MALAYSIAKINI: Bursa plunges nearly 4%

Malaysiakini reports here about the travails of Bursa Malaysia which saw the KLCI plunge below the psychological barrier of 1,000 points. I don't agree with the report that, Dealers said players were still trying to digest a sudden move by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to hand over his finance portfolio to deputy premier, Najib Abdul Razak, and assuming instead the latter’s defence minister post.

The real reason for the plunge is the fear factor emanating from the semi-bloodbath in Wall Street overnight. This bearish sentiment is across the board throughout Asia. All newswires are reporting this.

I wonder if Malaysiakini will allow this entry to be captured in their data base. I'm saying that Malaysiakini is off-base on this one. Not everything is political, certainly not in this case.

Market turmoil: KLCI falls below key 1,000 level

Here's a sobering perspective on how we can view life, the universe and everything else (to borrow a phrase from Douglas Adams), the KLCI has fallen below 1,000 points as I write this. And, it had nothing to do with whether Malaysian publicly listed companies were doing well or, badly in their day-to-day operations. It has everything to do with a distant land called the United States of America and, in particular, a road called Wall Street.

Throughout the world, in every nation, street and back alley, life carries on unwittingly and inevitably. But the dark clouds gathering in Wall Street affects everyone. The only difference in how it affects us is the degree of it.

While Malaysian political actors go at each other with hammer and tongs, I am very, very certain that many neck-tied stockbrokers, remisiers, fund managers and retail investors are s****ing bricks. To them, the underbelly of life has burst open in the unkindest way possible. Mind you, they are merely in the frontline. The waves will wash all over the Malaysian economy in one way or another. The tempurung is being blown away, no place to hide, no way to ignore.

Such is the nature of globalisation. It stirs bad memories of the past decade, when Malaysia caught a bad flu called the Asian Contagion. The difference today, from that past decade, is that this is a financial pandemic that is taking global proportions. This may be a monster in the making, though I hope not.

Michael Bloomberg's scary caution
New York Mayor and billionaire founder of the financial news behemoth, Bloomberg News, is reported as having just warned that a next wave of financial pain may come from overseas if foreign entities stop buying U.S. debt. Why is the purchase by foreigners of U.S. debt so important? Well, the U.S. Fed cannot be printing money indefinitely. That will cause hyperinflation, of course. It's done by Third World countries. But this is not an option for the world's largest and greatest economy. So, financing the U.S. government's financial ability to arrest the collapse of the U.S. economy, especially financial institutions, is a high priority.

But, here's the dilemma of cause and effect. As share prices collapse in Wall Street, to has an ugly and negative influence on stock markets everywhere else. Wall Street is the barometer of global economic confidence. Forget China. China is light years away from acquiring the pervasive financial influence that the U.S. has achieved over the past half-century.

So, falling share prices wipes out wealth. If a share price falls from RM5 per share to RM1.50 per share, the investor has just lost RM4.50. Poof! Wealth has disappeared.

Absent that wealth outside of the U.S., foreign countries will be that much "poorer" and, therefore unable to have the disposable wealth to invest in U.S. Treasury Bills which will be used to support (or bailout) ailing financial institutions.

Scenarios?
There are too many scenarios to consider. Many of them bleak, naturally. The challenge is now for the U.S. to cushion the economic blows as best it can. At this point, whatever that is good for the U.S. is truly good for the world.

In the context of Malaysia, the key issues will be how the 4.6% GDP budget deficit will be financed; whether Bank Negara will raise the OPR by at least 25 basis points to restore some strength to the battered Ringgit; and, whether economic reforms of any sort are going to be considered. Oh! And, of course, the political thing...

Market turmoil: Did Innovation Cause The Crisis on Wall Street?

This is another interesting piece in Businessweek on the causes of the financial market meltdown taking place in Wall Street. It is written by Bruce Nussbaum. Rather than dwell on the blow-by-blow account of meltdowns; of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (now being given the ghastly twinned name, Frannie; of Lehman Brothers; of AIG; of (maybe) Morgan Stanley; maybe several European financial institutions...which are mere symptoms and outcomes, it is better to focus on the causes. There are economic and regulatory policy implications that Malaysian policy-makers and regulators will, no doubt, be examining (I hope).

As with many other countries the world over, Malaysian securities regulations emulate financial and securities instruments innovated and produced in Wall Street. As gatekeepers, the Bank Negara, Securities Commission and Bursa Malaysia will do well to review existing regulations and existing products to anticipate any systemic weaknesses. Even the usually anti-regulatory sentiment in Corporate America is giving way to another round of recriminating re-thinking that extra regulations ain't too bad a thing. Read on:

The stock market is crashing, housing prices are plummeting and the economy is poised for a severe downturn so I’m reminded of the criticism I heard at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January that innovation is responsible for this mess. A European banker came up to me and and said, “isn’t innovation at the root of all our problems?” “All those new financial instruments failed, right?”

He’s right. So what went wrong? I’ve talked to a lot of folks and the answer lies in the innovation process that took place on Wall Street. Hundreds of hugely complex products based on hugely complex mathematic financial models were created and sold around the world—without first being tested out. There was little or no real-world iterative process. Commercial ankers, hedge fund managers and investment bankers didn’t know what would work or not work in a troubled economic environment, such as one where housing prices fell sharply. In fact, the complex financial instruments were supposed to spread and reduce risk. In the end, they did the opposite. In short, the innovation process was flawed. New inventions were not stress-tested in a real enviroment.

Second, the new financial products were flawed. They were opaque—not transparent. They were sold to investors who didn’t really know what they were buying. Instead, they relied on the rating agencies to tell them the value of the products—if they were AAA or BBB. But that didn’t work. The rating agenices had mathematical models that didn’t work in a period of sharply falling housing prices. In the end, no one really knew what the new products were worth. Worse, when trouble came, those who sold them didn’t know how to fix the products. And they didn’t take responsibility for replacing them—in part because they didn’t know what they were worth. Again, bad innovation process.

There is a great new book out by my friend and colleague Stephen Baker called The Numerati. It’s about the rise of a new class of mathematicians, computer scientists and numbers people who collect the growing mass of data we emit and create new things based on the patterns and similarities. Think Google. The Numerati are the people who rule the data—and our lives.

My one question to Steve—have the Numerati caused the crisis on Wall Street by innovating new financial products based on bad models and poor process? And do we have more to fear from them?

