Najib Razak on the Threat to the Economy and the Election

"Need to introduce Goods and Services Tax to improve government revenue."

Mr Najib was speaking during a visit to London, made as his government is settling back into office after the ruling United Malays National Organisation overcame the biggest-ever challenge to its power in May’s parliamentary elections. The opposition won 51 per cent of the vote, but Umno and its partners in the ruling coalition secured 60 per cent of the seats under Malaysia’s constituency-based voting system.

The prime minister pledged to accelerate economic reforms and show that the country could be modernised “from within” the existing political framework – a riposte to the opposition’s election claims that Malaysia needed a change of leadership after decades of unbroken Umno rule.

He said: “I want to prove the point that we can make changes from within. We can transform the government and the economy, as well as democracy in Malaysia.”

He was relaxed about the external challenges to an economy that has weathered global turmoil well, with economists expecting gross domestic product growth of about 5 per cent this year, after 5.2 per cent in 2012.

Other domestic economic concerns remain. The government had to cut its bill from fuel and other subsidies and Mr Najib said he believed “we do need to introduce [a goods and services tax] to improve government revenue”. Household debts – at 82 per cent of GDP – were also unsustainable and had to be reined in, he said. “People willy-nilly borrow for consumption. Civil servants willy-nilly borrow for consumption and then wonder why they don’t have enough money at the end of the month.”

Read the full report here: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/d91bb880-e3f0-11e2-b35b-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2YBxN3l9F

Intense Brain Drain Problem for Malaysia

By Jennifer PakBBC News, Kuala Lumpur

Willson Lee is a proud Malaysian, but he left the country five years ago.

The Japanese grill in Hong Kong's crowded district of Causeway Bay is just one of a handful of restaurants he now runs in China.

Over plates of marbled beef, Mr Lee explained that he used to have businesses in Malaysia ranging from gold mining to stem cell banking.

But he left in 2008 because, he said, a policy favouring the Malay-majority over ethnic minorities was "blatantly abused" to enrich those in power.

The policy, he said, meant that his companies had fewer opportunities, something that hurt profits and left him and his partners demoralised.

Mr Lee is part of what the World Bank calls an "intense" brain drain problem that could hurt Malaysia's ambition to become a high-income economy by 2020.

Most of those who leave are ethnic Chinese, like Mr Lee, or Indian. They make up a third of Malaysia's population of 29 million people.

Many are propelled from the country by long-standing policies that give preferential treatment to ethnic Malays in areas from housing and education to government projects.

The objective is to re-distribute 30% of the country's wealth into the hands of Malays and indigenous groups, collectively known as the Bumiputras, because they lag behind the ethnic Chinese.

Although a certain percentage of listed companies has to be owned by Bumiputras, