Hantu Laut
The famous Hamlet's soliloquy "To be or not to be". Will the prophecy of so many people about Najib's administration come true. Anwar Ibrahim has prophesies the same here.Would it be a case of "The road to hell is paved with good intentions" and whatever good he does would still not be good enough? Is he a victim of wrong public perception ?
Najib will be the most controversial figure to ascent the highest office.He became prime minister by default rather than popular choice and came with a heavy load.
His late father Tun Abdul Razak took over the nation when it was in turmoil and emergency law was passed to stop further violence and bloodshed.Razak headed the National Operations Council.The May 13 tragedy culminated in the Tungku handing over power to Razak in 1970.Parliament and political parties were suspended, press censorship imposed, all political activities banned and use of the ISA to detain troublemakers. Within less than two years Razak managed to bring back peace to the country and Parliament was reconvened in 1971 with the formation of a new coalition government, the Barisan National (BN) comprising all political parties, except the DAP. PAS joined but was expelled in 1977.
In hindsight, without emergency rule and use of the ISA the situation could have been been worse and dragged on much longer.
There is similarity in Najib's and his father's ascension to the premiership, albeit in a different environment. His was a peaceful and planned transition, while his father's came at very difficult times and leadership was thrust on him as the Tungku was seen as a weak leader and his policies not benefiting the Malays. To certain extent Najib replacing Abdullah was of the same nature, Abdullah was also perceived to be weak.
In the early 70s the Malays economic and living standard were still low. Almost 75% of Malays living below the poverty line and excluded from the modern economy.The May 13 tragedy was the result of this disparity and the near loss of political power. The Tungku, for lack of experience, had only wanted political power for the Malays and the civil service to be manned mainly by Malays.He overlooked the economic power. Money can buy material comfort, favours, sex and lately as we all found out can also buy politicians.Therefore, money and lots of it can do miracles, almost anything.Without money life can be miserable and society can be cruel to those who doesn't have it. This is the root of UMNO's problem, money ! money ! money ! every one in UMNO wants a lot of money and they don't care, in the eyes of society, how they obtain it, ill-gotten or otherwise, as long as it's easy, fast and big. They have forgotten what they are there for, they have forgotten what sacrifices previous leaders had made to bring this nation to what it is today.They have forgotten the basic principal of decent human behaviour and lavished themselves with the trappings of power. They have not an ounce of guilt or shame that the money they have are not acquired through hard work or entrepreneurship but through an easy ride on the gravy train.
You hear of horror stories of wives of politicians buying Hermes handbag worth RM90,000.00 and holidays paid by Chinese towkays.You hear of politicians making million of dollars without any business to their names. This is what Najib needs to stop if he wants UMNO to regain its past glory. If things are done within reason nobody will complain, it is the excesses that have driven the people away.
When the late Tun Razak introduced the NEP in 1971 to help narrow the economic gap between the Malays and other races mainly the Chinese it was a sincere and benevolent act to remove the economic imbalance and bring the Malays to higher economic level. Never in his wildest dream he invented the NEP to enrich only the Malays in UMNO. It was mean for all Malays.
Najib must do a serious examination of where UMNO has gone wrong, not only the Chinese and Indians are running away but educated urban Malays are equally disillusioned and have shown their discontentment at the last general elections by voting the oppositions.
Now that Pak Lah will be out of the picture will Najib revert to his father's original idea of what the NEP should be about and put a stop to the gravy train, or at least minimise it, or would he follows in Mahathir's footstep and bring back authoritarian rule and continue with the status quo?
Is the road to hell paved with good intentions?
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Is NCR Land A Big Scam ?
Hantu Laut
I am not an expert in Sarawak land matters and what I expressed here are mostly confined to my Sabah experience. However, Sabah and Sarawak seemed to share similar problem when it comes to Native Customary Rights(NCR) land.
Land have always been a sensitive issue in rural areas when big tract of land are given out for agricultural development or logging activities.There would be protests, objections and confrontations with the indigenous people who claim that those land belong to their ancestors and rightfully belong to them.
