Corruption in UMNO

The case in the picture involves a particular Mohd Nor Awang, former seremban umno division vice chief (naib ketua bahagian). He was caught on tape by another UMNO branch chief (ketua cawangan) taman zaiton indah area, Rezwat Shahril who cleverly trapped Mohd Nor by having a tape recorder in his pocket while the whole event unfolds.

According to Ms Noorfazlin hamdan the DPP in the first case, at a parking lot behind restoran negeri taman catleya in senawang at 12.20pm 1st august 2008, mohd nor offered and gave rezwat RM200 and a 'chai list'

A 'chai list' is a list of preferable candidates in an lection/contest aligned to a particular group.in this case, the chai list refers to the list of candidates aligned to Mohd Nor.

On the 2nd of Aug 2008, at 430pm in seremban center point, Mohd Nor met with rezwat again and handed him RM500.

Mohd Nor now claims trial at the high court of malaya.

This is not the first of many such cases in UMNO, nor would it be the last of it as well.

Corruption such as these in UMNO are unfortunately rampant, to say the least. It is one those cancerous practices in UMNO, across board at grassroot level, all the way to the top.

Of course there are exceptions. Well, it is also unfortunate that nowadays UMNO politicians who are considered absolutely free of such practices at any level are considered, exceptions.

What is more startling is the way corruption is practiced in UMNO.

Such as in above, many of these cases are carried in broad daylight, and even worse, in public designated areas.

These shows how most of them aren't ashame of comitting such dispicable acts, and how much these criminal habits has become a norm in the party.

On top of that, looking at the amount of money involved, one cannot be blamed to be puzzled by how 'cheap' the grassroot 'support' in UMNO can come by, or supposedly so.

For a mere RM700 per branch/cawangan, once can assume to have 'gained' support from that particular branch.

There are usually 150 branch in every division. But you only need a mere 80 of those branch to support u to win simple majority in a local division contest.

A simple calculation would show us that probably by a mere RM 60, 000 one can possibly win a seat in an UMNO divisional election.

I say merely RM 60, 000 because for many rich ambitious umno malays out there, that is such a meagre amount, relative not only to the wealth that are increasingly moving upwards in the malay community, but meagre as well to the 'return on investment (ROI) . Many UMNO people nowadays realise that the ROI will come in the forms of federal projects which are usually awarded through umno divisional leaders. Hence, it comes as no surprise that nowadays it can be easily assumed that more than 70 percent of the top UMNO divisional leaders across the country are either contractors themselves, or they would own shares in a particular contractor company, one way or another.

Of course there is nothing wrong in being a contractor. But what many UMNO people do not find shameful these days are the act of 'buying' their way to UMNO power, in order to position themselves better for more return on their earlier investments.

Orang UMNO ramai yang tidak mahu bercakap tentang rasuah di dalam UMNO kepada orang di luar UMNO, terutamanya kepada kaum bukan melayu. Malah, ramai juga yang tidak gembira jika ada ahli UMNO sendiri yang bercakap tentang rasuah di dalam UMNO, terutama kepada kaum bukan melayu. Tetapi mereka tidak malu untuk memberi dan menerima rasuah. Bagi ahli UMNO yang terlibat di dalam rasuah, ini sudah menjadi sebahagian daripada lumrah permainan politik. Ada juga yang beranggapan adalah naif untuk menghapuskan politik rasuah kerana ramai lagi yang mahu cari jalan mudah untuk menjadi berkuasa, dan ramai lagi yang sanggup untuk menerima rasuah, demi untuk sesuap nasi.

UMNO is by no means the only party afflicted with corruption practices. But it is without doubt the worse of the whole lot, inside and outside BN.

UMNO members knows about how rampant corruption is in the party. It is also without doubt, that money politics (the so called politically correct term for bribery that UMNO likes to hide themselves behind) were rampant during the UMNO general assembly.

