Saturday, December 31, 2011

Witches, riches, victories in Taib-land

REWIND 2011
PBB president Taib Mahmud will not allow Umno's Najib Tun Razak or Muhyiddin Yassin to ever corner him again.
KUCHING: In Sarawak, the highlight of 2011 was the “unravelling” of “godlike” Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and the exciting historic victory by the opposition in the state election.

Frankly, Taib has been the preoccupation of politicians, activists – both local and abroad – and the man-on-the street.

Why, one may ask, and we will say it is because Taib has over the last 30 years woven himself into the very fabric of Sarawakian lives in politics, trade and practices.

Observers here claim that Taib controls everything.

He has wielded his political clout muzzling local dissent, monopolising corporate Sarawak, and exuding uncharacteristic charm and fatherly “benevolence” at the longhouses littering the rural interior – wooing native Sarawakians into believing that he is “clean and corrupt-free” and that those accusing him are “evil” and not to be trusted.

The year 2011 saw Taib’s secrets exposed by a UK-based investigative portal Sarawak Report (SR) and its bold Radio Free Sarawak (RFM), with its broadcasts in local Iban dialect.

SR in collaboration with the Swiss-based Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) made shocking revelations of Taib and his family’s “unimaginable” wealth running into billions in US dollars across eight countries.

BMF alleged that Taib was corrupt and had pillaged and plundered the state since he came to power in 1981.

BMF has also released figures showing that Taib and his family held influential stakes worth US$1.46 billion in 330 companies in Sarawak and in 80 other companies globally.

In response, Taib simply said ” my children are clever”.

BMF has also pressured several countries to investigate Taib’s alleged money laundering and already probing Taib’s global links are Switzerland, Germany and Australia.

Here in Malaysia, there’s been increasing pressure for the authorities to investigate Taib.

Witches and gangsters

On the local front, opposition DAP, emboldened by its 13-seat victory in the April 16 state election, has been openly demanding for transparency over contracts awarded to Taib-linked companies in Sarawak.

According to the party, no major contract in Sarawak is without a Taib-linked company stamp.

During the April state election campaign, DAP – together with its Pakatan Rakyat allies PKR and PAS – had successfully highlighted the issues of corruption, power abuse, nepotism and cronyism allegedly committed by the state government.

Land grabs by the authorities, land rents, premiums, education, Chinese education and schools were also hot topics that eventually saw the thrashing of the Chinese-dominated Sarawak United People Party (SUPP) at the state polls.

Since winning the polls, Taib has tightened the noose on his own Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB).

He has made it clear that his party can and will rule Sarawak with or without coalition members SUPP, Party Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).

In the run-up to the April 16 polls, Taib saw an unexpected spoiler in his cousin and former deputy education minister Salleh Jafaruddin.

Salleh, who stood against Taib in Balingian constituency, brought to light Taib’s fetish for bomohs and witches who “guided” his continued stay in power.

According to Salleh, Taib was notorious for consulting with black magic practitioners and after the death of his wife Laila Taib, his daughter Raziah had moved in to consolidate her influence with her father by introducing her own in-house female bomoh – a blonde named Stella – to him.

A SR report noted that Stella’s signature ritual included “tip-toeing and howling”.

“Each morning she (Stella) would cross the garden from Raziah’s house to the ground of Taib’s residence and would perform a ritual of chasing away evil spirits before the chief minister rose for his early run!”

Salleh also spoke of Taib’s conniving mind and his bevy of “gangsters” who cast a shadow of fear over Balingian in the run-up to the April 16 state election, which Taib eventually won.

Taib’s majority, however, was far less than in 2004 as was Barisan Nasional’s overall support in Sarawak.

Worry for Najib

In the end, Taib and his PBB delivered to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak 100 percent on the seats they contested.

SUPP lost 13 (including Piasau held by its president Dr George Chan) of the 19 seats contested while PRS and SPDP lost one and two seats respectively.

SUPP’s poor showing was also its own making – the internal bickering that had been going since 2004 parliamentary election, and had worsened in the 2006 state election during which SUPP lost six Chinese seats to the opposition.

Despite the clear warning from the Chinese community, SUPP’s power struggle went out of control. It seeped into all the 43 branches of the party and deeply divided the party into factions, all wanting control over the party because control means more government contracts, business opportunities, ministerial positions and directorships of government-linked companies.

Nonetheless, Taib’s BN retained 56 seats in the 72-seat State Legislative Assembly, enough to put Umno in its place and shut up Najib and his deputy Muhyddin Yassin.

Umno, Najib and Muhyiddin had insulted Taib by infiltrating PBB and in the days before the state polls, descending in droves on Sarawak as “saviours”, believing that the old embattled man was a goner and would not deliver the votes that Umno desperately needed.

Just hours after the Election Commission announced the results and at around 10.45pm on April 16, Taib got the governor to hastily swear him in as the chief minister for an unprecedented eighth time, thus deflecting any real or perceived attempts to usurp him.

Now there was no way Najib, Muhyiddin and their spies within PBB could touch him.

A victorious and emboldened Taib is, however, now a cause for more headaches to Najib and Umno, which is facing an imminent death-defying polls.

Taib tightens hold

Taib’s next step was to consolidate his and PBB’s supremacy within his party and within the coalition.

Since the April 16 polls, allegations of sabotage by BN leaders within the coalition have been rife.

More precisely, rumours are that Taib is the “hidden hand” in the crisis within SPDP, SUPP and, to some extent, in PRS. (But an alert PRS president James Masing has been consistently reminding his members of unity and loyalty.) A weak SPDP, PRS and SUPP will make PBB appear strong.

The five elected representatives, known as “SPDP 5”, are allegedly PBB spies and SUPP’s seven elected representatives – who reported the party to the Registrar of Societies for irregularities in the party branch-level elections – are said to have Taib’s blessings.

The SUPP seven also boycotted the party’s recent triennial delegates meeting and alleged that newly-elected president Peter Chin (who is said to have Najib’s support) and his team were “illegal” entities.

Compounding this “hidden hand” rumour is the latest state Cabinet reshuffle in which Taib placed his own PBB men in powerful ministries, pushing SPDP president William Mawan and Masing into near exile.

Touted as chief minister-in-waiting Awang Tengah Ali Hassan was assigned three portfolios – Second Resource Planning and Environment Minister, Industrial Development Minister and Public Utilities Minister; while Abang Johari Tun Openg was given two – Tourism and Housing Ministries. Minister with Special Functions Adenan Satem was also made the Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office, thus holding two portfolios.

Even Assistant Ministers from PBB are now more powerful than Mawan and Masing.

Newly-elected assemblyman Len Talif Salleh was appointed to two offices. He is Assistant Minister of Environment, and Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Office in charge of Technical Education.

Naroden Majais received two appointments. He is Assistant Minister of Resource Planning and Assistant Minister of Bumiputera Entrepreneur Development.

Only PBB can save BN

Also with two ministries to handle is Julaihi Narawi. Julaihi is the Assistant Minister of Rural Development and Assistant Minster of Industrial Development (Investment and Promotion).

Mawan, who once held two portfolios, saw his ministries merged into one Ministry of Social Development.

Like Mawan, Masing retained his Land Development Ministry but with little power and no budget allocation.

For the first time in 30 years, Sarawak has no Deputy Chief Minsters. Instead, it has three senior Ministers – Wong Soon Koh (SUPP), Masing and Mawan.

Strolling into 2012, Taib is preparing himself and PBB for the 13th parliamentary polls.

If bickering within SPDP continues into 2012, it would undermine the party’s chances in four parliamentary seats – Mas Gading, Saratok, Baram and Bintulu.

SUPP, it is widely felt, will not be able to ready itself for the polls.

Of particular concern to the BN leadership are the six Chinese majority constituencies of Stampin, Bandar Kuching, Lanang, Sibu, Sarikei and Miri. DAP currently holds Bandar Kuching and Sibu.

Still, looking ahead, the 2012 general election, when it happens, will see PBB and Taib emerge winners with the support of BN-direct candidates.

BN, as an entity, was registered in 1974 and could now probably offer partyless representatives a lifeline.

Waiting in the wings are probably the five representatives from SPDP: Peter Nansian (Tasik Biru), Tiki Lafe (MP-Mas Gading), Rosey Yunus (Bekenu), Paulus Gumbang (Batu Danau) and Sylvester Enteri (Marudi).

Also facing an uncertain future are SUPP’s six elected representatives comprising Ranum Mina (Opar), Jerip Susil (Bengoh), Lee Kim Shin (Senadin), Francis Harden (Simanggang), Johnichal Rayong (Engkilili) and Wong Soon Koh (Bawang Assan).

All these elected representatives can find a safe haven in BN – and provide enough power, when the time comes, to broker a deal with any group in the aftermath of the general election.

Joseph Tawie and Pushparani Thilaganathan FMT

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Mahathir, Taib birds of a feather locked in death embrace

Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, held in universal contempt and therefore needs no introduction, has characteristically come to Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s defence time-and-again in helping to fend off the incessant attacks against the latter for his unexplained and stupendous wealth. Taib needs no introduction either and for obvious reasons.

