From MALAYSIA With LOVE

From Malaysia with Love?

Official  Business = National Interest = Personal Trip

Some background information. Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Tun Razak, has a wife, Rosmah Mansor, who has never failed to impress the ordinary Malaysians. She shocked the world with her comments by blaming the devastating tsunami that hit north east Japan 2 years ago on Japan's rapid development; failure to study climate change and use green technology. She further emphasized that the tsunami was to be a lesson for Japan and all other countries too.

Rosmah has recently stunted Malaysians again. She does not have any official function in the Malaysian Government. Nonetheless, she flew to Qatar with an entourage of Malaysian ministers, their wives and several UMNO political leaders. She was of course leading the entourage. They traveled in a Malaysian Government jet plane. The government jet is supposedly reserved for the use of Malaysian Ruler, Agong; Prime Minister; and Deputy Prime Minister.

Rosmah is the wife of Prime Minister Najib. She was not appointed officially to represent the government nor was she holding any official posts in Malaysian Government. Rosmah used the goverment private jet on the basis of cabinet ministers' approval chaired by Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin. Rosmah went to Doha, Qatar for the International Business Women Forum, as well as Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The sequence of events that has unraveled is no less impressive.  Initially, Minister Shahidan Kassim said Rosmah went on “official business”. He even went as far as saying, "She built this country". Rosmah's own special officer Siti Azizah said , “It was not for personal reasons. Rosmah does not represent the Government, but she went there for the sake of the Government’s interest. She is the prime minister’s wife, she went to give the keynote address (at the International Business Women Forum). So she made the address not as a government representative, but in the name of national interest.”

Out of a sudden, Azalina Othman, a member of parliament who was part of Rosmah's entourage, told the Dewan Rakyat of Malaysian Parliament that the Rosmah was invited to Doha in her personal capacity, and that the use of the jet was approved by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and members of the cabinet despite it was a personal trip. This is a truly Malaysia Inc (incorporated) with a family touch? Malaysia is now managed like a family affair.

If you think of Malaysia as a company, it has a situation of the chairman's wife went on a personal trip but she used the company's private jet without paying for it. The board of directors approved the personal use of the company private jet in a meeting chaired by the deputy chairman. Chairman's wife does not have a role or a post in the company. What she has is that she is the wife of the chairman. I wonder if the regulators, Securities Commission in Malaysia and the stock exchange, Bursa Malaysia will find this situation as an abuse of power and wrongful use of the company's funds.

Even if the Securities Commission and Bursa Malaysia refuse to act on this situation, surely the shareholders of the company are entitled to question and demand return of the company's funds which has been abused. This is one form of related party transactions or abuse of power that the regulators should prevent.

In Malaysia Inc, the situation is very different. In response to the public outcry over Rosmah's abuse of Malaysian govt facilities and funds, she said, "“I’m happy. I don’t talk, I don’t comment, I don’t go down to that level,". Rosmah deemed the response of the people to her abuse as 'that low' and she would not responded to such 'lowly' people. Rosmah felt that ordinary Malaysians belonged to a much lower class of people. These people were undeserving of her attention. I have no doubt Malaysians feel insulted by the comments of this self-styled First Lady of Malaysia. The First Lady that disparaged her own people.

Rosmah oh Rosmah, you may be the prime minister's wife. You may call yourself first lady and demand others to identify you to be so,  but you do not deserve to abuse this country's money more than anyone else. You may think that ordinary Malaysians are 'lowly' people but they are paying for the expensive government jet in your personal trip and for your personal pleasure. This executive jet plane by the government cost RM15 million for fuel and RM160 million for maintenance. Think about it. Who is more low class?

How much does a life mean in Malaysia?

How much does a life mean to you ?

It is Visit Malaysia Year 2014 next year. There are many nice places and events to see in Malaysia. However, there are also many other shocking events that have not been reported as clearly and fairly as they should have been in Malaysia. While you visit Malaysia in 2014, you may be in for some surprises or exciting news which are not part of your planned itinerary. Mind you, they are not necessarily all bad. Some are of course worse than others.

  

Before I start, let me highlight that Malaysia is allegedly the safest country in Southeast Asia, according to the Malaysian Government. Several key Government Ministers, including the Prime Minister, Najib Razak, who have repeatedly said this. Who are we to doubt them?

