Hope and hopelessness awaiting new IGP

Harakahdaily

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 3:  Since the news of the retirement of Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan was announced earlier this week, the IGP-in-waiting Ismail Omar (pic) is being closely watched by politicians and observers. Home minister Hishamuddin Hussein had said Musa's contract which expires on Sept 12 would not be renewed, and announced his deputy Ismail as replacement. PAS leaders have raised the usual concern on the IGP's independence and whether he could discharge his duties freely without having to toe UMNO's political agenda. “My worry is that the UMNO-BN government will also turn him into a tool, although I believe he is someone who has strong principles and possesses high integrity,” said PAS vice president Mahfuz Omar in remarks to Harakahdaily today. Mahfuz added that the UMNO-led government still wielded power over the police force through the Home ministry. Ismail, a law graduate from International Islamic University, began his career as an inspector in 1971, and held various posts in the force in Seremban, Ipoh and Bukit Aman. Before his promotion as Deputy IGP, he served as the Deputy Director of the Anti-Narcotics Department, Selangor police chief and Bukit Aman Director of Management. Bukit Gantang member of parliament Nizar Jamaluddin expressed hope that Ismail would be able to restore public confidence in the police force which he said had been severely tarnished. “I also hope that the new IGP will investigate and reveal the suicide and murder case of Allahyarham Aziz and Rohana," he said, referring to the death of former Permatang state assemblyman Abdul Aziz Mohd Noh and his aide Siti Rohana Ismat in early August, classified as "murder-suicide" by the police. Aziz, 64, was found dead by a single gunshot together with Rohana, 43, who was shot twice in the head in a car along the North-South Expressway near Sungai Buloh. The Selangor police however closed the file on case, saying the details were now merely “academic”. PKR supreme council member Zaid Ibrahim was less optimistic, saying that the 57-year old Ismail's appointment was a "goodbye gift" in view of his impending retirement. “What is the point of appointing someone who himself will probably have to retire in what, a year? How long can this Tan Sri [Ismail] go on?” Zaid was quoted by online news portal The Malaysian Insider as saying. But the strongest comments came from none other than self-exiled blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who expressed joy over Musa's departure. Writing in his blog Malaysia Today, Petra claimed that prime minister Najib Razak had lost patience on Musa's many failures, including the police's failure to extradite Petra, the blunders in Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy trial and the inquest into the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock. Saying Ismail will be watched closely so that he would not follow Musa’s footsteps, Petra had this to say about the outgoing IGP: “But then, no one can ever screw up the way Musa did, not in a thousand years. Musa is one-in-a-million."