Unlike in some parts of Sarawak, in Sabah the native villagers do not totally live off the forests. Most live along rivers and tributaries and eke out their daily lives from subsistence farming by shifting cultivation. Here, they are appropriately called Orang Sungei and are scattered along the rivers in pockets of small villages.
In Sarawak the Penans are probably the true people of the forest.Most are hunter-gatherers and used the forest as their source of food, medicine and clothing.Although, they take everything from the forest they pose no strain on the forest because of their minimalist attitude, not taking more than enough.
As a logger working in the Sugut/Paitan area in Sabah in the 70s and 80s I have a fair share of problematic villagers who claimed customary rights mostly as an excuse to squeeze money out of you to pay for wild fruit trees they claimed to have been planted by their forefathers and non-existence graves of their forefathers they claimed to have been mowed down by our tractors.Dealing with this kind of situation needs a lot of diplomacy, patience and understanding.To brush aside their claims would be inviting more troubles.We always get away with paying a few hundred ringgit making them happy and our work uninterrupted.
The best solution to the problem is to wise up and not be arrogant. Most of these poor villagers are reasonable and do not come as often.Paying few thousands ringgit a year to keep the peace is worth it. Those were 20 to 30 years ago when land and forests were still aplenty.Today, things have changed and land are becoming scarce and expensive and politics playing a big role in turning it into a sensitive and troubling issue.
The kampong folks are not as innocent as many would have thought them to be.Many have been given lands but sold it for quick money even before the titles for the land have been issued by the government.Under the Berjaya government thousand of acres of land were given to so-called landless villagers and all those lands are now owned by big plantation companies.Every where you go the story is the same, even land applied for homestead are sold immediately upon getting approval.
All the hue and cry about NCR land falling into the wrong hands are mostly politically motivated, at least in Sabah it is.Most issues are raised by politicians with vested interest.When they can't get what they wanted from the government instigating the people would put pressure on the government to consider their requests.This tactics are use by both oppositions and elected representatives of ruling parties.
In Sabah, the giving away of huge tract of land to Peninsula-based plantation companies were mostly done under the PBS government and this is the same people who are trying to stir up villagers about NCR lands that they have given away more than any other state government.PKR Vice-President Jefferey Kitingan was a big player in this scheme when his brother was Chief Minister of Sabah and he Director of Sabah Foundation.
Some politicians have short memory. They conveniently forgot what they did yesterday.
I am not an expert in Sarawak land matters and what I expressed here are mostly confined to my Sabah experience. However, Sabah and Sarawak seemed to share similar problem when it comes to Native Customary Rights(NCR) land.
Land have always been a sensitive issue in rural areas when big tract of land are given out for agricultural development or logging activities.There would be protests, objections and confrontations with the indigenous people who claim that those land belong to their ancestors and rightfully belong to them.
Unlike in some parts of Sarawak, in Sabah the native villagers do not totally live off the forests. Most live along rivers and tributaries and eke out their daily lives from subsistence farming by shifting cultivation. Here, they are appropriately called Orang Sungei and are scattered along the rivers in pockets of small villages.
In Sarawak the Penans are probably the true people of the forest.Most are hunter-gatherers and used the forest as their source of food, medicine and clothing.Although, they take everything from the forest they pose no strain on the forest because of their minimalist attitude, not taking more than enough.
As a logger working in the Sugut/Paitan area in Sabah in the 70s and 80s I have a fair share of problematic villagers who claimed customary rights mostly as an excuse to squeeze money out of you to pay for wild fruit trees they claimed to have been planted by their forefathers and non-existence graves of their forefathers they claimed to have been mowed down by our tractors.Dealing with this kind of situation needs a lot of diplomacy, patience and understanding.To brush aside their claims would be inviting more troubles.We always get away with paying a few hundred ringgit making them happy and our work uninterrupted.
The best solution to the problem is to wise up and not be arrogant. Most of these poor villagers are reasonable and do not come as often.Paying few thousands ringgit a year to keep the peace is worth it. Those were 20 to 30 years ago when land and forests were still aplenty.Today, things have changed and land are becoming scarce and expensive and politics playing a big role in turning it into a sensitive and troubling issue.
