Anwar calls for independent inquiry into equity
Anwar calls for independent inquiry into equity
Anwar calls on the government to be transparent and rational in the debate over Bumiputra equity. In his press statement today, he urge the government to establish an independent inquiry into equity distribution of the country. Its time we remove the NEP now.
The follwoing is his statement in BM:
PM Dismisses "Political Suicide" By Reversing Dr M's Decisions
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has dismissed the notion that he may be committing "political suicide" by reversing some of the decisions made by his predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and be seen as rolling back on everything the latter had put in place.
Admitting that Dr Mahathir is still being held in the highest regard by many people after 22 years leading the country, the prime minister said he too commanded majority support.
"No, no, no, I don't think it's a political suicide. He has been saying a lot of things, I've decided to keep quiet and to go on doing what I want to do.
"And the people want me to do what I want to do. And I have and I still command majority support today," he said in an interview with Anjali Rao in the "Talk Asia" programme aired by Cable News Network (CNN) Saturday.
Abdullah also pointed out that not everybody appreciated it when Dr Mahathir began his criticism.
He, however, said despite his silence, he did not ignore Dr Mahathir's criticisms and have made necessary adjustments if the criticisms were relevant.
"And some I can't accept," he said when asked by Anjali if he ignored Dr Mahathir's criticism of him.
The prime minister also dismissed a suggestion that he was rolling back everything Dr Mahathir had put in place by calling off some mega projects namely a new bridge linking Malaysia and Singapore.
"Not everything he put in place. No. Vision 2020, his biggest achievement, that's my target too. That we share, I share the vision. I have developed what I call a national mission. The mission is very big in order to achieve that vision," he said.
Abdullah said he believed there were other things the Government could do to develop this country.
"We are very practical about our approach and the bridge has nothing to do with the life and death of Malaysia," he said.
To a question whether Malaysia could have achieved such a major success if Dr Mahathir did not rule the way he did, Abdullah said as the prime minister for 22 years, Dr Mahathir had achieved considerable success for the country.
"We are proud of his achievements. That's a fact," he said.
On Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew's remark on Sept 15 that Malaysian Chinese are being "systematically marginalised", Abdullah reiterated that it was a groundless allegation.
"Yes, it's groundless. And it is an issue that can cause unhappiness to many people. Why? Some may even regard it as tantamount to interfering with what we are doing.
"The Chinese in Malaysia are doing well. They are better off than the indigenous people, than the Malays," he said.
He said the Malaysian Chinese achieved what they have today because the Government provided them opportunities to be successful.
DPM: Asli withdrew findings on its own
There was no pressure from the government for the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli) to retract its findings on Bumiputera equity ownership.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the decision announced by Asli president Mirzan Mahathir was voluntary.
"Asli is an independent think tank. It is up to them to decide on any issues," he said in response to allegations that Asli was pressured into withdrawing the findings of the study conducted by its Centre for Public Policy Studies.
The study estimated Bumiputera equity ownership in public-listed companies might be as high as 45 per cent, a figure hotly contested by politicians and the government.
On Tuesday, Mirzan said the study was based on faulty assumptions.
The centre’s director Dr Lim Teck Ghee resigned in protest, saying he stood by the findings.
Najib said while the government appreciated the concerns of various parties on this issue, there should be some degree of national consensus on economic data, especially those deemed sensitive.
"The government maintains that the official figures given by the EPU (Economic Planning Unit) are correct," he said after witnessing the signing ceremony between Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd and Bombardier Hartasuma for the purchase of 22 new trains for the light rail transit system.
Najib said the government wanted the number of city dwellers using public transportation to increase from the current 16 per cent to 40 per cent by 2020.
"This will ease congestion and enhance public movement efficiency," he said.
Many people were reluctant to take public transport as the service was unsatisfactory.
Later, at another function at Balai Felda, Najib said the sacrifices and contributions of veterans of the armed forces, many of them now in their old age and needing assistance, should be remembered.
He also presented Hari Raya aid from the Defence Ministry to 317 veterans.
A total of 2,431 veterans aged above 70 will receive the aid this year.
Malaysia tries to end racial debate
Malaysia on Thursday moved to cool a debate over privileges for its ethnic Malay majority triggered by a controversial report, saying it could spark tension in the multicultural nation.
"We do not want to create conflict," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters. "We hope everyone will act responsibly as the implications are huge," he added.
Najib's comments followed the resignation Wednesday of a prominent Malaysian academic as the head of a think tank after the government slammed its research showing Malays were much richer than had been thought.
Malaysia has long said that bumiputera - Malays and other minority indigenous groups - are economically dis-advantaged, and has set a 30 percent equity target for them.
