Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun should look into the mirror before false making accusations of “unrestrained land sale” in Penang

In a statement on Thursday, the MCA Vice-President, Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun accused Penang of being “unrestrained in its sale of land”. She referred to the 2016 Auditor-General’s (AG) report to show that a substantial portion of the state’s income came from the sale of land and land transfer fees.

Chew could not be more wrong in her baseless accusations.  In fact, exactly the reverse is true.

Despite the current Pakatan government’s ‘restrained’ sale of land, we have managed to receive income which far exceeds that received under the previous BN government’s policy of ‘unrestrained land sale’.  The statistics could not be more blatantly clear.

BN’s rule over Penang saw the sale of 3,661 acres of state land in the 15 years before 2008. Under Pakatan leadership, only 106.1 acres of state land was sold over the past 10 years.  If Chew didn’t fail her mathematics, she should have figured that Pakatan has barely sold 3% of what BN sold!

More pertinently, Penang lead by Pakatan received RM1.11 billion for its sale of 106.1 acres whereas the BN state government only raised RM1.06 billion from 3,661 acres of land.   In other words, the Penang state government today collected more money despite selling only a tiny fraction of the land sold by BN.  This was achieved simply because the Pakatan government carried out open tenders for its sale.

By the very fact that we have successfully sold these land for very substantially higher prices than the BN government, of course it would naturally result in a higher contribution from land revenue to the state coffers, as reported by the AG.

In addition, figures from the BN’s era from 2002 to 2007 AG’s report also showed the sale and transfer of state land was a key contributor to state. Hence, the only difference was Pakatan received much more despite selling much less.

What amazes me however, is the cheek Chew Mei Fun has to actually criticise Penang on the alleged ‘unrestrained land sale’.

As exposed earlier, even when Chew was the Member of Parliament for my current constituency, her party MCA acquired an acre of prime land from the then BN state government for a measly RM1 per square feet (psf) in 2007.  Today, the land is worth as much as RM400psf. Despite her refusal to take responsibility for the transaction, she admitted to being fully aware of it.  And this is just one of the hundreds and perhaps thousands of land which MCA has benefited from BN state governments across the country.

So the question for Chew is, what moral standing does she have to chide the Penang state government over land sale conducted via open tenders, when her own party has effectively abused its position in power to profit themselves and betray the trust the voters had placed in them?

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Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun is free to commence legal action against either one or both of us over comments made regarding MCA's land grab in Petaling Jaya

The MCA Vice-President and former Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara (PJU), Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun has today, threatened to sue Yeo Bee Yin, state assemblywoman for Damansara Utama and/or Tony Pua, the current Member of Parliament for PJU.

The is with regards to remarks we have made about her position and role in a land grab scandal in Petaling Jaya between 2006 to 2008 which was discovered recently.  This was a 1-acre piece of land which was awarded to MCA for RM1 per square feet or RM52,000 in total.  A market price estimate of the land value based on approximately RM400 per square feet would add up to RM17.5 million.

We have established the following facts:

1.     Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun was the Member of Parliament for PJU during the period concerned.

2.     Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun is MCA Vice-President today.  She was also the MCA Wanita deputy chairperson during the period concerned.

3.     Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun is fully aware of the land application and transaction where the BN state government then granted the ownership of the land to MCA.

4.     Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun is fully aware of the location of the land as she was at one point in time initiating or encouraging a dragonfruits farming project there.

5.     The land was formerly occupied by squatters before they were evicted by the then BN state government.

6.     The land deal has profited MCA immensely at the expense of the state government and the people of Selangor.

7.     The land is currently zoned as a “water body” [“Badan Air (Sungai)] in the Petaling Jaya Local Plan (RTPJ) and MCA has applied to convert the “water body” into a “commercial and services” zone.

8.     This is not the first land grab scandal in Selangor by MCA, but the first discovered in Petaling Jaya.

Therefore, we questioned:

1.     What is the role played by Datin Paduka Chew, whether directly or indirectly to support the land grab?

2.     Did Datin Paduka Chew object to or at any point of time attempted to stop the land application by MCA given that she was fully aware of the transaction?  Or did she close one eye and placed the interest of MCA above that of her voters?

3.     Does Datin Paduka Chew, as a very senior MCA party leader believe that the land grab by MCA is an ethical exercise and not a breach of trust of the people who have voted for her and her party then?

4.     If Datin Paduka Chew still have any conscience left in her, would she agree with us that the land be returned to the state government so that it can remain as a “water body”, acting as a buffer to prevent flooding along Sg Kayu Ara in Kg Chempaka?  Or at the very least, would she agree that it is only proper for a political party pay the full premium for the land which was alienated by the state government?

We find absolutely nothing defamatory in the above questions and facts, which were expressed in the purported defamatory video published by Yeo on her Facebook and our joint press conferences over the issue.  Hence there is absolutely no reason for the video to be taken down.

Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun is free to sue Yeo and/or Pua as that is her prerogative.  However, our genuine advice to the former Deputy Minister is, if she is concerned about her political reputation being damaged, she will be much better off winning the hearts and minds of the people by declaring that all parcels of land alienated by state governments all over the country to MCA be returned to the respective state governments, failing which the premium for the parcels of land be paid in full.