DEATH by Illegal Guns

In this safest country, the Malaysian Home Minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi officially reported in the Parliament that 74 people have been shot dead from January to August in 2013. 8 months for 74 violent deaths caused by gunshots alone. Let me remind you that possession of firearms in Malaysia is a serious criminal offense penalized with capital punishment. Hence, carrying a firearm without license means death penalty in Malaysia. Do you wonder how did those murderers obtain the guns to carry out the shootings? Are you curious too?

The Home Minister attributed the availability of firearms to smuggling from neighboring countries, putting the blame on Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. There would not have been any unlicensed firearms in Malaysia if not for those neighboring countries which are adjacent to part of Malaysia. He talked as if Malaysia did not have any effective border controls, no customs officers, or any other enforcement against smuggling. Despite that, this is also the same Home Minister who will tell you that Malaysia is the safest country in Southeast Asia, regardless. What do you have to say, Singaporean Prime Minister?

DEATH by Legal Guns

There are other form of deaths caused by human act in Malaysia. Recently, a Malaysian security guard shot a bank officer of a Malaysian bank called AmBank and robbed the bank. The security guard used a legal pump-gun given by his employer, which was a security firm owned by a UMNO leader. The irony was that the security guard was stationed by his employer to enforce security for that bank. UMNO is the dominant party of the ruling coalition in Malaysian Government.

It had been reported that the security guard was holding a fake Malaysian identification card (I/C). The security firm had not done any check on the biodata of the guard before recruitment. Puzzling?  Initially, the Malaysian Government dominated by UMNO had refused to reveal the name of the security firm and its owner. Despite the firm causing death, the security firm was only issued a show cause letter. The firm replied and no further action was taken. Due to subsequent public outrage and immense criticism from the opposition leaders, Malaysian Govt had finally suspended the security firm, Kawalan Prima Sdn Bhd. However, no one has been penalized for the cause of this death.

Update: A man suspected to be the security guard killing the AmBank officer was reported to be arrested on Nov 10, 2014. The man has not been charged in court as yet. Charging a person in court for murder or corruption in Malaysia does not necessarily mean a conviction. You only need to look at or google the case of Altantuya and Ling Liong Sik PKFX to understand this. Hence, CID director, Hadi Ho Abdullah might have gone overboard to claim, "Police believe with the arrest of the suspect, the case has been solved."

Malaysia have been made famous over the years for its custodial deaths in governmental institutions. There is a long list of death caused by some kind of weapons in governmental custody, only known to the government officials. Several news of high profile deaths like Ahmad Sabarni, A Kugan, Teoh Beng Hock, C Sugumar, Chew Shiang Giap can be easily obtained on the internet. You should read more to understand the exact situation better. I list below a few of the relevant links in the following:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/malaysia-end-alarming-rise-deaths-police-custody-2013-07-25

http://www.suaram.net/?p=5673

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/31/us-malaysia-crime-police-idUSBRE96U0BY20130731

DEATH by Legal Water?

It does not take firearms or weapons to kill someone in Malaysia. 3 persons died and 1 was missing in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia last month. Water was released from a hydro-electric dam managed by Tenaga Nasional Bhd, a Malaysian power utility, at about midnight after only 20 minutes of siren as warning. Most of the villagers were still sleeping and had not got sufficient time to react to the siren. In addition to loss of human lives, the man-made flood also destroyed 80 houses and 100 vehicles. A man-made disaster really.

The Malaysian power utility claimed that the release of water and the warning given were in compliance with their standard operating procedures (SOP). Hence, any negligence, recklessness or failure of duty is ruled out by the power utility. SOP are meant for good operating practices. We can only hope that there are not so many SOP in this world which are as deadly as Tenaga Nasional Bhd's SOP.

Malaysian Government had earlier withheld a RM40 million funding to deepen and broaden Bertam river which could have prevented this tragedy. The loss of lives, houses and vehicles could really have been avoided if Bertam river was sufficiently deep and broad. As announced by its Prime Minister, Malaysian Government has finally agreed to the allocation to increase the depth and breadth of Bertam river after the disaster.

The Prime Minister Najib has been known to be very generous in granting government money to voters in his infamous style of 'you help me, i help you'. Residents and voters in Cameron Highland had indeed voted for Barisan Nasional, which is Najib's ruling coalition, in the general election earlier this year. Why did Najib neglect these people's safety and well-being?

Please allow me to repeat this: How much does a life mean to you in Malaysia?

Bill, Mark, Stand Aside! Our Geniuses Rise!!

Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and Warren Buffet,
Please Stand Aside! Malaysian Geniuses Rise!!

One man who works very closely with the Ministry of Education in Malaysia has found a formula to create a genius. The key to genius creation is in Dimensi 108 tablets/pills or better known as 'smart tablets' or 'smart pills'. These pills are not smart on their own but they will MAKE YOU SMART once consumed by you! Apparently, Some students were buying them in large boxes, as opposed to packets, in their quest to be smarter. Who would blame the students if that was what they had been told. 

Interestingly, a purchase of the smart pills is conducted in some kind of award winning ceremony.

For RM3.00 per packet of  20 pills, it is not overly expensive considering it has the formula to make a person more intelligent. Potentially, developing oneself into a genius. Intelligence is not something that can be easily acquired or trained. Dimensi 108 maybe a game changer. This changes everything!

Glomind Enterprises is the agency authorised to distribute the Dimensi 108 pills. Ahmad bin Abdul Rahman is a shareholder and strong promoter of the Dimensi pills. His facebook states that he is also working for the Ministry of Education. He is then a civil servant, who is a shareholder in a firm, to market his own firm's products to the Ministry of Education he is working for. Serious conflicts of interest and potential abuses can happen from this intertwined situation.

Dimensi 108 received overwhelming support from senior academicians and politicians in the country, especially in Johor:

Malaysian Federation of the Council of Headmasters (Gabungan Majlis Guru Besar Malaysia)

• Expressly supported the marketing of Dimensi 108

Majlis Guru Besar Daerah Mersing and Kota Tinggi, Johor

• Improvement in the UPSR (Primary school examination conducted by Ministry of Education in Malaysia) scores in both districts was made possible due to the pills taken by the students. They gave overwhelming endorsement to this product, and requested other school heads to support Dimensi 108

SK Taman Segar, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur

• The headmistress said that it was compulsory to buy the tablets although it was not compulsory to consume it. She would not promote anything that was bad for the pupils. Dimensi 108 was like herbal supplements to help pupils concentrate and build energy for the examination. She emphasized that Dimensi 108 had the endorsement of the Malaysian Federation of the Council of Headmasters, meaning that it had been approved by the Health and Education ministries.

SRK Bukit Kemuning 2, Kota Kemuning, Selangor

• The deputy headmaster was marketing this product to the students, although it was not compulsory for the students to buy it

SK Teluk Lipat in Endau, Johor

• The percentage of students passing UPSR increased from 20% in 2010 to 60% in 2011 and to an astounding 98% in 2012, since selling the tablets in 2011

Shahrum bin Mohd Sharif, Barisan Nasional State Assembly Member (ADUN) for Dengkil, Selangor

• Supplied all UPSR students in Sekolah Kebangsaan Kota Warisan in Sepang with Dimensi 108 products through the headmaster of the school

There were many doubters of  the magic in Dimensi 108. It is understandably so due to its unprecedented immediate and highly magical effect on intelligence. Leaders from Pakatan Rakyat raised many issues with regard to Dimensi 108 pills, including possible conflicts of interest and fictitious claims made. They urged Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education to immediately investigate Dimensi 108 products.

Tony Pua (left) and Ong Kian Ming (right)

The Ministry of Health has so far only stated that the supplier of the Dimensi 108 pills displayed a fake certification letter from the Ministry in its website. Although the listed ingredients of Dimensi 108 include red dates, water lily seeds, rock sugar and spirulina, Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) argued that herbs constituted only 7.5mg, or 1.5%, of the 500mg Dimensi 108 pill. Dimensi 108 was just a sugar pill with a tinge of herbs. Neither Health Ministry nor MMA provided any clear scientific or empirical evidence to categorically deny any magical effect of Dimensi 108 to improve a child's intelligence. No efforts seemed to be spent on research to further explore the slightest possibility that Dimensi 108 might actually create geniuses. The pills has its formula of combining herbs and sugar, even though the herb content may be deemed as low.

At this juncture, we cant be sure if Dimensi 108 pills could indeed create geniuses for this country. Neither can we be sure if the pills were actually worthless. No wrong doing, be it ethical or criminal, has been reported so far. That means the promoters and academicians must be telling some truth. 

We must not forget that the percentage of students from SK Teluk Lipat passing UPSR increased from 20% in 2010 to 60% in 2011 and to an astounding 98% in 2012.  Malaysian Federation of the Council of Headmasters supported this product. Is it a waste of time to investigate further?

