The Rise of the Moderates?

I have seen many friends and acquaintances who were worried by the breakup of Pakatan Rakyat (Pakatan).They feared the end of a strong coalition which could challenge the ruling regime, Barisan Nasional (BN) with United Malay National Organisation (UMNO) as its dominant party. The breakup came when Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) declared its intention not to work with Democratic Action Party (DAP) in Pakatan. You cannot have a coalition where the component parties refuse to work with each other. It means the end of any coalition.

Contrary to many worries, the Pakatan breakup appears to be unavoidable in my humble view. My reasoning is as follows:

• Pakatan is a coalition. It is only as strong as the collective strength of all members. The strength disappears when they cannot work together. Pakatan means little without the collective strength. We can not be too attached to the name. It is just a name.
• The objective of most Malaysians is crystal clear. We want a cleaner, fairer and more accountable government. In the absence of Pakatan, we have to move on and look forward to a new coalition or party that can deliver this objective of Malaysians. Where there is demand, there will be supply. Pakatan Rakyat Baru?
• PAS has not sat comfortably within Pakatan all these years. It was the late Nik Aziz who held PAS together and ensured PAS remained a key member of Pakatan coalition. While PKR and DAP are more about social justice, clean government and transparency for all in a multi-racial and religious Malaysia. PAS apparently existed only to advance its Islamic rule in Malaysia at least in the eyes of its current president, Hadi Awang. PKR and DAP are more moderate in nature.
• The fallout between the professionals and Ulamas of PAS is inevitable too. The professionals in PAS are moderate and very inclusive in their national agendas. The Ulamas, on the other hands, share the same thinking as Hadi Awang and prefer to take more extreme stance. They are really 2 different breed of PAS members. The professionals thrived during the leadership of Nik Aziz because he was a clean, fair and moderate leader. The same cannot be said about Hadi.
• A government formed by moderates and extremists pulling at two opposing ends may not last. It would certainly not be good for Malaysia.

The breakup of Pakatan is not necessarily a bad thing. I will go further to submit that the breakup of Pakatan may be a good sign for Malaysian politics in the long run. Why do I have the audacity to say that?

• Malaysians loathe the politics of race and religion that have been practised and exploited by UMNO government. Most Malaysians desire to live together as Malaysians irrespective of color, race and religion. Malaysians have a long history of peaceful moderation. They have never been the aggressor in the region and have been acceptable to adoption of different religions, languages and cultures over time. This can be traced back to as far as the Malacca Sultanate.
• UMNO government has inherited the 'divide and rule' administration based on race and religion from the British and wishes to perpetrate it to stay in power and to gain from its own corruption, abuse and injustice. UMNO has grown more extreme than what it used to be in order to secure its stranglehold on the people. The Malaysian desire is no longer in line with the wish of the extremist UMNO.
• The battle line for a new government of Malaysia is much clearer than before. It has been drawn by the sequence of events manoeuvred by the extremist UMNO over the years. It is the moderates against the extremists now! 
• Only a moderate government which practices clean, just and transparent administration can fulfil the Malaysian desire. Its not about race. Its not about religion. Its about policies!
• We can find many moderate leaders in PKR, DAP and PAS's professionals.
• Many leaders in PKR, especially the newer generations, are moderate in nature. Nonetheless, PKR has a few ex-UMNO leaders who have unfortunately carried over the bad practices from UMNO. This smaller group may be the spoiler for PKR to be a truly moderate party. Anwar Ibrahim, as a key figure in PKR, must shed the shadow of Umno in PKR. PKR will grow stronger without the menace of ex-UMNO leaders in it.
• DAP has always been a relatively small party up to recent years when there were a flock of younger and moderate leaders joining the party. These younger leaders have captured the inspiration of young voters in the last 2 generation elections. DAP has lesser issue with extremist leaders due to its previously smaller size and generally moderate senior leaders. However, DAP must firmly deal with its state-level warlords and racial bigots to truly be a party for all Malaysians. 
• The professionals in PAS in the name of Gerakan Harapan Baru, PasMa or any other name form a large pool of moderate and talented leaders.
• UMNO leaders are mostly extremists by nature who do not hesitate to resort to violence. There are very few true moderate leaders in UMNO. By now, we are absolutely certain that there is no hope to see UMNO or BN turning moderate for Malaysia.