Tony Pua & Yeo Bee Yin

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UMNO Sec-Gen Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor should learn that while perception problems are often fixable, facts on the other hand, can’t be faked

UMNO secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said that Barisan Nasional must counter the perception created by the Opposition on 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) to win back the state, said.

He claimed the 1MDB issue had been solved, and UMNO now must fix the wrong perception that the Opposition had created.

"The 1MDB issue has been solved. The bad perception was created (by the opposition) to confuse the voters. So, Umno has to step in to clear the confusion," he said after opening the Petaling Jaya Utara UMNO division meeting yesterday morning.

If only UMNO and BN’s problems in Selangor were merely as simple as “perception”.  Indeed, if that was the only problem with 1MDB, it would have been extremely easy to fix.

The challenge for UMNO-BN, if Tengku Adnan hasn’t realised by now, isn’t a mere problem of perception.  It is the problem that their attempts fake facts have gained no traction, especially in Selangor where the thinking electorate do not fall, hook, line and sinker for BN’s lies.

The people of Selangor, what more in Petaling Jaya Utara, can see with their own eyes not how the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak and 1MDB is hiding themselves from “sensitive” questions about the RM50 billion monster scandal.

Why else would the Speaker of Parliament reject nearly all questions with regards to 1MDB even as innocuous as seeking to know the current value of 1MDB’s ‘unit’ investments previously held with the now-defunct BSI Bank in Singapore?

Why else would the Prime Minister not answer as to why is it that the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Apandi Ali claimed that the charges laid out in the United States Department of Justice (US DOJ) were “politically motivated”?

It also isn’t a question of perception when 1MDB repeatedly failed to fulfil its obligations to repay its agreed instalment to Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) amounting to billions of ringgit.

The people of Selangor are not so dumb as to not be able to see the fact 1MDB has suffered billions of ringgit of losses, as a result of a kleptocratic BN administration which will lead to Malaysians footing the RM42 billion 1MDB bill.

They can read between the lines when the Prime Minister failed to deny or explain the US$732 million which were deposited into his personal bank account in Ambank since the US DOJ exposed that the funds originated from 1MDB.  They can also deduce intelligently when his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor, failed to explain or deny her acquisition of a US$27.3 million 22-carat pink diamond ring/necklace after the latest allegations by the DOJ.

Hence the biggest problem the BN administration faces isn’t a question of perception.  The biggest 1MDB problem facing BN is the people are staring at the bare indisputable facts which the BN leaders are only trying to sweep under the carpet.

Most importantly, we are confident that the people of Selangor will support the Pakatan Harapan coalition comprising of Bersatu, Amanah, PKR and DAP and reject all other parties who fail to crusade against the single largest case of robbery and kleptocracy in the history of Malaysia.

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Open Invitation to Second Finance Minister, Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani on Monday, 27 March 2017

A week ago, Second Finance Minister, Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani wrote an open letter to me asking me to give the 1MDB issue “a rest”.  I had responded the next day with an open letter outlining some of the many reasons why I won’t “give it a rest”.  This includes the fact that the Minister has not only failed to answer the questions which have been posed, and the multiple attempts to obfuscate the truth for the Malaysian public.

However, a week later, the Minister has unfortunately chosen to maintain an elegant silence.  Perhaps Dato’ Seri Johari is just hoping that I would have no choice but to then “give it a rest”.

If so, the Minister must be daydreaming.  Instead, I would like to offer Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani the perfect opportunity to not only give the 1MDB issue a rest, but to give me “a rest”.

I would like to extend an open invitation to the Second Finance Minister to come to my fund-raising dinner on Saturday, 6 May 2017 to be held in the heart of the Petaling Jaya Utara (PJU) constitueny, at the SS2 open air carpark.

Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani will be given a full hour to speak uninterrupted to my voters to tell them about why they should not only give the 1MDB issue arest, but why they give me a rest by voting me out of office.  There would be no better opportunity for the Minister to do so than in front of an expected sell-out crowd of 300 tables.

Dato’ Seri Johari can explain to the 3,000 best-behaved audience why my “behaviour in respect of the entire affair does not fit that of a lawmaker”.

The Minister is free to put forth his argument, per his open letter, that “the spectacle of name-calling, not only towards me but towards other members of the administration as well, is nothing less than embarrassing and demeaning to your standing as a Member of Parliament.”

Then the Minister can ask the voters of PJU directly, whether “the folks of Petaling Jaya Utara elected you as their MP to do better things than just being obsessed with 1MDB”.

In fact, the other speakers who are attending the dinner are DAP Parliamentary Leader, Lim Kit Siang; former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad; Amanah President Mat Sabu and PKR Vice-President, Rafizi Ramli.  The Minister has a chance to put all of us ‘out of business’.

No BN Ministers would offer me such an opportunity to attend their official events and get even 15 minutes to explain how the Najib administration has stolen and misappropriated some RM25 billion of funds raised by 1MDB.

However, perhaps in my foolishness, I am giving UMNO-BN an excellent chance to sign my political death warrant.  The question is, will Dato’ Seri Johari have the courage and conviction in his defense of 1MDB to pick up the gauntlet?

