BN Johor mula 'terkencing dalam seluar'

Nak kata tak caya, tak boleh juga sebab penulis baru saja balik dari Johor. 21 hari di kampung dan sempatlah pusing separuh negeri Johor. Dan memang sebenarnya UMNO Johor tengah gelabah gila hingga sayap kirinya telah mengadakan satu mesyuarat khas bila mendapat tahu Naib Presiden PAS Salahuddin Ayub akan pulang dan bertanding di negeri kelahirannya dan akan dilantik sebagai MB jika Pakatan Rakyat memerintah. Dan hari ini akhbar Cina pula melaporkan Lim Kit Siang pula akan turut bertanding di negeri UMNO paling kuat di dunia itu.

Walaupun masih di peringkat khabar angin, Barisan Nasional (BN) terutama MCA sudah menggeletar apabila pemimpin popular PAS dan DAP akan bertanding di Johor pada pilihan raya umum akan datang.

Sebelum ini, PAS mengumumkan naib presidennya, Salahudin Ayub akan bertanding di Johor, kini akhbar Cina mula memainkan isu pemimpin kanan DAP pula akan bertanding di Johor.

Akhbar Sin Chew pada 16 April melaporkan bahawa terdapat desas-desus penasihat DAP yang juga ahli parlimen Ipoh Timur Lim Kit Siang (gambar kiri) akan bertanding di Johor sebagai langkah strategik untuk menumbangkan kubu kuat Barisan Nasional di negeri selatan itu.

Selain itu, laman web The Malaysian Times turut melaporkan perkara yang sama bahawa Lim kemungkinan besar bertanding di Kulai atau Labis, kedua-dua kerusi MCA yang kini disandang bekas presiden MCA Ong Ka Ting dan anak presiden kepada presiden MCA kini, Chua Tee Yong.

Bukan itu sahaja, ahli parlimen Batu Gajah Fong Po Kuan yang digeruni di parlimen dan ahli parlimen Serdang Teo Nie Ching turut dikatakan akan bertanding di Johor atas faktor keluarga. Suami Fong adalah setiausaha DAP Johor, Tan Chen Choon manakala Teo sememangnya berasal dari Batu Pahat.

Perkembangan ini telah menakutkan MCA dan sebagai langkah awal, MCA Perak telah mengganggap khabar angin itu seolah-olah betul dan mengeluarkan kenyataan mengecam hasrat para pemimpin DAP terbabit walaupun tiada kenyataan rasmi daripada mereka untuk mengesahkan bahawa mereka akan bertanding di Johor.

“Laporan di Sin Chew Daily (16 Apr 2012) bahawa pemimpin DAP Lim Kit Siang telah berkata bahawa beliau akan bertanding kerusi di Johor pada pilihan raya umum yang akan datang dan DAP secara semula jadinya mempunyai sokongan berterusan daripada rakyat tanpa mengira keadaan adalah bukti keangkuhan mereka.

"Mereka telah mengambil ringan sokongan pengundi dan menganggap pemikiran rakyat sebagai permainan kanak-kanak. Ia adalah jelas bahawa DAP merasakan bahawa rakyat berkewajipan untuk menyokong mereka dalam mana-mana bahagian yang mereka bertanding dalam pilihan raya umum,” kata Setiausaha MCA Perak Datuk Tan Chin Meng dalam satu kenyataan.

Tan turut menyelar DAP, yang dikatakan lupa diri selepas kejayaan pada pilihanraya umum ke-12, dan mula menunjukkan belang dengan menganggap diri mereka boleh menang mudah di mana-mana kerusi yang mereka ingin bertanding.

Tan berkata pemimpin DAP yang digembar-gemburkan ingin bertanding di Johor tidak pernah menyumbangkan apa-apa di negeri itu tidak layak bertanding di Johor.

“Saya berharap rakyat Johor akan berfikir tentang ini dengan sebaiknya. Pengundi hari ini lebih bijak. Rakyat akan memberikan sokongan kepada mereka yang pernah berkhidmat pada negeri dan bukannya kepada selebriti ahli politik yang hanya bertindak apabila ada isu hangat,” kata beliau.

Para penganalisa politik Harakahdaily berpendapat langkah yang diambil DAP itu adalah amat wajar diteliti kerana Umno Johor mula goyah dengan kepulangan naib presiden PAS Salahuddin Ayub, yang mengesahkan akan bertanding di Johor kali ini.

"Jika ada dua tiga lagi jeneral perang daripada PAS dan PKR turut mengikuti jejak DAP untuk bertarung di Johor, BN akan terasa betul-betul terancam pada PRU13 kerana sekiranya Johor jatuh ke tangan Pakatan Rakyat, kemungkinan besar Putrajaya juga akan terlepas daripada tangan Umno," kata mereka.

PKR willing to surrender seats to Sabah opposition parties

KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim declared today PKR's readiness to surrender some of its traditionally contested seats in Sabah to local opposition parties for the coming 13th general election.

According to Bernama Online, the PKR de facto leader said this was to ensure straight fights in all Sabah seats and give the opposition greater opportunity to break into the Barisan Nasional's (BN) east Malaysian fortress.

