Economy is not doing well - prepare for the worst

The Malaysian economy is not doing well, at least from the perspective of a layman. He is being hit from all corners by inflation, higher fuel price, high interest rate and surging utilities.

Prices of essential goods are going up, daily. So what is going down? The answer is prime minister Abdullah Badawi's popularity. The high hopes placed on him for his transformational potentials is declining.

His neo-liberal economics is heading nowhere. A vicious circle of high inflation, a drop in consumption, reduced business confidence and untimately more people will lose their jobs. Like it or not, we must pray hard for the American economy because if it were to crash, Malaysia will be hard hit and we will suffer.

Abdullah is also no longer immune from accusations of cronyism as his son Kamaluddin and son-in-law Khairy expanded their influence in the business and political arenas.

It is time for Mr Nice Guy to be bold in fulfilling his reform agenda to rescue himself or else he will be booted out, with or without, the "superficial" support of his Cabinet ministers, Barisan Nasional elected representatives and Umno.

Is Khairy Jamaluddin responsible for the Mahathir-Abdullah tiff?

After reading my postings on the Mahathir-Abdullah tiff, reader "Tahirmas" suggested that there is a hidden agenda behind it. Being a staunch Umno supporter, Tahirmas is worried stiff that if unchecked, the tiff may lead to the split of the party worst than the power-struggle in mid-1980s. He also strongly believed that, somehow, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi's son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin had a role to play.

As an Umno member Tahirmas should know that each and every Umno leader, be it at branch, division or higher levels, would like to be seen publicly as "close" to Khairy, it is to their political advantage. They would be happy to invite Khairy to officiate functions hosted by them, be it political, social or otherwise. Behind Khairy, it is the opposite.

I am not supporting Khairy but to blame him, who is as old as my first-born son, is unfair. At Tahirmas' suggestion, I managed to pick up from malaysia-today's "The Khairy Chronicles" to give some insight about him.

Khairy lives life under a microscope and the fascination people had about him means he is unable to make the slightest move without somebody, somewhere, reading into it and making interpretations about it. Often these interpretations are helpful but sometimes they may be very detrimental and negative to his image. Even the most innate praise heaped upon him by his admirers could be seen to have ulterior motives, which in turn generate nausea among the general public.

Yes, he has been cushioned from major attacks by his father-in-law (Abdullah Badawi) and has so far had a smooth ride. So have his friends who have been given the fast track to the higher reaches of government, politics and corporate world. They are leaders of an opportunistic band.

Some of Khairy's friends have been useful in giving him advice on how to spin an image, yet they themselves have had little experience in addressing the problem of how to maintain their image. Take for example former journalist and group editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times, Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan, who many believed, was trained by Singapore's Special Branch, who fancies himself as Khairy's mentor. He often tried to "sell" Khairy even when it is not necessary to do so. Almost inevitably every meeting with foreign journalists and government leaders, he mentions Khairy before mentioning Abdullah. As a result, people believe, rightly or wrongly, that Khairy, and not Abdullah, runs the government. Kalimullah does not help by putting Singapore Special Branch-trained sycophants in charge of NST and Berita Harian.

(Kalimullah failed his Security Vetting by the Malaysian Special Branch and was deemed not fit to serve as the Press Secretary to the then Deputy Prime Minister Ghafar Baba. Somehow, the same authority "cleared" him when Abdullah takes over the leadership from Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He was first appointed Chairman of Bernama, the government news agency, and later as group editor-in-chief of NST.
Today, Kalimullah is a multi-millionaire.)

One of Khairy's traits is to favour foreign journalists against local ones. Khairy is more comfortable in addressing the Singaporean, American and Australian journalists who in the past have been full praise for him. To them, Khairy spills more beans.

To me, Khairy's days are numbered. Abdullah Badawi in on his way out and without Abdullah, Khairy will be back as a "nobody" politically, economically as well as socially. That is the circle of life.

