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Malaysia in the news 21st July 2016

OnPointe - Dynamic Contradictions

Last updated on 1 June 2016 - 10:52pm
Natalie Shobana Ambrose

THE expediting of the Hudud Bill to amend the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 in Parliament last week has created quite a debate storm in the country for a multitude of reasons. While there are different dimensions to the Private Member's Bill that was sought to be passed, a three-overlooked observations are of concern.

The first is the immediate silencing of one half of the population with regard to commenting on the bill. Non-Muslims have been told on numerous platforms that this Bill is of no concern to them. Personally, this strikes a raw nerve.

When someone says "You cannot speak or write of such matters", I am automatically transported to a time of repression, oppression and suppression, yes all at the same time. It is suffocating. Almost as if I was someone's possession, with them thinking they lorded over me and were allowed to dictate what I can and cannot do or say.

It is very demeaning to be treated in such a way but sadly for a significant number of Malaysians, there are many occasions where this hierarchy mentality reigns.

While non-Muslims have been told that it is not their place to question, as a Malaysian I disagree.

As a citizen, I have the right to know, I have the right to have an opinion and I have the right to question. It gets tiring to have to repeatedly say this is my country too.

Every few months we go through this roller-coaster of emotions when Hudud is raised and every time a line is drawn between "us" and "them". But no one tries to understand why the "other's" are gravely concerned.

When are people going to realise that they cannot stop others from thinking, questioning, debating and having opinions? We cannot keep cherry picking what citizenship affords.

Instead of silencing genuine concern, why not educate people as to what is being proposed and find out what the concerns are and then address those concerns.

The second observation is the lack of knowledge about what is being proposed. In the past politicians who are proponents of Hudud have used Nigeria as a successful example. This itself shows a blatant naivety as to what is happening in Nigeria and a grave miscalculation of reality.

Perhaps Nigeria is not the best country to emulate when it comes to religious harmony. Then there is other worrying news like that of a 60-year old non-Muslim woman in Aceh who was whipped nearly 30 times last month for selling alcohol.

While local politicians in Malaysia continue to state that Hudud does not affect non-Muslims, the images of weeping mothers battling the courts over custody of their children remain strongly etched in our minds.

While Hudud punishments and syariah are different, to the non-Muslim, who has watched the politicians and courts drag religious bodies through multiple legal battles over permissible use of language, the fear that Hudud punishment like syariah law will sooner or later affect the non-Muslims is very real. This is simply because it has happened multiple times. Add to that the waning confidence in a just legal system or institutional structures for proper recourse.

The third observation is the manner in which the Hudud Bill was reintroduced or rather how it cut the queue and then was almost immediately requested to be postponed to the October sitting by the very person who proposed the bill in the first place.

One has to question the sincerity of this drama. Instantly what transpired is a long list of politicians who have threatened to resign, and a back and forth between that same line of "us" versus "them".

Why was this particular Bill expedited? What is the political motive behind this? Maybe I'm being cynical but while this issue has taken over our headlines, what other news is being neglected?

It is unnerving when such serious Bills are allowed to cut queue knowing full well the mess it creates. All these observations make many uneasy, because the very people who are making the laws, do not seem to play by the rules.

Malaysia is still a multi-religious, multi-ethnic country with a Constitution. While the right to religious freedoms is enshrined, we cannot pretend that everyone in Malaysia is accorded that right equally. But instead of allowing for this to divide us further, why not start having conversations about the concerns in an educated and mature fashion. Acknowledging that there are contradictions and that as Malaysians we all have a right to know, to question and to have an option.

- See more at: http://m.thesundaily.my/news/1822686#sthash.RwW9OofA.dpuf

When We Were Young - Adele

Everybody loves the things you do
From the way you talk
To the way you move
Everybody here is watching you
Cause you feel like home
You're like a dream come true
But if by chance you're here alone
Can I have a moment
Before I go?
Cause I've been by myself all night long
Hoping you're someone I used to know

[Pre-Chorus]
You look like a movie
You sound like a song
My God, this reminds me
Of when we were young

[Chorus]
Let me photograph you in this light
In case it is the last time that we might
Be exactly like we were before we realised
We were sad of getting old it made us restless
It was just like a movie
It was just like a song

[Verse 2]
I was so scared to face my fears
Nobody told me that you'd be here
And I swore you moved overseas
That's what you said when you left me

[Pre-Chorus]
You still look like a movie
You still sound like a song
My God, this reminds me
Of when we were young

[Chorus]
Let me photograph you in this light
In case it is the last time that we might
Be exactly like we were before we realised
We were sad of getting old it made us restless
It was just like a movie
It was just like a song

[Bridge]
My God, this reminds me
Of when we were young

[Verse 3]
It's hard to admit that
Everything just takes me back
To when you were there
To when you were there
And a part of me keeps holding on
Just in case it hasn't gone
I guess I still care
Do you still care?