Onn Jaafar the pioneer in fighting for Independence

by Aidil Syukri

Dato Onn Jaafar was born in 1895 at Bukit Gambir, Johor Bahru. His father Dato Jaafar Haji Muhammad was the first Menteri Besar of Johor while his mother, Hanim Rogayah was from Scarcia, Turkey. He was sent to England to study by Sultan Ibrahim of Johor and was the best student in English and French. Upon his return from England he was sent to his father to study Bahasa Melayu in the Malay College Kuala Kangsar (MCKK). He held many jobs and among them being the editor of Warta Ahad which indirectly led him to be involved in politics and the struggle for Malays. When he was a member of the Majlis Mesyuarat Negeri Johor, he made two important political contributions to the people of Johor, that is, the setting up of the Sultan Ibrahim Scholarship and issuance of free air fares to perform the pilgrimage in Mecca for Islamic officers serving the Johor government. .Besides that, Dato Onn Jaafar was the founder of United Malays National Organisation (Umno). Besides that, he was also responsible for the social economic welfare of the Malays by setting up the Rural Industrial Development Authority (RIDA). His son, Tun Hussein Onn became the third Prime Minister of Malaysia and his grandson, Hishammuddin Hussein is currently the Minister of Home Affairs in the Malaysian Cabinet.     Close Ties with Johor Royals   Since child, Onn was very close to the Johor royal family. Onn was regarded as an adopted child to Sultan Ibrahim. Besides that, Onn also was also close with the Tengku Mahkota of Johor, Tengku Ismail. He is said to be a very clever and active child until his mother passed away when he was eight. Since then, he changed into a quiet person and always spent time alone at the palace garden. On 1904, Onn together with princes of Johor were sent to England for school. His relationship with Tengku Mahkota was so close and he was regarded as the guardian to the Tengku Mahkota. In England, the studied in a school reserved for those of nobility in Sulfork. All the expenses were incurred by the Sultan.  As he return to Malaya, his father sent him to further his studies at MCKK. Political Involvement Onn was very active in the Malaya nationalist movement. Among his companions was Haji Anwar bin Abdul Malik, Haji Syed Alwi bin Syed Sheikh al-Hadi and Haji Mohd Noah Omar. The establishment of the Malayan Union in 1946 by the British was greatly opposed by the Malays as it took away the ruling powers of the Sultan and the special rights of the Malays. Onn then held an All-Malays Malay Congress (Kongres Melayu Sa-Malaya) to unite the Malays in order to oppose the Malayan Union. The Congress was held from the March 1 to 3, 1946 and it was attended by 41 Malay Associations. Among the decisions taken by the Congress were to boycott the Malayan Union, to mourn for seven days and to wear a white banner on their songkok. Onn took up the role of Umno’s president on May 1, 1946. When plans for the union were withdrawn, Onn was made Menteri Besar by the Sultan of Johor. As Umno president, Onn suggested that Umno should be open to other races in Malaya in order to resolve the racial issue in politics. However, his suggestion was greatly opposed by the Malays. As a result, he resigned as President in 1951 and established a new party that is Parti Kemerdekaan Malaya (IMP).     From Umno to IMP to PN   IMP failed to work in the country’s political landscape, thus resulted in Onn establishing a new organisation called Parti Negara (PN). PN participated in the Election in 1955 but failed to win even one seat, but that did not disappoint Onn. 1959 saw Onn back into the national political scene where he entered the General Election. This time, the collaboration between PN and PAS saw PN winning four DUN seats in Terengganu while Onn won the Kuala Terengganu Selatan parliamentary seat. In Terengganu, PAS had 12 DUN seats, PN, 4 and Perikatan, 7. Based on his seniority, Onn was appointed as the opposition leader although PN only had a single parliamentary seat. During that time, the opposition was represented by notable leaders such as Dr Burhanuddin Helmy (PAS), Dr Zulkifly Ahmad (PAS), Khadijah Sidek (PAS), Ahmad Boestamam (PRM) and Dr Seenivasagam (PPP). His leadership stands in Parliament. He championed the education issue as he was the founder of RIDA. Besides that, he also criticised some clauses in the Internal Security Bill 1960 (ISA) as there is some clause that repressed freedom of expression, arguing that the clauses are unconstitutional.     Political Tsunami   Sadly Onn’s political career was brought to a close in 1961 by way of unscrupulous tactics used by his Perikatan adversaries. Three of PN State Assemblymen was ‘bought’ by Perikatan. They were offered business opportunities during a meeting with Dato’Abdul Razak (the then deputy prime minister and later prime minister of Malaysia) and, before long, the three were declared as Umno members. That marked the end of PN’s struggle in Terengganu. He was also rejected by the people of Terengganu for the reason that he was not a native of the state and that he did not understand the state of affairs there. At that time, state sentiments were very strong among its peoples. Dato’ Onn Jaafar passed away on January 18, 1962 at the age of 67 due to diabetes and heart disease.     The Real Fighter of Independence   Many Malaysians may think that Onn was the cause of the spilt in Umno. But for me, Onn had contributed a lot towards achieving this nation’s independence. He was the one who opened the door for this country to achieve its independence from the British colonialists. To me, Tunku Abdul Rahman’s assumed the role of continuing Onn’s plans which had been delayed. Abdul Rahman merely provided a roof to a house that is near its completion. The biggest contribution of Onn’s, who came to be known as the ‘Pioneer of Independence’, for me, is that he managed to fight off the Malayan Union. MD

PKFZ: Ling wants cabinet papers declassified

Hafiz Yatim
Sep 3, 10

Former Transport Minister and MCA president Dr Ling Liong Sik has applied for the case against him to be transferred to the High Court in Kuala Lumpur.