The government says that bumiputera equity ownership is currently 18.9 percent, justifying an extensive positive discrimination policy giving them advantages in education and in the awarding of lucrative government contracts.
But the Centre for Public Policy Studies said in a February report to the government that bumiputera equity could already be as high as 45 percent.
It also said the decades-old policy of positive discrimination was possibly "misplaced", creating serious rifts among Malays and between the country's ethnic groups, and could jeopardise economic growth.
The research met with fierce criticism from Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last week, prompting the resignation of the centre's director, Lim Teck Ghee, who said he stood by the findings.
Najib said government data had already made clear the issue of equity distribution in Malaysia, and warned against further disputes on the issue.
"Maybe at an early stage the conflict can be viewed as an intellectual discourse, but if it touches sensitive issues, it can incite ill feelings among certain races," he said.
The centre's research "may be seen as a way to incite these feelings although it may not be meant to be that way," he added. The country's 26.6-million-strong population consists of about 60 percent Malays but the economy is largely controlled by ethnic Chinese, who make up some 26 percent of the population.
ASEAN ups pressure on haze as lawmakers bicker
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
ASEAN ministers are urging the government to ratify an agreement allowing the country's neighbors to help it fight the haze as lawmakers in Jakarta drag their feet over the contents of the document.
Environmental ministers gathering in Pekanbaru, Riau, released a statement after the meeting urging "Indonesia to urgently finalize the ratification of the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution," the Associated Press reported Friday.
Smoke from forest fires and land-clearing has been a chronic, annual problem between Indonesia and its neighbors, particularly Malaysia and Singapore. While the country signed the agreement in 2002 it has yet to pass it into law.
The agreement allows other ASEAN countries to aid the government fight the fires and smoke and would force the country to enforce a zero-burning policy. It would also provide the country with a "haze fund" to help fire fighting efforts.
Legislation ratifying the bill has stalled in the House of Representatives because many lawmakers want to include illegal logging provisions into the bill.
"The issue of illegal logging is inseparable from haze problems because it contributes to the burning of forests in most parts of Indonesia. Most of us want provisions on illegal logging inserted into the agreement," Amris Hassan of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle said.
Amris claimed many foreign companies were involved in slash and burn clearing to open up lands for plantation.
"Also, it is not a secret that many Malaysians wait to buy (timber) products from illegal logging along the borders," Amris said.
Malaysia's Foreign Ministry has said it would support efforts to prosecute any Malaysians involved in illegal logging.
Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Desra Percaya said the government wanted to focus on haze problems first because they mostly came from farmland.
He said the agreement created monitoring, assessment, prevention and emergency mechanisms to fight the haze.
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said differences with lawmakers would hopefully be resolved "soon."
Speaking from a haze-blanketed Pekanbaru, ASEAN secretary-general Ong Keng Yong said the agreement would be an effective way to put out the forest fires.
"One most important and practical element is that if there is a forest fire spotted anywhere in the ASEAN region, the rest of the ASEAN countries can activate fire fighting services and move in," Ong was quoted as saying by the Agence France-Presse from Singapore.
"We don't have to write in to get diplomatic clearance for aircraft, we don't have to ask for permission from the local fire services to send our firemen into the region or in the affected area," he said.
A Shining Red Dot
By Teo Chee Hean
Minister of Defence, Singapore (Source : PAP Website )
We have just celebrated our 41st year of Independence. As a small country, Singapore’s survival has always depended on our ability to turn challenges into opportunities.
Constraints and vulnerabilities are a fact of life for Singapore. We are only 699 sq km in area. We have no natural resources, not even enough water. When we became independent, we had just 2 million people – an untidy amalgam of different races, languages and religions with competing loyalties.
But we turned what looked like insurmountable limitations into success factors. We maximised the advantages of being small, while minimising the disadvantages of smallness. That has been the Singapore way.
In our early years, we struggled for economic survival. The common market that we strived for as part of Malaysia evaporated. Most larger newly-independent countries practised protectionism, but we could not afford to do so. Instead, we had to do the opposite – open up to the world and compete.
This gave us a head start when globalisation later forced countries to face global competition head-on.
As a result, we have succeeded in areas which no one would have expected.
We have no oil, but we are now one of the largest oil refining and integrated petrochemical production centres in the world. New projects amounting to billions are in the pipeline. SIA has no protected domestic routes, but has become one of the most successful airlines in the world.
Our free trade agreements have created more economic space for us. Our smallness emboldened us to conclude such agreements early.
Another key area is water. We will continue to need to import water from Malaysia for many more years under our current water agreements. But our search for alternatives to reduce our dependency has resulted in pioneering water technologies such as NEWater.
