Umno jangan lihat Perkasa saperti ‘hantu jembalang’

12 Sept - Mingguan Malaysia, akhbar milik Umno, menasihatkan parti dominan Barisan Nasional (BN) itu agar “jangan melihat Perkasa sebagai hantu jembalang” sebagaimana dilihat oleh parti-parti bukan Melayu.

Akhbar terbitan Kumpulan Utusan itu berkata, langkah menolak bulat-bulat Perkasa dalam membela kepentingan Melayu akan membawa Umno ke ambang risiko besar.

Dalam ruangan mingguannya Awang Selamat berkata akhbar itu mengemukakan persoalan apakah wajar kesemua parti komponen termasuk Umno mengambil pendirian menolak Perkasa pimpinan Ahli Parlimen Bebas Pasir Mas Datuk Ibrahim Ali.

Ruangan Awang Selamat berkata, persoalan itu dilontarkan kerana sudah menjadi bahan bualan terutama di kalangan orang Melayu.

Mesyuarat BN yang dipengerusikan oleh Setiausaha Agung Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor Rabu lalu mencapai persetujuan untuk menjauhi Perkasa atas alasan kerana ia dikhuatiri boleh menjejaskan keupayaan BN meraih sokongan pengundi pelbagai kaum selain menjejaskan konsep 1 Malaysia.

“Pada Awang, Perkasa hanyalah NGO biasa sebagaimana NGO bukan Melayu lain, yang sekadar membela kepentingan kaum masing-masing.

“Persekitaran politik yang dilihat tidak menentu dan berbahaya kepada kepentingan Melayu menyebabkan ramai menyokong Perkasa. Suka atau tidak, Perkasa menjadi sandaran baru kepada orang Melayu dan umat Islam,” kata Awang Selamat.

Semalam buat kali ketiga, Ibrahim mempersoalkan pendirian BN itu.

Awang Selamat menambah, dalam banyak isu melibatkan kepentingan bangsa dan agama, Perkasa lebih diyakini berbanding parti politik.

Awang Selamat menambah, langkah menolak bulat-bulat Perkasa dalam membela kepentingan Melayu akan membawa Umno ke ambang risiko besar.

“Pada Awang, Perkasa bukanlah ultra rasis berbanding banyak NGO yang bertaut rapat dengan parti-parti Cina seperti DAP, MCA dan Gerakan.

“Ketika parti-parti Cina saling lengkap melengkapi dengan NGO mereka, ada pemimpin Umno yang mahu menolak Perkasa tanpa melihat daripada perspektif lebih besar,” kata Awang Selamat.

Awang Selamat menambah, akhirnya tidak setuju sama sekali dengan pandangan bahawa Perkasa akan menggugat BN kerana dituduh rasis.

“Lakukanlah kajian menyeluruh. Hampir kesemua isu yang disuarakan oleh Perkasa adalah sebagai menyanggah tuntutan keterlaluan oleh pelbagai pihak tanpa menjaga sensitiviti orang Melayu dan prinsip dalam perlembagaan negara.

“Perkasa tidak pernah meminta lebih untuk orang Melayu walaupun ekonomi negara dikuasai oleh kaum Cina. NGO itu hanya mahu mempertahankan apa yang ada pada Melayu pada waktu ini kerana Melayu masih jauh ketinggalan,” katanya.

Awang Selamat juga melahirkan pendapat mirip dengan Perkasa dalam keghairana Umno dan BN mahu mendapat sokongan bukan Melayu.

“… janganlah mudah terjebak dengan percaturan yang silap. Awang khuatir, yang dikejar tidak dapat, yang dikendong keciciran.

“Sokongan bukan Melayu adalah penting kepada BN namun pasak yang perlu dijaga adalah Melayu.

“Itu juga adalah asas kenegaraan yang bermula dengan kemurahan hati dan pengorbanan Melayu kepada kaum lain sejak sebelum merdeka lagi,” katanya.