We will continue to see the core of UMNO/BN claiming to champion racial and religious cause while they continue to pursue corruption, abuse and injustice. PAS Ulamas are likely to join force with UMNO, with PAS focusing on Islam and UMNO focusing on Malays. How can UMNO that claims to champion the rights of Malays for the past 58 year still be making the same claim today? That means UMNO has failed for the past 58 years and yet they want more time. It simply does not make any logical sense.

On the other end, we may well see the rise of a truly moderate coalition from the ashes of Pakatan. We can expect to see the moderates congregating to fight for Malaysia purely on clean, just and transparent policies. There is no necessity to resort to politics of race and religion in this new moderate force. This must finally spell the end of race-politics for the good of the nation!

Do we have enough moderate voters to turn Malaysia into a moderate and progressive nation? I know the answer is YES. That may still not be sufficient.

We know that this UMNO government has been gerrymandering and manipulating voters' list, including phantom voters, 'citizenship for vote', etc. We also know that this UMNO goverment will not stop practising these abuses any time soon. The next tough question is whether we have enough moderate voters to win the next election despite all these abuses of voters' list?

WILL THE MODERATES RISE TO THE OCCASION?

The moderates from all walks of life must stand up and be counted if they do not want their country to become Myanmar or North Korea. Spread the words of moderation. Help bring more Malaysians to the side of moderates. It is time for the moderates to regain this country from the hands of corrupt extremists. The time is now! Think moderate; Eat moderate; Sleep moderate; Vote moderates!

May the moderates rise and form the strongest coalition to challenge UMNO/BN in the next election.

Notes:-
Extremists and moderates are used in this article to largely mean the following:

Extremists have their extreme views on race and religion. Many of them join politics for the sole purpose of money. Corruption is accepted as a way of politics.

Moderates are inclusive and have a balanced views on race and religion. Many of them join politics for a sense of achievement and they have the will to do good to the society and country. They do not and must not join politics for money. Corruption is rejected.

Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right

Everyone in Malaysia would have by now learned about the on-going squabbles between the country's former prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad and the current prime minister, Najib Razak. Any criticism against the leadership in the Malaysian ruling regime, Barisan Nasional (BN,) which has been dominated by United Malays National Organisation (Umno), rarely gained any traction with the local mainstream media or the Umno fraternity. The words of Mahathir, Malaysia's longest serving Prime Minister, however did catch the attention of the mainstream media and Umno members.

Mahathir has been bluntly highlighting a few pertinent issues concerning Najib and the country:

• The money that has disappeared from Najib's brainchild, 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), to the amount of RM27 billion. 1MDB is carrying a total debt of RM42 billion, more than 10% of Malaysian total gross external debts, but it only owns RM15 billion assets. 1MDB management deliberately skipped a meeting called by Public Account Committee (PAC) constituted by the Malaysian Parliament without giving any reason recently.
• The murder of Altantuya with C4, which was an explosive restricted only to military use, when Najib was then the Defence Minister in charge of the military. A 'kangaroo court' was convened after much delay but the real perpetrator was never identified. Altantuya was rumoured to be in a relationship with Defence Minister Najib. She was involved in the negotiation of the purchase of Scorpene submarines by Malaysian Government from France.
• Najib claimed to inherit wealth from his father but Najib's family members have since denied that. Najib himself could not explain the wealth and lavish lifestyle of his wife, children and step-son.  It has been too coincidental that someone else always happened to be willing to pay for the exorbitant expenses.
  
  

Najib has not been able to give any credible answers to the questions posted by Mahathir. Najib's response can at best be described as beating around the bush.

Despite his failure to explain Mahathir's unsettling questions, Najib and his large pool of local and foreign advisers have been aiming the cannons at Mahathir too. Najib's team has claimed numerous failures during Mahathir's administration. The following are several of the failures regurgitated:

• Malaysian Government lost billions when it tried to manipulate or control foreign exchange rates and tin price.
• Bumiputra Finance Malaysia which was owned by Malaysian Govt lost billions in a series of uncreditworthy loans extended.
• Failure of Mahathir's privatization polices which resulted in eventual bail-outs of the privatized companies, including those owned by Mahathir' son, by the government costing billions.

