Koh Tsu Koon Lives in Parallel Dimension?

The Government yesterday launched a surprise “5-in-1” price hike programme, raising the prices of RON95 and RON97 petrol, diesel, white sugar and liquified petroluem gas (LPG) including cooking gas cyclinders by at least 2.8% and as much as 15.2%. In fact for white sugar prices, inclusive of a 20 sen hike in January on top of the current 25 sen hike, prices have increased by more than 31% this year alone.

It is hence shocking to hear the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak, supported by the Performance & Management Delivery Unit (Pemandu) claim in their subsidy rationalisation fact sheet that the price increases will have “minimal impact” on households in Malaysia.

In the fact sheet, it's “demonstrated” that the new teh tarik price taking into the impact of subsidy reduction of fuel and upward price adjustment would be around RM1.0155, or an increase of less than 2 sen.

The impact on other popular items such as roti canai was stated as being 0.24 sen per piece, 0.6 sen for rice, 6.3 sen for meat per kg and 1.05 sen for mee goreng.

Pemandu under the chairmanship of the Minister in Prime Minister's Department Senator Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon must be living in a parallel universe for having the audacity to publish such numbers which are at best applicable only in a fictitious and theoretical universe, and at worse, showing the complete lack of understanding of real world market dynamics on the price of goods and services.

I challenge Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon to find me a mamak stall in Malaysia which will increase the price of teh tarik by a mere 1.55 sen or the price of roti canai by a minute 0.24 sen in the entire country to prove the “minimal impact” of the latest round of 5-in-1 price increase.

Even anecdotal evidence of the previous price hikes have clearly demonstrated that prices will increase by a percentage much larger than the theoretical impact of the price hikes because of an real-world imperfect market. What's more, when the prices of fuel actually decreased subsequently, the inflated prices never returned to its previous levels.

The government should instead stop spewing these ridiculous and out-of-these-world hypothetical data but instead demonstrate how the Government will not only seek to trim the subsidies which affects the rakyat directly, but also the wasteful expenditure and subsidies to crony companies as well as clamping down on corruption which will have a much larger impact on government finances.

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Koh Tsu Koon Unable To Answer If He's "Malaysian First"

The President of Gerakan, a party known to be the "conscience of Barisan Nasional" was put under severe test in parliament last week. He was asked by DAP Parliamentary Opposition leader if he is a "Malaysian first" or a "Chinese first", in relation to the definition set out in the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme Roadmap, a project headed by Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon himself.

Unfortunately, what is seemingly a straightforward question appears to be a most difficult one for Koh Tsu Koon as he was warned by the speaker twice from answering something different from what the previous Umno minister, Datuk Seri Nazri had answered in parliament while defending the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who had declared that he was "Malay first, Malaysian second".

Watch the 5 minutes video to see it for yourself.

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Crime Index Up Because Police More Effective

Yes, that's exactly what our KPI Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon said in Parliament yesterday. He was asked why was the Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan given such high marks for his performance, when the crime rate in Malaysia has sky-rocketed over the past few years, during his winding up speech for his portfolio on the Budget debate. As per the Hansard records (pg 78) yesterday:

Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon: ...Yang Berhormat Serdang.

Puan Teo Nie Ching [Serdang]: Berbanyak-banyak terima kasih Yang Berhormat Menteri, terima kasih Tuan Yang di-Pertua. [Ketawa] Saya hendak bertanya sedikit kerana memanglah saya berasa betul bahawa berbagai-bagai badan mempunyai tugas mereka. Bagi saya, sekiranya kita hendak membanteras rasuah, memanglah amat penting bahawa kita mesti memastikan PDRM dan MACC boleh berfungsi.

Akan tetapi Dewan Rakyat ini dimaklumkan bahawa Ketua Polis kita mendapat KPI yang tinggi sehingga 113.8%, dan saya hendak bertanya bagaimana Ketua Polis kita mendapat satu markah yang begitu tinggi. Kerana bagi saya sejak tahun 2004 sehingga tahun 2008, kes-kes jenayah telah meningkat sehingga 35.5%. Pada 1 Ogos yang lalu, semasa perhimpunan anti ISA dan memansuhkan ISA, ada remaja yang ditangkap dan terdapat salah seorang yang hanya berumur 13 tahun, seorang budak sahaja yang PDRM telah tangkap dan masukkan ke dalam lokap.

