selangor and Kedah, which they won in the 2008 election. The state of Perak has already been reclaimed by the Barisan although critics say it was through skullduggery rather than legitimate political action.
"Because it is Anwar's party, Keadilan was supposed to be the anchor, but it has been weak from the very start," said a source in Kuala Lumpur. Parti Keadilan is largely made up of young, urban professional ethnic Malays.
"The problem is that Keadilan, like Anwar himself, are mostly ex-members of (the United Malays National Organization) and a lot of them are in there for a quick buck – like Umno itself, I guess. Anwar is bogged down with his legal sodomy case-but more importantly, there is a loss of confidence in his leadership."
What should have given a wakeup call to both Anwar and his colleagues in the opposition Democratic Action Party, which is largely ethnic Chinese, was an announcement earlier this week that Parti Islam se-Malaysia the fundamentalist Islamic party with its roots in the rural northeast, will take in non-Muslim members and even allow them to stand as PAS electoral candidates.
As Asia Sentinel first reported last November, it is PAS that is capitalizing on the situation, rather than the Barisan Nasional, or ruling national coalition. Despite defections, the opposition coalition has won eight of 11 by-elections since the March 2008 general election. The latest was in Sarawak on May 16 when, despite three visits by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and a cornucopia of educational goodies, voters again turned away from the Barisan, an indication that the Barisan and particularly UMNO continues to suffer from perceptions of corruption and political favoritism to cronies.
PAS's latest move, announced last week, was to allow members of its Supporters Club to become full members of the Islamic party, with the right to attend annual meetings as delegates. The Supporters Club has some 20,000 members, almost all of them Chinese, who have turned away from the Barisan Nasional. According to the think tank source in Kuala Lumpur, PAS may have more Chinese voters than the DAP
The Chinese, says the source, -- an ethnic Chinese as well -- are comfortable with PAS despite the Islamic party's emphasis on fundamentalist Islam because, unlike the Barisan and particularly UMNO, PAS has no designs on the Chinese business community's ownership of the economic sinews of the country. The country's New Economic Policy, in place for four decades, has been designed to transfer as much as 30 percent of the economic activity of the country to ethnic Malays.
"The proof is that we recognize supporters as our official party wing," PAS leader Abdul Hadi Awang told his party's newspaper Harakah Daily. The Islamic party has already placed a non-Muslim in a Terengganu constituency to contest as a PAS candidate.
"Whether this is for real or a political gambit, it is hard to say," the analyst said. "But it does suggest PAS is going after the Chinese vote."
That isn't to say there won't be tension. There are plenty of Islamic firebrands in PAS who detest Chinese dietary freedom – to eat pork and drink beer, for instance -- and lack of discretion in dress for women. There have been attempts by PAS to limit beer sales in some communities. Nonetheless, the source said, PAS may have even wider resonance among voters than the Chinese-oriented Democratic Action Party, another leg of the opposition coalition.
In the meantime, Anwar and Parti Keadilan have come under constant criticism for the quality of the candidates they have fielded and for disorganization and political infighting in the party itself. Abdul Hadi Awang and DAP national chairman Karpal Singh, among others, have urged Anwar to look into the weaknesses in his party that have caused the defections. Anwar has repeatedly spoken of the need to find better candidates.
Anwar has been under a cloud since June of 2008, when a then-24-year-old former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, filed charges accusing the 62-year-old opposition leader of forcible sodomy. Sodomy in Malaysia is punishable by caning and up to 20 years in prison. The charges have since been reduced from forcible rape to consensual sex, which is still illegal under Malaysian law. The trial has droned on in a Kuala Lumpur courtroom for months, with Anwar's lawyers seeking delay after delay that has frustrated his followers, a growing number of whom say the trial so far appears to have been conducted on its merits rather than the previous sodomy charges brought against him in 1998 that put him behind bars for six years.
AsiaSentinel.com
Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, under the stress of a long-running trial accusing him of sexual perversion, is under increasing strain as the point man for his Parti Keadilan Rakyat, or People's Justice Party as he continues to be harried politically as well.
"Some analysts would point out that Anwar has to get PKR's house in order," a think-tank analyst in Kuala Lumpur told Asia Sentinel. "There is growing frustration within Anwar's coalition and his own party." In particular, PKR has lost five members of parliament and five statehouse members to defections in the two years since the Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalition stunned the Barisan Nasional, or ruling national coalition by breaking its two-thirds hold on parliament. By contrast, Parti Islam se-Malaysia and the Democratic Action Party have only lost one each.
With a number of PKR state assemblymen now wavering and clearly considering defecting, it is possible that the opposition coalition could lose the states of Selangor and Kedah, which they won in the 2008 election. The state of Perak has already been reclaimed by the Barisan although critics say it was through skullduggery rather than legitimate political action.
"Because it is Anwar's party, Keadilan was supposed to be the anchor, but it has been weak from the very start," said a source in Kuala Lumpur. Parti Keadilan is largely made up of young, urban professional ethnic Malays.
"The problem is that Keadilan, like Anwar himself, are mostly ex-members of (the United Malays National Organization) and a lot of them are in there for a quick buck – like Umno itself, I guess. Anwar is bogged down with his legal sodomy case-but more importantly, there is a loss of confidence in his leadership."
What should have given a wakeup call to both Anwar and his colleagues in the opposition Democratic Action Party, which is largely ethnic Chinese, was an announcement earlier this week that Parti Islam se-Malaysia the fundamentalist Islamic party with its roots in the rural northeast, will take in non-Muslim members and even allow them to stand as PAS electoral candidates.
As Asia Sentinel first reported last November, it is PAS that is capitalizing on the situation, rather than the Barisan Nasional, or ruling national coalition. Despite defections, the opposition coalition has won eight of 11 by-elections since the March 2008 general election. The latest was in Sarawak on May 16 when, despite three visits by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and a cornucopia of educational goodies, voters again turned away from the Barisan, an indication that the Barisan and particularly UMNO continues to suffer from perceptions of corruption and political favoritism to cronies.
PAS's latest move, announced last week, was to allow members of its Supporters Club to become full members of the Islamic party, with the right to attend annual meetings as delegates. The Supporters Club has some 20,000 members, almost all of them Chinese, who have turned away from the Barisan Nasional. According to the think tank source in Kuala Lumpur, PAS may have more Chinese voters than the DAP
The Chinese, says the source, -- an ethnic Chinese as well -- are comfortable with PAS despite the Islamic party's emphasis on fundamentalist Islam because, unlike the Barisan and particularly UMNO, PAS has no designs on the Chinese business community's ownership of the economic sinews of the country. The country's New Economic Policy, in place for four decades, has been designed to transfer as much as 30 percent of the economic activity of the country to ethnic Malays.
