Israel exposes Malaysia’s hypocrisy

Total trade between the two countries reached RM5bn in 2013, almost double that of 2012, according to the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics, points out Ng Kee Seng of The Ant Daily.

By

 Aliran admin

 -

24 Sep 2014

Najib in Gaza

What did national news agency Bernama report about Malaysia’s economic ties with Israel on 26 August?

The report titled “Malaysia has no economic ties with Israel – Mustapa” quoted International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed as saying Malaysia was standing firm on its foreign policy which did not allow any diplomatic relations to be established with Israel.

Mustapa said all indirect trades between Malaysia and the region were to support the economic development (of the Palestinians) and to send humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.

“This is because Malaysian exports to Palestine and the Gaza strip had to be brought in through the port of Ashdod in Israel territory as the Gaza Port was still blocked by Israel,” he said.

Mustapa, is that so? The Times of Israel in a report titled “Malaysia favours Palestinians but buys from Israel” is saying otherwise.

The report said the lack of diplomatic relations and hostility to Israel didn’t stop several Islamic nations from (quiet) trade.

The Times of Israel reported that in the winter of 2013, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak stepped across the Egyptian border at Rafah and made a rare visit by a head of government to Hamas-ruled Gaza.

Najib, whose country does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, had told reporters then: “We believe in the struggle of the Palestinian people. They have been suppressed and oppressed for so long.”

It was crystal clear which side he was on. Yet all that time, his country was importing more and more Israeli products, but not talking about it much, certainly not in Gaza.

Official data published by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) tells of a booming, but very discreet, trade relationship that is blossoming between the two countries, despite a hawkish prime minister in Jerusalem and Najib’s Islamist and proudly pro-Palestinian government in Kuala Lumpur.

Total trade between the two countries in 2013 reached US$1.529bn (RM5bn), almost double that of 2012, according to the CBS. That figure consists mostly of Israeli exports, at US$1.457bn (RM4.7bn).

Trade continues to accelerate: between January and July this year, Israeli exports to Malaysia soared to US$884.7m (RM2.9bn), a 27 per cent jump over the same period last year.

By contrast, Malaysia’s foreign trade figures don’t carry any mention of Israel at all. In its annual data for 2012, for instance, trade with Israel is included in an entry for “Other Countries”.

A significant chunk of the trade boom can be traced to Kiryat Gat in Israel’s sandy southern plains, where global giant Intel has a plant churning out computer chips. It exports these to a second assembly plant in Malaysia. Every shipment is duly recorded in Israel’s foreign trade statistics but studiously ignored by Malaysia. Intel is a US-based company, but the Israeli government promised a five per cent co-investment in its Kiryat Gat plant that could amount to one billion shekels (RM945m).

In addition to the officially recorded movement of goods, there is a heavy current of trade flowing beneath the surface, making it hard to calculate the value.

A raft of Israeli exporters and eager buyers in Malaysia and also neighbouring Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, are braving the political headwinds in order to do business – largely through third countries such as Singapore.

Israel’s embassy there says that most trade is done this way, and in the case of Indonesia, with the embassy’s assistance. Including deals done through a third country, the estimated value of trade between Israel and Indonesia ran as high as US$250m (RM815m) last year, 10 times the US$24.9m (RM81m) of direct trade detailed in official figures.

Israel sees commerce as a stepping stone that can lead to more co-operation with hostile states. Foreign Ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson labelled the volume of trade with Malaysia “pleasantly surprising” and that of Indonesia as “disappointingly low”.

“Israel does a lot of trade with many countries that we do not have formal diplomatic relations with and we are more than happy with this,” he said.

When asked if plans were afoot for establishing more formal dialogue, he responded: “It is no secret that we have periodically engaged in dialogue with these countries. We would like nothing more than to establish diplomatic relations and representative offices.”

Last November, Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett made a visit to the Indonesian resort island of Bali, where he spoke at a World Trade Organisation summit. It was the first visit of an Israeli minister to the world’s most populous Muslim nation for 13 years. However, it is understood he did not meet with any Indonesian government representatives.

Stop the hypocrisy Mustapa! Malaysia-Israel trade ties are flourishing!

Again, why is it that Malaysian government leaders continue to find it necessary to deny it has trade relations with Israel, be it direct or indirect?