Mahathir admitted that there were flaws in the policies during his time as the prime minister and he lost the country's money. He was quick to point out that the money was lost due to failure of a venture or investment. The money did not disappear the same way as how money has gone missing in the case of 1MDB (no pun intended).

I submit that the policies during Mahathir's administration were flawed and bias. He practised authoritarian tactics and oppression against the opposition leaders. Corruption was rampant during his time and his policies bred corruption. It can be argued that Mahathir was 'wrong' in many instances when he was in power. On the other hand, there are too many questionable issues that show Najib is currently 'wrong' too.

Two Wrongs Don't Make A Right!

Najib seems to be interested only in pointing out how Mahathir was 'wrong'. He has been unable to answer or put right any of his own 'wrong'. Umno leaders should learn that by saying someone else is ugly does not make you more beautiful than you are. They can learn a lot by reading wikipedia like ordinary people.

More importantly, the revelations by Mahathir and Najib have made it evidently clear to Malaysians that this government formed by Umno, from the leadership of Mahathir in the 1980's to Najib today, has been meddling in corruption, abuse of power and malpractices to the detriment of the country. Despite a change of 3 leadership within the period, this Umno government has not changed its traits and still behaved in the same way today. A change of the leadership will not do any good to Malaysia because it is still the same Umno government that is corrupt, abusive and unethical. The only solution for a betterment of Malaysia is to change the government. Malaysia is in desperate need of a clean, accountable and just government.



You are advised to search for '1MDB scandal' or '1MDB Sarawak Report' should you wish to know more about 1MDB. There is a very long list of suspected wrongdoings in 1MDB which is beyond the scope this posting.

CHECKS AND BALANCES in Imperfect World

We all know that corruption is a form of disease in a government and economy. As I learn more about the imperfect real world, I accept that there is no way that one can totally stop corruption. It does not however mean that the people should  not strive to eliminate, or at least, minimize it from causing damage to the country.

I recently came across an interesting section of the article by Clive Crook published in Bloomberg View, which is highlighted below:

Liberal western politics, which are largely based on democracy, do involve 'fruitless politicking, too-frequent changes of government, populist incompetence and excessive attention to short term'. Democratic governance is in itself imperfect. The aforesaid problems are just a few of the problems associated with democracy. Nonetheless, it is arguably a system of governance that provides the most 'checks and balances'.

Authoritarianism is not in itself bad. Should the authoritarian leader or government be 'enlighted and meritocratic', a country can still be governed well and corrupt practises minimized. However, the lack of 'checks and balances' means an authoritarian who is less 'enlighted and meritocratic' can behave in an uncontrollable manner. Personal interest may override the welfare of the nation. Corrupt practices may go on unchecked. The country's wealth may inevitably be plundered for the benefits of the authoritarian, family members and cronies. The wish of the people will go largely ignored for the benefits of the few elitists.

A good system of 'checks and balances' is still the best bet to prevent any form of extremism and corruption in governance. The need for 'checks and balances' is paramount for a good governance. Effective 'checks and balances' keep the leaders on their toes and accountable for their acts and omissions.

Democratic system is able to provide a peaceful change of the ruling regime in a government at the wish of the people. In a democratic election, the oppositions or dissenters can replace the ruling regime should the regime be disregarding the well being of the country and its people. Without a mechanism for a peaceful change of government, violence may erupt and loss of lives may happen before a change of government is possible. Inability to peacefully change a government in a timely manner will prolong the existence of a ruling regime, matters not how corrupt or abusive it may be. In the real world, the existence of effective opposition parties in a democratic country 'is not unpatriotic but indispensable'.

The availability of 'checks and balances' and 'peaceful change of government' in a democracy means that the people living in a functional democracy are in relatively better hands.

Malaysia is now the oldest democracy in the world with a single regime rule. Barisan Nasional (BN), which is dominated by United Malay National Organisation (UMNO), has been in power for the last 58 years. The opposition coalition managed to win 52% popularity vote but BN won the general election in 2013 with 60% parliamentary seats to form the government. The opposition in Malaysia emphatically points out that BN has remained in power due to gerrymandering, abuse of power, distortion and oppression. There has been widespread reports of corruption  and illegal fund flows in Malaysia.