PKR and Sabah's key opposition party SAPP (Sabah Progressive Party), which is led by former chief minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee, went on a collision course during the Batu Sapi by-election 2010, turning the fight into a three-way contest against BN.

This resulted in the opposition vote splitting between the two parties, launching BN's PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) candidate Datin Linda Tsen Thau Lin to the winning spot with a large vote margin.

But this time, it appears apparent that the Peninsula-based PKR does not want to repeat its mistake in Batu Sapi.

"We (PKR) agree to surrender some of the seats we contested in the previous polls to make way for Sabah's opposition parties, especially SAPP.

"We are also in negotiation with several local political leaders for the same purpose of ensuring one-to-one fights," Bernama Online quoted Anwar as telling reporters today after an economic forum in Tanjung Aru near Kota Kinabalu.

"However, we do hope that Sabah's opposition would also support PR's struggle and not practice state-level politics.

"I myself have observed that the political trend here is more towards Sabah-based politics.

"To PR, what is important is the struggle for the people regardless of race, religion and background," the news agency quoted him as saying.

Anwar however kept mum on the opposition's candidate for the position of Chief Minister in Sabah, only saying that the matter would be discussed between PR and Sabah's local parties "when the time arrives"

The Malaysian Insider reported last month that seat negotiations on the opposition front in Sabah was likely to break down with PR and Sabah-based parties heading on a collision course with one another ahead of an election expected by June.

Separate interviews conducted with each contender for the coming polls indicate that neither side is willing to back down from their demands, although all parties have insisted that their “doors are always open”.

For the local opposition parties, namely SAPP and State Reform Party (STAR), led by political bigwigs Yong and Datuk Jeffrey Kitingan respectively, consensus is only possible if they are allowed to contest the lion’s share of the 60 state seats up for grabs in Sabah.

This, party leaders told The Malaysian Insider recently, is to enable them to push through their “Sabah for Sabahans” agenda, which would see the state reclaim its autonomy.

But for the Peninsula-based PR, largely DAP, all parties should first commit to the federal opposition pact before facing the Barisan Nasional (BN) giants in the polls.

They believe this would strengthen the opposition front in Sabah and on the federal level, as well as help topple the ruling pact from Putrajaya.

For SAPP, the formula is simple — PR contests two-thirds of Sabah’s 25 parliamentary seats while SAPP snaps up two-thirds of the state seats. This, they said, is a win-win formula that would enable all parties to achieve their goals in addition to toppling BN.

Federal seats in east Malaysia’s Sabah and Sarawak are expected to be BN’s focal point come the elections as both states, including the federal territory of Labuan, make up a whopping 57 seats, or 25 per cent of the 222 Parliamentary seats available.

In Election 2008, BN lost its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority largely due to significant losses in the peninsula, where it won just 85 seats while the opposition swept 80 seats.

BN’s saving grace was in Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan where the pact trounced the opposition and made a near-clean sweep, winning 55 parliamentary seats to the opposition’s two.

Today, following numerous MP deaths and defections, BN holds 138 parliamentary seats while opposition parties, including PR’s PKR, PAS and DAP, PSM, SAPP and independents, hold 84 seats in the House. - tmi

Altantuya diberi Visa Malaysia atas arahan siapa?

Pilihan raya akan datang akan bergema dengan isu visa yang diberikan di negara ini kepada Altantuya Shaariibuu untuk memasuki Perancis, kata Naib Presiden PAS, Datuk Mahfuz Omar. "Bapa Altantuya mendedahkan bahawa anaknya itu telah memberitahunya bahawa Abdul Razak Baginda telah meminta bantuan (Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri) Najib (Tun Razak) yang pada masa itu Timbalan Perdana Menteri dan Menteri Pertahanan, dan Altantuya akhirnya diberikan visa untuk pergi ke Perancis dengan menggunakan nama Amina Abdullah," katanya.

Malaysiakini melaporkan, bapa Altantuya, Setev Shaariibuu mendedahkan kesemua itu berlaku antara 2004 dan 2005, sebelum Altantuya dibunuh dan mayatnya diletupkan dengan bom C4 pada tahun 2006.

Mahfuz menegaskan, sekadar penjelasan semata-mata mengenai pendedahan itu adalah tidak memadai dan tidak boleh diterima.

"Kalau penjelasan semata-mata, tentulah Perdana Menteri akan memberikan penjelasan yang menyebelahi dirinya.

"Kalau penjelasannya meragukan sekalipun, media-media di bawah kawalannya tentu akan mencanang-canangkan kononnya itu adalah penjelasan tanpa sebarang keraguan," katanya.

Sebab itulah, kata Mahfuz, pendedahan Setev itu memerlukan tidak kurang dari siasatan sebuah badan bebas yang tidak boleh dipengaruhi atau ditakut-takutkan oleh Perdana Menteri dan kerajaannya.

"Persoalannya, banyak perkara yang berbangkit dari tuduhan itu termasuk elemen jenayah.

"Bila Altantuya diberikan visa dengan menggunakan nama Amina Abdullah, tentulah wujud pasport antarabangsa atas nama tersebut.

"Siapa arahkan pemberian pasport atas nama tersebut kerana Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia tidak mungkin bertindak sendirian tanpa sebarang sebab dan suka-suka memberikan pasport kepada Altantuta dengan menggunakan nama Amina," kata Ahli Parlimen Pokok Sena itu.