If serious, just impose sanctions on Israel? Why be a hypocrite?

So, Mustapa, what now? Deny again?

Source: theantdaily.com

https://aliran.com/web-specials/2014-web-specials/israel-exposes-malaysias-hypocrisy/

Housing Ministry: A Lift Of Blacklisted Housing Developers In Malaysia

– Take Note of These Developers If You Want To Buy From These Companies

ByLaeranduil

Posted on October 2, 2018

When you’re looking to buy a house, you have to pour in a lot of research as it is definitely not cheap and usually, it’s a long-term kind of purchase. In case you didn’t know, one of the things that you must take into consideration is the developer of the housing project you’re interested in because this factor can influence the progress of your future home a lot. Most of the time, this is overlooked, so don’t make that mistake!

Source: Durian Property

Think about what if the developer suddenly flees with the money, the project will be delayed or stopped, which can cause you to lose your time and a lot of money.

But fret not, as the Ministry of Housing and Local Government has recently come out with an updated list of blacklisted problematic developers in Malaysia so that buyers will be aware and exercise caution if they want to buy from these companies.

Source: YouTube

Take note that there are four lists in total, which consist of unlicensed developers, developers who defied the Tribunal for Homebuyer Claims (TTPR), developers who failed to pay their compounds and developers involved in abandoned housing projects.

These lists are updated until September 14, 2018.

See:

https://thecoverage.my/news/malaysia/housing-ministry-a-lift-of-blacklisted-housing-developers-in-malaysia/

Germany tells America to verpissen off over Huawei 5G cyber-Sicherheitsbedenken

Europeans can't find any evidence of Chinese spying

By Kieren McCarthy in San Francisco 19 Feb 2019 at 21:26

German is expected to snub US pressure to cut Huawei out of its next-generation 5G networks, rejecting claims that the Chinese manufacturer is a security risk.

According to German media reports, a weekend meeting of the German cabinet dug into the issue and effectively rejected America efforts to impose a global ban on the company. The meeting considered a report by its own security services that said it has failed to find any evidence of spying.

That report reflects a early indication by UK security services that they have been unable to find any evidence that Huawei is installing backdoors in its products, something that is credible given that GCHQ has access to Huawei's source code. A final report is expected this spring.

Coinciding with the German crunch talks, Huawei's previously quiet management has been giving pointed interviews with German and British news publications to push their case.

The company's founder Ren Zhengfei – whose daughter was arrested in Canada earlier this year at the request of American authorities – told the BBC that there was "no way the US can crush" the company, and complained that his daughter's arrest was political.

Meanwhile, the head of Huawei's German arm, Dennis Zuo, spoke to Handelsblatt and actively rejected claims of espionage. "The security of networks is our top priority," Zuo said, stating that the Chinese government "does not hold a stake in Huawei" and stays out of its factories. He said the company will be open and transparent when it comes to mobile network security.

Diplomatic silence

Although the German government meeting ultimately decided to take a diplomatic approach – neither rejecting nor approving Huawei – a clear indication that they are skeptical of American security claims came when German Data Protection Commissioner Ulrich Kelber pointedly noted in an interview with Handelsblatt that "the US itself once made sure that backdoor doors were built into Cisco hardware."

Kelber added that he found it "very interesting, that just the Americans warn against Huawei." The German foreign office is reportedly more convinced than other departments that Huawei presents a possible security threat. Earlier this month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel took a middle line on the issue, refusing to say she would ban Huawei but noting that it would not be acceptable for the company to share data with the Chinese government.

The anti-Huawei rhetoric emanating from Washington DC, which has been unquestioningly accepted within the United States, has been raising eyebrows for nearly a year.

American telcos have aggressively pushed the questionable concept of a "race to 5G" and persuaded lawmakers of its importance by using fear of Chinese dominance as a counterpoint. Currently American and European companies dominate the mobile market and possess most of the patents on emerging 5G technology but China has been making significant headway and some fear that as the 5G standard is further developed, Chinese companies will overtake US corporations and so reap the next-generation windfall.

At stake are billions of dollars and a controlling stake in the mobile networks' future. But rather than focus all their efforts on out-innovating Chinese firms, significant energy by US companies has been put into scaremongering, painting Chinese companies and particularly Huawei as a security risk.