It is also true that at both national and divisional level, there is a subscribed view that every individual will only have a limited amount of time to make as much money as possible from their place in UMNO.

As my friends in UMNO usually says, kalau tak jatuh dalam poket kita, jatuh dalam poket orang lain. (If it doesn't go into my pocket, it will go to others)

I find it rare to find people who seriously believe that a corrupt UMNO is bound for a downfall, especially in the coming national elections.

But for those who have already pocketed enough for a nice apartment at KLCC and a new BMW 5 series, what is there to lose anyways?

-Wmf is an umno party member who believes that the only way to totally eradicate corruption in umno is by umno losing power in the next election. He believes that a new generation of umno members will be able to reshape a new and stronger umno in opposition. He is confident that a prolonged Pakatan government will inherit the same corrupt people who are now rampaging UMNO paving a return of UMNO possibly after 15 years of opposition. Power as they say, corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely-

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Better brain drain, rather than brain in the drain?

I found this advert in the star very offensive to the whole idea of One Malaysia

How can we allow a foreign country to advertise in our most highest selling daily english newspaper the virtues of migrating to their country?

This is outright mercenary act (in print!)

Some friends of mine say to me better brain drain than brain in the drain

But I tell them to have a little bit more faith in the future

And we shud all condemn the publishing of such advertisement inviting migration to other country, at a loss to this nation

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The day I stand proud to be an 'Erdogan'

The chairperson of that eventful forum in Davos must be constantly thinking the consequences of his actions to the middle east peace initiative. America is certainly hot on his tails.

Recep Teyyep Erdogan the Turkish prime minister, furious for not given equal speaking time by the chairperson as compared to Shimon Peres the president of Israel who had more than 25minutes to himself, walked out of the forum. Ban Kin Moon was left speechless.

The scene of Erdogan walking out of the forum was shown live across all major channels worldwide. Back in Ankara and Istandul, he returned home as a national hero.

I was not captivated by his walk-out, more than I was with the way Erdogan dealt with the whole situation, and how calm he was through out. Yes, he was certainly incensed by the way he felt the forum was being manipulated, but certain he knew that such was possible anyways.

He knows that Israel, of all nations, cannot afford to make an enemy out of Turkey. As a matter of fact, technically, Turkey is a friend of Israel as it is one of only a few Muslim countries in the world, who recocnise Israel and has an Israeli ambassador residing in Ankara. This is in spite of the fact that the islamist party won convincingly in the last few elections in Turkey.

Erdogan chose his words well. He even made peres rose his voice, of which he reminded the israeli president that by raising his voice, peres was trying to evade the truth. It is the art of such masterful debate and mind game that amazes me. Erdogan reminds us that when it matters most, it how we convince the world, that counts.

Erdogan was merely trying to make a simple point. Israel is unable to hide the fact that its insurgent into Gaza merely a few weeks ago, was a bloody,unlawful act of war. But Peres, mindful that all eyes and ears are now convinced of Erdogan's argument, tried his best to describe how militant Hamas is and that Israel is merely trying to defend itself.

Israel for the past few weeks realises that the global perception are against them. Day in and day out, Peres as president of israels now appears in many television series defending the act of IDF, the army of Israel. Ironically, or rather more as propaganda, even its army IDF, means the Israeli Defence Force.

But for all the rabbit that israel can pull out of hat to trick the world and cajole america, it now has a worthy opponent. And it is to their annoyance, that this new enemy in the form Erdogan and his bright savvy young 'armies', is also considered a dear friend by the mighty United States of America.

Erdogan, is the embodiment of the perfect Islamist. A brilliant man, an extraordinary strategist, savvy and diplomatic, he is the worse opponent that Israel or any enemy of islam can expect. How do israel make a devil out of someone who is even willing to sit and debate with israel and host israel in their own homeland?

Israel loaths Turkey, and even more so the islamist in Erdogan and in Turkey. But why are they unable to demonise Turkey the way they do of iran or even hamas?

