[PRESS STATEMENT] On The Economy (TPPA, GST and Budget Deficit) And Crime

PRESS RELEASE

19 JUNE 2013

I cautiously take note of the announcement by Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak of the formation of a committee that will focus on reducing the national budgetary deficit to 3% by 2015. An economic undertaking of that feat could have easily been achieved through strict economic governance and transparent government procurement without the need for any new taxes or cutting of essential government expenditures with direct impact on the people’s livelihood.

Unfortunately, Dato’ Seri Najib continues to govern behind a veil of secrecy. There is a growing concern over his cabinet’s conduct on the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) negotiations precisely because of his administration’s refusal to be transparent and inclusive during the negotiations. In fact, much of the financial burden that adds up to the ballooning national budgetary deficit also originates from his unsound vote-buying schemes that cost the public billions of ringgit in the last general election.

The BN government must not drag the public to cover for its economic incompetence and policy shortfalls. Any attempts to introduce a new Goods and Services Tax (GST) albeit in stages to reduce the budgetary deficit will be resisted much in the same force that the people had resisted electoral fraud. I maintain that GST can only be introduced if the average level of income of common Malaysians have risen significantly over a period of 5 years, in comparison to the low 2.6% average wage growth achieved in between 2000 and 2010.

Dato’ Seri Najib’s does not have the full legitimacy in terms of popular votes, and he has not been able to deliver the most basic of his economic promises since being sworn in recently. The fact that his administration struggles to reduce car prices as promised in his manifesto exemplified the incompetence and hopelessness of his administration.

Dato’ Seri Najib has also failed to deliver on his promise to provide affordable and livable housing for the people. We shall track the BN government’s performance on public housing closely and will consider it a failure if he cannot bring down the average prices of mid-range housing by at least 10% in the next one year.

Crime

The public is alarmingly concerned with the escalating crime rate especially violent crimes. It is not in our place as public officials to blame the concern on misperception as safety and fear are all a question of perception. Clearly, there is a serious credibility issue engulfing our police force that continuously dilutes the public’s confidence in its ability to provide safety.

Pakatan Rakyat can contribute constructively to allay the public concern. I offer Pakatan Rakyat’s full assistance to the police force to work together in engaging the public to bridge the growing gap between credibility and perception with the real and honest work that the police has been putting. I will table to the Pakatan Rakyat leadership that a committee made up of Pakatan Rakyat and Barisan Nasional representatives is formed immediately to work with the IGP and his officers to address the concerns over safety.

Finally I urge Dato’ Seri Najib to meet the 3 demands put forth by the people’s movement and allow for the peaceful gathering in Padang Merbok on 22 June to proceed smoothly.

ANWAR IBRAHIM

Di Jakarta, Anwar Ibrahim Cerita Kecurangan Pemilu

Pemimpin oposisi Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, bertandang ke Indonesia. Dalam kunjungannya di Jakarta, Anwar mengundang sejumlah media di Hotel Crown, Ahad, 16 Juni 2013, untuk berbincang soal kecurangan pemilihan umum di Malaysia yang diselenggarakan April lalu.

Anwar menceritakan “serangan” partai koalisi pro-pemerintah, Barisan Nasional, yang digawangi Partai UMNO, terhadap kelompok oposisi, Pakatan Rakyat. Saat masa kampanye, kata Anwar, partai oposisi diserang melalui media massa yang dia klaim sudah dibeli oleh partai penguasa. “Selama 24 jam kami diserang melalui siaran di televisi, isu-isu diembuskan,” kata Anwar.

Contohnya, menurut Anwar, adanya isu jika Anwar Ibrahim terpilih sebagai perdana menteri, ia akan mengkristenkan Malaysia. “Bagi masyarakat yang tahu isu itu bakal ketawa, tapi masyarakat yang di pedalaman banyak yang termakan, mungkin mereka khawatir,” ujarnya.

