Taib had made provision for a group of selected stooges from Murum and elsewhere to be allowed inside the conference to give an impression of native support.

However, at least 300 demonstrators had made their way to Kuching to protest outside and they claim that it is they who represent the majority of their people and they demanded to know why they too have not been allowed representatives to attend the International Hydropower Conference?

Baram’s contested seat

Thanks to today’s protest International delegates from the dam building industry can no longer be in any doubt that if they get involved in SCORE they are betraying the ‘Sustainability Protocol’ they claim to uphold.

This Protocol requires proper information for and consent from native communities affected by dams; proper environmental assessments and an overall consensus that there is no sensible alternative to a dam being built.

None of this has been achieved with any of Sarawak’s dams so far, including the Murum Dam now completing construction.

To the contrary, Taib’s extraordinary SCORE programme is being pushed through against massive native opposition and with no justification other than that the Chief Minister reckons it is a pretty fine way to get even richer than he already is.

Richard Taylor, the Executive Director of the International Hydropower Association comes out to say he is ‘listening’ 

The dispute over the results in the Baram seat at the recent election is also a heightened embarrassment.

Taib will want to tell delegates that he won this seat and that this shows the popularity of his projects.  However, everyone in Malaysia knows Baram is the most disputed of the marginal seats that are now coming under scrutiny for blatant rigging earlier this month.

Usual intimidation by riot police, but the occasion passed off peacefully

This rigging concern comes on top of the existing gerrymandering and the refusal to enfranchise well over half the population in key areas and also after the outrageous bribery of impoverished voters.

Despite such disadvantages and the iron control of the media and all government employees by BN, the Baram count was first won by the opposition candidate Roland Engan.

Engan had fought his anti-dam focused campaign against the huge power and wealth of BN in this enormous seat, where government types travel by helicopter while the rest struggle about in longboats or on useless state roads.

But after the initial declaration in favour of Engan, the far too familiar scenario of lights going out in counting centres and disputed counts set in.  Eventually, lo and behold, when the lights came on and the ‘confusion’ cleared, Engan was judged by BN’s tame Election Commission to have lost Baram after all, by Malaysia’s slenderest majority of 198 votes!

Baram is one of the key seats that is due to be contested by PR in court and the full details of this particular scandal and of Taib’s overall handling of elections in his rural seats will come under scrutiny then.

Read more at: http://www.sarawakreport.org/2013/05/protestors-make-their-voice-heard-at-hydro-power-conference/ 

We salute the tireless efforts of politicians and civil society leaders at the forefront of this push for change. Many of them travelled the length and breadth of this country, keeping an insane schedule for the past few months just to make themselves heard at the hundreds of ceramahs or rallies across this nation. It was almost a superhuman effort. Though they have lost the battle to take Putrajaya this time, they are still heroes of this struggle for a better Malaysia.

But this struggle is not theirs alone. Throughout these last few years and especially in the last few months in the run-up to the 5th of May, it has been my absolute privilege to have served together and to have known ordinary Malaysians from all walks of life who shares a common passion for this country. To me they are no less heroic in their efforts and their sacrifices are no less significant. I want to sing the praises of some of these unsung heroes of GE13.

• Felicia is a Malaysian who has lived in Singapore for many years, never registered and never voted before. Just after Parliament was dissolved and election called, she checked her voting status at the SPR’s website and found herself registered not only as a voter but as an advance voter in Putrajaya. Not wanting anyone to cast her vote on her behalf, on 28th April, the day advance voters were supposed to vote, she got into her car very early in the morning and drove the 340km from Singapore to Putrajaya to cast her vote by 9am and then turned around and head back to Singapore.

• I met Boon at the campaign office of a candidate. He has volunteered himself to help out with some of the administrative stuff there and we got talking. I found out that Boon and his family have been living in the UK for many years but have keenly followed the political developments of Malaysia and decided to fly home with his wife to cast their votes, for the very first time.