His lawyer KK Wong, who had also represented political analyst Abdul Razak Baginda in the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case, said he had written to the Attorney-General's Chambers on Sept 1 to transfer the case under section 418(a) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

"We want the prosecution to consider our application," he said.

Under that section, the prosecutors and the attorney-general have the discretion to transfer a case to the High Court before the trial commences.

Like in the Anwar Ibrahim sodomy II trial, the prosecutors, led by solicitor-general II Mohd Yusof Zainal Abiden, applied that the case before the Sessions Court be transferred to the High Court.

It is certainly rare, and possibly the first occasion, in which the the defence has applied to the prosecution for a case to be heard before the High Court.

Wong replaced Ling's previous counsel, RR Sethu. Dressed in a dark blue blazer, Ling turn up at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya wearing his trademark smile.

Defence wants papers declassified

Ling, 68, was on July 29 charged with misleading the cabinet between Sept 25 and Nov 6, 2002, into agreeing to purchase 999.5 acres of land on Pulau Indah for a project, now known as PKFZ, at a price of RM25psf on a deferred payment basis over a 15-year period, at a 7.5 percent interest rate.

The cumulative interest paid would total RM720 million at the end of the repayment period. This charge is under Section 418 of the Penal Code. Ling was also offered an alternative charge, under Section 417, for the same offence.

Wong also told the court they have also applied for cabinet minutes papers and also cabinet committee papers and post-cabinet papers, to be declassified and copies to be given to the defence.

"We hope for cooperation from the prosecution to get the required documents under section 51 of the Criminal Procedure Code," he said

As the charge involved minutes of cabinet meetings that were listed as confidential under the Official Secrets Act, the documents have to be declassified for the parties to have copies and prepare their defence.

Wong also applied for an early mention date for his application for the documents.

It is learnt that the defence had, in the past few days, received some documents but the cabinet minutes sought were not included.

Wong has also applied to interview some of the prosecution witnesses before the trial begins, in the presence of the investigating officer.

The lawyer asked for an early hearing date be set "as this is a case of public interest".

DPP: Documents will be declassified if tendered

DPP Dzulkifli Ahmad and DPP Manoj Kurup, representing the prosecution, raised no objection to the short mention date but noted that a lot had been asked for by the defence.

"Furthermore, we are also involved in the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) case (in Shah Alam)," Dzulkifli said.

Dzulkifli, who is head of the Property Forfeiture Unit in the A-G's Chambers, confirmed that they had received Ling's application for the case to be transferred to the High Court.

"However, I have to stress that the application, made under Section 418a, is under the discretion of the prosecutors," he said.

On the application for the documents to be declassified, Dzulkifli said whatever the prosecution intended to tender would be declassified and it would hand over copies to the defence, as rightfully requested under section 51 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Following this, he applied for a date for the prosecution to get back on the application made by the defence to transfer the case to the High Court.

Sessions judge Suzana Hussin fixed Nov 30 for mention.