The kampong folks are not as innocent as many would have thought them to be.Many have been given lands but sold it for quick money even before the titles for the land have been issued by the government.Under the Berjaya government thousand of acres of land were given to so-called landless villagers and all those lands are now owned by big plantation companies.Every where you go the story is the same, even land applied for homestead are sold immediately upon getting approval.
All the hue and cry about NCR land falling into the wrong hands are mostly politically motivated, at least in Sabah it is.Most issues are raised by politicians with vested interest.When they can't get what they wanted from the government instigating the people would put pressure on the government to consider their requests.This tactics are use by both oppositions and elected representatives of ruling parties.
In Sabah, the giving away of huge tract of land to Peninsula-based plantation companies were mostly done under the PBS government and this is the same people who are trying to stir up villagers about NCR lands that they have given away more than any other state government.PKR Vice-President Jefferey Kitingan was a big player in this scheme when his brother was Chief Minister of Sabah and he Director of Sabah Foundation.
Some politicians have short memory. They conveniently forgot what they did yesterday.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
New Mahathirism: A Pre-judgement ?
Hantu Laut
It's the end of the Badawi's era and the beginning of a new Mahathir's era.
Malaysians are watching closely the road that Najib will be taking to redeem himself.How he is going to extricate himself from a whole slew of allegations which he claims to be unfounded and manufactured by the oppositions.They are malicious and baseless lies spread by the oppositions to smear his good name he claimed.
There is a general perception that Najib will be turning back the clock to the Mahathir's era, the use of strong arm tactics to intimidate the oppositions, muffle the media and crack down on the alternative media where the smear campaigns and oppositions to him ruling the nation resounding loudly.
Najib is asking Malaysians to judge him by his actions and said he has not taken office yet but people were already pre-judging him.
Malaysians are basically skeptical because of his non-reaction to the allegations other than denying it. Malaysians wanted him to clear his name by using the justice system which he seems not to be in favour of thus making the people even more suspicious.Tengku Razaleigh has asked him to exhaust the legal system to clear his name.Razaleigh has, in the past, used the legal system to clear his name when news report implicated him in the BMF scandal.
Mahathir has strongly indicated his return to UMNO and the entire nation is glued to a political watch of whether Mahathir will have undue influence in his administration. In another word would Najib be under his thumb? Will he takes Mahathir as the wise old man and a fatherly figure that he should render his respect and obedience ? Mahathir has openly thrown his support for Muhyiddin who had been instrumental in pressuring Pak Lah to step down. Would Mahathir make full use of Muhyiddin to pressure Najib to compliance ?
Malaysians will get an early indication of whether Mahatirism has snuggle back into the administration when Najib chooses his cabinet ministers.The one person that Mahathir wanted no business with is the young and restless Khairy Jamaluddin. He has openly attacked Khairy and wanted him out of the Youth race and later openly told Najib not to appoint him to the cabinet.By tradition the youth chief is usually given a cabinet post.
Will Najib appoint Khairy to the cabinet and faces the wrath of Mahathir or appease him and not appoint Khairy and faces the wrath of the party youth division ?
It's the end of the Badawi's era and the beginning of a new Mahathir's era.
Malaysians are watching closely the road that Najib will be taking to redeem himself.How he is going to extricate himself from a whole slew of allegations which he claims to be unfounded and manufactured by the oppositions.They are malicious and baseless lies spread by the oppositions to smear his good name he claimed.
There is a general perception that Najib will be turning back the clock to the Mahathir's era, the use of strong arm tactics to intimidate the oppositions, muffle the media and crack down on the alternative media where the smear campaigns and oppositions to him ruling the nation resounding loudly.
Najib is asking Malaysians to judge him by his actions and said he has not taken office yet but people were already pre-judging him.
Malaysians are basically skeptical because of his non-reaction to the allegations other than denying it. Malaysians wanted him to clear his name by using the justice system which he seems not to be in favour of thus making the people even more suspicious.Tengku Razaleigh has asked him to exhaust the legal system to clear his name.Razaleigh has, in the past, used the legal system to clear his name when news report implicated him in the BMF scandal.
