Acquittals Of Corruption Cases Bad For MACC

ON JUNE 17, the Temerloh Sessions Court threw out another high-profile Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) case, thereby freeing the former Federal Territory Umno Youth leader, Mohamad Norza Zakaria.

The court made the decision because eight witnesses in the case were deemed uncooperative. The witnesses had since been charged with giving false evidence during the trial of Norza and his agent Halimi Kamaruzzaman.

This is the latest in a series of dismal performance by the national anti-graft agency. It does not auger well for the fight against corruption and tarnishes the image of the commission and the Attorney General’s Chamber.

Several debaters of this blog, had on a number of occasions, accused me of being soft on corruption. That’s not true. Maybe I had not discussed the issue often enough in this blog.

For the benefit of readers and debaters, allow me to reproduce an article I wrote in my “Other Thots” column that appeared in the May 1, 2010 issue of the Malaysian Business magazine.

I wrote:

“I SHARE the sentiments of the DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who is also Penang Chief Minister, that the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has a lot to explain about the acquittal of two former Perak PKR State Executive Council members and three others for corruption.

Lim was responding to the acquittal of the Behrang State Assemblyman Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and his Changkat Jering compatriot, Mohd Osman Jailu by the Ipoh Sessions Court on Apr. 23 without their defence being called.

However, it’s convenient for Lim to omit the fact that the court on April 2 acquitted Wong Chuan How, the special officer to its Selangor Executive Council Member, Ronnie Liu on charges of submitting a falsified allocation form and invoice, without his defence being called, and three weeks later on April 21 he was freed of a charge of criminal breach of trust involving RM5,000.

The oppositions’ stance with regards to court cases is also predictable. When the courts ruled in favour of their members it was justice and fairness.

But when the same court ruled against them, it was injustice and unfairness.

The DAP and its Pakatan Rakyat allies did not make a huge fuss when the MACC cleared the BN Malacca Chief Minister, Datuk Mohd Ali Rustam, of corruption allegations.

That’s only because the agency also simultaneously cleared their Selangor Menteri Besar, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, of similar allegations.

I think we should go a step further. We should insist that the MACC and the Attorney General’s Chamber explain why they failed to get convictions for many of the high-profile corruption and criminal breach of trust (CBT) cases taken to court.

When these cases were taken to court, they were celebrated as watertight and the state was almost certain to win. But so far, the cases taken to court in the opening days of Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration had been thrown out.

But the acquittal of the more recent cases does not auger well for the supposedly more powerful and independent MACC.

On June 27, 2007 the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court found the late Tan Sri Eric Chia Eng Hock not guilty of CBT involving RM76.4mil, a case that made headline and one that had supposedly taken the Anti-Corruption Agency, the MACC’s predecessor, to faraway places like Japan and Switzerland.

In May 2009 the Kuala Lumpur High Court acquitted former Felcra director-general Datuk Mustapa Juman of criminal breach of trust involving RM40 million on May 6, 7 and 9, 1997.

Then on August 12, 2009, the former Land and Co-operative Development Minister, Tan Sri Kasitah Gaddam, was acquitted by the Kuala Lumpur High Court of charges of corrupt practice and cheating in 1996.

The court also freed the former Selangor State Executive Councillor, Datuk Saidin Thamby, of a corruption charge. He was charged with accepting a RM1 million cheque as gratification from Nusantara Network Sdn Bhd for assisting it to obtain approval from the state executive council for a piece of land.

There are many more corruption and CBT cases involving senior civil servants, top-ranking police officers and private sector executives that were thrown out by the court.

The more recent acquittals of high-profiled corruption and CBT cases do not auger well for the MACC and the AG’s Chamber since the latter is supposed to wield greater power and independence.

It has to be noted that although the MACC had been given wider power and independence to investigate corruption cases, the prosecution continues to be conducted by the AG’s Chamber.

Unless the MACC and the AG’s Chamber are able to get a higher conviction rate, the public should not be blamed if they once against lose confidence in the two key agencies that are in the forefront in the fight against corruption.”

