Singapore Malays Support Umno Youth ?

Bernama reports that "A Malay opposition political party in Singapore, Tuesday expressed support for the statement by Umno Youth chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein that there is no racial discrimination in Malaysia."

The Pergerakan Pemuda Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura (PKMS) said it agreed with Hishammuddin that discrimination did not occur in Malaysia, adding that it occurred in Singapore.

"We support the statement by Datuk Seri Hishammuddin on the matter raised by Singapore's minister mentor," PKMS Youth chief Mohd Jairzinno Omar told Bernama at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), venue of the Umno Youth general assembly which seven PKMS Youth representatives attended as special observers.

Mohd Jairzinno said the PKMS refuted the allegation that the Chinese have been marginalised in Malaysia, and that the party had sent a letter to Umno to convey its stand in the matter.

PKMS Youth vice-chief Abdul Jamal Abdul Rashid said the Singapore government encourages the economic upliftment of the Malays but several restrictions still exist in terms of opportunities and use of the Malay language.

"There may be areas where the use of the Malay language is not allowed, such as the Defence premises and Parliament. Malays on their own do not hold important posts," he said.

PKMS champions the cause of about 500,000 Malays in Singapore, which has a population of 2.3 million. PKMS has 5,000 active members.


All silent on the battlefront ?

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi met Umno delegates yesterday to spell out his agenda for the country, assuring delegates that he would tackle some key issues.

But many delegates were more struck by what was left unsaid in the course of his hour-long speech: He made no mention at all of former premier Mahathir Mohamad during the closed-door session, ahead of Umno's general assembly.

The briefing was meant to set the direction for discussions this week and Datuk Seri Abdullah's silence on Tun Dr Mahathir's attacks against him was seen as a sign that delegates should not attack his predecessor.

Many officials heaved a sigh of relief that a confrontation has been avoided. There were some who felt it will now be a tame affair without Tun Dr Mahathir.

Najib, whose speech at the joint opening of the three wings, underscored “complete loyalty to our leaders,” had talked about the “great apprehension when the leaders we cherish begin to squabble.” But he paid a tribute as well as saying that today's generation acknowledges and appreciates every idea and policy that had transformed the socio-political landscape, from the tone of the deputy president's speech when opening the assemblies of the three wings, it was clear that the party did not want to see the dispute between the former and present presidents overshadow other issues.

Umno Youth chief Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein Onn did the same, pledging full loyalty to the president and expressing gratitude to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's contributions.

His approach met with approval from Youth delegates for they broke into loud applause at the mention of Dr Mahathir's name.

Several speakers in the Youth assembly also made references to Dr Mahathir but did not dwell on the dispute.

The 2006 UMNO General Assembly takes place at a crucial moment for Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi, party president and Malaysian Prime Minister.

His fourth year in power has just started amidst mounting criticism that he was too slow with reforms, too careful in economics, and too uninspired and uninspiring in his style of leadership. However, lately, he had, through the Ninth Malaysia Plan, the expansive budget for 2007, and the revealing of details for the Iskandar Development Region in Johor state, been having some success in parrying such accusations.

In the meantime, his surprising greatest opponent, former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed, suffered a heart attack that brings family and medical pressure into play to curb Mahathir's political activism. The heart attack provides Mahathir with a valid and politically neutral reason to be absent, and relieves Abdullah of suffering his powerful – even if silent – presence at the meeting.

No strategist could have come up with a better solution to the problem.

Emboldened by these developments, Abdullah proclaimed before the meeting that he was not a one-term premier. He had long-term plans, he said, and he intended to carry them out. His break with Mahathir grew with Abdullah suggesting for the first time that Mahathir was no longer the man he once knew.

Delegates have also been told that they should refrain from personal attacks, which would in truth mean not only attacks on Mahathir but also on Abdullah. Abdullah's Cabinet seems to be strongly behind him for now.

Since party elections scheduled for next year have been postponed, the party leadership is feeling secure and will not be encouraging heated debates, but will instead be calling for unity in the face of the general elections that many expect will take place sometime in 2008.

The Abdullah administration will be busy with the 50th anniversary of Independence next year, and general elections before 31 August 2007 are not expected. The fasting month comes immediately after that.

As things stand, therefore, Abdullah is comfortably set to give his all important policy speech on 15 November 2006. This generally sets the agenda for the meeting. All in all, 5,000 delegates from all the party wings and the divisions will be present.

Nevertheless, as always, the president of Malaysia's most dominant party cannot afford to forget that he is the leader of a multicultural country striving to achieve first-world status. He must remain conscious of the fact that the speech to the party must also reiterate the direction his administration wishes to set for the country.

