YB SIVA memberi tekanan kepada Pakatan Rakyat - malaysiakini

Hari ini, YB A.Sivasubramaniam (ADUN-Buntong) telah memberikan satu lagi tekanan kepada Kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat Negeri Perak, supaya melantik Timb.Datuk Bandar dengan serta-merta untuk mengurangkan beban Datuk Bandar yang sedia ada.

Beliau juga menyokong penuh dan mencalonkan nama YB M.Kulasegaran iaitu ahli parlimen Ipoh Barat untuk memegang jawatan tersebut.

Kenapakah YB A.Sivasubramaniam mencalonkan nama YB M.Kulasegaran? Beliau faham bahawa YB M.Kulasegaran adalah satu-satunya calon yang lebih mahir dalam segala masalah-masalah penduduk tempatan khususnya berkaitan dengan Kerajaan Tempatan dan lebih-lebih lagi YB M.Kula adalah seorang Peguam yang bertauliah dan mempunyai pengalaman yang luas.

Baru-baru ini beberapa perkara telah berlaku di Bandaraya Ipoh dan ramai pemerhati politik dan penduduk tempatan telahpun mengklasifikasikan tindakan MBI itu sebagai unsur-unsur sabotaj.

Benar atau tidak.......orang yang terlibat sahaja yang tahu keadaan sebenarnya.

Walaubagaimanapun saya ingin senaraikan beberapa kelakuan Kakitangan MBI dan kesengsaraan penduduk-penduduk dikawasan Ipoh Barat seperti yang berikut:

1. Datuk Bandar bersama rakyat di Dewan Orang Ramai Buntong pada jam pukul 7.00 pagi.

- Pelik tapi benar, Ahli Parlimen dan Adun Kawasan Buntong sampai lebih awal daripada Datuk Bandar. Apa yang pelik? Individu yang memegang jawatan Datuk Bandar adalah kakitangan Kerajaan dan individu tersebut haruslah sampai sebelum ataupun pada masa yang ditetapkan pada agenda majlis tersebut. Apa yang Benar? Datuk Bandar sampai pada pukul jam 8.00 pagi dan dijemput oleh Ahli Parlimen dan ADUN Buntong. (memang songsang)

Apa yang memeranjatkan adalah ADUN Buntong YB A.Sivasubramaniam tidak dimaklumkan dengan agenda tersebut dan beliau diberitahu oleh Pejabat Ahli Parlimen Ipoh Barat. Apabila dihubungi kebahagian Majlis, jawapannya pula lupa untuk memaklumkan. Bagus dan syabas !!!

2. Gangguan bekalan air dan bekalan eletrik di rumah pangsa Sg.Pari, Wallacourt dan Kinta Heights.

- Kesemua penempatan yang dinyatakan itu, berkedudukan di Kawasan Parlimen Ipoh Barat dan ketiga-tiga penempatan penduduk awam itu mengalami gangguan pada masa yang serentak dan sehingga hari ini tidak ada apa-apa siasatan dijalankan terhadap isu tersebut.

- Pengarah-pengarah jabatan pula tidak ada apa-apa plan alternatif selain daripada memberi alasan yang tidak wajar kepada penduduk.

- Salah seorang Pengarah Jabatan MBI, memberitahu kepada Ahli Parlimen dan penduduk Kinta Heights, bahawa Datuk Bandar mampu mendapat bantuan bekalan daripada JBA disebabkan oleh hubungan baik Datuk Bandar bersama Pengarah Urusannya.

(Kalau Datuk Bandar tidak mempunyai hubungan baik dengan JBA.........kering kontang flat itu)

3. 60 pegawai penguatkuasa turun padang di Bercham untuk aktiviti kebajikkan.

- Membantu pihak Pejabat Tanah & Pejabat Daerah untuk mengosongkan tanah yang didiami oleh pekebun-pekebun kecil Cina yang menduduk ditanah tersebut lebih daripada 50 tahun. Apa kebajikkannya? Atas arahan Datuk Bandar 60 Pegawai penguatkuasa turun padang dan berjaya menghancurkan mata pencarian 22 keluarga yang berada dalam keadaan daif.

- Kenapa Datuk Bandar terlibat? Beliau terlibat dalam hal ini disebabkan oleh permintaan daripada Pejabat Tanah & Pejabat Daerah untuk membantu satu syarikat swasta yang berhasrat untuk membina sebuah stesyen Minyak.