Market turmoil: Keep it in Vegas

Thomas Friedman (author of The World is Flat), being of a certain vintage, appears to have similar sentiments to my earlier post. The question that arises in this post and the earlier one is, whether we can learn any lessons from these observations. Read his piece from The New York Times:

Watching some financial stocks just get wiped out in recent months, I often hear a voice in the back of my head, and it is the same voice as one of those dealers in Las Vegas who coolly tells you as he sweeps up your chips after you’ve busted in blackjack: “Thank you for playing, ladies and gentlemen.”

That’s what happens when bubbles burst. You feel wiped out, and the coolness with which the dealers — in this case the markets — sweep away all your chips is unnerving. It’s easy to over-react, and it is important that we don’t. Now is the time for coolly sorting out what markets can do best and what governments need to do better.

Let’s understand what happened here. Wall Street — the financial industry — became a bubble in recent years thanks to an excess of liquidity and the oldest bubble maker in history: greed. Some of the smartest people forgot one of the oldest rules of investing: There is no such thing as a risk-free return. When you reach too far for yield, sooner or later you get burned.

In the ’90s, the no-lose, risk-free, high-yield return was supposed to be dot-com stocks. This decade’s version are subprime mortgages and financial stocks. Just like the dot-comers in the 1990s, the financial stocks got inflated to ridiculous levels and salaries for Wall Street executives reached ridiculous heights. You are now watching live and in color that bubble burst: “Thank you for playing, Lehman Brothers.” That’s really sad for a 158-year-old company.

The market is now consolidating this industry, with the strong eating the weak, which will impose its own fiscal discipline. Good. Maybe then more of our next generation of math geniuses will think about going into engineering the next great global industry — energy technology — rather engineering derivatives.

But we also need to understand the uniqueness of this bubble in order to identify where smart government needs to step in. One reason this financial bubble got so big is now well known: you and your neighbor went out and got subprime mortgages, which enabled many more people to become homeowners — a real blessing. Your local finance company or bank, which extended those mortgages, later resold them to an aggregator who put them into big packages with thousands of other subprime mortgages. Then those loan packages were chopped up and sold in small pieces as corporate bonds to all kinds of institutions, who were reaching for extra yield. Your subprime mortgage payments went to pay the interest on those bonds.

But as the housing market collapsed, and people couldn’t cover their mortgages or sell their houses, the bonds lost value and, therefore, the banks that held them lost capital, and the whole pyramid started to crumble. This infected the entire housing market, so banks no longer knew the value of their mortgage-backed assets. The result? They stopped lending. Hence, the current credit crunch. This credit crunch is what makes this crisis so lethal. We can’t tolerate a prolonged situation where banks won’t lend to good companies.

That’s why Congress needs to create another Resolution Trust Corporation like we used to get out of the savings-and-loan crisis of the 1980s. As then, so now, we need a government agency to buy the toxic mortgages off the banks’ balance sheets, hold them and sell them in an orderly way later. That would prevent a fire sale of homes and mortgages now and restore confidence to banks so they start lending again.

In the long run, though, regulators need to find ways to limit the amount of leverage investment banks or insurance companies can take on at any one time, because given how intertwined they all are in today’s global economy, one bank blowing up can now take down many.

“We are at the end of an era — the end of ‘leave it to the markets’ and of the great cop-out that less government is always better government,” argues David Rothkopf, a former Commerce Department official in the Clinton administration and author of a book about the world’s financial leaders who brought about this crisis: “Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They Are Making.” “I think, however, it is important to stress the difference between smart government and simply more government.

“We do not need a regulatory ‘surge’ on Wall Street,” he added. “We need a complete rethinking of how we make global financial markets more transparent and how we ensure that the risks within those markets — .many of which are new and many of which are not well understood even by the experts — are managed and monitored properly.”

In sum, government’s job is to police that fine line between the necessary risk-taking that drives an innovation economy and crazy gambling with other people’s savings in ways that threaten us all. We need to make sure that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas — and doesn’t come to Main Street. We need to get back to investing in our future and not just betting on it.

Market turmoil: How the s*** hits the fan

Call me old-fashioned, I don't care. I've never believed in financial instruments, especially the genre they call derivatives. No, not for me these sexy tools that financiers and stockbrokers use to manage risk. My feeling was always that the guys who created these instruments were just trying to make a fast buck (via handling commission) at the expense of greedy (and hapless) investors.

But, of course, I simplify. And, why not? It would seem that the entire financial edifice that has been created since the late 1980s is built upon two basic principles; profit and hedging risk.

Let's look at each of these twin pillars, shall we?

The fallacy of endless profit
I call it a fallacy because wise men know that everything and, I mean, EVERYTHING, follows the laws of Nature, particularly physics. What goes up WILL come down.

Everything has life-cycles. Every single living thing. And, companies and their products are no different. They are introduced to the market. Initial popularity brings in revenues. Forecasts of revenues go up and up. Grand announcements are made to improve the product. Worst of all, plans are made and implemented, to raise money from investors and banks to finance expansion. Then, Lo! and Behold!, the demand for the product falters. The product's life cycle is waning. Revenues fall. The company gets into financial distress. Investors cry foul. Banks commence legal action.

Conspicuous consumption
The term conspicuous consumption was introduced by the economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen in his 1899 book The Theory of the Leisure Class. Veblen used the term to depict the behavioral characteristic of the nouveau riche, a class emerging in the 19th century as a result of the accumulation of wealth. Veblen's brilliant insight is still relevant today.

Just open any glossy magazine and you are inundated with must-haves; cars, clothes, jewellery, mansions. The expression keeping up with the Joneses is an understatement. In this era it is more like shove it up the Joneses faces.

This wannabe phenomenon is pertinent to what I'm saying, because how does one finance an aspirational lifestyle? The drudgery of one's day job is just enough to pay the mortgage on the house and car and, household expenses. But, to get the extra edge you have to put your money to work. EPF annual interests is hardly enough for one roti canai a day, or so many think.

So, this impetus forms the base the world over. Pension funds are under pressure to put the money to work. Insurance giants, like AIG, are under pressure to put money to work. Banks are under pressure to put money to work.

Putting money to work
At this stage, the money is called investment funds. Somehow, by the stroke of a financial wizard's wand (or pen or PC, whatever metaphor you wish), one's hard-earned savings becomes available to the financial wizards (but, are they really wizards or, like Mickey Mouse, they are merely wizards' apprentices?).

