It is the Crusades all over again

It is the Crusades all over again

ABU MUSAB ZARKAWI's dozen top lieutenants have been killed in Iraq, say the US military, but the mayhem, including the killing, caused by his group people continue without any let up. Abu Musab Zarkawi, in case you are wondering who he is, is, again according to the US military, Al Qaeda's top man in Iraq. Probably he is. But he is probably more adept at getting lieutenants than the US military gives him credit for. Al-Qaeda had chosen him for just that capability, among others, for it is fighting a battle in Iraq in which public relations, particularly Western, is not on its side. The Al-Qaeda would not have landed in Iraq had Saddam Hussein in power. He was very firm about not letting them in, and he did not allow either the Shias or religious groups in power. And you could walk around after midnight in Baghdad during his reign. The US invaded Iraq to throw him out. Today, he is in jail and would probably be hanged, but he is fighting the Arab cause, and he welcomes anyone, including Al Qaeda, on his side. And made sure civil war will break out once they withdraw, as they have to do, not for exigencies of the situation in Iraq, but that the American people do not want the troops there. Now it is a civil and religious war, with Saddam, whom the Arab countries hated in office but support him how, and the US is caught in a cleft stick. The US has turned Iraq from a well run Arab city to a country fit for civil war, but not before bombing the place with nuclear weapons and with conventional weapons so that like the Japanese in Nagasaki and Hiroshima during World War II, Iraqis have to live with the after effects of that. US soldiers alreadty face the after-effects of handling the depleted uraniam bullets, and the US army has plans to quarantine those who handle depleted uranium bullets. The US believes that the people of Iraq will be grateful to them for the invasion of their country. They were talking of flowers thrown at them for overthrowing Saddam Hussein. They made a war, and made a mess of it. And they would have to pay for it. It is Vietnam all over again, though the precise position of the Vietnamese and the Iraqis are different, and the battles are different now and 40 years ago.

The US says, in effect, that it alone has the right to kill Iraqis – and 40 years ago, Vietnamese. It was nationalism that defeated them in Vietnam; the war was lost when its chief enemy, Ho Chi Minh, died mid-way through it. As far as the Vietnamese were concerned, the US were fighting a dead man, and could never win.

The reaction is different among the US and its foreign troops, on the one hand, and the Vietcong, Vietnam, North Vietnamese and South Vietnamese, on other. Similarly, in Iraq. The information is in the hands of the US, but the war, as in Vietnam, is in the hands of the "enemy". It was nationalism that drove the Vietnam war; it is nationalism and religion that drives the Iraq war. Islam is on the defensive because the West has targetted it as the enemy. Those living in Muslim countries find they are targetted by immigration officers in the West. In Malaysia, the a/l and a/p is removed from Indians in Malaysia largely because computerisation does not allow the back slash in computer searches, and the al that comes out is often viewed by immigration officers as belonging to Arabs. I have been told by immigration officers that al Gopal Pillai is a strange Arab name. It is, for it belongs to an Indian. So I will get my passport with an additional name. But it does not get over the fact that Islam and Muslim countries are targetted. The loss is the West's. as well as the Muslim countries. Schools are closing down in the United States because its embassies are reluctant to give visas to Muslims, and more important, Muslims do not want to go through the hassle of getting a visa. At the personal level, it works both ways. But as Tun Mahathir has put it succinctly elsewhere the West has taken Islam for an enemy.

The West thinks it can ask Muslim nations, those who support it, to treat Muslims as they have often been treated by these governments. But they forget that these Western nations, like those of old, adopted Islamic methods of punishment. The prisoners at Guantanamo prison and the British ulltra-legal methods are contrary to their legal system, and are adapted from the Islamic brethren. In the earlier crusades, from Pope Urban II's in 1089, the Christians learnt from the Moslems, as they have in the latest Crusade, as President Bush put it. Though what the Western nations have taken to heart is what they reject. It is Islam's great fault, but now it is the Christian nations' fault as well. No one talks of it, but it is a fact that the Christian nations of the West have taken to heart all the things they criticised in the past. Is the West telling us that education teaches us to be cruel to our fellow men? On the other hand, Muslim nations are blamed for what they do at the West's behalf. I happen to know the background, most of which is still confidential, of Malaysia and Indonesia's role in East Timor. It was egged on by the United States, Great Britain and Australia, among others, and the two nations did a creditable job. But the Western nations turned against Malaysia and Indonesia after East Timor had become independent, and it was these countries that were blamed, and discredited. Even by Great Britain, the United States and Australia. We now know why. It was to enable an Australian firm to grab the oil revenues between East Timor and Austria. It was important at that time of Portugal discarding its last two enclaves, Macao and East Timor, of those in Macao, and therefore the Chinese, coming freely to East Timor and going freely into Indonesia. It was the time of the clash between capitalism and communism, and countries were either with the West or with the others. Malaysia and Indonesia acted on the side of the West, and were blamed for being colonialists after the threat was over.

What we see in Iraq is Vietnam redux. What was once a clash between capitalism and communism is today between Christianity and Islam. But the old thinking of the Cold War is superimposed on it. Generals fight the wars tomorrow on what they have learnt yesterday. They do not have think afresh. But his opponents fight the war in Iraq with nationalism and religion, powerful rallying points, and the fact that the country has been invaded, and they are sitting pretty. Since this is also the information war, we do not hear much of what the opposition does. But, as the Vietnamese showed, it does not matter. This time, in Iraq, the street view is broadcast by Al Jazeera, which became even closer to the Arab street by supporting one of its reporters who has gone to jail in Madrid for interviewing Osama bin Laden. We are now told that all journalists the West has in Iraq do not report as they see fit, but only report what the West want it to report. It is us versus them all over again. And it is them that will wil the war in Iraq. That is why Abu Musab's top lieutenants being killed, as the US generals say, has no effect on the war in Iraq.

M.G.G.Pillai
pillai@streamyx.com

[Malaysia] Of morals and public morality

Of morals and public morality

Salbiah Ahmad

Oct 7, 2005 Malaysiakini

In his references to sodomy at the Sept 9 conference on Human Rights, former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad appears to suggest that the views of the majority must prevail in the enforcement of public morality. He was reported as saying that since the ‘society here’ was against sodomy, he had acted accordingly in sacking his ex-deputy Anwar Ibrahim.

There is not a single legal system today that excludes morals. Morals may be rules or set of values, beliefs or tenets which govern a person’s or group’s behaviour. These are concerned with what is right and wrong. There are situations where law and morality (religion and ethics) intersect on euthanasia, genetic engineering, abortion, corruption and more.

Our sodomy law is under the Penal Code, a ‘secular’ law derived from British India. It may have its roots in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Sodomy is also classified as a hadd offence in the unenforced state hudud laws of Kelantan and Terengganu. States which do not have hudud laws classify sodomy as a ta’azir offence in its state Islamic legislation. Sodomy is perceived to be about morals. A law outlawing sodomy is a public morality law. Public morality is the moral standards we maintain for everyone, not just the ones we insist on in our private lives.

Public morality depends on a consensus view of right and wrong. Was Mahathir right to assume that there is a consensus of sodomy as a public morality offence by his reference to ‘society’? We can point out that the values of religious belief will not and should not be accepted as part of public morality unless they are shared by the pluralistic community at large, by consensus.

We might note that the Penal Code is a pre-Merdeka law. This law was just shoved in our faces upon independence. The provisions on anal intercourse between two persons of the same sex laid dormant until this century.

Participation

Martin Luther King Jr, was known to have said that, it is axiomatic to justice that laws in a democratic society must permit some form of participation by those subject to obeying them. However, in reality, the less powerful political and social groups in any case, do not or they have fewer opportunities to influence policy and lawmaking. This latter point was not a concern to Mahathir as he feels that the rule of the majority, which he assumes to be the case, must prevail.

We are familiar, more so here in Muslim majority Malaysia that religion has arguably a valid place in political discourse, as an extension of the freedom of religion and beliefs. It is not too presumptuous to think that Malaysians generally believe in the place of religion in political discourse. In other words religion is not separate from politics.

There are differences of opinion on the notion if religion should hold sway in policy-making and in lawmaking. In other words, many insist on the separation of religion and state.

I have stated elsewhere that the notion of secularism may not necessarily be a strict separation of religion and state, but a notion of state neutrality in matters of religion, in which case, state intervention is then subject to negotiation according to context.

Where laws are premised on ‘inaccessible’ religious values of one faith or belief system, in a multicultural society, it appears unfair that discussion and debate are not available to non-believers in the way that laws based on ‘secular’ rationales can.

Whatever may be the outcome of the recent Mahathir outburst against his ex-deputy, the incident has allowed an opportunity for this writer to share some of that ‘inaccessible’ discussion at least from the writings by Muslim scholars.