- Apa jadi dengan ADUN Bercham ? Adu...hai.....MBI kan mempunyai kuasa yang lebih mutlak daripada mana-mana pihak. Arahan Datuk Bandar !!!!!! Pegawai penguatkuasa tidak diarahkan untuk berunding dengan ADUN, maka itu bukan kesilapan pegawai....habis kesilapan siapa ....paham hanyalah....

"Kebiasaannya orang BN akan sesal kemudian atas kesilapan, tetapi rakyat pula akan sesal dengan serta merta atas kelakuan pemimpin itu. "

Kan baik kalau lantik Timb. Datuk Bandar sebelum apa-apa insiden yang tidak diigini berulang berlaku!!!!

as posted in : http://karyapolitik.blogspot.com/

PENANG GOVERNMENT SCANDAL - malaysiakini

by CHARLES HECTOR of http://charleshector.blogspot.com

Wasting the peoples' money is wrong. The quantum is immaterial. BN may have squandered billions, but it cannot justify Pakatan squandering even thousands.

A good question for Lim Guan Eng - Why send 52 persons for a 5 day 'trade-mission' to South Kora? How much did the State spend? Who were in this large delegation? How were they chosen? Were they Pakatan cronies? Did the wife pay for herself?

The state government came under fire from local BN leaders, especially from Umno and Gerakan, for allegedly wasting public funds in an unusually large 52-person trade delegation to South Korea for a five-day trip beginning Oct 27.

They also questioned the reasons for Lim to take along his wife, Betty Chew, Deputy Chief Minister Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin and parliamentarians Jeff Ooi, who is the state industrial relations coordinator and an InvestPenang director, Liew Chin Tong, to South Korea. - Malaysiakini, 2/11/2008 - Lim defends Korean trade mission

I read the Malaysiakini report entitled "Lim defends Korean trade mission" but alas, it looked very much like any other BN politician.

Distract-- he talked about "He said the critics, mainly Barisan Nasional politicians, should have instead saved their time and energy to scrutinise and criticise the RM23.7 billion wastage caused by three major scandals recently...."

Not really respond - Reading the report, I am sad to say that the questions have not been answered. When asked to divulge the BUDGET - he procrastinated, saying that some other will provide answers in a few days. Come now - is he not the Chief Minister. Are we not in an age when it is so easy to communicate and get necessary information?

And most shocking was that the trip had only managed to get some money to build a GOLF COURSE....

Lim said BN politicians should have criticised those scandals if they were serious and sincere to wiping out wastage and leakages of public funds, instead of disapproving his Far East delegation, which had secured a RM100 million Korean investment to construct a golf course in the Batu Kawan parliamentary constituency.- Malaysiakini, 2/11/2008 - Lim defends Korean trade mission

I think Kit Siang would also not be able to defend what Guan Eng did here....this nice 5 day trip to South Korea for 52 persons. I only hoped that they did not use State Money to pay for the 52.

Maybe the Malaysiakini report was not complete and accurate - BUT tell me where I can find out the truth about this 'scandal'

PENANG GOVERNMENT SCANDAL - malaysiakini

by CHARLES HECTOR of http://charleshector.blogspot.com

Wasting the peoples' money is wrong. The quantum is immaterial. BN may have squandered billions, but it cannot justify Pakatan squandering even thousands.

A good question for Lim Guan Eng - Why send 52 persons for a 5 day 'trade-mission' to South Kora? How much did the State spend? Who were in this large delegation? How were they chosen? Were they Pakatan cronies? Did the wife pay for herself?

The state government came under fire from local BN leaders, especially from Umno and Gerakan, for allegedly wasting public funds in an unusually large 52-person trade delegation to South Korea for a five-day trip beginning Oct 27.

They also questioned the reasons for Lim to take along his wife, Betty Chew, Deputy Chief Minister Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin and parliamentarians Jeff Ooi, who is the state industrial relations coordinator and an InvestPenang director, Liew Chin Tong, to South Korea. - Malaysiakini, 2/11/2008 - Lim defends Korean trade mission

I read the Malaysiakini report entitled "Lim defends Korean trade mission" but alas, it looked very much like any other BN politician.

Distract-- he talked about "He said the critics, mainly Barisan Nasional politicians, should have instead saved their time and energy to scrutinise and criticise the RM23.7 billion wastage caused by three major scandals recently...."