In its most basic form, money can work for us when we buy property to rent out or, arrange for fixed deposits that yield a periodic return. For more excitement, one will trade in ordinary shares of publicly listed companies. Here one can receive a paltry dividend and, possibly capital gains from rising share prices. That is the upside. The downside is that share prices can fall, too. But enough of this. This is not a story about small investors.

How do banks and investment funds put our money to work? Yes, it is the money from deposits and pension contributions. And, they put the money to work everywhere. They buy shares of publicly listed companies. They invest the money in debt securities like bonds and derivatives.

But, these young boys and girls who work in banks and investment funds are smart kids. They realise that with their money being invested all over the place there is this thing called risk.

Managing risk
I'm no financial or mathematical expert. I was very far, far away from being even remotely competent in my Additional Maths in school. But, like you, I do know how to grasp, in a very loose sense, some concepts, like risk. Basically, its a cool word for the idiom, don't put all your eggs in one basket but at a higher order of thinking, of course.

As far as I understand the evolution of the financial instruments called derivatives, it arose when investment bankers and funds realised that there is a value to being able to calculate differences between the yield from one instrument in one place with another instrument in another place. These differentials, as it turns out, can be turned into new financial products and be traded. There was money to be made from trading on these financial products that had very minimal links to the real world. These financial products were derived from real products like bank loans, bonds or shares and stocks, hence the moniker, derivatives.

So, new products kept being conceived by bright, young mathematically-minded, economics or business-trained hotshots.

To borrow a hackneyed Chinese expression, this is a classic case of using money to make money. Except that it is more like, using money to make money to use the money made to make more money (I told you it is abstract).

Losing track of risk
This is why the subprime mortgage crisis that has created the financial maelstrom in the U.S. is so ironic. It is a case of risk-management-type financial products being poorly or negligently risk-weighted so that risky instruments were placed in the same basket as low-risk instruments and given a triple-A rating by the rating agencies. That is what you get for leaving billion- and trillion Dollar decisions with young boys and girls.

Obviously no one had a clue or, risk algorithm that could calculate the downside risks of the CDO instruments. Note the anguish and indignance in Bill Saporito's words in his Time magazine article on this phenomenon:

Then there's the nonsense that ratings agencies shoveled out about the risk levels of collaterized debt obligations (CDOs), how this new bit of financial wizardry deserved AAA and AA designations even though it rested partly on a foundation of subprime mortgages. It was all justified by super-sophisticated models — way too sophisticated for "you" to understand — that looked back at real estate pricing and foreclosures and couldn't conjure a scenario in which the holders of the most senior parts of these tranches wouldn't get paid.

Perhaps no one figured that subprime mortgage holders were 10 times as likely to enter into foreclosure as people who made downpayments and could document their ability to pay. "This poor performance in the subprime market calls into question the capabilities of lenders, securitizers and investors to reliably estimate peak charge-off rates," warned Joshua Rosner, managing director of Graham Fisher & Co. and Joseph R. Mason, a finance professor at Drexel University in a paper in early 2007. When all the indicators went bad — delinquencies and interest rates up, home prices down — the agencies started yanking the ratings on CDOs by the carload. As the number of subprime delinquencies started to climb, and the magic mark-to-model accounting that the investment houses used to value their AAA and AA CDOs got market-tested — as in, "What will you give me for this piece of paper?" — the game was over.

Fundamental questions about the profit paradigm
We can blame the investment banks that cobbled together the CDOs. We can blame the ratings agencies. We can blame pension and investment funds for demanding growth in profits year-on-year. But, we can also blame contemporary society for lionising and lauding individuals who has the most wealth. We read Forbes and Malaysian Business to see the annual tally of the richest. And, we wannabe like them.

This is what happens when we put money to work in the hands of others. If our money was invested in a business that we manage and operate ourselves we wouldn't care a hoot whether this year's profits is higher than last year's, especially in economically uncertain times like these. We would be happy to maintain a profit similar to last year's. I wrote about this in Flat is the new up.

I'm not saying that we should all be business people or, put our savings under the bed. But, each of us, in aggregate, form the human society. Just as the environmentalists tell us to start the conservation effort from our homes first and, foremost, we have each got to realise that putting our money to work by putting our money in the hands of the financial boys and girls may not always be the best risk option.

Anwar and JFK: Idealists without illusions

John F Kennedy
(1917-1963)

"I cannot single out any one day as the time I began to understand John Kennedy as a human being. gradually I discovered that the simplicity of this man's tastes and demeanour was, while genuine, deceptive as well as disarming. Although he possessed unusual empathy, and a remarkable sense of what was fitting and appropriate for every kind of of occasion, he never put on an act, feigning anger or joy when he did not feel it. Nevertheless his hidden qualities outnumbered the apparent. ...with all his ordinary ways, (he) was an enormously complex and extraordinarily competent man.

I came to marvel at his ability to look at his own strengths and weaknesses with utter detachment, his candid and objective responses to public questions, and his insistence on cutting through prevailing bias and myths to the heart of the problem. He had a disciplined and analytical mind. Even his instincts, which were sound, came from his reason rather than his hunches. He hated no enemy, he wept at no adversity.

But I also learned in time that this cool, analytical mind was stimulated by a warm, compassionate heart. Beneath the careful pragmatic approach lay increasingly deep convictions on basic goals and unusual determination to achieve them."

"As John Buchan wrote of a friend in John Kennedy's favourite book, Pilgrim's Way, "He disliked emotion, not because he felt lightly but because he felt deeply. " John Kennedy could always look at himself objectively and laugh at himself wholeheartedly - and those two rare gifts enabled him to talk lightly while feeling deeply. As he said himself about Robert Frost, "His sense of the human tragedy fortified him against self-deception and easy consolation."

Extracted from Theodore C. Sorensen, KENNEDY (1965)

I don't know Anwar, the man. But at some level, to use John Kennedy's words, he is clearly an idealist without illusions. From where many Malaysians stand, that is far better than the group of politicians running the country at the present time.

Some may be apprehensive about his past politics. But, to his credit, Anwar has acknowledged his past. He has not denied it nor has he attempted to spin it any differently. That is what it is, his past. To hold his past against him would be to deny ourselves a possible and, alternative future trajectory.

What makes the possible alternative future trajectory for Malaysia very compelling is what we are witnessing in the present Malaysia.