Orang yang mengarahkan kesemua itu dan memaksa perkara itu dilakukan, kata Mahfuz, telah melakukan jenayah.

"Kita mahu percaya bahawa Najib tidak terlibat dengan apa jua proses dalam pemberian visa kepada Altantuya atas nama Amina Abdullah.

"Hanya satu cara sahaja untuk kita mempercayainya iaitu dengan menubuhkan badan siasatan bebas untuk menyiasat perkara itu," katanya.

Jika tidak, kata Mahfuz, perkara tersebut akan menjadi salah satu isu utama yang mesti dijawab oleh Najib, terutama dalam pilihan raya akan datang.

"Jika beliau enggan menubuhkan badan bebas untuk membersihkan namanya dari dikaitkan dengan pemberian visa itu, ia boleh mengakibatkan Najib dilihat telah melakukan jenayah.

"Kita lihat sahaja nanti apa terjadi apabila Najib yang dilihat telah melakukan jenayah memimpin Umno dan Barisan Nasional (BN) menghadapi pilihan raya akan datang," katanya.

Malaysiakini melaporkan, pegawai kementerian luar Mongolia hairan bagaimana Altantuya mendapatkan visa itu ketika berada di Malaysia.

Beliau memberitahu, warganegara Mongolia tidak boleh mendapatkan visa untuk memasuki Perancis ketika berada di Malaysia.

Pegawai itu, yang berada di Malaysia bersama bapanya Setev berkata, setiap warganegara Mongolia mesti memohon dan mendapatkan visa asing di negara mereka sendiri.

"Tiada cara untuk sesiapa pun daripada kami mendapatkan visa ketika berada di negara lain.

"Kami akan diberitahu supaya kembali ke negara kami untuk memohon mendapatkannya," kata pegawai yang enggan namanya disebut itu kepada Malaysiakini. - hrkh

Musa’s HK cash set to flood Sabah

KUALA LUMPUR: It will be raining money in Sabah in the next general election and this time it will cover more that just tin sheets, roofings, “instant” jetties, beers and and “RM500 ang pows”. Both Chief Minister Musa Aman and national Umno vice-president Shafie Apdal have opened their personal war chests.

Both are Umno members with significant clout in Sabah. While battling for a Barisan Nasional “win” in the next general election, they will also be fighting for their own personal political survival.

It’s an open secret that Sabah Umno is deeply divided between followers of Musa and Shafie.

While Musa sees himself as a “true-to-bone” Sabahan “wanting” a stop to the legalisation of illegals and further influx, Shafie however has allegedly sold his soul to the opulent-living federal Umno leadership and its pledge to seat him as Sabah’s next chief minister.

For Shafie, this is a battle which he must win to prove to his Kuala Lumpur masters that he is indeed the Borneo “prince” of Umno politics.

Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s not-so-subtle endorsement of Shafie as the next chief minister of Sabah will seal for good Umno’s intentions in Sabah and to some extent its strength in the peninsula.

Under Shafie, Sabah may well leave its doors “permanently” open to more Muslims from neighbouring Philippines and Indonesia as was seen in recent reports of thousands of illegals being given MyKads in Shafie’s Semporna constituency.

In fact, during a trip to Lahad Datu (hometown of Attorney-General Gani Patail) last year, a source told FMT that a commonly asked question when meeting an “arriving” illegal is “are you Muslim?”.

“If he speaks English, they don’t get a letter because it means they are educated and Christians,” said the source.

Najib, Shafie and Musa

That Najib defers to Shafie’s “advice” was stark in the RCI issue.

Following reports that the federal cabinet had approved the setting up of a royal commission of inquiry (RCI) into the millions of immigrants legalised via a dubious project IC scheme in the 1990s, Sabahans had feverishly awaited Najib’s announcement during his visit to Sipitang last month.

But it never happened.

What is known is that Umno warlords from the east coast, where Shafie wields immense influence, had met with Najib secretly the night before the press conference and told him that the legalised illegals were “BN’s fixed deposit and had voted for the party in many elections”.

The day after the “secret” meeting Najib left leaders of the Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties red-faced and embarrassed when he cancelled the press conference and returned to KL.

Among those left standing was Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan, who is PBS president. PBS is Musa’s primary link to the KadazanDusun Murut communities (KDM) at large.

Najib’s about-turn surprisingly riled Musa, who has since thrown his support behind the need for an RCI.

Over the years, Musa has been known to have privately raged over federal Umno’s interference over state issues but the situation has somewhat worsened post-2008.

Umno and its BN partners in the peninsula suffered humiliating defeats in the 2008 general election. Since then the coalition has had to content with the fact that it lost its glint and five states (Perak was wrested back by BN in reverse takeover in 2009).

Unable to bear the drubbing in the peninsula since then and desperately wanting to retain its two-thirds hold in the 13th general election, Umno is pressing down on Sabah and Musa.

And the press-down was and is multi-faceted aimed at discrediting Musa. In each instance, Shafie’s visible and invisible hand was evident.

Last year a new NGO was born calling itself KDM Malaysia. This group is believed to be closely linked to Shafie and the primary mission is to push the Shafie-agenda among the younger Muslim KDMs.