"The proof is that we recognize supporters as our official party wing," PAS leader Abdul Hadi Awang told his party's newspaper Harakah Daily. The Islamic party has already placed a non-Muslim in a Terengganu constituency to contest as a PAS candidate.
"Whether this is for real or a political gambit, it is hard to say," the analyst said. "But it does suggest PAS is going after the Chinese vote."
That isn't to say there won't be tension. There are plenty of Islamic firebrands in PAS who detest Chinese dietary freedom – to eat pork and drink beer, for instance -- and lack of discretion in dress for women. There have been attempts by PAS to limit beer sales in some communities. Nonetheless, the source said, PAS may have even wider resonance among voters than the Chinese-oriented Democratic Action Party, another leg of the opposition coalition.
In the meantime, Anwar and Parti Keadilan have come under constant criticism for the quality of the candidates they have fielded and for disorganization and political infighting in the party itself. Abdul Hadi Awang and DAP national chairman Karpal Singh, among others, have urged Anwar to look into the weaknesses in his party that have caused the defections. Anwar has repeatedly spoken of the need to find better candidates.
Anwar has been under a cloud since June of 2008, when a then-24-year-old former aide, Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan, filed charges accusing the 62-year-old opposition leader of forcible sodomy. Sodomy in Malaysia is punishable by caning and up to 20 years in prison. The charges have since been reduced from forcible rape to consensual sex, which is still illegal under Malaysian law. The trial has droned on in a Kuala Lumpur courtroom for months, with Anwar's lawyers seeking delay after delay that has frustrated his followers, a growing number of whom say the trial so far appears to have been conducted on its merits rather than the previous sodomy charges brought against him in 1998 that put him behind bars for six years.
AsiaSentinel.com
Friday, May 28, 2010
The Height of Racism in Malaysia – Educational Discrimination
It is so heart-wrenching to watch Sugentha Subramaniam’s interview carried on Human Rights Party Malaysia website today. The tears swelling in her mum’s eyes and the pain of discrimination on her face was not unnoticed! Yes! It is that time around again, when we get to hear all the heart breaking stories of Indian students being denied scholarships and university places despite the fact that they are equally bright or far brighter than their Malay counterparts!
Year in year out, for the past twenty years or so, it is the same story! It is an annual phenomenon for the Indian students. Deserving Indian students are denied their rightful places in the local universities. Nevertheless, ironically, Malaysian public universities are offering thousands of places to foreign students from Iran, Iraq, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bosnia, Africa and many other Islamic countries. Many of these students are here on some Islamic scholarships, grants and fellowship awards offered by Malaysian government! Subsequently, there are many Muslim lecturers from around the world in the Malaysian public universities whose places were robbed off the Indians, pushed to the private educational institutions! Where do the Indian students stand in their own soil? What is MIC doing, what is PKR, DAP and PAS doing, GOD knows! I have no words to console Sugentha and many other such bright and deserving Indian students whom have been denied their rightful places in the higher learning institutions in Malaysia.
Who will not be in tears and pain over such blatant educational discrimination in a country that has flourished in every direction possible, except racial equality! No study will be able to examine all the nuances of racial discrimination taking place in the Malaysian education system. Discrimination in education is so blatant on the Indians! From Tamil schools being denied lands to transform them into fully-aided government schools, to denial of university places for the bright Indian students, name it, all forms of educational discrimination is there for them!
Education is one of the many important civil rights issues affecting the Malaysian Indians today! Racial discrimination in education arises from actions of institutions or individual state actors, their attitudes and ideologies, or processes that systematically treat students from different racial/ethnic groups disparately or inequitably.
The effect is detrimental to the lives of the victims as one can imagine! Access to good education is the key to good jobs, quality housing, healthy life and political influence. Such discriminatory policies in education will limit or bock all opportunities for intellectual growth among Indians in all fields! The UMNO-led BN government has very systematically, and very deliberately, written and implemented educational policies to massacre the bright Indian community from flourishing, to subsequently end up as factory workers and private company clerks with yet another form of blatant discrimination to prosper and grow! They will be completely wiped out from the mainstream development in this country in no time soon!
Zafiris Tzannatos (2009) in his journal, “Reverse racial discrimination in higher education in Malaysia: Has it reduced the inequality and what cost to the poor?” reported that in the last twenty years, economic and social policy in Malaysia has been dominated by discrimination in favour of the Bumiputras and against the Chinese and the Indians. The preferential treatment of the Bumiputras is pursued in association with other objectives. In no other area of public policy has reverse discrimination been more acute than in higher education. His paper shows that past and present educational policies in Malaysia have resulted in allocation inefficiency. The prime beneficiaries of such policies have been better-off Bumiputras!
That’s right! The better-off Bumiputras, UMNO Bumiputras precisey!
By definition and purpose, education is the development of human capital towards meeting the individual and social needs of learners and their societies (Apple, Michael W., 2009). Sugentha and many other such bright Indian students with straight As could have well been the most precious human capitals for this country they call home! Alas! Higher education has now become limited to the fiscally advantage portion of the society, the better-off UMNOputras and financially sound Chinese, certainly not poverty stricken Indians! Hence, an Indian student like Sugentha can only dream of becoming a doctor!
The importance of education is clear to people from all over the world. And most certainly, the UMNOputras know the value of good education! Thus, they have hijacked most of the universities’ and other higher learning institutions’ places for mostly Malay-Muslims only! They know, if they allow too many Indians to graduate as doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, chemists, scientists, accountants, etc…..they will become too smart to control! It is better to keep them stupid in cow-shade like Tamil schools and block all opportunities for their further education, including derecognising the universities where they are furthering their (medical) studies and denials of loans for courses famous among Indian students!
Education is an essential human right and every child in the world is entitled to it, EXCEPT Indian children in Malaysia. UNICEF strongly believes that education, like all human rights, is universal and inalienable—everyone, regardless of gender, religion, ethnicity or economic status, is entitled to it. It is critical to our development as individuals and as societies, and it helps pave the way to a successful and productive future. Education enhances lives. It ends generational cycles of poverty and disease and provides a foundation for sustainable development. A quality education better equips girls and boys with the knowledge and skills necessary to adopt healthy lifestyles, and take an active role in social, economic and political decision-making as they transition to adolescence and adulthood. In addition, a rights-based approach to education can address some of societies’ deeply rooted inequalities. These inequalities condemn millions of children, to a life without quality education – and, therefore, to a life of missed opportunities.