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Open Letter by Tony Pua, DAP National Publicity Secretary and Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara to Second Finance Minister, Dato’ Seri Johari Abdul Ghani on Tuesday, 20 March 2017

Dear Minister,

Thank you so much for your Open Letter addressed to me which was issued yesterday.  I am not sure whether I should be honoured to have received such a letter from a Minister for the very first time in my 9 years as a Member of Parliament.

Dato’,

You are extremely unhappy apparently because I called you a “liar” and accused you of “covering up for the Prime Minister”.  I checked my facts again and I’m more than happy to stand by my accusations.

Earlier this year, you told the media repeatedly that the Finance Ministry (MOF) would not take over any of the 1MDB’s debts.  This was a specific response to my question raised in mid-January as to whether the MOF took over 1MDB’s RM800 million loan from SOCSO and RM2.4 billion sukuk.

It was only when I received the convoluted parliamentary reply in the current sitting, I could conclude that MOF did indeed take over these debts.  The sad thing about the reply from the Minister of Finance was that it was clearly written in a way to obfuscate the truth.

You then dug a deeper hole for yourself by arguing that the RM3.2 billion of debt was an “operating debt” belonging to 1MDB’s wholly-owned subsidiary, 1MDB Real Estate (1MDB RE) and hence was not considered as 1MDB’s debt.  I then said that “no Finance Minister worth his salt would argue that the ‘operating debts’ of a wholly-owned subsidiary does not belong to the parent company’s accounting books”.

I also proved with facts published in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Report, extracted from the Auditor-General’s (AG) report that more than 87% or RM2.8 billion of the RM3.2 billion of 1MDB RE borrowings never went towards the development of 1MDB’s real estate properties.  Hence I asked why did the MOF not insist that these advances to 1MDB be repaid?

Dato’,

You then went on to tell an audience at a MIDF lunch talk that the Malaysian government couldn’t press charges against 1MDB personalities “without complete information”.  You supported your claim by saying the the Auditor-General and the PAC could not point to anything specifically wrong with 1MDB.

Again, I pointed to specific sections of the PAC Report which clearly concluded that the 1MDB top management has on dozens of occasions – lied and misled the Board of Directors, defied the decisions of the Board or worse, acted without the Board’s authority, all of which are legal offences.  The PAC even asked the authorities to investigate the CEO, Datuk Shahrol Halmi and other officers involved for the above wrongdoings.  However, a year later, Datuk Shahrol Halmi remains comfortably as of today, a Director of PEMANDU agency in the Prime Minister’s Department.

You added in your letter that, “as far as the government is concerned, there is nothing to hide and nothing to cover up.” Then, I ask you, if so, why do you not propose for the Cabinet refusing to declassify the ‘harmless’ Auditor-General’s Report?

However, instead of answering all of the above questions, you ask me to “give it a rest”.

You opined that 1MDB is the most scrutinised entity by all enforcement agencies in Malaysia. However, you fail to also disclose that every single investigating agency was hampered and disrupted.

When the PAC announced that we were summoning Jho Low for questioning, the PAC Chairman was soon replaced by Datuk Hasan Arifin who promptly reversed the decision.  Datuk Hasan, even responded that he has to “cari makan” when asked by the media if the Prime Minister would be summoned.

Despite the diligence of the Auditor-General’s Office, key documents such as 1MDB’s bank statements for its overseas subsidiaries were not handed over to the AG.  Neither did Arul Kanda or Datuk Shahrol hand over many other documents they promised when requested by the PAC.

The biggest farce must be the “Super-Taskforce” investigating 1MDB comprising of the Attorney-General, the Inspector-General of Police, the MACC Chief Commissioner and the Bank Negara Governor  set up by the Prime Minister himself.  Did you forget that just as the then Attorney-General discovered shenanigans relating to the Prime Minister, he was promptly “retired” on spurious ‘health’ reasons?  As if on queue, the new Attorney-General effectively dissolved the “Super-Taskforce” and even went to the extent of instructing the MACC to stop any further investigations on the matter.

Dato’,

You started your letter whining that you are merely working “serve the nation” by taking “positive and proactive” steps.

Perhaps let me gently remind you that there is a difference between ‘serving the nation’ and ‘serving the Prime Minister’, by covering up the scandal so that the truth gets swept under the carpet and the crooks get away scot-free.

Do you not realise that we are now a renown kleptocracy and how damaging that is for our country?  Everyone who has taken an interest in the affairs of Malaysia knows from the documents presented by the United States Department of Justice and the Singapore Courts that US$731 million from 1MDB, found its way through dodgy investment funds and deceptive offshore companies into the personal bank account of Dato’ Seri Najib Razak.

Do you not think that to “serve the nation”, we must work to revive our heavily-tarnished global reputation?  And do you not think that the only way we can remove the kleptocracy label from Malaysia is not by sweeping the truth under the carpet but instead ensure that the kleptocrats are charged and appropriately punished?

In fact, if you really want to take “positive and proactive steps” to help the nation, why haven’t you made a claim for the US$1 billion worth of assets being seized by the United States which were acquired with funds laundered and stolen from 1MDB?  Why is the Government still keeping up the pretences that 1MDB did not lose these billions of dollars?

Dear Minister,

The above are just some of the many reasons why I won’t give the 1MDB issue a rest.  The issue doesn’t deserve to be rested because you and your fellow Ministers have refused to answer simple questions and more importantly, the crooks who audaciously misappropriated more than US$5 billion are still at large.