Also at play is the fact that Huawei is able to make and sell its equivalent products for significantly less than American rivals thanks to lower labor costs.

Lacking evidence

As security claims have been dug into and no evidence has emerged, however, the American argument has fallen back on a 2017 law passed by the Chinese government that requires all Chinese companies to cooperate with its intelligence services if requested.

The Trump Administrations has seized on that law – despite the United States having similar arrangements with many technology companies – with numerous officials and most recently vice president Mike Pence explicitly warning European countries that allowing Huawei into their networks is to grant an open door to the Chinese government.

The rhetoric has got so blatant a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson used concerns over President Trump's use of an insecure personal mobile phone to make calls to cheekily argue that if the US government is "really very worried about Apple phones being bugged, then they can change to using Huawei."

There is, of course, a risk with Huawei. As there is with American equipment. And Europeans are caught in the middle wishing to upset neither party, both of whom are important trade partners.

The solution that appears to be emerging in both the UK and Germany is one of cautious diversity, where special attention is given to the most important networks that require high levels of security and some degree of "technological autonomy" is introduced to the system to stop the country from becoming overly reliant on any particular company, American or Chinese. Japan has already rejected US calls for a Huawei ban.

There are several European companies that can also provide 5G equipment and European governments are likely to be more comfortable having one of them build out the most sensitive networks.

Remember Snowden?

The irony of course is that fears of undetectable state-sponsored spying across a network are credible only because the United States government managed to achieve exactly that through its National Security Agency (NSA).

In 2014, leaked NSA documents revealed, among many other things, that the American spy agency straight up intercepted and bugged Cisco gear on its way to buyers, to spy on network traffic. The snoops also exploited remotely accessible vulnerabilities in Cisco firewalls, and used a combination of secret laws and clandestine operations to tap into internet and mobile networks across the globe. Oh, and President Obama was forced to personally assure Chancellor Merkel that the NSA was not tapping her mobile phone, using language that appeared to confirm that it had been doing exactly that for years.

Since the NSA did that to homegrown American tech giant Cisco, no wonder Uncle Sam is paranoid about China's spies and Huawei.

Although Germany would rather stay out the argument by refusing to take a step in one direction or another with regards to the Chinese tech goliath, the Euro nation is going to hit a difficult deadline next month when it is due to open up auctions for 5G airspace.

If it is going to block Huawei in its networks, Germany would likely need to announce such a move before the auction begins in order to remove uncertainty for bidders. If it doesn't say anything, it will be taken as an implicit acknowledgement that Huawei equipment will be accepted in German 5G networks. ®

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/19/germany_huawei_5g_security/

Why Huawei’s 5G Technology Is Seen As A Threat By The US ?

Why Is The United States Intent On Killing Huawei?

Bythecoverage

Posted on February 10, 2019

The term 5G stands for a fifth generation — to succeed the current fourth generation of mobile connectivity that has made video sharing and movie streaming commonplace.

The new technology will require an overhaul of telecommunication infrastructure.

The 5G will do more than make mobile phones faster — it will link billions of devices, revolutionising transportation, manufacturing and even medicine. It will also create a multitude of potential openings for bad actors to exploit.

The vulnerability helps explain the rising tension between the US and Huawei Technologies Co, China’s largest technology company.

Huawei is pushing for a global leadership role in 5G, but American officials suspect that could help Beijing spy on Western governments and companies.

“Huawei’s significant presence in 5G creates a new vector for possible cyber-espionage and malware,” Michael Wessel, a commissioner on the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission that advises Congress, said in an interview.

By connecting whole new classes of products, 5G “creates new vulnerabilities”.

The technology holds great promise. Forests of gadgets will communicate instantly via millions of antennas. Cars will talk to each other to avert lethal crashes, factory foremen will monitor parts supplies and doctors can perform remote surgery as video, sound and data flow without delay.

Connections will be 10 to 100 times faster than current standards — quick enough to download an entire movie in seconds.

Yet, US national security officials see billions of opportunities for spies, hackers and cyber-thieves to steal trade secrets, sabotage machinery and even order cars to crash.

Citing security threats, the US has been pushing allies to block Huawei from telecommunication networks. The US Congress has banned government agencies from buying the company’s gear.

Why is the United States intent on killing Huawei? Look at the data below:

Huawei employs more than 10,000 Phd degree holders as well as many talented Russian mathematicians.