America for one, needs turkey on their side in the strategic alliance of nato against the emergence of mother russia north of the black sea. And they found the islamist leadership in turkey an unseeming 'friend' as they try to manouver themselves in between the blacksea and the war in iraq. Israel in return must tow the line.

But it is Erdogan's longsightedness in all things strategic that has allowed the Islamist to rule thus far in Turkey, albeit the support by America. The secularist in turkey has been unable to secure the support of their friends in the cia, simply because Erdogan, unlike the former leaders in Rafah, are much more sophisticated. To put it simply, Erdogan is playing the mind games at a totally different level, at which his enemies do not even understand.

When the secularist (or even america and israel) thought that by taking government erdogan would send off the israeli ambassador, he did not do so. When the constitution disallowed erdogan's wife to enter the official prime minister's residence, he merely said "ok, I ll stay at my own house". Erdogan was openly pro EU and pro market, pushing strongly for Turkey's entrance into Brussels, and thus finding new friends in the likes of britain, italy and spain. As members of Nato, it was a strong ally of america in the so called war on terror.

Secularist has almost given up in turkey.israel is trying their best to understand and read his next move.while america now owes turkey, more than otherwise.

Erdogan knew that he is in a much stronger position to walk out of that forum more than he would have 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago. America needs him more than he needs America.

At the same time, by leveraging on unprecedented moves unexpected of a true islamist in dealing with israel, he makes it obvious that the act of israel, is not an act of self defence, nor is it an action by the "jewish people who are devils" as many people in malaysia like to say, but it is simply an act of unlawful war and terror by the zionist government itself.

As erdogan said it himself in the rally today upon his return from davos. " We must be reminded that the enemy of palestine are not the jewish people, or the israeli citizens, but it is the zionist government".

Of course some islamist would like to equate the 3 as the same, but one has to realise that Erdogan was merely trying to remind us, that by having less enemy, you actually move forward faster and more effectively. Why make unnecessary enemies, well at least, why make them all at the same time?

There is an abundance of thinking that the islamist in malaysia must learn from this drama of erdogan in davos.

To start with, shame on those malay islamist who freely make derogatory terms out of the name Erdogan, to subscribe scournfully those with supposed 'reformist' agenda in the islamic movement, and especially, in the so called islamic party.

As a matter of fact, it is downright patronising to equate 'Erdoganism' with any particular individual political leadership in malaysia. Obviously, Erdogan is way beyond our Malay mentality league or any individual politician who may or may not be erdogan's friend. We the islamist in malaysia, has yet reached that level of thinking, well hopefully not for long.

If anything, the islamist in malaysia, cross cultures,race, mazhab,movement and political party affiliation, must realise that as much as we like to hate the zionist army by boycotting mcdonalds and drinking less starbucks, we will go nowhere in saving palestine, as would like to, unless we start moving to the next level of strategizing and thinking.

It is shameful that even as chairman of the oic, the best we could do to save palestine is eat less mcdonalds and feel less guilty by sparing some change in that donation box. And of course, holding concerts, in the name of palestine. Utterly ridiculous.

Paradigm change is what the islamist need in malaysia. And to embrace erdogan and the islamist movement ideals in turkey is abt shifting our strategy towards mastering the mind games, that is much more effective and powerful but certainly more difficult too.

The islamist in malaysia must shift our gear towards learning the more global issues affecting islam, and learning to strategize for islam in a more global view. Many of us talk abt winning the war for palestine, and yet little amongst us the islamist are aware of essential reading materials such as the haaretz, or the jerusalem post.

But it is not just abt palestine. The islamist in malaysia must learn to be global, in the most real sense, the way erdogan is. We need not to talk abt negara islam and scaremongering others with words like hudud, when in reality an islamic world in malaysia shall be achieve in its truest sense when the islamist in malaysia are more sophisticated and intellectual in thinking, leaving behind elements of racism, tribalism, factionalism and all the ism which has divided us islamist and malaysia for so long.