Indians in this country must wake-up! Wake-up to the reality that good education is not free for their children in this country anymore! They face a very powerful and pernicious discrimination in all areas of education. In Tamil schools, they struggle to get chairs and tables from their own pockets for their children to sit and study, as the UMNO government or MIC, DAP, PAS or PKR couldn’t care less! What more to say on the pathetic land for Tamil schools issue. In secondary, their children need to battle all sorts of racism, from being called ‘Keling / black’ to being slapped or head shaved for some petty offences! Then, if at all they didn’t drop out and pull through, higher education, especially, good courses like medicine, engineering, pharmacy, accounting, teaching, computer studies, English courses, etc. will be just a dream! They can only make it a reality if and only if, they have good bank-balance to finance their children’s education or some properties to sell or mortgage in the bank! Good education is not free for the Indian children, the most disadvantaged, excluded and vulnerable, in this country!
To realise the educational benefits, and to bring about essential structural changes that are necessary to achieve social justice and equal education for the Indian children, Indians must get together and make HRP’s Indian Political Empowerment Strategy a reality! There is no other political party or NGO or social movement that looks into the nuances and nitty-gritty of the educational discrimination on Indians in Malaysia and offers a solution to it as HRP/Hindraf do!
Yes, the ONE and ONLY solution to all these acute discriminations practised by the UMNO-led government is Indian Political Empowerment Strategy! Empower your own selves and elect Indian lawmakers on Indian majority votes and send them to parliament to fight for your rights, failing which, you can kick them off the next time around! Absolutely practical strategy and you, the vast majority Indians, whom the ‘masters’ ought to duly serve, will have the power in your hands, as per the Indian Political Empowerment Strategy! You vote for your own selves!
Education is our unalienable right and we do not need to beg the authorities to give it to us! Nor is it begging to demand our birth rights! Only some so called ‘elite group fools’ will question us on why we are begging the government to help us instead of us helping ourselves by tapping the financial resources readily available from the ‘rich Indians’ whom we have never heard of. Why are they not coming forward to help students like Seguntha? What are they waiting for? Where are they? Who are they?
The truth is UMNO or MIC or DAP, PKR or PAS politicians or any other rich Indians will never care two hoots about the poor and downtrodden Indians nor will they make any effort to amicably solve the critical Indian issues to compensate for the past and present injustices towards Indians!
We have to empower ourselves and pursue our happiness on our own! We do not want any more Seguntha stories! Let this be the last! It is only possible with the Indian Political Empowerment Strategy!
Iraiputran
Year in year out, for the past twenty years or so, it is the same story! It is an annual phenomenon for the Indian students. Deserving Indian students are denied their rightful places in the local universities. Nevertheless, ironically, Malaysian public universities are offering thousands of places to foreign students from Iran, Iraq, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bosnia, Africa and many other Islamic countries. Many of these students are here on some Islamic scholarships, grants and fellowship awards offered by Malaysian government! Subsequently, there are many Muslim lecturers from around the world in the Malaysian public universities whose places were robbed off the Indians, pushed to the private educational institutions! Where do the Indian students stand in their own soil? What is MIC doing, what is PKR, DAP and PAS doing, GOD knows! I have no words to console Sugentha and many other such bright and deserving Indian students whom have been denied their rightful places in the higher learning institutions in Malaysia.
Who will not be in tears and pain over such blatant educational discrimination in a country that has flourished in every direction possible, except racial equality! No study will be able to examine all the nuances of racial discrimination taking place in the Malaysian education system. Discrimination in education is so blatant on the Indians! From Tamil schools being denied lands to transform them into fully-aided government schools, to denial of university places for the bright Indian students, name it, all forms of educational discrimination is there for them!
Education is one of the many important civil rights issues affecting the Malaysian Indians today! Racial discrimination in education arises from actions of institutions or individual state actors, their attitudes and ideologies, or processes that systematically treat students from different racial/ethnic groups disparately or inequitably.
The effect is detrimental to the lives of the victims as one can imagine! Access to good education is the key to good jobs, quality housing, healthy life and political influence. Such discriminatory policies in education will limit or bock all opportunities for intellectual growth among Indians in all fields! The UMNO-led BN government has very systematically, and very deliberately, written and implemented educational policies to massacre the bright Indian community from flourishing, to subsequently end up as factory workers and private company clerks with yet another form of blatant discrimination to prosper and grow! They will be completely wiped out from the mainstream development in this country in no time soon!
Zafiris Tzannatos (2009) in his journal, “Reverse racial discrimination in higher education in Malaysia: Has it reduced the inequality and what cost to the poor?” reported that in the last twenty years, economic and social policy in Malaysia has been dominated by discrimination in favour of the Bumiputras and against the Chinese and the Indians. The preferential treatment of the Bumiputras is pursued in association with other objectives. In no other area of public policy has reverse discrimination been more acute than in higher education. His paper shows that past and present educational policies in Malaysia have resulted in allocation inefficiency. The prime beneficiaries of such policies have been better-off Bumiputras!
That’s right! The better-off Bumiputras, UMNO Bumiputras precisey!
By definition and purpose, education is the development of human capital towards meeting the individual and social needs of learners and their societies (Apple, Michael W., 2009). Sugentha and many other such bright Indian students with straight As could have well been the most precious human capitals for this country they call home! Alas! Higher education has now become limited to the fiscally advantage portion of the society, the better-off UMNOputras and financially sound Chinese, certainly not poverty stricken Indians! Hence, an Indian student like Sugentha can only dream of becoming a doctor!
The importance of education is clear to people from all over the world. And most certainly, the UMNOputras know the value of good education! Thus, they have hijacked most of the universities’ and other higher learning institutions’ places for mostly Malay-Muslims only! They know, if they allow too many Indians to graduate as doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, chemists, scientists, accountants, etc…..they will become too smart to control! It is better to keep them stupid in cow-shade like Tamil schools and block all opportunities for their further education, including derecognising the universities where they are furthering their (medical) studies and denials of loans for courses famous among Indian students!
