Explain your wealth, DAP tells Taib

KUCHING : DAP has added more pressure on Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud to respond to allegations that his family owned prime pieces of real estate overseas that together are worth billions of ringgit.

DAP secretary Chong Chieng Jen, speaking at a press conference here, noted that Taib had not bothered to either confirm or deny reports on the Internet in the last few months that indicated that he and his family were extraordinarily rich.

Many of the allegations originate from the website Sarawak Report.

According to the site, the Taibs own properties in Canada, the United States, Britain and Australia.

It said that in Canada, the family’s Sakto Development Corporation owned the twin glass towers and a swanky shopping complex at Preston Square and a multi-story residential building in downtown Ottawa.

On top of that, said Chong, the private residence of Taib's daughter in Ottawa was rated the second most expensive house in the area, worth about 10 million Canadian Dollars.

He gave these other details: that the family owned an estimated US$80,000,000 worth of office blocks in Seattle and San Francisco, a few blocks of commercial and luxury flats in central London, and the Hilton Hotel in Adelaide.

Chong, who is also the MP for Bandar Kuching, said: “All these reports about Taib's family owning hundreds of millions or even billions of ringgit’s worth of properties have been circulating in the internet for quite some time, in fact since the Sibu by-election in May 2010. Yet Taib has kept mum.

“As the Chief Minister of Sarawak for the last 30 years, Taib is accountable to the people of Sarawak to clarify the matter,” he said.

Chong posed the following five questions for Taib to answer:

1.Are the reports on Sarawak Report true?

2.What is the salary of the Chief Minister of Sarawak? How could Taib's children have had such huge amounts of money to buy overseas properties?

3.Other than the properties reported on the Sarawak Report website, are there any other properties owned by Taib's family members or their companies? How much are those properties worth?

4.Why is Taib's family so rich and yet, the state of Sarawak is the fourth least developed state in Malaysia?

5.If the reports were untrue, what action will Taib take against the makers of the reports?

“It is time for Taib to provide the answers to the above questions because all Sarawakians are interested and have a right to know the answers,” he said.

FMT

Demokrasi Barat DiCiplak Dari Amalan Politik Islam

KUALA TERENGGANU - Islam memberikan ruang dan kebebasan yang luas kepada wanita dengan penglibatan wanita dalam politik dimulakan oleh Islam sejak tahun 600, ketika nabi Muhammad SAW mahu mendirikan negara Islam Madinah.

Demokrasi Barat hanya memberikan ruang kepada wanita apabila wanita dibenarkan menyertai pilihanraya pada tahun 1800 di Wyoming, Amerika.

"Apabila nabi (Muhammad) SAW, nak mendirikan negara di Madinah, dibuat bai'ah ikrar setia diantara pemimpin Madinah supaya setia dengan perjuangan (Islam), (ia) melibatkan dua orang wanita,

"ahli sejarah mengatakan, ini penglibatan wanita yang pertama dalam politik, dimulakan oleh Islam, tahun 600 Masehi,

"demokrasi moden di Barat memulakan wanita boleh bertanding pilihanraya, tahun 1800, di bandar Wyoming di Amerika,"ujar Presiden PAS Dato' Seri Abdul Hadi Awang.

BO

Sarawak polls now seen after CNY 2011, but interest intensifies

Taib - unwilling to let go

The Sarawak state election is now expected to be held after Chinese New Year in 2011 rather than November this year. But despite the shift in expectations, interest is intensifying because the results will shed light on when Prime Minister Najib Razak will call for the 13th national elections which could see Malaysia’s first change in federal government in five decades.

“It no longer matters now whether the Sarawak polls will happen this year or after Chinese New Year next year because either way it is very close - less than 12 months to go,” PKR Sarawak chief Batu Bian told Malaysia Chronicle.

“Taib may have to backpedal because he is so unpopular. But the longer he waits, the better it is for Pakatan Rakyat. It gives us more time to fine-tune our machinery and I think by now Taib also knows the stories about his corruption won’t go away. In fact, the revelations will only grow stronger rather than reduce.”

Sarawak Chinese to lead the push for change

Indeed, talk that Chief Minister Taib Mahmud was considering stepping down to strengthen the BN’s chances of shutting out rival coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, has already faded and exposed as a “sandiwara or show” to appease the federal government. Baru and other pundits had predicted this.