In a more micro level, Usrah systems must be liberated from mere studies of the same books and materials thought for almost 2 generations. Not disregarding the old books by authors fathi yakan and the likes, young islamist must be exposed to literatures written by karen amstrong or even to strategy books by lou tzu.

The liberation of islam and islamist in malaysia shall draw closer each day. The old will die, and with them, old ideas and old cultures. The young must be brave to bring change, for we do not want to be just mere followers in the global agenda of islam.

islam is a beautiful religion that has been at the end of much fitnah by the act of its own followers.islam is a religion, whose truth can defend itself. And we the young islamist, must rise to the occasion of change, for the rise of islam shall not wait for us.

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Lailatul qadar

 
 "Lepas basuh pinggan, ikut Abah pergi masjid," kata Abah separuh memerintah.
 
 Aku memandang kepada Emak. Emak angguk sahaja. Maksudnya emak mahu aku
 ikut Abah solat subuh ke masjid. Jangan melawan.
 Nampaknya, aku kena batalkan niat untuk sambung tarik gebar selepas kenyang bersahur.
 
 Aku bonceng di belakang. Kami tidak pakai helmet. Kopiah sahaja.
 
 Ganjil. Dalam cahaya suram menjelang subuh, aku lihat kubah masjid berada di tanah. Bukan di bumbung masjid. Ajaib.
 
 Abah macam tidak nampak keganjilan itu. Aku cuit bahu dia dan tunjukkan ke arah kubah yang berada di tanah.
 
 Mungkin kubah itu tengah sujud fikir aku.
 
 "Kenapa?" tanya Abah.
 
 "Lailatuqadar, " kata aku dengan jari masih menunjuk kepada kubah.
 
 "Kepala otak engkau. Berapa lama engkau tak ke masjid? Diorang tengah renovate masjid la. Bumbung masjid bocor.. pasal tu kubah tu dorg angkat letak kat tanah." sambung Abah.
 
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ISA

I am ashamed and appaled by what had happened during the weekend

UMNO and Barisan must do better than this

God help us..

KOTA BARU: De facto Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim (pic) stuck his neck out against the Government by condemning the use of the Internal Security Act (ISA) against civilians.

He urged the Government to revert to the original purpose of the law, which was to curb communism.

“It is time for the Government to go back to the original spirit of the ISA and it should only be used on armed terrorists or those out to topple the Government by force.

“I am not calling for a repeal of the ISA but for it to be used only when there is a real threat to national security and not on civilians,” he told a press conference at his home in Pasir Hor here yesterday.

According to Zaid, he was prepared to accept any consequences from his apparent breaking of ranks from the Cabinet over the issue of the ISA.

He said he was also willing to step down as a minister if his actions were deemed to have undermined the Government and Cabinet.

“I do not want to cause any trouble for Pak Lah (Abdullah). I respect what he is trying to change but on the matter of the ISA, I am against imposing it on civilians. I joined his administration to make changes and everybody knows, I am also for a more open-form of press reporting.”

Zaid was commenting on the arrests of Sin Chew Daily reporter Tan Hoon Cheng, Selangor senior executive councillor Teresa Kok and Malaysia Today news portal editor Raja Petra Kamaruddin on Friday under the Act. Tan was released on Saturday.

By using the ISA randomly, Zaid said, the Government was sending a message that it did not trust the capabilities of its own enforcement agencies such as the police in maintaining peace.

“There were ample punitive law to act against lawbreakers without having to invoke the ISA,” Zaid said.

Zaid, who is a Minister in the Prime Minister’s department, said the use of the ISA also creates an impression of selective prosecution as the Government cannot seemingly incarcerate everybody but only a handful.

“In this latest episode of ISA, we (the Government) have generated an impression of selective prosecution since no action was taken against the person who allegedly uttered seditious remarks. We are saying that we are only acting against those who are disloyal to us.”