Lantaran partai penguasa menguasai media massa, kata Anwar, partai oposisi tak punya sarana kampanye. Satu-satunya cara kampanye dengan menyebar pamflet. Namun upaya ini sering kali menuai petaka. Beberapa kader Anwar ditangkap polisi saat menyebarkan pamflet tanpa tuduhan jelas. “Setidaknya ada 25-30 anak muda kami ditangkap,” kata Anwar.

Kecurangan berlanjut hingga pemilihan umum tiba. Anwar mengaku menemukan praktek politik uang saat pemilihan umum berlangsung. Dia menemukan sejumlah masyarakat mendapat duit 500 ringgit. Dia juga menuding Komisi Pemilihan Umum Malaysia tak netral sebab terlalu membela partai penguasa. Dia menyebut KPU Malaysia tak profesional. Sebagai contoh, tak ada pengawasan yang jelas saat pemilihan dan penghitungan suara dilakukan, sehingga rawan terjadi kecurangan.

Bahkan Anwar menyebutkan bahwa tinta tanda peserta pemilu dipalsukan KPU Malaysia. Tinta yang seharusnya permanen diganti menjadi tinta biasa yang mudah dihapus. “Bahkan lucunya di tengah pemilu ada yang mati lampu, ini, kan, rentan kecurangan,” katanya.

Akibat kecurangan itu, partai penguasa dinyatakan menang. Sementara data yang Anwar punya menyatakan partai oposisinya menang lebih dari 50 persen. Anwar dan partai oposisi berjanji tetap kukuh mempertanyakan pemilihan umum Malaysia. Dia meminta lembaga pengawas pemilu Malaysia untuk mengusut dugaan kecurangan ini. Termasuk meminta pejabat KPU Malaysia untuk lengser dan bertanggung jawab. Berita internasional tentang Malaysia lainnya klik di sini.

http://www.tempo.co/read/news/2013/06/16/118488655/Di-Jakarta-Anwar-Ibrahim-Cerita-Kecurangan-Pemilu

http://anwaribrahimblog.com/

The Opposition's New Mandate

Thousands of Malaysians voted abroad during the 13th general election. Many more returned from Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, London and Taiwan, traditionally places with large numbers of Malaysians, to exercise their right to suffrage on May 5th.

This is a peculiar phenomenon.

Why do Malaysians who have found greener pastures abroad feel compelled to return to the country to cast their ballot? This certainly goes against the thesis of Albert O. Hirshman — who argued in a famous treatise in 1970 that when people have the chance to leave, they will, especially if they have found the entity to be increasingly dysfunctional and inefficient.

 Malaysia, or rather its government, over the last few decades, has certainly manifested such features.

Concurrently, those who decided to ‘stay back’ would attempt to improve the country by voicing out. Be that as it may, those who have left the country are not expected to express their voices anymore let alone to vote. Yet, vote they did.

The quick and short answer to the above phenomenon is that they care. Indeed, not only do they care about the future of their immediate and extended families still in Malaysia, but they care about Malaysia, period.

And that is where Malaysia draws its greatest pride from — Malaysians and their sense of belonging, of camaraderie.

Beyond caring, they also know, through their collective exposure in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, if not as far away as United Kingdom, Japan and Australia, that Malaysia has been back-pedaling, especially on issues like corruption and crime let alone in building a vibrant democracy.

Take corruption, for example. The national debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio at 54 per cent, it is one per cent shy of the constitutional limit; and this figure is a conservative estimate. When one lumps in the debt of the government linked companies (GLCS), often with the element of corruption still at work, the ratio is easily in the range of the mid-70s.

While many do not like to use the B word (i.e. bankcruptcy), the next generation is expected to foot the financial profligacy of the present one. Malaysians abroad share the same concern and anxieties with those at home.

Not surprisingly, up 75 to 85 per cent of the voters abroad, almost without fail, voted for the opposition according to exit polls.