Islam encourages its adherents to enjoin good and forbid evil. It enjoins humankind to do justice. The Quran does not define the constituent elements of justice but emphasises the ability to achieve justice as a unique human charge and necessity. The Quran requires a commitment to a moral imperative that is vague, but is recognizable through intuition, reason or human experience (el Fadl).

Justice

Human diversity and difference is a central key in the discovery of justice. The Quranic statement that people are created different from one another and made into nations and tribes so that they will come to know one another, indicates the need for social cooperation and mutual assistance in order to achieve justice. This is not far from what we may today understand as consensus or participation.

The Quranic celebration and sanctification of human diversity in the pursuit of justice can be developed into an ethic that represents dissent and honors the rights of human beings to be different, including the right to adhere to different religious or non-religious convictions (el Fadl).

The ruler is entrusted to serve the core value of justice. The government is restrained from derailing the quest. If the government fails to discharge the obligations of its covenant, then it loses its legitimate claim to power. The mechanical enforcement of legal rules, even if such rules are the product of interpretation of divine texts is not sufficient for the achievement of justice. Human subjectivities are accommodated to the extent that they contribute to the fulfillment of justice. Thus every possessor of a right (haqq) is granted his or her right.

The challenge to a vicegerency is first to recognize that a right exists, then to understand who is the possessor of such a right, and, ultimately, to allow the possessor of a right to enjoy the prescribed right.

Right to privacy

We may not realise it, but the so-called zina offences may in its evidentiary requirements actually prescribe for a right to privacy. At least two categories are implicated in zina: (1) consensual intercourse between a man and a woman who (a) are not married to each other and (b) are or have been lawfully married to a third person where the marriage was consummated (‘adultery’) and (2) consensual sexual intercourse between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman (‘fornication’). There is a moral prohibition, then a criminal prosecution in the text (Q, 17:32; 24:2).

The majority of Sunni jurists regard heterosexual anal intercourse between a non-marital couple as zina. Such an activity within marriage although sinful is not a crime of zina.

Homosexual sodomy is zina according to the Shafii, Hanbali and Maliki schools (liable to hadd punishment). The Hanafi school consider homosexual sodomy a crime of ta’azir, or discretionary crime.

Zina is proven by eyewitness testimony of four persons or confession of the accused. The quadruple testimony is strict. It requires an actual observance of sexual penetration. Doubt invalidates the application of hudud. It is thus virtually impossible to meet this evidentiary requirement unless two individuals were having sex completely uncovered in a public place. Scholars have argued that the crime of zina is one of public indecency rather than private sexual activity.

The criminalisation of two nude individuals engaging in sexual conduct serves to protect “public health, order and (public) morality” rather than private sexual activity. Thus the position is the same in Islam as in several legal systems based on civil (’secular’) law.

A private activity, sexual (zina) or otherwise (e.g. drinking alcohol), which may be an offence of public indecency, remains a private activity if committed in private and protected from state intrusion and prosecution. This position is supported by the text of the faith and the practice of early Muslim rulers.

Against spying

A verse protects a private dwelling and the inhabitants (owners and guests) against entry without consent (Q, 24:27-28). A hadith reflects this proprietary privacy by safeguarding homes, correspondence and conversations from unlawful intrusion. There is also an injunction against spying (Q, 49:12).

It was reported that Caliph Umar al-Khattab and a companion chanced upon a private gathering, where behind locked doors, alcohol was being consumed. Realising that they had unlawfully spied upon the individuals in the privacy of their home, they disregarded the party and left.

The argument for privacy also finds support in the prohibition of propagation of scandal and defamation of a person’s character especially public discussion of another’s sexual indiscretions (Q, 24:19). Muslims might be cautioned that the failure to prove an accusation of zina might visit the accuser and witnesses with severe penalties and that they may be disqualified as competent witnesses thereafter.

We may well argue that drinking alcohol like corruption is immoral. Muslims have references in Quran, hadith and examples of the Prophet’s companions in relation to zina and drinking alcohol. There is arguably a line drawn between what we think is moral or immoral and the rights to privacy.

The public, you and I, should decide if something is better left to private discretion than public policy. Certainly, many of us I would think would not render corruption similar to sexual indiscretions or the drinking of alcohol. What constitutes public morality is still debatable and contested. If a so-called immoral act is not a private activity that is protected by a right to privacy, we still have to get over the hurdle if it is ‘immoral enough’ to have offended our moral sensitivities.

We can all believe in a moral wrong. But much of the problem is in the nature of application of those teachings-how we translate them into action, the specific laws we propose, the exact legal sanctions we seek. What is true is there may be no one clear, absolute path that as a matter of doctrine, we must take.

References:

Khaled Abou el-Fadl (2003), Islam and the Challenge of Democratic Commitment. Fordham International Law Journal. vol 27. no. 1. 4-71.

Seema Saifee (2003), Privacy in Islamic Law. Fordham International Law Journal. vol 27. no. 1. 370-453.

SALBIAH AHMAD is a lawyer and an independent researcher. MALAYA! as the name for this column was inspired by the meaning of 'Malaya' in Tagalog which means freedom. The events at the end of 1998 in KL offer a new inspiration. MALAYA! takes o­n the process of reclaiming the many facets of independence.

[Malaysia] Malaysia Tightens Reins on Lenders

Malaysia Tightens Reins on Lenders
Financial Firms Must Get More Senior Appointments Endorsed by Central Bank

By LESLIE LOPEZ
ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL
October 11, 2005

KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia's central bank has expanded its already wide-ranging powers over financial institutions here with new rulesthat require banks to seek its endorsement for key management appointments -- a move some bankers say could hinder the country's effort to become a Southeast Asian financial center.

In unpublicized guidelines issued last month to local and foreign-owned banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions, Bank Negara, as the Malaysian central bank is known,s aid it must vet all senior management appointments for the posts of deputy chief executive officer and chief financial officer.

In the guidelines, the central bank said that because the two positions or other jobs with "equivalent designations" carried "significant powers," it was "of crucial importance for a licensed financial institution to appoint a qualified person to hold the position."

Bank Negara already has the final say over the appointments of board members and chief executives at Malaysia-based financial institutions. It said the new rules were part of an overall strategy to improve corporate governance standards.

Bank Negara spokeswoman Lee Poh Fong, in an email replying to questions about the new guidelines, said the central bank "only assists in the vetting process" of proposed management candidates, because financial institutions "may not have access to certain information with respect to the individuals" nominated for key posts. She said the procedure is "not an approval requirement but only to facilitate the process."

Still, several domestic and foreign bankers said the new guidelines are likely to harden the perception of Malaysia among investors as one of Southeast Asia's more heavily regulated banking environments. "It's hard to reconcile Malaysia's stated policy of pushing for greater deregulation when the central bank appears to be micromanaging financial institutions," said the CEO of a Malaysian commercial bank.

Bank Negara already has sweeping powers over domestic financial institutions and foreign banks operating in the country, which include HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and Citibank. Apart from rules governing senior management appointments, financial institutions must obtain Bank Negara's approval before making public their audited annual financial statements.

Merger-and-acquisition activities of financial institutions are also tightly controlled by Bank Negara. Rules stipulate that any financiali nstitution intending to acquire or merge with another financial concern obtain the central bank's permission before it can initiate merger negotiations or mount a takeover bid.

But it's the central bank's power over management appointments that has drawn the most flak from bankers in recent months. "Approvals for CEO and board appointments already take so long," said a senior executive at a foreign recruitment firm that helps Malaysian banks head-hunt for managers. "Banks face the risk of turning away good talent because few people will want to go through extensive scrutiny by Bank Negara."

Questions over the central bank's prerogative to intervene in banks' management surfaced recently when Bank Negara used its power overappointments of bank directors to effect a change in executive authority at RHB Bank Bhd., Malaysia's fourth-largest lender in terms of assets.

RHB Bank has been the center of a struggle for control that pits Malaysia's national pension fund, the Employees Provident Fund, or EPF, against the bank's single largest shareholder, Utama Banking Group Bhd. In a series of decisions in the past two months, the central bank spurned the applications of Utama's nominees for positions on the boards of RHB Bank and its immediate holding company, RHB Capital Bhd., while approving the installation of a senior EPF candidate as a director of the two concerns.

Bank Negara's decisions effectively gave EPF -- RHB Bank's second-largest shareholder and historically a passive investor with little experience running businesses -- executive command at the banking group. Bank Negara has declined to discuss its rulings on management appointments at RHB Bank.