Do you think Malaysians are in good hands?

http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2012/12/11/malaysia-tops-bribery-table/

Umno's Others Are Bad Too

In my recent conversation with an old friend, we hit a very interesting point on United Malays National Organisation (Umno)'s recent strategy to portray 'Others Are Bad Too'. Umno is the dominant party in the coalition that has been ruling Malaysia for the past 58 years. In addition to 'Divide and Rule' and 'Divert and Rule' strategies, this party has progressed into 'Others Are Bad Too'.

We can see that there are 4 steps to this 'Others Are Bad Too' strategy.

STEP 1-

These Umno supporters are willing to admit that some of them are corrupt. They will usually finger point to cases of some Umno leaders who are widely known to be corrupt.

STEP 2-

They will be quick to blame that all the opposition parties, especially the key leaders, are equally corrupt. Although they are usually unable to specifically mention any case of corruption with evidence, they nonetheless argue that opposition leaders are just the same as Umno leaders. When they are asked why Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), which is under the control of Umno, have not managed to prosecute or get any of the so-called corrupt key opposition leaders convicted, they inevitably assure you that a big case will be brought soon. Please do not hold your breath while you wait for the prosecution from MACC. We have not seen any case yet for years.

STEP 3-

They emphatically make a case that voting for Umno or any of the opposition parties will mean the same. In their dispute, 'Others Are Bad Too'.

STEP 4-

They then conclude that Malaysian voters are better off voting for UMNO or its coalition, Barisan Nasional (BN). Malaysians are apparently unable to improve the country by voting for the opposition anyway. 

We can see that the local mainstream media encompassing TVs, newspapers, radios, etc is assisting Umno to propagate this 'Others Are Bad Too' strategy. They are willing to report small fry cases of corruption in Umno or its government. At the same time, they hurl many unsubstantiated cases against the opposition. Cases that are never brought to the court ultimately. In fact, Utusan Malaysia and New Straits Times have been known to pay compensation to opposition leaders for falsified claims against them. However, the damage is sometimes done in the political arena despite the fact that a lie may be corrected and justice is eventually done. The editorial columns of mainstream newspapers constantly try to instil the idea that the opposition is equally bad and inculcate distrust in the opposition. They will also repeatedly boast the benefits of having Umno and BN with a view to conclude that Malaysians are apparently not able to improve the country by voting for opposition. Hence, Malaysians are better off voting for Umno and BN.

"In Malaysia, you can be forgiven to  think that 'people' and 'rakyat' (citizens) mean government."

We find a few flaws in this 'Others Are Bad Too' strategy by Umno:

• The fact that Umno has to resort to this strategy means that Umno have run out of merits or worthy achievements to talk about. This is sad for a party that has been in power for over 1/2 of a century
• Umno supporters admit corrupt practices on behalf of the party or their leaders. This is as close as you can get to incriminating confession of guilt. Despite this, any prosecution by MACC against an Umno leader is rare. A conviction is almost unheard of.
• Their claims of corruption cases against opposition have been proven untrue over and over again. The lack of any prosecution by MACC or conviction further strengthen the case of innocence.
• A vote for opposition may or may not improve the situations in the country, it does not follow that a vote for Umno and BN will be better off for Malaysians. We have 58 years of history to tell us the contrary.

To a large extent, this 'Others Are Bad Too' strategy may be effective to dupe unsuspecting voters. It is unethical and it thrives on misleading claims. This strategy has been applied in the newly imposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) to paint a misleading picture of the opposition that are equally bad. In the case of Hudud, Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS)'s president is seen to be 'sleeping' with Umno, despite the fact that PAS is an opposition. 'Others Are Bad Too' strategy works so much better when Umno can pull an individual or a small group of them from the opposition to collaborate.


It is understandable why Umno has adopted this strategy. The party and its president, Najib Razak have been shrouded by scandals after scandals. You only have to Google search for news by typing Scandals in Malaysia. There are many and constantly updated with new ones. I will not be able to give the latest by listing them here. Please search for the scandalous news.

