Rahman Dahlan’s dismissive attitude towards Malaysian’s inability to afford even daily groceries shows his blatant disregard for the issues of the average Malaysian.

Earlier this week, Mydin owner Datuk Ameer Ali Mydin had said that though the Goverment’s published GDP figures showed strong growth, consumers seemed to be spending less and less on grocery shopping. He suggested that Malaysians just did not seem to have the same amount of money to spend as before, even though the economy has been growing.

Mydin’s comments quickly drew responses from members of the Government, including Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Dato’ Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan who was quick to defend the Government’s economic measures. He said that hypermarket sales only made up 8% of total retail sales, which had seen overall growth both in terms of volume and value. He further added that Malaysians did indeed have more money to spend as highlighted by increases in domestic tourist expenditures as well as tourist spending abroad.

Dato’ Seri Rahman Dahlan’s dismissive attitude towards Mydin’s claim shows just how out of touch the BN Government is from the daily struggles faced by average Malaysians. If even low-priced hypermarkets like Mydin are facing weakened consumer demand, where does the Minister expect Malaysians to be buying their everyday groceries? Does he think Malaysians are going abroad to do their groceries?

Last November, 5 Giant hypermarkets were shuttered by owners GCH Retail (Malaysia).The 2017 Malaysia Retail Industry Report, also noted that consumers were less likely to spend money in the past year owing to the increasing cost of living. The same report noted that hypermarket sales in general had shrunk 3.1% in the first 3 quarters of 2017.

Accordingly, Malaysian consumers were found to be more frugal and judicious with their spending opting to make smaller purchases at different stores to make the most out of the various discount and offers provided by different stores.

All the above information is consistent with the Government’s own statistics. Inflation last year was the highest we’ve seen in years, averaging 3.7%. In particular, food and non-alcoholic beverages saw an increase of 4% over the past year. Regardless of whether someone is shopping in a hypermarket or a pasar tani, these price increases are present everywhere.

The Government should not be flaunting the spending statistics of Malaysians who can afford to travel abroad as proof that all Malaysians are better. Worse, they should not be dismissing the very real and loud complains of average Malaysians who struggle to even afford their daily groceries.

If the BN Government has no sympathy or empathy for the ordinary men on the street, it is time for them to get the boot.  Malaysians deserves a government that looks out for the interest of all Malaysians and does not dismiss the real issues being faced everyday.

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Will Dato’ Seri Azalina Othman take action against Berita Harian for publishing fake news on falling car prices?

This Sunday’s cover story in UMNO-owned newspaper Berita Harian (BH) proudly declared, “harga kereta turun” (car prices decrease), reporting that car prices had dropped 13.1% as a result of the government’s automotive policies as well as the strengthening ringgit.

To further drive home the point, the accompanying full-page reports in the paper carried the headline “Menepati Janji Manifesto BN” (fulfilling the promises of the BN Manifesto. It was accompanied by an infographic comparing prices between 2013 and 2018 for different models of cars owned by Malaysians. The graphic suggested that prices for the various local, Japanese and European cars had decreased significantly between 2.25% and 20.77% since 2013.

However, a lengthy report on specialist automotive blog paultan.org showed just how misleading the report by Berita Harian was. They noted that the comparisons made by Berita Harian compared different variants for the same model and used inaccurate pricing information.

For example, the BH article had compared the 2013 Perodua Alza’s 1.6 SE Manual model with the 2018 Standard model to show a 14.18% reduction in price.

For the Proton Exora, the newspaper had even used an inflated price for its 2013 comparison to further exaggerate the decrease. Instead of using the original price at 2013, it used the 2016 price, which came after price increase across the range. Worse, the report even included insurance for its ‘2013’ price whereas the current price stated does not include insurance.

The comparisons provided were at best between apples and oranges, and at worst, comparing fake apples with real oranges.

In the last elections, one of Barisan Nasional’s key manifesto points was that car prices would decrease 20-30%. The Berita Harian report was unabashly singing praises of the BN Government’s purportedly successful delivery of this promise.

However, the findings by paultan.org proved the complete opposite.

Here’s a simple question for the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Seri Azalina Othman who has been given the responsibility to table an anti-fake news bill in the next parliamentary sitting – will she instruct MCMC or even the Home Ministry to take action against BH for publishing the outrageous fake news?  If she doesn’t, then it is clear that she is not sincere in ensuring an anti-fake news bill which is fair, and which will not be abused by the BN government to punish opposition critics and whistleblowers.

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The longer UMNO stays in power, the more UMNO will reconstruct Malaysia’s Constitution to erase the freedom and rights of Muslims and non-Muslims

After more than 60 years of the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional reign in Malaysia, there is now an undeniably increasing constriction of religious rights and freedom of all Malaysians.

Among Muslims, there is increasing control of what is deemed the sole interpretation of the scriptures, with no room for debate or discourse, academic or otherwise in the country.  We have seen various internationally renown Muslim scholars and thought leaders banned by the Malaysian authorities.

In 2014, Islamic scholar Ulil-Abshar Abdalla was banned from entering the country to speak at a forum on the threat posed by religious fundamentalism.  Ironically, the forum was being held at the headquarters of the Global Movement of Moderates established by Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Razak himself.

More recently, Mustafa Aykol, renowned Turkish author and New York Times journalist attached to Wellesley College, Boston was arrested and detained for 18 hours in Malaysia for having purportedly given a “religious talk” without license.  The only problem to that charge is that he was merely participating in a roundtable intellectual discussion on the question, “does freedom of conscience open the floodgate to apostasy?”

His books were subsequently also banned by the Home Ministry as a “threat to national security”.  Not only foreign scholars have been targeted, progressive young Malaysian scholars such as Wan Ji Wan Hussin has also been arrested recently while his book, “Ulama Bukan Pewaris Nabi” was also banned.

On the other hand, conservative and controversial clerics such as Zamihan Mat Zin who, among other things, defended a Muslim-only laundrette was praised as an “asset” by the Home Minister, Dato’ Seri Zahid Hamidi.

The increasingly narrow interpretation of what Islam is and the outright condemnation of those who disagree, has also been matched over the past decade with the increasing attempt to demonise other religions, in particular, Christianity.

We have seen the confiscation of bibles, seditious and incendiary talks to incite hate against Christianity by renown fraudulent ‘scholars’ such as Irene Handono, as well as banning the use of the term “Allah” by other religions.

Christians are the convenient bogeymen for the UMNO politcal elites to continue to strike fear among their core Malay-Muslim supporters to ensure that all other transgressions by the Party, such as brazen corruption and outrageous scandals, will be set aside to face a concocted Christian threat head on.

However last week, the open attack in Parliament by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Asyraf Wajdi that atheism is unconstitutional opens a whole new chapter in diminishing the religious rights of ordinary Malaysians.

He claimed that atheism should be outlawed because it will incite people to leave their religion or to profess no religion. As such, it violates Article 11(4) of the Constitution, which allows state laws and federal laws to control and restrict the propagation of any religious doctrines or beliefs among Muslims. He even said that “anyone who tries to spread ideologies and doctrines that promote atheism and similar beliefs, which tarnish the sanctity of other religions, can be charged under the Sedition Act.”

The Deputy Minister who apparently possess a Doctorate on Islamic Banking and Finance is talking utter rubbish.

Firstly, the Constitution clearly states “every person has the right to profess and practise his religion…”  How in the world did Datuk Asyraf interpret someone having “the right to profess” to everyone “must profess” in a religion?