Do you know how many Huawei employees earn more than 1 million yuan (RM603,280) a year? More than 10,000 people.

Do you know how many Huawei employees earn more than five million yuan a year? More than 1,000 people!

In China alone, Huawei’s research and development expenditure is 89.6 billion yuan.

Among the Big Three, Alibaba employs 30,000 people, Baidu 50,000, Tencent about 30,000, leading to a total of 110,000; but Huawei’s global employees total 170,000.

Alibaba’s profit is 23.4 billion yuan, Tencent’s 24.2 billion yuan, Baidu’s 10.5 billion yuan, and their profits total 58 billion yuan, but 70% is taken away by foreigners. Since 2000, Huawei has earned 1.39 trillion yuan from abroad.

In taxes, Tencent pays more than seven billion yuan a year, Alibaba 10.9 billion yuan, and Baidu 2.2 billion. Huawei pays 33.7 billion yuan, which is more than the total of the earlier three firms.

Huawei is a high-tech company, and technology represents the true strength of a country.

In China, many companies can’t last long because there are always other companies ready to replace them, but Huawei is irreplaceable.

Huawei is a 100% Chinese company that has not been listed and does not intend to go public because of the susceptibility to be controlled by capital (which the United States can simply print money to do).

Huawei is the first private technology company in China ever to join the league of the world’s top 100. The Chinese should be proud of Huawei.

https://thecoverage.my/news/huaweis-5g-technology-seen-threat-us-united-states-intent-killing-huawei/

Here Are The List of Top 20 Malaysian Politicians of Indonesian Descend – Ketuanan & ‘Keistimewaan’ Melayu !

Bythecoverage

Posted on February 10, 2019

1. Datuk Seri Najib Razak – Buginese Ancestry (  South Sulawesi ) 

Coming as news to virtually no one, Najib is, of course, of Buginese ancestry (on an epic scale). He is a descendant of the 19th King of Gowa, an ancient Buginese sultanate based in South Sulawesi. Najib and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor have made several visits to the former’s ancestral homeland, including as guests-of-honour for the elaborate 689th anniversary celebrations of the Gowa kingdom. The couple is received like rock stars in Gowa – watch a video of their headline-making visit in 2009, during which a street was named after Najib:

2. Rosmah Mansor – Minangkabau ( Sari Lama, Lima Puluh Kota District, West Sumatra Province ) 

(Speaking of Rosmah, she, too, traces her roots to Indonesia. Her parents are of Minangkabau stock, with both hailing from Sari Lama, Lima Puluh Kota district, West Sumatra province. In 2014, Rosmah was bestowed the “Darjah Kebesaran Kerabat Yang DiPertuan Gadih Minang” by the Minangkabau royal family.)

3. Zahid Hamidi – JAVA ( Jogjakarta Province ) 

Even extra-terrestrials are aware of Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s Javanese ancestry (they’ve texted me on the matter). Our Deputy Prime Minister is effusively (and rightly) proud of his recent Indonesian heritage – his father Raden was the son of immigrants from Kulonprogo, Jogjakarta province; while his mother Tuminah was the daughter of a native of Ponorogo, East Java province. Zahid admirably maintains close ties with his ancestral homeland and Javanese relatives (the mayor of Yogyakarta, Haryadi Suyuti, is his cousin); and he recently saw the marriage of one of his sons to the daughter of a prominent Indonesian businessman. During a live interview with an Indonesian TV station several years ago, Zahid even charmingly demonstrated his fluency with the Javanese language:

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But in 2013, on the occasion of the Republic’s Independence Day, Zahid caused a minor sensation when he proclaimed to Indonesian reporters that “over half of Malaysian ministers are of Indonesian descent” (as reported by national news agency Antara). That is an exceptional statistic – and though the makeup of our cabinet and parliament has changed considerably since 2013 (but of course), FMT has decided to survey Malaysia’s legislature to cast a respectful spotlight on prominent lawmakers with known Indonesian ancestry. (Full disclosure by this author: I am a third-generation Indonesian-Malaysian, and a complete nobody).

4. Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said – Bugis (  South Sulawesi )

Azalina’s father is a Buginese whose South Sulawesi ancestors settled in Johor. (It is thought that Malaysia is home to roughly 1 out of every 7 Buginese in the world). Her mother is of Hadrami (Yemeni) Arab extraction. (Incidentally, legendary Malaysian-Arab artiste Dato Shake is Azalina’s maternal uncle).

5. Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor – Acehnese

Tengku Adnan is arguably Malaysia’s most eminent Acehnese. In fact, he is patron of the Acehnese-Malay Community Association of KL – a leading fraternity among Malaysia’s half-a-million locals of Acehnese descent. Fun fact: Tengku Adnan’s wife, Datin Seri Enny Beatrice Ferlat Kusumo Anggraini, is Indonesian and one of the archipelago’s biggest film stars of the 1980s.

6. Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamed – JAVA ( Kebumen District, Central Java Province ) 

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Nur Jazlan is the son of former Information Minister Tan Sri Mohamed Rahmat, whose Javanese father traced his roots to a village in Kebumen district, Central Java province. Nur Jazlan’s mother, meanwhile – Puan Sri Salbiah Abdul Hamid – is Teochew Chinese.

7. Datuk Ahmad Maslan – Banjarese ( South Kalimantan ) 

Ahmad Maslan’s parents are Banjarese who originated from South Kalimantan. He is attuned to his Indonesian heritage and is fluent in the Banjarese tongue. An estimated 1.2 million (or 1 out of 5) of the Banjarese diaspora are Malaysian.

8. Datuk Seri Ahmad Husni Hanadzlah – Banjarese 

Ahmad Husni is third-generation Banjarese with a strong grasp of the language of his forefathers. During the 2014 Teluk Intan by-election, he famously and flawlessly communicated with the town’s large Banjarese community in the language of their ancestral homeland.

9. Khairy Jamaluddin – Minangkabau – West Sumatra

Khairy is a direct descendant of Dato’ Lela Maharaja Tok Lela Balang, one of two Minangkabau chiefs who, in 1540, migrated from West Sumatra province to present-day Negeri Sembilan and founded Rembau district (for which Khairy is an MP).

10. Tan Sri Rais Yatim – Minangkabau – West Sumatra

Both Rais’ parents were Minangkabau immigrants from Agam district, West Sumatra province. His trader father, Yatim Jatin, and mother, Siandam, journeyed separately to Negeri Sembilan in the 1920s.

11. Tan Sri Amirsham Abdul Aziz -Minangkabau – West Sumatra

Amirsham is a first-generation Minangkabau Malaysian. His parents, A. Aziz Podo and Marsinah Djamil, were migrants from Sawahlunto district, West Sumatra province.

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12. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin –Buginese 

Muhyiddin’s theologian father, Yassin Mohammad, was Buginese; while his mother, Khadijah Kassim, was Javanese.

13. Zuraida Kamaruddin – Bengkulu , Sumatra

Zuraida was born in Bengkulu province, Sumatra. She and her family migrated to Singapore before settling in Selangor, post-Independence.

14. Dato’ Ir Nawawi Ahmad – Java 

Nawawi’s father is of Javanese descent. He revealed his Indonesian ancestry as part of an apology for comments he made on Facebook which some members of the Javanese-Malaysian community found offensive.

15. Dato’ Mohamed Khaled Nordin – Banjarese – South Kalimantan

Khaled is of Banjarese ethnicity and traces his lineage to immigrants from South Kalimantan.

16. Datuk Seri Ir Idris Haron – Buginese

Idris is of Buginese descent. Fun fact: at the Congress of Indonesian Diaspora 2013 held in Jakarta, he stated that “around 60% of Malaysian Malays are (originally) from Indonesia.”

17. Tan Sri Dato’ Sanusi Junid – ACEH

Sanusi is the grandson of legendary Governor of Aceh province, Teungku Muhammad Daud Beureueh. His wife, Puan Sri Nila Inangda Manyam Keumala, is also of Acehnese stock.

18. Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz -Minangkabau , Pasaman District

Rafidah is an ethnic Minangkabau whose ancestors migrated from Pasaman district in West Sumatra province.

19. Tun Dato’ Musa Hitam – Java

Tun Musa’s father was of Javanese ancestry, while his mother was Chinese.

20. Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib – Minangkabau , Rao Mapat Tunggul District

Muhammad Taib has Minangkabau blood – his ancestors hail from Rao Mapat Tunggul district, West Sumatra province.