Perhaps, in time of desperation, Umno supporters may have inadvertently bordered on bad mouth, deception and spread of lies in order to secure support for Umno.

The Best in the World !!

When you walk into Malaysia as a tourist, you may not realize that you have just walked  into a country with many 'best in the world' and 'world class' statuses. This country has achieved so much even though it is still a developing nation with GDP per capita of only USD7,000 per annum. Its GDP per capita is a long way lower than wealthier countries like Japan, Australia, South Korea, Germany, United Kingdom, Singapore, or even Argentina.

Best Democracy in the World

Do not frown when you see Malaysia. This is most likely the Best Democracy in the World. Some Western and Asian countries may wish to inquire or learn from this. It is no frivolous claim. It is a democratic status described by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak in 2014. I am not making this up. Find the reports and news below:

http://www.thestar.com.my/story/?sec=nation&file=%2f2011%2f9%2f18%2fnation%2f20110918141818

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2014/02/12/sliding-press-freedom-best-democracy-in-the-world/

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysias-press-freedom-ranking-drops-to-historic-low-of-147

Best Healthcare System in the World

Do not need to worry about the adequacy of medical services in Malaysia when you visit. In case you need medical attention, you will be treated in the Best Health System in the World.  At the same time, you will be surprised that the health system is also the cheapest in the world. Najib Razak, as the Prime Minister of Malaysia, highlighted this crucial health standard and cost on 27 February 2015 in Malaysia. He further confirmed that Malaysia was the still the 3rd Best in the World in terms of health facilities. Despite the high healthcare standard, Malaysia had not been equally successful in curbing the dengue epidemic in the past few years. Find the reports and news below:

https://sg.news.yahoo.com/malaysia-medical-fees-cheapest-world-says-najib-bernama-072837222.html

http://outbreaknewstoday.com/malaysia-dengue-outbreak-nears-100000/ (2014 vs 2013)

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/23630-dengue-cases-recorded-nationwide-says-deputy-minister-bernama (Jan-Feb 2015 vs Jan-Feb 2014)

Best Flood Management in the World

Weather will not spoil your holiday in Malaysia despite the fact that it is a tropical country with plenty of rain. You will never need to worry about flood in this country. You can visit anywhere and stay in anywhere. Malaysia has one of the Best Flood Management System in the World, even better than those in developed countries, such as the United States. Minister in Prime Minister's Department, Shahidan Kassim explained this on 25 November 2013. Malaysians subsequently went on to suffer from the worst loss of lives and property damage in decades as a result of flood in 2014. Find the reports and news below:

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/new-schools-built-to-act-as-flood-relief-centres-says-shahidan

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30609549

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/better-coordination-needed-for-flood-reconstruction












Best Education System in the World

You will be greeted Malaysians who have been trained by one of the Best Education System in the World as you tour Malaysia. They are possibly very proficient in English language due to the Malaysian education system's emphasis on training internationally competitive and highly skilled labour force. On 1 April 2012, Malaysia revealed that Malaysian youngsters were receiving better education than children in the United States, Britain and Germany. It was openly trumpeted by Muhyiddin Yassin, the Education Minister cum Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia.

On that account, you should find very rare and few Malaysians who study overseas. A quick check with acquaintances and associates in Malaysia who could afford overseas education showed otherwise though. Interestingly, Muhyiddin was however baffled by poor grasp of English language by Malaysian students when he spoke on the subject in November 2014.

Malaysian students only managed a poor 55th ranking out of 65 countries in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) done by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).  Find the reports and news below:

http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2012/04/01/Muhyiddin-Our-education-system-is-one-of-the-best/

http://www.themalaysiantimes.com.my/dap-shuns-muhyiddins-best-education-system-claim/

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/muhyiddin-baffled-by-malaysians-poor-grasp-of-english

While you are visiting Malaysia, you should know that you may wish to further your education in high quality universities situated in the country. With the one of the Best Education System in the World, it is not surprising that Malaysia has the Best Universities or Higher Education. Second Education Minister of Malaysia, Idris Jusoh openly announced that the country had World Class Higher Education on 21 February 2015. Yes, Malaysia has to have 2 education ministers to ensure the Best in the World education.

