Tan Keng Liang, think before you speak

Photo credit: Malaysiakini

By Stephen Ng

Gerakan Youth Chief, Tan Keng Liang appears to be bankrupt of ideas every time he speaks.

In his latest statement, he questioned if Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would expose a letter from PAS Kelantan asking the Finance Ministry for money to pay the salaries of civil servants.

This has nothing to do with Gerakan, but Tan chose to pick a bone with Finance Minister, Lim Guan Eng.

I find this amusing. Lim had made a comment in passing when he responded to Kelantan MPs who wanted to know if the federal government would proceed with the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) should the Kelantan State Government come out with its fund.

Kelantan MPs took offence of his remark that the Kelantan State Government has no money even to pay the salaries of civil servants in the state.

As a member of the public, I would surely like to know whether the remark made by Lim holds water.

Lim did the right thing to read out the letter written by the Kelantan State Government to settle any lingering doubts about the statement he made in parliament.

After all, the letter was not stamped Official Secrets Act (OSA). It is a correspondence between the Kelantan State Government and the Federal Government.

So, why can't Lim provide evidence to back up what he said? And, why Tan should pick up the issue as though there are more important issues to address.

Grow up, Tan!

END.

Civil Servants Must be Polite at All Times

Source: https://mothership.sg/2015/10/man-takes-to-facebook-to-accuse-changi-airport-immigration-officer-of-infringing-his-rights/

By Stephen Ng


Comment: Reading the story about how an immigration officer treated a man who applied for a social visit pass extension for his pregnant Indonesian wife, I cannot help but recall an incident happening at the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority of Singapore.

Although this incident happened about 10 years ago, I can still remember vividly the immigration officer who shares the same surname as mine.

It was very late at night, and I did not realise that I had walked into their auto-gate system, thinking that it was similar to the auto-gate system at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. The immigration officer shouted at me rudely: "Do you think this is the auto-gate system in your country?" I retorted back: "Excuse me, Sir! Can you be a bit more polite?"
He took my passport away and went back to his office. I waited by the side while he checked my particulars on the computer system. It took some time before I called out to him, "Sir, is there anything wrong with my passport? If nothing, I want my passport back."

To my horror, the officer shouted at the top of his voice. Provoked by his rude behaviours, I told him off: "Sir, I will definitely be lodging a complaint against you for your rude behaviours. This I promise you!"

I took my passport and joined the queue.

On arrival home the next morning, I immediately wrote an email to the Immigration chief in Singapore. I also sent emails to the Minister of Home Affairs in Singapore as well as to the Malaysian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Syed Hamid Albar.

My Singaporean reporter friend advised me to also write to several Members of Parliament in Singapore, after he heard that the Immigration Office in Singapore had defended their officer.
He told me that the MPs in Singapore are very efficient. If any complaints to their attention, especially the Opposition Leader, things would move very fast. Unfortunately, I proved my friend wrong. Singaporean MPs are hopeless.

I finally sent an email to the Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Hsien Loong and within 24 hours, I received a reply from his private secretary claiming that investigation had been carried out and the officer was not in the wrong.

Such was the response from the Prime Minister's office. I had no choice but to reply with the following words to the effect of saying: "Sir, if this had happened at Tullamarine Airport, the immigration officers there would have told me, 'Excuse me, Sir, but you are on a wrong queue.' This is the difference between a country where people are more polite, compared to a country with rough and rowdy immigration officers like Singapore."

I left it at that. This incident has given me a very negative impression of Singapore as a country that its people lack a sense of courtesy.

Another story showing the lack of culture in the immigration officers at Singapore Immigration & Checkpoints Authority.


END.

Tough for Zahid to prove his innocence

By Stephen Ng


It is not difficult to say that A. Zahid Hamidi and his wife's credit card expenses simply do not add up.

RM800,000 is a lot of money for most Malaysians, and for the couple to spend that amount of money raises questions as to where they obtain the money. It is close to a million Ringgit.

The six million dollar question is: "How on earth did Zahid and his wife spend so much using their credit cards?"

The deputy prime minister would have to earn at least RM2 million a year for the couple to spend that amount. Does a deputy prime minister's salary touch anywhere near RM2 million per annum? I doubt.

 So, when Zahid said that it was his staff's mistake when cheques were issued using funds from Yayasan Akal Budi to pay the credit card bills, I could only roll my eyes in disbelief.

What may appear obvious to me is that Yayasan Akal Budi was set up as a front to receive bribes in the form of donations. Until the Prosecution proves it in court, my suspicion remains a suspicion.