Source : FMT

https://thecoverage.my/news/list-top-20-malaysian-politicians-indonesian-descent-ketuanan-keistimewaan-melayu/

Daim's alarming defence of political patronage

LETTER | I have read the open debate between economist Edmund Terence Gomez and Council of Eminent Persons chairperson Daim Zainuddin over the governance of GLCs and GLICs with great interest. 

Dr Boo Cheng Hau  |  Published: 3 Feb 2019, 12:30 pm  |  Modified: 3 Feb 2019, 12:30 pm

I am more inclined to believe that there is a frank denial by Daim that GLCs and GLICs do not cultivate political patronage and even cronyism.

It is extremely alarming how Daim defends the necessity of political appointments in the GLCs and GLICs as the prime minister 'prerogative', to the extent that he opines that a "minister of Durian can be appointed if the prime minister so wishes and if he considers that a portfolio of Durians is good for his administration and the country." 

Yes, the prime minister has the absolute prerogative to appoint a "minster of dDurian" if he thinks fit, despite the fact that it would be a waste of government resources, an economic stupidity, and a political expedient.

Within the Westminster parliamentary model of democracy, if a British prime minister insists on a decision like appointing a 'minister of strawberries,' it will be deemed to be an excess of the prime minister's prerogative among the parliamentarians of our former colonial masters, and a backbencher rebel will be ensured until his or her eventual resignation. 

The British do not even have a written constitution to ensure how a no-confidence vote could be tabled, but its democratic conventions bind all executives and parliamentarians. The boundaries of shame make their democracy work.

But what have we learnt from our former colonial masters in better governing ourselves beyond the rhetoric of blaming the poverty of Malays (it seems only all Malays are poor, and no non-Malay is poor) on former colonial masters, Jews, Chinese, Indians, non-Muslims, but their own ruling elite who have governed for the country for more than 60 years.

It is this precise disrespect to constitutional powers as manifested by Daim's response to Gomez's critique of state capitalism, a lack of little simple knowing of shame that has made a series of scandals such as 1MDB, BMF, Perwaja and the like go bizarre, notwithstanding the fact that our parliamentarians dare not rebel on conscience, but kowtow to benefits of allowances with appointments in the GLCs, GLICs, and various state agencies in return of political patronage to powers-that-be.

Daim's statement did not come as a surprise, as it is the former finance minister and Dr Mahatir Mohamad's right hand man who engineered the New Economic Policy by further extending the privileges of the Bumiputera, way beyond the scope of 'reasonable quotas' in the public civil service, to include a creation of state capitalism and GLCs, that have often bypassed any constitutional checks and balances. 

It is extremely disturbing in many aspects from constitutional, socio-political to the actual economic effects of these get-rich-fast schemes. The plutocratic class created, even among the Bumiputeras and their non-Bumiputera associates, under this political remedy has long hijacked our democracy and economy.

A changing of the guard

Our Federal Constitution does not explicitly provide the prime minister such a prerogative, neither does it permit explicitly government should go into businesses. It has been purely a 'Bumiputera agenda' that Mahathir, Daim and Bersatu have propagated, which is no different from what they propagated when they were in Umno – like the old Chinese saying goes: "re-frying a plate of cold fried rice."

There has merely been a changing of the guard from ministers to state excos, local councillors, rural chiefs, chairpersons and directors of GLCs and government agencies, but there has been no regime and policy change. The perpetuation of the old regime is being done in even a more ferocious manner. The oligarchs distribute GLC and GLICs' directorships like their own grandmother's estates.

Mahathir has been honest about what he believes in and what he wishes to do. Firstly, he had made it clear that working with other component parties within the present Pakatan Harapan was to topple Najib Abdul Razak in order to save Umno and BN. 

Secondly, he has more than once belittled the pre-GE14 Harapan manifesto, which promises reform of GLC governance, as "no bible" but only guidelines, meaning one should not take Harapan's promises too seriously. 

It not only reflects badly on Harapan for a lack of political determination to fulfil its pre-GE promises, but it further demoralises the coalition as a political alliance and demeans the person himself who holds its highest office.

Gomez rightly warmed that those pledges in Harapan's manifesto contributed to its successful "ending of authoritarian rule in Malaysia," but it has already shown "alarming trends" by "finding ways and means to renege on its pledges."

