Wednesday, 18 August 2010

Punish not Cover Up

Punish ‘racist’ principal, not cover up, parents demand

By Debra Chong

August 19, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 — Denying that it was a “misunderstanding”, parents want the Education Ministry to take stern disciplinary action against the Johor school head accused of spouting racist slurs, claiming that it was not the first incident.
One parent even alleged the ministry was trying to “cover up” the case at SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra in Kulai.
“Parents are very unhappy that the authorities are citing misinformation and misunderstanding that the headmistress had made the remarks.
“It wasn’t a misunderstanding. Even the teachers have given their statement to the police. The teachers confirmed what has been reported by the students,” a parent told The Malaysian Insider, refuting Education director-general Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom’s response yesterday that the case was just a misunderstanding and had been resolved.
“If it was, then why did the state Education Department tell her to make an open apology to the non-Malay students and teachers?” he asked, and related that principal Siti Inshah Mansor had been loudly booed by the student population in the attempt.
“The government is trying to cover it up,” claimed the 46-year-old business consultant, who asked not to be named, fearing repercussions to his job.
The father of two said parents were mulling setting up a formal parent action group to pressure Putrajaya into action.
“Some disciplinary action must be taken. Even if not dismissal, at least demote her. If just transfer her out, it won’t solve the problem.
“She has done in before. In her previous school, she called Indians Nigerians,” he said, claiming Siti Inshah, who was formerly the principal of SMK Kelapa Sawit — another school in the same Kulai district — had been transferred out following similar complaints.
The police are currently investigating the case under section 504 of the Penal Code for provocation which carries a maximum imprisonment of two years, a fine or both.
A total of 17 complaints have been lodged with the police against the principal so far.
A copy of one report made last week and recently put up on the Malaysia-Today website listed several racist and derogatory remarks allegedly made by Siti Inshah, including likening Indian students wearing prayer threads on their person to dogs and ordering dissatisfied ethnic Chinese and Indian students to “return to China or India”.
Part of the lengthy police report lodged by a 16-year-old student alleged: “She gave the example of owning a Proton Saga with two passengers who are Munusamy and Chong. Munusamy and Chong were only passengers. They cannot claim any right to the car. This is the same as Malaysia in which the non-Malay students are passengers.”
Similar “racist” allegations have been reported made by senior civil servants, most notably by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s then-political aide Datuk Nasir Safar in January this year at a 1 Malaysia event, and signal a rise in racial tensions among Malaysia’s multicultural society.
MI

On Nazir Razak

Nazir Razak — Tay Tian Yan

August 19, 2010

AUG 19 — Some say if he were not Najib’s brother, he couldn’t have achieved this much today.
But some also say if he were not Najib’s brother, he could have achieved even more.
I have an inclination towards the second saying.
Nazir Razak is the youngest brother of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, and the youngest son of the country’s second prime minister Tun Abdul Razak.
Nazir is the chief executive officer of CIMB. About 10 years ago, he was instrumental in the merger between Bank Bumiputra and the Bank of Commerce in what everyone believed was a bailout for the ailing BBMB.
Not many viewed the merged entity’s future with favour. The fiscal conditions of BBMB back then, along with its modus operandi and personnel issues were tacky enough for anyone to fix.
Nazir’s challenge was to transform the government-sponsored bank plagued by a severe lack of competitiveness, rigidity and corruption into a highly efficient, market-oriented and profitable business entity.
Upon taking over the bank, Nazir embarked on a slew of ambitious restructuring policies.
He succeeded in convincing the board to lure elite bankers with attractive remuneration and bring in many non-Bumiputera managers. With the power in his hands, he reorganised the internal operations of the bank, weeded out connections, optimised the businesses and established a set of governance guidelines.
At the same time, he reinvented the bank’s branding position in a bid to reinstate customer confidence. He launched an array of financial services and products to meet the market needs. He even brought the company’s businesses overseas in an ambitious expansion programme.
This erstwhile dying bank has now received a new lease of life over the years, with capitalisation and profit margin both among the country’s top three.
Nazir’s competence is beyond doubt, and the corporate sector generally agrees that he is not merely an outstanding banker, but one of the country’s most capable CEOs too.
But Nazir is more than just a top-rated manager, he is also an initiator and advocate of open and progressive ideas.
He has since Mahathir’s time been making proposals to the government to reform the country’s economic structure, saying that it should further liberalise the economy and implement free market principles while uprooting antiquated and stale policies in a bid to create a more equitable and competitive business environment.
Among his most controversial proposals was the one calling for the abolition of the New Economic Policy.
He argued that the NEP had not helped the Malays in general, but had instead shut the majority of Malays out of the country’s economic activities while denying non-Malays access to the mainstream national economy, jeopardising the country’s overall economic performance in so doing.
His did not make the remarks to please foreign investors or non-Malays. He unapologetically hit out at the NEP during an exclusive interview with Utusan Malaysia some two months ago.
Nazir’s achievements had nothing much to do with his family, upbringing or his Bumiputera status, but his own wisdom and input.
His progressive psyche testifies that the Malays can still get plugged to the world so long as they are willing to deliver themselves out of the “kampung mentality” cocoon.
Some say he makes the most ideal candidate for finance minister, but the prime minister has been reluctant to bring his younger brother into the government or politics.
Having said that, there are voices calling for Nazir to play a bigger role so that he can change the largely conservative mindset of the Malays and help steer the nation towards greater progress. — mysinchew.com
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or the publication.
The Malaysian Insider.