As a result, Singapore is fast emerging as a centre for exporting water technology to places such as China and the Middle East.
Our multi-racial society has not made it easier for us to forge a nation. We are constantly asking: Who are we, what do we want to be?
This struggle with what we are is part of being Singaporean.
Malay, Chinese and Tamil are our mother tongues. But choosing any of these as our single common language would have been very difficult, and not acceptable to some segment of the population or other. So, English has become the language of business and administration and the common language among us.
The lack of a common tongue – something that could have disabled a fledgling nation – resulted in us gaining an enormous advantage in today’s world because we settled on English. And keeping our mother tongues gives us the added advantage of access to the region, China and India.
Another factor is our people. We do not have a large rural population to generate a natural flow of striving and able people to energise our city.
On the other hand, because we regulate immigration, we can plan our housing needs, and we do not have slums. Singaporeans now own their homes and have a stake in our country. Our housing estates stay neat and clean, and our crime rates remain low.
As a small city-state, we can capitalise on the advantage of having border controls that allow us to welcome those who are able and willing to contribute to Singapore’s growth while limiting immigration so that we do not become over-crowded.
In the area of security, our small population means we cannot afford a large, regular armed force to defend ourselves.
So we introduced National Service in 1967. Besides giving us the means to defend ourselves, it has now also become an important tool for nation building.
National Service is a shared experience, a rite of passage for Singaporean men, which helps bind us together as one nation.
We have managed in many innovative ways to overcome our lack of size and turn these into strengths. We may not be able to predict what the future holds, but we can prepare for the future. Our experiences over the past four decades, when we overcame the odds and progressed, provide pointers for us.
I would like to offer three principles that will help to see us through whatever challenges the future may bring.
First, be willing to invest in the future.
When people as a group are prepared to forgo immediate gratification, to sow seeds in order to reap a large harvest later, then they will progress.
Singaporeans are indeed prepared to do this. We invest in infrastructure; in making Singapore a clean and green city that can sustain growth; but most of all, we invest in people, and we invest in knowledge.
Singaporeans value education. Parents scrimp and save; students work hard and strive to go as far as they can and to do their best. And the government has steadily expanded the diversity in our schools and the tertiary sector to give Singaporeans opportunities to develop themselves fully.
We are also investing in R&D. The Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council, A*STAR, our research institutes and the universities are spearheading our drive to be a knowledge economy.
In the future “weightless world”, where technology is the major currency, the greatest value comes from knowledge, not from natural resources, land or large populations. Our smallness is no longer the enormous disadvantage it used to be.
As we continue to develop our current competencies in electronics, financial services, trade and tourism, we are also readying ourselves for the new world of nano-technology, and bio-technology; developing our service industries in healthcare, education and entertainment.
In these new fields, being small in fact confers an advantage, as it allows agility and speed, which are very important.
We also invest in stability and security. This safeguards what we have, and allows us to pursue our dreams in peace.
The second principle is to bring every Singaporean along as we progress. Everyone contributes to making Singapore better, and everyone will benefit when Singapore does well. This is difficult to achieve in practice. It is a constant balancing act.
When change comes, it is always too fast for some, and too slow for others. Not everyone finds it easy to keep up. To achieve the right balance requires good governance. That means retaining the core values of multi-racialism, meritocracy, incorruptibility and self-reliance.
Third, stay connected. We are a small country, but we can maximise our size by leveraging on Singaporeans and our friends all over the world. This will become increasingly important in the future.
Over the past 41 years, we have built a secure and vibrant nation. However, it is a constant challenge to overcome the natural limitations of our geography and population size.
Our only asset is our people. It is the ingenuity and effort of Singaporeans which have enabled us to maximise our advantages and minimise our disadvantages. We have a bright future ahead.
Muslim Anger on the Rise
Lee Kuan Yew
Why has the Middle East been on Singapore's radar screen for the last few years? Because 220 million Muslims live in Indonesia, to our south, and another 20 million in Malaysia and southern Thailand, to our north. In 1991 these Muslim populations were not riled over Desert Storm in Iraq. But in 2003 they became agitated over what they saw as a bloodbath in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The unending crisis between the Israelis and Palestinians and the perceived double standards of the U.S. have also stoked Muslim anger. Muslims recently vented their anger over Lebanon by demonstrating against Israel's bombing of Lebanon and the U.S.' delaying of the UN Security Council's resolution calling for a halt to hostilities.
When U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Kuala Lumpur on July 27 to meet with ASEAN leaders, the youth wing of the ruling party, UMNO, led by Oxford-educated Deputy Chief Khairy Jamaluddin, demonstrated vigorously in protest. These demonstrations, carried on TV and in the press, gained kudos for UMNO Youth from many Muslims, especially the young.