Leslie Lopez at leslie.lopez@wsj.com

[Malaysia] The moral fibre has gone out of Malaysian politics

PAK LAH HAS NOT RESHUFFLED his cabinet since he took office in 2004. He had said the cabinet ministers are appointed by the King and loss of positions, or rejection, by the party is irrelevant and is no cause to resign from his cabinet. He leaves it to the good sense of ministers to resign. He has extended this to deputy ministers, and applied this rules to parties other than UMNO in the National Front. It is a sign there is one rule for the rulers and one for the ruled. But there is another reason. His cabinet is composed of warlords, in UMNO or other members of the National Front. Two warlords have refused to resign. The UMNO wanita leader, Datin Seri Rafidah Aziz, has refused to resign after her role in issuing APs became a national scandal. Pak Lah dared not ask her to resign, for fear that Datin Seri Rafidah would point out the APs given to his relatives and supporters. She gave APs to Pak Lah's relatives and supporters to secure her position in the Pak Lah cabinet. Pak Lah had to shut up, and the cabinet had ordered her to answer the APs matter in parliament. Newspapers, which once were against her now eat out of her hand. If she were sacked, she could go into the opposition in UMNO against Pak Lah. This is the reason why he has not reshuffled his cabinet. The warlords may go into the opposition to him. Dato' Isa Samad, the federal territories minister, is a warlord from Negri Sembilan. He was ousted from Negri Sembilan at the behest of Pak Lah's son-in-law, and UMNO obliged. But it is not that easy. Now the UMNO Supreme Council, headed by Pak Lah, has confirmend it. Dato' Isa comes from Linggi, where Adat Temenggong rules. By removing Dato' Isa from the cabinet, Pak Lah will have removed the Adat Temenggong and that could be disasterous in the 2007 UMNO presidential elections. Pak Lah does not have any moral scruples in this matter, and that is why his opponents are in strong position in UMNO.

We see this lack of moral scruples everywhere. Putra Jaya is built to ensure the vanity of one man, Tun Mahathir Mohamed, The major government departments are now situated in Putra Jaya, and to get there costs money which the people going there often do not have. The civil servants and politicians in UMNO have got used to Putra Jaya, but not the people in whose name they govern. People who used to go the government departments in Kuala Lumpur often now have to go to Putra Jaya, costing money just to get there. A taxi driver told me he charged RM30 for the trip to Putra Jaya. The government departments are far apart and it is almost impossible to walk. In the past, it would be a loss of a day's wages; today it is that plus about RM100 to deal with a government department. The emphasis on money, the corruption in the civil service, police, almost every government servant is what has characterised it. Today laws are passed so that corruption can flourish. The petrol price would be raised any day. Explanations are given how the government is losing revenue by raising prices. But the impact of it is the people will pay higher petrol prices. No one in government is serious about resolving the problem of the people, for that would cut into what they collect for themselves. It is puasa month now, and you saw the traffic police unusually active. You see them everywhere, and they collect from you where in the past they collected later. The official reason that would be given to this is that all this is not true. But the government is run for those in government, and they have to protect themselves, do they not?

The Tengku made sure that Singapore was expelled from Malaysia, because the Tengku had moral scruples, personally and for his government, while Mr Lee, in his 40s then, did not understand the imperatives that drove the Tengku. And he lost out. People on his side wanted Singapore to be independent, and he, in his arrogance, did not know it, and sent them out to negotiate with Malaysia. Now the only war Singapore can be with Malaysia is as an appendange to Johore. What will bring Singapore down on its knees will be water. Singapore spins out to the world that it gives Johore treated water. But the water it treats is taken from Johore, and the state had asked that it should get a share of the water it sold to commercial enterprises. Singapore has refused. But the water agreement is due to be negotiated in 2061. In the meanwhile, Singapore had given publicity to seawater and sewage water made into potable drinking water to show its independence from Johore. Malaysia and Singapore today has lost its moral scruples, and the Tengku is now blamed by UMNO for not behaving them what they would approve of. In the short term, Singapore would win. Even the Malay in Singapore is now in praise of its government vis-a-vis Malaysia. They look upon Malaysia only as a place for retirement. But the youngman of today will be an old man in 2061. And he would feel more comfortable in Malaysia.

The moral imperatives have disappeared from today's politics. Not only in Malaysia but elsewhere around the world. The computerisation, the corruption and the money had made that disappear. A lawyer from Ipoh looked at the tall buildings in Kuala Lumpur last week and said they were built of stones and cement. It is money that made all those involved in it work for. And it would not last. The buildings have been built to collapse, since all those involved in getting paper to cement is working for money, and cut corners every time they cam. It is clear that the collapse of the building in Islamabad involved corruption, at every level. A building that should have been built earth-quake-proof was built so that every one involved in its execution – the civil servant, the builder, the technical people, the builder – was more interested in the money they would take home than in making sure that an earth-quake-proof buiding is built. It is a shift from my father's generation, when the moral imperatives were strong, and buildings were still built by professionals who believed in doing their work property, and money was only a secondary pre- occupation.

So, like President Bush on Iraq, UMNO has changed its ways. It has followed the general tenor of its members, and places great tenor on money and corruption. "You go into UMNO to make money, and to PAS to enter politics" is a common refrain of young Malays. UMNO defends itself by saying that PAS be like them when in power. Perhaps they would. But they are not now. They still have the moral fibre in them. They may lose it once in power, but that is a long time ahead. They have taken the moral road, on Islam and other issues, and that is why the people support them. PAS has been getting more of the Malay vote in successive elections. And it would succeed. Sooner, if UMNO continues without any moral fibre in them. But can UMNO have moral fibre when its president conducts his affairs without any sign of it. There are people in UMNO who object to what they see in their party, but they are holding their breath. Can they change matters in UMNO in the present climate. I don't believe they can. But UMNO members of this persuasion believes the party would not last 15 years. The 2020 that Tun Mahathir talked about, and is the national slogan, could be UMNO's death knell!

That would not depend on Dato' Seri Anwar Ibrahim. He remains Malaysia's great crowd puller. He has threatened to sue Tun Mahathir for continuing to insist after the courts had decided otherwise that the Dato' Seri is a homosexual. Tun Mahathir sees his edifice, in politics and in building, collapsing within years of his leaving office. Pak Lah would like to see Dato' Seri Anwar in UMNO, but the latter would not join UMNO unless he gets a free pardon, for which he would not apply. In any case, his foray into politics ends in 2008. He has said he would not join UMNO, but be head of an opposition coalition. But many politicians in opposition think he would not miss a chance to be in UMNO. It is still politics at the top. The decisions are made without reference to the people, who will not be bothered with political chances so long as they have 24-hour television to while away their time. It is a cynical move by the politicians to keep the people quiet, and they would be aroused to anger only if their favourite television shows are missing from the screen. But there are people who do no like to be chained to their television sets, like idiots, and question the politicians about their stewardship. In Malaysia, the youth will take the initiative. So far, they keep quiet but are not quiescent. They have retained the moral fibre their parents lost. Pak Lah represents the parents. And his governance would soon be forgotten, as would UMNO.

M.G.G. Pillai

pillai@streamyx.com

[Malaysia] Anything but politics: Anwar Ibrahim

Anything but politics: Anwar Ibrahim

Andrew Ong, Malaysiakini

Oct 6, 2005

Former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim was chirpy as usual when met by Rentakini at his home in Kuala Lumpur recently. He was briefly in Malaysia for a nationwide whirl-wind tour while taking a break from his teaching duties as visiting professor in Georgetown University, Washington DC.

Anwar requested that he not be photographed - he had a rather ‘bad haircut’ while in Washington, he quipped. As he was rushing off for another engagement, he gave Rentakini 10 minutes - enough for us to ask him these ground-breaking questions.

What’s the last movie you watched?

Monster-in-law starring Jane Fonda. Then there was Kingdom of Heaven. It was quite good and I enjoyed it. For a Hollywood production, it gave a very balanced story of the crusades. I watched both these movies on a plane.

You’re very well travelled. Where do you want to visit again and why?

Cherok Tok Kun. It’s my village. There is nothing like it.

For this year, you have been lecturing in universities abroad. What exactly do you teach?

I’m in the foreign policy school (Georgetown University), (I lecture) mostly on Muslim- Christian understanding, modernity and Southeast Asia and also on the Asian financial crisis and macro-economic management.

How do you compare your students with local university students?

It’s a good school. Students come very well-prepared. I have two of them who have read the Asian Renaissance (a book authored by Anwar). Compared to our local universities, local students cannot read books not recommended by the vice-chancellor. (grins).

Ever owned a motorcycle?

Honda cub 50. It was very slow moving. I remember once riding the bike from Kuala Lumpur to Penang. That was when I was a student, before highways were built. It took me eight hours. The bike was bought by my father.

Childhood ambitions?

Marry a Hollywood movie star, I guess.

Who?

Natalie Wood.