According to them, Kuala Lumpur considers Taib a political liability and want him to retire before holding Sarawak’s 10th state election. But the wily and powerful Taib fought back. In the past weeks, one Sarawak BN leader after another appealed to him to stay, and it culminated with his Parti Pesaka Bumipuera issuing its formal backing for him to continue leading the state.

Over the weekend, Taib, who is the president of PBB, the backbone of Sarawak BN, told reporters he has already identified 70 per cent of the candidates for the coming state election.

He also had a highly publicized talk with Dr George Chan, the chief of the Chinese-based SUPP, after which both men declared all “Chinese-related issues have been resolved”.

“I have helped the Chinese in a general way. Don’t tell me that the Chinese have not benefited from our general prosperity,” Taib said.

But the Chinese community in Sarawak is unlikely to be appeased by either men. Like their counterparts in the peninsula, only a select group of Chinese tycoons with links to Taib and his inner circle have benefitted.

The majority have to grapple with poor infrastructure, job and educational opportunities. They are also alarmed at the rate the state’s wealth is being plundered by their leaders. In particular, the allegations against Taib and his family are the most widespread and entrenched in their minds.

As such, the Chinese are expected to lead the vote against the BN in the coming state polls. There is also growing unhappiness amongst Sarawak’s other ethnic groups towards Taib and his cronies. The grouses of these communities echo those of the Chinese.

Sarawak, Sabah to change the course of Malaysia's history

Sarawak has more than 40 sub-ethnic groups, each with its own distinct language, culture and lifestyle. Cities and larger towns are populated predominantly by Malays, Melanaus, Chinese and a smaller percentage of Ibans and Bidayuhs, who have migrated from their villages for employment reasons. Sarawak is rather distinctive from the rest of Malaysia in that there is only a small community of Indians living in the state.

The Dayak-Iban form 34 percent of the state’s population of more than 2 million. The Chinese are the next biggest group at 26 percent, Malays and Melanu at 21 percent, the Bidayuh 10 percent while the Orang Ulu make up the balance.

“There is a very encouraging trend now in Sabah and Sarawak. There is a greater awareness there contrary to the mainstream media interpretation. There are people there who actually want change and justice and they want to defend their rights to their land. If this is the trend, then Sabah and Sarawak will determine the future of the nation,” Anwar told reporters after returning from his recent trip to East Malaysia.

malaysia chronicle

Cina dakwah kepada Melayu

KOTA BHARU - Mursyidul Am Pas, Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat menyarankan masyarakat Cina yang sudah dan akan masuk Islam di negara ini turut menyampai dakwah kepada orang Melayu.

Menurutnya, persepsi masyarakat yang menganggap masyarakat Cina itu semuanya tidak Islam perlu dibuang, malah diperbetulkan kembali agar nilai-nilai Islam dapat dipupuk dengan kaedah yang benar dan betul.

Katanya, masyarakat Cina perlu menerangkan kebaikan Islam lebih-lebih lagi apabila negara China terlebih dahulu menerima agama ini lebih dahulu berbanding masyarakat di negara ini.

“Melayu boleh dakwah kepada orang Cina, apa yang pelik sekiranya orang Cina dakwah kepada orang Melayu, masyarakat Cina di negara China lebih dahulu menerima agama Islam berbanding orang Melayu di negara ini.

”Lagipun orang Cina muda menerima agama Islam bukan secara ikut-ikutan tetapi melalui ilmu dan pembacaan yang mendalam tentang agama,” katanya kepada pemberita selepas hadir di majlis Aidilfitri meraikan anak Kelantan di perantauan di sini semalam.

Ditanya sama ada cadangannya boleh mengelirukan masyarakat umum, Nik Abdul Aziz yang juga Menteri Besar Kelantan berkata, ia bukan satu perkara yang pelik sekiranya Islam difahami dengan kaedah yang betul.

”Orang yang menganggap ia pelik dan luar biasa menunjukkan mereka ketinggalan dari segi kefahaman agama, masyarakat Cina di negaranya menerima Islam lebih dahulu daripada negara kita, jadi apa peliknya jika mereka berdakwah kepada orang Melayu,” katanya.

Terdahulu dalam ucapannya, Nik Aziz mengulangi pendirian bahawa beliau sedia berkempen untuk membenarkan jawatan Menteri Besar diberikan kepada orang Cina sekiranya individu terbabit mempunyai ciri-ciri kepimpinan yang memenuhi kehendak Islam.

Sinar Harian Kelantan/-

Cina Islam