Until the 1980s Malays in Malaysia identified themselves first as Malays, second as Muslims and third as Malaysians. Recent polls have disclosed a fundamental shift: 73% identify themselves first as Muslims, 14% as Malaysians and 13% as Malays. Malay-sian Muslim attitudes have turned hostile toward the U.S. and its allies because of the bloodshed in Iraq between coalition forces and the insurgents.
On Sept. 10 Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, the vice chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia and a much respected academic, wrote a commentary in Malaysia's English New Sunday Times carrying the headline: "Did the U.S. Stage a Lie on 9/11?" In the article Dzulkifli repeats a conspiracy theory prevalent on the Internet that contains false statements and dubious assertions:
"Pressure is mounting on the U.S. to 'let the truth out ' whether the World Trade Center collapse was due to 'jet fuel.' Or was it bombed from inside, the same way useless buildings are brought down in the U.S.? Did the U.S. stage a lie that has helped only Washington in the entire process of waging a war against Islam which it called the war against terror? Why were the reports of bombs found at the WTC not made public? There are also reports of a bright flash seen on the right side of the plane just before impact on both the North Tower and the South Tower, as captured on video by at least five cameras, including those belonging to renowned news agencies. What are these?"
With the hardening of attitudes it's not surprising that Muslims in Southeast Asia cheered Israel's failure in Lebanon. Despite 34 days of battering, a defiant Hezbollah continued to fire on Israel. The Islamic extremists have learned to use the media against the Israelis. Hezbollah fired its rockets from the cover of heavily populated areas and near UN observation posts, knowing that Israeli counterfire would cause death and injury to civilians and UN peacekeepers and calculating that once the carnage was seen on television, Western opinion would put pressure on the U.S. to get the Israelis to agree to a cease-fire.
Singapore's 600,000 Muslims--15% of the population--did not demonstrate or posture to win votes. They did not receive Al Jazeera newscasts, but they did see graphic photos on Muslim Web sites of injured women and children in Lebanon. Singapore's Centre for Contemporary Islamic Studies condemned Israel's bombings.
In Indonesia Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of JI (Jemaah Islamiah, a terrorist network), who has recently served a short jail term, claimed to have registered 500 volunteers to wage a Jihad in Palestine and Lebanon.
Lebanon: More Devastation to Come?
When the dust of battle settles, the Lebanese will have to ask themselves why they had to suffer through a conflict that didn't involve their country's national interests. In contravention of UN Resolution 1701, Hezbollah now intends to keep its rockets, which in all likelihood will be fired again. Then all the rebuilt buildings, bridges, power stations and other infrastructure will once again be destroyed. The Lebanese people must decide who they want in control of their country--their government or Hezbollah. Hezbollah has made it clear it will not disarm. And Israel may want to erase any perception that its military has lost its invincibility. If Hezbollah provokes Israel again, there is real risk of another severe clash.
Big Challenge in Iraq
When Iraq was under Sunni control it blocked Iran from spreading its influence westward. But now Iraq is controlled by a Shiite majority. In April President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt said, "Shiites are mostly always loyal to Iran and not the countries where they live." But I believe the Bush Administration has it right, that Iraq's Shi'a will be Arabs first and foremost and ultimately will not be subordinate to Iran's non-Arab Shi'a. However, we must keep in mind that the Shiite Iraqi leaders, who only recently have returned from an Iran that gave them sanctuary and succor, will not go against Shiite Iran. Iran's influence may even grow.
If the U.S. were to make a precipitous exit from Iraq, the Shiite and Sunni militias would be left to battle it out. Iraq's neighbors would likely join in, destabilizing the region. No American President--Republican or Democrat--can afford to let this happen.
Lee Kuan Yew, minister mentor of Singapore
Forbes.com/Forbes finder
(October 05, 2006)
Malaysia Singapore Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Haze :Indonesia Muslim Chinese Malay MM KY Lee ,Politic
Anwar calls on the government to be transparent and rational in the debate over Bumiputra equity. In his press statement today, he urge the government to establish an independent inquiry into equity distribution of the country. Its time we remove the NEP now.
The follwoing is his statement in BM:
Kerajaan Harus Bentuk Jawatankuasa Bebas Kaji Pegangan Ekuiti dan Kemiskinan
Kontroversi terbaru yang melibatkan pertikaian statistik pegangan ekuiti ASLI menimbulkan keraguan terhadap angka-angka yang diberikan oleh kerajaan.
Saya menyeru ditubuhkan sebuah Jawatankuasa Bebas Mengkaji Pegangan Ekuiti dan Kemiskinan di Malaysia untuk melaporkan mengenai status sebenar kedudukan ekonomi rakyat Malaysia tanpa sebarang keraguan lagi.
