Saturday, July 12, 2008

Singapore's Success Due To Able Leaders Who Have High Integrity And Are Not Corrupted: Lee Kuan Yew

Singapore has become successful and earned the respect of the world community today because it has been governed by able leaders who have high integrity and are not corrupted, former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew said Friday night.

He said that when Singapore became independent, the country did not have any wealth or resources to develop and, in addition, was facing many threats such as from the communist terrorists and the workers' union and even problems inside his People's Action Party (PAP).

But with a first-class team of able and practical leaders who had strong will and belief in the country, Singapore managed to get out from the bad situation, Lee said at a dialogue session at the Economic Society of Singapore, here.

He said the leaders then, including himself, had to make tough decisions to develop Singapore, including changing the labour laws, uniting the people by putting the Malays, Chinese and Indians in the same flats so that they could mix together, and making the people a workable society.

He said Singapore progressed well until today because it had been managed by dedicated leaders who had a high sense of honour and level of integrity, honesty and competency and were not corrupted.

Lee also said that the country was different from others as it had no room for making mistakes.

Lee, who is currently Minister Mentor, said the country made the right decision by investing in defence and education by allocating the biggest budgets for the two sectors.

Now the "little red dot", which many Singaporeans and others refer to Singapore as, was able to defend itself and no one could just march into the country and take it over, Lee said.

He said the government also made the right move when it introduced English in the education system and put the mother tongue languages of the Chinese, Malays and Indians on equal footing.

Lee said the English language had not only become the world's most
spoken language but was also the language of the Internet world, and this had benefited the Singaporeans most.

The former prime minister also said that the present leadership should now look for new leaders to replace them when they retired in less than a decade from now.

He said that if they failed to recruit new leaders, the country would be taken over by the opposition parties who would have their own capable leaders, but he doubted that it could happen. (Bernama)

***** Singapore is of course not a perfect country. To be sure, the island nation has its share of covert discrimination and sometimes obvious prejudice, mirroring the true feelings of sections of the majority community there. But they are no where near the type of overt government-sponsored racism prevalent in Malaysia.

One cannot argue with Mr Lee Kuan Yew's claim that his country is governed by able leaders who have high integrity and are not corrupted. The converse however is true of our own country. We truly are the antithesis of Singapore, but somehow Umno seems to be genuinely proud of that fact!

Sunday July 13, 2008
Why do ours never resign?

WIDE ANGLE
By HUZIR SULAIMAN


By global standards of ministerial responsibility, Malaysia’s performance leaves much to be desired.

THE Westminster Parliamentary system, for better or for worse, is our former colonial masters’ gift to us, and to many Commonwealth countries. According to its conventions, Cabinet ministers are bound by both collective and individual responsibility.

Collective ministerial responsibility means that the Cabinet must speak with one voice. Whatever disagreements may take place behind closed doors, there must be a united front on policy matters in public.

A rare example of a Malaysian breach of the convention of collective responsibility occurred in 2005 when Deputy Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Dr Sothinathan questioned the Government’s decision not to recognise Ukrainian medical degrees, and as a consequence was suspended for three months.

The Westminster principle of individual ministerial responsibility, however, is probably of greater concern to Malaysians. It is explained by Rodney Brazier in his 1997 book, Ministers of the Crown:

“Broadly, each Minister is responsible for

(1) his private conduct,

(2) the general conduct of his department, and

(3) acts done (or left undone) by officials in his department.”

Let’s look at the first responsibility: private conduct. When confronted with evidence of personal impropriety, Malaysian ministers – with the recent exception of Chua Soi Lek – usually do not resign. In other democracies, resignation, though reluctant, is still the norm.

Looking at House of Commons research papers, for example, we find that of the 125 British ministerial resignations in the 20th century, no fewer than a dozen were for reasons of “private scandal” and two were for “private financial arrangements”.

In many democracies, even unproven allegations are sufficient to provoke resignation. In November 1997 the Portuguese Minister for Defence, Antonio Vitorino, resigned following accusations that he had not paid the full property tax on his country house.

“If there are doubts or suspicions over my behaviour, the situation must be fully clarified and therefore I must take responsibility as a citizen,” Vitorino said. “In view of the way I have always conducted myself in political life, I think it is impossible to hold public office at my level under any type of suspicion.”