Like the 51 per cent of the people in Malaysia, they chose to throw their lot with Pakatan Rakyat, this despite the fact that Pakatan Rakyat did not have any offices or representatives outside the country.

In fact, one may even wonder if they did so purely to register their disgust with Barisan National, rather than due to any objective attachment to Pakatan Rakyat; a trend that was discernible across all racial groups in urban areas from 2008 onwards.

Even in rural places ostensibly ‘won’ by the government, the establishment is not out of the woods, if ever they can be, due to their indulgent attitude to corruption and sheer exploitation of the natural resources that impacts rural communities directly.

My PAS colleague, Dr Dzukefly Ahmad, noted in a Malay op-ed that of the 11 constituencies with Dayak majority in Sarawak, all of them had experienced a dip of 10 per cent or more in the votes for the government.

This is unprecedented in areas that are customarily the vote banks of the state government. Thus, if Sabah and Sarawak are the ‘fixed deposit’ of the government, the yield is only decreasing, not enlarging.

Yet, this election, has allowed a minority government to be in Putrajaya, the seat of the Malaysian government. Like many in the country and abroad, the opposition is not so much shocked as it is outraged by the ‘enforced limitations’ of the electoral system; some of which are now being legally challenged by Pakatan Rakyat.

The limitations were ‘enforced’ because the Electoral Commission, which was under the Prime Minister’s Office, failed to reform the electoral system in the more than four years available ahead of the recent 13th general election, the ‘disappearing’ indelible ink fiasco included.

Electoral reforms were all the more imperative after repeated rounds of feedbacks from non-governmental groups like Bersih I, II, III, Tindak and Transparency International. But, whether by design or default, they chose to sit tight indifferent to the loud calls for free and fair elections. Even to the extent of allowing tainted electoral rolls to remain on the register, especially in my constituency that is Lembah Pantai.

In moments like these, it is easy to hate the arbitrary nature and high-handedness of the ruling government too. This is all the more the case when the ruling establishment, once again, is showing signs of attempting to remain in power on the sly.

Instead of seeking ‘national reconciliation’ advocated by the Prime Minister, the very first things that the Ministry of Home Affairs and Inspector General Police did was to arrest opposition figures and dissidents. A dragnet was imposed on those who spoke out against the unfairness of the election.

Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, the co-chairperson of Bersih, was right to affirm that “the government has been using words (such as national reconciliation), which it doesn’t even understand”; this when the Prime Minister of Malaysia Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak is also a patron to a Global Movement of Moderates Foundation (GMMF) whose rhetoric is not even echoed by his own immoderate party at home.

But Malaysians near and abroad must not fall into the temptation of blind hate, just as I am reminding myself too. To do so would be to stoop to the level of extreme jingoistic and mirror the narrative of such rabid malicious press likeUtusan Malaysia - the UMNO mouthpiece.

On the other hand, Pakatan Rakyat’s demand for substantive action such as the immediate removal of the Election Commission’s leadership before participating in the Prime Minister’s offer of a Parliamentary Select Committee to manage the Election Commission, which now falls under the Prime Minister’s Department will test the government’s readiness for reforms.

Indeed, revamping the Electoral Commission is urgently needed, especially on boundary redelineation which have to be completed over the next two years which once again will determine the next election’s fairness.

Beyond electoral petitions and all, the opposition has to govern well  in Selangor and Penang, too, without which they would not be able to arrest the growing skepticism of politicians emerging through out the country.

Pakatan Rakyat will continue to push for legislative reform in Parliament, as we have done since Malaysians gave us their mandate. The opposition mandate is to stay vigilant, alert and efficient, even as it is confronting a set of legal electoral challenges. Failure is not an option in the face of an increasingly hawkish and change-resistant minority government of Barisan National.