Meski pun banyak pihak termasuk saya yang meragui kaedah penyelidikan ASLI sehingga memutuskan ekuiti bumiputra yang melonjak tinggi, namun langkah wajar adalah dengan usaha telus memperolehi angka dan data lengkap. Ugutan dan kenyataan melulu termasuk dari pimpinan kerajaan tambah mengeruhkan suasana. Yang paling dikesalkan ialah manakala wacana menyusul telah menghangatkan prasangka kaum.
Sudah tiba masanya kita melakarkan Agenda Ekonomi Baru yang bergerak melangkaui isu-isu perkauman tetapi menekankan daya saing negara dan keadilan sosial untuk semua.
ANWAR IBRAHIM
Penasihat Parti Keadilan Rakya
14 September 2006
PM Dismisses "Political Suicide" By Reversing Dr M's Decisions
Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has dismissed the notion that he may be committing "political suicide" by reversing some of the decisions made by his predecessor Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and be seen as rolling back on everything the latter had put in place.
Admitting that Dr Mahathir is still being held in the highest regard by many people after 22 years leading the country, the prime minister said he too commanded majority support.
"No, no, no, I don't think it's a political suicide. He has been saying a lot of things, I've decided to keep quiet and to go on doing what I want to do.
"And the people want me to do what I want to do. And I have and I still command majority support today," he said in an interview with Anjali Rao in the "Talk Asia" programme aired by Cable News Network (CNN) Saturday.
Abdullah also pointed out that not everybody appreciated it when Dr Mahathir began his criticism.
He, however, said despite his silence, he did not ignore Dr Mahathir's criticisms and have made necessary adjustments if the criticisms were relevant.
"And some I can't accept," he said when asked by Anjali if he ignored Dr Mahathir's criticism of him.
The prime minister also dismissed a suggestion that he was rolling back everything Dr Mahathir had put in place by calling off some mega projects namely a new bridge linking Malaysia and Singapore.
"Not everything he put in place. No. Vision 2020, his biggest achievement, that's my target too. That we share, I share the vision. I have developed what I call a national mission. The mission is very big in order to achieve that vision," he said.
Abdullah said he believed there were other things the Government could do to develop this country.
"We are very practical about our approach and the bridge has nothing to do with the life and death of Malaysia," he said.
To a question whether Malaysia could have achieved such a major success if Dr Mahathir did not rule the way he did, Abdullah said as the prime minister for 22 years, Dr Mahathir had achieved considerable success for the country.
"We are proud of his achievements. That's a fact," he said.
On Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew's remark on Sept 15 that Malaysian Chinese are being "systematically marginalised", Abdullah reiterated that it was a groundless allegation.
"Yes, it's groundless. And it is an issue that can cause unhappiness to many people. Why? Some may even regard it as tantamount to interfering with what we are doing.
"The Chinese in Malaysia are doing well. They are better off than the indigenous people, than the Malays," he said.
He said the Malaysian Chinese achieved what they have today because the Government provided them opportunities to be successful.
DPM: Asli withdrew findings on its own
There was no pressure from the government for the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute (Asli) to retract its findings on Bumiputera equity ownership.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the decision announced by Asli president Mirzan Mahathir was voluntary.
"Asli is an independent think tank. It is up to them to decide on any issues," he said in response to allegations that Asli was pressured into withdrawing the findings of the study conducted by its Centre for Public Policy Studies.
The study estimated Bumiputera equity ownership in public-listed companies might be as high as 45 per cent, a figure hotly contested by politicians and the government.
On Tuesday, Mirzan said the study was based on faulty assumptions.
The centre’s director Dr Lim Teck Ghee resigned in protest, saying he stood by the findings.
Najib said while the government appreciated the concerns of various parties on this issue, there should be some degree of national consensus on economic data, especially those deemed sensitive.
"The government maintains that the official figures given by the EPU (Economic Planning Unit) are correct," he said after witnessing the signing ceremony between Syarikat Prasarana Negara Bhd and Bombardier Hartasuma for the purchase of 22 new trains for the light rail transit system.
Najib said the government wanted the number of city dwellers using public transportation to increase from the current 16 per cent to 40 per cent by 2020.
"This will ease congestion and enhance public movement efficiency," he said.
Many people were reluctant to take public transport as the service was unsatisfactory.
Later, at another function at Balai Felda, Najib said the sacrifices and contributions of veterans of the armed forces, many of them now in their old age and needing assistance, should be remembered.
He also presented Hari Raya aid from the Defence Ministry to 317 veterans.
A total of 2,431 veterans aged above 70 will receive the aid this year.