Favourite hangout during student days

We used to go to the stalls in Section 16 near the roundabout. Then there is the Gazebo in Petaling Jaya. We didn’t really lepak much back then. We were demonstrating all the time. (laughs).
[At this point, Anwar signals that he has to go]

Just a few more questions. Number of kids?

Six

Youngest?

Twelve, a girl.

Last gift you gave her?

A kiss

Where to go for family dinners?

Anywhere convenient, cheap and nearby.

Recommended book for malaysiakini readers?

The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century by Thomas Friedman.

Three CDs in your car?

1. Elvis Presley - Love me tender
2. Frank Sinatra - Strangers in the night
3. P Ramlee CDs

Do your kids like Mawi?

They seem to follow the programme and they seem to talk about it. I learn a lot from them about him.

{Malaysia] MGG Pillai on Bali Bombing

THE EMAILS AND TELEPHONE CALLS I received after I wrote the piece yesterday led me thinking about the Bali bombings three years ago. I did not have the guts to write about it then. It remains a theory, as what I wrote yesterday is, but they remain plausible theories. It will be years before they are proved right, by someone looking at the causes of the Bali bombings. Historians, and journalists, looking for what happened miss the causes, often lie. They look at the dominant event, and interview people of their recollection of it, and miss the larger story, which is why it took place. If you read Patrick Keith's book, Ousted, the story of an insider's account of why Singapore was ousted from Malaysia in 1965, you get the impression that it was wholly Tunku's fault and Lee Kuan Yew was blameless. Much like the Iraq war, where the Americans are blameless and insurgents are guilty of invading their own land. But the two men represented two different points of view. Singapore would have remained in Malaysia had Mr Lee Kuan Yew behaved then as he behaves now. Patrick Keith, who left Malaysia for Australia forty ears ago, wrote the book, which is pubiished in Singapore and (not yet) released in Malaysia – the Special Branch has not cleared it for distribution) as a senior government official involved in the drama. But Singapore would have left Malaysia in 1965, because Mr Lee did not understand the Tengku, and it was the Tengku who held the cards. And he put in charge of the negotiations those who wanted Singapore to be out of Malaysia. All this remains a theory, although books are coming out by historians and journalists who suggest the Tengku's raison d'ete was correct and Mr Lee's wrong.

There is an Australian researcher in town looking at the early foundantion of ASEAN, and speaking to the people involved in it, and I have accompanied her on many occasions, the story she got was not what the printed records of historians and researchers reveal. So, which are theories, and which facts? Or do participants lose their objectivity 40 years after the event, and it is the historian and the book writer of the period who has the facts correct? There is a fetish about "correctness" of facts, but how historians and journalists get their facts correct is by going to who is in authority and take their word for it. They do not delve into events beyond what they cannot see. Four days after the Bali bombings last week, it is a replay of events three years ago at the Bali bombings, but the reporting is the same. There is no attempt at anaysis, except to blame Al Qaeda and its fraternal organisations. Indonesia is not allowed to conduct its own inquiries, Australia, like the Bali bombings in 2002, have offered to 'help' Indonesia to solve the 'crime". But is Australia coming in to help or to rub out its own involvement? We do not know if Australia is involved, but reporters were quick to blame Al Qaeda and its fraternal organisations. And they would not blame Al Qaeda and others if the Western embassies do not say so. (I have worked for Reuters, and I could not write a story until a Western embassy 'confirmed' it.) It has to do with the war in Iraq and the war on terror. It is not going well, as any invasion would not, but it is going worse than in Vietnam. Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim country, and it was important to the 'West' it is on board. So pressure is put on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyone and his governent, and the result is conflict between the Indonesian people and its government, just as there is in Pakistan.

But making Islam an enemy is a mistake. Islam as we know it is as told us by Western or Western-educated scholars or politicians. But this will be accepted by the Western educated, and those who think that the West is always right. The great unwashed, or the hoi polloi, does not accept it. They go on their lives by referring to the Koran and Islam as they have been told or taught in the mosques or madrasahs. As we saw in Vietnam, the people believed in Ho Chi Minh and those who supported the West believed in money, and villas in the West. It was an uneven fight. Those who supported the West had a bolt hole they could escape into if their prescriptions failed, and the lnationalist, like the Vietnamese people, had to stay and fight. In Iraq, it is different than in Vietnam: the senior ministers in the US-led government are all Iraqis in name, but hold Western, mostly American or British, citizenship. In Austraiia, you cannot be elected to parliament if you hold dual citizenship, but in Iraq you are welcomed if you do!. But the war in Iraq is not going well. Even its erstwhile supporters now turn against it. Western journalists are now writing whether there is an end to the Iraqi tunnel.

The war in Iraq is an information battle. The collapse of the two towers in Iraq is blamed on the Moslems, but, as we learn, how why were the Jews and others moving away from the twin towers a week before the attack? They knew something the rest of the world did not. In Britain, an Algerian pilot is arrested while he is resting from a regular flight because his name mistakenly appears in the American records on the 9/11 disaster. But it is the West that controls the information. So it thinks. But the people around the world, Muslims and others, see a West cracking up, plugging information hole after another, to see that its press releases get pride of place around the world. But education is a great leveller, and the great unwashed are mostly educated, though not in Western universities, and certainly not in the Western tradition, and they think for themselves. The Al Jazeera reporter in Spain is jailed for interviewing Osama bin Laden. It puts out a dangerous signal for Western media reporters, especially if they are caught by the insurgents. It is a de facto statement that the Western reporters are bedded with the Western governments all over the world. I have always had a suspecion this is true, but the Western governments, by its action, confirms it.

The West is angry with Burma and North Korea, for they do not follow the Western dictates of what is good for them. But it is these countries that prepares itself for the years ahead. They do not fit in with the world as the West sees it, but it is preparing itself for the day after the West is defeated. Somewhat like Malaysia on the defensive when Singapore's progress is discussed vis a vis its northern neighbur. But come 2061 or thereabouts, Singapore would form part of not Malaysia but of Johore. The Malay does not pluck the durian but wait for it to fall. I had thought, and one of the reasons for which I was banned from Singapore, that Singapore would take Johore. Not now. The Singaporean belief that Malaysia would not attack the island because of US troops in the island is misplaced. Singapore thinks in months, Malaysia in centuries. This would be a theory, as of my belief in Vietnam in 1966 that North Vietnam would win. It was a theory then but not now!

So let us go back to the Bali bombing three years ago. It had the desired effect because a large number of Westerners were killed. But could the Isamicists have done it? This is one of the emails I received from London: "Take the last Bali bombing, the big one that killed 300 people. If you ask how a bearded computer technician, a scooter mechanic and a couple of other jokers could have put together explosion material killing hundreds, destroying dozens of buildings, hundreds of cars, and leaving a sizable crater in theground, the answer cannot but run counter to the Al-Qaida-islamist line of attack taken by western and ultimately the Indonesian governemnts. ... A blast of that magnitude would involve professionals, and military explosives such as C4, which only the establishment miltary (including the Indonesian) have stockpiles of. Bearded civilians touting the Koran do not normally have free access to such things. ... Maybe it wasn't C4, but something much worse...? But that could only have been developped in the richcountries, not in poor ones like Indonesia, let alone in the homes and hovels of local islamists." But this is, as I said, an information war. The West must be seen to be winning. So it is all right for the United States to ask countries to join the 'war on terror' in Iraq, but not all right for foreigners to fight on the side of insurgency in Iraq. But there are alternate forms of information, and Al Jazeera provides that for the people. The Al Jazeera statement that its reporter, sentenced for interviewing Osama, remains on its payroll for the duration of his sentence, is not well known, but it shows that the Western governments have a long information war ahead of them in which they are the loser. If Osama bin Laden and his fraternal cousins have the wherewithal to bomb as governments do in distant lands, then the West is really in trouble.

M.G.G. Pillai

pillai@streamyx,com

[Indonesia] Kenaikan Harga Produk Petroleum

Kenaikan Harga Produk Petroleum di Indonesia

Harga gasoline, diesel dan kerosene di Indonesia yang selama ini disubsidi mulai dinaikkan secara mendadak (di antara 87.5% dan 186%) pada 1 Oktober 2005, setelah Parlimen Indonesia meluluskan rang undang-undang pada 27 September 2005 melupuskan pemberian subsidi petroleum. [Note: Apart from the fuel prices, the government also issued five incentive packages, which include discounts for certain products, trade reform regulations, public transportation reform, an increase in the minimum price of unhusked rice paid to farmers and a direct subsidy for the poor.]