Indeed our march of history towards democracy will go on even if it is slightly bumpy, facing temporary roadblocks. For a mandate is still a mandate and should be the fodder for continued fortitude, determination and sacrifice for greater democracy in Malaysia.

http://anwaribrahimblog.com/

Weekly Open Market at FELDA Chini4 Pahang

UMNO's arrogance of power will backfire

When Hamlet bemoans “the oppressor’s wrong…, the law’s delay, the insolence of office”, it is a classic case of art imitating life. Except that in our present condition, the powers that be are seeing it fit that life should imitate art.

So, as last week’s events have shown, in re-arresting Tian Chua, Tamrin Ghafar, and Haris Ibrahim just four days after they were freed by the court, the police plainly displayed ‘the insolence of office’ and showed utter contempt to the magistrate who had ordered their release.

Prosecuting them as well as other activists and opposition leaders for activities linked to the “Blackout 505” rallies therefore adds to ‘the oppressor’s wrong’ and nails the lie on Najib’s ‘reform agenda’ so proudly proclaimed not just to the nation but the world at large.

The custodial murders of Kugan, Dhamendran and others speak for themselves in the brutality and horror of the crimes and the audacity of those responsible for the initial cover-up, notwithstanding that some of the killers are finally charged.

Deporting Nurul Izzah from Sabah as if she were a common felon and placing Lim Kit Siang, Ambiga and me on the persona non grata list are yet other instances of the shameless abuse of power. That the bar was subsequently lifted is immaterial because the damage had already been done since she could not be there in time to celebrate a major cultural event with the people of Sabah.

They may claim some ‘technical right’ to arrest prior to charging suspects, power to interrogate, unfettered power for the Attorney General to prosecute whom he so wishes or some legal provision which allows the powers that be to bar citizens from entering Sabah. But when such a right or power is exercised without regard for human dignity, what more for the sanctity of life, it is not rule of law but tyranny and oppression. More profoundly, these acts and many more that have been committed have demonstrated the chilling and insidious consequences of the arrogance of power.

Under what circumstances are we that a mere presumed legal right can be used to justify dumping innocent people in the lockup to spend the night just to make life easy for the police to have them charged before a court of law?

Some will say this is making a mountain out of a mole-hill. But is it? To my mind, this liberty is inalienable and no words suffice to describe its import to the dignity of the person.

King Lear may tell Cordelia: “Come, let’s away to prison; We two alone will sing like birds in the cage” but that’s on a mystical level. And at that stage, Lear’s already insane. You may get used to the damp wall and the hard bed or even the stale bread but as long as your mind is clear, your spirit will never come to terms with the deprivation of your liberty.

In making the needless arrests, and then using the Sedition Act after having promised the nation it would be repealed, Najib Razak has ridden rough-shod over the urgings of the people – of lawmakers, civil society leaders and other community leaders – and have now in one fell stroke sealed the wall of alienation with the people. He’s also proven once again that he is not an honorable man.

That is why the prosecution of P. Uthayakumar for sedition – as well as the others – is significant in showing up the farcical nature of Najib’s government. That the reality never matches the rhetoric; that the promises are left on the wayside; and that when unchecked the ‘oppressor’s wrong’ can multiply many fold, eroding the foundation of our fundamental rights and tearing the fabric of our dignity as free citizens in a sovereign nation.

No doubt by refusing to continue with his defence, Uthayakumar had chosen to take the moral high ground for the cause he believes in and this has landed him a jail sentence far in excess of the supposed ‘crime’. But it needn’t have gone that far had the Attorney General used his prerogative to issue a nolle prosequi, that is, to discontinue the trial.

But all roads to accountability must lead to the man who wants to be Prime Minister. Indeed, “the oppressor’s wrong…, the law’s delay, the insolence of office”, are symptoms of a deep-seated systemic breakdown of the institution of governance.

So, let me remind not just Najib but Mahathir, Daim, the oppressors, and their co-conspirators, the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere…. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Slowly indeed the wheel of karma turns around its axis but those who commit wrongs and injustice will sooner or later be brought to account.