Among legislators more sensitive to questions of honour and shame, the desire to minimise the stain on one’s reputation can lead to tragedy. Last year, Toshikatsu Matsuoka, the Japanese Agriculture Minister, went a step further then mere resignation when, embroiled in allegations that he filed false expense claims, he hanged himself in his Tokyo flat.

Perhaps the most stringent standard for private conduct was set by Mick Young, the Australian Immigration Minister who resigned in the 1980s. His crime? He failed to declare a stuffed toy in his suitcase to customs officers when he returned to the country.

The “Paddington Bear Affair” led to his resignation but established in the minds of many the international standard of conduct for ministers – a standard of probity to which I think even Barisan Nasional supporters would agree our Cabinet does not hold itself.

So much for private conduct. What of a minister’s responsibility for “the general conduct of his department, and for acts done (or left undone) by his department”?

As Noore Alam Siddiquee of South Australia’s Flinders University wrote in 2006 in the International Public Management Review, “the principle of ministerial responsibility as seen in mature democracies is either weak or missing in Malaysia. The principle means that the minister accepts responsibility for any lapses or irregularities within his ministry and resigns from the office.

“Despite reports of numerous irregularities in various agencies at different levels, misappropriation of funds by individuals and groups and increasing volume of complaints received from the public on the quality of services and responsiveness, rarely has a minister chosen to accept responsibility for such irregularities.”

Siddiquee points out that despite the 2004 public outcry over shoddy construction projects, the then Works Minister “not only rebuffed calls for him to step down, he practically took no responsibility for the defective projects and other anomalies, and has had no problem retaining his ministerial office.”

But Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu was able to rebuff those calls for resignation – which came not just from civil society groups and Opposition lawmakers, but also from BN backbenchers – in large part due to the unwillingness of his Cabinet colleagues to apply the doctrine of individual ministerial responsibility to him, perhaps lest they themselves be judged by the same standards.

In Cabinet Governing in Malaysia (2006), Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim reveals how they protected Samy Vellu: “Finally, after what was a prolonged episode that almost cost him his job, the Cabinet found that he took it upon himself more than he should have shouldered. ?. The Cabinet session of 20th October 2004, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak, discussed at length the background of this public outcry. Datuk Seri Samy Vellu’s extensive reports to the session were noted by the Cabinet with the view that the Minister ought not to take it upon himself all the blame hurled by the public as there were various parties that were responsible like consultants, contractors, engineers, architects, etc.”

Following this logic, it would appear that a Minister only need resign if he were a one-man ministry, doing everything himself. In reality other parties, whether external or in the civil service, are always there to take the blame.

In Cabinet Governing Dr Rais repeatedly talks about the difficulties that ministers have with the civil service, shifting the responsibility onto them:

“It takes years to rid a public servant who misbehaves or who does not perform and by the sheer procedural rigmarole it involves, bosses are quite reluctant to effect the actual brunt of the General Orders.

It is instructive to know, lacking in acumen and productivity are not listed as grounds for dismissal. Neither is the inability to achieve results put in as a factor to dismiss or suspend.”

While this might perhaps be true, it is distinctly at odds with the principle of ministerial responsibility in the Westminster system, and it leads to a complete abdication of a minister’s duty of ultimate supervision.

Contrast this Malaysian blame-shifting with the 1954 resignation statement of Sir Thomas Dugdale, the British Minister for Agriculture:

“I, as Minister, must accept full responsibility to Parliament for any mistakes and inefficiency of officials in my Department, just as, when my officials bring off any successes on my behalf, I take full credit for them.

“Any departure from this long-established rule is bound to bring the Civil Service right into the political arena, and that we should all, on both sides of the House, deprecate most vigorously.”

Similarly, when in 1982 the junior British Foreign Office Minister, Richard Luce, resigned along with his two ministerial colleagues, accepting responsibility for the Argentine invasion of the Falklands, he said, “It is an insult to Ministers of all Governments, of whatever colour or complexion, to suggest that officials carry responsibility for policy decisions. Ministers do so, and that strikes at the very heart of our parliamentary system.”

In November 2002 South Korea’s Justice Minister and the prosecutor general both resigned to take responsibility for the death in policy custody of a murder suspect.

In the same year, Britain’s Education Secretary resigned because the nation failed to meet targets for child literacy and numeracy.

Last month, the South Korean Prime Minister and his entire Cabinet offered to resign in response to public unhappiness about the beef import deal South Korea has made with the United States.

Would our ministers do any of that?

Huzir Sulaiman writes for theatre, film, television, and newspapers.