If March 8 was a tilting point, then the tipping point may well be the usage of the ISA against RPK, Teresa Kok and Tan Hoon Cheng. Let us not forget the HINDRAF leaders and other ISA detainees. The ISA, as many have reiterated, is an anti-terrorism law crafted at a time when communism was still a threat to Malaysia. Seen from this perspective, how it can even be used against Tan Hoon Cheng, a journalist who was doing her job of reporting the truth, completely beggars belief. To many Malaysians, this single act by the government of the day, is a window into the current future trajectory of Malaysia.

As Malaysians were digesting this indigestible future, we were treated to an ominous reminder of the past and, bleak future by Dr M who wrote this dubious piece. Coming from the ex-PM who had a vision of Bangsa Malaysia and, the man who is going to return to UMNO, many Malaysian hearts have been broken by Dr M's blog article.

That is why now, more so than ever, many Malaysians cling to the alternative vision of the future offered by Anwar Ibrahim. His many detractors question his sincerity. Others, like me, being less sanguine about the future of Malaysia offered by the current government (or Dr M) prefer to give Anwar the benefit of doubt. Anwar, being a man of intelligence, has shown that he has the capacity for learning from bitter experience. The same cannot be said of the politicians running the current government.

This man has been an outsider twice in a three-act dramatic play. In Act I, as an outsider, he was the student leader who became the ABIM leader that led a rainbow coalition of many Malaysian clubs and societies against the Societies Bill in 1981. Act II was his insider UMNO phase.

This is Act III. He is an outsider again, together with the rest of us.
__________________________________

LATEST UPDATE:

Anwar claims more than 31 MPs will cross over to Pakatan

The Star Online reports at 3.20 pm Sept 16, that, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has claimed that more than 31 Barisan MPs have agreed to cross over to Pakatan Rakyat.

He, however, refused to reveal the names of the 31 MPs.

Anwar told a press conference at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya on Tuesday that he would give the list of the names to the Prime Minister, when he meets him.

The Permatang Pauh MP also claimed that the transition to the new Government has been delayed a few days pending the meeting with Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to ensure a smooth and peaceful transition.

He said it was up to Abdullah to agree to the meeting and its date.

Anwar said that in a letter submitted to Abdullah on Monday, Pakatan had made four demands to ensure a smooth transition:

1) That Barisan does not hinder or prevent the MPs from acting in accordance with their conscience, constitutional rights and independentjudgement;

2) That the Barisan government should not invoke the Internal Security Act to detain the MPs or any other current Pakatan MPs;

3) That the Barisan government does not invoke emergency laws or police powers or suspend the Constitution or dissolve Parliament; and

4) That the Barisan government shall not impose roadblocks or impede MPs from going to Parliament or any institution of government.

Federal tutelage and betrayal: Sarawak 1965 to 1967

"During the 1965 troubles, Chief Minister (Stephen Kalong) Ningkan took care to emphasise that disputes should be settled in Sarawak without intervention from Kuala Lumpur. While he had been actively cooperating with the Federal Government, particularly on matters of economic development, he was not in sympathy with some federal policies. For example, he did not believe that Malaya's communal policies were necessarily appropriate for Sarawak.

He resisted efforts to speed up Malayanisation of the Sarawak civil service, preferring instead to Borneanise the state administration. Likewise, he resisted increasing pressures to accept Malay as the sole official language for Sarawak in 1967 so as to harmonise with the timetable established for Peninsular Malaysia. Perhaps even more galling to Kuala Lumpur was his statement that he favoured Iban and Chinese as official languages for Sarawak, along with Malay and English. He also objected to federal funds being given for support of Islam and firmly supported the special position of Sarawak as defined in the Malaysia Agreements and the 20 points of the Inter-Governmental Committe Report.
..While the Malayan Alliance leaders tried to influence the outcome of the Sarawak dispute in 1965, that crisis was settled without decisive intervention by Kuala Lumpur. Such was not to be the case one year later. During the interval, relations between Kuching and Kuala Lumpur had become strained, making the latter more determined to engineer the overthrow of the Ningkan government.

When Tunku Abdul Rahman visited Sarawak in February 1966 he tried to revive the idea of a Native Alliance, this time under the guise of a United Malaysian National Organisation for Sarawak. Behind-the-scenes efforts continued for months in an effort to forge a three-party UMNO type coalition to topple Ningkan's government, but such a union was difficult to construct. Pesaka, while keeping on good terms with Kuala Lumpur, was suspicious of a Malay-native union, hoping instead to create a united native movement by absorbing SNAP or providing the leadership for a Pesaka-SNAP merger. Although a Malay party, PANAS had a strong sense of local loyalty and resented political directives from Kuala Lumpur. Furthermore, since it represented many of the more educated Malays from the Kuching area, its members expected to benefit from Ningkan's program of Borneanising the civil service. Only BARJASA seemed to be enthusiatic supporters of Kuala Lumpur's proposed realignment."
Extracted from Gordon P. Means, Malaysian Politics (1970).

It should be noted that the Secretary-General of BARJASA at the time was one Inche Abdul Taib bin Mahmud.

Sept 16: May tomorrow be a perfect day

Negaraku, tanah tumpahnya darahku,
Rakyat hidup, bersatu dan maju,
Rahmat bahagia, Tuhan kurniakan,
Raja kita, selamat bertakhta.
Rahmat bahagia, Tuhan kurniakan,
Raja kita, selamat bertakhta.

My country, the land where I was born,
The people live united and progressive,
Blessings of happiness, may God grant,
(And that) our King may reign in peace.
Blessings of happiness, may God grant,
(And that) our King may reign in peace.

Another one bites the dust...?

16 Sept: NST Online confirms at 12 noon that Zaid Ibrahim's decision to resign is final.

NEWSFLASH: NST Online reports that: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi urged Zaid to stay on and continue with the judicial reforms during their 30 minute meeting at Seri Perdana today.

Sources said Zaid, known for his outspoken views, had expressed his concerns that he could be a liability to Abdullah.

The prime minister, however, advised him to take two weeks’ leave to re-consider his resignation.
____________________________

The report in Malaysiakini: Law Minister Zaid 'tenders resignation' confirms what many Malaysians must have felt, that de facto Law Minister Zaid Ibrahim has reached an impasse with the Prime Minister and, probably a few of his erstwhile Cabinet colleagues.

Zaid must surely realise that he is on the "correct side of History", to paraphrase Bill Clinton. Add to this, the fact that he acted on principle and, in good conscience, Zaid is a rare breed of politician. Not just in Malaysia, but anywhere else.