Education is an essential human right and every child in the world is entitled to it, EXCEPT Indian children in Malaysia. UNICEF strongly believes that education, like all human rights, is universal and inalienable—everyone, regardless of gender, religion, ethnicity or economic status, is entitled to it. It is critical to our development as individuals and as societies, and it helps pave the way to a successful and productive future. Education enhances lives. It ends generational cycles of poverty and disease and provides a foundation for sustainable development. A quality education better equips girls and boys with the knowledge and skills necessary to adopt healthy lifestyles, and take an active role in social, economic and political decision-making as they transition to adolescence and adulthood. In addition, a rights-based approach to education can address some of societies’ deeply rooted inequalities. These inequalities condemn millions of children, to a life without quality education – and, therefore, to a life of missed opportunities.
Indians in this country must wake-up! Wake-up to the reality that good education is not free for their children in this country anymore! They face a very powerful and pernicious discrimination in all areas of education. In Tamil schools, they struggle to get chairs and tables from their own pockets for their children to sit and study, as the UMNO government or MIC, DAP, PAS or PKR couldn’t care less! What more to say on the pathetic land for Tamil schools issue. In secondary, their children need to battle all sorts of racism, from being called ‘Keling / black’ to being slapped or head shaved for some petty offences! Then, if at all they didn’t drop out and pull through, higher education, especially, good courses like medicine, engineering, pharmacy, accounting, teaching, computer studies, English courses, etc. will be just a dream! They can only make it a reality if and only if, they have good bank-balance to finance their children’s education or some properties to sell or mortgage in the bank! Good education is not free for the Indian children, the most disadvantaged, excluded and vulnerable, in this country!
To realise the educational benefits, and to bring about essential structural changes that are necessary to achieve social justice and equal education for the Indian children, Indians must get together and make HRP’s Indian Political Empowerment Strategy a reality! There is no other political party or NGO or social movement that looks into the nuances and nitty-gritty of the educational discrimination on Indians in Malaysia and offers a solution to it as HRP/Hindraf do!
Yes, the ONE and ONLY solution to all these acute discriminations practised by the UMNO-led government is Indian Political Empowerment Strategy! Empower your own selves and elect Indian lawmakers on Indian majority votes and send them to parliament to fight for your rights, failing which, you can kick them off the next time around! Absolutely practical strategy and you, the vast majority Indians, whom the ‘masters’ ought to duly serve, will have the power in your hands, as per the Indian Political Empowerment Strategy! You vote for your own selves!
Education is our unalienable right and we do not need to beg the authorities to give it to us! Nor is it begging to demand our birth rights! Only some so called ‘elite group fools’ will question us on why we are begging the government to help us instead of us helping ourselves by tapping the financial resources readily available from the ‘rich Indians’ whom we have never heard of. Why are they not coming forward to help students like Seguntha? What are they waiting for? Where are they? Who are they?
The truth is UMNO or MIC or DAP, PKR or PAS politicians or any other rich Indians will never care two hoots about the poor and downtrodden Indians nor will they make any effort to amicably solve the critical Indian issues to compensate for the past and present injustices towards Indians!
We have to empower ourselves and pursue our happiness on our own! We do not want any more Seguntha stories! Let this be the last! It is only possible with the Indian Political Empowerment Strategy!
Iraiputran
To the critics of Hindraf and Uthayakumar
Haris Ibrahim alleges 'communalism' and was quoted as saying he was particularly turned off by Uthaya's e-mail statement on the shooting of Aminulrasyid.
Looking through the Human Rights Party (HRP) website, I found these statements below; Uthaya's article headlines within inverted commas and my comments added in brackets.
(1) 'No justice for six Indians shot dead by police in one transaction. Policeman shot dead Malay-Muslim in a rare case instantly prosecuted'. [Can readers name another Indian besides Kugan who has been a victim of police brutality? They're largely namelesss to the mainstream media and yet according to Suaram director Dr Kua Kia Soong, 'Indians are a minority in this country but they form the majority when it comes to statistics on deaths in police custody or police killings.']
(2) 'Murder probe for odd Malay youth shot dead by police, criminal tag for hundreds of Indian youths killed by police!' [Exaggerated maybe, but is the 'criminal' tagging true though?]
(3) 'Deputy Home Minister visits Aminulrasyid's home. But zero such visits to any Indian shot dead by police & murder in police custody case.'
(4) 'Shot dead by police Home Ministry panel at work and media headlines. But zero for Indians victims.' [Last November, five Indian youths were shot dead by police in Klang. Of these 'suspected armed robbers' aged between 17 and 24, three were brothers. If you can't picture their mother's grief at three coffins lying side by side, perhaps you might recall the fourth victim's sister who committed suicide by drinking paraquat. Her name was Seetha.]
I won't refute that Uthaya has been race-specific in his crusade to highlight grievances but would it do justice to the real situation if he hadn't, and instead employed a blanket description of 'Malaysian' shot dead?
Kua summed up Suaram's 'Policing the Malaysian Police' 2005 report, a portion of which found, 'The marginalised Indians who make up some of the poorest and most oppressed sections among West Malaysians have been portrayed in a racist light. Yet Indians have been the main victims of racial killings such as at Kampung Medan in 2001, deaths in police custody as well as trigger-happy police shootings.'
Rebutting the 'communalism' accusation generally, R Shan in an earlier article in the HRP website wrote: 'Whenever an Indian issue is raised, it is classified as racist and not as a community issue, even when it is the truth and reality.'
Shan also pointed out that the first case handled pro bono by Uthaya on custodial death was 10 years ago – KL High Court civil suit (SI-21-61-2000) – for Mohd Anuar bin Sharip's family who approached Hindraf as a last resort. Hindraf's next case was the second postmortem of Ho Kwai See who died after eight days in police detention.
In the latter half of its story, Malaysiakini quoted blogger Salahuddin Hisham as saying, 'When you [Uthaya] highlighted the plight of the estate workers, do you know that there are also Javanese and Chinese workers in the estates? There are also the Chinese, Malay, and people of other races who are poor, not just Indians.
I'm presuming the Javanese he mentions are Indonesian. Whereas the Malay First-ers crave a monopoly on victimhood, poverty and suffering, Hindraf's harshest critics are the nationality-loving Malaysian First-ers who discount that race matters.
To Salahuddin's contention that it is not just the Indian community that needs special attention, I would counter that their urgent distress signal is not getting the attention it deserves.