Any elected representative with any sense of morality and integrity, who believes in protecting the interest of the man-on-the-street and who wants justice meted out to criminals who rob the country will never let the matter rest until the truth is found.

I am sure that my voters in Petaling Jaya Utara and all right-thinking Malaysians would overwhelmingly back my dogged persistence and relentless pursuit to ensure that Malaysia’s corrupt leaders and its kleptocratic government are made accountable for their crimes.

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DAP Selangor will hold an emergency state committee meeting today to discuss impact of re-delineation plans on the state's Pakatan Harapan for GE14

As analysts within DAP, political parties and think tanks across the country digest the proposed re-delineation plan by the Election Commission, it has become clear that the exercise is the most brazen attempt to gerrymander a victory for UMNO in the next general elections.

Perhaps it should not come as such a surprise in the light of the fact that the Najib administration is facing the worst political crisis in the history of the country.  All surveys and studies showed Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s ratings to be the lowest ever recorded by any Prime Minister as a consequence of the 1MDB financial scandal and the impact of the GST on ordinary Malaysian’s cost of living.

If in 2013, Barisan Nasional received less than 48% of the popular vote then the only logical conclusion will be that the ruling coalition will receive lesser votes in the 14th General Election.

Hence the trump card for BN was to redraw the election constituency boundaries to the extent that BN will be assured of a thumping victory even if their popular votes continue to decline.

The simplest way of doing so would be to bundle opposition inclined voters into super-constituencies with more than 100,000 voters while breaking up hard-core pro-ruling party supporters into smaller multiple constituencies.

The clearest example was in the seat of Petaling Jaya Utara which was enlarged from 85,401 voters to 150,439 voters.  The newly enlarged constituency, renamed “Damansara” is projected to achieve a super-majority of 73,533 based on the 2013 voting records, as opposed to the actual majority of 44,672.

As a result, the neighbouring constituency of Subang (renamed “Sungai Buloh”) becomes a very marginal seat with only a projected 3,037 majority as opposed on 26,719 achieved in 2013.

What we have since discovered to be even more audacious however, is the plans by the Election Commission to return the Selangor state government to BN via aggressive gerrymandering.

Based on 2013 voting patterns alone, at least seven state assembly seats will be won back outright by BN in the next election.  They are Sabak, Hulu Kelang, Sementa, Selat Kelang, Pelabuhan Kelang, Sijangkang and Morib.

At the same time, at least another ten seats had their majorities vastly reduced to place them within reach of the BN candidates.

With brazen gerrymandering coupled with an aggressive campaign based on race and religious rhetoric, there is now a very real possibility that Selangor will indeed fall to BN.

The DAP Selangor state committee will meet later today discuss the findings of our studies and formulate our position as well as the next steps which we need to take to ensure that the people of Selangor will not be robbed of their mandate in the next general elections.

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Auxiliary police for developers, but not Pakatan?

Auxiliary police for developers, but not Pakatan? Koh Jun Lin 9:13PM Jun 16, 2013

Damansara Utama assemblyperson Yeo Bee Yin has questioned the police’s move to approve auxiliary police forces for developers, claiming preferential treatment against Pakatan Rakyat administered states.

Yesterday, The Star reported that developer SP Setia received its first batch of 120 auxiliary police personnel, which would be placed in its housing projects in Johor, Penang and the Klang Valley.

“If SP Setia, Sunway and all these developers are able to hire auxiliary police, why not the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ)?” said Yeo (right) demanding the government to immediately approve the application.

She said this at a press conference today with a group of Petaling Jaya restaurant owners, who were expressing concerns over robberies targeting them.

She said that MBPJ had applied to the inspector-general of police to field its own auxiliary police force in 2009 but was turned down in the following year.  MBPJ applied again in 2012 and has yet to receive a response. The Subang Jaya City Council faces a similar predicament.

Coffee shops in fear

Meanwhile, she said, Johor Baru Municipal Council (MBJB) and Melaka Municipal Council (MBM) already have their auxiliary police force.

“If MBJB and MBM, which are under BN states, can get their auxiliary police, why not MBPJ under Pakatan Rakyat? Are they prioritising their politics over the security of the people here?” she said.

Meanwhile, Petaling Jaya MP Tony Pua said there is a higher police-population ratio in rural areas than in urban areas, whereas the reverse should be implemented because urban areas are inherently more prone to crime.

He also pointed out that the 2005 royal commission of inquiry had recommended that 22,000 police officers should be reallocated from other tasks to crime-fighting duties, but this was never done.

For the full article, please visit: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/233076 and/or http://fz.com/content/pj-shop-owners-concerned-over-spike-robberies

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Himpunan Kesyukuran Pakatan Rakyat

Pakatan Rakyat akan teruskan bantahan terhadap PRU13 yang tidak bersih dan adil. Pada masa yang sama, kami juga ingin mengucapkan terima kasih kepada pengundi-pengundi kerana telah memberikan sokongan yang cukup hebat kepada Pakatan Rakyat di Wilayah Persekutuan dan Selangor.

Di Selangor dan Wilayah Persekutuan, Pakatan Rakyat bukan sahaja berjaya mempertahankan kuasa di negeri Selangor, kami telah meningkatkan jumlah kerusi dan juga majoriti yang diperolehi oleh calon-calon kami.