Malaysiakini

Ling puts Govt in tight spot

Liong Sik puts government in tight spot — Clara Chooi

September 03, 2010

SEPT 3 — When Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik was hauled up to shoulder a chunk of the blame for the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal, his persecution was viewed as a whitewash to take the heat off the real perpetrators.
During mention of his case in court today however, the former Transport Minister showed that in no way was he ready to go down alone.
When his case was called, Dr Ling asked for the Cabinet documents on PKFZ to be declassified, a move that will surely put the present administration in an uncomfortably tight spot.
Dr Ling’s lawyers pointed out in court today that the documents were necessary for the defence to prepare its case.
They asked that all Cabinet documents on the project, like the Cabinet meeting minutes, Cabinet committee meetings and post-Cabinet papers, all under the Official Secrets Act 1972, be declassified.
With so much public scrutiny on the scandalous multibillion ringgit PKFZ failure, the Najib administration is now faced with tremendous pressure to reveal the documents.
Doing so however, may only open up a can of worms, one that was kept successfully sealed shut and gathering dust all these years. More bigwigs may finally be hauled up to face the music along with Dr Ling who has been seen so far, as the government’s scapegoat to close the books on the scandal for good.
Outside of court, Dr Ling also cleverly told reporters that he would “definitely” be found guilty for his cheating charge if his former boss, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said so.
In the same breath, Dr Ling thanked the former Prime Minister for his “generous offer” to testify in his trial and at the same time, also said that if Dr Mahathir were to testify that he had cheated the Cabinet, then he would indeed be guilty.
In saying so, Dr Ling appears to be making room to share some of the limelight with Dr Mahathir, who had at first kept conspicuously silent after Dr Ling’s arrest.
Now, the onus seems to rest more on Dr Mahathir instead of the court, to determine Dr Ling’s guilt.
When he was questioned during the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) probe last year, Dr Ling had also said that it was Dr Mahathir himself who had been in charge of overseeing the PKFZ’s land valuation.
Now, since Dr Ling is facing cheating charges for purportedly misleading Dr Mahathir’s Cabinet into approving the purchase of land for the PKFZ project, his testimony last year may likely come in handy.
During the same probe, Dr Ling’s secretary-general in the Transport Ministry Zaharah Shaari had also gone on record to say that the land acquisition had been made in full knowledge of the Cabinet.
Zaharah had also mentioned that Dr Ling was aware that the government would have saved over RM600 million if the land had been acquired in accordance with the Land Acquisition Act 1960 and had apparently spoken about the matter to Dr Mahathir.
Although everything now hinges on the truth of these few testimonies, there is already a strong enough doubt cast on the case.
Should the government be willing now to agree to the declassification of the Cabinet documents, it could, above all things, determine if the testimonies above were somewhat true.
Should this bid be rejected however, it would only serve to exacerbate the already escalating suspicion that Dr Ling’s persecution was merely a part of the Barisan Nasional government’s well-manufactured strategy to close the books on the PKFZ and paint the administration, under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in a good light as effective graftbusters.
MI
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or newspaper. The Malaysian Insider does not endorse the view unless specified.

Samling Connection

Samling at ‘Epicentre’ of Sub-prime Crash!

Friday, September 3rd, 2010 GM

Samling - extracting the wealth of Sarawak

Samling, the giant logging company owned by the timber tycoon Yaw Teck Seng and favoured with numerous timber licences by the Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, was at the heart of the housing bubble that led to the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the world economic crash, according to our exclusive research.
We have established that Mountain House, a major new-town development in San Joaquin California, currently labelled as the ‘epicentre’ of the housing crash, was a Yaw family project.
How US ‘Dream Homes’ became ‘Mortgage Nightmares’
Started in 2001, Mountain House was originally advertised as “The Town of Tomorrow” and ”The American Dream Made

Samling - Investing in Mountain House, California

Reality” with houses selling for over $800,000, mainly through sub-prime mortgages.  But, in the aftermath of the crash, the part-built project has been abandoned by the original developer and the town has been identified as the most “underwater” community in America, with over 89% of the properties now worth far less than the amount of money borrowed to buy them.
The prices of these houses are now half what they were in 2006, leaving buyers in a repossession nightmare.

From environmental devastation in Sarawak to economic devastation in the US

Dream homes dived from over $800,000 to under $400,000

Samling’s extraordinary involvement at the centre of the world’s greatest financial scandal was the culmination of years of massive investment in real estate across the United States, according to our research.  This investment came out of the profit from logging in Sarawak under heavily criticised permits granted by the Chief Minister and Resources Planning Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud.
Following last week’s condemnation of Samling Global by the Norwegian Government as an ‘unethical’ company, involved in ‘illegal logging’ and ‘environmental devastation’ in Sarawak, we reported how a Yaw family subsidiary, CSY Investments, had passed two multi-million dollar mansions to the Taib family in Seattle, in what appeared to be an unrecorded property tranfer linked to a US $1 dollar Quit Claim deal.
‘Unethical’ and over in the US

Sunchase specialise in 'Master-Planned Communities' created from 'distressed real estate assets'

We can now further reveal that CSY Investments formed just part of a multi-million dollar web of Yaw-owned companies in the United States, primarily involved in property development.  These companies were subsidiaries and affiliates of SunChase Holdings Inc, a California registered company incorporated in 1988 by Chee Siew Yaw, a son of the Samling boss.