Shafie’s hand

Then came the ruckus calling for Kimanis MP Anifah Aman’s withdrawal from contesting in the Kimanis constituency. Anifah is Musa’s brother and the protest came as a surprise to him. The argument from the protesters was that Anifah was not from Kimanis. The protesters were rumoured to be linked to Shafie.

The drama with Lajim Ukin, Umno’s east coast warlord, was also apparently engineered. Lajim had threatened to defect taking with him “more” Umno leaders. But that matter was quickly settled when Lajim was rumoured to have received a RM150 million road contract.

Then came the RCI drama and revelations that the Home Ministry and National Registration Department (NRD) were issuing MyKads for “free” to stateless children and allegedly others as well.

The location of the distribution was incidentally also in the Semporna parliamentary constituency which Shafie lords over.

Anifah came out slamming the move after a local Bajau native association expressed concerns that its own Sabah-born people were still without identification papers and feared that “new” legalised illegals would take away their “rights” which they are currently enjoying.

And now the latest disclosure by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) that its investigation into alleged Musa’s abuse of power over timber concessions was blocked by family friend Gani has further sealed the views that Najib has cornered Musa.

According to reports, Gani had apparently refused to push the pen on MACC’s investigations into Musa business dealings.

MACC began investigating Musa after an alleged nominee Michael Chia was detained by the Hong Kong authorities at the Hong Kong International Airport in 2008 for attempting to smuggle S$16 million (RM40 million) out of the island. Chia had allegedly told the Hong Kong authorities that the money belonged to Musa.

‘Money coming back’

Later in 2009, PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar in his statement lodged with Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) stated that Musa had “accounts in Hong Kong at UBS AG, Bank of East Asia Ltd, HSBC, Credit Suisse and Citibank”.

He has also revealed that four Musa nominees had been linked to “corrupt and shady practices” involving funds belonging to the Sabah state government and several government-linked companies including Innoprise Corporation Sdn Bhd, Rakyat Berjaya Sdn Bhd and the Yayasan Sabah group.

The ICAC then froze the accounts pending the completion of its investigation.

The investigations were never completed because Gani refused to sign the necessary documents allowing for an inter-country cooperation to solve the case.

Following the statutory three-year limitation, ICAC unfroze the accounts late last year and the money is all coming back in batches to Sabah in time to buy votes in the “mother of all polls”. - fmt

Tunisia : Democracy after secularism

Chicago, IL - In an interview last June, Ajmi Lourimi, a member of the Political Bureau of Ennahda, described the revolution in Tunisia as "a secular revolution. Not a secularist revolution, but secular in the sense that it was neither Islamist nor secularist". This statement suggests that the so-called Arab Spring has scrambled the secularist-Islamist divide. Parties and movements are creating and operating in spaces defined by something else. This is a remarkable development. Whether they succeed or not, these efforts merit the attention of those interested in the political and religious implications of the revolts across the Middle East and North Africa.

It is not easy to scramble deeply entrenched categorisations. They have long histories. At the time of Tunisia's independence from France in 1956, President Bourguiba pursued an aggressive secularisation programme aimed at entrenching his power and currying favour with Western allies. His government sought to imitate Western secularist models by marginalising Islam. Sharia courts were abolished, the Zaytouna (a renowned centre of Muslim learning) closed, headscarves banned, and the ulama debilitated.

"For Bourguiba," one scholar remarked, "Islam represented the past; the West was Tunisia's only hope for a modern future." So while European and American forms of what we know as "secularism" emerged out of political and legal disputes within and between Christian-majority states and societies, in Tunisia secularisation was a state-imposed political project associated with the marginalisation of Tunisian history and traditions. Different trajectories of secularisation carry different political and religious histories into the present.

The rise of Ennahda

Oppositional forces arose, including but not limited to those who later became known as "Islamists". Many Tunisians disliked Bourguiba's enforced privatisation of Islam, autocratic state power, and tacit support for continued European economic and political interests. Opposition culminated in the formation of the Islamic Tendency Movement (later the Renaissance Party, or Ennahda), led by Rachid Ghannouchi.

Who is Ennahda? Can they be categorised as Islamists? Possibly. Secularists? Probably not. Something else? Perhaps.

Ennahda began as an apolitical cultural society. This changed in January 1978 when Bourguiba used the military to crush protesters associated with the group. Combined with the success of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, repression convinced Ghannouchi to relate Islam directly and specifically to the lives of the people. In 1979 he became the leader of the more overtly politicised Islamic Association (Jamaah al-Islamiyya), which developed the concept of a "living Islam" concerned with wages, poverty, workers' rights and national and cultural identity. In 1981 the Islamic Association became a political party and called itself the MTI (the French acronym for Islamic Tendency Movement).

Bourguiba refused to issue a license legalising the party and cracked down hard on its leaders, torturing Ghannouchi and imprisoning him for three years. Severe repression of Islamic groups, symbols and traditions continued, and another violent crackdown ensued in 1987. Ben Ali, like his predecessor, refused to allow the MTI into politics. The party was classified alongside pro-Iranian groups such as Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, and banned.