Simplistic as usual, Mahathir has in recent days declared Taib innocent as otherwise the authorities would have thrown the book at him. He attributes the stepped up attacks against Taib to the imminent 13th General Election which seems to always around the corner since the last two years.

Dr M's secret files

The defence of Taib comes after Mahathir declared that he had never heard of Projek Mahathir in Sabah to place illegal immigrants on the electoral rolls in the state with MyKads which may be either genuine – but the holder not being entitled to it -- or bogus. In the latter case, the details of the holder are not on record with the National Registration Department unlike in the former.

Both men have been safe so far from being incarcerated as laws in Malaysia are not enacted to be enforced but just in case they need to be enforced. Cases in point are those, on paper, against sodomy, fellatio and other carnal acts against the order of nature. Hence, public persecutors are “cleverly” disguised as public prosecutors.

In Taib’s case in particular, Mahathir laid down a Golden Rule while he was in office for 22 years as Prime Minister: any investigation file on a Barisan Nasional (BN) leader had to be sent to him personally for approval. No prizes for guessing that Mahathir locked away such files in a drawer until his own personal circumstances forced him to betray the suspect.

This was how Anwar Ibrahim, under Mahathir’s direction, was mercilessly dragged through the Court on Sodomy 1 and corruption charges. By the time of Sodomy II, Anwar was no longer a BN leader and the sycophants among the authorities fell all over themselves in pleasing the powers-that-be.

Abusing the system

Just as Mahathir hijacked the system, Taib has done likewise in Sarawak because he has a licence from Putrajaya to be corrupt as long as the state not only remains within the BN fold but within Malaysia.

So, on “national security” grounds, the separatist-minded non-Muslim Dayaks had to be kept out of the Chief Minister’s chair. Taib, Dayak as a Melanau, was nevertheless okay in the eyes of Putrajaya. He was a fellow Muslim who could be trusted to do the right thing for “bangsa, agama and negara”.

Both Mahathir and Taib, being birds of a feather, are locked in a death embrace. Their day of reckoning is coming sooner rather than later, and with good reasons too.

In Taib’s case, his fate is linked with the final death march of the Sarawak United People’s Party (Supp) which began on Sat 10, Dec 2011. The Chinese and the business community have completely turned away from the party. The party is not going to get an extended lease of life, to delay the inevitable, by grudgingly and finally electing a Dayak as the Deputy President. This is a party which has squatted on the Dayaks, the Bidayuh in particular, since its inception in 1961.

It will be interesting to see whether Taib can stave off the certainty that Supp will be decimated during GE 13.

Supp has joined the ranks of the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and the Sarawak Progressive Party (SPDP), both of which are powerless within the state BN. Wither the power-sharing formula so often preached by BN and the coalition’s spirit of give-and-take and arriving at decisions by consensus-and-compromise?

One-way street of take, take and take

The Chinese business community in Sarawak can be expected to bankroll anyone who can help them get rid of Taib. If they can get rid of Rahman in 1981, after he was just ten years in power, they can also do the same thing to Taib. The latter has learnt the bitter lessons from Rahman’s downfall but apparently not enough.

It has become a one-way street in Sarawak under Taib. He takes, and takes and takes. The others have to give in, give in and give in.

It’s not surprising that Taib’s family has been listed by The Sarawak Report, an NGO, as having directorships and stakes in nearly 400 companies in Sarawak, and conservatively estimated at US$ 5 billion. In short, they have a finger in every pie in Sarawak, a phenomenon due to the family members all having something upstairs, according to Taib in a media interview recently.

The US$ 5 billion figure is peanuts since Abdul Rahman Yakub, Taib’s predecessor and maternal uncle, once boasted during a public rally in the late 1970s that he (Rahman) was then worth US$ 7 billion. He was warning his listeners that he had enough money to buy them at a loss in politics and sell them at a profit.

One can only guess how much the Taib-Rahman family is really worth in ringgit and sen.

The secret of Taib’s wealth lies in stealing Native and state land, getting free shares in companies, and putting his hands in the state’s coffers under the guise of “politics of development”. Most of these ill-gotten gains have been spirited out of the state and salted away abroad.

Taib himself bragged during the said media interview that most of the family’s business interests – read ill-gotten gains -- are overseas because he “doesn’t want to be accused by opponents of using his position to feather his own nest”. The irony of it all!

When push comes to shove, the same BN controlled Putrajaya which protects Taib has to ditch him if they are to have at least a fighting chance to hang on to power in Parliament. The ruling Malay elite cannot afford to swim or sink with Taib.

“Janji janji manis”, “janji kosong” or janji Melayu”?

Taib solemnly promised on national television during the run-up to the state elections early last year that he would go and soon. It looks like now that he has reneged on his pledge in public. It will be interesting to see how he will explain his continued presence during the run-up to GE 13. Yet another “janji janji manis”, “janji kosong” or janji Melayu”?

In Mahathir’s case, it would be kinder not to comment.

Never has and never will such a twisted character ever walk this land.

It would be poetic justice when his enormous crimes against the people of Sabah are finally revealed for the entire world to see.

Mahathir has also been guilty on a national scale of hijacking the organs of state, doing away with the checks and balances inherent in the legislature, executive and judiciary, dipping his hands into the national cookie jar on behalf of his cronies and to fuel his politics of patronage and institutionalizing racism in the country as a national ideology of the ruling elite.

The punishment must fit the crime. In Mahathir’s case, as with Taib, there is no punishment as yet devised for the enormity of their crimes against the state and people, even if they were to be re-born several times over to be punished all over again.

Written by K Suresh Malaysia Chronicle

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

7,000 Facebook ‘likes’ over Najib flag incident

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 20 — Close to 7,000 people have backed a Facebook campaign supporting student activist Adam Adli Abdul Halim, who came under fire for the infamous “flag incident” last Saturday.

During Saturday’s march for academic freedom, Adam had lowered and then raised a flag with a picture of Datuk Seri Najib Razak in front of the Umno headquarters here, immediately drawing criticism from the public and several government officials.

Screenshot of the Facebook page at 9.20am on December 20, 2011.
However, the Facebook page, believed to have been set up a day after the march by the 100-strong group, has been attracting “likes” from university students who demand the repeal of the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA), which they say denies them academic freedom.

As at 11.06 last night, “We Are All Adam Adli” had garnered 4,894 “likes”, with the number increasing as netizens now appear to be “sharing” the page on their respective walls. It was 7,031 at 9.13am today.

“Support Adam and all undergraduates who are brave enough to speak out!” said user Shahrul Effandi.

“Finally undergraduates are no longer being controlled and fed by Umno/BN. Back then, undergraduates were a minority in voicing out public interest opinions, NOW... the world has changed. See the gangster ways used by Umno to threaten the students. Don’t you dare touch Adam Adli!” user Selva Vathany Pillai commented.

Yesterday, Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Saifuddin said the government remains committed to amend the UUCA to provide for greater academic freedom despite the incident.

The Umno deputy minister is among several from the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) who have backed a proposal to amend the university law for greater academic freedom.

On Saturday, the student activists representing Solidariti Anak Malaysia had demonstrated outside the Umno building before Saifuddin agreed to meet them and accept a six-point demand from the group staged a sit-down protest a few roads away.

He said he believed in “undergraduate idealism” and supported their right to freedom of expression in a democracy, adding that “the flag-lowering incident is not a part of the democracy that is meant”.

Saifuddin, who chaired a roundtable on the proposal for the law, said talks were going well and would be continued to seek wider and more open views.

“It strengthens the commitment to uphold true democracy that is desired by amending the UUCA,” he said in a statement.

He said the committee to amend the UUCA would begin work shortly and expects the government would be ready to present the revised law in Parliament next year.

By Lisa J. Ariffin themalaysiainsider

Monday, December 19, 2011

Nurul Izzah bakal PM Malaysia?

19 DIS — “Saya perkenalkan, bakal Perdana Menteri Malaysia, Nurul Izzah Anwar....” kata Dr Abdul Aziz Bari ketika memperkenalkan anggota Parlimen Lembah Pantai dalam satu diskusi khas di Kelab Shah Alam malam tadi.

Pengumuman dan cara pengenalan itu telah mengejutkan hadirin yang memenuhi dewan utama kelab itu malam tadi di majlis “Dr Dzul in person: A Night to remember” yang dituanrumahkan oleh Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, anggota Parlimen Kuala Selangor.

Pengumuman bersahaja Dr Aziz Bari telah disambut dengan tepukan gemuruh para hadirin yang terdiri dari pelbagai peringkat masyarakat itu.

Selain Nurul, turut menjadi penal bersama Dzulkefly adalah Tony Pua, anggota Parlimen Petaling Jaya Utara.

Turut berada di meja utama adalah Pengerusi Bersih 2.0 Datuk Dr Ambiga Sreenevasan dan lain-lain personaliti yang hebat-hebat.

Kenyataan Aziz Bari, profesor undang-undang perlembagaan, yang sedang dalam proses untuk meninggalkan Universiti Islam Antarabangsa ini dibuat ketika Ketua Pembangkang, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim sedang menunggu keputusan perbicaraannya yang dijadualkan 9 Januari ini.