Cabinet Pimp

Harakahdaily

PETALING JAYA, Aug 18: M.S. Arjunan, the PKR branch chairman who recently exposed a letter implicating Deputy Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister M. Saravanan (right), said he had solid evidences, including CCTV recordings, to prove the latter's involvement in prostitution, drugs and gangsterism.
Speaking to the press yesterday, Arjunan, who is the Kampung Tawas PKR branch chairman in Perak, said he had received a letter from one Raman, who claimed his daughter was one of Saravanan's alleged victims.
Arjunan said the girl was a student at the MIC-run Tafe College in Negeri Sembilan between 1998 and 2001.
“In the letter, Raman mentioned that he knew Saravanan and his family background well,” he added.
Arjunan said he had lodged a report against Saravanan with the Brickfields police station on Saturday.

Among others, Arjunan (left) alleged that the MIC member of parliament for Tapah was involved in supplying college students to several VIPs.
"My police report is a response to the written complaint by the father of the victim," he said.
Arjunan further revealed that he had been receiving death threats over his mobile phone following media reports about his exposure.
Saravan had since denied the allegations against him, saying they were "politically motivated".
Challenging Saravanan to sue him for defamation, Arjunan said the evidences were safe with his lawyer.
"I will reveal these evidences when the case is brought to court."
He also lashed out at CID director Mohd Bakri Zinin for concluding that the allegations against the MIC vice president were slanderous.
"Congratulations to Mohd Bakri," he said, and added in jest that Mohd Bakri had solved a case which had been taking place for the last ten years in a matter of three hours.
Arjunan however promised to give full cooperation in any police probe.

Ground Zero Mosque Revolt

Obama faces Democrat revolt over Ground Zero mosque

Giles Whittell
From: The Times
August 18, 2010 10:29AM

FOUR days into an intensifying national dispute over plans for a mosque near Ground Zero, Barack Obama has been left isolated by his own party after the refusal of senior Democrats to back the project.

Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader and Mr Obama's former mentor in Congress, has broken with the White House by saying that the mosque should be built elsewhere, while David Paterson, the Democratic Governor of New York State, announced last night that he would be meeting the project's developers to discuss alternative sites.
Gleeful Republicans have stepped up attacks on the US President for appearing to bow to the dangerous political currents stirred up by the idea of an Islamic cultural centre two blocks from where the World Trade Centre collapsed after a terrorist attack nine years ago.
Emboldened by polls showing that at least two-thirds of Americans consider the plan an insult to the memory of 9/11's victims, conservatives have likened it to the idea of a swastika being erected next to the Holocaust Museum in New York or a Japanese war memorial at Pearl Harbor. Newt Gingrich, the potential 2012 presidential contender, has gone as far as to argue that there should be no mosque near Ground Zero as long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia.

Freedom of religion is a near-sacred tenet of the US Constitution but has had little bearing on the debate. What was until last week an acrimonious but local issue for New Yorkers is now - Republicans hope - a wedge that can be used nationwide to turn Democrats against each other and their President before the midterm elections in November. It also threatens to derail a White House midterm strategy based on talking up Mr Obama's legislative accomplishments and painting the Right as the "party of 'no'".