[Pre-Chorus]
It was just like a movie
It was just like a song
My God, this reminds me
Of when we were young

[Bridge]
My God, this reminds me
Of when we were young

[Chorus]
Let me photograph you in this light
In case it is the last time that we might
Be exactly like we were before we realised
We were sad of getting old it made us restless
I'm so mad I'm getting old
It makes me reckless
It was just like a movie
It was just like a song
When we were young

Site Works

800mm dia SAJ Pipe Crossing across PLUS Highway

Princess

https://youtu.be/LX68hAre-9c

RIP Prince

When Doves Cry
Little Red Corvette
1999
Purple Rain

1M Dimana Berada

Citizen Nades - More disclosures, more shocks
Posted on 12 April 2016 - 08:29pm
R. Nadeswaran

FOR a company which has been and still making headlines for the wrong reasons, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) continues to be defiant in the aftermath of the report by Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which was tabled in Parliament last Thursday.

The name-calling has not ceased and the salvos fired at opposition lawmaker Tony Pua (who is also a PAC member) have not stopped. When Pua remarked that he was only "80 per cent" satisfied with the PAC report, the retort was "you can't be 80 per cent pregnant."

On Monday, Reuters reported from London that Abu Dhabi's state-owned International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC) said neither itself nor its unit Aabar Investments PJS has any links to a British Virgin Islands-incorporated firm named in the PAC report.

"Both IPIC and Aabar confirm that Aabar BVI was not an entity within either corporate group," the news agency quoted IPIC saying in a statement on the London Stock Exchange, referring to Aabar Investments PJS Limited (Aabar BVI).

1MDB's retort and response was baffling indeed. It came out with its guns blazing (yet again). The company, it said, paid substantial sums to Aabar BVI and these payments have been recorded in the publicly available and audited financial statements.

"Accordingly, 1MDB finds it curious that IPIC and Aabar have waited until April 2016 to issue such a statement," it said.

1MDB also said that company records show documentary evidence of the ownership of Aabar BVI and of each payment made, pursuant to various legal agreements that were negotiated with Khadem Al Qubaisi in his capacity as managing director of IPIC and chairman of Aabar and or with Mohamed Badawy Al Husseiny, in his capacity as CEO of Aabar.

But what is public knowledge is that both these men left their posts suddenly and without explanation last year and 1MDB cannot claim to have no knowledge that the money did not reach IPIC or Aabar.

As early as September last year, the Financial Times reported that IPIC was trying to get to the bottom of an apparent US$1.4 billion mismatch in its dealings with 1MDB.

Citing people familiar with the case, the newspaper said IPIC was seeking clarification about the fate of the money, which 1MDB said it paid out but was never recorded as received in IPIC's own financial statements.

"IPIC's probe is part of a wider Abu Dhabi audit of the institution's long entanglement with 1MDB, which has come under growing scrutiny since corruption allegations engulfed both the Malaysian fund and Najib Razak, the country's embattled prime minister," the London-based pink-sheet reported.

So, what exactly is going on? Did 1MDB remit billions to a company which had no links with its joint-venture partner? Were the PAC members and Malaysians taken for a long expensive ride? Until the Reuters report emerged, Malaysians were convinced that they were given correct answers.

Not any more. The 1MDB saga has taken several twists and turns. Another significant weave has taken place which has put the company in yet another coil. It is no longer "stale" or "recycled information" – words which the company often uses when it chooses not to address issues.

First, is it not incumbent upon any company to check the audited accounts – the balance sheet and the P & L statements – of any company it has dealings with.

Second, 1MDB failed to take all precautions including a due diligence exercise on the recipient of its funds.

Third, 1MDB does not want to acknowledge that it had been remitting monies to the wrong Aabar – unintentionally or otherwise. Shouldn't the board and the senior management be held accountable for such a major glitch for which taxpayers have to foot the bill?

Fourth, if IPIC and Aabar had not received the monies, where is it now? Who has "stolen" billions of ringgit from 1MDB?

Fifth and more importantly, what is 1MDB going to do? Is it going to write off these amounts (read billions) as bad debts and "move on" as some leaders have suggested?

(Many years ago, there was a company called Asia Motors – an authorised distributor of several brands of cars. Word had it then that an ingenious person set up a company called "Asian Motors" and opened a bank account in this name. He then diverted cheques payable to Asia Motors by adding the letter "n" to the word Asia.)

In the light of the revelations to the UK bourse, even the most ardent of 1MDB supporters will find it difficult to continue to swallow what 1MDB says in its media statements.

Now, it appears that Pua's claims have to be re-visited and taken seriously. Among others, he charged that RM7 billion in cash and assets overseas have not been verified. He also said that the auditor-general (AG) could not verify a sum of US$1.56 million of investments by 1MDB's wholly-owned foreign subsidiary – 1MDB Global Investment Ltd.

Putting it behind us and moving on is no longer an option. The theme of "destabilising the government and overthrowing the PM" is no longer applicable in the light of the latest revelations.

This is deceit, dishonesty and fraud perpetrated on the citizens of this country. Surely, our voices have to be heard by the powers that be. Blocking websites and accusing foreign media organisations with all kinds of conspiracy theories is not going to provide the answers to so many lingering questions.

For a start, why not de-classify the AG's report immediately instead of giving us the shocks and distressing news in instalments?

- See more at: http://m.thesundaily.my/node/360758#sthash.Wv2e1iaU.dpuf

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