Zahid will have a tough time to prove that he has the means to pay an accumulated credit card bill of RM800,000. There are over 44 other charges that he has to prove his innocence.

This is going to be very tough for Zahid. Even when his men stand in solidarity with him but as Umno president, if he fails to defend himself, he will be sent to jail.

It is interesting that although one of his foot soldiers had blasted out his call to rally for Zahid, only 200 people turned up at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, which works out to be only one percent of the people whom he had broadcast the messages.

People like Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, Adnan Mansor and the infamous Jamal Mohd Yusof were surprisingly missing in action.

Zahid knows that his chances of winning the case are very slim. Could this be the reason why he went to see Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently?

Any effort to merge Bersatu or PKR with Umno would surely cause a big revolt among the voters and both Tun Mahathir and prime minister designate, Anwar Ibrahim know this very well.

People's confidence in the present government and the cabinet will help it to take Malaysia to the next level. Therefore, Zahid has very slim chances of saving himself and former prime minister, Najib Abdul Razak.

For all Malaysians, the next two or three years, we will be seeing all the evidences brought to court. If the appeals are rejected at both the Court of Appeal and Federal Court, then Sungai Buloh prison officers will have the privilege of looking after a few more VIP prisoners.

The Malaysian Government has to uphold justice and be seen upholding justice.

The details of the charges are as follows:

Criminal breach of trust

1. Criminal breach of trust involving RM537,513.64 from welfare foundation Yayasan Akal Budi between Jan 13, 2014 and Dec 23, 2014.

2. Criminal breach of trust involving RM38,070.49 from Yayasan Akal Budi between Feb 19, 2014 and Oct 29, 2014.

3. Criminal breach of trust involving RM107,509.55 from Yayasan Akal Budi between Jan 22, 2015 and Sept 23, 2015.

4. Criminal breach of trust involving RM708,134.47 from Yayasan Akal Budi between Jan 27, 2015 and Aug 21, 2015.

5. Criminal breach of trust involving RM3,914.84 from Yayasan Akal Budi on March 20, 2015.

6. Criminal breach of trust involving RM17,953,185.21 from Yayasan Akal Budi between June 23, 2015 and June 28, 2015 .

7. Criminal breach of trust involving RM30,635.80 from Yayasan Akal Budi on July 9, 2015.

8. Criminal breach of trust involving RM100,000 from Yayasan Akal Budi on Aug 20, 2015.

9. Criminal breach of trust involving RM1,300,000 from Yayasan Akal Budi on Nov 23, 2015.

10. Criminal breach of trust involving RM54,168.99 from Yayasan Akal Budi on Jan 11, 2016.

Receiving gratification

11. Receiving gratification as Home Minister for accepting a RM250,000 cheque from Mastoro Kenny IT Consultant & Services to help the company get a MyEG project on Jul 15, 2016.

12. Receiving gratification as Home Minister for accepting 13 cheques worth RM8 million from Mastoro Kenny IT Consultant & Services to help the company get a MyEG project between Dec 7, 2016 and Jan 5, 2017.

13. Receiving gratification as Home Minister for accepting 10 cheques worth RM5 million from Mastoro Kenny IT Consultant & Services to help the company get a MyEG project on Feb 8, 2017.

14. Receiving gratification as Home Minister for accepting a RM5 million cheque from Datasonic Group Bhd director Chew Ben Ben on April 26, 2017. Datasonic had won a direct tender contract from Home Ministry to supply Malaysian passport chips.

15. Receiving gratification as Home Minister for accepting a RM1 million cheque from Datasonic Group Bhd director Chew Ben Ben on April 26, 2017.

16. Receiving gratification as Home Minister for accepting a RM300,000 cheque from Profound Radiance Sdn Bhd director Azlan Shah Jaffril on Aug 3, 2017. Profound Radiance runs migrant visa one-stop centers in Pakistan and Nepal.

17. Receiving gratification as Home Minister for accepting a RM1 million cheque from Profound Radiance Sdn Bhd director Azlan Shah Jaffril on Jan 9, 2018.

18. Receiving gratification as Home Minister for accepting a RM700,000 cheque from Profound Radiance Sdn Bhd director Azlan Shah Jaffril on March 15, 2018.