PM's handover pledge seeks to buy UMNO time
From the Economist Intelligence Unit


July 13 - Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi's July 10th announcement that he plans to step down by mid-2010 seems an attempt by the Malaysian prime minister to buy time—both for this own (probably doomed) leadership and for his party, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).

y sacrificing the second half of his current five-year term, the prime minister may hope not only to save the first half, and thus to stay in the leadership for two more years, but also to reduce internal feuding that is undermining the overnment's stability.

Mr Abdullah's move comes as pressure continues to mount on him to step down to take responsibility for the political crisis as well as for rising inflation.

This pressure is coming both from within the highly factional UMNO—where some elements regard Mr Abdullah as an increasing liability to the party or see his problems as an opportunity to make their own power bids—and from the parliamentary opposition, which has been emboldened by its gains in the March 2008 general election.

Although the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, of which UMNO is the dominant member, comfortably won the election, the loss of its two-thirds majority for the first time in nearly 40 years was a humiliating setback.

Sensing Mr Abdullah's weakness, the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) alliance has intensified its efforts to bring down the government, a goal it hopes to achieve by September.

At the same time, recriminations within UMNO have accentuated divisions within the party, increasing the chances f an internal move to oust Mr Abdullah and, in the process, making the political crisis more acute.

Mr Abdullah's promise to step down by mid-2010, making way for his deputy, Najib Razak, is above all an attempt to gain political breathing room.

By addressing, if only in part, demands that he take responsibility for the election debacle and for the country's economic problems, he will hope to reduce the immediate pressure on him to resign.

It is almost certainly too late for him to do more than this, but he has little other option. Unless he can introduce a measure of calm into an ever more frenzied and sensationalised political scene, he risks being forced from office much sooner than 2010.

In this context, it appears that the recent talk of Mr Abdullah being provided with the means to make a graceful exit has come true.

Will the plan work?

Mr Abdullah's move has a better chance of subduing at least the worst of the harmful intrigue within UMNO than it does of stopping the opposition in its tracks.

Promising a managed transfer of power within UMNO is wholly in line with party tradition, although the hope within UMNO will be that Mr Abdullah proves temperamentally more suited than his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, to effecting a smooth transition.

History does not invite optimism on this front: Mr Abdullah himself was groomed for the prime minister's job by Dr Mahathir, but the outspoken former prime minister has clashed repeatedly with Mr Abdullah since the latter took office in 2003 and Dr Mahathir's constant sniping has been a key factor in the political crisis.

Dr Mahathir also, notably, fell out with a previous deputy whom he had anointed as successor, though Anwar Ibrahim did not even make it to prime minister before being ousted on now-notorious corruption and sodomy charges.

Mr Anwar has returned to the political fray to head the opposition's bid to form a government.

Although the proposed transfer of power may disappoint UMNO factions that might wish for Mr Abdullah to step down immediately, the reality is that the plan actually suits even his rivals quite well. Ditching Mr Abdullah now would plunge the party into even greater crisis, increasing the risk of the government collapsing.

At the same time, there is no one in the party who is obviously in a position to replace him at the moment. Razaleigh Hamzah, a former finance minister and a former adversary of Dr Mahathir, is the only openly declared challenger for the party leadership. But memories of Mr Razaleigh's divisive 1987 wrangles with Dr Mahathir may limit the breadth of his appeal within UMNO.

Meanwhile, Mr Najib, Mr Abdullah's nominee, is fighting off controversy over his alleged links to a murder that has become the subject of a lurid trial.

Although he has denied involvement, Mr Najib cannot realistically take over as prime minister until the dust from this scandal has cleared.

Mr Abdullah's move will not dull the intensity of the opposition's campaign to unseat him, however. The PR will continue to apply constant pressure on the government. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, a PR lawmaker, has filed a no-confidence motion against the prime minister and his cabinet.

Meanwhile her husband, none other than Mr Anwar, continues to try to woo defectors from the BN to the opposition. The opposition needs at least 30 BN lawmakers to cross over in order to form a government.

If this were to happen, then all bets on Mr Abdullah's future—and indeed on UMNO's—would be off.

If not, Mr Abdullah is likely to contest, and win, the UMNO leadership election at the party's annual congress in December.

Assuming that he survives as prime minister until mid-2010, the main question over the rest of his term will be what he can achieve in policy terms.

There has been some suggestion that the announcement of his departure plan will turn him into a lame duck.