Malah Awang Selamat berkata, jika Perkasa dimusuhi, NGO itu dan Ibrahim tidak akan rugi apa-apa tetapi yang rugi adalah kuasa politik Melayu.

Semalam Ibrahim mencabar Tengku Adnan sama ada kenyataan beliau mengenai Perkasa baru-baru ini pandangan peribadinya atau pendirian rasmi Majlis Tertinggi (MT) Umno.

Presiden Perkasa itu berkata lazimnya isu yang dibincang dan diputuskan oleh MT Umno akan diumumkan oleh Presiden Umno dan oleh itu, kini timbul keraguan sama ada Setiausaha Agung Umno itu seiring dengan pendirian parti ataupun sebaliknya.

“Jika ia kenyataan peribadi, adakah ia bermakna Tengku Adnan mengatasi kedudukan Majlis Tertinggi Umno,” kata Ibrahim Ali.

RUJUK: perkasa Umno jangan lihat Perkasa saperti ‘hantu jembalang’

Umno members who lie about graft can be sacked

Umno members who make false reports about money politics can be sacked.

This warning has come after party secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor found that three-quarters of some 1,000 complaints on money politics were false and made with malicious intent.

“I have discussed with the Anti-Corruption Agency and have agreed to forward complaints with elements of corruption so that it can take action. For reports that are made with malicious intent against the candidates, Umno will take disciplinary action, including expelling them from the party,” Tengku Adnan said.

“Many times, the complaints came from candidates who lost in a contest and they claimed (they lost) because of money politics.

“They lost because they have not been servicing their constituents or the members,” Tengku Adnan said, adding that reports of money politics in Umno were mainly perpetuated by the Opposition.

He also said that it would not be fair for former Umno president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to name those implicated in money politics in his blog.

On MCA deputy president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek’s statement that the concept of ketuanan Melayu (Malay supremacy) no longer held true for many Malaysians, Tengku Adnan said:

“To me, there is no point of ketuanan (supremacy) if Malays are not the masters.

“He has got a point but he shouldn’t raise such a matter. He should look at the incidents in Mumbai and Bangkok and not be emotional when making a statement,” he said.

Umno members who lie about graft can be sacked
Malaysia Star, Malaysia

MT sokong Abdullah

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi bersama Timbalannya, Najib Tun Razak dan pemimpin UMNO ceria selepas mesyuarat khas Majlis Tertinggi (MT) UMNO di Pusat Dagangan Dunia Putra (PWTC), malam tadi. - – Gambar Mohd. Faridwan Hasbullah

BERITADARIGUNUNG: Tengku Adnan tidak sempat angkat kepala, manakala yang lain siap posing.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Goes after his Nemesis