A Kadir Jasin

Kadir Jasin – Kemungkinan Yang Menarik Bukan Islam Jadi Calon

KEPUTUSAN Dewan Ulama PAS membenarkan parti Islam itu diwakili oleh calon bukan Islam dalam pilihan raya sangat menarik.

Akhbar atas talian Pas, Harakah Online pada 11 Jun memetik Bernama sebagai melaporkan yang parti itu akan membenarkan calon bukan Islam bertanding atas tiketnya pada pilihan raya umum ke-13 nanti.

Bernama memetik Presiden Pas, Abdul Hadi Awang, sebagai berkata calon bukan Islam akan dibenarkan mengguna simbol parti itu tetapi dengan syarat mereka hendaklah menerima dasar dan perjuangan PAS serta berakhlak dan moral tinggi.

Abdul Hadi berkata perkara itu telah diluluskan Dewan Ulama PAS Pusat bagi membolehkan orang bukan Islam yang menjadi anggota Dewan Himpunan Penyokong Pas (DHPP) bertanding pilihan raya atas tiket Pas.

Saya sengaja tidak menggunakan istilah penting kerana kita belum tahu sejauh mana Pas akan mempraktikkan keputusan itu. Kalau sekadar keputusan umum atau hanya membabitkan seorang dua calon bukan Islam, ia tidaklah boleh dianggap sebagai penting.

Namun ia tetap menarik kerana dengan keputusan itu, Pas bergerak setapak lagi ke arah melunturkan identitinya sebagai parti Islam dan parti majoriti orang Melayu.

Para pembesar Pas sering berkata orang bukan Melayu boleh memimpin Pas dan menjadi Perdana Menteri asalkan dia Islam.

Tetapi sekarang Pas mengatakan calon pilihan rayanya tidak perlu seorang Islam. Dalam erti kata yang lain, seorang penganut Kristian, Hindu atau Buddha boleh menjadi calon Pas dan mengambil bahagian dalam kepemimpinan Pas jika dia menang.

Keputusan kontroversi ini pasti mencetuskan kesan yang menarik, bukan sahaja terhadap parti-parti Barisan Nasional, malah akan menyentuh parti-parti rakan Pas dalam Pakatan Rakyat.

Tetapi Abdul Hadi cepat menjelaskan yang keputusan itu bukan berniat meminggirkan parti-parti kotmponen PR. Dia memberi alasan kalau PKR dan DAP ada perwakilan bukan Islam, apalah salahnya Pas juga membuka pintu kepada bukan Islam.

Soalnya, Pas berlainan daripada PKR dan DAP. Pas adalah parti agama, iaitu agama Islam sedangkan PKR dan DAP adalah parti sekular.

Keputusan Pas itu juga akan membuatkan orang bukan Islam dalam parti-parti BN seperti MCA, MIC dan parti-parti suku kaum di Sarawak dan Sabah berfikir mengenai opsyen baru yang terbuka kepada mereka.

Ia membuka jalan dan peluang baru kepada orang bukan Islam untuk bersekedudukan dengan Pas dalam usaha mereka memperluaskan opsyen politik mereka.

Bagi orang bukan Islam yang berupa 40 peratus daripada penduduk negara ini, mempunyai suara dan perwakilan dalam Pas memberikan mereka jaminan tambahan.

Besar kemungkinan Pas mengambil langkah ini kerana mahu terus membuktikan kepada rakan-rakannya dalam PR bahawa ia bukan parti Islam radikal.

Atau mungkin juga kepemimpinan Pas menyedari atau sudah pun membuat kesimpulan bahawa retak dalam PKR sekarang mungkin membawa pecah dan dengan itu membuka peluang kepadanya menarik elemen bukan Islam dalam PKR untuk menyertai Pas.

Yang menjadi tanda tanya, adakah pembukaan pintu kepada bukan Islam ini sesuatu yang hakiki atau sekadar ajak-ajak ayam sahaja?