Dalam history Malaysia buat kali pertama, ada lima orang peguam, yang telah pergi ke Balai Polis Brickfields untuk menasihati klien mereka dan menasihati individu yang ditangkap, tetapi mereka juga turut ditangkap dan dimasukkan ke dalam lokap. Oleh itu saya hendak bertanya, bagaimana Menteri KPI kita memastikan bagaimana markah diberikan kepada Ketua Polis dan bolehkah menjelaskan apakah total mark untuk KPI? Sampai 1000 kah, sehingga Ketua Polis kita mendapat 113 markah? Terima kasih.

Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon: Tuan Yang di-Pertua, mengenai KPI bagi sebarang pegawai, ini belum dilaksanakan dengan sepenuhnya di semua peringkat. Apa yang mungkin dimaksudkan oleh Yang Berhormat Serdang, ialah apa yang dikatakan sebagai peningkatan jenayah. Peningkatan jenayah ini ada dua aspek, satu ialah kadar jenayah yang dilaporkan.

Pengalaman dari negara-negara lain menunjukkan bahawa apabila pihak berkuasa, penguat kuasa menjadi lebih berkesan. Maka bilangan laporan akan meningkat, sebab dahulu sebelum sistem menjadi berkesan, maka orang awam enggan melaporkan.

Ada juga yang dikatakan anggota-anggota Polis yang tidak menggalakkan supaya sesuatu dilaporkan sebab... Kes ragut misalnya. Amat sukar untuk mangsa mengenal pasti siapa peragut itu, oleh itu mungkin banyak kes tidak dilaporkan. Akan tetapi apabila keyakinan orang awam terhadap pasukan penguat kuasa meningkat maka mereka akan tampil ke hadapan, itu satu. Yang keduanya, sistem untuk menerima laporan itu.

Based on Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon's enlightened logic, should the crime index increase further over the next few years, it is definitely because the rakyat's confidence in the police force has increased significantly due to the vastly improved performance from our police.

The question is, have the people's confidence in the police force increased so much over the last few years? Or has it actually been the reverse? The Ministry of Home Affairs conducted a survey just a few months back, and the result only shows overwhelming number of Malaysians do not feel safe in the country. Is that the confidence Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon's talking about?

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UMNO Tells MCA & Gerakan "Shame on You!"

This has to be one of the highlights of last week's parliamentary session, when a UMNO long-time backbencher from Sri Gading went on a rampage for 5 minutes against the MCA President who lost the confidence of his members, and the Gerakan President, who failed his own KPI! Enjoy! (It's really quite funny!)

Make no mistake, Sri Gading's also the Permanent Chairman of UMNO!

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UMNO Abandons Multi-racial

I thought this editorial commentary by The Malaysian Insider entitled "UMNO bets on race appeal" a few days ago best encapsulates what is happening in Malaysian politics at the moment. Excerpts are quoted as follows:

Umno appears to have discarded plans to widen the party’s appeal and speak for all Malaysians. Facing pressure from its rank and file, and concerned that its mantle as defender of Malay rights is under threat from PAS, the ruling party is retreating into its own cocoon.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin gave a sneak peek of this insecure feeling during yesterday’s Barisan Nasional (BN) supreme council meeting.

During the meeting, Gerakan president Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon highlighted a series of incendiary commentaries in the Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia and said he was troubled by the effect it was having on race relations.

Responding to this, Muhyiddin, who is shaping up to be a hawk in the administration, justified the pitch taken by saying that Malays believe that Umno is weak and giving in too much to the demands of non-Malays. It is understood that none of the leaders of BN component parties challenged this view.

A BN leader told The Malaysian Insider: “There is a hardening of Umno’s position. The openness and willingness to become more inclusive is not evident.”

In the aftermatch of Election 2008 Umno leaders publicly said they could no longer only speak for one race.

But not anymore.

Senior party officials and a think-tank set up to rejuvenate the party believe that the Malay vote has to be secured above everything else.

In addition, the party officials feel that non-Malays have become too vocal and demanding since the general elections.

In recent weeks, Umno leaders and Utusan Malaysia have become more strident in their remarks in what is a palpable attempt to shore up its position as the defender of Malay interests.

The DAP has been the subject of heavy bombardment of late, with Umno and Utusan accusing the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) party of being anti-Malay and anti-Malay rulers.

A minor dispute over the illegal seizure of beer in Selangor has been turned into a major affront to Muslim rights.

And Muhyiddin appears to be at the forefront of a campaign to restore Umno as the ultimate defender of the Malays and Islam.

Last week, he accused Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim of being a traitor of the Malays, and despite the threat of a RM100 million lawsuit, the deputy Umno president has refused to retract his remarks or apologise.

Yesterday, he also pointed out that the BN government’s priority would remain the Malays.

Full article available here.