Money laundering

19. Money laundering by depositing RM3.8 million as a fixed deposit on May 27, 2016.

20. Money laundering by depositing RM3 million as a fixed deposit on June 14, 2016.

21. Money laundering by depositing RM4.6 million as a fixed deposit on June 14, 2016.

22. Money laundering by depositing RM3 million as a fixed deposit on June 16, 2016.

23. Money laundering by depositing RM9,350,265.21 as a fixed deposit on July 13, 2016.

24. Money laundering by depositing RM5,460,361.14 as a fixed deposit on July 21, 2016.

25. Money laundering by depositing RM600,000 as a fixed deposit on Aug 29, 2016.

26. Money laundering by depositing RM600,000 as a fixed deposit on Sept 13, 2016.

27. Money laundering by depositing RM1.2 million as a fixed deposit on Nov 7, 2016.

28. Money laundering by depositing RM619,680.70 as a fixed deposit on Jan 6, 2017.

29. Money laundering by depositing RM3 million as a fixed deposit on Jan 9, 2017.

30. Money laundering by depositing RM1.2 million as a fixed deposit on Jan 17, 2017.

31. Money laundering by depositing RM600,000 as a fixed deposit on Feb 15, 2017.

32. Money laundering by depositing RM1.2 million as a fixed deposit on April 14, 2017.

33. Money laundering by depositing RM6 million as a fixed deposit on April 28, 2017.

34. Money laundering by depositing RM8,348,040.90 as a fixed deposit on May 11, 2017.

35. Money laundering by depositing RM1.8 million as a fixed deposit on Aug 17, 2017.

36. Money laundering by depositing RM600,000 as a fixed deposit on Oct 10, 2017.

37. Money laundering by depositing RM600,000 as a fixed deposit on Nov 17, 2017.

38. Money laundering by depositing RM600,000 as a fixed deposit on Dec 20, 2017.

39. Money laundering by depositing RM600,000 as a fixed deposit on Jan 17, 2018.

40. Money laundering by depositing RM600,000 as a fixed deposit on Feb 14, 2018.

41. Money laundering by depositing RM700,000 as a fixed deposit on March 20, 2018

42. Money laundering by depositing RM600,000 as a fixed deposit on March 20, 2018.

43. Money laundering by depositing RM600,000 as a fixed deposit on April 11, 2018.

44. Money laundering by purchasing two bungalows in Mukim Kajang, Hulu Langat, Selangor for RM5.9 million on Jan 9, 2017.

45. Money laundering by ordering the conversion of RM6,885,270.20 in cash into 30 cheques to be used for fixed deposits between March 29, 2016 and July 15, 2016.

Source: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/447983

END.

How can lawmakers smoke in the august house?

Photo credit: Malaysiakini 


By Stephen Ng


I find amusing when Malaysian lawmakers would make a fuss of the "No Smoking" ban in the parliament.

What exactly is it that makes the elected members of parliament different from the rest of us? Surely, they are not above the law!

If universities have turned their campuses into "No Smoking" Zones, there is no reason why the august house cannot accept the reform that we have desired so much to see. If the ban is on all government buildings and hospitals, what makes the Malaysian parliament any difference?

The smoke from the cigarettes will be recycled in an airconditioned environment, and this affects the health of a few hundred people at any one time.

In the past, the Barisan Nasional regime had no political will to impose the "No Smoking" ban on the Parliament; but now, when there is a minister who is willing to stand up for doing what is right, why of all persons does Backbencher Chairman Johari Abdul seek to even speak up on behalf of the complainants?

There are more important issues that he should raise for the attention of the Administration in order to make this country a better place for everyone. Why talk about the "No Smoking" ban in parliament?

Is it not a waste of the lawmakers' time? Are their salaries not paid by taxpayers? So, why are they talking on matters like this that do not affect the rakyat? If the ban is imposed in the Parliament, who cares! We have better things to do than to care whether lawmakers get to smoke anywhere in the parliament or within its compound.

If the Minister of Health, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad has imposed a ban on smoking in the parliament, let it be! The Speaker has no problem with it, so why raise this in parliament?

Also, what the heck does Kinabatangan MP, Bung Mokhtar Radin think he is when he said, and I quote: "I feel that the Health Ministry has been discriminatory towards smokers. It appears that the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community has more rights than smokers."

I wonder where has Bung Mokhtar's grey matter gone to or whether he even qualifies to be a lawmaker. If he thinks he is a fighting cock in the parliament, he better think twice because the Rakyat is watching him.

Photo Credit: https://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/447957

If Bung Mokhtar cannot take the "No Smoking" ban, he should just quit being a member of the august house. He can build himself a chimney and smoke all that he wants, but please, do not do it at the expense of other people's health.