Jed Yoong

18 May 2008

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Goes after his Nemesis Ahmad Abdullah Badawi uses a royal commission report to try to neutralize former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad A royal commission investigation into judicial corruption in Malaysia has turned into a weapon in the struggle for primacy between Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his rebellious predecessor and relentless critic, Mahathir Mohamad. The commission’s findings, which call for an investigation of Mahathir and other top officials for abuse of the judicial system, were first printed in The Star, the Kuala Lumpur-based daily controlled by the Malaysian Chinese Association, the second-biggest ethnic political party in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. Either Badawi or possibly Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, whom Mahathir has also loudly turned against, are widely believed to have used their own channels to leak the findings to the local media, which would never have dared use them without a wink and a nod from the government, since the charges strike at the very top of the United Malays National Organisation, the leading ethnic party in the coalition. Although Mahathir retired from power six years ago and had been largely regarded as a spent force for much of that time, he has begun a steady accretion of influence over the last two months, especially since disastrous national elections on March 8 that resulted in the worst showing for the Barisan Nasional since the country won independence five decades ago. The coalition lost its two-thirds majority in parliament for the first time and has been flailing ever since. The 82-year-old Mahathir, who has been in a state of outrage at Badawi almost since the time he left power, has turned up the heat considerably on his successor, demanding his resignation and seeking to form spheres of influence of his own within UMNO to rebuild his power and continue as a kingmaker. After first stalling for several days, (see: Asia Sentinel, May 15) the Malaysian cabinet Friday ordered the release of the report, which alleged that prominent government and judicial figures including the former prime minister were involved in the manipulation of appointments of top judges for political purposes. Along with the release of the report, the cabinet ordered the Attorney General, Abdul Ghani Patail to investigate those identified in it, including Mahathir. Mahathir reacted with typical brio, challenging the government to charge him and saying he welcomed the controversy. “I want them to charge me in court…if I am charged, then I can explain what I had done,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur. The report contains allegations of what had been reported since last September, when opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim made public an eight-minute segment of a 2002 videotape showing the well-connected lawyer VK Lingam in conversation with Ahmad Fairuz, Sheikh Abdul Halim, then the country’s third-ranking judge. The release of the videotape played a major role in energizing opposition to the ruling Barisan Nasional, the ruling national coalition of ethnic parties, in elections earlier this year that wiped out the coalition’s historic two-thirds majority and resulted in its biggest defeat since independence. The conversation appeared to indicate that Mahathir was closely involved in the appointment of malleable judges although appointments are supposed to be made by the court system itself. The videotape shows that some of Mahathir’s closest cronies, particularly gaming tycoon Vincent Tan, were involved as well. Ahmad Fairuz later became chief justice of the Supreme Court, now called the Federal Court. After weeks of stalling, during which its own “independent” inquiry commission investigated the allegations but never issued a report, the government finally acceded to the appointment of the Royal Commission of Inquiry. The five-person commission was first scheduled to report its findings on March, 11, but it was delayed. The panel agreed in a two-volume report that the video was authentic, that indeed Lingam was speaking with Ahmad Fairuz, and that there was sufficient evidence of misdoing to refer the matter for prosecution. Among those who could face charges, along with Mahathir, are attorney V K Lingam, Vincent Tan, UMNO Secretary General Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansur and former chief justices Ahmad Fairuz and Eusoff Chin, who was accused of taking a trip to New Zealand in Lingam’s company. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohamad Zaid Ibrahim said the six would be investigated on allegations of obstruction of justice as well as offenses under the Sedition and Official Secrets Acts. The question now revolves around what Abdul Ghani will do. Although Mahathir left power in 2002 in favor of Abdullah Badawi, the government is heavily populated with individuals appointed or selected by Mahathir during the latter’s 22 years in power, and Abdul Ghani is regarded as one of those most loyal to the former prime minister. It was Abdul Ghani, for instance, who served as chief prosecutor in 1998 in the trial of Anwar on charges of sexual perversion and corruption after Mahathir fired Anwar as deputy prime minister. The charges were widely regarded as trumped up by human rights organizations. Ever since Mahathir engineered the firing of the Tun Mohamad Salleh Abbas, the Lord President of the Supreme Court and two justices in 1988, the judicial system has remained largely in the thrall of UMNO politicians. Certainly, the courts and the justice system itself have shown little independence since that time. A case in point is the long-drawn-out trial of three men for the murder of Mongolian translator Altantuya Shaariibuu, who was shot in the head twice and blown up with explosives in October 2006. The three are the closest friend and two bodyguards of Deputy Prime Minister Najib. In a sworn statement Abdul Razak Baginda, Najib’s friend, confessed that he had gone to Najib’s chief of staff to ask the two bodyguards to take care of his jilted lover for him. But so far neither Najib nor his chief of staff has been asked to testify, and many questions remain over his involvement, or lack of it. The royal commission has also recommended that the government establish a Judicial Appointments Commission to take the power of judicial appointments back from political figures and to undertke a series of other reforms to clean up the system.

Cabinet wants Dr M and five others investigated

By SHAILA KOSHY and V.P. SUJATA

PUTRAJAYA: The Cabinet has agreed that investigations be conducted into all allegations against former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and five others identified in the Royal Commission of Inquiry report on the V.K. Lingam video clip.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Mohd Zaid Ibrahim said the five others were lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam, tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and former Chief Justices Tun Eusoff Chin and Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim.

Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said he would go through the report before announcing whether he would be ordering a probe.

“I will study the recommendations in the report very carefully, after which I will issue a statement at the appropriate time.

“Please give us time to do our job properly,” he said.

Zaid said the six would be investigated for offences under the Sedition Act, Official Secrets Act and the Penal Code, which included obstruction of justice.

“All the recommendations in the report are advisory in nature so we have to have another investigation,” he said, adding that the Government had taken note of the recommendations for judicial reform and the establishment of a Judicial Appointments Commission.

“The Government is in the process of finalising the relevant laws to set up this commission and it will be made known soon,” he said, adding that the Government also proposed to include the recognition of “judicial power” as proposed by the Commission.

He said these moves were vital to help restore the people’s confidence in the judiciary.

The Cabinet, he said, had urged the public, including the media, to allow uninterrupted investigations without undue pressure and prejudice against any individual identified in the report.

“It must be reiterated that in our legal system, an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law,” he told reporters at the Legal Affairs Division of the Prime Minister’s Department here yesterday.

The Royal Commission was formed to verify the authenticity of the video clip purportedly showing prominent lawyer Lingam on the phone brokering judicial appointments with a senior judge. Twenty-one witnesses testified at the 17-day inquiry which began on Jan 14.

Zaid also said that the Cabinet had agreed for the contents of the report to be released and sold to the public.

The report, which comes in four volumes comprising 2,889 pages, will cost RM541.60; of which the main report costs RM161.40 while the notes of proceedings, statutory declaration and lists of exhibits are priced at RM123.30, RM120 and RM136.90 respectively.

The public can buy the report at the Legal Affairs Division from Tuesday afternoon.

In its report, the commission said that the video clip, made by businessman Loh Gwo Burne, was indeed recorded at Lingam's house in December 2001.

It said it had no hesitation in finding that the clip to be genuine, real, reliable and trustworthy and its contents true in substance and material particulars.

In examining Lingam and Fairuz's testimonies, which they described as bare denials, against the direct evidence elicited from the phone conversation as well as the evidence of Gwo Burne and his businessman father Loh Mui Fah, the commission found that it was none other than Fairuz that Lingam was speaking to on the telephone.

The panel also said the evidence showed that Lingam was not intoxicated during the conversations, as he had suggested.

It added that the evidence also militates against Lingam's other suggestion that he could have been “bullshitting” or bragging.

The commission said that, in the final analysis, there was conceivably an insidious movement by Lingam with the covert assistance of his close friends Tan and Tengku Adnan to involve themselves actively in the appointment of judges, in particular that of Fairuz as Chief judge of Malaya and later Court of Appeal president.

In the process, the panel added that Dr Mahathir was also entangled.

While noting that the group's ultimate aim could not be ascertained, given the limitation of the terms of reference, the commission said it was reasonable to suggest that it could not be anything but self-serving.

The panel said the collective and cumulative actions of the main characters concerned had the effect of seriously undermining the independence and integrity of the judiciary as a whole... the star online

BERITADARIGUNUNG:

Umno to gather intelligence on defection attempts

PUTRAJAYA: Umno will send out its members to gather intelligence on the Opposition's claims that some Barisan Nasional representatives are "crossing over".

The party's new secretary-general Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor however warned the Opposition not to be "stupid enough" to instigate defections from Barisan.

"We have heard talk but we don't know for sure whether there are such attempts. As the newly appointed Umno secretary-general, I will send out our intelligence people to go to the ground and find out whether there is any truth to such claims.

"Our MPs and assemblymen know that BN and Umno are the only coalition and party for them," he told reporters after participating in the Maulidur Rasul (Prophet's birthday) celebrations at the Putra Mosque here Thursday.

Tengku Adnan was commenting on reports quoting Parti Keadilan Rakyat de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as saying that the party welcomed any Barisan assemblyman or MP wishing to cross over.