Malaysia tries to end racial debate
Malaysia on Thursday moved to cool a debate over privileges for its ethnic Malay majority triggered by a controversial report, saying it could spark tension in the multicultural nation.
"We do not want to create conflict," Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters. "We hope everyone will act responsibly as the implications are huge," he added.
Najib's comments followed the resignation Wednesday of a prominent Malaysian academic as the head of a think tank after the government slammed its research showing Malays were much richer than had been thought.
Malaysia has long said that bumiputera - Malays and other minority indigenous groups - are economically dis-advantaged, and has set a 30 percent equity target for them.
The government says that bumiputera equity ownership is currently 18.9 percent, justifying an extensive positive discrimination policy giving them advantages in education and in the awarding of lucrative government contracts.
But the Centre for Public Policy Studies said in a February report to the government that bumiputera equity could already be as high as 45 percent.
It also said the decades-old policy of positive discrimination was possibly "misplaced", creating serious rifts among Malays and between the country's ethnic groups, and could jeopardise economic growth.
The research met with fierce criticism from Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last week, prompting the resignation of the centre's director, Lim Teck Ghee, who said he stood by the findings.
Najib said government data had already made clear the issue of equity distribution in Malaysia, and warned against further disputes on the issue.
"Maybe at an early stage the conflict can be viewed as an intellectual discourse, but if it touches sensitive issues, it can incite ill feelings among certain races," he said.
The centre's research "may be seen as a way to incite these feelings although it may not be meant to be that way," he added. The country's 26.6-million-strong population consists of about 60 percent Malays but the economy is largely controlled by ethnic Chinese, who make up some 26 percent of the population.
**********
ASEAN ups pressure on haze as lawmakers bicker
Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
ASEAN ministers are urging the government to ratify an agreement allowing the country's neighbors to help it fight the haze as lawmakers in Jakarta drag their feet over the contents of the document.
Environmental ministers gathering in Pekanbaru, Riau, released a statement after the meeting urging "Indonesia to urgently finalize the ratification of the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution," the Associated Press reported Friday.
Smoke from forest fires and land-clearing has been a chronic, annual problem between Indonesia and its neighbors, particularly Malaysia and Singapore. While the country signed the agreement in 2002 it has yet to pass it into law.
The agreement allows other ASEAN countries to aid the government fight the fires and smoke and would force the country to enforce a zero-burning policy. It would also provide the country with a "haze fund" to help fire fighting efforts.
Legislation ratifying the bill has stalled in the House of Representatives because many lawmakers want to include illegal logging provisions into the bill.
"The issue of illegal logging is inseparable from haze problems because it contributes to the burning of forests in most parts of Indonesia. Most of us want provisions on illegal logging inserted into the agreement," Amris Hassan of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle said.
Amris claimed many foreign companies were involved in slash and burn clearing to open up lands for plantation.
"Also, it is not a secret that many Malaysians wait to buy (timber) products from illegal logging along the borders," Amris said.
Malaysia's Foreign Ministry has said it would support efforts to prosecute any Malaysians involved in illegal logging.
Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Desra Percaya said the government wanted to focus on haze problems first because they mostly came from farmland.
He said the agreement created monitoring, assessment, prevention and emergency mechanisms to fight the haze.
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said differences with lawmakers would hopefully be resolved "soon."
Speaking from a haze-blanketed Pekanbaru, ASEAN secretary-general Ong Keng Yong said the agreement would be an effective way to put out the forest fires.
"One most important and practical element is that if there is a forest fire spotted anywhere in the ASEAN region, the rest of the ASEAN countries can activate fire fighting services and move in," Ong was quoted as saying by the Agence France-Presse from Singapore.
"We don't have to write in to get diplomatic clearance for aircraft, we don't have to ask for permission from the local fire services to send our firemen into the region or in the affected area," he said.
**********
A Shining Red Dot
By Teo Chee Hean
Minister of Defence, Singapore (Source : PAP Website )
We have just celebrated our 41st year of Independence. As a small country, Singapore’s survival has always depended on our ability to turn challenges into opportunities.
Constraints and vulnerabilities are a fact of life for Singapore. We are only 699 sq km in area. We have no natural resources, not even enough water. When we became independent, we had just 2 million people – an untidy amalgam of different races, languages and religions with competing loyalties.
But we turned what looked like insurmountable limitations into success factors. We maximised the advantages of being small, while minimising the disadvantages of smallness. That has been the Singapore way.
In our early years, we struggled for economic survival. The common market that we strived for as part of Malaysia evaporated. Most larger newly-independent countries practised protectionism, but we could not afford to do so. Instead, we had to do the opposite – open up to the world and compete.