Ia nampak sepintas lalu dan mungkin untuk menyakat Nurul Izzah sahaja, tetapi option ini sememangnya dibincangkan secara meluas andaikata Anwar dipenjarakan 9 Januari ini.

Dan kenyataan sepintas lalu ini nampak memberikan kesan kepada Nurul Izzah sendiri di atas pentas di Kelab Shah Alam yang hebat itu.

Pada 17 Disember lalu, Raja Petra Kamarudin dalam Malaysia Today juga menulis hal ini.

“Ramai yang tidak bercakap lagi soal Anwar dipenjara atau tidak tetapi siapa yang akan mengambil alih jawatan pemimpin pembangkang, Pakatan Rakyat bila Anwar masuk penjara.

“Dan ada yang sudah bercakap bahawa Nurul Izzah adalah calon yang paling sesuai.

“Sudah tentu, ada yang berkata, Nurul Izzah hanya 31, masih terlalu muda. Tetapi semasa umur 30, Alexander the Great sudah menakluk hampir separuh dunia,” tulis Raja Petra.

Sebelum itu, pada 15 Disember lalu, seorang blogger, Hussein Abdul Hamid melalui blognya, steadyaku47 juga menembak perkara yang sama.

Namun Hussein meletak Nurul Izzah sebagai Timbalan Perdana Menteri dahulu manakala pemimpin PAS diberikan jawatan PM.

Bagi Hussein, “Yes she is not ready. Yes she is inexperienced. Yes she has no business thinking that she can helm PKR and take the post of DPM at the same time – but this I know.”

(Betul dia tidak bersedia, Benar dia tidak berpengalaman. Benar dia tidak terfikir untuk memimpin PKR dan memegang jawatan TPM pada masa yang sama...semua ini saya tahu).

Semua ini datang ketika Anwar sedang menghadapi hukuman penjara jika kes beliau kalah 9 Januari ini.

Ketika ini, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail adalah Presiden PKR. Namun, beliau tidak akan bertanding dalam PRU-13 ini kerana beliau tidak boleh berbuat demikian selepas meletakkan jawatan sebagai anggota Parlimen Permatang Pauh untuk memberikan laluan kepada Anwar.

Timbalan Presiden PKR adalah Azmin Ali, anggota Parlimen Gombak. Namun kenyataan Azmin beliau akan merobohkan penjara bagi membebaskan Anwar jika dipenjara sedikit merosakkan imej beliau. Mungkin maksud Azmin akan membuat usaha terbaik untuk membebaskan Anwar.

Nurul Izzah adalah naib presiden PKR paling kanan ekoran kejayaan beliau mendapat undi tertinggi dalam pemilihan parti yang lalu.

Dengan kedudukan beliau sebagai anak sulung Anwar akan memudahkan keadaan. Selain mendapat sokongan ramai di dalam PKR dan Pakatan, Anwar sudah tentu perlukan seorang yang ada hubungan dengan beliau untuk meneruskan perjuangan beliau.

Kini Aziz Bari telah meletupkan hal ini di depan umum. Bola sudah mula bergolek, namun ke manakah arahnya, belum tahu lagi.

“The people know that Nurrul is the real deal… she just needs time to grow into the job. And time she has,” tulis Hussein Hamid.

(Orang ramai tahu, Nurul adalah pilihan yang tepat... dia hanya perlukan masa untuk jawatan itu. Dan dia ada masa itu).

* The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the columnist.

Zulkifli Sulong is a veteran journalist and the editor of HarakahDaily.net and the Bahasa Malaysia weekly Siasah.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Politik ini sebahagian agama. Memperjuangkan Islam ini bukan kerja main-main. Bila kita Islam, maka menyebarkan Islam menjadi kewajipan, bukan sahaja solat wajib, bukan sahaja puasa wajib, bahkan sebarkan Islam, dakwahkan Islam menjadi wajib. Jadi hendak sebarkan macam kalau Melayu sendiri tak faham.

Mursyidul Am PAS : Beza PAS Dengan Umno.

MURSYIDUL AM PAS, Tuan Guru Nik Abdul Aziz sering menjadi bahan kecaman Umno, sehinggakan pada Perhimpunan Agung Umno, minggu lepas, nama Tok Guru sering disebut-sebut dalam perbahasan. Mengapakah Tok Guru tidak disenangi Umno? Semua persoalan ini dijawab Menteri Besar Kelantan itu kepada wakil Harakah MOHD RASHIDI HASSAN dan IZWAN ABDUL HALIM di Rumah Kelantan, 10 Disember 2011.

HARAKAH: Boleh Tuan Guru huraikan beza doktrin PAS dengan Umno?

TUAN GURU NIK ABDUL AZIZ NIK MAT: PAS diajar melalui Islam supaya manusia sedar bahawa segala-galanya menumpang nikmat Allah SWT. Bumi kita pijak Allah yang buat, udara kita sedut Allah buat, air kita minum Allah buat, bahkan seluruh anggota tubuh badan kita Allah buat. Maka bila kita menumpang nikmat Allah Taala kita wajib bersyukur. Syukur ertinya buat yang Dia suruh, tinggal yang Dia larang. Perkara ini tiada dalam Umno. Umno tidak mengajar perkara ini, yang diajarnya menumpang jalan raya Kerajaan Pusat buat, itu dulu. Menumpang kemudahan-kemudahan telekom, Umno yang buat. Umno mengira dia telah beragama bila dia buat masjid, bila ada guru agama di sekolah-sekolah, itu sahajalah (agama pada Umno). Sekarang kita berada di Malaysia. Bolehkah kita ambil setengah-setengah sahaja undang-undang Malaysia sebagaimana Umno ambil setengah-setengah hukum Allah. Misalnya motokar, kita tidak mencuri, kita beli kerana undang-undangnya begitu. Tetapi ‘road tax’ (cukai jalan) tak bayar, lampu belakang tidak menyala, sedangkan itu salah juga undang-undang kerajaan. Jika kita duduk bawah kerajaan kita kena patuh semua undang-undang kerajaan, mana boleh kita dengan Allah SWT kita ambil setengah-setengah. Bila kita duduk bawah kerajaan, tak kiralah Kerajaan Malaysia, Kerajaan Amerika dan mana-manapun, rakyat kena terima semua segala undang-undang, begitulah kita dengan Allah Taala, kena terima semua.

Mungkin ada yang keliru status rakyat dengan status hamba Allah?

Kita dididik oleh Islam hendaklah menjadi bertaraf hamba dengan Allah SWT, bukan menjadi taraf rakyat. Kita bukan rakyat Allah, kita jadi hamba 24 jam. Rakyat kalaulah kita tidak pernah buat salah dengan kerajaan, bila kita mati kita tidak diberi apa-apa oleh kerajaan kerana kita tidak buat salah dengan dia. Polis datang rumah kita bila kita buat salah, kalau kita benar tak pernah datang pun. Tapi kita dengan Allah, kita benar dapat pahala, kita salah dapat dosa. Tiada masa kita ini kosong dengan Allah Taala. Inilah cara kita berfikir kita sebagai hamba Allah dengan berfikir cara rakyat bagi Allah. Umno hanya sebut kita rakyat. Rakyat lain, hamba lain, hamba 24 jam. Hamba ini berasaskan “liya’budun” (untuk beribadah pada-Nya). Kalau kita ini rakyat Allah, maka kita boleh guling Allah macam kita rakyat Malaysia boleh guling kerajaan. Kita dengan Allah SWT nak guling macam mana, nak tukar macam mana?

Maknanya selama ini Umno keliru dan celaru?

Orang Cina tak melawan sangat PAS, yang melawan PAS ini orang Melayu Umno. Adakah dengan kehendak Umno, dia (orang Melayu) melawan PAS ini atau sebagai mata tombak (lembing) sahaja, (sedang) hulunya Umno pegang atau MCA pegang? Jika Umno sendiri nak lawan, tiada sebab langsung. Sebab PAS bawa Islam, maka sepatutnya Umno sokong dan Umno tidak perlu wujud di atas muka dunia. Kerana PAS perjuangkan Islam, Umno tak perlu lawan PAS. Atau Umno telah jadi mata tombak, hulunya orang lain pegang. Ini bahaya, maknanya jadi alat orang lain. Kerana itulah timbul masalah celaru yang jadi melawan PAS ini. Bukan Islam di Malaysia ini jadi celaru, hendak turut PAS atau turut Umno. PAS bertengkar dengan Umno, Umno bertengkar dengan PAS, bukan Islam terpinga-pinga pihak mana yang betul. Kita sebagai umat Islam bukan sahaja kita wajib berpegang kepada Islam, tetapi wajib juga dakwah Islam. Ke mana sahaja kita pergi kita diwajibkan dakwah Islam. Di Malaysia ini sebab hampir sama bilangan Melayu dengan bukan Melayu ini, maka bukan Islam terpinga-pinga hendak menurut siapa. Bukan sahaja bukan Islam, Melayu juga terpinga-pinga juga hendak turut PAS atau Umno. Turut Umno dapat duit, turut PAS tak dapat duit. Semua ini Umno kena fikir kesudahannya.