This gesture and, the fact that he is voluntarily walking away from the most exclusive "club" in Malaysia (I mean the Cabinet, of course) speaks volumes about this man who has been a veritable gadfly prior to the March 8 elections. He was dropped as a candidate to contest as incumbent in the Kota Bharu parliamentary seat.

But, in the wake of the poor showing in the March 8 elections, Zaid was nominated as a Senator and he was appointed a full Cabinet Minister.

Constitutional aspects to consider
Zaid's action in resigning is consistent with the legal and constitutional principle that the Cabinet acts on the basis of collective responsibility. It means that the action of any one Cabinet colleague is, by implication, agreed upon by all other Cabinet colleagues. There is no necessity to convene a formal Cabinet meeting. Every Cabinet member is deemed to be a part of any decision by another Cabinet member. This principle forms part of the Federal Constitution.

So, any Cabinet member that disagrees with any policy or Executive action must either put up with it or, resign.

What does this mean for the others?
The other Ministers that have questioned the ISA action against RPK, Teresa Kok and Tan Hoon Cheng will have to deal with the principle of collective responsibility. Malaysiakini: Another minister questions ISA dragnet reported Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam's questions about the usage of the ISA.

The roll call of doubting Thomases at Cabinet level include, Ong Tee Keat, Shahrir Samad and Bernard Dompok, not to mention many senior BN leaders.

Will these BN leaders be as principled as Zaid Ibrahim or, will they say, "Oh! We were only raising our views. We will deal with the matter "behind closed doors"?

More importantly, these gentlemen should not forget that under the principle of collective responsibility their hands are already stained with the deed. They cannot wash it off until the ISA order is rescinded or, when they resign.

So, which is it to be, guys?

Give schools option to teach in English

NST Online continues to give much-needed coverage and tacit support on the use of English as a medium of instruction for Science and Mathematics in Malaysian schools. This time the focus is on the Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) of respective schools making their stand heard:

Schools are expected to take a stand on whether to support the continued use of English as the medium of instruction for Science and Mathematics.

First to come out in support of the present policy is the Parent-Teacher Association of SK Bukit Damansara. 

It obtained a mandate from its members at a meeting yesterday to appeal to the Education Ministry to continue with the use of English. 

At present, English is used in the teaching of the two subjects from Year One to Year Six.

SK Bukit Damansara PTA vice-chairman Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said members of the committee would be meeting PTAs from other schools next Saturday to enlist their support. A report will be submitted to the ministry. 
Noor Azimah said this would ensure that the ministry got feedback from the grassroots.

The on-going debate among parents, educators, students and government officials on the use of English as the medium of instruction for the two subjects was sparked by a report in the New Sunday Times. 

The report, based on a survey by Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, said the policy introduced by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 2003 was flawed and should be scrapped. 

SK Bukit Damansara PTA committee member Roz Mawar Zain said there were limitations in using English to teach Mathematics and Science. However, reverting to the national language would be too drastic. Roz Mawar added that more time was needed to gauge the results of the existing policy.

Read more here.

A candle for RPK, Teresa & all ISA detainees

This is written by Dr Azly Rahman. It is a touching and heartfelt open letter to RPK that should resonate with all right-thinking and fair-minded Malaysians:

Set Raja Petra free – this true defender of Islam and the rights of many

The rakyat awaits your homecoming, a candlelight vigil will adorn the street in front of the prison-industrial complex built by those who designed architecture of structural-violence, unseen by the naked eyes of the rakyat. Like the candles that await Sita Devi and like the candle-lights that bathes Jelaluddin Rumi, the light from the rakyat soothes and calms your bruised spirit in their patient wait for your freedom.
Azly Rahman

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them?

To die: to sleep;No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd.

--- from William Shakespeare, Hamlet

Saudara RPK,

I hope they are treating you well, in this holy month of Ramadhan that is turning our nation into our Ramallah.

I write in a state of being free while you languish in sadness incarcerated by those in their dying days breathing painfully. They say that you are anti-Islam and anti-government. The are wrong on both counts. You are a great defender not only of Islam but of other faiths. You are a great defender of a sane government yet to be installed and one that will gladly set you free.

They are fearing not you nor the voices of conscience no longer in the wilderness; they are fearing themselves – their Inner Self – that they are answering to in their scramble to satisfy their greed for material wealth and lust for power.

They have not made you a bankrupt, RPK. They themselves are drowned in riches that will bury them.

Sdr. RPK. I hope your incarceration will be the brief. So too will be of the others.The rakyat feels that the present government will not be the one freeing you. A new one will.

Below I reproduce a tribute to you I wrote sometime ago. Read more here.

New York Times on Anwar

This is a piece from the New York Times that I am reproducing in full. There is no need to editorialise. The challenging times in Malaysia warrants that Malaysians cast aside any concerns about uncertainties arising from change. The time has arrived for fence-sitters to make a concerted decision to support change. If you are still wondering whether change is warranted, just ask the ISA detainees:

By the most obvious yardstick, this country of 25 million people is a democracy: Malaysia has held regular elections since independence from Britain five decades ago.

Yet during that time power has remained in the hands of one coalition, the media has remained slavishly pro-government, the courts have often hewed closely to the government line and critics of the country’s leadership have been detained without trial in periodic crackdowns.

Now Malaysia may be on the brink of a liberal, more democratic era.

The governing coalition is facing the very real possibility of losing its grip on power to the opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, who says he has enough votes to bring down the government and might do so as early as this week.

Mr. Anwar promises that if he become prime minister, he would not only scrap laws that muzzle criticism, but also upend the father-knows-best style of government and end a longstanding policy that favored the country’s majority Malays over other ethnic groups.

“I think we’re on an irreversible trend of democratization because it’s coming from the bottom up,” said Sivarasa Rasiah, a human rights lawyer and one of many opposition members elected to Parliament in March.

If Mr. Anwar succeeds in taking over the government, his actions could have implications far beyond Malaysia.

A onetime Islamist student radical, Mr. Anwar has emerged over the past decade as one of the leading proponents of the idea that Islam and liberal democracy are complementary. He has cultivated friendships with leaders who share his views in Turkey and Indonesia, and he has built bridges to the West.

He once served as a catalyst for the increasing religiosity among Malaysia’s Muslims. Today he walks the fine line between the secularism of the country’s Constitution and the demands by some Islamic forces, including those in his own coalition, for socially conservative policies.

Mr. Anwar, a former deputy prime minister who once mingled with the very establishment he is now challenging, was re-elected to Parliament in August.