On the contrary, the Health Ministry explained a fake certification but not the effect of Dimensi 108 pills. MMA also ruled out the potential of Dimensi without further study. That means that the promoters and academicians might be misleading the students with lies. Yet, there has not been any news of Dimensi 108's promoters or the academicians involved being investigated, arrested or any legal action taken against them.

In Malaysia, it looks like the laws allow the act of making fake certification and allegedly false claims by product promoters and academicians without repercussions.

On a lighter note,

HAS MALAYSIA LOST AN OPPORTUNITY, ALBEIT A VERY SLIM ONE, TO UNCOVER THE SECRET TO CREATE A GENIUS?

Seriously, we do not know where do we stand now in regards to the potential of genius creation in Dimensi 108. We can not be sure if the combination of herbs plus the sugar is the secret formula to improve a person's intelligence.

Malaysia is No.1 in ASEAN again!

DO YOU LIKE YOUR COUNTRY

TO BE NO. 1  AMONG COUNTRIES
IN THE REGION OR THE WORLD?

If you said yes to the above question and you were a Malaysian, congratulations!!! Your country has struck another 1st in the ASEAN region. Malaysia has the highest public debt to the country's gross domestic product among the 10 ASEAN countries.  Yes, we are ahead of Indonesia, Philippines, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. This record did not come easy. Malaysia had to run 15 years of govt budget deficit consecutively to attain this title.

Extracted from The Edge. All rights belong to The Edge

This attainment should rightfully goes into Malaysia Book of Records. No previous prime minister in Malaysia before Najib Tun Razak had managed to achieve this feat. Further, Najib has creatively used 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) as a secretive investment arm to raise no less than RM40 billion debt on behalf of Malaysian Govt. The debt of 1MDB, on paper, is not included as Malaysian govt debt since it is considered 'off balance sheet' although Malaysian govt is still responsible for it. Read more about 1MDB's secretive history here: http://www.theedgemalaysia.com/highlights/249308-highlight-special-report-debt-laden-malaysian-fund-stirs-controversy.html

The man behind 1MDB, Low Taek Jho or also known as Jho Low, is helping Najib to indiscriminately raise huge debts under 1MDB for at times inexplicable reason, vaguely called development. We do know that Jho Low has a history of very high society lifestyle. He can splash money like pouring water when it comes to spending time with the world's celebrities. Who's money is he spending?  Read more about Jho Low here.

Jho Low side view

Jho Low (in black) front view

More intriguingly, Najib instructed 1MDB to raise USD3 billion just 2 weeks before he called for Malaysian general election on 5 May 2013. A prestigious American/Jewish bank, Goldman Sachs did the job for 1MDB at a cost of USD500 million. Yes, you have read it correctly, USD500 million. An astonishingly lucrative deal for Goldman. Reported by international Bloomberg news, Goldman could not get any deal close to this kind of  lucrative profit from raising debts or bonds for other Asian countries.


According to The Star newspaper in Malaysia, Jho Low is a financial genius who has started investing successfully at very young age. He simply could not be so dumb and failed to negotiate a more sensible deal with Goldman. Was Jho Low getting a kickback from the deal at the expense of Malaysians?  Who is the dumber here- Jho Low, Najib or Malaysian?  Read more about the USD3 billion debts raised by Goldman here: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-08/goldman-said-to-earn-500-million-arranging-malaysia-bond.html

Najib's cavalier attitude of raising USD3 billion by paying USD500 million and having channeled the USD3 billion to a tax haven Caymen Island company before general election in Malaysia raised many eyebrows domestically and internationally. General public in Malaysia has been deprived of the extent of this problem. Malaysian media is not known to have fair or balanced reporting. Najib simply ignored the matter and did not seem to care. Financial Times in United  Kingdom reported this highly dubious transaction here:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ed31cbde-b222-11e2-8540-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2dueyteZL

The Wall Street Journal has similar news on this outrageous deal between Goldman and Malaysia: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323798104578452802751076598.html

If you think about it, USD500 million equals to RM1.6 billion. If Najib had not spent the USD500 million on Goldman's fee, Malaysian govt would not need to raise price of petrol and diesel by 20 sen per litre recently just to save RM1.1 billion for the govt. You can see why the ordinary Malaysians are unhappy.

Najib forcefully takes away RM1.1 billion

from 28 million Malaysians but

he happily pays RM1.6 billion

to 1 American/Jewish bank

Malaysians have good reasons to be unhappy!