Isu agama dipolitikkan sering jadi mainan Umno, pendapat Tuan Guru?

Politik ini sebahagian agama. Memperjuangkan Islam ini bukan kerja main-main. Bila kita Islam, maka menyebarkan Islam menjadi kewajipan, bukan sahaja solat wajib, bukan sahaja puasa wajib, bahkan sebarkan Islam, dakwahkan Islam menjadi wajib. Jadi hendak sebarkan macam kalau Melayu sendiri tak faham. Ulasan Umno ialah agama lain, politik lain. Baik, kita hendak tanya Umno; bila politik tidak agama, pentadbiran negara tidak ikut agama, siapa dia yang jadi Ketua Kerajaan semasa Nabi kita di Madinah? Kalau agama lain, politik lain, maka yang jaga politik masa Nabi di Madinah itu siapa? Kalau Nabi juga yang jaga sebagai ketua kementerian kewangan, portfolio sosial, ertinya Nabi Muhammad juga dengan agama, terlibat dengan Allah SWT. Kerana kerja-kerja Nabi Muhammad semua agama. Solat itu agama, berperang itu agama, kirim surat kepada raja-raja itu agama. Baginda letak cop mohor atas surat-surat itu, ini kerja apa? Ini kerja politik, jadi bagaimana Umno boleh kata agama lain, politik lain? Raja-raja mana hendak terima kalau Nabi Muhammad hanya (seorang) imam sahaja. Raja-raja sekitar, Raja Parsi, Raja Mesir, Raja Rom Byzantin, Raja Hebyah, mereka tahu Nabi Muhammad bukan Tok Imam sahaja, dia Ketua Negara. Bila Nabi Muhammad itu Ketua Negara, maka kenapa Umno kata agama lain politik lain?

Maknanya, Umno tiada hujah, hanya putarbelit mereka sahaja?

Apa hikmah Allah lanjut dakwah Nabi Muhammad sehingga 23 tahun? Nak mengajar sembahyang puasa sahaja dua minggu pun cukup. Dua minggu itu pun dak kira lama mengajar orang sembahyang. Tapi Nabi Muhammad diminta urus urusan hidup manusia, ‘the way of life’. Urusan ini mesti diurus oleh Nabi Muhammad sendiri, bagaimana berumah tangga, berjiran. Mengurus kewangan, adakah sebarang harta boleh ambil semua, tidak! Ada had, ada halal, ada haram. Semua ini 23 tahun, bila cukup 23 tahun turun ayat (Quran) bahawa agama telah sempurna. Jadi 23 tahun memakan masa baru sempurna. Perkara apa, sembahyang? Sembahyang ini diwajibkan masa di Makkah. Dalam keadaan ditekan kafir Makkah, sembahyang diwajibkan. Jadi bukan sembahyang sahaja jadi agama, tapi urusan hidup lain yang tidak boleh dibuat di Makkah kena mari ke Madinah membentuk sebuah negara sendiri. Kita baru sambut Maal Hijrah, sambutan ini ertinya ingati balik pengorbanan nabi menjalankan urusan agama termasuklah kewangan, mengurus sosial, budaya, pemikiran hingga 23 tahun. Jadi Umno tiada hujah, bila tiada hujah inilah mereka guna ISA. Macam Raja Namrud dengan Nabi Ibrahim, bila Nabi Ibrahim kemuka cabaran minta Namrud buktikan kebenaran jika dia Tuhan, bawa naik matahari dari barat ke timur kerana Allah menaikkan matahari dari timur ke barat. Bila Namrud tak boleh jawab, dia bakar (Nabi Ibrahim). Sepatutnya dia berterima kasih kerana Ibrahim mengajar dia, tapi dia bakar. Zaman sekarang tak bakar, tapi ISA. Banyak tok-tok guru pondok kena ISA tak pasal-pasal kerana Umno tak boleh jawab. Sepatutnya hujah lawan hujah, bila orang lawan kita (hujah) kita sebutlah balik. Macam negeri demokrasi, orang hujah kita hujah. Ini orang hujah, tak boleh jawab ditangkapnya mereka, buang kerja, pindah tempat kerja. Ini semua tanda Umno itu sesat. Dalam sembahyang kita berdoa agar kita tidak sesat, tapi jalan Umno hala ke sesat. Tak boleh jawab sepatutnya terima kasihlah. Ini tangkap orang, ISA orang, mengarut Umno.

Pandangan Tuan Guru mengenai perjuangan Melayu Umno?

Umno sibuk jaga Melayu sedangkan Melayu ni bangsa, tak payah jaga. Kerana bangsa ni tak boleh hilang. Kalau orang Melayu duduk di Kutub Utara seorang diri, Melayu juga dia. Pergi ke mana pun, kalau duduk di London sejak dahulu sampai tak boleh cakap Melayu, bila tanya bangsa (dijawab) Melayu juga dia. Jadi Melayu tak payah jaga kerana bangsa ini tak hilang. Yang kena jaga ini perkara boleh hilang dan ada. Macam duit, kena jaga kerana boleh jadi hilang, boleh jadi tak hilang. Islam ini macam tu, Islam ni kena jaga, boleh jadi orang murtad kerana orang tak jaga dia. Jadi benda kena jaga ni bukan bangsa tapi agama kerana boleh hilang dan boleh ada. Macam duit kita dapat masuk dalam beg, kita zip, masuk dalam poket seluar kita zip lagi kerana ia boleh hilang, boleh kena curi, boleh poket kita tembus. Umno dia jaga Melayu, tak jaga pun dia Melayu, sampai dalam kubur mati pun dia Melayu. Ini kesilapan Umno. Kalau Umno ikut kata dia ikut kata Hang Tuah “Takkan Melayu hilang di dunia” habis begitu buat apa dia jaga juga? Ini Umno jaga benda yang tak hilang, PAS jaga benda yang boleh hilang; Islam, iman, ihsan. Sebab tu Jibril turun dari langit tanya Nabi tentang Islam, iman, ihsan. Dia tak tanya Arab, tak tanya bangsa.

Sumber : Harakahdaily

Dewan Ulamak PAS Pusat

VIDEO : Penjelasan behubung isu Hasan Ali dan Nasharudin



tvpas09

GEMPAK! Penampilan Istimewa Bob Lokman & Matluthfi. Sebarkan!

Sebuah filem pendek yang menerangkan hudud secara umum. Filem pendek ini diterbitkan bertujuan untuk menjawab persoalan dan kekeliruan yang ditimbulkan dalam klip video 'Sembang Rakyat' yang bertajuk 'Musim hudud' dan 'Hudud PAS lagi'.Semoga klip video ini dapat memberi manfaat kepada para penonton. Kami sangat mengalukan perkongsian (share) video ini kepada masyarakat.


oneheartcs

Malaysia's Mahathir Defends Sarawak Chieftain

The Doc says it's a go for Taib
Charges of looting Sarawak could just be electioneering, he says

Malaysia’s former Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, has defended Sarawak’s embattled chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud, questioning calls by international NGOs for investigations of Taib’s vast fortune.

"When an election is near, you get funny things like this coming out," Mahathir told reporters at a press conference Tuesday. "If it is just a political game to try and undermine somebody's political image then I think it is not right."

If the allegations are true, the 86-year-old Mahathir said, the authorities could be expected to take action. In May, Swiss authorities announced they were investigating accounts held in Swiss banks by the Taib family for evidence of corruption. Shortly after that, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission announced it would also investigate Taib’s holdings, although observers in Kuala Lumpur said it was unlikely that the MACC would follow through, Indeed, one source told Asia Sentinel recently that the investigation had “gone cold.” A Taib spokesman said the funds had been legitimately deposited and that there was no evidence of criminality.

Many political observers expect Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to call national elections in the early part of 2012, possibly in March. Sarawak, the country’s largest state, is key to efforts by the Barisan Nasional, the country’s ruling national coalition, to maintain a healthy majority in parliament. Both Najib and Mahathir earlier this year reportedly tried to dissuade the scandal-ridden chief minister to quit before state elections.

When Taib refused to step down, both had to criss-cross the state, campaigning for Taib’s coalition. However, the coalition produced a two-thirds majority in the state assembly. Although he had publicly offered to step down, the magnitude of the victory impelled him to stay in power.

Mahathir’s defense of Taib was generated by the fact that on Tuesday, NGOs from six different countries issued a joint letter demanding that Malaysia’s sultan appoint a royal commission of inquiry and that authorities arrest and prosecute Taib and 13 members of his family for massive fraud, theft, corruption, illegal appropriation of land and abuse of public office. They allege that the looting of Sarawak’s rich timber and other natural resources has earned Taib’s family billions of US dollars through investment in as many as 400 companies in 25 countries.

They also demanded that a multi-agency task force be appointed to attempt to repatriate the vast sums from other countries to the people of Sarawak.

Research released earlier this month by the Switzerland-based Bruno Manser Fund said official documents show the Taib family stake in 14 Malaysian companies alone is worth US$1.46 billion. The fund has uploaded all of the documents onto the Internet. They can be found here. Billions more are believed to be held in other countries.