Anwar Ibrahim wants Pak Lah to answer

Former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim said prime minister Abdullah Badawi must respond to Dr Mahathir Mohamad's criticism against national policies administered by the current government.

Anwar said while Abdullah may have the liberty to ignore Mahathir on personal issues but he cannot ignore allegations concerning the economy, corruption, the media and the judiciary.

"As a responsible leader, I urge him to respond. He must do it clearly because the people must know the truth. The people must be given the chance to evaluate the authenticity and the veracity of these assertions.

"He cannot ignore this. He must deal with it otherwise he cannot have the moral claim of confronting these issues head on as he had made before," Anwar added.

Among the allegations made by Mahathir are abuses of the Approved Permits (AP) (by Rafidah Aziz) and the selling of motorbike firm Agusta by Proton for RM4 to a 2-euro Italian company.

Anwar also said that little has improved since Mahathir stepped down.

"Unfortunately, under Abdullah nothing seems to change. There is no direction. Apart from the impressive rhetoric and pronouncement, I see no implementation. So certainly the present condition is certainly not satisfactory."

"For the people's benefit, Umno leaders must do the necessary to stop corruption, ensure a free media and continue the reform. If you have a problem with the agenda of the people, talk to them," Anwar said.


WHY DID'NT THEY RESIGN BACK THEN? ASKS MAHATHIR

Meanwhile, Mahathir said that ministers who disagreed with him during his tenure should have voiced their opposition and resigned then.

"They are saying it's a collective responsibility. So it means the cabinet reversed the very decision they agreed to before.

"Now, they have a new leader, they disagree. If they did not agree before, tell me and resign but they did not," he added.

"Those who disagree with me (for speaking out) say "Dr Mahathir has no right to talk', and 'don't disturb others' - that's all they keep saying."

Mahathir said he would keep pushing for answers over the irregularities in APs, the management of Proton, the selling of Agusta and the scrapped bridge.

Prayers in memory of Imam Sheikh Ahmad Bajunid (1913-2006)

Special prayers (Tahlil) was held at the Almunauwir Mosque, Kelawai, Penang on Saturday May 27. It was led by Imam Sayed Othman bin Ali Aidid followed by a religious talk (Tazkirah) by Habib Ali Zainal Abidin Binhamid and the recitation of the Ratib Haddad.

PM ABDULLAH NOT MAHATHIR'S FIRST CHOICE

Former Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has openly admitted that Abdullah Badawi was not his first choice to take over the leadership when he stepped down in 2003 after helming Malaysia for 22 years.

Mahathir conceded that he could have made the wrong decision and indirectly said that he regretted picking Abdullah (over Najib Tun Razak - S Imran).

"I have made many blunders in my career. I have helped many people up only for them to stab me in the back. I am in the habit of choosing the wrong people," Mahathir told a press conference at the Perdana Leadership Foundation office in Putrajaya today (Wed. June 7.

"I chose him and I expect a degree of gratefulness," he said.

When asked whether Abdullah had stabbed him in the back, Mahathir said: "Minor bruises" and added that one could not tell exactly what a person would do after he is out of your control.

"So I thought I made a good choice."

Mahathir's statement would most probably be missing from the pages of local newspapers and broadcasting stations. But, it is a clear signal that he is not happy with Abdullah's performances as prime minister.

Most political observers believed that Abdullah would be a one-term prime minister and the power struggle in Umno is clearly written on the wall with Najib Tun Razak preparing a strong team to take over the reins of the government and Umno.

I strongly believed that in the coming national elections four Peninsular Malaysia states would fall to a united opposition coalition headed by the Peoples' Action Party (PAP) namely Negri Sembilan, Selangor, Perak and Penang. The dissatisfied non-Malay voters (Chinese and Indians) previously loyal to the Barisan Nasional coalition would shift their support to the opposition.

DRB HICOM PAYS RM300 MILLION TO GET APPROVED PERMITS

DRB HICOM, a government-linked company, paid more than RM300 million to two individuals (AP Kings) in order to get Approved Permits (APs) to import cars.