A growing number of Democrats believe that Mr Obama has only himself to blame. With a total of 43 words, half of them unscripted, he has split his base by intervening where no intervention was required.
It started with a carefully judged line at an Iftar dinner for Muslims at the White House last Friday. Paying tribute to a Muslim winner of the Purple Heart buried in Arlington National Cemetery, he said that every American military veteran shared "the values that we hold dear" and that "one of those values is the freedom to practise your religion - a right that is enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution".
The line was seized on by conservatives as an implicit endorsement of the so-called Park 51 project, which is backed by one of America's leading Sufi moderates and would, if built, include a swimming pool and a 500-seat auditorium as well as a mosque.
The following day Mr Obama felt the need to clarify his remarks. His intention was simply to let people know what he thought about equality under the law, he said on a family visit to the Gulf of Mexico. "I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there."
By entering the fray Mr Obama dismayed congressional Democrats in tight midterm races who face majorities who object to an Islamic presence of any kind near what they consider hallowed ground - even though there are already two busy mosques within four blocks of Ground Zero.
"How can this possibly be helpful when feelings are still so raw?" one party strategist asked in The Washington Post yesterday. By attempting to modify his message, he has let down other supporters who saw his first comments as a rare and welcome stand on principle. Republicans have relished the entire spectacle.
Senator Reid is fighting for his political life in Nevada and believes that he cannot afford to equivocate. "The First Amendment protects freedom of religion," a spokesman said. "Senator Reid respects that, but thinks the mosque should be build some place else."
The White House insisted that Mr Obama was untroubled by his loneliness in defence of Muslims' rights to worship and that "he's happy our thriving democracy is continuing to produce vigorous debate".
The Australian

Soi Lek tunjuk belang

Soi Lek beri petunjuk awal MCA

Oleh MOHD. ASRON MUSTAPHA
mohdasron.mustapha@utusan.com.my

KUALA LUMPUR 17 Ogos - UMNO dan parti komponen Barisan Nasional (BN) diingatkan supaya segera mempersiapkan diri bagi menghadapi kemungkinan MCA bukan lagi sebahagian daripada anggota parti itu pada Pilihan Raya Umum (PRU) Ke-13 nanti.
Ahli Dewan Tertinggi Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa), Mohd. Zahid Md. Arip berkata, pendirian Presiden MCA, Datuk Seri Dr. Chua Soi Lek bahawa parti itu tidak takut untuk berkongsi pandangan yang sama dengan DAP hanyalah fasa pertama sebelum jalinan lebih 'mesra' dibentuk.
"Walaupun MCA merupakan antara parti teras dalam BN tetapi UMNO dan komponen yang lain perlu bersedia kerana ini (perkongsian pendirian) baru fasa pertama, tidak mustahil pada PRU nanti, Soi Lek akan berkongsi pula wadah perjuangan yang sama dengan DAP," katanya kepada Utusan Malaysia, di sini hari ini.
Beliau mengulas pendirian Soi Lek yang menegaskan bahawa parti itu tidak takut untuk berkongsi pandangan yang sama dengan DAP dalam hal yang boleh memberi keuntungan kepada masyarakat Cina.
Soi Lek memberi alasan, pemimpin UMNO tidak boleh menyalahkan MCA walaupun parti itu mempunyai pandangan berbeza daripada pendirian BN kerana tuntutan yang disuara beliau adalah gambaran kepada keinginan masyarakat Cina.
Mengulas lanjut, Mohd. Zahid menyifatkan Soi Lek sebagai pemimpin MCA yang lupa kepada sejarah kerana terlalu taksub untuk menyaingi sifat cauvanis yang diperjuangkan oleh DAP.
Tegasnya, Soi Lek dan pemimpin MCA yang lain harus sedar bahawa negara ini bukan dibina atas sentimen perkauman sempit tetapi ia terbentuk kerana nilai kejujuran dan perasaan saling menghormati antara pemimpin UMNO, MCA dan MIC yang terdahulu.
"Jangan kerana semata-mata hendak menagih sokongan masyarakat Cina, Soi Lek lupa kepada sejarah. Nilai kejujuran dan saling menghormati hak yang telah dipersetujui inilah yang membolehkan kita hidup dalam keadaan aman selama ini," jelasnya.
Dalam pada itu, beliau turut menyelar sikap Soi Lek yang disifatkannya sebagai sengaja berbuat tidak faham mengenai konsep 1Malaysia, apabila mempertikaikan hak keistimewaan bumiputera selain membangkitkan pelbagai tuntutan yang mengguris hati orang Melayu.
Menurutnya, Soi Lek sepatutnya belajar berterima kasih kepada kerajaan kerana tetap juga mengekalkan jumlah pemimpin MCA dalam Kabinet walaupun parti itu menyebabkan BN kalah teruk dalam PRU Ke-12 yang lalu.
"Inilah sikap cauvanis Soi Lek. Sengaja buat-buat tidak faham mengenai gagasan 1Malaysia tetapi pada masa yang sama lebih berminat untuk mendokong konsep Malaysian Malaysia yang diperjuangkan oleh DAP, sedangkan MCA berada dalam BN," dakwanya.
Utusan Malaysia