The modernising autocratic state prevailed, but only in the short run. In January 2011 the Tunisian people forced Ben Ali out of office in response to rampant corruption, economic mismanagement and severe and sustained political repression.

For many Tunisians, "secularism" had long been associated with the attempt by the state to denigrate local conceptions of community and authority and in support of outside interests. Ennahda (the name taken by MTI in 1989) represented an alternative Islamically-oriented vision, standing against historical injustices perpetrated by the regime against its people.

It is hardly surprising, then, that in elections last fall Ennahda secured just over 40 per cent of the Assembly's 217 seats. The three parties holding the largest proportion of seats in the Constituent Assembly are: Ennahda (with 89 seats), the CPR, headed by Moncef Marzouki (29 seats), and Ettakatol (the Rally, headed by Mustapha Ben Jaafar) (20 seats).

But, one might say, Ennahda could still be an Islamist party that threatens democracy. Look at what happened in Iran. Look at the results of the elections in Egypt, in which the Muslim Brotherhood, banned under Mubarak's regime, won the biggest share of parliamentary seats (38 per cent) according to the High Elections Committee. Its Freedom and Justice party (FJP) has named Saad al-Katatni, a leading Brotherhood official who sat in the old parliament as an independent, as speaker of the assembly. The hardline Islamist Al-Nour party came second with 29 per cent of the seats. The liberal New Wafd and Egyptian Bloc coalition came third and fourth, respectively.

There is room for doubt. As Asaf Bayat points out, we should attend carefully to the limitations of Islamist organisations' positions and shortcomings in the areas of individual rights, religious pluralism, and democratic practice, just as we would assess our own parties across the spectrum in the United States or elsewhere. We should be wary of what critics describe as Washington's new "love affair" with the Islamists, and need to engage voices across the political spectrum. Ed Husain is right to point out as he did last week that, "It is essential that the Obama administration continues its interaction with the Muslim Brotherhood while also maintaining relations and support for opposition groups and other political players inside Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood cannot become the new NDP."

'Pull of the possible'

Yet outside actors should also consider what Middle East Report calls the "pull of the possible", and reach out to actors, parties and tendencies that refuse to be defined by the political limitations imposed by a secularist versus Islamist frame. Importantly, such possibilities might be represented not only by Ennahda or the MB, but also among those that do not identify as Islamically-oriented at all but - and this is crucial - are also not averse to working peacefully with parties that do.

Take the CPR. In the Tunisian election, parties that differentiated themselves successfully from Ennahda but said they were willing to work with it. That emphasised the importance of the secular nature of the state while expressing respect or understanding for the religious feelings of many Tunisians, and did quite well. Among them was CPR, a non-Islamic centrist party led by a physician and dissident human rights activist that did not support an anti-Islamist platform. Part of the reason for CPR's success, as Melani Cammett has argued, was a refusal to buy in to the scare tactics employed by other parties against Ennahda, while also acknowledging the revolutionaries' calls for dignity and respect.

Overcoming the urge to classify actors as secularists or Islamists will take some work. The US failed to see the Egyptian revolution coming in part because it followed the lead of the Mubarak regime and divided the world into two camps: radical Islamist threats to the regime and friends of Mubarak (and the US). In failing to gauge the power and position of the majority of Egyptians who did not (and do not) choose to have their identities contained in either of these categories, the US was blind to other political possibilities that were (and are) available, possibilities silenced by Mubarak and kept off the international radar screen by powerful interests in Egypt and abroad.

If interested parties in the region, the media, or the international community re-instrumentalise the secularist-Islamist divide it could jeopardise the long-awaited transition to democracy in the Middle East and North Africa. As Moroccan reformer and blogger Aboubakr Chraïbi insists, "Let's be clear: it is not Islam that is at stake in the revolutions taking place in the Arab world, it is democracy, or more exactly the demand for democracy."

Democratic voices that are non-secular and non-theocratic exist across the Middle East today, and not only in Tunisia. Now would be a good time to listen to what they have to say.

Elizabeth Shakman Hurd is associate professor of political science at Northwestern University and the author of The Politics of Secularism in International Relations.

400,000 pengundi hantu penentu 35 kerusi, kata penganalisis

Lebih 400,000 pengundi meragukan dalam daftar pengundi mampu untuk mengubah 35 kerusi bagi menentukan Pakatan Rakyat (PR) menawan Putrajaya atau Barisan Nasional (BN) kembali memperolehi dua pertiga majoriti di Parlimen, kata penganalisis politik tanah air.

Penganalisis bebas Ong Kian Ming berkata Projek Analisis Daftar Pengundi Malaysia (Merap) yang dijalankannya mendapati terdapat kira-kira 100,000 ribu nama bermasalah dan digabungkan dengan beberapa isu sebelum ini akan “menjadi 400,000 pengundi meragukan”.

Membersihkan daftar penfundi adalah tuntutan utama pembangkang. Dan kumpulan aktivis walaupun BN menegaskan kemenangan PR di lima negeri membuktikan tidak berlaku sebarang keraguan terhadap daftar berkenaan.

Ong berkata kepada The Malaysian Insider, perkara itu “hanyalah sebahagian masalah kecil” daripada pelbagai masalah lain yang belum dapat dikenal pastioleh kebanyakan pihak dengan jumlah pengundi sebanyak 12 juta.

“Sekiranya dibahagikan 40,000 dengan 222 kerusi, dianggarkan sekitar 1,800 pengundi. Ini berupaya untuk menentukan 35 kerusi,” katanya merujuk kepada kerusi yang memperolehi kemenangan tipis.

“Sekiranya sentimen pengundi sama seperti 2008, ini akan menambah 30 kerusi PR, atau lapan lagi kerusi BN untuk memperoleh majoriti,” tambah penganalisis politik ini lagi.

Kerajaan BN hanya memperolehi 140 kerusi, dengan kehilangan majoriti dua pertiga majoriti di Parlimen ketika pilihan raya 2008 termasuk empat negeri, dan Kelantan yang kekal di tangan PAS sejak 20 tahun lalu.

Perikatan itu memerlukan 112 kerusi Parlimen untuk mendapat majoriti dan 148 untuk dua pertiga.

Projek Ong itu turut mengenal pasti 100,000 pengundi dengan 10 isu berkenaan - pengundi berusia lebih 85 tahun, jantina tidak selari dengan kad pengenalan (IC), nama dan tarikh lahir yang sama, dilahirkan di luar negara, pengundi di Lembah Klang yang tidak mempunyai alamat rumah, pengundi pos dengan IC awam, pasangan polis yang menjadi pengundi pos, pasangan polis dan tentera yang mempunyai jantina yang sama, polis dan tentera melebihi had umur persaraan, dan pengundi pos tentera dan polis yang melebihi had umur rekrut.

Namun begitu, menurutnya itu tidak termasuk masalah lain, kerana beribu pengundi didaftarkan pada alamat yang sama dan 42,000 pengundi dengan IC yang tidak ditemui di pangkalan data Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN).

Ong turut menjelaskan terdapatnya bilangan yang meragukan pengundi di Selangor, negeri terkaya di negara ini yang mana Datuk Seri Najib Razak pernah berjanji akan menawan kembali dengan “apa cara sekalipun”.

Tambahnya, daftar pengundi daripada suku 2011 menunjukkan jumlah pengundi di Selangor mengalami peningkatan mendadak kepada 340,000 atau 21.8 peratus kepada 1.9 juta pengundi sejak pilihan raya 2008 dibandingkan kadar nasional sebanyak 16.3 peratus.

Beliau menunjukkan contoh di Hulu Selangor sahaja mengalami peningkatan 17,000 pengundi, peningkatan 27.1 peratus sejak pilihan raya pada Mac 2008.

Kredibiliti daftar pengundi seringkali dipersoalkan sejak Jawatankuasa Khas Piihan Parlimen (PSC) dibentuk pada tahun lepas bagi menambah baik sistem pilihan raya.

Panel itu telah menyiapkan laporan dalam tempoh enam bulan dan menyerahkan laporan lengkap tersebut kepada Parlimen minggu lepas, namun pembangkang dan pertubuhan awam telah mengkritik berikutan terdapatnya kekurangan cadangan bagaimana ia akan membersihkan daftar pengundi.

Pemerhati pilihan raya Bersih kemudiannya mengumumkan akan mengadakan perhimpunan ketiganya menuntut pilihan raya yang bersih dan adil pada 28 April.

Perdana Menteri Najib telah mengumumkan pembentukan jawatankuasa dwipartisan pada Ogos 2011, selepas dikritik hebat berkenaan pentadbirannya menguruskan perhimpuanan Bersih pada 9 Julai yang menyaksikan ribuan rakyat mengadakan protes jalanan. - tmi

Investigate Sabah teacher holding fake IC

TAWAU: The recent exposure of a civil servant in Sabah holding an alleged fake identity card is being held up as an example of the enduring social havoc the state is experiencing since allegations surfaced two decades ago that illegal immigrants had been allowed to make the state their home.

Tawau PKR yesterday urged the the National Registration Department (NRD) to investigate the expose in parliament recently that a senior assistant teacher at a government school is holding a fake identity card.

Branch secretary Gan Chee Chan, said Tuaran Barisan Nasional MP Wilfred Bumburing had revealed details of the case in parliament when he debated the call to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) to investigate the large number of illegal immigrants in the state who had citizenship documents and were registered as voters.

According to Gan, Bumburing had said that the teacher was holding an old IC which actually belonged to a local from Kuala Abai, Usukan, Kota Belud.

“If this is true, what is the action of NRD and the Education Department? If it is not true then clear the teacher’s name,” he said, adding that if it was true, it was astounding that the civil service had recruited a foreigner.

Gan said according to the allegation that had been made public in news portal Sabahkini, the teacher is a DG44 officer with a monthly salary of RM5,963.68 and raised the question of how did he manage to enter into public service without being detected.

“It is strange for a senior officer to still be holding the old IC when every citizen has changed to MyKad. It is also strange that that the Education Department did not query the matter.

“If it is true, it shows how serious the situation is in Sabah as fake Malaysians have penetrated into the civil service and holding senior ranking jobs.

“It is not fair to Sabahans who are already deprived of jobs in the government in the future.