Given the recent focus on the Malay-owned equity shares, the future of the New Economic Policy will certainly be mentioned and debated. Given the topicality of Mahathir's attacks, and highly sensitive issues such as apostasy, the use of English in the teaching of science and mathematics, and the role of meritocracy in education, the NEP will probably function as a lightning rod for most expressions of Malay dissatisfaction and confusion.

Abdullah's big challenge is to manage the irritation that many will be voicing, without leaving too many delegates dissatisfied.

Most analysts agree that the Malay Agenda will be discussed, partly in avoidance of other issues that might be damaging to UMNO, but mainly to symbolise Malay unity. What this agenda will continue to embody will for the moment be less important than the public re-proclamation of the Malay Agenda. Given the uproar following Education Minister Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein's waving of a Malay keris last year, similar stark displays of Malay unity will not be forthcoming.

Besides Malay rights, the issue of Islam, now increasingly presented as being under attack from other ethnic groups, is expected to be debated as well. Abdullah's answer cannot but be packaged under the name of Islam Hadhari, the solution that served him so well in the 2004 general elections.

Other questions that have recently caught public attention include corruption among high officials, inter-faith tension, as well as the reputation of the police. The recent case involving the murder of a Mongolian model and the brutal blowing up of her remains has not only generated endless tales that are politically sensitive, but has put the focus once again on the reliability and integrity of the many arms of the law.

Despite Mahathir's absence, and the expected show of unity, eyes will be looking out for signs of rift among UMNO's many heads.

For good reason, any continuation of the recent initiatives taken by the Mentri Besar of Johor, Datuk Ghani Othman, in criticising the concept of "Bangsa Malaysia" (Malaysian nation) and in attacking the use of English to teach science and mathematics, will carry great significance.

For one thing, "Bangsa Malaysia" is strongly associated with Mahathir's Vision 2020. This vision has, since it was announced in 1991 become a uniting force for the ruling Barisan Nasional.

Furthermore, lacking any vision of its own making, the Abdullah administration relies strongly on the appeal of this inherited dream. It has therefore repeatedly claimed that its goals are the same as Mahathir's but that its methods are different. Abdullah cannot therefore allow any sustained questioning of that paradigm's basic concepts.

Meantime, Khairy hits out at Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim call toabolish NEP. Without naming him, the Umno Youth deputy chief said there was a former deputy president who had said in an interview that the NEP was bad because only the cronies and the “Umnoputras” became rich from it.

“Pandai dia cakap (What cheek he has to speak). He was the greatest Umnoputra of all and a very rich one too,” he said in his winding up speech.

Since his release from prison, Anwar has said in a number of interviews that the NEP should be abolished and that all races should be given equal opportunities.

Khairy slammed the Asli (Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute) report that claimed Malay corporate equity had reached 45%.

“They are manipulating figures. If we want to use the Asli figures, let’s set a new target. Let’s make it 70% for the Malay equity,” he added.

He also slammed some government-linked companies (GLCs) which were said to treat Umno Youth members as beggars.

He told reporters later that the statement by a Penang delegate (that the Penang Malays are being neglected) was important for the Penang government led by Gerakan deputy president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon to take stock of the situation and address the problems faced by the Malays in the state.

“The actual message is that the Malays are feeling dissatisfied in Penang and they have the right to express their feelings,” he said.

TUN Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is now recuperating from a mild heart attack, had received information that he would be booed if he attended the Umno general assembly.

Mukhriz said his father had been booed before, even when he was still the party president.

“He is quite used to it (being booed). But he had always taken in his stride to do what he deemed best for the party, race and country,” he said.

Mukhriz said he had goose bumps when Youth delegates applauded loudly when Youth Chief Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Tun Hussein said the youths still respected and loved Dr Mahathir.

On comments that Umno members have greater freedom of speech under the present leadership, Mukhriz said there was openness on the surface.

But in actual practice, certain issues are not allowed to be brought up.

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Temasek in Thailand: Stumbling from one mishap to another

In view of their scandalous dealings with deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his family, senior Singaporean officials are remarkably defiant. Instead of owning up to their complicity in hastening Mr Thaksin's demise and contributing to Thailand's long and costly political crisis, both Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew remain adamant that Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government-owned holding company that purchased the Shinawatras' 49.3% stake in Shin Corp last January to the tune of 73.3 billion baht, is a run-of-the-mill business enterprise that made a sound investment decision.