Anwar had also said that he had met several Barisan leaders during his visit to Sabah and Sarawak.

Tengku Adnan said if there were such attempts by the Opposition, then it only meant that they were trying to advantage of the apparently "gloomy outlook" for the coalition.

"But it is not a gloomy outlook for us. Our calculations show that Barisan still managed to garner some 51.2% of the votes.

"That means both Barisan and Umno are still relevant," he said.

Tengku Adnan said Barisan would focus on recapturing the five states - Kedah Penang, Perak, Selangor and Kelantan - as well as the seats in the Federal Territory that were lost to the Opposition in the recent general election.

"Maybe our component partners have been weak in these states or that there was infighting within the Umno divisions.

"We will conduct an in-depth analysis of all these places," he said, adding that the coalition has to come up with different approaches to reclaim the states lost.

"We have to start working immediately," he said.

On the spate of resignations by Umno leaders, particularly that of former Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo as Selangor Umno and BN chairman, Tengku Adnan said they should realise that the party's interests should come above all and that they should instead work harder.

Asked if a lack of a Cabinet post would hinder his job as secretary-general, as hinted by his predecessor Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad, Tengku Adnan said he would leave it to the Prime Minister to decide on the matter.

- the star online

Tengku Adnan takes over sec-gen posts (4th update)

PUTRAJAYA: Former Tourism Minister Tengku Adnan Mansor will be the next Barisan and Umno secretary-general following the resignation of Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad this morning.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Tengku Adnan has accepted his offer, made Tuesday night.

Sources said the Putrajaya MP is qualified because he was the party's executive secretary for two years during Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's tenure as Prime Minister.

Abdullah, also the Umno president, was speaking at a press conference here Wednesday evening.

Radzi resigned as Barisan Nasional and Umno secretary-general, saying that his exclusion from the new Cabinet was a factor that would render him ineffective in the two posts.

Speaking to reporters at a press conference at the Putra World Trade Center, Radzi said he would not be able to perform effectively for a number of reasons.

"One of the reasons is because I was dropped from the Cabinet line-up, but there are various other reasons as well," he said, without going into specifics.

When asked if his exclusion from the Cabinet was an indication that he was no longer needed, Radzi said: "You could look at it that way if you want to."

He added that he was not pressured into resigning but admitted that pressure was part of a politician's life.

Radzi said his resignation should not be seen as a split within Umno or the work of certain factions, and he hoped that party members would accept his decision with an open heart and not speculate on it.

"This is a normal process. It is a process of rejuvenation for the party. Someone new will come in who will strengthen the party.

"I am not disappointed. In politics, you cannot be that way. Life goes on," he said.

Radzi said he called the Prime Minister Wednesday morning to convey his decision, which Abdullah accepted. He said he has also sent his resignation letter to Abdullah.

"He (Abdullah) did say however that he would continue to listen to my advice in the future. It has been a wonderful four years and I thank the leaders for placing their trust in me."

Radzi said he would continue to support the party as an MP and help the younger MPs to be effective wakil rakyat.

"One of the major complaints that I took note of during the recent campaigning period was that the people viewed our representatives as arrogant.

"The people said the representatives had never come to meet them although they had asked them to come a number of times. I feel this issue must be addressed."

The former Home Affairs Minister was dropped from the new Cabinet line-up announced by Abdullah on Tuesday.

He first contested in the 1982 general election when he won the Kangar parliamentary seat, and retained the seat in the 1986 general election.

The former Perlis state footballer later joined the now defunct Semangat 46 before rejoining Umno in 1990.

He was not picked to contest again until the 2004 general election, where he marked his comeback into active politics by regaining the Kangar seat, which he retained in the recent polls with a 13,671-vote majority.

Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, who was the Prime Minister's choice for Perlis Mentri Besar, named Radzi as one of two senior Umno members whom he accused as being responsible for him not being picked for the post.

Bintong assemblyman Datuk Dr Md Isa Sabu was sworn in as Mentri Besar earlier this week.

- the star online