With Chee S Yaw as its original President and Chief Executive, SunChase Holdings has been involved in a number of massive land-deals across the USA, including  “the largest real estate partnership ever formed with the U.S. Government”, according to its own publicity. 
The registered shareholder of SunChase Holdings was, until recently, Universe Limited, a Liberian company, which according to an investigation by the US Securities and Investment Commission (SEC), was ”controlled by Hiew Tek Seng and the Yaw family, all citizens of Malaysia”.  The   companies and subsidiaries linked to SunChase Holdings are mainly operated out of Phoenix, Arizona.

Chee S Yaw - youthful entrepreneur with deep pockets

Deep pockets that fuelled the Housing Bubble
SunChase Holdings has clearly been exceptional among United States development corporations in possessing an extraordinary level of shareholder capital from the very beginning.  Straight after graduating from California State University,  Sacramento, with a BSc in Real Estate, Land Use and Finance in 1986, the youthful Chee S Yaw immediately demonstrated his access to enormous sums for investment.
One his first subsidiary ventures was Trimark Communities LLC, set up in July 1988, with himself as President.  This became the company behind the disastrous Mountain House town project.  Documents released by San Joaquin County state that between 1990 and 1992 Trimark bought over 70% of the 7.8 square mile site outright and began seeking approval for an approximately half billion dollar development project comprising the largest housing scheme in California.

Business Partner - The US Federal Government

Approval was finally granted after two decades of lobbying and in the face of lawsuits filed by the State Department of Fish and Game over environmental concerns (environmental battles being nothing new for  Samling).  Meanwhile, SunChase had impressed the authorities with numerous other grand-scale projects in which it played the main investor. The company claims it specialises in building ‘large-scale, master-planned communities’ and ‘managing distressed real estate assets’ (repossessed property).
In particular SunChase emerged as the top bidder for Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) land auctioned off by the  US Federal Government in the aftermath of the Savings and Loans crisis of the late 80s.  The National Land Fund set up partnerships between the Government and private investors to take control of  billions of dollars worth of ‘distressed real estate assets’ offloaded by troubled lending companies, usually at rock-bottom prices.  Sunchase was the biggest private investor in the scheme, obtaining $2 billion of assets, according to the company.
A Federal Audit Report issued in 1999 confirms,  ”In April 1993, the RTC selected SunChase Holdings, Inc., as the winning bidder for five of the six pools of assets offered in the National Land Fund I initiative”.
Indeed, Sunchase currently boasts:

 ”The company is proud of its heritage as the managing general partner in the National Land Fund, the largest real estate partnership ever formed with the U.S. Government”.

American Dream turns to a nightmare with Samling

Computer generated - the commercial centre not yet built

Mountain House finally gained planning permission on the basis that it promised to create a sustainable, self-contained new town that would create sufficient jobs for its inhabitants.
The original county Master Plan promised affordable housing to meet the Bay Area housing crisis, together with retail and business outlets.  But from the start sceptics pointed out that the project looked more like a ‘get-rich-quick scheme’ by the developer with little provision for real employment.
Indeed, the promotional material by Trimark Communities clearly targeted the aspirations of middle-class Californians looking for grander accommodation in an area of housing shortages.  The company marketed Mountain House, as the American Dream in the Town of Tomorrow, promising traditional-style, detached houses built around 14 separate ‘village’ settings, each with a school, leisure centre, open spaces and commercial heart for business enterprises.  Although the San Joaquin authorities had understood that houses would be priced around an affordable $200,000, the demand for grander homes and the availability of dubious lending mechanisms and sub-prime loans meant that prices before the crash in 2007 were topping four times that amount.