Bagi Pas, kalau orang bukan Islam tidak mahu menyahut pelawaannya, itu hak mereka. Tetapi dipihaknya ia telah membuat pelawaan. Tanggungjawabnya untuk membuktikan keterbukaan dan liberalismenya sudah tertunai. Orang bukan Islam tidak lagi boleh menuduh Pas parti eksklusif orang Islam.

Pelawaan kepada bukan Islam untuk beranding atas tiket Pas mungkin berguna dan berkesan jika parti itu hendak bertanding dan memang di lebih banyak kerusi yang ramai pemilih bukan Islam.

Abdul Hadi secara spesifik berkata calon bukan Islam itu akan bertanding atas tiket Pas dan menggunakan lambang Pas.

Soalnya, apakah Abdul Hadi juga bermaksud mengatakan bahawa PR tidak akan menggunakan simbol yang sama (common symbol) pada pilihan raya umum akan datang?

Langkah Pas ini mungkin mencetuskan tekanan ke atas PR kerana kalau Pas berjaya menarik ramai calon bukan Islam, ia boleh menuntut untuk bertanding di lebih banyak kerusi Parlimen dan Dewan Undangan Negeri.

Kesimpulannya, Pas sudah bersedia menjadi lebih terbuka mengenai kepemimpinan dan identiti Islamnya dengan membuka pintu kepada kepemimpinan bukan Islam melalui pilihan raya.

Ini tentunya akan mencetuskan tindak balas ahli dan penyokong parti itu yang selama ini amat ortodoks dan tegar mengenai agam Islam.

Kalau keputusan ini menjadi realiti, mereka terpaksa berkongsi kepemimpinan dengan bukan Islam. Pada ketika itu, Islam yang dibawa oleh Pas tidak lagi eksklusif kepada orang Islam kerana orang bukan Islam juga mempunyai suara ke atas Islam melalui perwakilan mereka dalam Pas dan melalui cawangan legislatif.

Kita Wajib Protes Dan Kutuk Kekejaman Negara Pengganas Yahudi

KOMANDO Tentera Laut negara pengganas Israel telah menyerang armada kemanusiaan antarabangsa Gaza menyebabkan 18 orang aktivis terbunuh dan ramai lagi cedera.

Kita wajib menuntut kerajaan kita memutuskan segala bentuk kerjasama dan urus niaga dengan semua pihak yang terbabit dengan negara pengganas Yahudi itu.

Mana-mana organisasi dan badan perniagaan yang mempunyai kepentingan Israel atau Yahudi wajib dipulaukan.

Perwakilan kita di Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu memprotes kepada PBB dan Duta kita di Washington wajib memprotes kepada Pentadbiran Obama.

Tidak ada apa-apa berbeza antara dasar Obama dengan Presiden-Presiden Amerika Syarikat sebelum ini sepanjang mengenai keganasan Israel.

Negara pengganas Yahudi ini berani dan melanggar undang-undang antarabangsa kerana ia tahu ia boleh bersembunyi di belakang Washington.

Kita juga wajib menghantar protes kepada negara Arab yang terus menekan Palestin, khasnya yang bekerjasama dengan Amerika Syarikat penajaan dan pelindung utama negara pengganas itu.

Berhati-hatilah, banayk negara jiran kita, termasuk Singapura, bukan sahaja mengiktiraf negara pengganas Yahudi itu, tetapi sangat akrab di segi ketenteraan dan espionage (pengintipan).

Samy Vellu’s Stance Is Hurting BN

S. SAMY Vellu’s position as MIC President is clearly becoming more desperate and growingly untenable. It could plunge the MIC into another round of crisis.

Desperation is making him intolerant. Just day after V. Mugilan, the MIC Deputy Youth Chief, blamed him for the party’s poor performance in the 2008 general elections, Samy Vellu sacked him.

Mugilan had also claimed that party members and the Indian community at large had grown weary of Samy Vellu’s promise to step down.

The MIC president said he would stick to his decision to step down “eight or nine months” before his term expires in May 2012, despite a call for him to quit immediately.