Not really respond - Reading the report, I am sad to say that the questions have not been answered. When asked to divulge the BUDGET - he procrastinated, saying that some other will provide answers in a few days. Come now - is he not the Chief Minister. Are we not in an age when it is so easy to communicate and get necessary information?

And most shocking was that the trip had only managed to get some money to build a GOLF COURSE....

Lim said BN politicians should have criticised those scandals if they were serious and sincere to wiping out wastage and leakages of public funds, instead of disapproving his Far East delegation, which had secured a RM100 million Korean investment to construct a golf course in the Batu Kawan parliamentary constituency.- Malaysiakini, 2/11/2008 - Lim defends Korean trade mission

I think Kit Siang would also not be able to defend what Guan Eng did here....this nice 5 day trip to South Korea for 52 persons. I only hoped that they did not use State Money to pay for the 52.

Maybe the Malaysiakini report was not complete and accurate - BUT tell me where I can find out the truth about this 'scandal'

MIC PRESIDENT RACE : DATO SOTHI - wait-and-see game : MALAYSIAKINI

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 (Bernama) -- The MIC has postponed the elections for its top posts, except that of president, to September next year, according to party sources.

They reveal that the decision to move the party polls from June to September was taken at a meeting of the MIC central working committee (CWC), the party's highest decision-making body, earlier this month.

However, the election for the post of president would go on as scheduled in late February next year, the sources told Bernama.

Long-serving president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, who took over the leadership of the party in 1979 and has retained the post for 10 consecutive terms, is the only candidate so far to announce his intention to contest the top post.

Tamil newspapers earlier this month quoted him as saying he would hand over the MIC to whosoever was picked as the deputy president at the party polls this time around.

Although the last party elections were held in June 2006, the MIC constitution allows for the CWC to defer the election of top office-bearers for a period of 18 months. The nearly 1,500 divisional delegates would, at the polls now set for September next year, pick a deputy president, three vice-presidents and 23 CWC members.

Compared to other political parties in the country, the MIC has a different system in electing its national office-bearers. The presidential election is held at least three months ahead of the elections for the other posts. The president, in the case of a contest, is picked by branch office-bearers while other national leaders are picked by divisional delegates.

The deputy presidency seems to be the all-important post this time around as observers feel that the man who fills this post would lead the 650,000-member MIC into the next general election.

Another school of thought says Samy Vellu might decline going for the presidency if he can strike a deal among the big players in MIC politics before February next year, but this is unlikely to happen taking into account the political ambitions of a few in the upper hierarchy of the party.

"Things are very unclear now. Nobody knows what is going on in his (Samy Vellu's) mind. It is all a guessing game. Only time will tell who he would endorse as his deputy, if he ever endorses anyone," party veteran and treasurer-general Tan Sri M. Mahalingam told Bernama, when contacted.

Many in the party, without voicing out, prefer Samy Vellu to leave and let democracy take its course. This is, however, rebutted by the 72-year-old leader, who says he does not want to leave the party in disarray due to political infighting after his departure as the president.

The MIC, like other Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties in the peninsula, suffered a bruising defeat in the March 8 general election when only three of its nine parliamentary candidates won.

The three are Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam (Segamat), who is the human resource minister and MIC secretary-general; Datuk M. Saravanan (Tapah), the federal territories deputy minister and MIC information chief; and Datuk S. K. Devamany (Cameron Highlands), deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

Dr Subramanian is seen as potential deputy president material. Others expected by party observers to join the contest for deputy president are Datuk S. Subramaniam, the former deputy president; Datuk G. Palanivel, the incumbent deputy president and Datuk S. Sothinathan, an incumbent vice-president.

It is learnt that Dr Subramaniam will only contest the party's No. 2 post with the blessings of Samy Vellu while the other three are playing a wait-and-see game.

Samy Vellu, one of the longest-serving presidents of a BN component party, had said after his defeat in the Sungai Siput parliamentary constituency in the general election and in an effort to consolidate the MIC that he would not take sides in the deputy president's race.

It has been the norm in the party, over the last two decades, for the MIC chief to come up with a list of preferred candidates for national positions and this practice, some claim, had "killed democracy" in the party.

At the last elections, he proposed that Palanivel be given the endorsement for deputy president to overthrow Subramaniam who had served as the party No. 2 for 27 years prior to the 2006 party election defeat.

In a bid to "strengthen" the party, Samy Vellu has since patched up with Subramaniam, who had been a thorn in Samy Vellu's flesh since the mid-1970s, and the "deal" was that the MIC chief would not take sides at the next party polls, especially in the tussle for deputy president.