Mahathir has strongly indicated his return to UMNO and the entire nation is glued to a political watch of whether Mahathir will have undue influence in his administration. In another word would Najib be under his thumb? Will he takes Mahathir as the wise old man and a fatherly figure that he should render his respect and obedience ? Mahathir has openly thrown his support for Muhyiddin who had been instrumental in pressuring Pak Lah to step down. Would Mahathir make full use of Muhyiddin to pressure Najib to compliance ?
Malaysians will get an early indication of whether Mahatirism has snuggle back into the administration when Najib chooses his cabinet ministers.The one person that Mahathir wanted no business with is the young and restless Khairy Jamaluddin. He has openly attacked Khairy and wanted him out of the Youth race and later openly told Najib not to appoint him to the cabinet.By tradition the youth chief is usually given a cabinet post.
Will Najib appoint Khairy to the cabinet and faces the wrath of Mahathir or appease him and not appoint Khairy and faces the wrath of the party youth division ?
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Cabotage Within A Cabotage: Sabah Ports' Moronic Idea
Hantu Laut
Most developed nations have cabotage law to protect transport of goods and passengers within the country.
'Cabotage' basically means the transport of goods or passengers between two points in the same country.It is a form of protectionism.It was originally started in shipping but later widen to cover aviation and to all other form of inland transport.The US has strict cabotage policy and consider it as not only protection for domestic transportation but as a form of national security and public safety.
Malaysia has its own cabotage policy to protect local shipping. Most goods from overseas are first shipped to Port Klang and later shipped on local carriers to other ports in the country. If domestic shipping is efficient and readily available than this is fine, the costs of transportation could be lowered but it could pose huge problems if the local shipping is erratic and inefficient, costs would go up making goods more expensive and less competitive.
Consumers in Sabah and Sarawak have to pay higher price for consumers goods due to the policy and even worse, manufacturers in the two states who export their products overseas have to incur higher costs in paying additional freight/transhipment charges for transhipment of the goods through Port Klang which is not a very efficient port by any measure.
There should be flexibility in this policy as far as Sabah and Sarawak are concerned.Strict adherence to cabotage would make Sabah and Sarawak unattractive to investors. There should be total relaxation on bulk shipments. That is to allow direct calls by both foreign and Malaysian registered vessels for bulk cargo going out or coming to the ports in Sabah and Sarawak. The two states are separated from the Peninsula by over a thousand miles of open sea and a malleable cabotage policy should be the case.
Take for instance if there was a big shipment of heavy equipment from Kobe in Japan to Kota Kinabalu it makes economic sense if the sailing is direct to Kota Kinabalu instead of going to Port Klang first because the freight charges would be much cheaper than to send it to Port Klang and than re-ship to Kota Kinabalu.
As they say "from the frying pan into the fire". It bothered me to read the most ridiculous proposal by Sabah Ports to make Kota Kinabalu Sepangar Port as the only terminal port for all ships coming to Sabah including all ships from Port Klang.Goods destined for other ports in Sabah shall be transported by barges and scows from the Sepangar Port.
I wonder whether the people in Sabah Ports are fit to be there in the first place. Void of better ideas on how to make money this bunch of morons have decided to start their own cabotage policy.They are trying to create a cabotage within a cabotage and bring more miseries to the economy and the people of Sabah.
The business community and the people of Sabah are already burdened by the high costs of goods by the inefficiency of domestic shipping protected under the national cabotage policy and they are trying to add salt to the wound and aggravate the already unpleasant situation. Needless to say this kind of vacuous policy would drive away both domestic and foreign investors.No businessman in his right mind will invest in a state where poor infrastructure, high costs of production and high cost of shipping existed.
It is also ridiculous on the part of Sabah Ports to implement such ridiculous policy after spending huge amount of money to upgrade the Sandakan port and those in Lahad Datu and Tawau.
This kind of policy makes no economic sense to Sabah other than to serve the incompetence of the 'goyang kaki'( laziness) management of Sabah Ports. The proposal virtually makes one 'smell a rat' in Sabah Ports and its parent company Suria Capital. The next step is to monopolise the transport sector by giving it to one or few people.
