MR OBAMA THE PRESIDENT IN WAITING to be kickoutTurning deficits into assets — a skill Mr. Obama learned in his 20s as a community organizer — could well be called the motto of his rise. With his literary gifts, he transformed a fatherless childhood into a stirring coming-of-age tale. He used a glamourless state senator’s post as the foundation of his political career. He mobilized young people — never an ideal base, because of thin wallets and historically poor turnout — into an energetic army who in turn enlisted parents and grandparents. And even though his exotic name, Barack Hussein Obama, has spurred false rumors and insinuations about his background and beliefs, he has made it a symbol of his singularity and of America
PRIME MINISTER waiting to be kickout
Is this the man?
The custodian of the dying ember?
The man who generations to come will remember as the last man standing, before the new dawn set in?
OR
Is this the man who is going to set in an even more harsh regime?
To ensure he and his team will have a long run on the nation?
Driven by chauvinism, and detested by the international as well as the domestic society?
Is this the start of a dynasty in the Malaysian Public Life?
Does this mean that we Malaysians are so incapable that we need a select few families to tell us how to live our lives?
Are we so dependent that all aspects of our lives need to be controlled?
Are we so handicapped that we need these political dynasties to teach how to interact with each other?
CAN WE THE MALAYSIAN PEOPLE RISE TO THE OCCASSION WHEN THE NATION NEEDS US?
CAN MALAYSIA DEPEND ON US?
The custodian of the dying ember?
The man who generations to come will remember as the last man standing, before the new dawn set in?
OR
Is this the man who is going to set in an even more harsh regime?
To ensure he and his team will have a long run on the nation?
Driven by chauvinism, and detested by the international as well as the domestic society?
Is this the start of a dynasty in the Malaysian Public Life?
Does this mean that we Malaysians are so incapable that we need a select few families to tell us how to live our lives?
Are we so dependent that all aspects of our lives need to be controlled?
Are we so handicapped that we need these political dynasties to teach how to interact with each other?
CAN WE THE MALAYSIAN PEOPLE RISE TO THE OCCASSION WHEN THE NATION NEEDS US?
CAN MALAYSIA DEPEND ON US?
"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance.
We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good", but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn and called it choice.
We have shot anti-abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.
We have abused power and called it politics.
We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!"
Lim Kit Siang wasted no time in pouncing on Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s rebuttal to alleged abuse of power.
The DAP Parliamentary leader today scoffed at the deputy prime minister’s defence that the SMS exchange with lawyer Datuk Shafee Abdullah over the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder investigation was “a private matter”.
Malaysia Today carried a report detailing what it alleged was an exchange of text messages between Najib and Shafee, the prominent lawyer who represented Abdul Razak Baginda, the close associate of Najib who was eventually charged with abetting two police officers in the murder of Altantuya in 2006.
In one SMS, Najib allegedly tells the lawyer that Razak — his advisor — “will face a tentative charge but all is not lost”.
“He did not deny the exchange took place. What about the case of P. Balasubramaniam? Does he deny that he had contact with the Inspector-General of Police?” Lim said while debating the 2009 Budget.
Balasubramaniam had made a statutory declaration that Abdul Razak received an SMS from Najib stating that the IGP Tan Sri Musa Hassan would “take care” of the Altantuya case.
However, a second SD surfaced in which Balasubramaniam disavowed the first SD, claiming he was made to sign the SD under duress.
Dubbing the finance minister as the “de facto prime minister” in reference to Najib being designated as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi’s successor after Umno party polls in March, the Ipoh Timur MP echoed Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s call for Najib to be investigated.
“We do not want just personal belief,” he said, referring to Abdullah’s defence of Najib in stating that his deputy is a “good person”.
“He must be cleared by a Royal Commission Inquiry so that we can be proud to have a 100% clean prime minister. Or otherwise,” Lim said.
Lim also told the Dewan Rakyat that the IGP and attorney-general Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail should resign over abuses of power.