When the Constitution says under Article 10, “every person has the right to freedom of speech” and “every person has the right to assemble peacefully without arms”, would the Deputy Minister with a Doctorate also interpret it as “everyone must speak (and hence cannot remain silent)” and that “everyone cannot refuse to participate in peaceful assembly”?

Of course not.  When someone “has the right to profess… his religion”, it clearly means that he has the freedom of choice to believe in a religion.  But it does not at any point compells him or her to adopt a religion!

In addition, an atheist or a free-thinker, by not believing in any religion or participating in any religious activities, does not make him or her, by default, run afoul of Article 11(4) which prohibits propagating other beliefs to Muslims.  That would be sheer illogical nonsense.

Unfortunately, propagating illogical nonsense isn’t illegal in Malaysia.  Hence such illegal nonsense is being abused by ruling political elite to strengthen their grip by striking fear into the hearts and minds of Muslims – to focus on the purported threat of Christianity, and now atheism; and of non-Muslims, by taking away their freedom, one bit at a time.

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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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The Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar should stick to catching criminals who rob the country instead of telling artists what they should and should not draw

Yesterday, Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar has advised political cartoonist Zunar to channel his creative juices towards drawing "nice cartoons" if he wanted to exhibit his work.

"He can draw McDonald's or Donald Duck, " he quipped when asked if Zunar would be allowed to showcase his cartoons in a public exhibition.

Perhaps Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar has failed to read and/or understand that we have a Federal Constitution which guarantees “Fundamental Liberties” including the “Freedom of speech, assembly and association”. 

While such liberties are not absolute, we are supposed to be far from a totalitarian or police state to the extent where the IGP tells an artist to draw “nice cartoons”.

Certainly, just because Zunar’s criticism of the ruling kleptocratic elite who are mired with rampant corruption, abuse of power and incitement of racial flames are portray in a manner which is unpalatable for those who are in power, that certainly do not mean that they are illegal in anyway. 

In fact, Tan Sri IGP, you are not required to like Zunar’s art!

Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar tried to justify his repeated arrest of Zunar by claiming that the artist had “insulted the country’s leaders”.

He asked what if the tables were turned when someone draws cartoons which insulted opposition leaders?  "If tomorrow such cartoons targeted Penang Chief Minister (Lim Guan Eng), would he like it if we just ignored them?”

Firstly, a hopefully not too profound question for our Inspector-General of Police:

If a thief were to be insulted by a caricature him or her as a “despicable thief”, would you arrest the thief or the artist?  Is the alleged “insult” which has hurt the feelings of the thief wrong in the eyes of the law, or is should the thief who have stolen billions of dollars from the people of Malaysia be arrested, investigated and charged instead?

After all, as far as we are aware, no leader of this country is legislated to be above the law.

Secondly, Tan Sri Khalid raised the most ironic of examples – with regards to purported insults against opposition leaders like the Penang Chief Minister.

In fact, DAP and other opposition leaders have been regularly demonised via caricatures appearing in Utusan Malaysia for the past decades, their posters and pictures torn and burnt by UMNO demonstrators – what exactly has the Police done against these parties?

We are not asking for the Police to take action against these people.  However, the fact that the IGP only takes action against those who criticise UMNO leaders and close one eye to those who viciously attacked those in the Opposition clearly demonstrates his bias and hypocrisy in the reasons provided for the persecution of Zunar.

We call upon Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar to stop making Malaysia and its police force the butt of international jokes by stopping all actions against artists, civil society members and political dissidents.  Instead, he should regain the respectability of the force by initiating urgent arrests and investigations against all parties cited by the United States, Switzerland and Singapore investigators who have stolen and misappropriated billions of dollars from 1MDB and SRC International, including but not limited to Jho Low and his father, Riza Aziz, Eric Tan Kim Loong, 1MDB and SRC officials as well as the shameless “Malaysian Official 1”.

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Presiden UMNO Dato’ Seri Najib Razak telah mengeluarkan fitnah berbau perkauman yang melampau terhadap DAP untuk menakutkan orang Melayu dan mengalihkan kemarahan rakyat terhadap skandal 1MDB, SRC International dan MO1

Presiden UMNO, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak telah melontarkan pelbagai fitnah dan dusta terhadap parti DAP dan pemimpin-pemimpinnya dalam ucaptama Perhimpunan Agung UMNO semalam.

Beliau berkata bahawa “sekiranya negara ini jatuh ke tangan DAP yang memperjuangkan liberalisme melampau dan fahaman sekular berbahaya, pastinya, hak dan keistimewaan yang diperjuang serta dipertahankan oleh UMNO selama ini, termasuk Institusi-institusi Bumiputera antaranya MARA, FELDA, RISDA, FELCRA dan TERAJU akan pupus dan lenyap.”

Tambahan lagi, Dato’ Seri Najib juga menuduh bahawa “Perlembagaan parti DAP, tiada langsung menyebut Islam sebagai agama Persekutuan, tidak dinyatakan untuk menjunjung institusi Raja-Raja Melayu dan tidak tertulis satu ayat pun, tentang usaha untuk melindungi hak dan keistimewaan Orang-Orang Melayu serta Bumiputera.”

Kami ingin bertanya kepada Dato’ Seri Najib Razak -  parti yang mana yang meletakkan keseluruhan Perlembagaan Persekutuan ke dalam Perlembagaan Parti?  Adakah MCA, MIC, Gerakan, parti-parti Barisan Nasional di Sabah dan Sarawak menyenaraikan setiap fasal perlembagaan persekutuan ke dalam perlembagaan parti mereka?

Jelasnya tidak. Hakikatnya, Presiden UMNO hanya ingin menipu dan mengelirukan orang ramai terhadap perlembagaan parti DAP.

Adalah tertulis dalam perlembagaan DAP bahawa maksud dan semangat Perlembagaan Persekutuan seperti yang dihasratkan oleh pengasas penubuhan dan kemerdekaan Malaysia merupakan perjuangan DAP.  Setahu kami, fasal-fasal yang disebut oleh Dato’ Seri Najib Razak – Islam sebagai agama Persekutuan, institusi Raja-Raja Melayu dan hak keistimewaan bumiputera adalah terkandung di dalam Perlembagaan Persekutuan yang sama dipertahankan oleh DAP.

Apatah lagi, untuk menafikan pembohongan-pembohongan UMNO selama ini, semasa Persidangan Parti DAP di Shah Alam pada 8 Jan 2012[1], DAP telah mengeluarkan dan meluluskan Deklarasi Shah Alam yang antaranya menegaskan bahawa:

Kita menghasratkan Impian Bangsa Malaysia, dan dalam usaha untuk mengecapi impian ini, kita mengulangi komitmen untuk:

Mempertahankan sistem Demokrasi Berparlimen dan Raja Berperlembagaan dengan Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong sebagai Ketua Negara. DAP komited untuk menjunjung Perlembagaan Persekutuan Malaysia sebagai undang-undang yang paling agung negara dan meluhurkannya dalam semangat Merdeka 1957 dan Perjanjian Malaysia 1963.

Memelihara kedudukan istimewa orang Melayu dan Bumiputra serta hak-hak kaum-kaum lain, seperti yang termaktub dalam Artikel 153 Perlembagaan Persekutuan.

Memastikan kedudukan Islam sebagai agama Persekutuan serta kebebasan untuk mengamalkan agama-agama lain dengan aman dan damai, seperti yang termaktub dalam Artikel 3 dan 11 Perlembagaan Persekutuan.