Rakyat Indonesia mengadakan tunjuk perasaan di bandar-bandar utama di jawa, Lombok dan Sulawesi. Bagaimanapun gerakan bantahan yang dipelopori oleh tokoh-tokoh seperti Gus Dur, Megawati, Wiranto dan Try Sutrisno gagal mempengaruhi rakyat untuk bertindak "menggoyang" Kerajaan Indonesia.

Harga gasoline (premium) dinaikkan sebanyak 87.5% kepada Rp 4,500 seliter (RM 1.80) berbanding harga lama Rp 2,400 seliter (RM 1 = Rp 2,500). [Note: premium gasoline is mostly used by the 26,000 city taxis. Fuel cost accounts for 20% of total cost of transportation operators including taxis.]

Harga diesel dinaikkan sebanyak 105% kepada Rp 4,300 seliter (RM 1.72) berbanding Rp 2,100 seliter sebelum ini.

Harga kerosene dinaikkan sebanyak 186% daripada Rp 700 seliter kepada Rp 2,000 seliter (RM 0.80). [Note: kerosene is mainly used by low-income groups.]

Seiring dengan pelupusan tersebut, Kerajaan Indonesia mengagihkan sumbangan wang ("baucer minyak" atau "subsidi langsung tunai" (SLT)) sebanyak Rp 100,000 (RM 36) sebulan kepada setiap keluarga (household) (menerusi kupon) untuk menangani impak kenaikan harga ini terhadap golongan fakir miskin yang berpendapatan di bawah RM 70 sebulan bagi tempoh yang belum ditetapkan. Pemberian "pampasan" yang diambil dari pengurangan subsidi atas kenaikan harga minyak ini mulai diberikan walaupun banyak pihak bimbang penyaluran sumbangan itu akan dicemari dengan salah laku rasuah dan nepotisme. Menurut Menteri Koordinasi Ekonomi, Aburizal Bakrie (Republika, 3 Oktober 2005), pelanjutan skim SLT ini akan bergantung kepada ketelusan pelaksanaannya. Penyaluran sumbangan ini dilakukan menerusi pejabat-pejabat pos (yang dirasakan kurang kerenah birokrasi), bukannya menerusi majlis-majlis kerajaan tempatan (municipal councils). [Note: Each of the estimated 15.6 million low-income households will receive Rp 1.2 million over the next 12 months. The social services ministry will transfer the cash to government-appointed PT Pos Indonesia and Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) branches to be distributed to people living on or below the poverty line with an individual monthly income of Rp 175,000 at the most.]

Menurut Presiden Indonesia, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono: "Inilah pilihan yang pahit dan tidak popular bagi seorang pengambil keputusan. Tapi saya harus menyelamatkan masa depan ekonomi nasional. Ini pilihan yang tidak mudah." ["It is not an easy choice. I understand that this is a bitter pill but I have to do it to save the country's economy and the country's future," President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said earlier on Friday while inaugurating a new Astra Honda Motor manufacturing plant in Bekasi.]["I am very sad that the government has been denounced for not doing enough for the poor in relation to the fuel price hike. Amid the silence of midnight, I always pray for our country, hoping that we will be given a way to pull out of this economic crisis and have a brighter future," Susilo said during a national best poultry exhibition in Pasuruan.][A weekly Cabinet meeting that he was supposed to lead on his return from East Java was canceled as hundreds of protesters occupied the entrance area of the State Palace in Jakarta.]["Indeed for a man like me who hails from a poor family, but now has to think hard to find ways to lead the country to prosperity, the criticism and (strong) comments have really made me sad," Susilo revealed. The President called on the nation not to give up hope, despite the ongoing crisis. "Let's work and develop the country together, rather than lash out at each other."].

Kesan yang tidak dapat dielakkan ialah jumlah rakyat miskin dan pengangguran akan bertambah. Ketika ini jumlah rakyat miskin dianggar melebihi 62 juta orang manakala pengangguran melebihi 40 juta orang. Kerajaan Indonesia akan mengadakan "pasar rakyat" bagi menjual barang-barang keperluan asas dengan harga murah.

[Impact on taxi drivers]: "With an average daily income ranging from Rp 300,000 to Rp 400,000, most taxi drivers have to pay the company Rp 200,000 for the use of the cab. They usually take home Rp 50,000 after fuel and meal expenses. Now they only take home Rp 12,500."

[Impact on power companies]: State power firm PT PLN expects its power-generating costs to rise by 50 percent next year, hinting that it may be necessary to raise power rates. PLN will use some 2.5 million kiloliters (kl) of marine fuel oil (MFO) and 5.5 million kl of high-speed diesel (HSD) to generate power next year. PLN's fuel usage will decline as the power firm expects several producers to start using natural gas in 2006. Calculated using the current "special" market prices applied to PLN -- July prices were Rp 2,900 per liter of MFO and Rp 4,740 per liter of HSD -- the company will spend Rp 33.32 trillion on petroleum-based fuel in 2006. It is unclear whether PLN will enjoy these special prices next year or face full market prices like other industries. PLN will spend another Rp 6 trillion on coal and Rp 6 trillion on gas, raising its total fuel costs to at least Rp 45.32 trillion. (Oil-based) fuels make up the bulk of our costs. Power-generation costs, other than fuel, reach Rp 10 trillion a year. The government and the House of Representatives had yet to determine the size of the subsidy for power generation next year. In the second revision of the 2005 state budget, PLN will receive a subsidy of Rp 12.5 trillion this year, more than triple the Rp 4.1 trillion it was to have initially received. The subsidy was increased to cover the fuel price hike in March 2005 and the special market prices applied for some three million kl of overquota fuel. A member of the House of Representatives' Budget Commission, Tjatur Sapto Edy, said that the subsidy for PLN would be set lower next year. The commission will deliberate on the subsidy later this month, he said, declining to say if an increase in power rates would be approved to offset higher production costs and the lower subsidy.

Tindakan Kerajaan Indonesia ini dipuji pakar ekonomi kerana ia satu tindakan berani yang dapat menghalang peningkatan beban kewangan pada masa depan, manakala yang lain mempersoalkan sama ada Indonesia mampu menanggung kesan sampingannya sedikit masa lagi. Kritikan juga diberikan kepada potensi pelaksanaan skim SLT yang mungkin tidak telus.

[Note: The government's spending on the fuel subsidy has reached Rp 80 trillion this year from the approved Rp 89.2 trillion for the entire year. With fuel consumption estimated to reach about 10 million kiloliters at the end of December 2005 (also the end of the fiscal year), the subsidy will likely give consumers a discount of between Rp 800 and Rp 1,000 per liter. The government's proposal on the second and final revision of the 2005 state budget was finally approved by the House of Representatives in a six-hour debate and a 273-to-83 vote on 27 Sept 2005. The approval forecast the fuel subsidy to cost Rp 89.2 trillion from the previous Rp 76.5 trillion and forecast the deficit to be Rp 25.1 trillion, or 0.9 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). Aburizal assured the nation that the government would keep the amount of subsidies in check and at the same time ensure that the new prices and their snowball effects would not significantly burden the public. The soaring price has forced Indonesia, the only OPEC member that imports oil, to dig deeper in state coffers to finance imports on 300,000 barrels of crude oil and 400,000 barrels of refined fuel products each day.]