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MCA and Gerakan Mute

Utusan Malaysia has been taking a scorched earth policy to destroy whatever credibility and worth that's left of Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak's call for '1Malaysia'. And they are doing so with impunity, backed by all UMNO top leaders such as the Deputy Prime Minister himself, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the UMNO Youth Chief "reform but not reformed" Khairy Jamaluddin.

We are not surprised at the severe backlash from the UMNO politicians who finds their source of patronage and livelihood seriously threatened by the so called '1Malaysia'.

What is possibly more interesting perhaps, is the fact that the 2 major component parties - MCA and Gerakan have remained completely mute to the racist agenda being perpetrated by UMNO and its mouthpiece to stir up racial sentiments. This is no different from the UMNO General Assembly of 2006 when the 'ketuanan Melayu' fever reached its peak with current UMNO vice-president Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein unsheathed his keris, and delagates howled for blood.

It was a point of no return for MCA and Gerakan from then onwards culminating in the disastrous results in the March 2008 general elections. For a short period of time, it had appeared that these 2 parties learnt their lessons. But such courage to stand up to UMNO has been short-lived.

In fact, while Gerakan was plotting its future last year, many had called for the party to withdraw from Barisan Nasional. But it's top leaders, Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon and his cohort wanted to "stay in power". They had advised their grassroots back in Sept last year:

"We will also observe whether Umno is going to reinvent itself during its December 2008 annual general assembly. Within the next few months, we are going to fight for the reform of the BN. Only if reforms don’t happen will we start to consider withdrawing," says Chang.

Now, nearly a year down the road, it cannot be clearer that all the talk of reform in UMNO is pure shadow-play. Nothing have changed. If anything, it has gotten more vicious, with all sorts of evil, ficticious and malicious allegations thrown at the opposition.

So, MCA and Gerakan, why aren't you saying anything? Will you quit and hope to survive or will you stay to see through the nail in the coffin for your respective parties?

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Gerakan Youth Needs Mental Rewiring

Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng has to move out of his state official residence, Seri Teratai due to a termite infestation (actual picture on site shown). Due to the seriousness of the situation, the consultants have declared the building unsafe for occupancy until the infestation is eradicated and the repair works done.

Now, Gerakan Youth is screaming (murder) and jumping up and down because the Chief Minister have moved into a small bungalow in the mean time. They gave an ultimatum that he disclose the amount of rent which he is paying, the cost of renovation of the bungalow etc. etc. They even threatened that he should resign as the Chief Minister otherwise.

Now, if the state is paying for the rental and renovations, Gerakan Youth is well within their rights to scream for transparency, openness etc. However, the problem is, Guan Eng is paying for the rental from his own allowance! Does Guan Eng need to publicly report on how much he spends for his char koay teow for lunch paid for from his own pocket?

He gets a housing allowance of RM4,000 per month as part of his compensation package as the Chief Minister (unchanged from previous administrations). Any rental beyond RM4,000, Guan Eng will have to foot it himself!

This means that the Penang state government is not footing a single cent for the rental or renovation of the premises. What's more, whatever renovations is being done by the house owner and isn't even paid for by Guan Eng! So what's the problem?

Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon, since being appointed as a backdoor Minister in the Prime Minister's Department has also rented his house in Kuala Lumpur (or is it owned?). Should he then need to disclose how much he is paying for rental, or how much he bought his house for?

How about if Gerakan start questioning its UMNO masters how much they are paying for their houses? Have they tried paying a visit to Toyoland which is about 10 times the size and 20 times the luxury? What a bunch of sorry losers.

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Gerakan Sunset

Please note before reading on that I have absolutely nothing personal against the sole Gerakan backbencher in the Parliament from Simpang Renggam, Liang Teck Meng. I've spoken to him briefly previously and he seems pretty much like a "nice guy". However, as the flag-carrier for the party seeking to so-called revive itself and its relevance in Malaysian politics, I was keenly awaiting to hear what he will say in his speech, on behalf of Gerakan, to debate the 2009 Budget.

Let me just say that I was totally disappointed, albeit not too surprised at its contents, which you can read here in the Hansard pages 125-129.

He spoke about floods in his constituency...

...masalah banjir di kawasan Simpang Renggam... Kami gembira mendengar berita bahawa sebuah syarikat jurutera perunding bernama DZA Consult Sdn. Bhd. telah dilantik...

praised his party president...

...UNESCO telah mengisytiharkan Melaka dan Georgetown sebagai tapak warisan dunia. Georgetown yang dikendalikan dengan begitu sempurna dan baik oleh Kerajaan Barisan Nasional bawah pimpinan Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon serta dasar-dasar yang munasabah untuk mengekalkan sejarah seni bina dan sebagainya. Kalau bukan jasa Kerajaan Barisan Nasional maka tidak akan wujudnya tapak warisan dunia pada hari ini.

criticised our local taxi service, and justified his Taiwan visit...