Memartabatkan Bahasa Melayu sebagai Bahasa Kebangsaan seperti yang termaktub dalam Artikel 152 Perlembagaan Persekutuan, serta menggalakkan penggunaan dan pengajian bahasa-bahasa ibunda lain untuk membentukkan masyarakat yang cemerlang dan berbilang bahasa.

Memperjuangkan kebebasan rakyat yang terjamin dalam Artikel 10 Perlembagaan Persekutuan, iaitu kebebasan untuk bersuara, berhimpun dan menubuh persatuan.

Menghormati Perjanjian Malaysia 1963 serta hak-hak yang dimiliki oleh rakyat Sabah dan Sarawak.

Adakah Dato’ Seri Najib Razak buta huruf sehingga sehingga beliau tidak faham apa yang tertulis dan diterbitkan oleh DAP sebelum ini?

Atau Dato’ Seri Najib Razak sengaja berfitnah untuk mengapi-apikan kebencian perkauman di kalangan orang Melayu supaya segala skandal-skandal pimpinan beliau, termasuk penyelewengan berbilion-bilion dolar daripada syarikat kerajaan 1MDB dan SRC International ke dalam akaun peribadi beliau, akan dilupakan?

Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Dato’ Seri Zahid Hamidi dalam ucapan beliau dua hari dahulu menuduh pihak pembangkang mempergunakan strategi Nazi, iaitu “jika anda ingin berbohong, biarlah ia besar dan jika kamu katakannya berulang kali, orang akan mula mempercayainya.”

Apa yang dikemukakan oleh pihak pembangkang, terutamanya mengenai penyelewengan kewangan 1MDB dan SRC oleh Presiden UMNO, yang juga merupakan Perdana Menteri dan Menteri Kewangan telah terbukti benar dan tidak dinafikan oleh Dato’ Seri Najib Razak.  Walhal, yang benar-benar mempergunakan strategi pembohong besar Nazi adalah Dato’ Seri Najib Razak sendiri, seperti yang telah dibuktikan di atas.

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The Election Commission is not only trying to steal GE14 by gerrymandering constituencies to UMNO’s advantage, it is systematically impeding the registration of new voters

We have statistically and empirically proven that there is only one “winner” in the newly proposed re-delineation of parliamentary and state constituencies by the Election Commission (EC).  Wherever possible, marginal UMNO seats are strengthened while marginal opposition-held constituencies are weakened by shifting in core BN supporters from neighbouring constituencies.

However, the EC who is also the only institution which can register new voters in the country is also proactively stalling and impeding the registration of new voters.

As at April this year, there are 17.6 million qualified voters in Malaysia.  However, only 13.4 million of them are register while 4.2 million remained disenfranchised.  This means that nearly 1 in 4 voters are not able to exercise their rights enshrined in the constitution if an election is called today.

Instead of making concrete and concerted efforts in collaboration with all parties to increase the number of voters registered, the EC is doing its utmost to slow down new registrations.

Firstly, the EC has stopped the appointment of Assistant Registration Officers (AROs) from political parties to assist with the registration exercise since 2013.  In 2011 and 2012 before the last general election, there were 5720 and 4777 appointed AROs.  Today, the numbers are negligible and they have not been replaced with any other institutions to perform the same task.

The impact and difference is telling.  In 2011 alone, 1,023,170 Malaysians were registered as new voters.  However, the 3 years from 2013 to 2015 only saw a total of 617,254 voters registered, or an average of 205,751 voters per annum.  At this rate, the number of unregistered voters will only increase exponentially as there are more than 500,000 new qualified voters every year (and increasing!).

As political parties are unable to have AROs to register voters, we have been told by the EC that they will be able to assign their officers to assist us with our voter registration campaigns.

However, such assistance comes with many conditions attached – such as no scheduled campaigns in the evenings and no “pasar malams” or open-air markets.

Despite the restrictions, the DAP cooperated and focused our joint campaigns with EC in the air-conditioned comforts of shopping malls.  However, to our disappointment and despite repeated formal and informal reminders to bring sufficient forms, the EC officials – under instruction, bring only limited number of forms.  As a result, our voter registration booths at the malls had to close early and hundreds of qualified voters were left disappointed.

Now, the EC has officially informed us to cancel all our planned voter registration campaigns after 3rd October purportedly because they now have to focus on handling the objections to the proposed re-delineation exercise.

Even when we then ask the unregistered voters to head to the nearest post office, we have often heard the inexcusable complaints of the lack of forms.

At best, the actions of the EC show that they are incompetent and abdicating their responsibilities to ensure qualified voters are able to exercise their constitutionally enshrined right to vote.  At worst, they are clearly sabotaging the electoral process by denying these voters their basic rights.

This is because, younger and newer voters as a whole have no loyalty to UMNO and BN.  A substantial majority of them have proven in past elections to be inclined to vote for the opposition.

We call upon the Election Commission to be serious about the registration of new voters since they have persistently refused the proposal for the automatic registration of voters.  If it is unable to carry out its responsibilities on its own, then it should start using its powers to appoint thousands of AROs across the country.

The EC would do well to remember its own “mission” stated on their malware-infested website, that is “mendukung sistem demokrasi berparlimen dan menjamin hak rakyat untuk memilih wakil mereka” and “mengurus, mengawal selia dan mengendalikan pilihanraya secara bebas dan adil”. Hence it should stop acting like UMNO’s henchmen to rig the electoral outcome.

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Khairy, you are wrong – the United States Department of Justice did not paint Putrajaya guilty, they merely laid out the facts

It appears that the undoubtedly intelligent UMNO Youth Chief, Khairy Jamaluddin is more than prepared to walk the talk, to become Najib’s number one “macai”, even if it destroys all the street cred he has built for himself over the years.

He has urged UMNO Youth members to “stand by our leader”, “even at the cost being labelled as ‘macai’ or ‘balachi’” on Tuesday’s Putrajaya UMNO Wanita, Youth and Puteri meet. 

He followed up last night by ticking off the United States (US) Department of Justice (DOJ) for painting Putrajaya as guilty.

"The way they announced (their findings) is as though it was a conviction, as though (those named) are already guilty and to be punished… The words used showed as though Malaysia and the government are guilty," Khairy said at the Sepang Puteri and Umno Youth annual assembly.

It is all a very clever play of words, to first discredit the prosecution, taint the people’s perception of the case and tug the members’ heartstrings for sympathy for pretend innocence.

Yes, the DOJ did indeed accuse “Malaysian Official One” of embezzling US$731 million of Malaysian tax-payers’ money via 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).  But what is wrong with that?  Isn’t the role of any public prosecutor, including those in Malaysia, to lay out the charges by accusing the suspects of criminal wrongdoings?

The DOJ did not pronounce the “Malaysian Official One” “guilty”.  They merely laid out the detailed facts and figures which backed their very serious and convincing charge of money laundering and grand larceny.

Hence when Khairy demanded that the troops “defend the truth”, Malaysians would like to know what exactly is the truth that the UMNO Youth and Sports Minister is talking about? 

In fact, the DOJ charges are all the more convincing because the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak, Khairy and all the other BN leaders have failed to come up with an iota of evidence or alibi to deny the charges put forward by the DOJ.

For example, why hasn’t Dato’ Seri Najib Razak denied that US$681 million of funds borrowed by 1MDB Global Investment Limited on 19 March 2013 found its way into the personal bank account of “Malaysian Official One” on 21 and 25 March 2013 via intermediary companies?

In fact, we would like to further ask the Prime Minister if he is still standing by his earlier alibi that the funds came from an unnamed ultra-generous donor from the Middle East?  It could not be easier for the Prime Minister to prove the DOJ wrong by showing up the mysterious Arab donor with the relevant transaction documents.