According to him, Malaysia's higher education was on par with those of developed nations including the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. Malaysian top university, Universiti Malaya (UM) was in 151st position (up from 167) in the list of 400 top institutions in the world in the 2014 QS World Ranking of universities. UM was however ranked at 377 for 2014 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) and had improved from its position of 401 to 500 in 2012 and 2013. UM did not submit data for the annual Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2014-2015. Four other Malaysian universities submitted their data but none made it into the top 400 of the rankings. Should you be inquisitive, you may wish to read further to understand the background of this world class quality. Find the reports and news below:

http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v8/newsindex.php?id=1110674

http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/290163

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/02/27/idris-jusoh-told-to-stop-fooling-malaysians/

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/global-education-index-disappointed-um-ukm-snubbed-rankings-poll

I suspect Idris Jusoh's logic can be based on the fact that Malaysia is one of the country in the world. Whatever that it does is within this world, and hence anything that it does is a part of world class. While I do not subscribe to this line of argument, I have to give credit to his creativity.

Malaysia is a country with many Best in the World! As a tourist, you can only be proud to have visited this  country. As a Malaysian, you can only be proud of being a citizen of this country with many 'best in the world' and 'world class' statuses. It may not be long before Malaysia changes its tourism tagline from 'Malaysia, Truly Asia' to the 'Malaysia, the Best in the World'. Malaysia has achieved so much in the past 4 years. "Apa lagi lu mau?", perhaps one can enviously quote this colloquial expression recently made popular by a local newspaper, when you meet a Malaysian.

when No is deemed as Yes...

A qualified Australia-certified Chartered Accountant in all his wisdom once said,

"For banks to allow (the) extension (of a loan repayment by one month), this also shows that they have a certain confidence in the company (1Malaysia Development Berhad, 1MDB).”

I heard his statement of wisdom in disbelief, despite the fact that this person has repeated claimed to be Australia-certified Chartered Accountant. I consulted the views of a few senior bankers on the accuracy of this statement. The responses can be summarised as follows:

Banks are commercial entities. They lend money to earn fee or interest income from a client. Should they feel that a client is capable of repaying the loan, they would be happy to extend a loan for 1 year, 3 years or even 5 years. They would not be so silly to extend for just one month only. Extending a loan on a month by month basis is administratively cumbersome. It is only done for a problematic loan.

Their comments confirmed my logical thinking. If a person has confidence in you, he will be looking at a business or friendly relationship on a long term. One month cannot be considered long term. Hence, the purported words of wisdom must be misguided...

There are a few analogous scenarios that we can analyse further:

• Personal Relationship. Your girlfriend is asking for a breakup due to your misbehaviour. You want the relationship to stay, and you ask for more time to improve the situation. You want to be a better person for her. She turns around and says that she is only giving you one month to try. This can not be a case where she has the confidence that you will improve and make things better.
• Business Relationship. You have been buying goods from this particular supplier on 30 day credit terms. You are allowed 30 days after receipt of goods before you pay. You ask for a longer credit period due to the commercial relationship. You are aware that the supplier grant longer credit terms to other customers. To your surprise, your supplier refuse and remain the 30 days credit terms with you. This cannot be a situation where you can think that your supplier has confidence in your credit strength.
• Personal loan. If you need some money for an urgent and immediate need but you require a year to save enough money. You may try to borrow from your good friend to attend to this immediate need. You know that your good friend is wealthy and can well afford to spare the cash. However, your friend is only willing to lend you the money for one month. Although there may be other reasons to explain this, it cannot be interpreted as a sign of confidence that he has in you.

Logically, this qualified Australia-certified Chartered Accountant is erroneous to think that one month loan extension is a sign of confidence in 1MDB. Indeed, he should know that this is a vote of no-confidence or a clear sign of lacking in confidence on the part of the banks. It should not take a genius to know this. 

Yet, the words came out of a Deputy Minister and a qualified Australia-certified Chartered Accountant. This self-claimed Australia-certified Chartered Accountant is Chua Tee Yong, who is the Deputy Minister in Finance Ministry of Malaysia. He is one of the children of Chua Soi Lek, who was once a President of Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) in the governing coalition of Malaysia, Barisan Nasional. 