Citing an unnamed source, he claimed that an investigation by solicitor-general Idrus Harun in July had found that the AG had fabricated evidence against Anwar in the “black-eye” incident 10 years ago.
“How can we have a criminal as an AG?” he exclaimed.
Anwar had also filed a police report in July claiming abuse of power by Abdul Gani — then a senior deputy public prosecutor — and Musa’s role in the scandal surrounding the former deputy prime minister’s black-eye.
Isn't it odd that survey after survey released in the past week ostensibly indicates that Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak - he with the effeminate pink lips and holding on thanks only to a few hundred semi-literate voters in Pekan - continues to remain popular.
It’s more than a little difficult to swallow the results from such surveys, commissioned as they are by some moneybags, since Najib hesitates to secure his own mandate from the nation. Instead, he piggy-backs on the one obtained by Abdullah Badawi, his predecessor. This is indeed a contradiction in terms.
For another, the surveys - some purportedly from opposition parties and some from the government-controlled universities - seem oblivious to the fact that he has so many skeletons in the cupboard that his conscience must surely be killing him, even if slowly, by now.
To rub it in, his wife Rosmah Mansor is no asset to him in his political career. She has been implicated with him as well in his numerous scandals which have come to public notice.
He seems unable for now to rein her in; much less tell her off for not knowing her place. She comes across to the public as stubborn, bull-headed, and having a fixation with leading a lavish lifestyle at the public expense.
Altantuya will dog him for life
The killing follows him like a bad smell everywhere and that’s suicide in politics. He declined to come clean because there’s no way that he can explain himself. There is also the matter of possible corruption in the related RM7 billion Scorpenes deal.
This is why he has so far trivialized the issue instead. But he’s kidding no one. Perception is all that matters in politics.
An on-going case in a French Court is likely to make things even worse for Najib in the months to come and perhaps just before the forthcoming 13th General Elections (GE 13).
The moment that we see even Najib’s deputy, Muhyiddin Yassin, keeping himself at a good distance in public from his boss, we will know that his (Najib’s) goose is about to be cooked.
Patently, there are still many unanswered questions from the Altantuya killing: her role in the multi-billion ringgit submarine purchase from France and Spain; who erased the records of her entry into the country from the Immigration Department computers; the link between Abdul Razak Baginda, Najib’s aide and reportedly a cousin, and Altantuya; and why the two convicted killers of Altantuya are still behind bars after being sentenced to death. The Judiciary, where heads are long overdue for a rolling, will have much to explain in the wake of GE 13.
These are all questions which will surface once more during GE 13.
Sodomy II
As if the stench from the Altantuya killing isn’t enough, Najib’s reported role in the on-going Sodomy II Trial is the proverbial millstone around his neck.It has been admitted by the parties concerned that Najib met with Saiful Bukhari, the man who has accused opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim of sodomising him. The allegation has been pooh-poohed by expert medical witnesses and seems to suggest, as Anwar has claimed, a high-level conspiracy against him along the lines of Sodomy 1.
Sodomy 1, in hindsight, was engineered by former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad who had to pay the ultimate price when he was forced out of office by an Umno revolt in the Federal Cabinet led by present Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein Onn and present Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.
Ultimately, the Court held upon appeal that Anwar did not sodomise Azizan Abu Bakar, his wife’s driver.
Even those who detest Anwar felt sorry for him and abandoned Umno even if they still declined to vote for him. Sodomy 1 cost Umno deeply at the polls.
Sodomy II, like Sodomy 1 engineered by Mahathir, will cost Umno even more dearly at the polls. Perak, stolen from Pakatan Rakyat by Umno several months after GE 12 in 2008, will return to the opposition alliance.