As he and his allies in the opposition gained increased political backing over the past several months, the government under Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has begun to strike back. In July, Mr. Anwar was charged with sodomy for the second time in his career in a case that a large majority of Malaysians surveyed in opinion polls say reeks of politics. And several newspapers have been warned about stepping out of line.

On Friday, a member of Parliament for the opposition, a newspaper reporter and a prominent antigovernment blogger were detained under the internal security act, which allows for indefinite detention without trial. Syed Hamid Albar, the home minister, told reporters on Saturday that the blogger and Parliament member had been detained for inciting ethnic tensions but that the reporter, who was released Saturday after 16 hours, was only questioned about her reporting on a recent controversy involving a member of the governing party.

The governing party has leveled accusations of corruption in the opposition’s campaign to win over defectors: Khairy Jamaluddin, one of the party’s most articulate members, has denounced what he calls “underhanded tactics,” saying members of Parliament have reported being offered money and positions of power in a future government, a charge the opposition denies.

Last week, the battle between the government and opposition flirted with absurdity. First, the governing party dispatched about 50 government lawmakers to Taiwan for what it called an agricultural “study trip,” which appeared to be an attempt to stop them from crossing over to Mr. Anwar’s side.

On Friday, opposition lawmakers followed them to Taiwan, checking into the same hotel in the hopes of convincing would-be defectors to take the leap.

Mr. Anwar initially vowed to bring down the government by Tuesday, saying he had written commitments from enough lawmakers to force the government’s collapse. But he now concedes that the governing coalition’s move to send lawmakers to Taiwan could succeed in drawing off some support, forcing him to delay his bid for power.

The changes that Mr. Anwar has proposed could change Malaysia substantially and fast.

“All the draconian, oppressive laws must go,” Mr. Anwar said in a recent interview.

He promises to repeal Malaysia’s toughest laws that give the government the power to detain opponents without trial, ban unauthorized protests, bar students from participating in politics and keep the news media in line by requiring newspapers and magazines to apply for annual publishing permits.

He would also free all “political prisoners.”

Perhaps most explosive, he said he would end many special privileges for his own ethnic group, the Malays, who are given a variety of advantages, including discounts on houses, exclusive rights to government contracts and a reserved quota of stock-market shares. The privileges have angered the country’s two other main ethnic groups: Malaysian citizens of Chinese and Indian descent.

It was that anger, directed at the ethnically mixed governing coalition, that helped the opposition win just under half the popular vote, by far the best showing for the opposition since independence.

Mr. Anwar contends, and many experts agree, that most of the special privileges are enjoyed by a minority of Malays connected to the governing party. Still, it remains to be seen whether Malays will accept Mr. Anwar’s proposal of policies based on need, not ethnicity. Ethnic tensions have flared in the past, notably in 1969 when at least 200 people were killed in race-related violence.

Mr. Khairy of the governing party argues that Mr. Anwar is moving too fast by proposing to scrap the country’s harshest laws: Malaysia needs them to guard against ethnic strife, he said in an interview.

“We are a maturing democracy,” Mr. Khairy said. “These issues, to me, still need a lot of debate. We need to continue the way the Abdullah administration has done it, which is to reform gradually.”

At least as challenging as balancing the rights of ethnic groups would be managing the struggle between those who prefer a secular government and those who want a wider application of Islamic laws for Muslims, who make up 60 percent of the population.

In a recent interview in his sparsely furnished office, Mr. Anwar apologized to a visitor for the heat and stuffiness; he keeps the air-conditioning off during Ramadan because fasting from sunrise to sunset gives him chills.

But he criticized the decision of the Prime Minister Abdullah to suspend Parliament during Ramadan. “He thinks he’s representing himself as a good Muslim,” Mr. Anwar said. “I think it’s reactionary.”

“If you want to fast, go ahead,” he said. “But go on with your life. If you fast and it causes productivity to drop there’s something wrong with that.”

Some Muslim groups have called for greater punishments for apostates, those who leave the religion, and stronger enforcement of social laws like keeping unmarried couples chaste.

While Mr. Anwar clearly has a strong following, many Malaysians, especially those in the elite who have much to lose if the opposition takes power, question his sincerity and wonder whether a leader who has gone through so many permutations in his career can be trusted.

Mr. Anwar rose to prominence as an Islamic student radical before joining the governing party and eventually becoming deputy prime minister. But he is perhaps best known for his sudden downfall in 1998 shortly after challenging the prime minister at the time, Mahathir Mohamad, for power.

Mr. Anwar was detained under the internal security act, beaten, given a black eye by the chief of police (who lost his job over the episode) and sentenced to 15 years for sodomy and abuse of power in trying to cover up the sodomy allegations. In 2004, the country’s highest court struck down the sodomy verdict and released him, citing faulty procedures by the prosecution, but the judge, in a highly unusual statement, said he believed that the sodomy allegations were true anyway.

Like the charges in the first trial, the latest charges of sodomy, which were lodged by a 23-year-old campaign aide, are considered highly politicized. The deputy prime minister, Najib Razak, a chief rival of Mr. Anwar’s, initially denied that he had anything to do with the case but then admitted that he had met with Mr. Anwar’s accuser before the allegations were made public.

Salehuddin Hashim, a high school friend of Mr. Anwar’s who is now the secretary general of his party, admits to doubts about Mr. Anwar’s past, especially his years in the governing party. Even the party’s leaders admit that money politics and corruption are rampant within the party’s ranks.

“Anwar wasn’t a paragon of justice or virtue,” Mr. Salehuddin said. “He was part of the racket.”

But he said that six years in prison changed Mr. Anwar and made him more sensitive to injustices in Malaysia, a relatively prosperous country with one of the highest levels of income inequality in Asia.

“It’s a credit to Anwar that he managed to galvanize people into focusing what they are unhappy about,” Mr. Salehuddin said. “He personalized injustice.”

Bar Council calls EGM on September 20 over violation of rule of law

The Bar Council today decided to convene an extraordinary general meeting of the Malaysian Bar at 10.00 a.m. next Saturday, September 20 at Wisma MCA to discuss the violation of the rule of law in the light of the arrests of Raja Petra Kamaruddin, Sin Chew journalist Tan Hoon Cheng and Seputeh MP YB Teresa Kok under the Internal Security Act and the issuance of show-cause letters to the three newspapers, Sin Chew Daily, The Sun and Suara Keadilan.