Instead, the Arab sheikh seems to have vanished altogether into thin air after DOJ laid out its facts. 

All that Dato’ Seri Najib Razak is doing now is making all Malaysians cringe with shame and embarrassment, by insisting “that what was done by the DOJ recently does not involve me, or the Malaysian government, or 1MDB directly,” as he did on Indonesian television yesterday.

How can anyone who is apparently “innocent” claim that the DOJ suit does not involve the Prime Minister, the Malaysian government or 1MDB directly, when the whole world saw how the US Attorney General detailed how Malaysia has become a kleptocratic nation, led by “Malaysian Official One” whose brainchild 1MDB misappropriated more than US$3.5 billion of funds to be laundered around the world.

Khairy Jamaluddin has insulted his own intelligence and brought shame to his alma mater by choosing to be a Najib “macai”, not to “defend the truth” as claimed, but to do the exact opposite of covering up the most corrupt regime in the history of Malaysia.  His transformation to the Dark Side is clearly complete.

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If BN wants to win back Malaysian votes, they should look at their own policies and statements, instead of blaming journalists

The Malay Mail Online reported yesterday that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi urged journalists from non-mainstream media to help paint Barisan Nasional (BN) in a good light, in the ruling coalition’s bid to reclaim the support of Chinese and Indian voters.

The Deputy Prime Minister got his priority completely wrong.  It is not the role of journalists to “help paint” BN in a good light.  It is the role of the journalists to report the facts and the truths of events and activities.  If the truth paints anyone in the bad light, regardless of whether it is the ruling party or the opposition, the fault lays with the relevant parties themselves, and not the journalists.

If the Deputy Prime Minister is really sincere about winning back the votes from the rakyat, particularly from the non-Malay community, then the first step must start from himself and UMNO.

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There Is No Escape - Clause 117 Reveals PM's Absolute Accountability

The latest exposé by The Malay Mail Online and Malaysiakini confirmed that the entire responsibility of the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal lies with the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak

In a sighted copy of the Memorandum and Articles of Association (M&A) of 1Malaysia Development Bhd dated 2 September 2009, The Malay Mail Online and Malaysiakini both exposed a special Clause 117 which placed absolute powers over the company’s decisions at the hands of the Prime Minister.

Clause 117 dictates that the Prime Minister must give his “written approval” for any of 1MDB’s deals, including the firm’s investments or any bid for restructuring.

This includes “any financial commitment (including investment), restructuring or any other matter which is likely to affect the guarantee given by the Federal Government of Malaysia for the benefit of the company, national interest, national security or any policy of the Federal Government of Malaysia”.

Other matters which need the Prime Minister’s written approval are amendments to the company’s M&A as well as all appointments and removal of directors and senior management team of 1MDB.

Therefore the above exposé debunked all previous attempts by the Prime Minister to disassociate himself from the management and operations of 1MDB.

When the 1MDB scandal was first exposed by the UK Sunday Times and The Sarawak Report, the former reported on 1 March 2015 that "the Malaysian government said the prime minister was not involved in the day-to-day operations of 1MDB, which is run by a professional and experienced team.”

Previously, even in Dato’ Seri Najib Razak’s letter of demand sent to me on 21 November 2014 over my alleged defamatory statements with regards to 1MDB, his lawyers stated unequivocally that “contrary to your defamatory statements… our client being the chairman of the Board of Advisors of 1MDB only renders advice to the Board of Directors of 1MDB who is tasked for the management and operation of 1MDB.”

In fact, he is even more involved in the matter directly than we, the 1MDB’s harshest critics, have anticipated as his role is specifically cast in stone in the company’s M&A.

With this confirmation, all the responsibility over the colosal RM42 billion of debt and billions of ringgit of losses and missing cash falls directly and entirely on the shoulders of the Prime Minister. Dato’ Seri Najib Razak should drop all pretence of ignorance and give up the farcical charade that 1MDB is a healthy and salvageable company because he is only acting to deny his own culpability and protect his own interest in the matter.

We call upon the Prime Minister to immediately schedule an official Ministerial Statement in Parliament during the current sitting to give a full and complete explanation of the mother of the mother of the mother of all scandals in Malaysia, the 1MDB heist of the century. In particular, the Prime Minister, who also acts as the Finance Minister, must explain in full, his involvement in the initial US$1 billion investment with Petrosaudi International Limited and the additional US$1 billion of loans extended to Petrosaudi. He must also explain his approval for the direct payment of more than US$1 billion to Good Star Limited, a company controlled by the controversial Jho Low as well as the US$260 million of funds siphoned from 1MDB used for the acquisition of UBG Bhd from the latter’s substantial shareholder, Tun Taib Mahmud’s family vehicles.

In addition, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak must now explain why 1MDB proceeded to raise bonds amounting to US$6.5 billion by paying fees in excess of 10% to Goldman Sachs International, as well as why a costly guarantee was sought from Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Corporation (IPIC) for US$3.5 billion of these bonds.

Most importantly, he must disclose exactly where all the above 1MDB’s money is today. All of the above have led to 1MDB’s horrendous predicament today where it has no money to repay its mountain of debt nor service its interest amounting to some RM2.5 billion annually.

Tony Pua

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An Easy Way Out - PM Shifts Blame of GST-Hiked Prices on Traders

Dato’ Seri Najib Razak should stop being a hypocrite blaming petty traders for unscrupulously raising prices when his administration backed the single biggest profiteering exercise by the mobile telecommunication companies.

Bernama reported yesterday that Dato’ Seri Najib Razak blamed “the action of some traders who exploited the goods and services tax (GST) has burdened the people when the tax system was implemented last April 1”.

He said the traders should have reduced prices after the sales and services tax (SST) was abolished but they did not do so and instead took the opportunity to raise prices by 6% using GST as an excuse. He said,

"The GST issue is caused by traders, these traders are evil, they are not responsible, not the government, we have other policies. When traders exploit the situation, the people blame the government and prime minister."

"We have abolished SST of 10%, 5%, some people do not know about SST before, the problem (abolition) is, it should have reduced prices but another 6% is added, this is the cause."

"If want to be angry, get angry with the traders, they must be blamed because they do not have compassion to think about the people's interest."

The Prime Minister is being a complete hypocrite by shifting the entire blame of the substantial price hikes after the implementation of the GST on the traders, and traders only.

Pakatan Rakyat has repeatedly warned prior to the implementation of the GST that the BN administration was living in cuckoo-land to actually believe that the prices will fall post-GST. Then, the Finance Ministers and their deputies continued to dismiss the simple established economic fact that “price are sticky downwards”. Any Economics student would have been able to educate these Ministers on the simple dictum.

However, the Najib administration has believed that they could defy gravity and chose to proceed with the implementation of the GST. Dato’ Seri Najib Razak even had the audacity to claim in is 2015 Budget Speech that

"Of the 944 goods and services in the basket of goods of the CPI, the prices of 532 items or 56% are expected to reduce up to 4.1%... Meanwhile, about 354 goods and services may experience some price increase but less than 5.8%."

It is hence no surprise that the Prime Minister, who is also the Finance Minister, looks like a complete fool today.

What is even more galling is the sheer hypocrisy of the attempt to shift the blame on the petty traders when it is his administration which is endorsing the single biggest profiteering exercise by the multi-billion ringgit telecommunications industry.

On Tuesday last week, the Communications and Multimedia Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek repeated his defence in Parliament for these companies to raise tariffs by 6% with the switch from the SST to GST.