I applaud Dr Dzulkefly's bold move. The ban is for the sake of many lawmakers who have to otherwise suffer the secondary smoke from smokers.

It is perhaps time for the Ministry of Health to impose the "No Smoking" zone in state government offices, including the offices of State Excos.

This article is also published here.

END.

Myth of Language leading to so-called National Unity

By Stephen Ng

In a recent forum, “'Malaysia: A New Dawn', former Minister of International Trade and Industries, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz commented about Education Minister, Dr Maszlee Malik’s slogan ‘Mempertabatkan Bahasa Malaysia’.

I would like to add to her rhetoric. To me, promoting Bahasa Malaysia to strengthen national unity is nothing but a myth.

This slogan, based on Shih Huang Ti’s efforts to unite the many kingdoms into one country using Mandarin as the official language has been sung by Umno propagandists time and again for many decades.

This narrow mindedness of people in the likes of Tan Sri Rais Yatim has sidelined English and other vernacular languages. This has destroyed the country’s competitiveness in the international arena.

How can Malaysia be an Asian tiger if its people can hardly speak standard English and communicate with the rest of the world? 

With Bahasa Malaysia, we can only reach out to people in the so-called Nusantara.

With English and the vernacular languages, we can conquered at least two-thirds of the world, but after all these years of promoting Bahasa Malaysia at the expense of other languages, we have become a kampung within a world of mega cities and metropolitans.

Even China has caught up with the rest of the world, with its people capable of speaking good English, compared to our Chinese in Malaysia.

With China fast becoming an economic powerhouse in this region, Mandarin is an important communication tool when trading with the Chinese. Mandarin, Tamil and Hindi are spoken by nearly two billion people or one third of the world’s population.

By all means, Bahasa Malaysia should be promoted extensively. It is embarrassing to learn that one can use the “Read Aloud” App on iPhones for example to read aloud text in Mandarin, but not in Bahasa Malaysia. What is Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka doing about it when we are supposed to be championing the language?

As pointed out by Rafidah, our politicians in Malaysia Baru including Maszlee are still singing the slogan that learning of Bahasa Malaysia will lead to national unity.

Why do I call it a myth? The answer is simple. Look at the way how Malays voted in the last general election. Sixty percent of the country’s population voted in three directions. All speak Bahasa Malaysia and practise the same religion, but where is the unity?

The Chinese, Indians, Dayaks and Kadazan Dusun united together with one-third of the Malays to vote out the old regime, bringing about a new dawn in Malaysia. 

We each speak different languages, yet whenever a ceramah is conducted using the common language, everyone understood, and a bond was created.

In some ceramah, politicians spoke in Mandarin and Tamil as well, yet they were able to rally the different races together to oust Barisan Nasional. If Maszlee is able to speak in Tamil, I am sure he would have used the language as well to woo the Indian voters in his constituency.

So, why after the general election, we see the U-turn, to the point that the Unified Examination Certificate (UEC) cannot be recognised until Bahasa Malaysia is given the pre-eminence in these private Chinese schools? This is nothing but an excuse we have often heard from Umno in the past.

Why are we still thinking that Bahasa Malaysia alone will unite the nation when this is just a myth that Umno has believed in for so many decades?

I suggest that if you have time, go and watch a famous sitcom in the seventies, “Empat Sekawan.” Tan Ah Chek spoke in Hokkien, while Wong Ho and Hon Yin spoke in Cantonese. Lai Meng spoke in Hakka, although her mother tongue was Cantonese. 

All four of them understood each other despite using different dialects. In real life, they were, in fact, good friends.  

What united them together since their days in Bukit Bintang was not the language but the fact that they were fellow Malaysians with a common direction in life.

Malaysians have proven that with race, religion and language set aside, we were able to unite in the last general election. 

Can’t we unite ourselves with a common vision to bring Malaysia to the next level, putting aside our differences in race, religion and language, that otherwise would divide us?

I hope after reading my article, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad would advise his cabinet to make a paradigm shift if we want to see Malaysia become an Asian Tiger again. 

We have what it takes to trade with the rest of the world using the language our trading partners are most comfortable with. Let us not lose our diversity.

There is unity in diversity. Commonness only leads to Communism.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008. After May 9, 2018, he is now involved in contributing ideas towards rebuilding of the nation.