DAP Wilayah Persekutuan dan Selangor akan menganjurkan satu Himpunan Kesyukuran Pakatan Rakyat dengan butir-butir seperti berikut:

Tarikh: 23hb Mei 2013 (Khamis)
Masa: 7 malam
Tempat: Padang Timur, Petaling Jaya (hadapan Amcorp Mall)

Penceramah termasuklah Lim Kit Siang, Nurul Izzah Anwar, Khalid Samad, Zaid Ibrahim, Tamrin Ghafar, Teresa Kok, Teng Chang Khim, Tony Pua dan lain-lain.

Kami juga ingin mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Pihak Polis Diraja Malaysia kerana telah memberikan kerjasama untuk menjalankan Himpunan Kesyukuran Pakatan Rakyat pada 23hb Mei (Khamis) 7 malam di Padang Timur secara lancar.

Pihak polis akan membantu mengawal trafik dan telah mencadangkan supaya para hadirin menggunakan tempat letak kereta yang sedia ada yang ditunjukkan dalam peta di bawah.

Untuk mengurangkan kesesakan jalanraya lagi, kami menggalakkan para hadirin menggunakan sistem LRT Taman Jaya.

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DAP PETALING JAYA CERAMAH SCHEDULE 2013

Our DAP Petaling Jaya candidates:

Petaling Jaya Utara Parliament: Tony Pua
Damansara Utama State Assembly: Yeo Bee Yin
Kampung Tunku State Assembly: Lau Weng San
Bukit Gasing State Assembly: Rajiv Rishyakaran

Our Ceramah Schedule:(All ceramahs start at 7.30pm)

20/4 Sat - SS2 Taman Bandar (commercial centre)Speakers: Tony Pua, Elizabeth Wong, Hannah Yeoh, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran

21/4 Sun - Taman Paramount (commercial centre, next to Giant)Speakers: Teresa Kok, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

22/4 Mon - SS4C/5 (commercial centre)Speakers: Charles Santiago, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

23/4 Tue - SS3 (covered basketball court next to Dewan Orang Ramai)Speakers: Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

24/4 Wed - Petaling Garden Jalan 5/46 playgroundSpeakers: Charles Santiago, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

25/4 Thu
(i) Pangsapuri Damansara Bistari (near SS2 Mall)
(ii) Pangsapuri Sri Aman (near Taman Paramount LRT)Speakers: Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

26/4 Fri - SS23 Tennis CourtsSpeakers: Teresa Kok, Tony Pua, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, Tiew Way Keng

27/4 Sat - Sungai Way Football Field (opp SRJK(C) Sungai Way)Speakers: Tony Pua, Teng Chang Khim, V Ganabathirao, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran

28/4 Sun - Seksyen 17 (commercial centre car park - to be confirmed)Speakers: Tony Pua, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

29/4 Mon - SS2 Taman Bandar (commercial centre)Speakers: Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

30/4 Tue - MBPJ Hockey Stadium, Jalan Selangor (near PJ Old Town Bus Terminal)Speakers: Tony Pua, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

1/5 Wed - Kpg Chempaka Basketball CourtSpeakers: Tan Kok Wai, Tony Pua, Ean Yong Hian Wah, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran

2/5 Thu - Seksyen 5 Jalan Gasing Satellite Carpark (near St Francis Xaviers Church)Speakers: Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

3/5 Fri - Seksyen 14 playground behind Digital MallSpeakers: Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

4/5 Sat - Finale (venue to be confirmed)Speakers: Tony Pua, Lau Weng San, Yeo Bee Yin, Rajiv Rishyakaran, others to be confirmed

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DAP PJ Election Fund-Raising Dinner 2013

We would like to invite you to join us in our 2013 DAP Petaling Jaya Utara Election Fund Raising Dinner. You may check out the Facebook event page here.

Theme: "Ini Kali-lah... the Final Countdown to Putrajaya"Venue: Petaling Jaya Hockey Stadium, Jalan Selangor, Seksyen 3, Petaling Jaya
Date: 19 January 2013 (Saturday)
Time: 7.30pm

The speakers will include:

• Lim Guan Eng, Penang Chief Minister 
• Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Parliamentary Opposition Leader
• Mohd Sabu, PAS Deputy President
• Tony Pua, MP Petaling Jaya Utara
• Lau Weng San, ADUN Kg Tunku
• Kasthuri Patto, DUN Bukit Gasing Co-ordinator
• Yeo Bee Yin, DAP Social Media Strategist

The primary language for this dinner will be English and Bahasa Malaysia. Halal food is available upon request.

The cost of the dinner will be RM60 per pax or RM600 per table. Gold and Platinum sponsorship tables are available for RM1,500 and RM3,000 per table respectively.

For reservations, please email to dapdinner@gmail.com or to me directly with your name, contact number, which dinner(s) and number of seats or tables (Platinum, Gold or Silver) required.

If you have any more questions, you can call Chew 016 8782472.

For those who are not able to make the dinner, donations are also very much welcome ;-). Cheques should be written to "DAP Damansara Branch" or cash can be deposited at DAP Damansara Maybank account: 5141 9634 2008.