Salahuddin is indeed correct that there are the poor from every community. However, the Malays live on land that belongs to them and they have their kampung to call home or return to, and there is Malay Reserve Land. On the other hand, when the plantations were dismantled, Indians who lost their estate jobs were turned out homeless to become urban squatters. They have not been the beneficiaries of government land programmes such as Felda, Felcra, Risda and others.
Unlike Malays, the Indians have no social safety net and receive little notice or help from the welfare departments. Furthermore, what is the evidence of your own eyes? I see vagrants sleeping on the five-foot way and they have consistently been Indian men.
I see Indian small vendors selling newspapers and sweets, and what they sell in sidewalk stalls fetch meagre profit like flowers and jasmine garlands at RM1 a strand.
I see that road sweepers, car washers and parking attendants are Indians, garbage collectors are Indians (and Indonesians), cleaners and labourers are Indians (and Indonesians). The Indians have been in this land for generations and their status no better than illegal immigrants.
The primarily English-speaking Malaysian First-ers like to think they are superiorly beyond or above ethnicity and choose to hold themselves aloof from Hindraf. They complain that Hindraf is confrontational, abrasive, hyperbolic, sectarian and always talking about Indians alone, plus the clincher – 'Hindraf is racist'.
Nonetheless, I would urge Malaysians to reassess this 'racist' label that they apply so cavalierly as well as to put Hindraf's struggle in proper context.
Our Malaysian constitution has Article 153 guaranteeing the Malay special position and granting quotas. The Umno-led government has since Independence (Mara was established before 1969) unremittingly implemented NEP-like policies that favour solely one race. This race-oriented structure of state has ultimately stranded Indians at the bottom of the heap.
While one may question his methodology like Haris does, still, Uthaya has spent a lot of time pondering on the Indian condition during his ISA detention of more than 500 days.
For his dues paid in Kamunting, surely we can give Uthaya this much, that is to weigh the substance, ie, merit of the argument and not be too distracted by the form. The form of Hindraf is arguably narrow – Hindu Rights Action Front – but then again, people don't similarly demand that Sisters in Islam must take up the cudgels for Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, etc or fight for men's rights in order to be viewed as inclusive.
I'm well aware that Hindraf does not endear itself to Malaysians who prefer politically correct posturing such as Yasmin Ahmad's huggy-feely Petronas ads or Anas Zubedy's feel-good publicity campaigns. But if Hindraf's critics are really so Malaysian-First, why do they read foremost in English? If one were to read more in Malay, you'd realise how negative and belligerent the stereotyping has been of Indians in our unique 'agama dan bangsa'-permeated environment.
Uthaya reluctantly agreed to came to the BUM gathering – which he already anticipated to be 'hostile' – to try to dispel the entrenched prejudices. What eventually transpired can only convince HRP that they're banging their heads against a wall of indifference.
It's undeniable that Uthaya and his colleagues have alienated even 'friends' (individuals, organizations and alternative media) sympathetic to the Indian cause. This being the case, perhaps we would all be better off going our separate ways whilst minding the Indian saying – 'If you can't help, don't hinder'.
Although Hindraf and its political arm HRP might be unpalatable to you, nonetheless the issues they raise are entirely valid. Once you grasp the gravity of the message, you could perhaps get some inkling as to why the messenger has lost patience with Malaysians. The official set-up of this country assuredly makes us one of the most race-obsessed in the world but it is paradoxically Hindraf and not bumiputera-ism that is taken to task.
Helen Ang
Looking through the Human Rights Party (HRP) website, I found these statements below; Uthaya's article headlines within inverted commas and my comments added in brackets.
(1) 'No justice for six Indians shot dead by police in one transaction. Policeman shot dead Malay-Muslim in a rare case instantly prosecuted'. [Can readers name another Indian besides Kugan who has been a victim of police brutality? They're largely namelesss to the mainstream media and yet according to Suaram director Dr Kua Kia Soong, 'Indians are a minority in this country but they form the majority when it comes to statistics on deaths in police custody or police killings.']
(2) 'Murder probe for odd Malay youth shot dead by police, criminal tag for hundreds of Indian youths killed by police!' [Exaggerated maybe, but is the 'criminal' tagging true though?]
(3) 'Deputy Home Minister visits Aminulrasyid's home. But zero such visits to any Indian shot dead by police & murder in police custody case.'
(4) 'Shot dead by police Home Ministry panel at work and media headlines. But zero for Indians victims.' [Last November, five Indian youths were shot dead by police in Klang. Of these 'suspected armed robbers' aged between 17 and 24, three were brothers. If you can't picture their mother's grief at three coffins lying side by side, perhaps you might recall the fourth victim's sister who committed suicide by drinking paraquat. Her name was Seetha.]
I won't refute that Uthaya has been race-specific in his crusade to highlight grievances but would it do justice to the real situation if he hadn't, and instead employed a blanket description of 'Malaysian' shot dead?
Kua summed up Suaram's 'Policing the Malaysian Police' 2005 report, a portion of which found, 'The marginalised Indians who make up some of the poorest and most oppressed sections among West Malaysians have been portrayed in a racist light. Yet Indians have been the main victims of racial killings such as at Kampung Medan in 2001, deaths in police custody as well as trigger-happy police shootings.'
Rebutting the 'communalism' accusation generally, R Shan in an earlier article in the HRP website wrote: 'Whenever an Indian issue is raised, it is classified as racist and not as a community issue, even when it is the truth and reality.'
Shan also pointed out that the first case handled pro bono by Uthaya on custodial death was 10 years ago – KL High Court civil suit (SI-21-61-2000) – for Mohd Anuar bin Sharip's family who approached Hindraf as a last resort. Hindraf's next case was the second postmortem of Ho Kwai See who died after eight days in police detention.
In the latter half of its story, Malaysiakini quoted blogger Salahuddin Hisham as saying, 'When you [Uthaya] highlighted the plight of the estate workers, do you know that there are also Javanese and Chinese workers in the estates? There are also the Chinese, Malay, and people of other races who are poor, not just Indians.
I'm presuming the Javanese he mentions are Indonesian. Whereas the Malay First-ers crave a monopoly on victimhood, poverty and suffering, Hindraf's harshest critics are the nationality-loving Malaysian First-ers who discount that race matters.
To Salahuddin's contention that it is not just the Indian community that needs special attention, I would counter that their urgent distress signal is not getting the attention it deserves.