He said he was glad that Tan was released but was concerned over the continued detention of the other two

Kita semua adalah pendatang

This article is very refreshing

http://kudaranggi.blogspot.com/2008/09/antara-pendatang-dan-penumpang.html

Monday, September 08, 2008

Antara pendatang dan penumpang

Pada mulanya saya agak keberatan nak ulas kekecohan yang berpunca ekoran daripada kenyataan ketua UMNO bahagian Bukit Bendera, Pulau Pinang bernama Ahmad bin Ismail. Sama ada benar atau tidak apa yang didakwa dikatakan olehnya mengenai rakyat Malaysia keturunan Cina bukan persoalannya kerana isu tersebut sudahpun merebak dan mengapi-apikan keadaan.

Jika tidak ditangani dengan cermat, teliti dan bijak, isu itu boleh ditangguk dalam air yang keruh oleh anasir-anasir yang ingin melihat negara ini hancur serta mengundang campur tangan kuasa asing. Dalam zaman dunia tanpa sempadan dan liputan meluas dan segera oleh media elektronik antarabangsa, apa yang berlaku di sesebuah negara itu tidak dapat disembunyi atau dinafikan.

Isu pokok yang dibangkitkan oleh Ahmad Ismail membabitkan persoalan "menumpang" iaitu rakyat Malaysia keturunan Cina adalah penumpang di negara ini. Beliau menjelaskan bahawa ia merujuk kepada zaman pra-Merdeka. Bagaimanapun, sensitiviti rakyat Malaysia keturunan Cina telah terguris.

Saya tidak mengenali secara peribadi Ahmad Ismail, tetapi kenal agak rapat dengan Allahyarham abangnya, Abdul Rahim Ismail, pemilik Syarikat Pembinaan Rahim yang pada satu ketika dahulu agak terkenal sebagai sebuah firma pembinaan Bumiputera yang unggul di Pulau Pinang. Saya tidak tahu apa dah jadi dengan syarikat itu selepas Abdul Rahim meninggal dunia.

Secara peribadi, saya tidak setuju dengan apa yang didakwa dikata oleh Ahmad Ismail atas beberapa sebab.

Bagi saya, hampir 90 peratus rakyat Malaysia, khususnya di Semenanjung, adalah pendatang dan kita semua sebenarnya menumpang hidup di bumi Allah. Kita bukan pemilik kekal tetapi hanya menumpang.

Sebagai contoh, saya sendiri adalah keturunan pendatang yang menumpang hidup di bumi bertuah ini. Datuk nenek di sebelah bapa saya berhijrah dari Makkah dan dari Brunei ke sini manakala di sebelah ibu pula dari Hadhramut, Yaman. Kami adalah pendatang dan penumpang sama seperti hampir semua penduduk negara ini khususnya di Pulau Pinang.

Bagi Ahmad Ismail, dia juga datang dari keluarga pendatang dan menumpang hidup di negara ini. Ahmad Ismail tidak boleh menafikan hakikat bahawa datuk neneknya adalah pendatang dari India untuk menerokai penghidupan yang lebih baik dan selesa di bumi bertuah ini.

Perdana Menteri Abdullah bin Ahmad juga tergolong dalam kategori yang sama. Datuknya di sebelah ibu adalah pendatang dari wilayah Guandong, China. Pendek kata, datuk Pak Lah iaitu bapa Allahyarhamah Kailan bernama Hassan Salleh atau Hah Su Chiang adalah seorang pendatang. Beliau berhijrah ke Tanah Melayu dari wilayah Guandong (Kwantung) pada pertengahan abad ke-19 dan menetap di Bayan Lepas sebagai pekebun getah, pesawah padi dan kemudian saudagar intan berlian.

Najib Tun Razak, Timbalan PM juga berasal daripada keluarga pendatang iaitu dari Sulawesi, Indonesia atau lebih senang disebut orang Bugis manakala sepupunya Hishamudin Hussein tidak terlepas daripada darah keturunan Turki.