The funds raised from the dinner will be used for the upcoming election campaign for Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentary seat; and Bukit Gasing, Kg Tunku and Damansara Utama state seats. Any excess from the fund will be contributed to contested seats which require additional support.

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Crime Rising in Selangor

There has been increasing concern over the recent months over the crime rates in the country, especially in Klang Valley and urban areas.

On May 27, 25 year old internet marketeer Chin Xin-Ci had a meat cleaver pressed against her throat before being shoved into the car in an attempted kidnap and car robbery in The Curve. On June 7, teacher Teoh Soo Kim was found  at the Talam oil palm estate in Kuala Selangor after she had been abducted from Bandar Kinrara, beaten up and her car stolen.  Two days later, Bersih steering committee member Wong Chin Huat was left with a bloody face after being assaulted while jogging in Petaling Jaya in the morning.  There is no doubt that there are many other unreported cases.

However, the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had said that the recent cases of violent crime were “isolated”.  He said “blowing a few cases out of proportion would create a perception that Malaysia was unsafe country, when official data showed otherwise”.

The problem is, when we request for official detailed crime statistics from the Minister, such statistics are not at all forthcoming.  This was not the case before 2009 when detailed statistics were readily made available to Members of Parliament.

I’ve finally received the official reply from the Home Minister to my written answer question posed in the March 2012 parliamentary session after more than 3 months of waiting.  And yet, the answers are intentionally incomplete so as to give the people an incomplete picture of the real crime situation.  I’ve posed the same questions to the Minister on several other parliamentary sessions over the past 2 years, and each time, I get the same reply with very little information.

In this latest question, I’ve asked for a detailed breakdown of crime statistics broken down by districts (Petaling Jaya, Klang, Serdang etc.) and type of crime (Violent crime: murder, rape, armed robbery, unarmed robbery, assault; Property theft: Motor vehicles, snatch theft, burglary etc.) in Selangor for each year since 2006.

The Minister has refused to provide the relevant detailed breakdowns. Instead, he gave only the total number of violent crime and property theft for each of these years.  There was no further breakdown by districts in Selangor or by type of crime.

I’ve also asked that the same national statistics be given, broken down by states and type of crime.  However, the Minister once again gave only the total number of crime incidence for the entire country since 2006.  He refused to break it down by states, or by the type of crime.

Clearly Najib’s administration is trying to provide only positive looking summary data to improve the perception of his government.  PEMANDU does the exact same thing by obfuscating crime data which will give a positive perception to the Government in its National Key Result Area (NKRA) reports.  For example, one will not be able to find any of the above data which I’ve requested in PEMANDU’s Annual Report in 2010 for the Government Transformation Plan (GTP) on the NKRA on Crime.

Despite that, with the little data that is provided in the latest parliamentary reply, we could already tell that crime is once again on the rise, especially in Selangor.  In 2010, the total number of violent crimes in Selangor was 7,853 cases but has increased to 8,141 cases in 2011.  Similarly, the total number of theft cases increased from 31,838 to 36,161 cases over the same period.  In total, the crime index for Selangor has worsened by 11.6% from 39,691 to 44,302!

This is despite the fact that many major cities in the Klang Valley has been turned into “war zones” with barricades, security checkpoints and boom-gates set up in various residential zones at the residents’ own expense.  These private security measures have contributed to significantly reducing crime incidence in these areas.

The above data proves that there are many possible areas of weakness in the Government’s fight against crime which it is trying to hide from the public.  While the overall crime levels may have dropped from 2009 to 2010 due to the initial flurry of police activities after the NKRA on crime was launched, it appears that crime is definitively on the rise again in 2011, and could have increased further in 2012.

We call on the Government to be completely transparent with its crime data.  In fact, the latest annual report of the Royal Malaysian Police which can be downloaded from their website is the 2008 copy.

There is absolutely no point of the Home Minister and PEMANDU singing praises of the Government with half-truths and blaming the people’s real fear of crime on “perception”.  Instead, the Government should tackle the serious crime issue head on, by recognizing the increase in crime, especially in Selangor and announce the necessary steps to halt the deteriorating circumstances.

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Forum: Economic Transformation Programme - Genuine or Good PR?

Check out the Facebook event page here and help us share the event!

Prime Minister Najib Razak's administration has promised an ambitious program of fundamentally restructuring the country's economy so that we will be able to escape the 'middle income trap' and catapult ourselves to the rank of a high income nation. The New Economic Model (NEM) and the Economic Transformation Program (ETP) are supposed to be the key drivers of Najib's economic policy.

Three years into his premiership, how has Najib fared on the economic front? Has the ETP been as successful as PEMANDU claims? Have the recommendations of the New Economic Model (NEM) been implemented fully? Is our economy heading on the right track? To answer these questions and more, please join us in a public forum entitled:

"Najib's Economic Transformation Record: Are we on the right track?"

Venue: Crown Crystal Hotel, Petaling Jaya.
Date: Monday, 16th April 2012
Time: 8pm to 11pm

Speakers:

• YB Tony Pua, MP for PJ Utara, 
• YB Lau Weng San, ADUN for Kampung Tunku, 
• Dr. Ong Kian Ming, UCSI Lecturer, 
• Mr Teh Chi Chang, Executive Director at REFSA

Organized by Kampung Tunku ADUN's Service Centre and Refsa (Research for Social Advancement)

Admission is free. All are welcomed!