Prepaid mobile users no longer receive RM10 of airtime for each RM10 purchase despite a 6% SST being imposed. Instead today, they will enjoy only RM9.43 of call services for every RM10 paid after the switch to the 6% GST.

The Minister isn’t only supporting a industry-wide profiteering exercise, he is endorsing their anti-competitive behaviour as these companies colluded to implement a uniform and concurrent 6% price hike.

Hence the Najib government has betrayed the rakyat’s interest in favour of even more profit for the already highly profitable telecommunication companies. Last year, despite absorbing the 6% service tax, Maxis Communications, Digi Telecommunications and Celcom Axiata made pre-tax profits of RM2.44 billion, RM2.65 billion and RM3.1 billion respectively in 2014.

In total, they collected RM12.8 billion in prepaid mobile services revenue for the year. Why is the BN Government helping these highly profitable companies make an additional estimated RM770 million in profits? These numbers doesn’t even include the multi-million ringgit revenue and profits made by other mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) in the country like U-Mobile, Tune Talk and XOX.

While the Ministry of Domestic Trade attempts to punish the restaurants raising the prices of roti canai by 30 sen, the Najib Government embraces the RM770 million windfall profits for the mobile telcos. There can be no bigger unscrupulous profiteering exercise in the country today as a result of the GST implementation and Dato’ Seri Najib Razak chooses to be a blatant hypocrite to fully endorse the burden to be placed on the man-on-the-street.



Tony Pua

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A Very "Costly" Mistake - Dato’ Seri Ahmad Husni Blames 1MDB Asset/Cash Mix-Up on Mistaken Impression

Second Finance Minister Dato’ Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah’s excuse that the mistake over “cash” or “assets” in 1MDB’s BSI Bank Singapore’s bank account due to “wrong impression” is lame, unbelievable and inexcusable.

Dato’ Seri Najib Razak finally confirmed what Malaysians feared earlier this week that there isn’t any cash redeemed from the Caymans investment. Instead, whatever held in BSI Bank is only in the form of “assets”.

The Second Finance Minister, Dato’ Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah further explained yesterday that the error was due to a mistaken “impression”.

“There’s a mistake… mistake in the sense that, the impression (given by 1MDB) when they said they have redeemed (the funds) and saved (them) in the Singapore bank (Singapore BSI).... so the impression is that there’s cash, (but) actually that is a saving,” Ahmad Husni said told reporters at the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.

“That (the redemption) is (in) unit... that’s what it is… in unit, and then, that is being backed sovereign wealth funds,” Ahmad Husni said.

The “mistake” by 1MDB and/or Ministry of Finance (MoF) due to a wrong “impression” is not only lame and inexcusable, it is unbelievable and inexcusable. How can anyone one given the responsibility of managing US$1.1 billion (RM4 billion) in a bank account make such an audacious error of mistaking assets for cash?

Who is to blame for such a massive mistake? Is it the MoF which misunderstood 1MDB, or was it 1MDB which provided MoF with the wrong information?

In fact, we can’t even be sure if Dato’ Seri Ahmad Husni understood what exactly is deposited the BSI Bank, now that he is describing the assets as “in unit”. After all he has been giving various misleading information in Parliament over the 1MDB scandal even in the last sitting, particularly over the role of CIMB Bank in the sale of 1MDB’s energy assets.

More critically, the various press statements by the President and Executive Director of 1MDB, Arul Kanda specifically confirmed that the money was kept in cash in Singapore, with the specific purpose to repay the interest for 1MDB’s US Dollar denominated bonds.

Arul Kanda in an interview with the Singapore Business Times published on 7 February, announced that “as we have US$6.5 billion (RM23.06 billion) in bonds out there, in which interest payments come up to nearly US$400 million (RM1.4 billion) a year.”

The 1MDB President specifically stated, “the cash is in our accounts and in US dollars. I can assure you (about that)... I have seen the statements.”

Hence what statements did he actually see? Did he also succumb to a mistaken “impression” of the US$1.1 billion in the bank statement too? After all, Arul Kanda boasted that 1MDB made a profit of US$488 million which were included in the “cash” of US$1.1 billion above.

The repeated patterns of half-truths, misleading statements and outright lies over the 1MDB fiasco have resulted in a complete distrust for the discredited Barisan Nasional Ministers and 1MDB senior executives. The only way for them to regain any semblance of credibility is to publish the actual BSI Bank statement reflecting these “units” of “assets” that are allegedly worth US$1.103 billion.

Surely the Ministers of Finance can demand the statement from 1MDB and make available the information to the Malaysian public? Or would they rather hide the information because the statements will reflect worthless “units” of “assets”?

The sheer dishonesty, the scale of the cover up and the magnitude of incompetence certainly justified the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s call for the entire Board of Directors of 1MDB to be sacked.

However, that’s not enough. We have 2 Finance Ministers and 2 Deputy Finance Minister, all four of whom have been utterly incompetent and clueless over the entire RM42 billion scandal. If they are not able to even provide Malaysians with simple accurate information as to whether the US$1.1 billion is in “cash” or “assets”, or what exactly these “unit” of “assets” are, then their heads should roll too.



Tony Pua

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The Cayman Bluff - Arul Kanda's Manipulation Deserves The Sack

1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) President and Executive Director, Arul Kanda Kandasamy must be sacked immediately for lying to Malaysians about the non-existent US$1.1 billion cash in Singapore

On 5 January 2015, Arul Kanda Kandasamy was appointed as President and Group Executive Director of 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB).

The Chairman of 1MDB, Tan Sri Dato Seri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin stated that:

Arul brings a wealth of experience from the financial world and a proven track record of transforming businesses. His transaction expertise and operational excellence will be invaluable to 1MDB as it undertakes a strategic review of the business, the objective of which is to ensure that 1MDB is best positioned to fully realise value from its investment portfolio and fulfil its broader economic objectives.

However, instead of using his “wealth of experience” to ensure that 1MDB stops leaking and starts taking full responsibilities of it’s financial crisis, Arul Kanda has chose to cover up the highly dubious transactions in the company and blatantly lied to the Malaysian public.

On 13 January 2015, in one of his first 1MDB transactions, Arul Kanda announced that the company “has now redeemed in full the US$2.318 billion invested by the company in a Cayman Islands registered fund”.

By redeemed, it would have meant that 1MDB has sold its investments based in Cayman Islands for US$2.318 billion and the money is received by 1MDB.

Arul Kanda subsequently confirmed the above presumption in an interview with the Singapore Business Times published on 7 February. He announced that while the funds amounting to US$1.103 billion would not be repatriated back to Malaysia, it would be kept in US dollars “as we have US$6.5 billion (RM23.06 billion) in bonds out there, in which interest payments come up to nearly US$400 million (RM1.4 billion) a year.”

The 1MDB President specifically stated, “the cash is in our accounts and in US dollars. I can assure you (about that)... I have seen the statements.”

When questioned in Parliament, the Minister of Finance, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak confirmed to me in writing on 10 March 2015 that the US$1.103 billion held in cash is parked with the Swiss branch of BSI Bank in Singapore.

Hence it came as a complete and utter shock to Malaysians when the Finance Minister in a subsequent reply to me 2 days ago, informed us that 1MDB now claims there isn’t any cash redeemed from the Caymans investment. Instead, whatever held in BSI Bank is only in the form of “assets”. There is also no clarity as to the nature and value of these “assets”, which may be worthless for all we know.