Datuk nenek mantan PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad juga pendatang dari Kerala, India manakala ibu Almarhum Tunku Abul Rahman berasal dari negeri Siam (Thailand).

Kesultanan Melayu Melaka pun dibuka oleh orang pendatang dari Sumatra bernama Parameswara, seorang anak raja atau bangsawan beragama Hindu.

Dalam sejarah kesultanan Melayu, kita dapati ada yang ditubuh oleh pendatang dari Bugis dan ada pula dari Hadhramut selain dari Minangkabau.

Hampir semua orang Melayu di sini berasal dari luar Tanah Melayu tetapi diiktiraf sebagai "bangsa Melayu" oleh Perlembagaan Persekutuan. Kita adalah "Melayu mengikut takrifan Perlembagaan" iaitu beragama Islam, mengamalkan adat resam Melayu dan bertutur dalam bahasa Melayu. Malangnya, bahasa Melayu nampaknya dimatikan oleh orang Melayu (UMNO) sendiri apabila dinamakan sebagai bahasa Malaysia.

Oleh itu, orang Arab seperti Syed Hamid Albar dan saya, orang Aceh seperti Sanusi Junid, orang India seperti Kader Sheikh Fadzir dan Nor Mohamed Yakcop, orang Bugis seperti Najib, orang Minang seperti Rais Yatim, orang Jawa seperti Mohamad Rahmat dan yang lain seperti dari Madura, Pulau Boyan, Siam, Burma, Yunnan (China) dan selatan Filipina dengan mudah boleh diiktirf sebagai "Melayu".

Mereka diterima sebagai orang Melayu tidak kira sama ada mereka bertutur bahasa Melayu atau tidak di rumah umpamanya si Arab berbahasa Arab, si Jawa berbahasa Jawa dan si Minang berbahasa Minang atupun si Mamak berbahasa Tamil.

Bahasa-bahasa yang disebut itu bukan bahasa Melayu dan jika dilihat dari sudut Perlembagaan Persekutuan, tidak boleh diterima atau diiktiraf sebagai bangsa Melayu. Walau bagaimanapun, atas kepentingan dan faktor politik, semuanya diterima sebagai Melayu dan Bumiputera.

Oleh itu, adalah tidak adil untuk menuding jari kepada orang Cina yang juga kaum pendatang sama seperti orang Arab, India, Aceh, Minang, Batak, Mandailing, Jawa, Madura mahupun Bugis, sebagai menumpang di negeri ini. Kita tidak boleh menafikan bahawa sebilangan besar datuk nenek orang Cina telah berhijrah ke negeri ini semasa Kesultanan Melayu Melaka, bahkan kesultanan-kesultanan terdahulu di Kedah mahupun Terengganu dan Kelantan serta semasa Francis Light berjaya menipu Sultan Kedah untuk menduduki Pulau Pinang pada 1786.

Kita adalah kaum pendatang yang menumpang hidup di negeri ini. Golongan yang boleh diiktiraf sebagai orang asal atau anak bumi tulen adalah mereka yang kita kenali sebagai Negrito, Jakun, Semang, Jahut, Orang Laut, Orang Darat, Senoi dan suku kaum masyarakat Asli lain yang masih menjadi penghuni belantara.

Kita tidak harus lupa akan sumbangan dan pengorbanan semua kaum dan suku kaum untuk membangunkan Malaysia sama ada dari sudut ekonomi, kemasyarakatan, keselamatan dan yang paling penting kesepakatan dan perpaduan. Semua orang yang kena dan seharusnya membayar cukai, berbuat demikian tanpa mengira kaum atau asal keturunan, sama ada pendatang atau penumpang.

Kita semua adalah rakyat Malaysia.

Posted by Syed Imran at Monday, September 08, 2008

About the writer

Syed Imran

Ampang, Selangor, Malaysia

Arab-Malaysian born in Penang, Malaysia. Ex-Bernama journalist (1971-1998) and former press secretary to Minister in PM's Department.

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