In a press conference attended by all Bar Council members, the President of the Malaysian Bar, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan also read out the following press statement:

The Bar Council expresses its shock and utter disbelief at the arrest of Raja Petra Kamaruddin, Sin Chew journalist Tan Hoon Cheng and Seputeh MP YB Teresa Kok under the Internal Security Act (ISA). These people have been arrested on matters that are already in the public domain, and we are incredulous as to how any of these matters justifies the use of the draconian ISA. The public must be immediately assured of the safety and well-being of the three individuals.

The use of the ISA, far from relieving any perceived tension, has instead created far more uneasiness and unhappiness amongst right-thinking people in Malaysia. The avowed grounds of arrest are all matters that come within the purview of existing laws in the country. If, as reported, these people were hauled in for investigations on the specific issues mentioned, then there is no need whatsoever to hold them under the ISA. We have sufficient provisions in the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code that allow for police investigation in these instances, such as Sections 504 and 505 of the Penal Code. We have said it before and we will say it again – if there are perceived offences, charge these people and give them their fundamental right to defend themselves.

The ISA is not a solution to any perceived threat to our peace. In fact, we fail to see what threat there is to our peace that could possibly justify the using of the blunt instrument of the ISA.

We have full confidence in the maturity of the Malaysian people in appreciating what has happened here. It is the true test of the mettle of a Government that it can deal with difficult and diverse issues without resorting to draconian measures. Our nation, our citizens, do not deserve the ISA.

Additionally, we must remember that Malaysia sits on the UN Human Rights Council. The Government made pledges in order to be elected to this Council in 2006, a mere two years ago. Those pledges include upholding “the promotion and protection of all human rights”. It was further stated in the pledges as follows:

“Another manifestation of the importance that the Government attaches to the enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms is the promotion of a free media, including in cyberspace, as well as the encouragement of vibrant and active civil societies.”

As a member of the UN Human Rights Council, it is therefore incumbent upon the Government of Malaysia to uphold these pledges. The use of preventive detention laws like the ISA runs counter to those pledges.

The Bar Council has set up a legal team, headed by Council member Rajpal Singh, that includes each State Bar Chair and State Representative. These lawyers will be on hand to assist by providing legal aid to the detainees.

The Bar Council is calling for an emergency Extraordinary General Meeting of the Malaysian Bar to be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, 20 September 2008, at Wisma MCA to discuss this violation of the rule of law.

Teaching Maths and Science in English

NST Online has a good spread of views regarding the teaching of Maths and Science in English. I still maintain that the present policy should continue and, more resources should be devoted towards improving the teachers' command of English. This will enable them to deliver the "product" properly to the students. Anyway, have a read of the different views proferred:

Teaching Science/Math in English: Students' needs come first
THE debate regarding the language of instruction for Mathematics and Science has been focusing mainly on issues of bias towards or against certain races, ability to cope with different languages and even national unity. But two factors have not been addressed sufficiently: the choices available for parents and students, and what is best for the students in the long run. Full Story

Teaching Science/Math in English: Reverse this flawed policy
IT was shocking to see the overwhelming response in favour of continuing the policy of teaching Science and Mathematics in English. Full Story

Teaching Science/Math in English: Qualified teachers a key factor
THIS is a plea to the government not to back out on its policy to teach Science and Mathematics in English. In deciding on a very important matter such as this, narrow-minded, jingoistic and even hypocritical views from whatever quarters should be ignored for the sake of Malaysia's future. Full Story

Teaching SCIENCE & MATH IN ENGLISH: Don't give up, our children deserve better
ON one hand, member of parliament for Rembau, Khairy Jamaluddin, said we failed because the policy of teaching Mathematics and Science in English was half-baked, etc. Yet he acknowledged that "English... is a basic requirement for students and job-seekers... undisputed lingua franca" ("It's high time we ditched this policy -- NST, Sept 9). Full Story

Teaching SCIENCE & MATH IN ENGLISH: Survey conclusions may be flawed, not policy
YOUR publication of a study supposedly revealing flaws in the Mathematics/Science-in-English policy should come under scrutiny. Based on the results published, Malay students did worse in the survey when answering the mathematical questions in Malay (37.3 per cent correct) rather than in English (39.6 per cent correct). Full Story

Malaysian Bar on ISA detentions

This is the Press Statement given by the Malaysian Bar in relation to RPK's detention under the Internal Security Act. It is a view that I fully support:

The Bar Council is shocked and deeply troubled over the reported arrest of Raja Petra Kamaruddin under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

The Malaysian Bar has consistently denounced the ISA as draconion and undemocratic, and believes that preventive detention laws should not be invoked under any circumstances. The ISA and other preventive detention laws violate fundamental rights, are unconstitutional and oppressive, and have no place in a society that respects and upholds the rule of law. If an offence has been allegedly committed, the individual concerned must be charged in court and given a fair opportunity to defend himself. We agree with the view reportedly expressed by Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim yesterday when he disagreed with the call for the use of the ISA on Datuk Ahmad Ismail, saying that this “will have a huge effect on… the rule of law” and that he should therefore “go through the normal process of law”.

The Bar Council is equally perturbed that three newspapers have been issued show-cause letters today over their news coverage. This together with the arrest of Raja Petra Kamaruddin under the ISA may be viewed as a chilling message that our fundamental freedoms are not secure.

Too often we see in other countries, the rule of law and human rights becoming the first casualties when these countries face uncertainties. This must never be allowed to happen in our country where the rule of law is entrenched in our Rukunegara. More so as Malaysia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council.

We therefore call for the immediate release of Raja Petra Kamaruddin and other detainees.

Civility is not a sign of weakness

In these torrid times, it is easy to forget that the space created for many Malaysians to voice their views, particularly in cyberspace, is the direct result of Pak Lah, Najib and Barisan Nasional, in general.

There have been abuses. This is irresponsible behaviour.

I am reminded of John F. Kennedy's Presidential Inaugural Address on Friday, January 20, 1961, where in his speech he said that, "Civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof."

This phrase, I think, aptly captures the degree of wisdom and restraint displayed by the leaders to-date. This must be recognised and, lauded. Inasmuch as brickbats may be thrown where it is deserved, due credit must be given where it is due.

Windfall profit levy on IPPs cancelled

The Star Online reported that, The Cabinet has discontinued the windfall profit levy on independent power producers (IPPs) with immediate effect.

The Finance Ministry said the Cabinet had in its meeting on Thursday decided that IPPs would instead have to make one-off payment.