In effect, we know now that all the new 1MDB President executed was a “slight-of-hand” transaction by just moving the “assets” to BSI Bank. He then pretended that the moving of assets to be a “redemption exercise”. There was in fact no actual sale of the Cayman assets!

Arul Kanda then tried to bluff gullible Malaysians that 1MDB got back all it’s money and even “made a profit of US$488 million” in the entire Petrosaudi to Caymans transactions.

To arrest the persistent queries over the nature and whereabouts of the redeemed funds, Arul Kanda then blatantly lied by assuring us that “the cash is in US dollars” and that he has “seen the statements”. He even cooked up the excuse that the money needs to be kept in US dollars because it is needed to service the interest of 1MDB’s US dollar bonds.

The above proved that Arul Kanda is an unscrupulous liar and a man without any honesty and integrity. His continued leadership of 1MDB will certain hamper the discovery of the truth and the culprits, which may result in further unbearable losses to the financially stricken company.

The Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak and the Board of Directors of 1MDB will have no other choice but to immediately relieve Arul Kanda of his roles and duties in 1MDB. The failure to immediately sack Arul Kanda will further taint the Prime Minister and the Board of Director’s culpability for the monstrous sins of 1MDB.




Tony Pua

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Mr Prime Minister, QUIT Lying to Us

It impresses me how Dato’ Seri Najib Razak can tell the biggest of lies with the straightest of faces by claiming that 1MDB’s RM42 billion isn’t lost because it has 500 acres of Bandar Malaysia and 70 acres of Tun Razak Exchange

I cannot help by be amazed by how the Malaysian Prime Minister could tell such a big lie with such a straight face, and fully expecting the audience to believe him hook, line and sinker.

Yesterday, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak to hundreds of UMNO Selangor members in Klang that "the [1MDB] RM42 billion is not lost. There, the 70 acres TRX and 500 acres Bandar Malaysia lands."

Firstly, are the 70 acres of Tun Razak Exchange (TRX) and 500 acres of Bandar Malaysia worth even anything remotely close to RM42 billion?

Based on the latest available financial statements of 1MDB as at 31 March 2014, the 2 parcels of land are worth only RM5.83 billion. How could RM5.83 billion be boasted and inflated to justify 1MDB’s RM42 billion debt?

Secondly, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak failed to inform the audience that the respective piece of land was purchased for only RM194 million and RM1.67 billion from the Government. The cost to 1MDB was a meagre total of RM1.86 billion! And yet, the Prime Minister, who is also the Chairman of 1MDB’s Board of Advisors has the nerve to boast that the RM42 billion in 1MDB isn’t lost because of these two sweetheart deals purchased for less than RM2 billion.

To be fair to 1MDB, the company did purchase another piece of expensive land for RM1.27 billion in Penang. It also acquired 3 independent power producers valued at RM10.9 billion in 1MDB’s books.

However, even if you add up all of the above “investments” – RM1.86 billion, RM1.27 billion and RM10.9 billion, it only totals up to RM14.0 billion. That leaves a whopping RM28 billion out of the RM42 billion debt completely unaccounted for. A primary school student would have been able to do the maths can call out Dato’ Seri Najib’s big bluff.

Unfortunately, perhaps the UMNO President thought his UMNO brethren in Selangor are easy targets to delude and deceive. The Prime Minister even put up the false bravado that “If I am a rich man, I would buy a land at the prime area because I know the value (of the land) in 20 years.”

Well, Mr Prime Minister, if I were a rich man and you offered me the Bandar Malaysia and TRX land for the rock bottom price of RM74 and RM64 per square feet respectively, which are the prices 1MDB paid, I would bite your hands off too. I won’t need you to give me such ‘perceptive’ advice.

Former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammed is absolutely right when he told fellow UMNO members in Ipoh yesterday that Najib “never speaks the truth, always lies”. He even asked “how to be a leader?”

We call upon the Prime Minister to stop lying to Malaysians. He must explain with solid evidence where did the rest of 1MDB’s RM42 billion went, after deducting the RM14 billion of real estate and energy companies.

At this point of time, the only perceivable reason why 1MDB is unable to service or repay its debt, is because the rest of the RM28 billion are either locked into worthless paper assets, or have vanished altogether.


Tony Pua

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1MDB's "Little" Debt Secret

1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy should not hide behind the skirt of “banking confidentiality” to avoid responding as to whether 1MDB will be fulfilling its US$975 million debt obligations to a consortium of 6 foreign banks

The Singapore Business Times reported yesterday that a consortium of “jittery” banks led by Deutsche Bank has asked for their US$975mil loan to be repaid by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) more than 3 months ahead of its due date.

The US$975mil loan was secured with 1MDB’s wholly owned Brazen Sky’s US$1.103bil. The report by Singapore Business Times said that money by Brazen Sky is said to have been kept at Swiss private bank BSI Singapore. However, quoting sources, the report said the “securitisation document” for the loan has now been deemed “incomplete”, as one of the covenants was allegedly not fulfilled.

This has followed the exposé by The Sarawak Report which cited leak investigation reports that the BSI Bank statements lodged by 1MDB to these banks was fraudulent. Allegedly BSI Bank only held “paper assets” and not “cash” as claimed by 1MDB.

The decision by the “panicky” Deutsche Bank-led consortium can lead to serious consequences where all of 1MDB’s RM42 billion of debt immediately default. Despite the severity of the issue, 1MDB has chosen to remain silent by ridiculously citing “banking confidentiality”.

President and group executive director Arul Kanda Kandasamy, in an email reply to The Malaysian Insider's query said

We are aware of recent press reports and statements concerning a loan taken by 1MDB in September 2014. While we would like to respond in detail, this relates to a confidential banking matter, which prevents us from commenting at the present time. However, we intend to update the market as soon as we are in a position to do so.

The excuse provided in the reply is highly irresponsible and is the reason why the entire market is flooded with various speculations, true and wild as 1MDB has failed to address key questions in a frank and transparent manner. As a result, confidence in the financial markets has been shaken and the Malaysian ringgit has been adversely affected.

Malaysians are not asking Arul Kanda to reveal the loan agreement. Malaysians are interested to know if 1MDB will be able to fulfil its financial obligations to repay the US$975 million (RM3.6 billion) loan as demanded by the Banks in a timely manner. It will also provide great comfort to Malaysians if 1MDB can prove its ability to repay the loan because the last time, it had to beg local billionaire Tan Sri Ananda Krishnan to arrange a group of private investors to help pay-off a RM2 billion local loan.

Malaysians are also interested to know if the US$1.1 billion parked in BSI Bank is indeed held in cash or is it just some “paper assets”. The Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Razak has responded to me in the last parliamentary sitting that the amount is held in cash, before the exposé by the Sarawak Report.

None of the above questions involved the “confidential” details of the lending agreement.

Unfortunately, Arul Kanda chooses to conveniently use ridiculous the banking confidentiality excuse to cover up everything. It is this massive cover up that Malaysians have lost confidence, not only in the 1MDB management and board of directors but also the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak and the Barisan Nasional coalition government.


Tony Pua



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GST Prepaid - What You Pay Is NOT What You Get

Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek’s announcement that the mobile prepaid reload “reverts” to RM10 for RM10 credit with GST deducted only upon mobile usage proved that the BN Government and him are deceitful cheats

We read with complete disbelief that the Communications and Multimedia Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek proudly announced that consumers who purchase an RM10 mobile prepaid reload will receive an RM10 credit upon activation. However, in the same breath, he said users will subsequently be taxed 6% GST on their usage.