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DAP Sarawak Election Fund-Raising Dinner @ Petaling Jaya 2012

Help us spread the event by sharing our Facebook Event Page!

Dear friends & supporters,

As the 13th General Election approaches, widely speculated to be held in May 2012, expectations are high among many people in urban constituencies for Pakatan Rakyat to take over the Federal Government.

However, for Pakatan Rakyat to succeed, we must succeed in making major inroads in East Malaysia, particularly in Sarawak. To have a realistic chance of victory, Pakatan Rakyat needs to win 18 parliamentary seats in Sabah & Sarawak, with possibly 12 coming from the Land of Hornbills.

The DAP will be contesting and campaigning hard in many of Sarawak's rural and remote constituencies which require heavy logistical expenses. These rural seats are often poor and the candidates are not able to generate sufficient funding from local sources to launch a serious campaign.

Hence DAP Sarawak is holding a fund-raising campaign dinner in the Klang Valley to give our candidates in these difficult seats a fighting chance to defeat Barisan Nasional.

Theme: "One Big Step for Sarawak, One Giant Step for Malaysia"
Venue: MBPJ Civic Centre (Banquet Hall)
Date: 10 April 2012 (Tuesday)
Time: 7.30pm

The speakers will include:

• Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader 
• Richard Wong Ho Leng, MP Sibu
• Chong Chieng Jen, MP Bandar Kuching
• Dr John Anthony Brian, Dayak Consultative Council Chairman
• Leon Jimat Donald, DAP Sarawak Asst Publicity Secretary
• Mordi Bimol, Special Asst to MP Bandar Kuching

The primary language for this dinner will be English and Bahasa Malaysia. Halal or vegetarian food is available upon request.

The cost of the dinner will be RM60 per pax or RM600 per Silver table. Gold sponsorship tables are available for RM1,500 table.

For reservations, please email to dapsarawak@rocketmail.com or to me directly with your name, contact number and number of seats or tables (Gold or Silver) required.

For those who are not able to make the dinner, donations are also very much welcome ;-). Cheques should be written to "DAP Sarawak".

If you have any more questions, you can call Rebecca Choong at +6014 9251527

Thank you and we look forward to seeing you!

p.s., tables are limited to 100 only, so reserve your seats today! Help us spread the event by sharing our Facebook Event Page!

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DAP Petaling Jaya Fund-Raising Dinner 2012

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DAP Petaling Jaya Election Fund-Raising Dinner

Find out more information at our Facebook Event Page - and share the event with all your friends!

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An Evening with Lim Guan Eng and Mat Sabu

We would like to invite you to join us in our 2011 DAP Selangor Fund Raising Dinner.

Theme: “An Evening with Lim Guan Eng and Mat Sabu”
Venue: MBPJ Dewan Sivik
Date: 22 August 2011 (Monday)
Time: 7.00pm

Halal Malay food will be served, and the primary language for this dinner will be English and Bahasa Malaysia.

The cost of the dinner will be RM60 per pax or RM600 per table. VIP tables are also available for RM1,500 a table. The funds raised from the dinner will be used for in preparation for the upcoming election campaign.

For reservations, please email to sara_dyl (at) hotmail.com or to me directly with your name, contact number, which dinner(s) and number of seats or tables (VIP or normal) required.

For those who are not able to make the dinner, donations are also very much welcome ;-). Cheques should be written to "DAP Selangor" or cash can be deposited at DAP Damansara Maybank account: 5141 9634 2008.

We'd like to thank you in advance for your much needed support!

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Speech @ OpScorpene Dinner Petaling Jaya

Part I

Part II

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DAP Damansara Golf Fund-Raising Tournament 2011

This will be the 4th year which we are running our golf tournament, for the purpose of raising funds to help run my Petaling Jaya Utara constituency's service centre.

I have 3-4 staff in the office at the moment to help with constituency, research and parliamentary work, plus operational expenses - rental, utilities etc., it costs our office approximately RM12,000 per month to maintain.

The Selangor state government subsidises RM50,000 per annum of an MP's office expenses, but that'll still leave us with about RM100,000 short, which are funded by public donations, as well as from my own allowance.

We hope to raise approximately RM30,000 from this event, and we look forward to your generous support!

The details are as follows:

Date: 25 Aug 2011 (Thu)

Time: 7.30 am (shot gun)

Venue: Kelab Golf Negara Subang (KGNS)

Entry fee: RM350 per pax.

Closing date: 20th Aug or up to 120 participants (1st come 1st served).

There will be plenty of prizes for golfing and lucky draw winners, as well as items for auction. While the list of prizes have not been finalised, the top prizes will include air tickets to destinations overseas ;-)

Plus, if you are lucky (or unlucky) enough, we could be on the same flight ;-)

Please contact Billy Wong at our service centre hotline: 016-2208867 if you are interested to play or to sponsor the event. Or you can email wss_billy(at)yahoo(dot)com.

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SDB Should Talk, Not Force

DEVOTEES TO SELANGOR DREDGING: DON’T EVICT US, LET’S TALK
by LEVEN WOON on 9 Jun, 2011

Picture and report courtesy of Komunitikini.com

The Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) should not approve a private property project at the site of two temples in Section 19, Petaling Jaya until an amicable settlement is reached with the company behind it, said Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua today.