This gave us a head start when globalisation later forced countries to face global competition head-on.
As a result, we have succeeded in areas which no one would have expected.
We have no oil, but we are now one of the largest oil refining and integrated petrochemical production centres in the world. New projects amounting to billions are in the pipeline. SIA has no protected domestic routes, but has become one of the most successful airlines in the world.
Our free trade agreements have created more economic space for us. Our smallness emboldened us to conclude such agreements early.
Another key area is water. We will continue to need to import water from Malaysia for many more years under our current water agreements. But our search for alternatives to reduce our dependency has resulted in pioneering water technologies such as NEWater.
As a result, Singapore is fast emerging as a centre for exporting water technology to places such as China and the Middle East.
Our multi-racial society has not made it easier for us to forge a nation. We are constantly asking: Who are we, what do we want to be?
This struggle with what we are is part of being Singaporean.
Malay, Chinese and Tamil are our mother tongues. But choosing any of these as our single common language would have been very difficult, and not acceptable to some segment of the population or other. So, English has become the language of business and administration and the common language among us.
The lack of a common tongue – something that could have disabled a fledgling nation – resulted in us gaining an enormous advantage in today’s world because we settled on English. And keeping our mother tongues gives us the added advantage of access to the region, China and India.
Another factor is our people. We do not have a large rural population to generate a natural flow of striving and able people to energise our city.
On the other hand, because we regulate immigration, we can plan our housing needs, and we do not have slums. Singaporeans now own their homes and have a stake in our country. Our housing estates stay neat and clean, and our crime rates remain low.
As a small city-state, we can capitalise on the advantage of having border controls that allow us to welcome those who are able and willing to contribute to Singapore’s growth while limiting immigration so that we do not become over-crowded.
In the area of security, our small population means we cannot afford a large, regular armed force to defend ourselves.
So we introduced National Service in 1967. Besides giving us the means to defend ourselves, it has now also become an important tool for nation building.
National Service is a shared experience, a rite of passage for Singaporean men, which helps bind us together as one nation.
We have managed in many innovative ways to overcome our lack of size and turn these into strengths. We may not be able to predict what the future holds, but we can prepare for the future. Our experiences over the past four decades, when we overcame the odds and progressed, provide pointers for us.
I would like to offer three principles that will help to see us through whatever challenges the future may bring.
First, be willing to invest in the future.
When people as a group are prepared to forgo immediate gratification, to sow seeds in order to reap a large harvest later, then they will progress.
Singaporeans are indeed prepared to do this. We invest in infrastructure; in making Singapore a clean and green city that can sustain growth; but most of all, we invest in people, and we invest in knowledge.
Singaporeans value education. Parents scrimp and save; students work hard and strive to go as far as they can and to do their best. And the government has steadily expanded the diversity in our schools and the tertiary sector to give Singaporeans opportunities to develop themselves fully.
We are also investing in R&D. The Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council, A*STAR, our research institutes and the universities are spearheading our drive to be a knowledge economy.
In the future “weightless world”, where technology is the major currency, the greatest value comes from knowledge, not from natural resources, land or large populations. Our smallness is no longer the enormous disadvantage it used to be.
As we continue to develop our current competencies in electronics, financial services, trade and tourism, we are also readying ourselves for the new world of nano-technology, and bio-technology; developing our service industries in healthcare, education and entertainment.
In these new fields, being small in fact confers an advantage, as it allows agility and speed, which are very important.
We also invest in stability and security. This safeguards what we have, and allows us to pursue our dreams in peace.
The second principle is to bring every Singaporean along as we progress. Everyone contributes to making Singapore better, and everyone will benefit when Singapore does well. This is difficult to achieve in practice. It is a constant balancing act.
When change comes, it is always too fast for some, and too slow for others. Not everyone finds it easy to keep up. To achieve the right balance requires good governance. That means retaining the core values of multi-racialism, meritocracy, incorruptibility and self-reliance.
Third, stay connected. We are a small country, but we can maximise our size by leveraging on Singaporeans and our friends all over the world. This will become increasingly important in the future.
Over the past 41 years, we have built a secure and vibrant nation. However, it is a constant challenge to overcome the natural limitations of our geography and population size.
Our only asset is our people. It is the ingenuity and effort of Singaporeans which have enabled us to maximise our advantages and minimise our disadvantages. We have a bright future ahead.