The announcement is highly deceitful because users no longer receive RM10 of airtime for each RM10 purchase. Instead, they are effectively receiving only RM9.43 of call services for every RM10 paid. There is hence no difference at all from the controversial hike in mobile prepaid prices by the telecommunication companies on 1st April where consumers had to pay RM10.60 for RM10 of airtime.

This disappointing announcement comes after Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery promised Malaysians on live television a week ago that “the rakyat want to purchase RM10 worth of prepaid credit, and they want to get airtime worth RM10. That’s what the people want… That’s why I have made the decision that if this is what the rakyat want, then that is my decision.”

It also means that the Minister has betrayed the rakyat’s interest in favour of even more profit for the already highly profitable telecommunication companies. Prior to 1st April 2015, users received RM10 of airtime for every RM10 spent, as every telcos absorbed the then 6% service tax. By using the switch from a 6% service tax to the 6% GST as a ruse, the Minister is supporting the collusion by the telecommunication companies for a uniform 6% price hike.

Last year, despite absorbing the 6% service tax, Maxis Communications, Digi Telecommunications and Celcom Axiata made pre-tax profits of RM2.44 billion, RM2.65 billion and RM3.1 billion respectively in 2014. In total, they collected RM12.8 billion in prepaid mobile services revenue for the year. Why is the BN Government helping these highly profitable companies make an additional estimated RM770 million in profits?

The above decision makes a complete mockery of the Anti-Profiteering Act which sought to prevent businesses from raising prices unreasonably in conjunction with the implementation of the GST.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak blamed the GST burden currently experienced by the people on “profiteering activities” and demanded that the relevant authorities “come down hard on the profiteers and unscrupulous traders who manipulated the GST for their own extra financial gains”. Yet, when dealing with multi-billion ringgit telcos, the Najib administration turns a blind eye on these unscrupulous profiteers.

The prepaid mobile services price hike doesn’t only run afoul of the Anti-Profiteering Act, it also breaches the competition clauses of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998. This is because all the telecommunication companies are raising prices by a uniform 6% at the very same time. It clearly reflects an anti-competitive and collusive practice.

Under Part IV (Economic Regulations), Chapter 2 (General Competition Practices) Clause 133, telecommunications operators are prohibited from “entering into collusive agreements”. It says that a licensee shall not enter into any understanding, agreement or arrangement, whether legally enforceable or not, which provides for rate fixing and market sharing, among other terms.

Therefore, we call upon the Minister stop being a cheat with his play of numbers and words. He must stop being deceitful to the Malaysian public by constantly twisting and turning his positions in order to support the multi-billion ringgit profits of the large telecommunication companies. The Najib administration must stop the duplicity of taking action against petty traders for alleged profiteering, while letting these big sharks get away scot free.



Tony Pua

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1MDB Whimper

Media Statement by Tony Pua, DAP National Publicity Secretary and Member of Parliament for Petaling Jaya Utara in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, 12 May 2015:

After all the fire and brimstone by top UMNO leaders about the 1MDB bailout over the last few days, the UMNO Supreme Council Meeting ended with a whimper, pledging complete support to the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak

This is the proverbial story of the wolf or in this case, wolves who huffed and puffed with great pomp and vigour, but just couldn’t blow the house of Najib down.

Top UMNO leaders lined up to speak up against the 1MDB imbroglio which touched a raw nerve when it sold a piece of land to Lembaga Tabung Haji at RM2,773 per square feet (psf) which 1MDB bought from the Government for less than RM64psf 4 years ago.


Just a day ago, the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin sternly warned “Umno’s image cannot be smeared just because of 1MDB. It affects the trust i.e. the core belief that the people have in the party.”

UMNO Youth Chief, Khairy Jamaluddin even demanded that the Ministry of Finance cancels the land transaction between 1MDB and Tabung Haji to “avoid negative perception”.

UMNO Vice-President, Datuk Shafie Apbal warned that if the 1MDB crisis isn’t handled well, the credibility of the Government will continue to be questioned.

Even fellow UMNO Vice-President and cousin to the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Hishamuddin Hussein broke his silence to demand that an international auditor be appointed to audit 1MDB.

But in the UMNO Supreme Council meeting held last evening, everything ended up business as usual. The much-anticipated fireworks ended with a pathetic whimper.

UMNO President, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak disclosed that “the Supreme Council expressed renewed support for the president and the deputy president. The Supreme Council wants the president, deputy president, the council and all Umno leaders to unite as a team to face all the challenges and take positive action to strengthen Umno and Barisan Nasional’s position among the people”.

The support from the all-powerful UMNO Supreme Council comes after the Prime Minister publicly proclaimed that he will not bow to pressure to resign two days ago.

Hence it cannot be clearer that UMNO is like a leopard which can never change its spots. No matter how serious the degree of abuse of power, incompetence, gross mismanagement and corruption involved in the party, they will continue to support their supreme leader who wields near absolute powers.

Despite the massive public uproar over the bailout of 1MDB via the sale of land purchased at bargain basement prices from the Government to other government-linked financial institutions at astronomical prices, it remains business as usual for UMNO. Over the past week, both Tabung Haji and the Pension Fund (KWAP) have been exposed as having purchased land from 1MDB at very high prices, providing the latter with the necessary life-support to service its interest payments.

Tonnes of evidence have surfaced which pointed to Jho Low embezzling billions of ringgit of 1MDB’s borrow monies into his own company’s accounts. Despite that, Dato’ Seri Najib continued to insist that Jho Low wasn’t involved and the UMNO Supreme Council happily falls in line.

The above only goes to show that UMNO leaders are nothing more than a bunch of power-hungry hypocrites. At the end of the day, despite all the foaming at the mouth to express their disgust and anger against the billions lost by the taxpayers, it is more important to toe the line of the all-powerful party President.

The Rakyat should not have any expectation that UMNO is able to change its DNA. The only expectation they should have is, as long as UMNO is in power, grand corruption, abuse of power and sheer incompetence will not only be tolerated, they will only become more blatant and brazen, as they did since the days of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammed.


Tony Pua

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Najib, Where Are You?

It has only been 10 weeks since the 13th General Election was concluded, but the Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Najib Razak who won with a fairly comfortable 44 seat majority in Parliament, appears to have completely lost his bearings.  The Government of the day, instead of seizing the initiative and giving direction to the country, is stumbling and fumbling from one controversy to another.

During the entire election campaign, Dato’ Seri Najib has presented himself as a reformist to all Malaysians, as the man who will make Malaysia the “best democracy in the world”.  However, Dato’ Seri Najib has been unable to put his own house in order with Cabinet Ministers split into 2 factions, one claiming no intent to repeal the Sedition Act, while the other still maintaining that the Cabinet has decided to repeal it.  The most obvious signal that the Act will not be repealed as promised is the fact that it has been used repeatedly over the past 10 weeks to charge political activists.

Then we have found Cabinet Ministers and Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties publicly squabbling over the tabling of the Adminstration of Islamic Law (Federal Territories) Amendment Bill 2013 which allowed for the conversion of an underaged child to a Muslim by a single parent.  This Bill is significant as it is the very first piece of legislation sought to be passed by the BN Government, which sets the tone and agenda for the 13th Parliament. The spat is also serious because the Cabinet has actually “approved” the Bill to be tabled, before the subsequent volte-face which proved to be a major embarrassment for the ruling party.  Throughout the entire heated controversy, the Prime Minister remained silent as a mouse.