However, his efforts to defuse the immediate political crisis could invigorate the remainder of his term. He will have nothing to lose, and having salvaged enough short-term support from within UMNO to head off immediate challenges for the leadership, the question of his personal political future will not hang over ever policy issue.

In this scenario, Mr Abdullah could be expected to try to pursue economic reforms more energetically in an effort to establish his legacy. This would be no bad thing.

If a grudgingly united UMNO could turn its energy away from internal oliticking and towards improving the lives of its constituents, it might find a silver lining in its present crisis—and at last begin to address the deficiencies that have led to the calls for Mr Abdullah's departure.

Critics dig at PM transition deal

Wednesday, 16 July 2008

THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER ANALYSIS

His transition plan has been accepted by many in Umno and his position as party president until June 2010 appears secure but Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's three most vocal critics are not about to play dead.

Like death and taxes, he can be certain of another thing: that Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will oppose him and push him all the way.

Of the three, the most eloquent and the one with the most respect for the rule of law and following the correct process has been the prince from Kelantan. In his view Malaysia is in a state of crisis. Its institutions are decaying, business confidence has plummeted, billions have been wiped from Bursa Malaysia, capital has fled the economy, and the leadership is in deep denial.

And this crisis situation will worsen if Abdullah is allowed to hand over power to Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in 2010 under the succession plan.

Speaking at the Banker's Club yesterday, he said: "In any normal political system, having shown such poor results, this leadership should have resigned with heads bowed. Instead we have now been handed a Transition Plan to take place in 2010, ignoring the party elections to come this December, and treating party positions as transferable personal property. They forget that party positions are elected by the combined membership of 3 million, not inherited between 2 persons. This display of entitlement, this subversion of democratic process and legality coming after our members have expressed their demand to be heard, gives cause for people to suspect that our current leadership has lost the plot.''

Many Malaysians hoped that the results of Election 2008 would be an impetus for the BN component parties to reform themselves and for the government to finally fulfill its promises.
Sadly, four months on, the country's leaders remain locked in denial and in personal politics, he said.

"Instead of heeding the message of reform sent by voters and by its own grassroots the leadership has dug in to perpetuate itself with "business as usual" practices. On its present course Umno is risking not only its own survival but also the future of the nation.

"The Party leadership needs to realize that we have reached a major decision point. Umno cannot go back to the way it had been conducting itself. It must return to being the party of the common people, a political party that was also a broad social movement calling on the
idealism of millions. At present, we risk destroying the party and plunging the nation into a spiral of decline, '' he said.

He offered his take on key institutions in the party:
o Umno leadership

"Umno appears trapped with a weakened leadership that seems to lurch from crisis to crisis. The party's democratic processes have so atrophied that it is now neither able to hold its leadership accountable nor to renew that leadership. The root of this crisis is of course that democracy has withered in UMNO. Democratic practices within the party
have been subverted one by one over the years so that now a small group holds enormous power over millions of dis-empowered members. The top down nature of power within Umno ensures the long survival and indeed the recycling of "warlords".

o Institutions
"Our key institutions are at breaking point. These include the judiciary, the police, sectors of the civil service and our schools and universities. They have been on a downward slide for a while. It is time we acknowledge this challenge openly.''

o Federal Constitution
"After fifty years of independence our Constitution has not yet been established as a living document among the people. The very principle of constitutionality and rule of law has eroded, so that even in political parties such as Umno, there is little understanding of what it means to be a constitutionally governed organisation. The implications of this are great, not least in the matters of race and religion that are our constant challenge. If we are to emerge as a confident, united people not swayed by racial or religious rabble-rousing, we must look at ways to ensure that our leaders and our people internalise the principles of the
Constitution."

Ku Li, as he is popularly known, Malaysians had two options: do nothing and watch the country tumble into a period of long-term instability and decay. Or use the opportunity to re-establish Malaysia as a democratic,united and confident country.

"We are in unusual times, calling for unusual effort and boldness in doing the right thing. I ask you all to join me in doing everything you can to make sure that the second scenario comes true for us all, '' he said.

Much more forceful but less thoughtful about his opposition to Abdullah has been Mukhriz Mahathir. The Umno exco member and MP for Jerlun has been agitating for Abdullah to step down since early March. The announcement of the date of transition of power to Najib has not altered anything.

At a closed door Umno Youth meeting yesterday, he was the odd man out - refusing to endorse the youth wing's decision to support the transition plan.

Mukhriz, who is seeking nominations to contest the Umno Youth chief's position, said that he wanted Abdullah to step down earlier.