Flexing his muscles, he summarily expelled Mugilan without referring him to the party’s disciplinary committee.

In my Other Thots column published in the May16-31 issue of the Malaysian Business magazine, I made the following remarks about the MIC president:

“IT’S time for the MIC president of 31 years, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, to make good his promises to turn the party over to his anointed successor, Datuk P Palanivel.

“Given the boost enjoyed by the MIC in recent weeks, sans his active participation, the passing of the baton now should give the party enough time to regroup and recoup lost grounds.

“Samy Vellu has no more reason to whine and to delay his departure. Thanks to the correct choice by the Barisan Nasional, the MIC novice candidate, P Kamalanathan successfully recaptured the Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat.

“Though Kamalanathan was not Samy Vellu’s choice, his victory over the Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim was a strong indication that the MIC still has a role to play in the BN.

“The BN, in particular the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, did not altogether ignore Samy Vellu’s wishes when Palanivel was made a Senator and may soon be given a governmental post.

“If Samy Vellu makes a graceful exit now, there is still time for the MIC to strengthen itself and regain the support of the Indians in the three-year before the next general elections.

“I am sure if he makes a graceful exit, the Prime Minister will show the government’s usual appreciation by suitably honouring him like other retired heads of BN parties.

“After three decades of tumultuous leadership, which saw his edging out countless promising MIC leaders, and finally suffering a rout in the 2008 general elections, the time could be running out for the party unless Samy Vellu makes way for younger and untainted leaders.

“Kamalanathan’s victory showed that Malay and Indian voters were more amiable towards a younger MIC leader than Samy Vellu’s ally, Palanivel.

“If the outcome of the Hulu Selangor by-election is any indication, the ties between Umno and the MIC are a binding one.

“That the Malays, who form 54 per cent of the voters, would support an MIC candidate at the time when the Chinese support for the DAP was becoming entrenched, should not miss the attention of the BN leadership.

“The Malays, Indians, the Orang Asli and the natives of Sarawak and Sabah have many things in common — the most prominent being their inferior economic status and widespread poverty.

“Also, given the higher birth rates and lower tendency to migrate, the Malays, Indians, the Orang Asli and the natives of Sarawak and Sabah will in future form a much larger proportion of the population.

“The New Economic Model and all other policy initiates of the government cannot be considered to imbue the spirit of 1Malaysia if the interest of these communities are not safeguarded and promoted.”

FOOTNOTE: Of the main Barisan Nasional parties in the Peninsular, only the MIC is yet to have a new leader after the 2008 general elections debacle. Umno, the MCA and the Gerakan have all elected new leaders — the MCA twice.

Lesen Judi dan kerugian Sime Darby

NAMPAKNYA ada pembahas yang tidak membaca atau terbaca ulasan saya dalam ruangan komen yang saya tampalkan pada Jam 3.55 pagi tadi.

Oleh kerana itu, izinkan saya menyiarkannya semula dalam ruang utama ini.

1. Bila Sime Darby rugi besar atau kena write-off kerugian itu, yang akhirnya tanggung bencana adalah PNB dan pelabur saham amanah (unit trust) PNB;

2. Inilah bahana bubuh semua telur dalam sebuah bakul atas alasan economies of scale.

3. Kenapa salahkan seorang saja? Apa hal eksekutif lain, khasnya dalam anak syarikat yang terbabit dengan kejuruteraan dan dengan pelaburan Bakun serta oil and gas?

4. Apa hal dengan Lembaga Pengarah? Apa hal dengan CIMB yang menjadi tukang nikah atas nama Synergy Drive?

5.Bukankah mereka juga terbabit melantik Presiden/CEO? Tidakkah mereka teliti akaun SD dalam mesyuarat bulanan, tiga bulan sekali atau dalam Jawatankuasa Audit?