"He (Samy Vellu) created Palanivel to kill off Subramaniam (known in party circles as Subra). Now he has both of them on each side. On top of that, he has Dr Subramaniam, who is a full minister. To add icing to the cake, Sothinathan, who garnered the highest number of votes in the veep race the last time around, is knocking at the door of the deputy presidency.

"But one cannot discount other candidates, like Saravanan who is seen by the community as a breath of fresh air. Young leaders like him and several others are breaking into the ranks. They too have ideas which they feel are relevant to the younger generation and current political trend in the country," said S. Ananthan, the MIC president's former political secretary.

However, Ananthan argues that it is time for the MIC to change, not only through a rebranding exercise but also from inside, meaning changing the leadership.

"If you see, the entire line-up, may it be Samy Vellu, Subra, Palanivel or even Sothi(nathan), are old names. The general election results told MIC a lot of things but they should learn lessons instead of continuing with their old ways. Putting up a list of preferred candidates will destroy the party.

"Indians want to support the MIC but the party itself should reinvent the way it operates. It has to offer something to the Indians. That is the difficult part. Indians want the party to show that it has changed for the good," Ananthan said.

The point is valid as Malaysian Indian voters turned their backs on the BN at the 2008 general election, a departure from the hitherto traditional way of the community throwing its entire support behind the ruling coalition. The reasons for the community to turn away from the BN are numerous and the MIC should partly take the blame for this state of affairs.

The future of Indian support for the party hinges on who are picked as its national leaders at the next party polls as the elected leaders would be the ones leading the 62-year-old party into the next general election.

-- BERNAMA

DAP SLAMS PAS - malaysiakini

DAP has taken its Pakatan Rakyat coalition partner PAS to task, saying its outburst against the abolition of the 30% bumiputra requirement for public listed companies is misguided.

DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua said although the outburst was well-intentioned, taking steps instead to liberalise the financial markets was the way forward.

“As stated, bumiputras failing to achieve the 30% equity despite nearly 40 years of the New Economic Policy only proves that achieving equity through regulation will not achieve the objective of increasing their wealth in the shortest possible time,” he said in a statement yesterday.

Pua said the current 19% wealth ownership, if accurate, had remained stagnant since the 1990s.

“Secondly, for bumiputras to achieve not only 30% of the nation’s wealth, but also a meaningful 30%, it is critical for the capital markets to be liberalised to attract global capital,” he said.

Pua said liberalising the financial markets would allow for a more dynamic economy accompanied by greater wealth creation

PAS BETRAYS PKR! - malaysiakini

Pas, a member of the Pakatan Rakyat coalition government in Selangor, is unhappy with the appointment of Low Siew Moi as acting head of the Selangor State Development Corporation (PKNS).

Selangor Pas commissioner Datuk Dr Hasan Mohamad Ali, who is also a state executive councillor, said today that the party would help the state government find a more suitable candidate.

Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim announced yesterday that Low, who is PKNS corporate and accounts deputy general manager, would be appointed acting general manager for a year following the retirement of Datuk Harun Salim at the end of October.

The appointment also did not go down well with the corporation’s staff. At the Selangor State Assembly, their representatives, led by PKNS Senior Officers Association president Idris Ishak, submitted a memorandum of protest to Khalid during recess.

Hasan told reporters later that he had discussed the matter with Khalid who had indicated his willingness to shorten Low’s tenure if Pas was able to come up with suitable candidates.

Hasan said he had asked Khalid why two most senior officers — Deputy General Manager (Administration) Md Nasir Md Arshad and Deputy General Manager (Technical) Abdul Ghani Hassan — were not appointed to succeed Harun.

He said Khalid had told him that Low was appointed because of her professionalism and administrative ability but Pas was of the view that the two deputy general managers had their own strengths and should have been considered for promotion.

Hasan said Khalid wanted the new general manager to bring reforms to PKNS and dignify the rights of bumputeras in trade, business and economy in urban areas, town outskirts and new development areas despite the fact that Low was not a bumiputera.

He said Pas would hold a meeting soon to look at the list of party members who could bring PKNS to greater heights. - Bernama betrays

WILL SOTHINATHAN BE THE NEXT MIC PRESIDENT? - MALAYSIAKINI

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 28 — A significant number of Malaysians reading this article were not even born when Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu became the president of MIC.