Open letter to Tun Dr Mahathir

By Stephen Ng


Dear Tun,

One of the promises in the election manifesto was to solve the issue of stateless people.

Their plight has been highlighted far and wide in the local media, and promises have also been made to give citizenship to people who were born in Malaysia.

No thanks to your officers at National Registration Centre (JPN), things are not moving as we have expected. While fake identify cards have been identified throughout the country, in particular Sabah, genuine cases of children born to at least one Malaysian parent have been denied of citizenship.

I wish to remind you that once upon a time, you wanted the country’s population to reach 70 million. We are only half way to achieve this target, yet we are not giving enough attention to solve the stateless people’s issue.

A couple of months ago, when Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng opened up a service counter to help stateless people, he was shocked to see a long queue waiting to see him.

People like Lateefah Koya, N. Surendran and Eric Paulssen have been working tireless to help the stateless chidlren. Your cabinet ministers have also met up with you to discuss about the stateless people in the country.

This is the extent of the problem. It is not only affecting one particular race, but thousands of people who have not known any other country other than Malaysia. After all, how could they travel without ever having the chance to hold a Malaysian passport?

If the officers at JPN are the ones who are dragging their feet, perhaps, it is time for you to revamp both JPN and the Ministry of Home Affairs. We can no longer tolerate civil servants who are acting like little Napoleons.

I have at hand the case of a 11-year-old girl who has been diagnosed of Systemic Lupus Ertythematosus (SLE). Because of her statelessness, the initial treatment at a public hospital has cost the family some RM2,000.

The matter has been brought to the attention of Minister of Health, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad who, together with his special officer, have gone the extra mile. Dr Dzulkefly has even offered to help the family financially, but this does not seem right especially when the child is stateless not by choice.
At the same time, doctors at the hospital have been very helpful but they can only do so much.

Over the long term, treatment is going to very costly for the family because the child, despite being born and raised in Malaysia, is treated like a foreigner. This is downright injustice happening behind my eyes.

I wish to also highlight the case of Rosiah Abdullah, who attracted our attention. Despite being a STPM top scorer, the brilliant student from SMK Kg Kapar could not enter public universities.

While the Deputy Minister of Education, Teo Nie Ching has recently announced that stateless children should now be able to enrol in institutions of higher learning, Rosiah’s status has not changed after May 9.

I do not believe this is a case where the promises in the manifesto cannot be fulfilled but, as acting Home Minister, you have to issue your directive to set up a task force to handle all the cases.

Let me quote W.H. Auden: “We are here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don’t know.” Let us use whatever power vested on us to get things sorted for that will impact people’s lives.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008. Now, he is contributing towards nation building.

https://goo.gl/images/kRkeJT

Which soldier works without a salary?

 

Photo credit: The Star 

Which soldier works without a salary?

By Stephen Ng

I refer to the letter, “Dawn of Better Civil Service” by chairman of Asli Centre for Public Policy Studies, Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam.

Written by a former civil servant himself, this letter reveals much about the state of the civil service today.

We, the members of the public, would like to convey a strong message to the Chief Secretary, Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Bakar that he has an important role to play to reform the civil service.

May 9 marks the change of government. With it, we want to see important reforms in the civil service.

With over 1.6 million civil servants in this country, we are probably one of the highest in terms of ratio of civil servants to the population.

One civil servant serves only 19 persons, compared to Singapore with one civil servant to 71.4 people and United Kingdom 1:118 (see table below from Nazir Razak).

This shows how inefficient our civil service is. Since 2003, the salaries paid to the civil servants have risen more than three-fold from RM22 billion to RM74 billion due to the excesses of the previous regime.

With the much needed reforms, Dr Ismail has to be firm as the chief secretary. There cannot be any compromises with any civil servant that tries to sabotage the reform process.

An urgent issue that he should immediately investigate is the non-payment of salaries to staff who came in with their ministers after the cabinet was set up.

Some of the ministers’ aides are also paid on contract basis based on the number of days they work in a month.  

Which government hires its staff and not paying their salaries for nearly half a year? What on earth is happening to the people who are supposed to be paying the salaries?

Obviously, there are people within the civil service who are trying to sabotage the new Government. This cannot be tolerated. The people responsible for the non-payment of salaries should be hauled up to face the music.

I am told that one of the ministers even had to fork out money from his own salary to help his staff. How long can he do that?

Not mincing my words, we demand an explanation from the Chief Secretary and how is it that this can be overlooked.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008. After May 9, 2018, he is now involved in contributing ideas towards rebuilding of the nation.