Sumber Berita: Berita Minggu, MIngguan Malaysia, Republika, The Jakarta Post

LENTERA

[Malaysia] Budget 2006 a non-event

Guan Eng: Budget 2006 a non-event
Oct 3, 2005 Malaysiakini

The government has failed to address the twin thrusts of its Budget 2006 theme, according to DAP’s secretary general Lim Guan Eng, who said it neither strengthens economic resilience nor meets challenges.
He said in a statement today that the budget speech tabled in Parliament last Friday has shown that the government refuses to establish a basis of merit and a competitive environment which are necessary for economic growth.
Lim said the proposals may be aimed at redressing the neglect felt by more than one million civil servants, but that these do not provide solutions for those in the private sector.
“The inflation rate was 3.7 percent in August, the highest since February 1999. Poor growth and high inflation has hurt many Malaysians, especially those in the middle and lower-income groups,” he said.
“By failing to meet the economic challenges of globalisation or to reward the resilience of Malaysians who are not civil servants such as businessmen or working in the private sector, Budget 2006 can be considered a non-event,” he said.
He also pointed out that the proposals would not deal with the problems of inflation and declining economic growth, projected at 5.5 percent next year.
In this respect, he proposed a RM3,000 increase in personal relief in come tax to a level of RM11,000 to help lower and middle-income earners deal with the impact of fuel price increases and inflation.
Involve non-bumiputeras
Lim also urged the government to revive the construction sector by opening up half of the contracts to non-bumiputera contractors, with the rest going to bumiputeras.
He said the government should not continue to rely on “out-moded and restrictive” policies such as quotas and the absence of open tenders, which paved the way for corruption.
“DAP regrets that with the billion ringgit construction and maintenance contracts - such as the RM4.3 billion for maintenance, RM1 billion for special allocations, RM3.6 billion for civil servant housing and RM2.1 billion for low-cost housing - non-bumi contractors still cannot get government contracts.
“What is the use then of giving licences to non-bumiputera contractors when they cannot bid for government jobs? The mantra of open competition is preached by MCA and Gerakan but never practised.”
He also urged the government to allow Petronas to share its profits with Malaysians
“If the accumulated earnings of RM446 billion (RM200 billion profit and RM246 billion paid to the government) are distributed, each Malaysian would receive RM20,000 which is more beneficial than wasting it through corruption and malpractice.”
He reminded the government and Petronas that oil was a natural resource that dis not belong to any one person but to all Malaysians, and that it was unfair for the people to suffer fuel price increases while Petronas made money.
In addition, Lim called for a corporate culture of excellence to improve the performance of government-linked corporations (GLCs) based on key performance aspects which were results-driven, technologically and knowledge-based besides being ethically-centred by corporate social responsibility.
“GLCs should give back to society. Adequate compensation must be paid to those who are affected by their money-making ventures. The refusal to share profits is not only unethical but also irresponsible.”
Public transportation issue
Lim was further disappointed that funding for educational training continued to be race-centered since RM1 billion was being proposed for trade and industrial training at special institutes with a mainly Malay enrolment, such as Mara colleges and state-run youth and industrial training centres.
“The government should provide equal opportunity by opening up educational and human resource training to all Malaysians. “
There is also a need for the government to seriously invest in improving public transportation, he said, as part of a paradigm shift from dependence on private motor vehicles.
Another suggestion was that excise duties on cigarettes and liquor be channeled to a health fund for patients with lung and liver-related diseases.

[Indonesia] Slashing the fuel subsidy

Slashing the fuel subsidy

Editorial, Jakarta Post, 4 October 2005

Barring any major disturbances to Indonesia's social and political stability, the market should react positively to the government's bold move last week to raise domestic fuel prices by an average of 125 percent, which in turn will lead to improved confidence in the country's economic outlook.

While bold this policy will be painful for the majority of Indonesians, as the cost of living will rise steeply and inefficient businesses that depend on subsidized fuel might have to close down, leaving more people out of work.

The fuel price increases can be expected to initially trigger disproportionately steep hikes in the prices of basic foods such as rice, fish and vegetables and in transportation fares, lifting inflation to as high as 11 percent this year, above the earlier projection of 9 percent.

The prices of goods and services will rise, especially with Ramadhan days away, the Idul Fitri holiday next month and Christmas in December.

However, if the government manages to maintain adequate supplies and ensure the smooth distribution of goods, the rate of general price increases should be proportional to the role of fuel in the respective production costs of the goods. Any panic can be expected to recede after a few weeks, with the market returning to a new equilibrium after absorbing the impact of the higher fuel prices.

The pain of the new fuel policy can be contained if the government fully implements its package of fiscal incentives and reform measures introduced on Saturday.

But it is simply a relief now to know that by cutting the massive fuel subsidy, the government will be able to channel more funds directly to the poorest segment of society through direct cash payments and increased spending on basic health services, education and rural infrastructure.

The short-term pain of this policy is better than allowing the wasteful fuel subsidy to lead the economy into a new crisis that could be much more devastating than the economic fiasco of 1998, because of an unsustainable fiscal deficit that would increase the sovereign risks of the government.

Higher sovereign risks would damage market confidence in the Rp 650 trillion (US$65 billion) worth of bonds the government has thus far issued, including over Rp 400 trillion to recapitalize banks, and depress the prices of the Rp 56.3 trillion worth of new bonds the government plans to float this year to plug the budget hole and shore up the rupiah exchange rate.

Many observers believe the fuel price increases announced last week are too steep to be absorbed given the current economic conditions.

However, the government has a good reason to raise the prices of regular gasoline and automotive diesel oil to as high as 80 percent of market prices. This will discourage export smuggling by narrowing the differences between domestic and market prices, and will make it easier gradually to increase fuel prices fully to market prices by January 2007.

The market will reward the government's boldness with a virtuous circle, because the smaller fuel subsidy will enable the government to improve overall economic efficiency through larger investments in infrastructure, public services and utilities.

The protests, the criticism by analysts and the outright opposition by many students to the new fuel price policy were expected. This is what democracy is all about.

The public debates should serve to educate the public about the economics of commercial energy, to help people realize that sooner or later they will have to pay for fuel based on its economic costs or suffer supply disruptions.

Protracted, raucous street demonstrations will only divert the attention and resources of the government from the much more urgent tasks of managing the distribution of funds to the poor and maintaining the smooth distribution of essential commodities to control the inflationary impact.

If the opponents of the new fuel policy care about the interests of the people they should help oversee the distribution of the funds for the poor, and should see to it that the government fully implements its Oct. 1 package of deregulation and reform measures to help people and businesses weather the difficult months ahead.

[Thailand] Civil servants to be offered early exit plan

BUREAUCRACY / SECOND PHASE

Civil servants to be offered early exit plan

Other reforms on hold for a year

Bangkok Post, 3 October 2005
PREEYANAT PHANAYANGGOOR

An early retirement scheme for state officials will be launched in the 2006 fiscal year, with the aim of further slimming down the bureaucracy, but other second-phase reforms will be delayed for a year, Deputy Prime Minister Visanu Krue-ngam said yesterday. It was planned to further reduce the number of state officials by up to 50,000, Mr Visanu said.

He said details of the remunerative package were still being finalised, but it would be similar to the last scheme, when civil servants opting for retirement received 8-15 times their final monthly salary. Other incentives were still being worked out. He guaranteed that additional incentives would not be in the form of a royal decoration, a higher grade or 200 times final income as speculated.

Between 2000 and 2002, about 70,000 civil servants opted for an early retirement programme, with severance payments totalling 9.6 billion baht. "The early retirement scheme could begin as soon as the final package has been worked out, ith no need to wait for the second phase of the bureaucratic reform which will now not be implemented this year,'' Mr Visanu said.

There was no reason to rush the revised version of the draft second-phase reform bill to parliament. There were still some matters undecided, including whether to split the Department of Public Works and Town and Country Planning into two departments and, if so, which ministries they should be placed under.

The Department of Fine Arts under the Culture Ministry could also share its responsibilities for museum and library management with other agencies so that it could concentrate on promoting and preserving arts and traditional arts. Other matters for consideration included upgrading the various agencies overseeing the problem of ethnic minorities and refugees into a new department under the Interior Ministry, and the appropriateness of leaving the Department of Meteorology under the Information and Communication Technology Ministry, or putting it under the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry - an issue which arose in the wake of the December tsunami.

Mr Visanu said the establishment of some new agencies might go ahead when arrangements were ready without waiting for the completed draft bill, such as the rice department to oversee all issues related to rice. Atchaporn Jarujinda, deputy secretary-general of the Council of State, said state reform would see the creation of a new position of "cluster permanent secretary'' for greater flexibility of management within ministries.

The new position would be senior to director-general and with the power to manage budgets and set cluster policies. Each ministry may have more than one cluster permanent secretary. Other changes would include transforming the PM's Office into a "management command centre'' for the prime minister, reporting directly to the prime minister and deputy prime ministers.

The juristic status of departments would also be removed to allow flexibility in transferring of duties, human resources and budgets within ministries.

[Malaysia] No excitement over 2006 Budget

No excitement over 2006 Budget

Kuek Ser Kuang Keng, Malaysiakini

Oct 1, 2005

The 2006 Budget is ‘business minded’ where the focus is to reduce physical deficit and business cost, said Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) deputy secretary Indrani Thuraisingham.

She said the measures taken in relation to the public sector such as cutting down red rapes and bureaucracy as well as improving the delivery system, were aimed to reduce the cost for the government and business sectors. According to her, the budget has neglected consumers, except for those in rural areas where infrastructure facilities and basic amenities will be improved. . "Although the government tries not to burden the consumers, there is no real goodies given (either)," she said when contacted.

"Maybe the government hopes that consumers will benefit indirectly from the budget but it really depends on the goodwill of the businessmen to translate those benefits to the consumers," she added.

‘Not exciting’

Meanwhile, the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research director Prof Dr Saiful Azhar Rosly described the budget as ‘not exciting'.

"Basically the budget is to stimulate domestic demand by reducing the business cost after the government found out that the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is not as hopeful as before," he said. However, he said in order to stimulate domestic demand, the government should have reduced both the corporate and personal tax to increase consumption power.

"I was looking forward for it (tax reduction) but the government is not doing that," he said. "Maybe after the Government Service Tax (GST) is introduced in 2007, there will be tax reduction," he added.