Fascinating Toilets? More than you know...

There is some form of fascination with toilet in Malaysia recently. No help was given by the Malaysian authority when Muslims had to pray in or within a public toilet due to lack of surau or Muslim prayer room. Toilet had sadly become some Muslims’ de facto surau. Indirectly, this was condoned by Malaysian Islamic authority in Perak. The authority did not take any action to date. This has however not been made public news.

You can further read about how a Malaysian school made a fashionable twist by creating an eating canteen out of a bathroom/changing room, side by side a toilet. No kidding. I would however not say that this should be a general trend in Malaysia.

The Malaysian fascination or great tolerance for toilet is not shared in their tolerance for other religions. Malaysian government agency under the ruling Barisan Nasional regime could be very intolerant when it came to other religions using surau or Muslim prayer room as a place for prayer or meditation. This act of Buddhist meditating in a surau has been made widespread public news and covered extensively by local newspapers.

Buddhist Meditation in a Surau

The owner of a resort, who allowed the resort’s surau to be used by Buddhists in meditation, had been arrested. The owner is a Muslim himself. His Permanent Residence status in Malaysia has since been revoked although it was not clear what his crime was. The surau has also been demolished my the Malaysian authority despite strong objections to the demolition.

Surprisingly, Parti Se-Islam Malaysia, PAS took a different perspective to the whole incident. PAS was more keen to look at the cause of the problem and had discreetly advised against over reaction to the meditation issue  and other deemed sensitive incidences. A statement released by PAS:

Orang kita memang sensitif…

Orang kita memang sensitif dengan berita surau diguna oleh non-muslim baru-baru ini, baru sedar selama ini rumah-rumah Allah banyak yang sunyi.

Orang kita memang sensitif dengan berita tokoh agama poligami, baru sedar ramai rupanya selama ini anak-anak kita ramai berpacaran tanpa nikah tapi sudah seperti laki bini.

Orang kita memang sensitif dengan video menyambut raya sambil pegang anjing atau babi, baru sedar selama ini banyak adegan lelaki perempuan bukan muhrim berpegang tangan berpeluk-pelukan setiap hari disiarkan di TV.

Orang kita memang sensitif dengan berita tulisan selamat hari raya dicetak terbalik dalam tulisan jawi, baru sedar selama ini AlQuran yang dicetak betul hanya hiasan almari.

Orang kita memang sensitif dengan isu gadis Melayu menyertai pertandingan ratu cantik tidak menutup aurat nampak body, baru sedar selama ini ramai gadis Melayu tanpa masuk pertandingan ratu cantik pun berpakaian begini.

Orang kita memang sensitif dengan berita makanan yang disyaki ada DNA babi, baru perasan sebenarnya rokok yang ramai hisap memang sudah difatwakan haram selama ini.

Teguran dan muhasabah ini untuk kebaikkan bersama

PAS PUSAT 
https://www.facebook.com/paspusat?directed_target_id=0

In contrast, this intolerant, which seems to be confined mainly to the ruling regime UMNO supporters in Malaysia, was not shared by Egyptians. Egyptian Muslims were holding hands and form a protective circle to protect a church and the church-goers.

Muslims ringing and protecting the Coptic Church of St. George in Sohag, Egypt

At the same time, a team of Egyptian Christians forming a massive human shield to protect their Muslim countrymen as they prayed during the violent protests.

There is such a phenomena of Muslims defending churches, Christians protecting Muslims during Friday prayer in Egypt.

Christians in Britain seem to have a more liberal view these days when it comes to religions and prayers. Hundreds of Muslims were able pray in a nearby Church during bitter cold and snowing winter. You can read the BBC news further here.

Across the border of Malaysia in Southern Thailand, there was a totally different situation. Buddhist monks have been seen to have regularly prayed alongside Muslims in mosques. They ate together too. I am puzzled and find it impossible to explain the Thai religious harmony in sharp contrast to Malaysian intolerant.

Buddhist Monks and Muslims eating together

Buddhist Monks and Muslims in Southern Thailand

There was no explanation of any specific reason why the Buddhist monks were regularly praying together with Muslims. The above Southern Thailand photographs were extracted from and with credit to news portal HERE and blog HERE.



Given the great tolerance or fascination with toilet but intolerance for religious co-existence in Malaysia, it is perhaps not a good situation for the country to be in. What do you think?