Road to nowhere - Mountain House, Samling's California New Town

Within weeks of the crash all had changed. 16,000 houses were supposed be built, providing accommodation for 44,000 people, in the most ambitious development project in California for decades, but as the lending market collapsed, the Yaw family pulled out. Trimark Communities was dissolved in California and Chee Siew Yaw has returned to the Far East, claiming that he divested all his US interests in 2006.  As a result, Mountain House has been left part-constructed and famous for being the repossession capital of the USA.
The main losers in the disaster have been the thousands of buyers who lost their their homes and the California Public Employees Retirement Scheme (CalPERS), which had invested heavily in the project on behalf of its future pensioners. CalPERS  is believed to have lost $926 million of the value of its orignal $1.2 billion investment in the project.  Those people who have remained in Mountain House have found themselves paying huge mortgages on low-value properties in a part-built town. According to one description:

 ”Landscaped lawns face fields of weeds. Sheep graze on the future golf course. While two schools [out of  a promised 14] have been built and a third is under way, there’s just one retail business, a convenience store. The closest supermarket is five miles away. A multimillion-dollar bridge — designed to link the southern and northern halves of town — has been fenced off. It’s our bridge to nowhere”.

Bridge to nowhere

So, like the indigenous people of Sarawak, the people of Mountain House are now living with the devastation wreaked on their lives by Samling.  According to one, ”all they did was build as many houses as they could as quickly as possible to cash in on profit before the bubble burst”.

Samling back in Sarawak
In 1991 a study by the World Bank concluded that only a fraction of the possible revenue that could have been raised from timber was coming to the State of Sarawak.
The problem was described as a major ‘leakage of public resources’, which explains why the people of Sarawak have received few benefits from the loss of their valuable rainforest and remain among the poorest in Malaysia.  Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud has signally failed to rectify this problem of disappearing assets, meanwhile Samling has developed the resources to become one of the major players in United States real estate.

Beaten unconscious and left pregnant - this teenage victim blames loggers

The company has been notorious for its ruthless and unsustainable practices in Sarawak, as detailed by the Norwegian government report.  Licensed by Taib, it has ripped out vast tracts of the world’s most ancient rainforest, leaving the indigenous people with little or no compensation.

These forced acquisitions of Native Customary Rights Lands have recently been ruled illegal by the Federal Malay Court, but neither the company nor the Chief Minister Taib Mahmud have chosen to notice.
Just this week Samling demonstrated familiar ruthless tactics when managers were reported to have threatened native leaders to withdraw the numerous complaints of rape against women and young girls in the company’s concession areas, or else they will end all transport links.  Taib’s government has likewise refused to investigate the reported crimes, despite widespread evidence and several independent reports.

Road blockades are no match for Samling as they target the last remaining trees in the 130 million year old rainfores (the oldest and most bio-diverse in the world)

Lately, the company, backed by armed police, has torn down  more road blockades set up by the beleaguered Penan tribe (who are Asia’s last jungle nomads) in an attempt to protect their few remaining square miles of virgin forest and key hunting grounds.  Samling are now boring into the region, which the Penan recently proclaimed as a protected Peace Park
Finally – Sterling Pacific Assets
Interesting questions still surround the transfer of the Yaw holdings in the United States. Following Chee S Yaw’s pronounced divestment of his US assets, Sunchase Holdings was transfered to the current ownership of Sterling Pacific Assets Inc (California).
Yet Sterling Pacific Assets was already part of the SunChase Group and had previously been described as ” an affiliated professional services company” in Sunchase promotional material. The 100% shareholder of Sterling Pacific Assets of is one of the SunChase’s own company Directors, William A. Pope, who joined the Management Team in 1990, two years after the Yaw family established the company.  Nevertheless, the SunChase website currently implies that it was he who formed the company. 

Lost rainforests of Sarawak

Notably, in spite of the takeover, SunChase Holdings Inc is still run out of the same offices and by the same Management Team established by Chee Siew Yaw before his abrupt departure in 2006.  The circumstances that enabled a member of the Management Team to buy out such an enormous multi-million dollar company remain unclear.
Sarawak Report and doubtless the people of Sarawak, would be interested to know whether the Yaw family do in fact retain an interest in SunChase Holdings in the USA.  Given the controversy surrounding the legality of the timber licenses issued by the Chief Minister, there is the likelihood that future enquiries that might result in the restitution of some of Sarawak’s lost profits from its many timber concessions.  SunChase Holdings in the United States might be a good place to start looking.
Sarawak Report