Salahuddin is indeed correct that there are the poor from every community. However, the Malays live on land that belongs to them and they have their kampung to call home or return to, and there is Malay Reserve Land. On the other hand, when the plantations were dismantled, Indians who lost their estate jobs were turned out homeless to become urban squatters. They have not been the beneficiaries of government land programmes such as Felda, Felcra, Risda and others.
Unlike Malays, the Indians have no social safety net and receive little notice or help from the welfare departments. Furthermore, what is the evidence of your own eyes? I see vagrants sleeping on the five-foot way and they have consistently been Indian men.
I see Indian small vendors selling newspapers and sweets, and what they sell in sidewalk stalls fetch meagre profit like flowers and jasmine garlands at RM1 a strand.
I see that road sweepers, car washers and parking attendants are Indians, garbage collectors are Indians (and Indonesians), cleaners and labourers are Indians (and Indonesians). The Indians have been in this land for generations and their status no better than illegal immigrants.
The primarily English-speaking Malaysian First-ers like to think they are superiorly beyond or above ethnicity and choose to hold themselves aloof from Hindraf. They complain that Hindraf is confrontational, abrasive, hyperbolic, sectarian and always talking about Indians alone, plus the clincher – 'Hindraf is racist'.
Nonetheless, I would urge Malaysians to reassess this 'racist' label that they apply so cavalierly as well as to put Hindraf's struggle in proper context.
Our Malaysian constitution has Article 153 guaranteeing the Malay special position and granting quotas. The Umno-led government has since Independence (Mara was established before 1969) unremittingly implemented NEP-like policies that favour solely one race. This race-oriented structure of state has ultimately stranded Indians at the bottom of the heap.
While one may question his methodology like Haris does, still, Uthaya has spent a lot of time pondering on the Indian condition during his ISA detention of more than 500 days.
For his dues paid in Kamunting, surely we can give Uthaya this much, that is to weigh the substance, ie, merit of the argument and not be too distracted by the form. The form of Hindraf is arguably narrow – Hindu Rights Action Front – but then again, people don't similarly demand that Sisters in Islam must take up the cudgels for Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, etc or fight for men's rights in order to be viewed as inclusive.
I'm well aware that Hindraf does not endear itself to Malaysians who prefer politically correct posturing such as Yasmin Ahmad's huggy-feely Petronas ads or Anas Zubedy's feel-good publicity campaigns. But if Hindraf's critics are really so Malaysian-First, why do they read foremost in English? If one were to read more in Malay, you'd realise how negative and belligerent the stereotyping has been of Indians in our unique 'agama dan bangsa'-permeated environment.
Uthaya reluctantly agreed to came to the BUM gathering – which he already anticipated to be 'hostile' – to try to dispel the entrenched prejudices. What eventually transpired can only convince HRP that they're banging their heads against a wall of indifference.
It's undeniable that Uthaya and his colleagues have alienated even 'friends' (individuals, organizations and alternative media) sympathetic to the Indian cause. This being the case, perhaps we would all be better off going our separate ways whilst minding the Indian saying – 'If you can't help, don't hinder'.
Although Hindraf and its political arm HRP might be unpalatable to you, nonetheless the issues they raise are entirely valid. Once you grasp the gravity of the message, you could perhaps get some inkling as to why the messenger has lost patience with Malaysians. The official set-up of this country assuredly makes us one of the most race-obsessed in the world but it is paradoxically Hindraf and not bumiputera-ism that is taken to task.
Helen Ang
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Zaid Ibrahim Blasts Election Irregularities in Malaysia
The April 25 by-election, he says, was rife with election abuse
Zaid Ibrahim, the Malaysia opposition coalition standard-bearer who lost a by-election last Sunday to P Kamalanathan, a Malaysian Indian Congress spokesman, coalition, has issued a blistering statement charging the national ruling coalition with "blatant bribery starting from…party workers right up to the Prime Minister himself."
Zaid, a prominent Kuala Lumpur lawyer and onetime justice minister under former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who left the United Malays National Organisation to join the Parti Keadilan Rakyat headed by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, called on international observers to monitor future elections in the country. The opposition lost the race in the Hulu Selangor constituency northeast of Kuala Lumpur by 1,725 votes.
Other observers said both sides had used the power of government to attempt to influence the results. The Pakatan Rakyat coalition, composed of Parti Keadilan, the ethnic Chinese Democratic Action Party and the Islamic fundamentalist Parti Islam se-Malaysia, won control of the government in Selangor in the 2008 national election. Certainly in the past, UMNO has shown no hesitation at promising contracts to likely voters, used government-owned transport to move voters to the polls and taken many other steps to seek to ensure victory although vote-counting has largely remained clean and fair.
Kim Quek, a Pakatan Rakyat spokesman, charged in his own message that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak "made innumerable on-the-spot grants of cash and promises of goodies (many were conditional upon a Barisan Nasional win) that ran easily to hundreds of millions of ringgit during that compact campaign period. These included the construction of a university and several schools, an expressway interchange and many other infrastructures, several low-cost housing projects, upgrading of mosques and temples, grants to community guilds and associations, cash payments to individuals etc."
In particular, Quek wrote, Najib himself handed RM5 million (US$1.56 million) in cash to 10 100 rural dwellers being resettled by Malaysia's Federal Land Development Authority. The settlers, Quek wrote, were among victims of a failed project committed to a private developer 15 years ago.
Zaid's loss was a setback for the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.which has been suffering increasing attrition as party functionaries leave and return to the UMNO, from whence many of them had come before the 2008 election. Zaid was being seen as the logical successor to Anwar if the opposition leader goes to jail in what has become known as Sodomy II after a former aide charged him with sexual perversion.
Zaid charged that voters' names had been removed from electoral rolls, that others had been intimidated, bribed or given other inducements to influence their choice. He said his legal team would file an election petition against the poll, which took place in the Hulu Selangor constituency northeast of Kuala Lumpur. He said he would also sue the country's election commission.
"The conduct of free and fair elections is the constitutional duty of the Election Commission," Zaid wrote. "I maintain that they have violated that duty in the recent by-election. They have allowed intimidation, false information, and unfair and illegal electoral practices by the Barisan Nasional machinery without any attempt to stop them. In fact, it was obvious to me that the Election Commission was on the side of Barisan Nasional and wanting Barisan Nasional to win."