He made his case but was ignored by Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein who set the tone of the meeting by backing the transition plan.

Across town, Abdullah's chief enemy, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, was laying it into Najib.

He said that Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin stood a good chance of beating Abdullah's anointed successor in the coming party elections.

"If Najib is not competing for the party presidency, he would be competing for deputy president. If he competes for the deputy presidency, he would be competing against Muhyiddin, and it is quite possible that Muhyiddin will win," the former party president told reporters after opening the Malaysian Indian Muslim Congress (Kimma) administration office and complaints bureau.

When asked why he was not confident that Najib would retain the deputy president's post, Dr Mahathir said "people are generally disenchanted with him".

"People perceive Najib as a very weak leader who's never had his own stand. He always merely says 'I support', 'I am very touched'. He never says anything about the people's wishes."

Mahathir has been disappointed with Najib's unwillingness to unhinge himself from the transition plan.

He has viewed Najib as the most qualified to lead the country and has urged the DPM to challenge Abdullah and force him to step down before December.

Najib's decision to embrace the transition plan has turned him into Public Enemy Number 2. The number one slot is the sole preserve of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Little-known Umno branch nominates Najib for party president

Saturday, 19 July 2008
(The Malaysian Insider) - Until tonight, not many people outside Pekan would have heard of Kampung Ubai. But by nominating Datuk Seri Najib Razak for the Umno president's post, this little known branch in Pahang has guaranteed its position in the limelight and set tongues wagging.

Although the nomination may not carry much weight, as the actual decision can only be made at the divisional level meetings in October and November, the Kampung Ubai Umno branch has decided to ignore the top leadership's plea of retaining the status quo.

The branch — the first in Pahang to conduct its meeting — made its decision after realising that the 2010 transfer of power from Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to his deputy Najib was considered “too long”.

“(The decision made was also due to) the failure of the current leadership to resolve the issue on the price increases for petrol and food,” branch chief Mohammad Hanapi Salleh told Bernama today.
He also said the branch had also taken into consideration the defeat of Umno and Barisan Nasional in five states in the recent general election under Abdullah's leadership.

A total of 42 of the eligible 123 branch members attended last night's meeting. Pekan Umno division which has 139 branches is also the largest division in Pahang with some 32,000 members.

This might pose a problem for Najib, also Pekan MP, who has to answer a lot of questions, particularly on his capability to control the branches within his division.

Although it may be just one branch flexing its muscle, the signal sent out may not please the top Umno leadership, particularly when the 2010 transition plan has been agreed by all state liaison chiefs as well as division leaders.

If more branches are to follow suit, the expected smooth transition plan will have to go through rough edges.

Some 13,000 branches have begun to have their meetings in stages from yesterday which will go on until Aug 24. There will be a break during the fasting month and the Hari Raya festive season before Umno divisions hold their respective meeting from Oct 9 until Nov 9.

The Umno general assembly and party elections will be held in mid-December.

Daim: Malaysia needs stability, clear policies

KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Former economic czar Tun Daim Zainuddin has suggested that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi put together contingency plans to better manage the economy which is headed for tougher times and to prepare Malaysians for the worst.
Describing the current mood as bearish, he alluded to the lack of strong leadership and clear policies which he said was confusing to Malaysians as well as foreign investors.

“At present, there is a perception that the government is weak and politically not stable, and people lack confidence in it. ... They want to see where the government is heading,” he said.

Daim's views on the current economic situation was sought by Malaysian Business, his answers in the July 16 issue indicating that the man credited with the country's rapid growth in the 1990s is on the same page as his former boss Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad when it comes to Abdullah's political and economic performance to date.

Stating that he was not here to advise the government, he stressed that he was concerned the government “should not be too obsessed with the deficit” — currently around 3.2 per cent of gross domestic product — “as there must be growth too”.

Because of its concerns over the deficit, Abdullah's administration shelved a number of planned projects in 2004 when he took over the leadership from Dr Mahathir, incurring the wrath of the latter. One such project was the electrified double tracking train project. It was estimated to cost RM12 billion to build from Johor Baru to Padang Besar in 2003. Revived late last year, the cost has ballooned to RM14.5 billion — and is only for the portion from Ipoh to Padang Besar.

Daim, who holds substantial interest in the ICB Banking Group, observed that reviving these projects would be costlier now because of the increase in construction costs, a point that the federal government acknowledged recently when it allocated an additional RM20 billion for the 9th Malaysia Plan to deal with higher building expenses.