The brazen show of arrogance is matched only by the bias in the handling of real mischief makers, the hate mongers and racist provocateurs. The failure to take action against these criminals speaks one thing and one thing only: that this country has two sets of laws, one favouring UMNO and its cronies and another against law abiding citizens whose only ‘crime’ is to fight for their rights, for justice and for a legitimate government through free and fair elections.

Make no mistake. This arrogance of power will backfire. It will not succeed in dampening the spirit of the people. They can jail us, deport us, intimidate and even humiliate us, but the courage and the will of the people shall never be defeated. That’s because real power resides in the people. As Malcolm X once said, power in defence of freedom and if I might add, of justice and of our dignity, “is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression.”

ANWAR IBRAHIM
6th June, 2013

[PRESS STATEMENT] Nurul Izzah Anwar: Malaysia's Sovereignty Sacrificed for Free Trade?

6 June 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Malaysia’s Sovereignty Sacrificed for Free Trade?

The Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) is a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) initiative involving 11 countries and is currently in its 17th round of closed-door negotiations. Malaysia joined the TPP discussions in October 2010. Unfortunately, in keeping with past traditions, Malaysians including their elected representatives have not been informed of the discussions pertaining to the TPP.

This unfortunate exclusion from discussions, debates or any other form of participation let alone the entire process of obtaining a Parliamentary ratification denies the public their right to oversight and scrutiny of international treaties and agreements – be they bilateral or multilateral – which could affect national interests and sovereignty.

Although the Government is allowed to enter into international agreements and treaties without having to obtain Parliamentary approval, the scale and size of the TPP supercedes any other treaties in the world. Consistent with President Barack Obama’s goal to make it the ‘trade treaty’ worthy of the 21st century, TPP far exceeds the authority and quality of the multilateral agreements already agreed at World Trade Organization (WTO). This in itself should have been a red flag for further caution.

Invariably, we are extremely worried that the Government will sign the TPP agreement without first seeking public opinion, or being attentive to the concerns and sentiments of the people of Malaysia.

While KEADILAN in principle supports FTAs if all stakeholders are involved in the process, alongside Parliamentary review and ratification, all FTAs nevertheless must be premised on “fair trade” principles without compromising the socio-economic sphere, environment, cultural domain, labour rights, public safety and national security. On that premise, we call for a parliamentary expert study group on TPP – formed of Malaysian experts and specialists drawn from around the world – to be immediately convened to look into the nuts and bolts of the FTA.

We have justifiable reasons to be concerned. This is because by joining this trade agreement:-

- TPP confers greater legal rights on foreign businesses than those available to domestic businesses through a clause called the “investor-state” dispute settlement (ISDS) resolution. In lieu of this, we question the motives of the Government for entertaining the notion of joining an agreement that empowers foreign corporations to challenge domestic laws and regulations outside of domestic courts without first exhausting local legal measures. This is especially frightening as it allows foreign corporations to circumvent laws and regulations enacted by our Government in public interest such as those pertaining to natural resource, environmental protection, and health policies.

- TPP contains provisions concerning infringements of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) ranging from basic pharmaceuticals to digital information online. These provisions would result in the increased costs of medicines purchased by our Government, and for the private consumer of medicines. Further, some provisions would hinder privacy, expression and innovation on the Internet as Internet Service Providers (ISPs) would be required to monitor the everyday activity of internet users, and are given the authority to act upon them by means of disabling net access or throttling bandwidth, effectively hindering freedom of speech.

Accordingly, even if we accept TPP, we demand that the Malaysian Government ensure certain safeguards to be in place:-

1) Strengthen our environmental laws to that of international standards to prevent any abuse of our diverse ecosystem.
2) Emulate the international best practices to strongly oppose ISDS, and incorporate these best practices in the Trade Policy Statements.
3) Enact laws to protect the interest of domestic internet users and maintaining freedom of information as long as it does not breach existing security laws.