Please refer to the below for more details on 1MDB RM2 billion loan extensions:

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/deputy-minister-says-loan-extension-shows-banks-confidence-in-1mdb

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-01-27/1mdb-seeks-loan-extension-before-3-billion-ipo-of-energy-assets

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/bank-negara-powerless-to-act-on-1mdb-loan-extension-request-says-report

http://portalkini.net/?p=17643

Think Moderate, Vote Moderate

A group of 25 prominent personalities comprising mostly former top civil servants wrote an open letter dated 7 December 2014 calling on the Malaysian Prime Minister, Najib Razak to act against the racial and religious disturbances caused by the extremists, and asking moderate Malaysians to stand up and be counted against extremist, immoderate and intolerant voices as represented by Perkasa, Isma, etc.

We applaud the good itention of this Group of 25. Their press release is available here. The Group is led by the prominent and outspoken Dato’ Noor Farida Ariffin, the former Malaysian ambassador to the Netherlands.

There were 2 fundamental flaws with the good intention of this Group of 25. They wrote to a leader of United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and Barisan Nasional coalition (BN) to seek leadership against racial and religious extremism in the country.

• By writing to Umno/BN, they have submitted to the notion that only Umno/BN can provide solutions to the extremist problems in the country. This trust on Umno/BN to act against extremism may be ill-founded.
• There are several political parties which have been out-rightly speaking and acting against extremism. Umno/BN is not one of them.
• Umno/BN has been ruling Malaysia after taking it over at the end of British occupation in 1957. British, as the then colonial master, was practising 'divide and rule' tactic to control the local populations. Umno/BN has been responsible in prolonging this tactic to 'divide' the multi-ethnic Malaysians into race and religion, and then 'rule' them by acting as the only master that can safeguard the interest of each race or religion. You can read more here.
• This 'divide and rule' tactic can only work if the multi-ethnic Malaysians remain divided. It works best by way of extremism. The more deeply divided the Malaysians, the better this 'divide and rule' tactic works.
• It is against the existence of Umno/BN and its reign of power in Malaysia to weed out extremism. In order to thrive, it must not see Malaysians united in their own country.
• Hence, I believe the call by the Group of 25 for anyone in Umno/BN to exercise political will and leadership to promote moderation is futile.

• By calling on Najib to resolve the problems, they look up to Najib; believe Najib is fully in control of Umno/BN; and he is capable of making a change. The trust and belief are misplaced.
• Najib, as the head of Umno/BN, can not possibly act against the interest of Umno/BN to hang on to power.
• Since Najib took over as the prime minister in 2009, the extremism in Malaysia has proliferated like wild mushrooms and taken a more obvious, albeit inappropriate, central stage of Umno/BN politics.
• Perkasa's leader, Ibrahim Ali once admitted that he was only answerable to Najib.
• There is doubt if Najib is fully in control of Umno due to his 'cakap tak serupa bikin' (talk but act differently or failure to walk the talk) character which has resulted in many serious policy U-turns. He has also been nicknamed 'Bapa U-turn Malaysia'
• Najib's frequent policy U-turns spell out clearly that he is incapable of bringing about any major change. He changes his mind before any change can be implemented.

It can be concluded that neither Najib nor Umno/BN can be relied upon to instil racial or religious moderation in Malaysia. As a result, the good intention of this Group of 25 is likely to end up in vain. Expectedly, Najib has remained silence on the request of this Group up to the time of writing.

The Group of 25 might be more successful should they be calling on all Malaysians, especially the moderates, to stay away from extremism and abandon any political party or politician that does not have a moderate stance. They can justifiably call upon all Malaysians to vote against any political party or politician that allow or condone any form of extremism whether expressively or implicitly.

The majority of Malaysians should be awakened to heed this movement for moderation in the interest of the nation. Umno/BN's hold onto power by using extremist 'divide and rule' tactic can then be ended. Malaysia will be revitalized as a nation of true moderation, inclusiveness and progression. Perhaps, this is the most democratic and effective way of installing moderation in Malaysia. 'Think Moderate, Vote Moderate'.

You can learn how extremism has helped Umno/BN to stay in power here.