He seems to be troubled – as, I believe, a substantial number of Harapan supporters are – by "a gradual and perceptible attempt to reinstitute the practice of selective patronage in the conduct of politics and in the implementation of policies, hallmarks of Umno politics that led to its fall." 

For Mahathir, it was his intention to save Umno-Bersatu, and possibly a re-merger, to continue his propagation of the 'Malay-Bumiputera agenda'.

Political appointments

According to the democratic standards of our former colonial masters, Mahathir should have resigned over his demeaning of the Harapan manifesto itself, and needless to say, he has shown no commitment in reforming GLCs and GLICs but further continued a series of political appointments. 

There has been no clear timeframe for making all these appointments transparent, but instead, reshuffling of GLCs and GLICs to statutory bodies has been made quickly to reconsolidate a minority component party, namely Bersatu's domineering position in Harapan.

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and Alastair Smith in The Dictator's Handbook rightly point out that powers lie in the hands of those who control the distribution of financial resources. 

The appointments of political allies in GLCs and government agencies with hefty allowances and salaries, with unknown individual performances to public scrutiny, has not only been cloned with various terminology from political patronage, cronyism, kleptocracy to plutocracy, but it is corruption legalised in the Malaysian context by legalising lawmakers and policymakers' direct involvement in government-run businesses with a return of political patronage. This is a corruptive and yet is well camouflaged with a legal shield.

Many government-linked corporations are being run as statutory bodies whose annual financial reports have to be tabled at the respective legislatures and be examined by the Auditor-General. 

Nonetheless, statutory bodies are allowed to set up thousands of subsidiaries or GLCs, which actually function as private entities, whose annual financial reports are not legally compelled to be tabled at the respective legislatures. 

These GLCs directorships are not legally compelled for any open legislature and public scrutiny, and they are potentially prone to abuses. Many GLCs accumulate huge losses and remain dormant with no reports made known to the lawmakers' knowledge. 

The system itself cultivate opacity in GLCs' operation, and many scandals like 1MDB, BMF and Perwaja did not happen without reason. Being the chief engineer and co-engineer of the system, Mahathir and Daim would too have to answer to the people and history.

If the system is not to be reformed drastically, our socio-economic status may, in the future, end up as bad as Zimbabwe and Venezuela, decaying from their once glorious economic performance. We cannot forever keep blaming our 'former colonial masters' for the mismanagement of our economy and rampant corruption in our society. The rhetoric worked once but has become an ailment itself.

Policies have to adapt to new challenges in times like medicines too. Cocaine was the first found effective local anaesthetic used in dentistry and tonics used to revitalise patients by doctors, including Sigmund Freud, who himself became addicted to cocaine. 

Cocaine was meant to be a useful medicine before its side effects were gradually discovered and banned for medical usage. Policy making is similar to finding new effective remedies for illnesses. Old, ineffective and addictive medicines have to be abandoned, and more effective and safer alternatives have to be made.

Let it be cronyism, kleptocracy or plutocracy as suggested by Bersatu supreme council member Rais Hussin, the root cause of the present socio-economic stagnation is caused by a race-based " Malay nationalist" economic model or the "Bumiputera agenda" that has been based on the ideology of Mahathir. 

His ideology was clearly laid down in his writing The Malay Dilemma. If the 'Bumiputera agenda' is inclusive, why should Malaysians be divided into Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera based on race and creeds? Bersatu itself is clearly in a great conflict of values as compared to other Harapan parties by pushing its own 'Bumiputera agenda'.

It is not only that non-Malays have been excluded from civil service and GLCs, but a single-race-based nationalist socioeconomic model itself is a threat to greater national unity. 

Will the Malay-nationalist socioeconomic model be able to keep the Malaysian federation intact forever? Malaysia needs the best technocrats to run the country regardless of race, creeds and ancestral origin. 

Nationalism is needed when the country faces an external intrusion, invasion or colonisation. After 60 years of independence, Malay nationalism has predominated the socio-economic development modelling that Mahathir has steered for more than one-third of its existence. 

It is nothing more than a form of self-pity nationalism for race-based domination that would not bring the country forward, but only backward.

DR BOO CHENG HAU is the former assemblyperson for Skudai.

https://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/462690