6. Siapa yang flip-flop mengenai projek hidro Bakun hingga menyebabkan cost escalation?

7.Mengenai lesen judi, ia tidak akan menyelesaikan judi haram selagi tiada penguatkuasaan yang bebas rasuah;

8. Selagi ada kaum dan agama di Malaysia yang mana bagi mereka judi tidak haram, selagi itulah akan ada perjudian di negara kita ini. Hatta ramai juga orang Islam kaki judi dan kaki arak;

9. Bukan sahaja akidah orang Islam rosak kerana judi, ramai juga orang bukan Islam yang jadi papa kedana, runtuh rumah tangga dan anak isteri jadi mangsa kerana judi dan arak. Ada yang minum Paraquat untuk bunuh diri;

10. Di kalangan orang bukan Islam pun ramai juga yang menentang judi dan minum arak; dan

11. Memang susah dan janggal apabila seorang pembesar Islam terpaksa memberi alasan mempertahankan judi. Kalau Menteri atau Timbalan Menteri bukan Islam, nampak lainlah sikit.


[Posting Asal]


SAYA belum berkesempatan mengulas lanjut pemberian “semula” lesen judi “football pool” kepada Kumpulan Berjaya dan isu kerugian Sima Darby.

Namun saya membenarkan komen dalam posting mengenai Royal Belum kerana saya rasa isu lesen judi pertaruhan bola sepak dan kerugian Sime Darby ini penting.

Berikut, saya siarkan semula jawapan ringkas saya kepada soalan pembahas “Rakyat Sudah Bijak” yang disiarkan dalam ruangan komen bawah tajuk Royal Belum, yang berbunyi:

1. Pengeluaran “semula” lesen itu sudah pun disahkan.

2. Alasannya ia akan menyelesaikan masalah judi haram bola sepak.

3. Lesen ini pernah diberikan tetapi ditarik balik pada tahun 1990, kalau tak silap saya waktu Tun Daim Zainuddin jadi Menteri Kewangan.

4. Inilah yang saya kata orang bukan Islam ada sektor khas dalam ekonomi negara iaitu judi dan arak yang mana orang Islam tak boleh ambil bahagian kerana ditegah oleh agama.

Saya juga belum berkesempatan mengulas tindakan ke atas Presiden dan CEO Sime Darby, Ahmad Zubir Maushid, berikutan kerugian besar syarikat berkaitan kerajaan (GLC) itu.

Namun pembahas adalah dijemput memberi pandangan berasaskan apa yang telah dilaporkan mengenai kedua-dua perkembangan itu.

Dua hari ini saya terbabit dengan Konvensyen Usahawan Melayu anjuran Dewan Perniagaan Melayu Malaysia di PWTC, Kuala Lumpur.

MCA: Between Largesse And Being Intellectual

Kadir Jasin

THE MEDIA on May 18 quoted the MCA president, Dr Chua Soi Lek, as saying that the Chinese community is no longer concerned with bread and butter issues, but with “intellectual” issues such as fair implementation of policies.

The Malaysian Insider news portal headlined it “Soi Lek says Chinese drawn to fair policies, not largesse.” Largesse is defined as (1) generous giving, as from a patron, (2) a gift or gifts given in a generous, or sometimes showy or patronizing, way and (3) nobility of spirit.

From the outset, I agree with him on the part about fair implementation of policies. Had government policies been implemented fairly and effectively, there would not have been the gaping income gaps among the races, states and regions.

The Bumiputeras would have achieved their modest 30-per cent wealth ownership target and our society would have been more equal and egalitarian. The top 20 per cent would not continue to suck up the wealth.

Unfortunately, the opposite might be the case. Poverty is creeping back and the income gaps among the races have widened. Official statistics that accompanied the launching of the New Economic Model, show that 60 per cent of households earn below RM3,000 a month, and 80 per cent of them are Bumiputera households.

Thanks to their stronger economic position at the outset of the NEP and their monopoly of the economic supply chain, the Chinese were able to beat all the targets set for them but the Bumiputeras and the Indians lag behind.

While the Bumiputeras and the poor Chinese and Indians benefited modestly from official largesse, the Chinese mercantile and professional classes benefited more substantially.