The fund said its research only covers publicly available information from Malaysia’s Registry of Companies and other official documents and the total of all of the Taib family’s holdings could run well in excess of that amount.

“Not counting their more hidden wealth, this puts the Taib family firmly into the category of one of the richest families in the world and makes them far richer than the Queen of England (whose assets are a mere half billion pounds),” the fund said.

In all, according to the fund, named for a Swiss environmentalist who disappeared in Sarawak in 2000 while trying to aid the Penan tribe, the family also has stakes in companies in Australia (22 companies), Bermuda (1), the British Virgin Islands (7), Brunei (1), Cambodia (1), Canada (9), the Cayman Islands (1), Fiji (3), Hong Kong (7), India (2), Indonesia (3), Jersey (1), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (1), Labuan (1), New Zealand (5), the People’s Republic of China (2), the Philippines (1), Singapore (2), Sri Lanka (1), Thailand (2), the United Arab Emirates (1), the United Kingdom (4), the United States of America (6) and Vietnam (1).

Allegations are that as chief minister, Taib granted timber access permits to a plethora of companies, most of them owned by ethnic Chinese, that denuded much of the state of its tropical rainforest. The two NGOs previously reported that Taib's children are the shareholders and directors of numerous companies controlling residential and commercial buildings in Canada, Australia, Britain and the United States together worth hundreds of millions of US dollars. Many of the assets came into their possession when they were in their early 20s and were still college students with no visible access to legitimate resources to invest.

Taib has been chief minister, finance minister and planning and resources management minister of since 1981 and he hardly conceals his vast wealth, riding around the capital of Kuching in a cream-colored Rolls-Royce sedan.

Taib, his four children, eight siblings and his first cousin Hamed bin Sepawi have stakes in 332 companies worth several billion US dollars in Malaysia, the report says. “The Taib family’s share in 14 large companies’ net assets alone has been calculated at US$1.46 billion (RM4.6 billion). The three largest Taib family-linked companies are the 84 percent Taib-owned Cahya Mata Sarawak (net assets RM2.4 billion), the 25 percent Taib-owned Custodev Sdn Bhd (net assets RM1.6 billion) and the at least 35 percent Taib-owned Ta Ann Holdings Bhd (net assets: RM1.4 billion).

Cahya Mata Sarawak is a construction conglomerate listed on the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange (KLSE 2852) that allegedly has benefited enormously from a cement monopoly and from untendered public contracts awarded by the Taib-led Sarawak state government. Ta Ann Holdings Bhd (KLSE 5012), which is chaired by Hamed Sepawi, is an internationally active logging company. Since its foundation in the 1980s, Ta Ann has been granted more than 675,000 hectares of logging and plantation concessions by the Taib government. Privately-held Custodev Sdn Bhd is a Sarawak-based property development company. Achi Jaya Holdings (net assets RM550 million), which is wholly owned by the Taib family, holds a monopoly over log exports from the timber-rich state.

“We consider these corporate interests of the Taib family to be illicit assets”, said Bruno Manser Fund director Lukas Straumann in the prepared release. “There are many clear indications that Taib has abused his public office to build a corruption and fraud-based billion-dollar empire.”

“We are shocked to see that the Taib family has so shamelessly enriched itself while the people of Sarawak have to struggle with widespread poverty and an appalling lack of infrastructure and government services.”

The Bruno Manser Fund called on anti-corruption and anti-money-laundering authorities worldwide to investigate the Taib family’s business activities and freeze Taib family assets in their countries.

Written by Our Correspondent asiasentinel

DNBN Kuburkan BN : Rakyat Bangkit

Dari rakyat kepada rakyat, agar kami bersatu untuk kuburkan UMNO / BN dan selamatkan Malaysia


harismibrahim1

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Penal khas SPRM bincang kes Taib Mahmud

KUALA LUMPUR, 14 Dis: Panel Khas Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) akan mengadakan mesyuarat khas tidak lama lagi, bagi membincangkan desakan dari 13 NGO supaya Ketua Menteri Sarawak, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud dan 13 ahli keluarganya ditangkap atas pelbagai dakwaan.

Naib Presiden PAS, Salahuddin Ayub berkata, mesyuarat tersebut dijangka akan diadakan dalam masa terdekat sebaik sahaja Pengerusi AJK Panel itu, Datuk Radzi Sheikh Ahmad dimaklumkan mengenainya.

Menurutnya, permintaan agar diadakan mesyuarat tersebut akan dibuat oleh beliau sendiri kepada Radzi atas kapasitinya selaku salah seorang AJK Panel tersebut.

Katanya, tujuan mesyuarat itu diadakan adalah untuk membincangkan tindakan sewajarnya yang patut diambil oleh panel tersebut berhubung laporan berkenaan.

"Saya akan maklumkan perkara ini kepada Datuk Radzi nanti untuk meminta beliau memanggil mesyuarat khas AJK Panel Khas SPRM, bagi meminta SPRM menerangkan kepada kami mengenai laporan itu," katanya ketika dihubungi Harakahdaily, di sini, hari ini.

Semalam, media melaporkan, pertubuhan bukan kerajaan (NGO) dari enam negara mendesak supaya Ketua Menteri Sarawak, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud dan 13 ahli keluarganya ditangkap atas pelbagai dakwaan, termasuk salah guna jawatan awam, rasuah dan konspirasi untuk membentuk sebuah organisasi jenayah.

Antara NGO yang membuat tuntutan berkenaan adalah Dana Bruno Manser (BMF), Greenpeace dan pertubuhan pemantau hutan dunia, Fern.

Mereka telah mengemukakan surat bertarikh semalam kepada Kerajaan Malaysia supaya menangkap individu berkenaan kerana dituduh dengan pelbagai dakwaan berkaitan dengan pengagihan dana awam secara haram, salah guna jawatan awam, merampas tanah kerajaan, rasuah, eksploitasi konflik kepentingan dan sebagainya.

Surat berkenaan dihantar ke Pejabat Peguam Negara, Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM) dan Ketua Polis Negara.

"Kami memohon pendakwa utama Malaysia pada kadar segera menangkap dan mendakwa Ketua Menteri Sarawak, empat anaknya, lapan adik-beradiknya dan sepupu pertamanya, Abdul Hamed Sepawi," kata NGO itu dalam surat mereka.

Selain Abdul Taib, 75, mereka yang dinamakan itu adalah anak-anaknya, Jamilah Hamidah Taib Murray, Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib, Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib, Hanifah Hajar Taib.

Manakala adik beradiknya pula adalah Ibrahim Mahmud, Aisah Zainab Mahmud, Zaleha Mahmud, Onn Mahmud, Mohamad Ali Mahmud, Mohd Tufail Mahmud, Amar Hajar Fredahanum Mahmud dan Raziah Mahmud.

Surat 10 muka surat itu ditandatangani oleh 13 NGO dari Malaysia, Australia, Jerman, Jepun, Switzerland dan United Kingdom serta beberapa tandatangan individu dari Malaysia.

Menurut Salahuddin, kes tersebut merupakan sesuatu yang amat serius dan pihaknya amat perlu mendapatkan keterangan lanjut dari SPRM dengan segera sama ada benar telah menerima laporan tersebut atau sebaliknya.

"Sekiranya SPRM memang telah menerima laporan itu, satu siasatan menyeluruh perlu dilakukan oleh SPRM bagi membolehkan tindakan selanjutnya diambil ke atas pihak-pihak terbabit," tegas beliau yang juga Ahli Parlimen Kubang Kerian.

Aziz Muda Hrkh

Surendran: Dakwa Taib Mahmud dan keluarga

N.Surendran | Dec 14, 2011 11:11:17 am

Saya merujuk kepada surat bertarikh 13 Disember 2011 daripada badan-badan bukan kerajaan enam negara, yang mendesak penangkapan dan pendakwaan Ketua Menteri Sarawak Taib Mahmud dan 13 ahli keluarganya di atas penipuan, rasuah, rampasan tanah secara haram dan penyalahgunaan kedudukannya. Kekayaan Taib dan keluarganya yang diperoleh secara haram bukan lagi rahsia bagi rakyat Malaysia.

Selama bertahun-tahun individu, pertubuhan dan parti-parti pembangkang telah mendesak BN untuk menghentikan rompakan kekayaan dan hasil mahsul Sarawak oleh Taib (gambar kiri). Tetapi tiada tindakan diambil terhadap Taib dan kroni-kroninya.

Fakta-fakta yang didedahkan di dalam surat ini amatlah memeranjatkan. Kepentingan keluarga Taib di dalam 14 syarikat sahaja bernilai RM4.6 bilion. Keluarga Taib dikenalpasti mempunyai kepentingan di dalam 332 syarikat Malaysia dan 85 syarikat asing. Aktiviti haram empayar Taib sedang diteliti di Australia, Jerman, Switzerland, UK dan Kanada. Syarikat-syarikat keluarga Taib telah diberikan konsesi balak yang besar dan projek-projek pembinaan besar tanpa tender terbuka dan mempunyai monopoli terhadap eksport simen dan balak.