Malaysia as a nation already have in existence a national cabotage policy which covers the whole nation. Sabah should not be allowed to implement its own cabotage policy just to fulfil the whim and fancies of the management of Sabah Ports. The state government should not agree to this meretricious proposal even though Sabah Ports belong to the state.It's would be killing the elephant to save the ant.
I would be surprised if Chief Minister Musa Aman who himself was a businessman will allow this kind of policy to be implemented and one that will damage the state economy and stifle new investments.
Maybe, he should also consider appraising the management of Sabah Ports whether they are competent to run port business without government protection.
Most developed nations have cabotage law to protect transport of goods and passengers within the country.
'Cabotage' basically means the transport of goods or passengers between two points in the same country.It is a form of protectionism.It was originally started in shipping but later widen to cover aviation and to all other form of inland transport.The US has strict cabotage policy and consider it as not only protection for domestic transportation but as a form of national security and public safety.
Malaysia has its own cabotage policy to protect local shipping. Most goods from overseas are first shipped to Port Klang and later shipped on local carriers to other ports in the country. If domestic shipping is efficient and readily available than this is fine, the costs of transportation could be lowered but it could pose huge problems if the local shipping is erratic and inefficient, costs would go up making goods more expensive and less competitive.
Consumers in Sabah and Sarawak have to pay higher price for consumers goods due to the policy and even worse, manufacturers in the two states who export their products overseas have to incur higher costs in paying additional freight/transhipment charges for transhipment of the goods through Port Klang which is not a very efficient port by any measure.
There should be flexibility in this policy as far as Sabah and Sarawak are concerned.Strict adherence to cabotage would make Sabah and Sarawak unattractive to investors. There should be total relaxation on bulk shipments. That is to allow direct calls by both foreign and Malaysian registered vessels for bulk cargo going out or coming to the ports in Sabah and Sarawak. The two states are separated from the Peninsula by over a thousand miles of open sea and a malleable cabotage policy should be the case.
Take for instance if there was a big shipment of heavy equipment from Kobe in Japan to Kota Kinabalu it makes economic sense if the sailing is direct to Kota Kinabalu instead of going to Port Klang first because the freight charges would be much cheaper than to send it to Port Klang and than re-ship to Kota Kinabalu.
As they say "from the frying pan into the fire". It bothered me to read the most ridiculous proposal by Sabah Ports to make Kota Kinabalu Sepangar Port as the only terminal port for all ships coming to Sabah including all ships from Port Klang.Goods destined for other ports in Sabah shall be transported by barges and scows from the Sepangar Port.
I wonder whether the people in Sabah Ports are fit to be there in the first place. Void of better ideas on how to make money this bunch of morons have decided to start their own cabotage policy.They are trying to create a cabotage within a cabotage and bring more miseries to the economy and the people of Sabah.
The business community and the people of Sabah are already burdened by the high costs of goods by the inefficiency of domestic shipping protected under the national cabotage policy and they are trying to add salt to the wound and aggravate the already unpleasant situation. Needless to say this kind of vacuous policy would drive away both domestic and foreign investors.No businessman in his right mind will invest in a state where poor infrastructure, high costs of production and high cost of shipping existed.
It is also ridiculous on the part of Sabah Ports to implement such ridiculous policy after spending huge amount of money to upgrade the Sandakan port and those in Lahad Datu and Tawau.
This kind of policy makes no economic sense to Sabah other than to serve the incompetence of the 'goyang kaki'( laziness) management of Sabah Ports. The proposal virtually makes one 'smell a rat' in Sabah Ports and its parent company Suria Capital. The next step is to monopolise the transport sector by giving it to one or few people.
Malaysia as a nation already have in existence a national cabotage policy which covers the whole nation. Sabah should not be allowed to implement its own cabotage policy just to fulfil the whim and fancies of the management of Sabah Ports. The state government should not agree to this meretricious proposal even though Sabah Ports belong to the state.It's would be killing the elephant to save the ant.
I would be surprised if Chief Minister Musa Aman who himself was a businessman will allow this kind of policy to be implemented and one that will damage the state economy and stifle new investments.
Maybe, he should also consider appraising the management of Sabah Ports whether they are competent to run port business without government protection.
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