Subsidy from PETRONAS

On the setting up of a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Bank, he said this was another measure to stimulate domestic demand. "The current banks are reluctant to give loans to local SMEs," he added.

He also expressed disappointment over the issue of oil subsidy. Saiful had hoped that the government would direct PETRONAS to allocate some of its revenue as oil subsidy to the people.

"The current oil subsidy is RM25 billion and if the government cuts it down, it would lower the purchasing power which is essential in stimulating domestic demand," he said. As for the other aspects of the budget, Saiful termed them as ‘quite routine’ and ‘reasonable’.

EU Only Offers Privileged Partnership to Turkey, NOT Full EU Membership

New Straits Times, Monday, 30 October 2005

Turkey Rejects EU Partnership Offer

Turkey's PM, Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Austria's Chancellor, Wolfgang Schuessel, by telephone that Turkey will not accept a lesser "privileged partnership" as an alternative to full EU membership.

EU foreign ministers met on Sunday, 2 October 2005, to persuade Austria to drop its objections to starting membership negotiations with Turkey, which are scheduled to start on 3 October 2005. Austria says it is speaking in the name of the majority of European people in saying it does not want Turkey as a full member.

CNN-Turk showed footage of Erdogan, dressed in a tuxedo at a reception to celebrate the opening of a new parliamentary session, confronting the Austrian ambassador. "If you continue to play politics like this, you'll fail in the next election," he said. "If the EU decides not to keep its words, if its own leaders decide to forget their signatures beneath the decisions they've made before the ink has even dried ... if they decide to ignore all this and impose new conditions that Turkey will never accept ... then of course in that case this kind of partnership can never be".

A Qatari analyst, Abdelhamid al-Ansari, former dean of theology at Doha University said: "by accepting Turkey, the EU will be shedding its 'Christian Club' label, improving Europe's image in the Muslim world and encouraging Turkey's model - a moderate Islamic state which is also a democracy ... This would help moderates and liberals across the Muslim world to confront extremism."

[Malaysia] Saya sudah serik dan tak akan masuk Umno lagi - Anwar

Saya sudah serik dan tak akan masuk Umno lagi - Anwar

Friday, September 30 2005

"Hampa tanggal seluak (seluar)pun, saya tak mahu masuk Umno dah" Oleh EKMAL YUSOF TAIPING, 30 Sept (Hrkh) - Mantan Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Dato'Seri Anwar Ibrahim menegaskan beliau sudah serik masuk Umno dan tidak akan berbuat demikian lagi.

"Saya dah serik dah, tak mahu masuk dah. Saya kena pecat, dan saya tak mahu masuk dah," ulang Anwar lagi.

"Hampa tanggal seluak (seluar) pun, saya tak mahu masuk Umno dah," kata Anwar Ibrahim meluahkan ralatnya, dengan bahasa loghat utaranya.

Beliau berkata demikian ketika berceramah di Kg. Pasir, dekat Kem Tahanan ISA Kemunting malam tadi.

Sejak kebelakangan ini pelbagai berita tersebar Anwar akan masuk semula ke dalam Umno.

Bekas pemimpin Semangat 46 memberikan kata dua kepada Anwar, jika Anwar mahu berjaya, dia kena masuk Umno atau menyertai PAS.

Saya sendiri akan dakwa Dr Mahathir

Dalam pada itu, Anwar berazam akan mendakwanya sendiri bekas Perdana Menteri, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad di mahkamah.

"Saya mahu Dr. Mahathir Mohamad hadhir di mahkamah dan saya sendiri akan menjadi peguambela, tak mahu orang lain, dan akan menyoal sendiri Dr Mahathir," katanya.

Tegas beliau, dalam masa enam tahun dalam tahanan, dan telah berpuluh kali dibicarakan, dengan pergi naik turun mahkamah "dan kini saya rasa sudah matang dan berkemampuan untuk berhadapan dengan Dr. Mahathir yang saya sendiri akan menyoalnya sebagai peguam pendakwa."

Di ceramahnya itu beliau telah mengandaikan yang beliau sedang menjadi peguambela pada dirinya sendiri dengan berkata, "Yang Arif Tuan Hakim, perhatikan elok-elok dan peguambela tengok elok-elok, ini dia buktinya, salahkah atau tidak.?"

"Saya ada bukti hitam puteh secara bertulis, saya hendak mintak dakwa dia, biar dia masuk Penjara Sungai Buluh," katanya diikuti tepuk sorak bergemuruh yang terdiri dari lebih 5,000 pendengar yang hadir malam tadi.

Kemudian, Anwar berlakun sebagai peguam dan menyoal Dr. Mahathir dengan satu soalan, "You ni adakah skandal sex?"

Maka kata Anwar,"Tentulah dia kata tak ada."

Siapa wanita Cina ini?

Seterus Anwar berkata, dia akan tnya lagi, "Hang tahukah atau tidak nama perempuan Cina ini, hang punyakah atau tidak?"

Tercetus sahaja soalan tersebut itu maka bergemuroh sekali lagi tempek sorak para hadirin malam tadi.

"Saya tanya sahaja, tapi bukan saya tuduh, biar dia jawab," jelas beliau dalam ceramahnya.
Kemudian setelah didesak oleh para hadirin, beliau jawab, "Adalah....."

Sebenarnya kata beliau, tentang "perempuan Cina" berkenaaan itu telah pun lama berlaku dan ramai di kalangan peguam pun ada yang tahu dan ada yang pernah memberi pendapat agar perkara tersebut di ketenngahkan kepada rakyat.

Tetapi, kata Anwar ketika itu dia berkata "Kita sama-sama bersabarlah, kita jangan buat kacau."

"Tapi, rupa-rupanya orang ini tiada guna," jelas beliau, "dia iri hati terhadap perkembangan politik, peribadi dan persahabatan saya dengan pemimpin-pemimpin negara luar khususnya negara Islam yang buat dia susah hati dan sakit hati."

Itulah sebab, kata beliau, Dr. Mahathir telah membuat satu kenyataan akhbar yang dia adalah pemimpin yang menyanjung Kamal Atarturk.

Jesteru beliau menyeru "Dengar wahai orang-orang Umno sekalian, ini dia rupanya ketua kamu. Sebab itu saya keluar!" -zs

[Malaysia] The bitter struggle for religious freedom

The bitter struggle for religious freedom

Claudia Theophilus Jul 23, 05 Malaysiakini

Ustazah Kamariah Ali and her husband, Ustaz Mohamed Ya, taught upper secondary students religious studies. Both were graduates of the world-renowned Al-Azhar University in Egypt.

Kamariah’s first posting was in Sarawak. It was also her husband’s first posting. Five years later, in 1988, both were transferred to Kampar, Perak, and taught there for more than four years. The husband and wife were later sent to religious schools for boys and girls respectively in Kota Baru.

The couple’s after-school routine was to join a group of Malay-Muslims in prayer and singing praises from village to village in Kelantan.

But they were not singing praises to Allah. The object of their religious fervour was a 64-year-old ethnic Malay man known to followers as Ayah Pin, who claims to be the reincarnation of the holy figures in the world’s major religions - Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.

Deviant practices

Soon their activities caught the attention of the Kelantan state and religious authorities who tracked them down and detained several members at Balai Islam, Kota Baru.

“We were hauled to Balai Islam, which also houses the Syariah Court, on the pretext of discussing something with us,” said Kamariah, who is 53 and currently unemployed. “We were not given any food or drinks. We also didn’t know what we had done wrong that night.”

The next morning, they were taken to the Syariah High Court and ordered top lead guilty to charges of deviant practices.

“We claimed trial and were locked up for two nights. Luckily, my bail of RM2,000 was accepted as I had a small child to feed,” said Kamariah, otherwise known as Mama in the village where she lives - Kampung Batu 13, Hulu Besut - a small hamlet across the border in Terengganu about 110km south of Kota Baru.

In 1992, the couple, along with Mat Yaacob Ismail, 51, and Daud Mamat, 73, were convicted for deviant practices and sentenced to jail.

Mohamed died in October last year, 10 months after his release from prison. Upon appeal, their conviction was upheld but the jail sentence was commuted. However, they were required to report monthly to the nearest religious office and attend religious classes for five years until repentance is pronounced.

They went twice but stopped after being told that the ‘repentance schedule’ was not prepared. They resumed their daily activities and continued to be harassed by the state and religious authorities.

In August 1998, the four separately renounced Islam through a statutory declaration and subsequently in late 2000, were charged again, this timefor attempting to leave the religion. At the same time, they were found guilty of failing to attend repentance classes and jailed three years in Pengkalan Chepa prison for contempt of court.