There were probably thousands of folks just like Felicia and Boon, Malaysians who live and work overseas who came back to vote. Some thoughtless individuals might have considered these overseas Malaysians unpatriotic but I challenge them to find me more committed people than these, who came home at great personal expense to cast their one vote. For them it was more than a vote but a stake in the future of this country, a country they love.

• When the call went out for volunteers to serve as polling and counting agents, literally tens of thousands of Malaysians came forward to be trained and deployed on Polling Day to do their part for a clean and fair election. Many came out with no expectation of payment and if they received any allowances for their services, they donated back these allowances. Money cannot buy such people and they can’t be bought, they are priceless.

• Thanks to the news of foreigners being flown in to vote in our election, thousands of citizens came forward to volunteer as election observers or as “ghostbusters”, standing guard under hot sun or rain outside polling stations. At several of the polling stations I visited that day, I saw between 30-50 residents standing outside their own polling stations until polling ended and for some, they followed the ballot boxes all the way to the main counting centres. All this they did on their own accord without anyone telling them what to do.

• Ariff and his friends were one of those who stood guard outside a main counting centre. At around 10.30pm they saw a taxi bringing in additional ballot carriers with a uniformed but unnumbered policeman in it. They stopped the taxi and challenged the legality of such last minute additional ballots. The taxi turned around and sped off with them in pursuit by foot.

• In the early hours of May the 5th, a factory manager in Johor found out from his HR manager that 100 of his foreign workers were not turning up to work. They told the HR manager that their agent was coming to fetch them to collect ICs so that they could vote. The factory manager rushed to the police station to make a report and with the report he managed to stop the workers from voting. But he didn’t stop there. He made copies of the police report and pass it to as many election observers as he could find so that they would be on the lookout for foreign voters. A true patriot!

• Ben and his wife went to cast their votes early and decided to stay back to help those who were queuing up to check their salurans (channels) number. They told those who already knew their numbers to go straight to join the queue at the saluran so as to save some time. But their efforts to help were not appreciated by the SPR officer-in-charge who insisted that all must check for their salurans before queuing again to vote. They were ordered to leave but they remained outside the school gate to continue assisting those coming to vote till the end of polling at 5pm.

• I know of a young man whose life was miraculously saved from the burning wreckage of his car seconds before it exploded on 8th April. He was hospitalised for more than 3 weeks and still suffered serious spinal injuries when polling day came. He insisted on casting his vote and was wheeled from the hospital to the polling station to cast his vote for change. A life spared, a vote counted.

Read more at: http://thomasfann.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/the-unsung-heroes-of-ge13/ 

Pre 505, umno bn leaders including the caretaker PM, Najib, have claimed that voters need not have to change the federal government cause umno bn can change themselves if voted in. Many have seen through this lie and the popular votes proved it. Umno bn did win the GE 13 but what are we seeing now post GE 13? They have indeed changed, not for the better but even worst.

Read more at: http://ousel.blogspot.com/2013/05/open-letter-to-those-bn-elected-members.html 

1. Malaysia is one of the last countries in the world to implement a full fledged value-added tax. The only countries of note that have yet to implement a VAT are the United States, Hong Kong, Brunei, and the countries under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Everybody else either has it, or are implementing it.
2. Malaysia currently levies two forms of consumption tax – sales tax and service tax (henceforth SST).
3. Sales tax is levied on all goods sold or produced in Malaysia, with the exception of petroleum and exports. The current standard rate is 10%, but a lower rate of 5% is applicable to fruits, certain foodstuffs, timber, building materials, cigarettes and tobacco, and liquor and alcohol.
4. Service tax is applicable to restaurants, hotels, parking lots, golf courses, clubs, discoes, insurance agents, phone companies, professional services like accountants, lawyers and consultants, and many more at a rate of 6%. Some of these services require a minimum corporate income threshold before the tax is levied. Credit cards are also subject to a service tax, but in this case it’s a flat fee levied on principal and supplementary cards.
5. GST is going to replace both these two taxes (with the possible exception of credit cards), and from which certain essential goods will continue to be excluded i.e. zero-rated (exports, petrol and basic foods for instance).