“The amount will be equivalent to the windfall profit levy payable for one year,” it said.

“The Cabinet has also decided to suspend power purchase agreement (PPA) renegotiations, pending a comprehensive study into restructuring of the electricity supply industry.”

The effect of the Cabinet decision seems to be that a one-year deadline has been fixed for the comprehensive to be conducted. This can be called a standstill agreement where the status quo is maintained. A one-year advance payment totalling RM37.16mil has been paid (call it ex gratia?) has been made by the IPPs. Negotiations on the PPA will be suspended for the one-year period.

Positive impact on the moribund bond market

The Cabinet decision is expected to have a positive impact on the bond market since the IPPs and other infrastructure companies issued a significant number of bonds in the market. The bond market is an alternative investment base for foreign investors who had been exiting the market due to the uncertainties. This has added downward pressure to a weakened ringgit.

Make the study and its terms of reference public

It would be good if the terms of reference for the proposed comprehensive study is made available to the general public, who ultimately, are the major stakeholders in this issue. Anyone who has recently paid their electricity bills will be aware that the July electricity tariff hikes has added another burden to household expenses.

Such a study must also consider whether the principle of having privatised power production causes the cost of electrical power generation to be higher than leaving it in the hands of a public body or semi-government body or government-linked entity.

A case of different "market" demands

The brouhaha (yes, I'm calling it that) that has been reported and updated in Malaysiakini here and there, over the unfortunate comments by the Bukit Bendera UMNO Chief and, the responses by the rest of the Malaysian polity and community, is really a case of desperate marketng ploys by politicians whose political "product" has passed its "sell-by" date.

I mean, of course, politicians from communal parties that habitually frame Malaysian issues along ethnic lines. Even the supposedly multiracial parties that are components within coalitions led by communal parties are not immune from this. If you are on a boat owned and, steered by someone else, there is little that you can do about the direction the boat takes. Your only option is to hop off and hope that you can stay afloat (which is the dilemma of Gerakan, by the way).

Communal parties were favoured by the British colonial masters. Whether these masters had a deliberate "divide-and-rule" policy or, whether they merely respected the clear differences in custom, habit and values of the different communities (and, therefore, took the most effective administrative route of dealing with community leaders) is a subject for serious historical research. But, I pose this point only to raise the real point that, the Malaysian politicians who sustain and perpetuate communal parties are the true mischief-makers. The British masters had a colonial agenda. Shouldn't Malaysian politicians be having a national agenda instead?

Think about it. How can a politician from a communal party ever lead his party members towards multiracialism? A multiracial communal politician is an oxymoron. There is no such person.

And, thus, we witness, time and again, when they are unable to ride the rising tide of national issues (such as people's aspirations or economic needs) these communal leaders withdraw into the dark and fetid cave of racial politics; it's us and them. And then, they peddle their communal "products" and initiate communal "marketing campaigns" again and again.

I am being deliberately naive when I say this; that communal politicians need to appeal to their own "market segment". UMNO politicians will deal with the "Malay rights" product, MCA politicians with the "Chinese rights" product and so on. Communal political marketing strategies by their very nature, are inherently divisive and exclusive.

Communal politics in Malaysia should have died some time ago during Dr M's era as Prime Minister. He had all he attributes to foster true multiracialism. He had the power. He had control. But, in the final analysis, as he has recently shown, he cannot rise above political opportunism and power plays. It is just too seductive and, Dr M is obviously a political adrenaline junkie.

Be that as it may, this is the biggest failure of the BN coalition. And this probably explains why UMNO and BN has consistently needed to resort to communal "marketing campaign" dramatics to whip up waning support. This is no different from the behaviour of primitive tribes... and, no different from a TV soap opera season-ending finale. It is to keep the respective communal markets loyal to the communal "product" and, to keep consuming it.

When can we rise above "marketing" tribal prejudices? Malaysians have to stop consuming these communal "products".

Political one-liners

He knows nothing; and he thinks he knows everything. That points clearly to a political career.- George Bernard Shaw

Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel. - John Quinton

Never vote for the best candidate, vote for the one who will do the least harm. - Frank Dane

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.- Groucho Marx

Politics makes estranged bedfellows. - Goodman Acey

Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is a good thing. Fleas are interested in dogs.- P.J. O'Rourke

Politicians who complain about the media are like sailors who complain about the sea. - Enoch Powell

Crime does not pay - as well as politics.- Alfred E. Newman

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.- Lester B. Pearson

If Presidents don't do it to their wives, they do it to the country. - Mel Brooks

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them. - Paul Valery

People never lie so much as after a hunt, during a war or before an election.- Otto von Bismarck

Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the National Debt.- Herbert Hoover

Don't get excited about a tax cut. It's like a mugger giving you back fare for a taxi.- Arnold Glasow

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government, and I'm here to help. - Ronald Reagan

We'd all like to vote for the best man but he's never a candidate. - Kin Hubbard

Democracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least. - Robert Byrne

He appears to have no clear political view except that the world should be a nicer place and that he should be loved and trusted by everyone and questioned by no-one.- Norman Tebbit, on Tony Blair

Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.- George Orwell

Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.- Ronald Reagan

Hell hath no fury like a bureaucrat scorned. - Milton Friedman

Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad name. - Henry Kissinger

MALAYSIAKINI: 'Sack Ahmad and detain him under ISA'

Malaysiakini reported on the call by Wanita Gerakan for Bukit Bendera UMNO Chief, Ahmad Ismail, to be detained under the Internal Security Act ("ISA"). This call by Wanita Gerakan is completely out of line and unacceptable.

The ISA is a law that allows preventive detention. This means that any citizen can be grabbed off the street and thrown into a jail cell. The citizen need not be charged with any crime. He can be left to languish and be forgotten by everyone else for 2 years or more.

This is what Wanita Gerakan is calling for.

This shows how little they understand what the ISA stands for and, how unjust it is.

A responsible political party (or section, branch or, whatever) must do their homework.

It may be more appropriate to call for investigations under the Sedition Act which has provisions for citizens to be brought to book if they promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different races or classes of the population of Malaysia.

Every citizen is entitled to be subjected to the due process of law for any alleged crime or any offence, which means being investigated, charged and tried in a court of law. There have been several police reports lodged against Ahmad Ismail on this matter under the Sedition Act. This is the correct course of action.

Calling for the ISA to be used against Ahmad Ismail is very, very wrong.

I fully support the views expressed by Malik Imtiaz in his blog, Disquiet.