**********
Muslim Anger on the Rise
Lee Kuan Yew
Why has the Middle East been on Singapore's radar screen for the last few years? Because 220 million Muslims live in Indonesia, to our south, and another 20 million in Malaysia and southern Thailand, to our north. In 1991 these Muslim populations were not riled over Desert Storm in Iraq. But in 2003 they became agitated over what they saw as a bloodbath in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein. The unending crisis between the Israelis and Palestinians and the perceived double standards of the U.S. have also stoked Muslim anger. Muslims recently vented their anger over Lebanon by demonstrating against Israel's bombing of Lebanon and the U.S.' delaying of the UN Security Council's resolution calling for a halt to hostilities.
When U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Kuala Lumpur on July 27 to meet with ASEAN leaders, the youth wing of the ruling party, UMNO, led by Oxford-educated Deputy Chief Khairy Jamaluddin, demonstrated vigorously in protest. These demonstrations, carried on TV and in the press, gained kudos for UMNO Youth from many Muslims, especially the young.
Until the 1980s Malays in Malaysia identified themselves first as Malays, second as Muslims and third as Malaysians. Recent polls have disclosed a fundamental shift: 73% identify themselves first as Muslims, 14% as Malaysians and 13% as Malays. Malay-sian Muslim attitudes have turned hostile toward the U.S. and its allies because of the bloodshed in Iraq between coalition forces and the insurgents.
On Sept. 10 Dzulkifli Abdul Razak, the vice chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia and a much respected academic, wrote a commentary in Malaysia's English New Sunday Times carrying the headline: "Did the U.S. Stage a Lie on 9/11?" In the article Dzulkifli repeats a conspiracy theory prevalent on the Internet that contains false statements and dubious assertions:
"Pressure is mounting on the U.S. to 'let the truth out ' whether the World Trade Center collapse was due to 'jet fuel.' Or was it bombed from inside, the same way useless buildings are brought down in the U.S.? Did the U.S. stage a lie that has helped only Washington in the entire process of waging a war against Islam which it called the war against terror? Why were the reports of bombs found at the WTC not made public? There are also reports of a bright flash seen on the right side of the plane just before impact on both the North Tower and the South Tower, as captured on video by at least five cameras, including those belonging to renowned news agencies. What are these?"
With the hardening of attitudes it's not surprising that Muslims in Southeast Asia cheered Israel's failure in Lebanon. Despite 34 days of battering, a defiant Hezbollah continued to fire on Israel. The Islamic extremists have learned to use the media against the Israelis. Hezbollah fired its rockets from the cover of heavily populated areas and near UN observation posts, knowing that Israeli counterfire would cause death and injury to civilians and UN peacekeepers and calculating that once the carnage was seen on television, Western opinion would put pressure on the U.S. to get the Israelis to agree to a cease-fire.
Singapore's 600,000 Muslims--15% of the population--did not demonstrate or posture to win votes. They did not receive Al Jazeera newscasts, but they did see graphic photos on Muslim Web sites of injured women and children in Lebanon. Singapore's Centre for Contemporary Islamic Studies condemned Israel's bombings.
In Indonesia Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of JI (Jemaah Islamiah, a terrorist network), who has recently served a short jail term, claimed to have registered 500 volunteers to wage a Jihad in Palestine and Lebanon.
Lebanon: More Devastation to Come?
When the dust of battle settles, the Lebanese will have to ask themselves why they had to suffer through a conflict that didn't involve their country's national interests. In contravention of UN Resolution 1701, Hezbollah now intends to keep its rockets, which in all likelihood will be fired again. Then all the rebuilt buildings, bridges, power stations and other infrastructure will once again be destroyed. The Lebanese people must decide who they want in control of their country--their government or Hezbollah. Hezbollah has made it clear it will not disarm. And Israel may want to erase any perception that its military has lost its invincibility. If Hezbollah provokes Israel again, there is real risk of another severe clash.
Big Challenge in Iraq
When Iraq was under Sunni control it blocked Iran from spreading its influence westward. But now Iraq is controlled by a Shiite majority. In April President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt said, "Shiites are mostly always loyal to Iran and not the countries where they live." But I believe the Bush Administration has it right, that Iraq's Shi'a will be Arabs first and foremost and ultimately will not be subordinate to Iran's non-Arab Shi'a. However, we must keep in mind that the Shiite Iraqi leaders, who only recently have returned from an Iran that gave them sanctuary and succor, will not go against Shiite Iran. Iran's influence may even grow.
If the U.S. were to make a precipitous exit from Iraq, the Shiite and Sunni militias would be left to battle it out. Iraq's neighbors would likely join in, destabilizing the region. No American President--Republican or Democrat--can afford to let this happen.
Lee Kuan Yew, minister mentor of Singapore
Forbes.com/Forbes finder
(October 05, 2006)
Malaysia Singapore Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Haze :Indonesia Muslim Chinese Malay MM KY Lee ,Politic
posted by Ah Yun Wong at
7:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home