So, let’s assume that a 7% rate will be implemented:

1. For food, the tax on basic staples will go from 5% to 0%.
2. For other foods, the tax rate will go from 10% to 7%.
3. For the “sin” goods, the tax rate will increase marginally from 5% to 7%.
4. For everything else, the tax rate falls from 10% to 7%.
5. Certain other goods, like books and petrol, will continue to attract no tax.
6. For services, the rate will increase from 6% to 7%.

When the basic tax rates on most goods at point of sale are set to fall, how on earth can this be inflationary?

Both in theory and in practice, the implementation of a VAT or an increase in the VAT rate is almost always accompanied by a one time increase in the price level (cost of living), but not the rate of price increases (inflation). There are umpteenth examples of this over the last couple of decades.

In Malaysia’s case however, GST will be replacing a pre-existing tax and at a rate that is lower than the prevailing rate. Under those circumstances, the impact should be a one-time decrease in the price level, not an increase.

The regressive nature of GST is completely irrelevant in this discussion, because we’re replacing one regressive tax with another, and moreover one that is proven to be more efficient in raising tax revenues.

Almost all the gains in revenue collection from the switch to GST from SST will come from enforcing tax collection across the chain of production and distribution of goods and services, and not an increase in the overall tax burden to consumers.

Again, how can replacing SST with GST be inflationary?

Read more at: http://econsmalaysia.blogspot.ae/2013/05/gst-and-inflation.html?spref=fb

sect or doctrine. The OIC could perhaps set up a task force that will examine the Sunni- Shia divide in depth and submit concrete proposals for the political and religious leaders of the ummah to act upon.

Read more at: http://letusaddvalue.blogspot.com/2013/05/sunni-syia-message-of-peace-by-tun-dr-m.html 

Although MCA president Chua Soi Lek has firmly denied speculation of the party selling off its assets, among which The Star is a prize item, for its political and financial power, it is still an open question as to whether the MCA’s ownership of the paper is becoming a drag on the paper and its commercial success. [No sale]

Raja Petra Kamarudin at Malaysia Today had speculated yesterday that the MCA would suffer the fate of Umno after its deregistration and rebirth as Umno Baru in 1989, and become subject to asset-stripping by its taikos.

RPK had named the Star’s chairman, Fong Chan Onn, executive deputy chairman Vincent Lee as among those most likely to lead any such shuffling of MCA assets. [RPK]

Speculation about a possible sale of MCA holdings in property and investments (the MCA building in Jalan Ampang, Menara Multi-Purpose in Capital Square and others) arose after the party's drubbing at the general election on May 5. Only seven of its candidates were returned as MPs, and 11 as state assemblymen in its worst electoral performance.

Soon there was further talk of giving up the ghost and liquidating the party's assets.

The Star is a prize asset, together with its minor publications and three radio stations. The party’s 42% stake in Star Publications, the publishing company, bring in tens of millions of ringgit in annual dividends.

Declining value of Star shares

There is also the prospect of making capital gains — but any fire-sale of the investment in the Star would result in a massive loss. The MCA paid RM1.2bln to take over the Star stake from Huaran Holdings, the party’s investment arm. At its current trading price of RM2.60, the party’s 313mil shares have a market value of just over RM813mil — RM400mil less than it paid for the stake.

That decline in value is also reflected in the Star’s loss of credibility among the politically aware, robbing the the MCA of any advantage it might have had from the Star’s reach into the hearts and minds of the Malaysian Chinese electorate, and Malaysian society as a whole,

The market has shifted. The Star’s core readership of middle-class Malaysians in urban centres turned its back on the Barisan Nasional and the MCA at the general election, and there is increasing criticism of the paper’s sycophantic coverage of the MCA.

There is generally lacklustre coverage of opposition politics (but even that is criticised by pro-Umno bloggers and brings rebukes from Barisan Nasional flunkies at the PM’s Department).

The Star is thus caught at a crossroads, damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Coverage of opposition politics, especially of the DAP, brings swift complaints from MCA and Umno politicians. Critical coverage of opposition politicians brings swift condemnation from readers and calls for a boycott.