Kekayaan dan aset Sarawak bernilai ratusan juta ringgit sedang diseludup keluar Malaysia menerusi pegangan hartanah mewah yang dimiliki anak-anak Taib di Kanada, England dan Amerika Syarikat. BN telah mengkhianati rakyat Sarawak khususnya dan Malaysia umumnya. Dalam usaha mengekalkan undi "deposit tetap" mereka bagi mengekalkan kekuasaan BN, mereka telah membenarkan Taib memerintah Sarawak sesuka hatinya.

Meskipun kekayaan dan rasuah besar-besaran Taib dan keluarganya, mereka tidak dapat diusik dan dilindungi oleh kerajaan BN. Jumlah ini jauh lebih besar berbanding skandal rasuah NFC, yang juga turut dilindungi oleh BN dengan kerjasama polis dan peguam negara. Empayar rasuah Taib yang melibatkan begitu banyak negara luar merupakan bukti kepada salahtadbir Malaysia dan kekayaannya oleh BN. Imej negara di masyarakat antarabangsa telah pun rosak teruk berikutan keengganan kerajaan untuk menghentikan rompakan ini dan mendakwa Taib dan keluarganya. Kami mendesak:

i) pembentukan serta-merta Suruhanjaya Di Raja bagi menyiasat empayar perniagaan Taib;
ii) penangkapan dan pendakwaan serta-merta Taib dan 13 ahli keluarganya;
iii) perletakan jawatan serta merta Taib sebagai Ketua Menteri dan anggota keluarganya yang memegang jawatan di dalam anak-anak syarikat atau badan-badan berkanun kerajaan
iv) pembentukan pasukan bertindak pelbagai agensi untuk mengembalikan aset dan harta yang diperoleh secara haram di Malaysia dan seluruh dunia
v) agar kerajaan bekerjasama dengan agensi penguatkuasaan undang-undang antarabangsa dan negara-negara luar bagi membawa Taib dan keluarganya ke muka pengadilan;
vi) Perdana Menteri Najib Razak dan Kerajaan BN meminta maaf kepada rakyat Malaysia, khususnya Sarawak, kerana menyokong dan membenarkan Taib untuk merompak kekayaan rakyat sesuka hati selama ini.

*Kenyataan media oleh N.Surendran (gambar kanan) selaku Naib Presiden Parti Keadilan Rakyat.


Wacana Sinar Harian Ke 9 - PRU 13 - UNDI SIAPA JADI PENENTU.



Ahli panel : YB Dato Saifuddin Abdullah, YAB Lim Guan Eng, YB Nurul Izzah Anwar, Datuk Zaid Ibrahim dan Prof Madya Dr Abu Hassan Hasbullah manakala moderatornya adalah Dr Maszlee Malik dari UIAM.

iarnewsfb

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Anwar Ibrahim : Saya wajar, wajib dibebaskan



Sodomy II Trial, Kuala Lumpur High Court, 13/12/2011
mediarakyat

Monday, December 12, 2011

Taib’s ‘clever’ daughter sits on 80 companies

Clare Rewcastle Brown | December 12, 2011

COMMENT

Taib Mahmud and his family own shares and directorship in 330 companies in Sarawak.
Last week, the Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) published some truly astonishing research.

The fund, which works to defend Sarawak’s rainforest and its peoples from devastation and criminal exploitation, has been examining the company ownership of the family of the Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Earlier this year, Taib went on record claiming that his hugely wealthy family does not do business in Sarawak because he wants to avoid accusations of corruption and conflict of interest.

Acknowledging the huge wealth of his children and his siblings, he came up with the explanation that each and every one of them is exceptionally clever and that they had gone “outside the country” to earn their money, so he could avoid “being hounded” over “using my influence to enrich myself”.

The BMF research, which is based on official company records in Malaysia and abroad, demonstrates that these claims of the chief minister are simply untrue.

In fact, they amount to the most enormous lie. The chief minister and his family, it turns out, have stakes in over 330 companies in Sarawak, acting as directors in many of them.

These stakes are worth huge amounts of money. The share value of the Taib family alone in just 14 of these Sarawak-based companies amounts to RM4.6 billion.

This sum is clearly just a fraction of the families overall wealth, since it does not include the vast property assets abroad, the rest of the Malaysian assets and their 80 or so other companies worldwide.

‘Passive ownership’

Even as this information was released in Malaysia, the Taibs were facing separate questions in Canada.

Canada’s Global TV’s 16 X 9 programme produced a major exposé last weekend on Taib’s daughter Jamilah Taib Murray’s businesses in Ottawa and questioned whether they had benefited from the money made out of Sarawak.

Jamilah and her husband Sean (who acts as manager for numerous Taib family businesses) brought in lawyers to claim this was not so.

They did admit that Jamilah’s businesses (including the property company Sakto) were started with money given by Taib.

They also acknowledged that Taib’s brother Onn was an original director in the company alongside Jamilah and Abu Bekir, when they were mere students.

However, Jamilah intriguingly claimed that her business in Canada does not invest in any of the wealth she makes back in Sarawak.

In fact, she explained that her role in Sarawak is merely that of a “passive investor”.

‘Passive investor’

What are we to make of this extraordinary statement, that contradicts her own father’s description of the situation?

Taib painted a picture of his clever children who had actively made themselves rich through their “entrepreneurship”.

He even promoted a recorded interview with himself, entitled “Jamilah is rich because she is good”

So what does her lawyer mean by passive investor?

Her father said that she is a thrusting and active businesswoman.

But, could the truth be that Jamilah is just the investor in name and that she is holding those shares as a proxy for her father?

What is certain is that we are talking about a very serious investment indeed. The BMF research showed that Jamilah alone has stakes in well over 80 companies based in Sarawak. She is a director of many of them.

Indeed, along with her sister Hanifah (who equally owns a mass of companies and shares), Jamilah owns the largest stake in Sarawak’s biggest company CMS.

Given that CMS and all of Jamilah’s companies have benefited overwhelmingly from the contracts and permits from Taib, could Jamilah’s “passive ownership” in fact mean that she is merely a name on a piece of paper to disguise her father’s “exploitation of his influence to enrich himself”?

Exploiting Sarawak

Jamilah’s lawyers further claimed that her husband Sean (Hisham) has no interests at all in Sarawak.

We ask, therefore, why is Murray constantly trying to pick up business there from the state government?

For example, a recent investigation in Sarawak Report showed that Murray is a director of the company Premier Cottage (alongside Jamilah’s sister Hanifah), which was recently awarded a pivotal status in Taib’s pet Kuching Isthmus project. This would appear to be a pretty active role.

The shareholder of Premier Cottage is a mysterious foreign outfit called Pioneer City Enterprises.

Why are we not being told who is the beneficial owner of Pioneer City Enterprises, which Murray is so clearly linked to?

And if he is so anxious to keep out of Sarawak, how is it that Murray’s companies are behind the much-touted yet-to-be-built Kuching Tower project?

It turned out that the whole project management of that enterprise has been handed to Sakto-related companies working out of Murray’s Ottawa offices.

So, if the role of Jamilah and Murray is so passive in Sarawak, then who is the real mover and shaker in these major construction enterprises?

More questions than answers

Indeed, every time Taib and his family attempt to answer the glaring questions about the source of their wealth and the nature of their businesses in Sarawak, they raise even more questions in everyone’s minds.

And there is really only one convincing answer that makes perfect sense, which is that Taib is indeed corruptly exploiting his influence to do business and enrich himself in Sarawak – and that he is using his family in a clumsy way to conceal it!

Meanwhile, nothing could have illustrated better how little the people are getting from this form of government than a recent attempt to promote Taib by the Borneo Post.

After 30 years of the chief minister’s so-called “progress and development”, a period in which he has destroyed the forest and planted a million hectares of oil palm, Barisan Nasional’s latest big gesture to the Sarawak’s rural poor is plastic rain-water tubs!

In return for their priceless wood and their land, is this really all they get as a pre-election offering?

Taib’s “passive investment” in his people is the really shocking story here and he deserves no dividends at the coming polls.

Clare Rewcastle Brown is the founder-editor of SarawakReport and an FMT columnist.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

SURAT TERBUKA KEPADA ORANG MELAYU : ISLAM DIDAHULUKAN, MELAYU BERSAMANYA

Ditulis oleh Presiden PAS Khamis, 08 Disember 2011 11:01

Islam didahulukan, Melayu bersamanya. Bukan Melayu didahulukan, Islam mengikutnya, kerana Islam ditegakkan Melayu selamat. Kalau Melayu ditegakkan diatas aqidah kebangsaannya, Melayu sesat, Islam terpinggir. Inilah kecuaian Umno sejak ditubuhkan sehingga kini.

Kecintaan kepada keluarga, kaum dan bangsa adalah fitrah yang digalakkan oleh Islam, tetapi menjadikannya aqidah perjuangan adalah satu kesesatan. Rasulullah S.A.W. memulakan perjuangan dengan keluarga dan kaumnya, tetapi dengan aqidah dan berpandukan Islam.