He said he also intends to file suit against the UMNO-controlled Utusan Malaysia newspaper for calling him a kaki botol or drunk. "I was never an alcoholic," he said. "Whatever I consumed was no more than whatever (former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad) and other UMNO leaders had consumed. The Election Commission should not have allowed for such a malicious and false campaign."
The opposition, he said, would launch a "Pakatan International Support group" in London in July to seek international support for free and fair elections in Malaysia. He invited overseas Malaysians to provide information to other countries and international organizations on what he described as election excesses in the country.
AsiaSentinel.com
Zaid Ibrahim, the Malaysia opposition coalition standard-bearer who lost a by-election last Sunday to P Kamalanathan, a Malaysian Indian Congress spokesman, coalition, has issued a blistering statement charging the national ruling coalition with "blatant bribery starting from…party workers right up to the Prime Minister himself."
Zaid, a prominent Kuala Lumpur lawyer and onetime justice minister under former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who left the United Malays National Organisation to join the Parti Keadilan Rakyat headed by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, called on international observers to monitor future elections in the country. The opposition lost the race in the Hulu Selangor constituency northeast of Kuala Lumpur by 1,725 votes.
Other observers said both sides had used the power of government to attempt to influence the results. The Pakatan Rakyat coalition, composed of Parti Keadilan, the ethnic Chinese Democratic Action Party and the Islamic fundamentalist Parti Islam se-Malaysia, won control of the government in Selangor in the 2008 national election. Certainly in the past, UMNO has shown no hesitation at promising contracts to likely voters, used government-owned transport to move voters to the polls and taken many other steps to seek to ensure victory although vote-counting has largely remained clean and fair.
Kim Quek, a Pakatan Rakyat spokesman, charged in his own message that Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak "made innumerable on-the-spot grants of cash and promises of goodies (many were conditional upon a Barisan Nasional win) that ran easily to hundreds of millions of ringgit during that compact campaign period. These included the construction of a university and several schools, an expressway interchange and many other infrastructures, several low-cost housing projects, upgrading of mosques and temples, grants to community guilds and associations, cash payments to individuals etc."
In particular, Quek wrote, Najib himself handed RM5 million (US$1.56 million) in cash to 10 100 rural dwellers being resettled by Malaysia's Federal Land Development Authority. The settlers, Quek wrote, were among victims of a failed project committed to a private developer 15 years ago.
Zaid's loss was a setback for the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.which has been suffering increasing attrition as party functionaries leave and return to the UMNO, from whence many of them had come before the 2008 election. Zaid was being seen as the logical successor to Anwar if the opposition leader goes to jail in what has become known as Sodomy II after a former aide charged him with sexual perversion.
Zaid charged that voters' names had been removed from electoral rolls, that others had been intimidated, bribed or given other inducements to influence their choice. He said his legal team would file an election petition against the poll, which took place in the Hulu Selangor constituency northeast of Kuala Lumpur. He said he would also sue the country's election commission.
"The conduct of free and fair elections is the constitutional duty of the Election Commission," Zaid wrote. "I maintain that they have violated that duty in the recent by-election. They have allowed intimidation, false information, and unfair and illegal electoral practices by the Barisan Nasional machinery without any attempt to stop them. In fact, it was obvious to me that the Election Commission was on the side of Barisan Nasional and wanting Barisan Nasional to win."
He said he also intends to file suit against the UMNO-controlled Utusan Malaysia newspaper for calling him a kaki botol or drunk. "I was never an alcoholic," he said. "Whatever I consumed was no more than whatever (former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad) and other UMNO leaders had consumed. The Election Commission should not have allowed for such a malicious and false campaign."
The opposition, he said, would launch a "Pakatan International Support group" in London in July to seek international support for free and fair elections in Malaysia. He invited overseas Malaysians to provide information to other countries and international organizations on what he described as election excesses in the country.
AsiaSentinel.com
By-election Defeat for Malaysia Opposition
Najib's policies appear to be ratified by Malay voters.
Malaysia's opposition Pakatan Rakyat has been defeated in a northeastern Selangor by-election that had been billed as a referendum on Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's economic and social policies.
Zaid Ibrahim, a one-time justice minister turned possible successor to the embattled Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, lost the seat to P Kalamanathan, a Malaysian Indian Congress functionary by a relatively healthy 1,725 votes.
The Hulu Selangor race appears to have been the hardest fought and perhaps most significant of the 10 by-elections since the opposition Pakatan Rakyat broke the national coalition's two-thirds hold on the Dewan Rakyat, or parliament in March 2008 national elections and it has raised speculation that Najib believes his strengthening coalition will be able to call national elections in 2011. Most of the previous by-elections took place in safe constituencies where the incumbent had either died or resigned. In Hulu Selangor, Zainal Abidin Ahmad, a Parti Keadilan Rakyat member of parliament, had died on March 25.
While Kalamanathan's 1,725 margin reversed the previous defeat, however, UMNO officials predicted a 6,000 vote margin, perhaps out of bravado. In previous elections, the Barisan pulled victory margins of as much as 10,000 in the constituency. But a win is a win and probably an indication of a rising trend.
Kalamanathan, who was personally selected by Najib against the wishes of MIC head S. Samy Vellu, won 24,997 votes against Zaid's 23,272. The result reduces the opposition's membership in the Dewan Rakyat to 76 against the Barisan Nasional's 138. It was the second straight by-election win for the Barisan.
Voting was heavy early in the Hulu Selangor constituency, a variegated district to the northeast of Kuala Lumpur, with an eventual turnout of 75.8 percent, election officials said. The contest for the seat, in which both sides have spent state funds heavily and often, and each accused the other of such offences as drinking beer and faking college credentials, was also viewed by analysts as a test of whether Najib has been able to rebuild the scandal-wracked Barisan and whether the Pakatan Rakyat's ability to rule the populous state it won in 2008 had found resonance with the voters. Najib appeared three times in the constituency to urge voters to return to the Barisan.
The central lesson of the race appears to have been the division of the electorate along ethnic lines, with the Chinese, who make up 26 percent of the electorate, going solidly for the opposition and Malays and Indians swinging back to the Barisan Nasional, the national ruling coalition. Zaid appeared to be leading initially as votes in the urban areas -- Chinese strongholds -- were counted first. However, as the ballots started to trickle in from rural Malay voters, the count swung back to Kalamanathan.