In the Star newsroom, as well as newsrooms elsewhere, are a large number of journalists who would be personally predisposed towards the opposition, for much the same reasons the urban middle-class rejected the Barisan Nasional at the elections: out of sympathy for the underdog, out of disgust with the oppressive and over-the-top racialism of Barisan Nasional politics, as well as professional disgust at having to give a professional gloss at propaganda.

(However any disgust at giving a professional gloss to the commercial propaganda that fills most of the other pages is mitigated by an innate sense of survival.)

Read more at: http://uppercaise.wordpress.com/2013/05/22/the-star-sellout-mca/ 

Kemerosotan sokongan masyarakat Cina kepada Barisan Nasional (BN) pada PRU-13 amatlah ketara. Di bandar-bandar besar, sokongan mereka merosot serendah 10%. Akibatnya, walaupun berjaya mengekalkan kuasa di peringkat pusat, prestasi BN kali ini lebih teruk dari prestasi terburuknya sebelum ini (2008). Jika pencapaian buruk PRU-12 dijelaskan dengan ‘tsunami politik’, kemerosotan pencapaian BN PRU-13 dikaitkan dengan ‘tsunami Cina’.

Biarpun ungkapan ‘tsunami Cina’ benar dari segi statistik, olahan media perdana bersifat reaktif dan emosional. Ungkapan tersebut diolah bagi meluahkan rasa kecewa kepimpinan BN terhadap kaum Cina. Artikel-artikel akhbar  seperti , ‘Apa lagi Cina mahu?‘, dan komentari-komentari PRU-13 di television – semuanya menuding jari kepada kaum Cina, seolah-olah kaum cina adalah punca kemerosotan sokongan rakyat kepada BN

Selaku kerajaan, tindakan menyalahkan segmen masyarakat yang tidak memberikan kemenangan yang diingini, menonjolkan ketidak-matangan kepimpinan (apatah lagi jika disusuli dengan penindasan seperti yang dilakukan kepada rakyat Kelantan selama ini). Ia juga menyerlahkan hipokrasi slogan 1Malaysia. Adakah polisi ‘segalanya’ 1Malaysia itu hanya untuk meraih undi? Dan, tidakkah ia hipokrit apabila undi yang diraih tidak ’1Malaysia’, semangat 1Malaysia yang dilaung-laungkan hilang entah ke mana?

Pengolahan ungkapan ‘tsunami Cina’ juga bersifat provokatif. Ia membakar sentimen perkauman; menakut-nakutkan masyarakat Cina dan menaikkan kemarahan masyarakat Melayu. Bukankah ini tindakan provokasi yang mengancam ketenteraman awam? Bukankah kerajaan BN dahulu yang memberi jaminan keamaan semasa dan selepas proses pilihanraya?

Pelik jika diteliti perilaku pemimpin-pemimpun BN. Sikap mereka dilihat sama-sekali tidak konsisten, sebelum dan selepas PRU. Puncanya – tidak lain, tidak bukan, hanyalah kerana sistem ‘pecah dan perintah’ tinggalan penjajah yang diwarisi dan diguna pakai kerajaan selama ini, hampir-hampir digagalkan pada PRU-13.

Persepsi salah mengenai aktivisme Cina

Penulis berpeluang berkerjasama dengan aktivis-aktivis Cina sepanjang tempoh kempen PRU-13. Apa yang penulis saksikan, pergerakan aktivisme Cina ini cukup berbeza dari persepsi orang Melayu terhadap mereka.

Dari sudut demografi, aktivis-aktivis Cina ini adalah dari golongan pertengahan dan majoritinya dari golongan muda. Mereka terdiri dari pemilik perniagaan kecil seperti pengusaha kedai komputer dan butik pakaian, dan juga mahasiswa. Mereka adalah golongan majoriti Cina yang rata-rata berfikiran sederhana dan tradisional. Mereka bertutur dalam bahasa Cina sesama sendiri, tetapi memilih untuk menggunakan bahasa Melayu apabila bergaul dengan orang Melayu.