While publicly calling for a post-election “national reconciliation”, the Prime Minister has failed to condemn the extremist elements in UMNO and BN, particularly via their mouthpiece, Utusan Malaysia for continuing to spew racist insults against the minorities, and inflammatory comments to incite hatred among the majority Malays.  Instead of defending the right thinking Malaysians such as the CEO of AirAsiaX, Azran Osman who expressed disgust over Utusan’s anti-Chinese stance, Dato’ Seri Najib allowed the unfettered demonisation of Azran as a traitor to the Malays by UMNO’s Members of Parliements.

When there is a crisis of confidence in the Royal Malaysian Police occuring with 10 deaths in custody within just 6 months, while violent crimes have become a norm in the cities, Dato’ Seri Najib has let the debate over the set up of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC), as well as the reversal of his earlier reforms such as the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance (EO) rage unchecked.

Dato’ Seri Najib has let his new Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low fumble over the justification of Enforcement Agency Integrity Commission (EAIC) as opposed to the IPCMC.  He has let the new Home Minister, Dato’ Seri Zahid Hamidi go on a rampage in blaming the repeal of the Emergency Ordinance by Dato’ Seri Najib himself, for the apparent rise in crime.

The Prime Minister has called upon Malaysians to give him the mandate to carry out his promised reforms, and yet the reverse seems to be happening with Dato’ Seri Najib quietly conceding to the party hardliners.

And when Transparency International released the latest Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) report which indicated a severe deterioration on the perception of corruption by Malaysians in the country  from 49% in 2011 to 31% in 2013, Dato’ Seri Najib did not make a squeal.  This is despite the fact that the GCB is a Key Performance Indicator for his flagship Reducing Corruption National Key Result Area (NKRA).

He only let his Performance Management and Delivery Unit admit that the Government has not done enough to battle corruption and concede that “radical reforms” are needed. However, there are no “radical reforms” to be seen as measures to improve transparency and accountability such as the public declaration of assets by Ministers, open and competitive tenders for multi-billion ringgit privatisation contracts are rejected outright.

Malaysians are asking, “where is our Prime Minister?” The are beginning to wonder if he has gone into hiding to avoid having to confront the difficult controversies engulfing the country.  The nation is like a rudderless ship crying out for a leader to put his foot down, and yet what Malaysians are getting are fueding first officers in the absence of their captain.

We call upon Datuk Seri Najib Razak to pick up his courage and demonstrate his political will in ensuring that Malaysia remains on the path to reforms and transformation has he has promised.  The problems Malaysians face today will not go away quietly if he were to remain tongue-tied.  Instead he will lose not only the confidence of ordinary Malaysians, but even that of his own political party.

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Jonker Walk and Jonker Drive will leave Jonker Mess

Yesterday evening, I had joined Members of Parliament for Gelang Patah, Seremban, Rasah, Bakri and of course, Kota Melaka and Bukit Katil to visit and protest the UMNO’s political vengeance against Malaccans by opening Jonker Walk to motor traffic.

The visit and protest has attracted hundreds who unanimously demanded that the Melaka state government withdraw the order to the Melaka City Council to open Jonker Walk which has become a celebrated tourist landmark in Malaysia, famed for its weekend night market.

The protests expressed over the past week by various parties have resulted in the Melaka Chief Minister backtracking and twisting the rationale and decisions to open up Jonker Walk.

While initially Datuk Idris Haron had told Kwong Wah Daily that the move was to “fulfil the people’s wishes” in reaction to MCA candidates being defeated by DAP, now he claims that the move has nothing to do with political retaliation, and everything to do with easing traffic congestion in Melaka City.

The twist and turn was so fantastic, he claimed that he has to resolve the severe congestion caused by Jonker Walk which results in up to a 4-hour journey from the city to the Ayer Keroh toll plaza. We would like to inform the Melaka Chief Minister that our journey from the city to the toll plaza yesterday, despite the crowded Jonker Walk, took us all of 30 minutes.

In addition, despite the ban on street traders which was explicitly stated in the state government directive to the City Council on 12 June 2013, Datuk Idris Haron declared 2 days ago that there was no decision to stop the street market and the 300 or so traders can continue their activities.

The above decision is not only a shocking half-reversal, it’s completely irresponsible.  Datuk Idris has only retracted the decision to “ban” the night market traders, he did not retract the decision to open up the road.  This means that all the market traders who are displaying their wares and goods on the road side as well as the tourists and customers will be facing the risk of being knocked down by on-coming traffic.

The visit to Jonker Walk also reaffirmed our fear for the safety of the people when it is clear that there is no way a car can pass through the road with the traders on the streets, what more reopening the road to two-way traffic!

Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz had rightly ticked off the Melaka Chief Minister that the road is named “Jonker Walk” and not “Jonker Drive”, and insisted that the tourist destination be kept as such.  In fact, Melaka government’s convoluted and senseless decision to make it both a “Walk” and a “Drive” puts at risk the safety of tourists, residents and traders.  We will hold Datuk Idris Haron fully responsible for any untoward accidents happening as a result of opening Jonker Walk to motorised traffic.

The new Melaka Chief Minister must act like a leader and not a petty, cowardly politician.  We are more than happy to fight “politics” with BN in the state assembly or in parliament.  However, let’s keep politics out of the interest, safety and livelihood of the people of Melaka and Malaysia.  The Melaka state government must immediately withdraw the order to re-open Jonker Walk to traffic during weekend evenings, and not wait for someone to get seriously hurt.

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Jonker Walk: Keselamatan Terjejas

MP tak yakin keselamatan di Jonker Street

Zulaikha Zulkifli
4:46PM Jun 27 2013

Ahli Parlimen Petaling Jaya Utara Tony Pua menuntut Ketua Menteri Melaka Datuk Idris Haron bertanggungjawab ke atas keselamatan peniaga dan pengunjung di Jonker Walk apabila jalan tersebut dibuka untuk lalu lintas.

"Bila saya teliti laporan ini dengan terperinci, dia kata 300 peniaga yang ada di Jonker Walk boleh teruskan perniagaan mereka. Apa yang dia tak sebut ialah adakah jalan terus dibuka atau ditutup?

"Ini kekeliruan atau silap mata yang cuba dibuat ketua menteri Melaka. Perniagaan ada tapi jalan terus dibuka. Ini boleh menjadi isu keselamatan kepada peniaga, pengunjung dan pelancong.

“Sekiranya ada apa-apa terjadi, kerajaan negeri kena bertanggungjawab," katanya dalam sidang media di bangunan Parlimen hari ini.

Beliau mengulas kenyataan Idris semalam, bahawa 300 peniaga tersebut boleh meneruskan perniagaan mereka seperti biasa di kawasan pasar malam Jonker Walk pada setiap hujung minggu.

Idris juga menjelaskan bahawa arahan penutupan gerai yang kebanyakannya menjual cenderamata di Jonker Walk itu hanya salah faham.

Katanya, jalan sekitar Jonker Walk yang menjadi tumpuan pelancong itu dibuka semula untuk kenderaan yang ketika ini ditutup bermula 6 petang hingga 12 malam pada setiap Jumaat.

Isu menghalang peniaga berniaga di Jonker Walk pada hujung minggu, sengaja dimanipulasikan pihak tertentu demi kepentingan politik mereka, katanya lagi seperti dilaporkan Bernama semalam.

Beliau tidak berpendapat bahawa langkah tersebut akan menyukarkan pengunjung dan peniaga dan mengambil contoh amalan yang dilakukan di Oxford City, England.

Peniaga menjalankan perniagaan di kaki lima jalan raya dan kenderaan dibenar melalui kawasan di situ, katanya.

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