Terengganu and East Malaysia while Najib frolics
Perak aside, PR is set to re-capture Terengganu, add Negri Sembilan to its electoral haul, and make in-roads in Sabah and Sarawak, Umno’s so-called Fixed Deposit states because of the many illegal immigrants there on the electoral rolls. PR has been stepping up the registration of local voters to neutralise the number of illegal immigrants on the electoral rolls.Najib has also been unable to escape the public perception that Mahathir is blackmailing him into submission at every twist and turn and corner.
This has not endeared him to the man in the street who has since come to see Mahathir for what he’s really like as a person and politician. This is a side that Mahathir kept hidden from the public for almost 22 years in public office i.e. until Sodomy 1.
History has a nasty habit of catching up
Razaleigh has never forgiven him and continues to withhold his crucial support, preferring not to stand in the way of Pas, a member of the PR coalition.
The stench is equally strong as Altantuya from Abdul Razak, Najib’s father, over his (Razak’s) role in the searing Sino-Malay riots of May 13, 1969 in which Mahathir and former Selangor Menteri Besar Harun Idris were the other masterminds.
All three were also the masterminds in the ousting of Tunku Abdul Rahman as Prime Minister.
No magic can turn Najib from a Frog into a Prince
That Najib is dying a slow but sure death can be fathomed from the hundreds of millions of taxpayers money he is pouring into public relations to air brush his image. Examples are obviously the string of popularity 'surveys'. This recent spate is with compliments from a duly thankful and grateful media chief, newly appointed and based at NST.
But so pathetic is the effort, it is outright embarrassing. As they say, never flog a dead horse. Even Houdini could not transform Najib from a FROG into a PRINCE!
Whether he admits it or not, Najib’s conscience cries out for punishment, and severe cleansing too, and it’s anybody guess how the timing and manner of his downfall will come about.
Few will shed tears for Najib as Malaysia awaits a Messiah to lead her out from the troubles which have been storing up for more than half a century. The chickens are coming home to roost as the past has caught up with us in the present to haunt the future.
Najib is the wrong man for the job.
The American people are very clear. They do not want Democrats to reach another 'grand bargain' with representatives of the rich and powerful that eviscerates the most successful and popular social programs in the history of this country. They want Democrats to stand up for the 99 percent, not the 1 percent.
If the president and Democrats on the super committee go along with cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, the three pillars of the New Deal and the Great Society, and permanently extend the Bush tax breaks for the wealthiest 2 percent, the American people will shake their heads in disbelief. They will arrive at the reasonably valid conclusion that there are no significant differences between the two parties controlled by corporate interests.
This is a pivotal moment in American history. The rich and large corporations are doing phenomenally well while the middle class is collapsing and poverty is increasing. Now is the time to answer the question that the Woody Guthrie song poignantly asked, "Which side are you on?" The Democrats must answer boldly that they are on the side of working families and the middle class and that they will fight to protect their interests.
What if the super committee ends in stalemate? Across-the-board, automatic cuts are set to kick in. That so-called sequestration wouldn't start, however, until 2013. That would make 2012 one of the most important election years in modern American history.
If Democrats stand with ordinary Americans and make it clear that they are prepared to take on the wealthy and the powerful, they could win both houses of Congress. They could give Obama a fresh infusion of boldness as he enters a second term in the White House.
Somehow I recall a few years ago millions of Americans chanting, "Yes, We Can." Now is the time to hear their voices.