Najib, who came into the premiership a year ago dogged by scandal and with only a 44 percent approval rating, has now improved his numbers to 68 percent across the country. He has worked assiduously to heal the fractured racial divisions in Malaysia, especially with the Indian population, who make up about 8 percent of the electorate. His 1Malaysia campaign, as it is known, is aided by a US$23 million contract with US public relations giant APCO. The Chinese remain largely disaffected, turned off by factional political infighting and scandal in the Malaysian Chinese Association.
Najib has been aided by a recovering economy, with rising exports expected to push gross domestic product back to 4.5-5 percent in 2010. Some analysts express concern that employment is rising only marginally. However, his so-called New Economic Model, designed to replace the 40-year-old New Economic Policy of affirmative action for ethnic Malays, has stirred concern in the Malay community that they will be forced to give up subsidies and other privileges to the wealthier Chinese.
With Anwar caught in the coils of a long-drawn-out sexual abuse trial that has been nicknamed Sodomy II, Zaid, a highly respected lawyer who was appointed by former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as a minister in the prime minister's office to attempt to clean out Malaysia's scandal-wracked judiciary, was perhaps the opposition's best hope to lead if Anwar is convicted. As an UMNO cabinet official, Zaid stirred the outrage of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad by saying the government should apologize for his firing of the Lord President of the Supreme Court, Tun Salleh Abbas, in 1988. After criticizing the arrests of three individuals - Democratic Action Party MP Teresa Kok, editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin and journalist Tan Hoon Cheng under the Internal Security Act in September of 2008, Zaid was forced to resign and he left the party soon after.
Lim Kit Siang, the head of the DAP, sought to put the best face on the defeat, telling his supporters that the loss was narrower than expected and that Zaid will live to fight again another day. Nonetheless, the defeat still leaves the Pakatan Rakyat struggling to find a leader with the charisma to replace Anwar if he goes to jail in the long-drawn-out sexual abuse trial. Anwar spent six years in prison on similar charges after a 1998 trial that was universally condemned as concocted to drive him out of politics.
AsiaSentinel.com
Malaysia's opposition Pakatan Rakyat has been defeated in a northeastern Selangor by-election that had been billed as a referendum on Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's economic and social policies.
Zaid Ibrahim, a one-time justice minister turned possible successor to the embattled Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, lost the seat to P Kalamanathan, a Malaysian Indian Congress functionary by a relatively healthy 1,725 votes.
The Hulu Selangor race appears to have been the hardest fought and perhaps most significant of the 10 by-elections since the opposition Pakatan Rakyat broke the national coalition's two-thirds hold on the Dewan Rakyat, or parliament in March 2008 national elections and it has raised speculation that Najib believes his strengthening coalition will be able to call national elections in 2011. Most of the previous by-elections took place in safe constituencies where the incumbent had either died or resigned. In Hulu Selangor, Zainal Abidin Ahmad, a Parti Keadilan Rakyat member of parliament, had died on March 25.
While Kalamanathan's 1,725 margin reversed the previous defeat, however, UMNO officials predicted a 6,000 vote margin, perhaps out of bravado. In previous elections, the Barisan pulled victory margins of as much as 10,000 in the constituency. But a win is a win and probably an indication of a rising trend.
Kalamanathan, who was personally selected by Najib against the wishes of MIC head S. Samy Vellu, won 24,997 votes against Zaid's 23,272. The result reduces the opposition's membership in the Dewan Rakyat to 76 against the Barisan Nasional's 138. It was the second straight by-election win for the Barisan.
Voting was heavy early in the Hulu Selangor constituency, a variegated district to the northeast of Kuala Lumpur, with an eventual turnout of 75.8 percent, election officials said. The contest for the seat, in which both sides have spent state funds heavily and often, and each accused the other of such offences as drinking beer and faking college credentials, was also viewed by analysts as a test of whether Najib has been able to rebuild the scandal-wracked Barisan and whether the Pakatan Rakyat's ability to rule the populous state it won in 2008 had found resonance with the voters. Najib appeared three times in the constituency to urge voters to return to the Barisan.
The central lesson of the race appears to have been the division of the electorate along ethnic lines, with the Chinese, who make up 26 percent of the electorate, going solidly for the opposition and Malays and Indians swinging back to the Barisan Nasional, the national ruling coalition. Zaid appeared to be leading initially as votes in the urban areas -- Chinese strongholds -- were counted first. However, as the ballots started to trickle in from rural Malay voters, the count swung back to Kalamanathan.
Najib, who came into the premiership a year ago dogged by scandal and with only a 44 percent approval rating, has now improved his numbers to 68 percent across the country. He has worked assiduously to heal the fractured racial divisions in Malaysia, especially with the Indian population, who make up about 8 percent of the electorate. His 1Malaysia campaign, as it is known, is aided by a US$23 million contract with US public relations giant APCO. The Chinese remain largely disaffected, turned off by factional political infighting and scandal in the Malaysian Chinese Association.
Najib has been aided by a recovering economy, with rising exports expected to push gross domestic product back to 4.5-5 percent in 2010. Some analysts express concern that employment is rising only marginally. However, his so-called New Economic Model, designed to replace the 40-year-old New Economic Policy of affirmative action for ethnic Malays, has stirred concern in the Malay community that they will be forced to give up subsidies and other privileges to the wealthier Chinese.
With Anwar caught in the coils of a long-drawn-out sexual abuse trial that has been nicknamed Sodomy II, Zaid, a highly respected lawyer who was appointed by former premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as a minister in the prime minister's office to attempt to clean out Malaysia's scandal-wracked judiciary, was perhaps the opposition's best hope to lead if Anwar is convicted. As an UMNO cabinet official, Zaid stirred the outrage of former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad by saying the government should apologize for his firing of the Lord President of the Supreme Court, Tun Salleh Abbas, in 1988. After criticizing the arrests of three individuals - Democratic Action Party MP Teresa Kok, editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin and journalist Tan Hoon Cheng under the Internal Security Act in September of 2008, Zaid was forced to resign and he left the party soon after.
Lim Kit Siang, the head of the DAP, sought to put the best face on the defeat, telling his supporters that the loss was narrower than expected and that Zaid will live to fight again another day. Nonetheless, the defeat still leaves the Pakatan Rakyat struggling to find a leader with the charisma to replace Anwar if he goes to jail in the long-drawn-out sexual abuse trial. Anwar spent six years in prison on similar charges after a 1998 trial that was universally condemned as concocted to drive him out of politics.
AsiaSentinel.com
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