With one stroke of a pen by the Finance Minister allowing football betting, tycoon Vincent Tan is richer by RM525 million richer. His Ascot Sports sold 70 per cent of the business to his corporate vehicle, Berjaya Group. If that’s not gargantuan largesse, I don’t know what.

The Chinese enjoyed official largesse by way of large monopolies, concessions, contracts and subsidies – anything from sugar monopoly to large timber concessions, gaming franchises, IPP licences, massive contracts and billion ringgit worth of direct and indirect subsidies.

In fact, official largesse not only helped to prosper the well-connected Malay-, Chinese- and Indian-controlled conglomerates, but also in some instances saved them from bankruptcies.

The YLT official website tells of the company nearly going bankrupt in the 1970s, forcing family members to chip in to rescue it. By the 1980s, the YTL Group took off on a grand scale on account of large government contracts to build schools and modular hospitals and later on privatisation of railway land and the award of the first Independent Power Producer (IPP) licence.

Vincent Tan’s Berjaya Group took off when it was awarded the privatisation of Sports Toto in the 1980s while Ananda Krishnan became an overnight sensation when he was awarded the super-lucrative privatisation of the Jalan Ampang Race Course and a series of gaming and telecommunications franchises plus considerable seed capital from state-owned funds.

He is survivor, always enjoying the patronage of powerful Malay political figures. Today he is a master market maker known for taking his prized assets private only to re-quote them at handsome premiums.

It’s fine with me if the new MCA under Dr Chua no longer wants the bread and butter type largesse for the Chinese, but is instead more concerned with intellectual matters such as good governance, accessibility to education, scholarships, promotions, the judiciary and crime.

If I can speak for the Malays, the Orang Asli and other Bumiputeras, I think we too are concerned about good governance. Without good governance, the poor are more likely to be marginalised because they cannot afford to give fat ang pau, duit kopi, sponsorships and cuti-cuti to the ruling elite.

The Malays, the Orang Asli and other Bumiputeras too want accessibility to education and scholarships, not only to attend public universities, but also to enroll in private universities and colleges.

The Malays, the Orang Asli and other Bumiputeras too want better promotion opportunities in the Chinese- and Indian-controlled conglomerates, especially those that enjoy massive government largesse apart from the GLCs.

The Malays, the Orang Asli and other Bumiputeras too want an independent judiciary and a reduction in crime because they too want justice and they too are victims of rising crime rates.

The MCA cannot pull the wool over people’s eyes by blaming its declining support among the Chinese to the implementation of government policies. The MCA is part and parcel of the policies and their implementation. The MCA should instead thank the government and claim the credit that the NEP had given the Chinese a much larger slice of the expanded cake than the Bumiputeras and the Indians.

Also, it is not as if whenever or wherever the MIC is in the driving seats, things are better. The Port Klang Free Zone fiasco is a case in point.

And in Sarawak, where the BN had just been ousted from the Sibu parliamentary seat by the DAP on account of Chinese support, who benefited from the massive timber concessions and infrastructure contracts if not a handful of Chinese tycoons?

The Star newspaper in a report on last March 27 listed them as Tiong Hiew King, Ting Pek Khiing, the Lau brothers (Henry Lau Lee Kong, Stephen Lau Lee Kiong and Vincent Lau Lee Ming), Hii Yii Chiong, Ding Jack Sung, Ling Chiong Ho, Wong Kie Nai, and Yaw Teck Seng. It labeled them the “Sarawak Shakers”.

The MCA, especially its new President, cannot continue to pin the blame for the party’s poor rating among the Chinese on others. More so when the few seats it won in the 2008 general elections were mostly on account of Malay votes.

I am all for the MCA being concerned with intellectual issues so that the party will be better able to relate to the everyday things like morality, infidelity, the evil of gambling and alcoholism, the along menace, prostitution, human trafficking, illegal wildlife trade, drug trade, profiteering and many more issues plaguing our multi-religious and multi-racial society.

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