From then on, the process was one of appeals and more appeals right up until the Federal Court.
On Wednesday, a five-member Bench unanimously ruled that the four still have to face the Syariah Court for religious offences committed prior to renouncing Islam, thus extinguishing their hopes of enjoying the religious freedom guaranteed by Article 11 of the Federal Constitution.

The legal team is currently preparing to file for a review of the decision. The surviving trio returned to Terengganu on Thursday morning. For them, nothing has changed - it is back to square one.

Bitter struggle

The story of Mohamed, Kamariah, Yaacob and Daud is full of bitterness and frustration.

Kamariah lost her teaching job while in prison where she was served her termination letter. The couple was also ostracised by their families, colleagues and neighbours.

“We were pressured to stop our involvement in what the authorities saw as deviant teachings. My headmistress friend also scolded me for dabbling in such activities.”

On her release from prison, the petite, soft-spoken lady with a sweet disposition was downgraded to handling student admissions. “I was doing clerical work for seven years, failed on my job performance and had no salary increment.”

Her late husband, Mohamed, ended up teaching lower secondary classes but his salary was not affected.

“The authorities continuously shadowed us. Our every movement and activity during and after school hours was monitored,” added Kamariah.

“The most bitter experience is the hostility shown by my half-siblings, my blood sister, stepmother and extended family. They simply stopped visiting us and the children.

“While people were generally nice to us, our family said nasty things behind our backs. I didn’t like it so I severed all ties with them. Nowwe only see them at the occasional social functions.”

Firm about her decision to renounce Islam in 1998, she believes people should be left to practice their chosen beliefs instead of being forced to “just because the law says so”.

“I’m sad at the way we were treated by our own government. I still believe we didn’t do anything wrong. To this day, I still can’t comprehend the situation we are in.”

Mohamed’s grave, fenced and covered by a striped red-yellow roof, stands in a quiet corner of the village in Terengganu's Hulu Besut, with words of courage and inspiration for others to keep on struggling for religious freedom.

Expressing their disappointment in the legal system, the three reiterated that they “only wanted the freedom to worship God”.

“Why should we be limited in our worship of God?” Kamariah asked. “Icouldn’t understand what the fuss was all about.”
Public humiliation
For instance, she said, they were once publicly humiliated at an official function for distributing wang ehsan ('goodwill money' granted by the federal government to Terengganu instead of oil royalty payments) by the local elected representative.

“After handing us the voucher, the state assemblyperson quickly took it back announcing that as apostates, we were not entitled to the money,”she added. “There was nothing we could do but bear the humiliation amid hundreds of people.”
Hulu Besut state assemblyperson, Nawi Mohamad, could not be reached forcomments over this particular incident.

For Daud, the experience was senseless and exhausting.

“Only my wife and three children visited me in prison,” he said, relatinghis solitary life in Pengkalan Chepa prison. “No one else came.”

But he was very thankful to neighbours in Kampung Batu 13, who were followers of Ayah Pin, for looking out for his family during his incarceration.

“In prison, I just wanted to be left alone but one of the warders liked poking fun at me. One day, I found my name changed on the notice board to a Siamese name. He told me that as an apostate, I should not bear a Muslim (commonly Arabic) name.”

Daud’s wife, Wan Mariam Wan Yaakob, 40, said she used to sell goreng pisang (fried bananas) to make ends meet but was soon forced to close shop when business turned bad due to the adverse publicity spread by word of mouth.

“We had to stop our eldest child who was in Form 2 from school after my husband was jailed. It was too hard to make ends meet,” she recalled. Now, she makes gula melaka (palm sugar) at a nearby cottage enterprise.

“My husband renounced Islam 15 years into our marriage. I have no problems with that. It’s just that the harassment from the authorities was often too much to bear.”

Traitor tag

Yaacob, however, is bitter and angry about the whole thing. “I lost my grocery business and my young children had to stop schooling after I wasjailed.” He was visibly upset, fidgeting in his chair.

“We had to leave behind thousands of ringgit worth of property when we came here after serving jail time.” His two older children had dropped out of school but the four younger ones are still schooling.

To him, renouncing Islam was a natural thing to do.

“Our struggle for the freedom to choose our own faith had cost us a lot.. a reasonably good life, money, friends and family,” said Yaacob, who is fondly known as Pa’acob.

For choosing his own path of worshipping God, Yaacob was labeled many things including “traitor”.

“Over the years, we’ve learnt to live with the hostile reactions because it is something you can’t possibly avoid,” he said, shaking his head sadly.

To this day, the three claim to be in the dark as to what crime they had purportedly committed.

[Malaysia] NEP: Wrong to blame policy

New Straits Times » Letters

NEP: Wrong to blame policy

TUNKU TAN SRI SHAHRIMAN TUNKU SULAIMAN, Kuala Lumpur
Aug 29 2005

ON Aug 14, my daughter lecturing in digital media at a local university came back by bus to Kuala Lumpur from Langkawi.

She took a taxi from Jalan Bukit Bintang to my house in Persiaran Duta.

The taxi driver was Chinese. He asked my daughter, despite her wearing a tudung, if she was of Chinese descent. My daughter informed him her grandmother was Chinese.

The taxi driver then began narrating to my daughter his frustrations. He said he had three children and laboured for 10 hours a day and yet hardly earned enough to support his three children in school.

On the other hand, he said he had read in newspapers that one of the "Approved Permit kings" enjoyed a very luxurious life, even to the extent of going to his golf club in his helicopter.

During the whole journey, the taxi driver went on raising the same issues and, I am sure out of ignorance, blamed the New Economic Policy (NEP) for his difficulties.

While I fully sympathise with the poor taxi driver and it is difficult for anybody to defend such a situation, I honestly think his blaming the NEP for his difficulties is wrong and misplaced.

As the first director-general of ICDAU (now the Implementation and Co-ordination Unit), a unit in the Prime Minister’s Department reporting direct to Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, and responsible for monitoring the implementation of the NEP, I am a bit disappointed and sad that most of the discussions and statements made by politicians and others today seem to focus only on initiatives taken by the Government to obtain at least 30 per cent of the economic pie for Bumiputeras.

Actually, the other equally important objective of the NEP, that is the eradication of poverty irrespective of race, is also very relevant.

When the NEP was launched, the National Action Committee (for which I was the secretary) comprised Razak, Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, Tun Tan Siew Sin, Tun V.T. Sambanthan and Tan Sri Ghazali Shafie (now Tun).

It met almost every week to discuss and ensure that the two main objectives of the policy, that is to redress the economic imbalance among the races and eradicate poverty, were equally addressed and frankly debated in the National Action Council meeting room.

In the case of poverty eradication, big programmes were formulated and implemented in rural areas, comprising Malay kampungs, Chinese new villages, Indian settlements and native areas in Sarawak and Sabah.

Not much priority was then given to mega projects and most of the manpower and finance were used for the purpose of poverty alleviation.

For instance, I still remember, at that time there was a proposal to build a massive building in Kuala Lumpur for the Farmers Organisation Authority (Lembaga Pertubuhan Peladang) to showcase the political and economic strength of rural areas but it was turned down by Razak. He shot down the proposal, telling me: "What is the point of having beautiful buildings when the farmers in the kampungs, new villages and estates are poor?"

The National Action Council was later informed of the rejection.

As for the objective of redressing the economic imbalance among the races, the sacred guidelines of the National Action Council, to be effected by government agencies and departments, was that it should not be done at the expense of other races and should be implemented in the context of an expanding economic cake.

The NEP must have been one of the major issues considered by Malaysian voters going to the polls in 1974. Its noble dual objectives must have been clearly explained and accepted by them. In my opinion, this was why the Barisan Nasional won 135 of 154 parliamentary seats contested that year.

What was sweeter for the Barisan Nasional, which then included Parti Islam Malaysia, was that they won 47 seats uncontested.

I am sure a clear explanation of the dual roles of the NEP, instead of the over-emphasis we have now on racial economic objectives, would be equally acceptable to all Malaysians today.

I will be 74 in February 2006 and look forward to the day in the next few years when my daughter or granddaughter taking a taxi to my house and the driver, whether he be Chinese, Malay or Indian, tells her that he is the owner and licence holder of the taxi and that he lives in a three-bedroom house, purchased perhaps with some assistance from the Government, and that at least one of his children goes to university on a government or private sector scholarship.

I hope this taxi driver is no longer angry with rich Bumiputeras who achieved such status through hard work and perseverance, wisely making use of the opportunities given not only by the Government but also the private sector.

I am confident that under the leadership of our Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and the genuine support of leaders of the Barisan Nasional, Malaysia will have a bright future with its people living in harmony and prosperity, marching hand-in-hand towards becoming a developed nation.

From now onwards let us therefore talk more of unity rather than division, showing humility rather than arrogance and be constructive rather than destructive