He took over in 1979 on the death of Tan Sri V. Manikavasagam and has stayed on since through many ups and downs, reinventing himself and the MIC several times along the way.

But he faces his greatest challenge now after Indians, mostly working-class Tamils, abandoned the MIC in large numbers during the March 8 general election and voted for the opposition.

The revolt was so extensive that many Indians even overcame their fear of Islam and voted for Pas.

With the political landscape so radically changed, Samy Vellu faces three major challenges now:

First, is how well he can win back a good number of the Indians back to the MIC and by extension to the Barisan Nasional.

Second is to reorganise the MIC into a truly mass-based grassroots organisation, as it was in 1970s and early 80s, and find a successor to hand over power at an "appropriate" time.

Third is Samy Vellu's desire to erase the humiliating defeat he suffered in Sungei Siput and exit the political stage as a winner so he will be remembered as a hero.

Samy Vellu is not sparing time, resources and money to meet and overcome all three challenges.

He has become intensely focused since March 8 on how to erase that defeat, re-brand the MIC and exit honourably, party insiders said.

If necessary, he has told his close confidants he wants to stand again in Sungei Siput and win to erase the humiliating defeat.

"If anything this is what Datuk Seri (Samy Vellu) really desires… to consolidate, win and hand over and walk out as a winner," a senior MIC leader close to Samy Vellu told The Malaysian Insider on condition of anonymity.

"He has told his inner circle that if he achieves this he will die happy," the MIC leader said.

In comments made on Deepavali day, Samy Vellu revealed some of his inner thoughts when he said he had "fixed" the time to transfer power but still wants to contest as president in March 2009.

"I will also go. I have fixed the time already," he said, rejecting criticism he was hanging on compared to other BN component party leaders who are handing over to their successors after seeing the writing on the wall.

Next March about 3,600 MIC branches will elect a president and up to now there is no challenger in sight for Samy Vellu.

One reason why challenging Samy Vellu is futile is because a challenger needs at least 300 MIC branches to endorse his challenge to qualify to contest.

He has the added weight as an incumbent to use "carrot or stick" methods available to him to ensure he gets the nominations and challengers are denied the same nominations.

Another reason is that he has successfully duped long-time rival Datuk S. Subramaniam into believing that he stands a chance of inheriting the party if he plays along and does not whip up a storm among the party grassroots.

The only other possible challenger is his current No. 2 Datuk G. Palanivel who appears to have lost steam after his defeat in the March polls.

Samy Vellu privately accused Palanivel of stirring up some anti-Samy Vellu sentiments soon after the polls but the initial stirrings have not taken off and become a broad based movement to oust the veteran.

While the ground is ripe for a revolt against Samy Vellu, there is no leader brave enough to lead such a movement.

"The grassroots are crying for a rebel leader but none dare to wear that hat," said a MIC Selangor division leader.

Samy Vellu is also not waiting for a rebellion to develop.

Since the polls, he has been striding forward with his re-branding of the MIC by holding numerous forums and "re-thinking" sessions with party branch and divisional leaders.

The yields from the "re-branding" are uncertain but a lot of time and money is being invested in giving the MIC a new oomph!

By June 2009 Samy Vellu has to anoint, select and finally have "elected" a successor and the field is wide open with incumbent Palanivel expected to defend his post and with Subramaniam, vice-president Datuk S. Sothinathan and outsider Datuk M. Muthupalaniappan making it a four-cornered fight.

Samy Vellu has repeatedly said he would not interfere but would accept as deputy anybody elected by the delegates, a promise few MIC delegates are willing to take at face value.

The talk is Samy Vellu is expected to back Sothinathan, largely because he had handled Samy Vellu's and the party's finances before being co-opted into the party hierarchy in the early 1990s as a counterweight to Palanivel.

"Sothi has inside knowledge… he is family," party insiders said. "The other possible successor is one way or other too sullied for associating with Samy Vellu's opponents."

At stake is also an estimated RM800 million in assets — cash, buildings, businesses, colleges and universities — that are variously owned by the MIC or held in trust, the party insiders said.

Unlike his BN colleagues, handing over of power for Samy Vellu is more complicated with the line between personal, family, party and public all criss-crossing and unclear and near impossible to unravel.

"Samy Vellu is looking for continuity, stability and a personal victory before exiting," MIC insiders said. "That means he would stay at least until 2013 before finally bowing out, if at all!