A study has been made by the Peterson Institute, stating that Malaysia stands to gain huge income gains through TPP. However, the projection has made no attempts to determine the impact of this trade deal on income inequality or environmental sustainability. Hence, we see TPP, and especially the processes leading to its ultimate acession, to be fraught with various social, political and economic risks, which could undermine the very integrity of the agreement eventually.

I will move a motion within Parliament strongly demanding a Parliamentary Expert Group on TPP be convened, with the added caveat that the legislature should be duly informed. This is to ensure the protection of the democratic rights of the Malaysian Parliament, especially in relation to the issue of review and ratification of all treaties.

Indeed, subsequent legislative amendments must be restored in light of this upcoming new treaty of TPP. Our concerns are not trivial. We will not accept the blind faith assurances that the Malaysian Government would perform its duties when they have failed miserably to protect our national interest and sovereignty in the past; including instances such as the territorial dispute cases of Pulau Batu Putih (with Singapore) and Block L and M (with Brunei), the Water Agreement (with Singapore) and the Singapore Tanjong Pagar KTM land deal (with Singapore).

I will further prioritise engagement with representatives from the Chinese, Malay, Indian and Chamber’s of Commerce regarding this matter. We take kindly to the invitation of the US Embassy which stated that they have offered give numerous groups from both business and civil society here in Malaysia the opportunity to be a stakeholder in the negotiations. I fully intend to represent the interests of Malaysians during the upcoming round of negotiations that will be held in Malaysia and will be bringing with me representatives from the respective CCM’s to be stakeholders as well.

This TPP may have been in the spirit of ‘Free Trade’, but is it truly a ‘fair trade’ deal for the citizens of our country?

NURUL IZZAH ANWAR
Member of Parliament for Lembah Pantai
and Vice-President Parti KEADILAN Rakyat (People’s Justice Party)

anwaribrahimblog.com

Istilah "dakwat kekal" tipu pengundi, kata Dr Haron Din

Harakahdaily

Timbalan Mursyidul Am PAS Tuan Guru Datuk Dr Haron Din mendakwa, rakyat khususnya pengundi pada Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 (PRU13) lalu telah ditipu berhubung penggunaan dakwat ‘kekal’.

Katanya, tidak kira pihak mana yang sebenarnya bertanggungjawab dengan dakwat yang tidak kekal itu, namun hakikatnya seluruh pengundi telah ditipu oleh istilah ‘dakwat kekal’ itu.

“Polis mempunyai kapa­siti menyiasat siapa yang menipu siapa dalam kes tersebut. Pembekal mem­bekalkan dakwat tidak kekal sedangkan dinamakan sebagai dakwat kekal. Ertinya pembekal menipu SPR. Kalau SPR memesan dakwat tidak kekal tetapi menamakan dakwat kekal, maka SPR menipu kerajaan dan pengundi.

“Kalau kerajaan ber­pakat dengan SPR meme­san dakwat yang tidak kekal tetapi mendakwa se­bagai dakwat kekal, maka SPR bersekongkol dengan kerajaan menipu rakyat,” ujarnya.

Pada hari pengundian 5 Mei lalu, beliau yang merupakan calon PAS bagi kawasan Parlimen Arau, adalah antara individu yang membuat laporan polis berhubung dakwat yang dicalit ditanggannya boleh tanggal sejurus selepas membuang undi.

Mengulas lanjut beliau berkata, banyak lagi kepincangan yang berlaku sepanjang proses pilihan raya lalu seperti didedahkan oleh banyak pihak.

Sehubungan itu katanya, beliau menyokong se­barang perhimpunan aman membantah penipuan pilihan raya yang dianjurkan di negara ini selagi tidak mengun­dang kepada malapetaka.

“Lagi pun, Islam dan perlembagaan negara membenarkan perhimpu­nan secara aman. Seperti juga kita berhimpun pada hari Jumaat. Itu juga dina­makan sebagai demonstra­si tetapi diadakan secara aman. Sama juga perhim­punan besar di Makkah. Perhimpunan aman saya sokong,” jelas beliau.