“This incident may also be only the tip of the iceberg,” he warned, adding that despite such regular disclosures there was no sign of any investigation into the root of the problem. - fmt

Labur hasil minyak untuk hapuskan PTPTN

PKR akhirnya membentangkan kaedah untuk menghapuskan pinjaman melalui Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional (PTPTN) yang dijanjikannya, antaranya dengan memperkenalkan pelaburan tetap hasil minyak yang dikawal Petronas sebanyak RM2 bilion setahun.

Pengarah strateginya Rafizi Ramli berkata, jika perkara itu dapat dilakukan, pinjaman sedia ada berjumlah RM24.7 bilion kepada mahasiswa dapat dilupuskan dalam tempoh 15 tahun.

“Selama ini wang Petronas digunakan untuk membayar itu dan ini. Kalau di tempat lain sudah ada tabung khusus untuk dilaburkan untuk pendidikan,” katanya sambil berkata peruntukan undang-undang perlu diperkenalkan bagi tujuan itu.

Bercakap dalam sesi runding cara dengan sekumpulan mahasiswa di Shah Alam malam tadi, Rafizi berkata, apabila Pakatan Rakyat membuat janji itu, ia bukan bermakna ia akan dibayar sekali gus.

“Pinjaman yang dibuat oleh PTPTN pun menetapkan jadual pembayaran mengikut masa tertentu kepada institusi kewangan,” kata pegawai kanan di pejabat ekonomi Selangor itu.

Sementara itu, menurut Razifi, kerajaan juga boleh menerbitkan bon yang lebih panjang tempoh pembayarannya atau menggunakan langkah terakhir dengan membuat pembiayaan semula.

“Beli kereta pun boleh refinance. Ini biasa dalam kewangan, semua hutang boleh refinance paling kurang untuk tempoh sepuluh tahun,” katanya lagi.

'Najib bohong angka RM43 bilion'

Mengulas kenyataan Datuk Seri Najib Razak bahawa PTPTN tidak boleh dimansuh kerana kerajaan perlu RM43 bilion, Razifi menyifatkannya sebagai pembohongan.

Rafizi berkata, angka yang disebut perdana menteri mungkin merujuk kepada jumlah kelulusan pinjaman dan tidak melambangkan nilai pinjaman sebenar.

Dakwanya, setelah menyemak dengan rekod PTPTN sendiri, jumlah pinjaman yang dibayar (termasuk anggaran pada 2011) hanya RM27.5 bilion.

Justeru, tambahnya, jika ditolak dengan pembayaran yang sudah dikutip, hutang yang perlu ditanggung kerajaan hanya RM24.7 bilion.

“Kalau kerajaan tidak mahu maafkan RM24.7 bilion ini, memang betul-betul jahatlah. (Wang negara) lebih daripada cukup,” katanya dengan mengaitkan dengan tindakan 'penyelamatan' Lebuh Raya Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya (Mex).

Tindakan itu, tambah Rafizi masih belum mengambil kira ketirisan yang mungkin berlaku akibat amalan rasuah yang boleh mencecah angka RM40 bilion menurut pakar ekonomi.

“Hari ini saya tidak sebut langsung soal ketirisan. Dalam ketirisan sekali pun kita masih boleh hapuskan PTPTN,” katanya lagi.

Model pembiayaan masa depan

Untuk pembiayaan pendidikan masa depan pula, Rafizi antaranya mencadangkan:

- Kembali kepada amalan sebelum 1996 apabila kerajaan menyediakan sepenuhnya pendidikan tinggi dan tidak bergantung kepada pihak swasta bagi mengurangkan kos pengajian.

- Membina sepuluh buah institut pengajian tinggi awam (IPTA) dalam tempoh sepuluh tahun, dengan sasaran 100,000 tempat, dengan perbelanjaan – termasuk yuran dan tempat tinggal – ditanggung kerajaan.

- Menyediakan tabung pendidikan baru untuk penuntut institut pengajian tinggi swasta (IPTS) dan perbelanjaan sara hidup yang memerlukan pembiayaan lebih kecil.

- Menggalakkan penggabungan IPTS untuk mengurangkan penggunaan pinjaman yang sekali gus boleh meningkatkan daya saingnya dengan IPTA, termasuk dengan pengurangan yuran dan kos pengajian. - mk

Baca seterusnya di sini

Altantuya tunjuk gambar Najib...

KUALA LUMPUR, 10 April: Bapa kepada Altantuya Shariibuu, gadis Monggolia yang mati dibunuh dengan kejam di Malaysia, Setev Shariibuu memberitahu, anaknya menunjukkan sekeping gambar sebelum pergi ke Kuala Lumpur menjelang pembunuhannya. Di dalam gambar itu terdapat tiga orang iaitu Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Abdul Razak Baginda dan anak beliau, Altantuya.

Semasa menunjukkan gambar itu, anaknya memberitahu, dia akan pergi mencari orang-orang ini.

Setev berkata demikian dalam sidang media yang diadakan di pejabat Suaram hari ini.

Suaram adalah NGO yang sedang berusaha untuk membongkar skandal pembelian kapal selam Scorpean di mahkamah Paris, Perancis.

Altantuya dipercayai terlibat dalam pembelian kapal ini sebagai penterjemah. Beliau dikatakan mati dibunuh dengan kejam di hutan dekat Puncak Alam, Selangor.