The two-time finance minister and former ally of Dr Mahathir before they fell out in 2001, was also of the view that the ringgit peg had been lifted too early — even though it was seven years later in 2005, and in response to China's scrapping of its fixed peg. “I think we rushed to remove the peg. Retaining the peg gives us flexibility,” he commented, but agreed that a strong ringgit would not harm the economy. “We just need to be efficient.”

Foreign investors were put off by the present political environment, and corruption, the judicial crisis, security and political stability had to be addressed, he said. “The government claims it is transparent and accountable but policies must be clear and unambiguous. No flip-flops. Be consistent.”

Alluding to the current administration's lack of options to deal with soaring inflation and the current economic problems, Daim, who headed the National Economic Action Council during the Asian financial crisis and was tasked with getting the country back on track, asked what the government planned to do if oil hits US$200 per barrel as predicted.

“Subsidy is out of the question. Any alternatives? The government has to think ahead and plan for the future.”

The embattled Abdullah, who recently announced a transition plan to hand over the premiership to his deputy, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, in June 2010 following the ruling Barisan Nasional's worst showing at the polls in March, has found no shortage of criticism or advice.

His harshest critic has been Dr Mahathir who yesterday, writing in his blog, suggested that the government “should really look at the whole economy” and seek ways to reduce the extra burden on the people caused by higher oil prices, “not piecemeal but in a comprehensive way”.

With his trademark sarcasm, he concluded: “Sorry, I know I am not in the government, not even in Umno.” — Singapore BT

Poll: PM's Popularity Falls To New Low

Friday, 01 August 2008 15:52
Public confidence in Malaysia's political and economic future has dwindled dramatically in recent months, with the prime minister's popularity hitting an all-time low, a survey showed Friday (1 Aug).

The independent Merdeka Center research firm found that only 28% of registered voters polled in July felt encouraged by the country's direction, a severe fall from 68% in late February.

The center said its nationwide survey of 1,030 adults was conducted by telephone 4-14 July and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.

Fifty-four percent were displeased with Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's performance, compared to 42% who were satisfied _ Abdullah's worst approval rating since he took office in 2003, said the center's director Ibrahim Suffian.

The results follow a public backlash over the government's decision to hike gasoline prices by 41% in June and persistent uncertainties after Abdullah's ruling coalition lost its longtime political dominance in March general elections.

"People feel bad about economic issues. They are concerned that the political bickering in this country is not helping to generate solutions," Ibrahim told The Associated Press.

Only 8% of respondents said current consumer prices were acceptable and 20% expect the economy to improve next year, highlighting the impact of inflation that spiraled to 7.7% in June. It was the steepest climb in more than 27 years.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday (31 July), Abdullah acknowledged the problem of inflation has become "regarded as a weakness of the government today," adding that his administration is considering lowering retail fuel prices despite its high subsidy bill.

In another blow to the government, 66% of respondents thought that a recent sodomy accusation against opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was politically motivated to disrupt his career, the Merdeka Center said.

Anwar insists the accusation by his 23-year-old former aide was part of a government plot, but Abdullah and other leaders deny any conspiracy. Police completed their investigation into the allegation Thursday, but government prosecutors have not announced if Anwar would be charged.

Only 11% of the Merdeka Center's respondents believed the sodomy accusation, compared with 55% who thought it was false. The others were unsure or did not respond. Only 31% were confident that police would handle the case in a fair and transparent manner. (By SEAN YOONG/ AP)

Umno PJ Division Chief accuses PM and DPM of corruption

Friday, 01 August 2008 12:46


Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak have committed corruption “of the highest order” said Capt (Ret) Dato’ Zahar Hashim, the Umno PJ Division Chief. Read his three-page letter below.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Poll: Najib won't be good as PM

The Malaysian Insider
UPDATED
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 1 – With confidence in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at a new low, how do Malaysians feel about Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as prime minister?

A survey conducted by independent research firm Merdeka Center in the first half of July showed that there is definitely some negative rub-off from the Barisan Nasional and some of the unpopular moves by the government e.g. the recent fuel price hike, as only 34 per cent of those polled thought Najib would make a good prime minister.

As expected, 58 per cent of the people said they were dissatisfied with Umno as a political party and felt it did not reflect the "aspirations and needs of the people in Malaysia". However, a high level of satisfaction in the Pakatan Rakyat state governments – 57 per cent -- was recorded.