Rasulullah S.A.W. adalah ikutan yang dilantik oleh Allah, bukan dilantik melalui pilhanraya atau perhimpunan agung mana-mana parti. Apabila Rasulullah S.A.W. dilantik menjadi Rasul akhir zaman kepada seluruh alam, dipilih daripada kalangan bangsa arab qabilah Quraisy, paling jahil, miskin dan berada ditangah padang pasir paling gersang, tetapi menjadi paling sabar, berani dan paling lasak menghadapi cabaran kalau ditarbiyah. Bangsa arab seluruhnya berpecah dan berperang sesama sendiri. Semenanjung arab, tanah air mereka dijajah oleh kuasa besar dunia Parsi dan Rom. Pesoalannya apakah yang didahulukan oleh Rasulullah S.A.W? Sama ada memulakan perjuangan diatas semangat kebangsaan arab, satukan mereka terlebih dahulu diatas semangat kebangsaan itu, tegakkan perjuangan kemerdekaan menentang penjajah Parsi dan Rom, selepas itu Islam boleh tegak dengan sendiri besamanya. Atau mulakan dengan Islam, perkasakan bangsa arab dengan Islam yang sempurna, aqidah, syariat dan akhlak?

Ucapan pertama disampaikan kepada penduduk Makkah dengan arahan wahyu daripada Allah ialah, firman Allah:

قُلْ يَاأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنِّي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ إِلَيْكُمْ جَمِيعًا الَّذِي لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأرْضِ لا إِلَهَ إِلا هُوَ يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ فَآمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ النَّبِيِّ الأمِّيِّ الَّذِي يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَكَلِمَاتِهِ وَاتَّبِعُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ } [الأعراف: 158

158. Katakanlah: "Hai manusia Sesungguhnya aku adalah utusan Allah kepada kamu semua, iaitu Allah yang mempunyai kerajaan langit dan bumi; tidak ada Tuhan (yang berhak disembah) selain Dia, yang menghidupkan dan mematikan. Maka berimanlah kamu kepada Allah dan Rasul-Nya, Nabi yang ummi yang beriman kepada Allah dan kepada kalimat-kalimat-Nya (kitab-kitab-Nya) dan ikutilah Dia, supaya kamu mendapat petunjuk."

Bukan dengan seruan hidup arab Islam selamat !, hanya bangsa arab yang boleh menegakkan Islam , macam selogan Umno :”hidup Melayu!”.

Tegasnya bahawa Rasulullah S.A.W. memulakan perjuangan mengajak bangsa mengikut Islam, bagi memerdekakan diri daripada jahiliyah dalam diri sendiri terlebih dahulu dengan bangsanya mengikut Islam. Walaupun mendapat tentangan hebat daripada pemimpin kaum bangsa dan keluarganya sendiri, sehingga dihalau daripada tanah air tempat dilahirkannya (Makkah). Kemudian menggunakan kuasa pemerintahan Islam yang ditegakkan oleh kaumnya yang menerima Islam dengan beriman mengikutnya dengan sempurna dan mengumpul serta menyatukan mereka dengan Islam. Kemudian kembali semula ke Makkah untuk memerdekakannya daripada kuasa pemeritahan jahiliyah arab yang dipimpin oleh ayah mertuanya sendiri Abu Sufian bin Harb.

Allah mewafatkan Rasulullah S.A.W. setelah Ajaran Islam disempurnakan secara wahyu serta cara beramalnya dinyatakan oleh Sunnah Rasulullah S.A.W. dan setelah menyampaikan mesej Islam secara bersurat yang dihantar kepada negara dan bangsa yang bukan arab. Ada yang menerima Islam, ada yang tidak menerima tetapi berdamai dan ada yang mengambil sikap permusuhan.

Sebelum wafat Rasulullah S.A.W. Allah menegaskan kepadanya secara wahyu kepada bangsa arab yang menganut Islam supaya berpandukan Islam, diantaranya Allah memberi amaran :

وَإِنْ تَتَوَلَّوْا يَسْتَبْدِلْ قَوْمًا غَيْرَكُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَكُونُوا أَمْثَالَكُمْ (38 ) مخمد

38. Jika kamu berpaling (daripada menegakkan Islam) niscaya dia akan mengganti (kamu) dengan kaum yang lain; dan mereka tidak akan seperti kamu ini. (Surah Muhammad)

Khalifah Abu Bakar mengambil alih memimpin negara menentang bangsa arab yang murtad (berpaling tadah menentang Islam). Penyelewengan berlaku dengan bantuan penjajah Parsi dan Rom. Setelah Khalifah Abu Bakar berjaya mengalahkan bangsa arab yang murtad maka dimulakan dakwah mengajak kaum lain kepada Islam tanpa paksaan.

Dua kuasa besar dunia menentang secara ketenteraan kerana menganggap bangsa arab yang menganut Islam itu masih lemah saperti sebelum Islam. Tiba-tiba dua kuasa besar dunia ikut tumbang kerana jahiliyyahnya, walau pun mereka maju daripada segi kebendaannya, tetapi dibejati kezaliman dan maksiat. Khalifah Umar R.A. yang berjaya menjatuhkan dua kuasa besar dunia itu manyampaikan ucapannya ketika berada di Kota Suci Bait Al Maqdis: .

(Kita adalah bangsa yang diberi kemuliaan oleh Allah dengan Islam, sekiranya kita mencari kemuliaan yang lain daripada apa yang telah dikurnia Allah, nescaya kita akan ditimpa hukuman Allah menjadi bangsa yang hina).

Ketika bangsa arab yang menganut Islam masih berpegang dengan ajaran Islam, mereka terus memimpin negara yang paling besar dalam sejarah, bersama masyarakat majmuk berbagai bangsa dan agama. Mereka mengislamkn bangsa lain tanpa paksaan dan mengislam ilmu serta kebijaksanaan daripada berbagai bangsa, sehingga melahirkan tamadun Islam yang paling hebat dalam sejarah manusia.

Apabila bangsa Arab menjadi leka terhadap Islam, maka Allah menukarkan bangsa bukan arab yang menganut Islam dan berpadukan Islam serta menegakkannya. Bangsa lain mengambil alih pemerintahan telah melahirkan ilmuan Islam dan pemimpin negara. Manakala bangsa arab menjadi rakyat dibawah pemerintahan Islam, oleh para ulama dan pemimpin bukan berbangsa arab, saperti Kurdis, Turki, Bukhara dan lain-lain.

Bangsa Melayu di Asia Tenggara turut sama menjadi bangsa yang perkasa apabila mereka menganut Islam dan raja-rajanya memerintah dengan Islam. Bahasa Melayu berhuruf Al Quran bertamadun menjadi bahasa ilmu dirantau ini.

Kedatangan penjajah yang mampu menguasai dunia Islam, termasuk dunia Melayu di rantau ini apabila mereka lemah berpegang dengan ajaran Islam. Cahaya Islam yang sedikit tidak boleh dipadamkan masih bersuluh membangkitkan perjuangan menentang penjajah.

Walaupun penjajah asing sudah meninggalkan tanahair kita, tetapi kesan daripadanya masih wujud dengan tabal. Kita tidak dapat mengambalikan jati diri malainkan dengan kembali menjadikan Islam tertegak dihadapan kita yang menjadi panduan seluruh cara hidup beragama dan bermasyarakat. Ini saperti yang pernah dilakukan oleh Rasulullah S.A.W dengan petunjuk Allah dan diperingatkan oleh Khalifah Umar bin Al Khattab R.A.

Mari kita menjadi bangsa yang insaf dengan muhasabah diri, bagaimana bangsa arab yang berjumlah ratusan juta, di tengah kekayaan hasil minyak yang tidak terkira, dipermainkan oleh kuasa barat yang pernah menjajah mereka. Mereka tidak mampu berdepan dengan segelintir bangsa yahudi zionis yang diletakkan oleh penjajah bagi menjaga kepentingannya di Asia barat. Ini kerana mereka berpaksikan kebangsaan arab dan meminggirkan Islam di belakang mereka. Satu agenda penjajahan pemikiran yang sengaja dirancang bergitu rupa.

Hari ini bangsa arab mula sedar dan bangkit bersama Islam dengan memulakan kemenangan Islam secara aman memalalui pilihanraya yang adil setelah ditekan oleh pemimipin bangsa sendiri secara kuku besi.

Umno adalah pelakon yang sama memimpin negara yang dikatakan merdeka, dengan semangat hidup Melayu, Islam selamat. Nyata bahawa Melayu tidak selamat dengan cara Umno. Islam cara Umno tidak mampu memperkasakan Melayu, kerana Melayu didahulukan, Islam tidak memandunya kerana tidak djadikan panduan. Maka bangsa Melayu tidak mampu bersaing dengan kaum lain dalam masyarakat majmuk.