... selepas melancong ke Taiwan sebelum ini dan juga pemerhatian saya selepas melawat ke Singapura, ke Vietnam, Hong Kong dan Macau, saya dapati perkhidmatan teksi di negara kita amatlah teruk...

asked the Government to not forget to build roads in Simpang Renggam...

... saya rasa gembira bersama dengan anak Sabah dan anak Sarawak kerana kerajaan mempergiatkan usaha untuk melaksanakan projek infrastruktur untuk dua negeri ini. Saya harap kerajaan juga jangan lupa negeri Johor terutamanya kawasan Simpang Renggam....

That's it.

Nothing, absolutely nothing on the key matters which affects Malaysia, on the key issues why Gerakan was almost wiped out in the last general elections. Nothing at all from all the bravado and hype in recent weeks in the media on how Gerakan about setting up a special task force to review the Internal Security Act (ISA), Printing Presses and Publications Act and the Universities and University Colleges Act in order to "strengthen the parliamentary democratic system", or become a "louder conscience in Barisan Nasional" and have a meaningful role in the coalition. There wasn't even any real concrete critique of the Budget which we were debating, despite its many obvious flaws which were pointed out even by his own BN colleagues.

Nothing. All talk outside parliament, but not even a whimper in Parliament where it matters. Even the rowdy Kinabatangan, who is often the butt of our jokes and anger, does a hundred times better job in Parliament in acting as the "conscience of Barisan". And that says a lot.

As Sdr Lim Kit Siang has also highlighted on his blog when we are seeking endorsement to have ISA debated (note: not a request for abolishment), we are also hearing pin-drop silence from both Gerakan and MCA. Chicken.

Lim noted that the situation does not bode well for MCA and Gerakan, whose top leaders have called for a review of the ISA, that their MPs had not shown more support for the petition.

Lim said the failure of these two parties to translate the resolutions made at recent annual conferences - to push for a review of the ISA - would be tantamount to betraying their delegates.

“It means they have betrayed the mandate of the annual MCA and Gerakan delegates’ conference,” Lim said, adding that 74 Pakatan MPs signed the petition. The signatures of the remaining Pakatan MPs could not be obtained as they were overseas at the time.

Maybe, just maybe, the top leader(s) in Gerakan is still wishing for a senatorship for a ministership in the Badawi-Najib cabinet, and is clearly willing to remain in servitude to UMNO to the very end.

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Gerakan Bravado

Recently, clearly still stunned from the outcome of the March 8th elections, minority parties in Barisan Nasional such as MCA, MIC and Gerakan are beginning to be more vocal, and offering more palatable soundbites.

For example, at the recently concluded Gerakan national conference, Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon today suggested that the "Barisan Nasional (BN) set up a special task force to review the Internal Security Act (ISA), Printing Presses and Publications Act and the Universities and University Colleges Act in order to strengthen the parliamentary democratic system."

He made it clear that his party was against all laws of detention without trial and called for their abolishment as one of the five resolutions on strengthening democracy and human rights passed at the national delegates (NDC) conference today.

There's no question about the statement above. As a responsible parliamentarian, it must be supported wholeheartedly.

The question then is, with all these "talk", what is Gerakan going to do about it?

Firstly, all UMNO leaders have shown total disregard to the comments made by the Gerakan President. I've not seen any, none who has not resigned from the cabinet positions anyway, Minister or UMNO leader who has come out to support, or even offer sympathy and empathy to the views presented by Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon.

Tan Sri Koh himself, has even highlighted previously that "the party will review its role in the Barisan Nasional (BN). And if the review finds Gerakan no longer has a "meaningful" role in BN, then it would pull out of the coalition."

So, may I asked the honourable President, does Gerakan still have a meaningful role in Barisan Nasional? One would have expected a more sincere and sympathetic response from their UMNO masters, in the light of the damage in the last general elections, but no, absolutely none at all.

Secondly, will the lone representative from Gerakan among the backbenchers in Parliament, use the opportunities presented by the Budget as well as the subsequent DNA and UUCA bill debate to forcefully, without unnecessary and face-saving disclaimers, reject these bills. Will Gerakan exercise their so-called "louder conscience" in Parliament and vote accordingly? Or will they in my opinion, remain as empty vassals, and remain subservient to UMNO in perpetuity.

In the interest of Malaysia and Malaysians, I hope for the former, but in reality, as much as I'm reluctant to pass judgement prematurely, it is only likely to be the latter.

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