Mereka bukanlah tauke-tauke kapitalis yang licik menipu orang Melayu. Perlakuan dan karakter mereka tidak ubah seperti mana-mana kelas pertengahan; tidak kiralah orang Melayu, atau orang putih, mahupun orang Afrika – ‘simple-minded’, rajin bekerja dan suka berjenaka. Walaupun penguasaan bahasa Melayu mereka ditahap memalukan (selaku rakyat Malaysia), usaha bertutur dalam bahasa Melayu, lebih-lebih lagi golongan muda, boleh diberi pujian.

Read more at: http://secebiswaras.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/sistem-pecah-dan-perintah-yang-hampir-hampir-terkubur/ 

A little country off in Southeast Asia, Malaysia is a developing country with great economic potential. Malaysia boasts a variety of natural resources, including rubber and timber. It is a leading exporter of electrical appliances, palm oil, and natural gas. There is high hope that the country can take advantage of its valuable resources and transform itself into one of the leading economies in Asia.

Unfortunately, for decades, political corruption has eaten away the country’s resources and halted the country’s steady economic progress. Corruption in Malaysia takes many forms, from graft to cronyism to bribery.

For instance, two years ago in what was dubbed as the Cowgate scandal, a cabinet minister redirected almost RM 250 million (US$82 million) in agriculture sector development funds to her own family. The funds were intended to “help transform Malaysia’s cattle and beef industry” and reduce Malaysia’s dependence on beef imports. Despite the well-documented graft and public outrage, the politician still holds a senior position within the dominant party of the ruling coalition, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).

In April 2013, the Global Witness, an international nongovernmental organization that specializes in cracking down corruption related to natural resource exploitation, unlocked a scandal in Sarawak, one of Malaysia’s 13 states. The organization videotaped a top state official agreeing to and even encouraging a number of illegal transactions involving the purchase of local land by foreign investors. Sarawak, despite having “some of the world’s largest tracts of tropical forests,” remains one of the poorest states in Malaysia.

This bribery case again shows the lack of proper management of Malaysia’s resources. Transparency International, an independent organization that calculates a Corruption Perception Index (CPI) for most countries and ranks them, shows that Malaysia’s CPI has not declined much. CPI scores ranges from 0 to 10, with 0 being highly corrupt. Between 1995 and 2012, Malaysia’s lowest score was 4.3 (2011), the highest score was 5.3 (1995), and 2012 recorded a 4.9. So while statistically significantly lower scores have been visible in recent years, a true trend of improvement has yet to emerge consistently.

If government officials’ focus is personal enrichment rather than promoting public welfare, the failure of Malaysia to achieve its full economic potential comes as no surprise.

Read more at: http://blog.chron.com/bakerblog/2013/05/whats-the-problem-malaysia/ 

-  Two DAP election candidates in Bentong have now stated that there was no power blackout in Bentong, contrary to postings on Facebook during polling day on Sunday. In addition, Tenaga Nasional had also denied that there was a power cut or power failure while counting was going on. Wong Tack, the environmental activist who sought election on the DAP ticket as MP for Bentong, made a Facebook posting today denying the alleged blackout. He wrote: “Dear all: There was no black-out in Bentong main counting center (Dewan Jubli Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah)

- Ketari DAP assemblyman Lee Chin Chen said, “There was definitely no blackout

- Anwar masih meneruskan dengan 505 Blackout Rally walaupun isu blackout telah dinafikan sendiri oleh 2 calon DAP di Bentong

2. Fitnah Bangla

- Serdang DAP MP Dr Ong Kian Ming now wants to personally meet Chua Lai Fatt and apologise to him and his family for the accusation.Chua, it turned out, is of Indian parentage but adopted by a Chinese family in Klang who gave him that name.When contacted by The Star, Chua declined to be interviewed.“I want to stay away from the media spotlight,” he said.Dr Ong had used first-time voter Chua as an example when he questioned the Election Commission on allegations that the Government had issued MyKads to foreigners on May 4, the eve of the general election.He has since made an apology in the Chinese media over the accusation.The Chinese papers quoted him as apologising to Chua for wrongly accusing him of being a foreign voter in GE13.“I found out why Chua has a Chinese name. I feel very sorry.“I apologise to Chua and his family members,” said the DAP representative, adding that he hoped to personally extend his apologies to the voter and his family.