Kita wajib menerima hakikat masyarakat majmuk yang diatur oleh penjajah ditanah air kita. Setelah mereka menjajah bangsa Melayu yang lebih dahulu yang bercampur dengan kaum pribumi berada ditanahair ini. Penjajah membawa kaum lain yang dijajah juga, untuk sama-sama diperhambakan untuk kepentingan penjajah barat. Bangsa Melayu dan penduduk asal yang lain terus dipinggir dikawasan luar bandar dengan keadaan terbiar dalam kemiskinan. Kaum Cina pula menjadi buruh di lombong-lombong dan sebahagiannya di bandar dan kaum India menjadi buruh di ladang-ladang. Semua kaum diperkudakan untuk kepentingan penjajah dan seterusnya diatur untuk dilagakan diantara satu sama lain, untuk terus diperintah atau menjaga kepentingan penjajah selepas merdeka.

Mengikut Islam bahawa masyarakat majmuk adalah satu adunan yang baik sekiranya dimanfaatkan dengan bijak, sekiranya wujud kedudukan yang seimbang dan saksama diantara satu sama lain. Kaum lain telah menerima hakikat bangsa Melayu yang beragama Islam adalah teras kepada negara dengan hak yang adil secara sama dengan kaum yang lain, kerana jumlah mereka lebih besar. Tiba-tiba kedudukan orang Melayu yang beragama Islam ketinggalan jauh dibelakang dari segi pendidikan, ekonomi, politik dan lain-lain. Ini menyebabkan rasa tidak puas hati terhadap kaum lain, dengan terpinggir secara nyata di Singapura, Pulau Pinang dan negeri-negeri lain di pantai barat dan Malaysia Timur. Semua negeri-negeri ini pada awalnya dipimpin oleh Umno yang bertemakan hidup Melayu mafhumnya tegaklah Islam.

Malangnya Umno menyalahkan pihak lain, khususnya PAS yang tidak bersama Umno sejak menentang penjajah dan cara mencapai kemerdekaan dan mengurus negara. Umno meletakkan Islam disamping atau dibelakang tanpa kuasa secara warisan penjajah yang merancang untuk melemahkan umat Islam mengikut kajian para orentalis. Akhirnya orang Melayu bukan sahaja terus dalam keadaan lemah, tidak mampu bersaing dengan kaum lain. Bukan sahaja ketinggalan dalam ekonomi dibumi sendiri, walaupun diberi tongkat hak istimewa Melayu dan bumiputera, bahkan ketinggalan dalam pendidikan dan kesadaran berpolitik. Pemimpin yang tidak boleh menjadi model Islam kepada bukan Islam dan tidak mampu memimpin kumpulannya dan bangsanya sendiri, apatah lagi negara, tetapi lebih berlagak mampu dengan mempertahan kuasa dengan apa sahaja, kerana dibejati penyakit zalim dan fasad. Zalim mengikut takrif Islam ialah meletakkan sesuatu tidak kena pada tempatnya dalam segala bidang, seperti kehakiman, pentadbiran, ekonomi dan lain-lain aspek. Fasad pula ialah kemunkaran dalam segala aspek saperti rasuah dan segala maksiat terhadap Allah, diri sendiri dan masyarakat.

Pamimpin utama Umno sendiri sudah mengaku adanya penyakit yang kronik dalam diri parti Umno. Politik rasuah (wang) membarah dalam diri sendiri dan menyebarkannya kepada orang Melayu untuk mendapat sokongan, mengampu dan menipu sesama sendiri. Maka orang Melayu dalam bahaya bersama Umno .

Ketinggalan orang melayu dalam politik Singapura ditahun lima puluhan dan enam puluhan adalah dibawah pimpinan Umno. Tertinggalnya orang Melayu di Pulau Pinang adalah dibawah Umno juga. Umno menyelamatkan kedudukan dengan mengasak orang Melayu dengan kawasan pilihanraya campuran bagi memenangkan rakan kongsinya daripada kaum lain setelah parti itu kalah dikawasan mereka. Mereka menekan bangsa sendiri yang menegurnya dan tidak bersamanya, dengan menindas negeri Melayu yang tidak berpihak kepada Umno. Tindakan menafikan hak royalti minyak terhadap Kelantan dan Terengganu suatu ketika dahulu serta melambatkan bayaran perkapita. Begitu juga dengan Kedah. Ini adalah contoh nyata Umno menindas negeri Melayu. Umno juga mengapi-apikan semangat perkauman Melayu sehingga tegang hubungan dengan kaum lain, seterusnya orang Melayu dilekakan dengan wang, media yang menipu dan melalaikan mereka. Ketika bangsa lain berpolitik secara matang dengan kefahaman merancang masa depan yang jauh. Namun orang Melayu berpolitik diajar oleh Umno untuk mencari peluang beberapa hari dimusim pilihanraya sehingga lupa menjadi mangsa setiap lima tahun sehingga lebih lima puluh tahun terus ketinggalan.

Ucapan berapi dalam perhimpunan Agung Umno baru-baru ini lebih banyak membedil diri sendiri, bukan sahaja ada yang menikam dari belakang bahkan ada yang berani menikam secara berhadapan. Walaupun pada zahirnya menyerang lawan dan kawan. Yang tidak faham bertepuk tangan syok sendiri sehingga membengkak tangan. Adapun yang faham pula berubah wajah kerana kebimbangan bahteranya menunggu karam ditebuk kelasi sendiri.


PAS berulangkali mengajak Umno bermuzakarah secara ilmu Islam dan adabnya bagi selamatkan umat dan negara dengan Islam, bukan berbincang untuk bersama memikul biawak hidup yang diternak oleh Umno. Mengajak kepada Islah sekadar kemampuan, kerana bukan cara menyelamatkan negara dengan mengapi-apikan semangat perkauman yang menegangkan hubungan diantara kaum dan agama. Caranya ialah dengan konsep adil untuk semua dan menjaga hak masing-masing secara adil, serta ruang demokrasi dengan batas-batas dan sempadannya yang sebenar secara ikhlas bukan secara menipu. PAS percaya Islam adalah hujah yang terkuat daripada Allah S.W.T kerana Islam adalah Rahmat Allah kepada seluruh alam.

Tulisan ini bukan menjaga tepi kain orang lain, tetapi hanya peringatan kepada mereka yang kainnya sudah parah terkoyak, sehingga menampakkan kecacatan yang memalukan.


PRESIDEN PAS
Tuan Guru Dato' Seri Abdul Hadi Awang



Wednesday, December 7, 2011

BMF : Harta keluarga Taib di Malaysia saja RM4.6 bilion

Ketua Menteri Sarawak Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud didakwa dengan bongkaknya berkata bahawa beliau mempunyai lebih banyak wang daripada boleh dihabiskannya.

Menurut sebuah NGO Switzerland yang berkempen menentang rasuah di Sarawak, Dana Bruno Manser (BMF) - di Malaysia sahaja, keluarga Taib memiliki U$1.46 bilion (RM4.6 bilion) aset korporat di 14 syarikat.

Dakwa BMF lagi, Taib, empat anaknya, lapan adik-beradik dan sepupu pertamanya, Abdul Hamed Sepawi, memiliki kepentingan dalam 332 syarikat-syarikat di Malaysia.

Antara tiga syarikat terbesar yang dikuasai mereka, menurut BMF, adalah Cahya Mata Sarawak atau CMS (84 peratus daripada aset bersih RM2.4 bilion), Custodev Sdn Bhd (25 peratus daripada RM1.6 bilion) dan Ta Ann Holdings Bhd (sekurang-kurangnya 35 peratus daripada RM1.4 bilion).

CMS, yang popular dengan jolokan ‘Chief Minister's Sons', disenaraikan sebagai konglomerat yang terbabit dengan sektor pembinaan, simen, keluli, hartanah, pendidikan, swasta dan kepentingan broker saham. Custodev pula adalah sebuah syarikat pembangunan hartanah.

Manakala Ta Ann pula bergiat dalam bidang pembalakan dan perladangan, khususnya, minyak sawit. BMF jugamendakwa keluarga Taib adalah pemilik tunggal Achi Jaya Holdings, pemegang monopoli ke atas eksport balak, dengan aset sebanyak RM550 juta.

Penemuan ini bercanggah dengan dakwaan Taib bahawa saudara-mara dan keluarganya cuma memperolehi kekayaan di luar Sarawak, hasil kepakaran dan bakat keusahawanan mereka.

Taib juga sebelum ini menafikan bahawa ahli keluarganya bertindak sebagai proksi beliau. Sebaliknya, dakwa beliau saudara-mara dan ahli keluarganya kaya-raya kerana mereka adalah "bijak" dan "cekap".

"Kami anggap kepentingan korporat keluarga Taib sebagai aset haram. Terdapat banyak petunjuk bahawa Taib telah menyalahgunakan kedudukannya bagi membina empayar perniagaan berbilion ringgit berdasarkan rasuah dan penipuan," dakwa pengarah BMF, Lukas Straumann dalam kenyataan akhbar dikeluarkan di peringkat antarabangsa pada hujung minggu lalu.

"Kami terkejut melihat keluarga Taib sebegitu kaya manakala rakyat Sarawak perlu bergelut dengan kemiskinan yang berleluasa dan kekurangan infrastruktur dan bantuan kerajaan," katanya.

Keruah Usit
12:47PM Dis 7, 2011
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