By Shafeeq Rahman
Recent protest against the capitalist policies has spread to all Western countries after get inspired by American’s slogan "Occupy Wall Street" and Spain's "Indignant". Scores of protestors from USA, UK, Italy, France and other 82 countries from different continents turned out in the financial capitals across the world to show their frustration against the exploiting concepts of capitalism and anger among the people continues to mount with the growing influence of banking and corporate lobbyists in the government monetary policies which caused to increase the social and economic inequality, unemployment and corporate greed. Key concept of capitalism ‘laissez-faire‘ to keep the market without any government intervention provide the chances for some wealthiest person in society to grab all the country resources. The main motive behind all economic activities under capitalism is also to maximize the profit without bothering its implications. Instead of producing the basic necessity goods to fulfill the needs of the common masses, the producers confine their production only to meet out the luxury demands of this elite group because they have greater purchasing power capacity in comparison to large section of societies who are poor with lesser capacity. The government is duly obliged under the influence of money power to change its economic policies in favor of the interests of handful of persons. In 2009, the BBC World Service global poll about the capitalism performance revealed that “dissatisfaction with free market capitalism is widespread, with an average of only 11% across 27 countries saying that it works well and that greater regulation is not a good idea. The most common view is that free market capitalism has problems that can be addressed through regulation and reform — a view held by an average of 51% of more than 29,000 people polled by GlobeScan/PIPA”. Occupy Wall Street protest of USA may also be linked with the lack of social benefit expenditure and increasing government trend to spend in the war against terrorism in other countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as a war with drugs mafia. Total military expenditure of USA is US$661.049 billion for the year 2009, which constitutes 4.71% of total country GDP and 17.82% of central government expenditure.
USA and other developed countries are among the top nations in terms of national income and per capita income, but a large section of society is even not in position to fulfill their basic needs. The concept of percolation that poor will be benefitted from the economic growth in gradual time period is proved wrong in these countries. USA is well performing country in terms of national income growth, but the number of poor is increasing year after year. As per the release of USA census on 13th September 2011, the official poverty rate in 2010 climbed to 15.1%, up from 14.3% in 2009 ─ the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate. There were 46.2 million people in the poverty range in 2010, up from 43.6 million in 2009 ─ the fourth consecutive annual increase and the largest number in the 52 years of poverty estimation history. The gap between the distributions of income (Gini index) is higher in almost all capitalist economies i.e. United States, South Africa and Brazil from the less capitalist or social welfare states i.e. India, China and Russia. The growth in income of a country or region will not enhance the prosperity of its nationals unless it is inclusive to all citizens by reducing the poverty, improving the equality or generating the employment. Wage determination as per the labor demand and supply in the labor market is another illusionary concept which is also proved false by large scale of unemployment in capitalist countries, while the level of income and production is on higher side there. In the case of United States, employment position has worsened despite the increase in national income in the last 20 years.
Without government intervention, it is almost difficult to curb the unemployment, inflation, inequalities of income and wealth and overall targets of inclusive growth and development. There should be a regulatory mechanism to monitor the market malfunctions, which ensure the development to the entire citizen and to fulfill the basic necessities of life. It is pertinent to know that anti capitalist protest does not mean as pro to socialist approach, people looking towards a new economic era which consider their interest without imposing the Marxist style restriction on people’s freedom to choose the occupation and to own the private property. Manmade economic system never becomes a replacement of divine Islamic economic system. Socialism and capitalism from the outset were not a complete solution of man’s economic problem. These could, however, resolve the partial part of problem, but their harms are greater than the benefit. At the time of bipolar world divided between socialism in Russia and capitalism in USA, Maulana Moududi predicted on 30th December 1946 saying that “The time will come when Communism will be under stress for its survival in Moscow itself and capitalistic democracy will be in a desperate plight to defend itself in Washington and New York even.” Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also said that the Occupy Wall Street protests taking place in New York City and around the country will end up toppling capitalism in America.
Islam’s economic moderate system based on the divine principles of free market and liberty with due supervision of government bodies to accomplish the objective of mankind welfare, could be a real alternative of socialism and capitalism. Islam advocates a system of equitable distribution of income and wealth with justice in the resources of nation and ensures a minimum standard of living to all so that the basic needs of entire community could be fulfilled. Besides the private and public sector, Islam also has the provision of voluntary sector to take care of deprived section of society. In place of repressive interest based monetary and banking system, Islam encourage an environment where the people get interest free loans (Qarde Hasna) for their basic and emergency requirement and can start their venture as a partner of trade under the profit and loss sharing in Musharakha and Mudarabha modules. Profit maximization and prosperity in the materialistic life are not the only goals of all economic activities but Islam inform about the welfare of whole mankind and success of life Hereafter as main motivational factors for economic activities. These are not the philosophical thoughts, but were implemented successfully in the time of prophet and his righteous four Khalifa period. Occupy Wall Street protest give the Muslim Ummah a chance to present the characteristics and benefits of Islamic economic system in front of the World so that not even Muslim but the whole World realized the peace and kindness of Islamic system.