"That is wrong," says former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

He did not named the two individuals but it is understood that he was referring to the two AP Kings closely associated with Rafidah Aziz, Minister of International Trade and Industry (MITI). The two are Syed Azman Syed Ibrahim, a former army major, and his business partner and former MITI officer, Haniff Abdul Aziz.

"I knew something was going wrong, and nobody was willing to say anything," Mahathir said at a talk with 100 Malay professionals, a recording of which was made available on DVD by the Institute of Economic and Political Studies (Ikape), the organiser of the talk held last December. Ikape is headed by former New Straits Times (NST) editor-in-chief Abdullah Ahmad or Dollah Kok Lanas (DKL).

Mahathir said everybody was silent and willing to allow something that was wrong to go on and on. So, he said, he had to come out with a public statement despite his resolution not to comment about the government.

"This is a kind of abuse of power and doing something that is against national interest. I cannot accept that a minister should give to somebody he or she knows so much wealth, and I'm learning a little bit more everyday, for example, I knew that DRB HICOM (in order) to get APs to import cars, they have to pay more than RM300 million to two people up front," Mahathir said.

He said if DRB HICOM is not a bumiputera company and therefore, is not entitled to APs then it should not get an AP at all.

"But to say that it it not a bumiputera but it is alright for DRB HICOM to get the AP if it goes through these very important people - they have to pay money up front. That, to me, is wrong. I wouldn't say it is corruption or whatever, because that is very difficult.

"What disappoints me is that in Umno itself, there is no willingness to criticise something that is obviously wrong. And if I may say so, because this is the leader of the Wanita (Rafidah Aziz), Wanita has got no opinion whatsoever, never said one word against the boss," he added.

Mahathir said during his time, people criticised him. Umno people criticised him and they even stood against him, to topple him, but nowdays, "when you see something obviously wrong, and you refuse to stick your neck out to be chopped, I think you have ceased to become a real political force. So you have to take risks."

Mahathir said he has taken risks before. He was referring to the time when everybody refused to say anything against the first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, Mahathir stuck his neck out and he was chopped. He was thrown out of Umno.

"So if you want things to be right, you have to take the risk. But what I see now is a desire to avoid risks at all cost even if the country goes to the dogs, that's alright as long as I'm safe. That's something that I regret. I thought that some people would support me when I talked about the AP issue."

Nice to be back

Imam Sayed Othman bin Ali Aidid leading tahlil prayers for Almarhum Imam Sheikh Ahmad Bajunid at the Almunauwarah Mosque, Kelawai, Penang followed by tazkirah by Habib Ali Zainal Abidin Binhamid.


Habib Ali Zainal Abidin Binhamid (right)


Imam Sayed Othman (left) and mosque chairman Sayed Muhammad Alhadad (right)

I was away for 10 days attending four wedding receptions and a "tahlil" prayers in the north. It is unfortunate that I left my laptop at home and thus unable to surf the net.

I was in Penang and attended the tahlil prayers for my religious teacher, Imam Sheikh Ahmad bin Othman Bajunid, who passed away at 93 years-old early last month. The special prayers was held on 27th May at the Almunauwarah Mosque, Kelawai Road where the Imam led prayers for some 63 years.

The following day, I joined the Aljunid family and friends for Mawlid and then the wedding reception of Sayed Khalid bin Sayed Alwi Aljunid at Kampung Sayed, Burma Road.

On June 1, it was all the way to Arau, Perlis for another wedding reception. In fact, it was a double-wedding hosted by Sayed Mohamad and Sharifah Maznah for daughter Sharifah Maisara and son Sayed Salahuddin.

On June 4, two wedding receptions in Kedah. The first was hosted by Syed Muhammad bin Hussein Alhabshee and wife Sharifah Halimah binti Sagoff Alsagoff at Kepala Bukit, Gurun and the second at Jalan Kuala Kedah hosted by Sayed Ibrahim Barakhbah and wife Sharifah Hasnah Alhabshee.