Pua said he would lobby MBPJ about the situation faced by an Indian temple and a neighbouring Chinese temple and ask the authorities to defer its approval of the project.

Pua’s statement comes after both temples received legal notice on May 16 from landowner Selangor Dredging Berhad (SDB), requiring them to evict the temples immediately.

Pua said the notice was served in bad faith as the temple committees have been negotiating with the property company since March, which he has been mediating.

“As landowner they are entitled to issue legal notice, but as a government we are also entitled to defer approval of their development,” he told reporters and some 50 devotees at Sri Maha Mariamman temple this morning.

The property company put up the notice board required by law to inform the public of the project last week, but the last date for objection was backdated to April 19.

Pua (right) said SDB was well-aware of the existence of the 50-year-old Hindu temple and the 45-year-old Tow Boo Keong temple when it bought over the land in 2006.

“In 2007, MBPJ had deferred a development approval for the land until SDB produced a full-fledged plan and provides the temples with 10,000 sq ft of alternative land each.

“We request the developer to seriously consider this as part of the resolution,” he said.

He stressed that the devotees are willing to negotiate with the developer to reach an amicable settlement.

Sri Maha Mariaman temple committee secretary, Raman Muniandy (left), said they prefer the temple to remain where it is. He said SDB once offered to compensate the temple with RM300,000 for its relocation, but it was rejected by the devotees.

“This is the only Hindu temple in Petaling Jaya Utara; we don’t want any cent of compensation, we just want it to remain here,” he said.

Tow Boo Keong temple committee chairman, Tan Kam Piew, said the temple should ideally remain in the community because its devotees are mainly from the Damansara Bistari flats, next door.

He noted that the entire place around Jalan SS2/72, where SS 2 Mall and Ken Damansara 3 Condominium are situated, were previously the site of Kampung Damansara Dalam.

“The two temples were the places of worship for the villagers, who have since been relocated to Damansara Bistari low-cost flats,” he said.

SDB’s corporate communication department head, Yeoh Guan Jin, when contacted, clarified that the legal notice was merely to inform the temple committees of the new landowner.

“Nowhere in the letter is stated that the temples will be demolished or the devotees will be evicted,” he said.

He added that SDB is prepared to negotiate and agree on a reasonable amount of compensation.

Footnote by Tony Pua:

Please-la SDB, we are not illiterate children - "legal notice was merely to inform the temple committees of the new landowner"? You must be kidding me. Let me quote you your letter sent on 16 May 2011 from your friendly neighbourhood lawyers, Soo Thien Ming & Nashrah:

"3. We hereby give you notice that your actions amount to trespass on our client's Land and our client WILL NOT HESITATE to institute legal proceedings and pursue ALL APPROPRIATE REMEDIES under the law against you WITHOUT ANY FURTHER NOTICE."

Yes, the lawyer's letter to the temple committee sounds so friendly and amicable. Please don't try to mislead the public to save your reputation. It is extremely bad faith that you have issued letters like this to threaten the temples while we were in the midst of negotiations.

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"The Tiger That Lost Its Roar" - Petaling Jaya Book Launch!

You are cordially invited to the book launch of "The Tiger That Lost Its Roar" by Tony Pua, MP Petaling Jaya Utara and DAP National Publicity Secretary. The book is a tale of Malaysia's political economy.

Date: 25 Jun 2011 (Sat)
Time: 2-5pm
Venue: 1Utama New Wing, Ground Floor (next to Coffee Bean)

At the same time, a public forum with invited speakers will be held to discuss how the Malaysian "Tiger" can regain its "Roar".

RSVP on Facebook here.

The distinguished panel of speakers include Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam, Dr Muhammed Khalid and Dr Ong Kian Ming.

Join us, for a lively, no-holds-barred discussion on our children's political and economic future! Read the foreword of the book here or place your order for the advance copy here.

Of course, you should come purchase a copy of the book as well and get it autographed on the spot! ;-)

About the panellist:

* Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam

Tan Sri Ramon is the former Deputy Secretary-General of Ministry of Finance and Secretary-General of Ministry of Transport, and author many books on the Malaysian economy including "Healing the Wounded Tiger".

Ramon is also currently a member of the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM) and the president of Transparency International Malaysia. He is a member of the National Economic Action Council (NEAC) Globalisation Committee and Director of the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli).

* Dr Muhammed Abdul Khalid

Dr Muhammed is a Research Fellow with the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. His
PhD thesis ''Wealth Inequality in Malaysia'' was awarded magna cum laude by SciencesPo Paris in December 2010. He holds a Master’s degree in Public Affairs (cum laude) from the same institution, as well as a Master of Economics from University of Malaya and Bachelor of Sciences (Finance) from University of Southern California. He is currently on a secondment to ISIS Malaysia as a senior analyst focusing on economic policy.

* Dr Ong Kian Ming (moderator)

Dr Ong is currently a Lecturer, Faculty of Economics and Policy Science, UCSI University. He received his PhD in Political Science from Duke University, M. Phil. Economics from University of Cambridge and B.Sc. Economics, London School of Economics.

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