The Occupy Wall Street movement has propelled a monsoon of democratic awakening and courage to confront the powers that be on income disparities and socioeconomic injustices. It has been met with widespread support in many countries in the world, revealing the extent of corporate impunity and oligarchic exploitation. Nevertheless, the surface on the landscape of global inequality remains significantly rugged, as the grievances facing different societies profoundly differ in aggravation and severity. On a global picture of inequality, even the 99 percent of America are still the crème de la crème. For an optimal solution to inequality, Americans and other nations participating in the Occupy movement need to highlight the discrepancies between nations. Through deliberative democracy, they need to elect governments that will implement Pareto-efficient policies within their countries and with their trade partners.
Plagued by increasing foreclosures, rapacious corporate executives, loss of jobs, unfair working conditions, and fiscal and environmental irresponsibility from the public and private sectors, the threat of impoverishment is gradually permeating the United States and other developed countries. However, developing countries are still bedeviled by more chronic problems that also need an urgent resolution.
In Africa my home continent, the fight against global poverty is far from being won. Famine in the Horn of Africa is still claiming lives and thousands of children in Somalia have died as a result. Injustices against humanity loom large in the continent, mostly affecting women and children. In various countries, children are being recruited to fight in wars they barely understand. Women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are subjected to rape and sexual slavery in a recurrent civil war that originated from the Cold War. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We need to accord all these problems a unified global platform.
The Human Development Index (HDI), an indicator for global performance in human wellbeing through health, income and education, depicts the grim reality of the disparities within and between the developed and developing nations. According to the 2011 Human Development Report, the United States is ranked 4th on the HDI. But when the index incorporates internal health, education and income inequalities, the United States drops to a less prestigious 23rd position. However, out of the 187 countries on the HDI rankings, the real losers are mostly sub-Saharan African countries, occupying the lowest rungs on the ladder of human existence. Characterized by low life expectancy, low literacy rates and lopsided income distributions, basic subsistence is the way of life in many African countries. Rather than privilege their plight, Western demonstrators should show solidarity with severely affected countries and accommodate their woes on the Occupy movement.
While Americans and other citizens from wealthy nations have exercised their democratic right to assemble and publicly express their dissent, the most adversely affected masses are conspicuously silent. Most of them wouldn't risk their lives in public protest. The unfortunate fate of Syrian protesters is an example of the brutality used against voices of opposition by undemocratic regimes. In Uganda, a similar fate awaits any daring reformer. Kizza Besigye, a political opposition leader in Uganda, has been tear gassed, pepper sprayed and brutally arrested four times this year by the Ugandan police for merely walking to work in protest of high prices of food and fuel in his country. Perhaps Americans and other concerned citizens in different countries participating in the Occupy movement could use their democratic privilege to represent the dissidence of the suppressed millions living under tyranny.
In an era when economies and cultures are globally integrated, solutions to end inequality only within country borders could only be sub-optimal. Inequality between nations is partially spurred by the same corporate greed that the Occupy movement is lamenting about. Holding leaders and Multi National Corporations (MNC's) accountable for their exploitations in the developing world should be a central theme in the protests. The wide income gap between developing and developed nations needs to be reduced if we are to live in a world where children do not have to die of malnutrition and diarrhea. A democracy of global inclusion where grievances of the world's citizens are addressed in unison is therefore imperative.
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