Dua pembunuhnya iaitu pegawai polis yang bertugas menjaga keselamatan Perdana Menteri telah dijatuhkan hukuman mati.

Mahkamah Perancis baru-baru ini bersetuju membincangkan perkara itu di mahkamah terbuka.

"Semasa kali terakhir sebelum anak saya dibunuh, dia telah tunjuk kepada saya satu gambar.

"Dalam gambar itu ada Najib, Razak Baginda dan anak saya," cerita Setev dalam sidang medianya hari ini.

Namun, gambar itu tidak ada lagi dalam simpanan beliau.

"Jika saya tahu apa-apa akan berlaku, sudah tentu saya akan simpan gambar itu," kata Setev dalam sidang medianya.

Ketika itu, kata Setev, anaknya memberitahu, dia mahu jumpa orang-orang yang terdapat dalam gambar itu.

Setev Shaariibuu semalam bersua muka dengan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak di Parlimen, tetapi gagal berhubung dengannya.

Shaariibuu, yang berada di Malaysia bersama dua pegawai kerajaan Mongolia untuk lawatan tiga hari berkata, beliau melihat Najib ketika menunggu lif di lobi Parlimen.

"Pada satu ketika, pintu lif itu terbuka dan Najib bersama beberapa lagi dalamnya, tetapi beliau tidak keluar dan saya tidak dapat hendak bersalam pun," katanya kepada Malaysiakini melalui penterjemah.

Shaariibuu berkata, ini kali kedua beliau datang untuk menemui Najib selepas cubaan pertama pada 2007.

Shaariibuu hadir ke Parlimen untuk mengadakan sidang akhbar bersama anggota parlimen Pakatan Rakyat bagi menyatakan kekecewaannya terhadap saman sivilnya masih belum bermula walaupun dua anggota polis yang dituduh membunuh Altantuya sudah didapati bersalah dan dijatuhkan hukuman gantung. - hrkh

Bapa Altantuya nafi dibayar agar tutup mulut

Bapa kepada Altantuya, Setev Shaariibuu, menafikan dakwaan bahawa beliau telah dibayar wang supaya mendiamkan diri berhubung kes pembunuhan kejam anak sulung itu. Professor di universiti Mongolia itu menegaskan, beliau tidak menerima sesen pun daripada kerajaan Malaysia.

Beliau berkata demikian melalui seorang jurubahasa dalam sidang media di bangunan Parlimen, hari ini.

Setev mengulas khabar angin yang timbul sejurus selepas seorang tertuduh dalam kes tersebut, Abdul Razak Bagida di bebaskan daripada semua tuduhan berhubung pembunuhan tersebut.

Perbicaraan itu mengemukakan fakta Altantuya telah ditembak mati dan diletupkan menggunakan bahan letupan tentera oleh dua orang pegawai Unit Tindakan Khas pada 2006. - mk

Takde minyak tapi Turki beri pendidikan percuma

Jika Turki yang tiada sesen pun hasil minyak mampu memberi pendidikan percuma kepada rakyatnya, tiada sebab Malaysia yang mencatat untung RM90 bilion setahun dari sumber petroleum tidak berupaya melakukan kebajikan sama.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, berkata Recep Tayyib Erdogan memberi pendidikan percuma kepada rakyat dari peringkat rendah hingga universiti walaupun baru tiga tahun memerintah Turki.

“Bila kita sebut mansuh PTPTN, isu utama yang harus difokus ialah pendidikan percuma untuk semua rakyat terutama golongan miskin. Bukan isu nak pindahkan wang Petronas bayar PTPTN.

“Prinsip asasnya ialah pendidikan percuma dari peringkat rendah hingga ke universiti,” katanya pada dialog bertajuk ‘Pemberdayaan Kebajikan dan Ekonomi Rakyat’ anjuran Pejabat Penasihat Ekonomi Selangor di Subang Jaya 31 Mac lalu.

Beliau mengakui PTPTN adalah isu paling popular yang diaju kepadanya termasuk di facebook dan twitter.

Walaupun PTPTN dimansuh, Anwar berkata, Pakatan Rakyat memberi jaminan tidak akan membuang kakitangan di perbadanan itu kerana mereka akan diserap ke Kementerian Pelajaran dan Kementerian Pengajian Tinggi.

“Walaupun pegawai ramai, kita juga tetap pastikan khidmat atau mutu kerja mereka bertambah baik untuk rakyat,” katanya.

Mengenai pemberian 20 peratus royalti minyak kepada Sabah, Sarawak, Terengganu dan Kelantan seperti yang termaktub dalam Buku Jingga, Anwar berkata ia tidak akan menjejaskan negeri lain.

Ini kerana, katanya, 80 peratus hasil minyak itu mampu menampung perbelanjaan negara dengan memastikan royalti diurus mengikut pengurusan yang baik.

“Keutamaan royalti 20 peratus difokus kepada golongan miskin. Apabila kita menyebut kemiskinan ia merangkumi sama ada Melayu, Dayak, Iban, Kadazan, Cina dan India.

“Pada masa sama, kita memperketat prosedur kewangan selain pengurusannya dijalankan individu yang bertanggungjawab, amanah dan berintegriti,” katanya. - kd