Never mind that Temasek's decision to let Mr Thaksin and his family cash out of Shin Corp sparked protracted protests in Bangkok that culminated with the military coup and Mr Thaksin's ouster on Sept 19. Never mind that the executive director and CEO of Temasek is Prime Minister Lee's wife, Madam Ho Ching, who has more or less kept out of the limelight in favour of her husband and father-in-law.

As if to heap insult on top of injury, Prime Minister Lee stated in a speech to the Asian-European Editors Forum on Oct 6 that the Thai putsch was a setback for the country's democratic system. Justifying his view on Mr Thaksin's electoral prowess, Mr Lee completely missed the essence of the Thai crisis. It was Mr Thaksin's erosion of legitimacy on a long trail of constitutional violations, corruption and abuse of power that led to his downfall. Elections without accountability and checks-and-balances under Mr Thaksin's Thailand were necessary but not sufficient for acceptable democratic rule.

Minister Mentor Lee followed his son's remark with the insistence that the Temasek-Shin Corp transaction was completely above board.

Both father and son did what Mr Thaksin would have done. They insisted on what is legal on paper but illegitimate and possibly illegal in practice. On the one hand, Temasek is ostensibly an independent company that bought Shin Corp, nominally owned by the Shinawatra children, not Mr Thaksin himself. On the other, Temasek is owned by the Singaporean government and directed by the prime minister's spouse, and Shin Corp was ultimately owned and governed by Mr Thaksin, despite the absence of his signature on paper.

To finalise the deal, Temasek set up a front operation through Kularbkaew, a nominally majority Thai-owned company that bought Shin Corp with loans from Temasek, a circumvention of local foreign business law and its foreign shareholding limit of 49%. Such legalistic manoeuvres were Thaksinesque, manipulating the spirit of the law, rules and regulations. Temasek's actions have caused ripples through the foreign investor community in Thailand, and have posed a conundrum for Thai policy makers, who have long been lenient with the enforcement of the Foreign Business Act. Official investigations on nominee shareholding have opened a can of worms that could prove detrimental both to foreign investment and to the Thai economy unless an acceptable compromise that imposes punitive measures on Shin Corp without adversely affecting foreign companies across the board can be found.

To be sure, Shin Corp comprises tainted assets based on state concessions Mr Thaksin carved out unscrupulously, ranging from a mobile phone service and a television station to a satellite operation. That Shin Corp's paper wealth more than trebled during Mr Thaksin's rule was critical in laying the basis for the anti-Thaksin demonstrations. His political power increased his commercial wealth with the benefit of blatant conflicts of interest.

The political fallout from Temasek's Shin Corp investment decision has been profound. It led indirectly to the fall of a Thai government. For the Lee family to feign ignorance and maintain their self-righteous high ground is disingenuous. It does a disservice to Temasek's intention to navigate a way out of the commercial quagmire. The company has belatedly established an office in Bangkok, presumably to undertake a public relations drive and mount a legal rearguard action to protect its interests. Without Mr Thaksin at the top, Shin Corp's share price has gone into a tailspin. The prospects of Shin Corp companies are utterly murky.

More importantly, the Temasek affair has put Thai-Singaporean relations at risk. Despite his setback remark on Thai democracy and his insistence of Temasek's innocence, PM Lee has seen fit to raise the issue with Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont in their personal meeting. Gen Surayud rightly assigned the Temasek-Shin Corp case to the Thai judicial process. Without assistance from the Surayud government, Thai law will have the final say.

Thai-Singaporean relations at the government level, of course, will continue unimpeded by the Shin Corp scandal. What is at stake for Singapore is the general sentiment among the Thai people towards the island state. If Singapore's leaders want to repair the damage caused by Temasek's misadventure, they should begin by owning up to how the Shin Corp deal impacted the Thai body politic. However reluctant, words of regret are needed to mend relations and restore Singapore's reputation in local eyes.

Indeed, if the Temasek-Shin Corp deal was completely above board, as PM Lee maintains, Singapore officials would not have to repeatedly insist that it was completely above board.

By Thitinan Pongsudhira (Asean News Networks)

The writer is director of the Institute of Security and International Studies, Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.

In another news, " Singapore will raise its consumption-based goods and services tax to 7%," state media-run Web site Channel News Asia reported on Monday. The current GST rate is 5%.
The extra funds will be used for social programmes, Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong told parliament, according to a separate report by the state radio.
Lee said the GST report would come with a package weighted in favour of
lower income Singaporeans.
"So when we implement the GST increase, it's not a GST increase, it's a
package which will fully offset the impact of GST for these groups and
begin to strengthen the safety nets and tilt the balance in favour of
the lower income Singaporeans," said Lee.
Lee also said income tax rates could be lowered in future.
The details of the tax changes will be announced in the government's
budget in February.


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