- KUALA TERENGGANU: Seven men were roughed up during polling day at SK Ladang here after supporters of a political party accused the group of being “phantom voters” from Bangladesh.Police said three of them were held captive until the end of the polling period and were not able to cast their votes. The bullied group, of Indian ethnicity and locals, had studied at a university here previously and were registered voters in Kuala Terengganu. (Seven Malaysians Voters Assaulted After Being Accused As Foreigners)

- CEO Air Asia Tony Fernandez turut menafikan bahawa Air Asia membawa sebanyank 40 000 Bangla dari Sarawak ke Kuala Lumpur dan juga mencabar BERSIH Ambiga untuk menunjukkan bukti dan sehingga ke hari ini Ambiga tidak menjawab cabaran Tony Fernandez.

- AirAsia Group CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes has challenged Bersih co-chairman Datuk S. Ambiga to investigate whether they (AirAsia) had organized charter flights to cater for ‘phantom’ voters.Fernandes, in his Twitter, said for greater transparency, official representatives from Bersih and Pakatan Rakyat are welcomed to check on this issue.He said it is not an issue at all.In his tweet, he said: “No issue at all. Ambiga can come herself. RT @esKahn @tonyfernandes cool. for greater transparency, how about allowing official reps from Bersih and PR to check?”

3. Isu Popular Vote

- Sistem pilihan raya di Malaysia tidak berlandaskan kepada popular vote ( sistem sama yang juga diamalkan oleh Amerika Syarikat )

- Sistem pilihan raya dalam DAP sendiri juga tidak mengamalkan popular vote ( Lim Guan Eng tidak pernah mendapat ranking tertinggi daripada DAP top 25 voting system )

- Umno secured 29.3% or 3,241,286 popular votes and won 88 federal seats, leaving the second biggest party, the DAP far behind with 15.7% or 1,736,267 popular votes and 38 seats.

- In Terengganu, BN won 265,195 votes and Pakatan won 264,465 votes for state seats while in Kedah, BN won 447,198 votes while Pakatan won 440,701 votes for state seats.BN recorded significant wins in Sabah, Sarawak, Johor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Pahang and Perlis.

- Pakatan Rakyat only won popular votes in Selangor , Perak , Penang , Kelantan and Kuala Lumpur

Read more at: http://1sya.com/?p=6430 

I consider myself a patriotic Malaysian who loves the country. I used to stand up for the National Anthem (even when it sounded on TV!) during my school days. I volunteered to join the army medical corps as an army doctor serving in the jungles of Sabah and Sarawak.

Malays who came from Indonesia and Thailand, relatively recently, have become bumiputeras (sons of the soil) with special privileges. It’s OK.

Malays say they are a superior race with superior religion. It’s OK.

The Malays say “leave the country if you don’t like the government”. It’s OK. I am not leaving.

The Malays say their ancestors defeated the Chola and Paandya Empires and chased them out of the Malay peninsula. It’s OK. I wasn’t born then.

A Malay will serve beef when I go for a gathering (taboo to us Hindus), but I cannot serve pork in the presence of a Malay – it will become a national issue. It’s OK. I respect their religion.

The Chinese have higher rates for goods and lower qualities of products for us Indians compared to their fellow Chinese. It’s OK. There are not many Indian businesses anyway.

My so-called Chinese friends refuse to sell properties to me even if I am willing to pay a higher value because I am Indian. It’s OK. I cannot force them anyway.

When my family enters a swimming pool, most of the Chinese (esp. the less educated) will scramble out of the pool – and I am not bad looking. It’s OK. We can have the pool to ourselves. 

Read more at: http://uppercaise.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/malaysian-indians-a-tolerant-lot/ 

Read more at: http://kosongcafe.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/what-could-happen-when-malay-boycotts.html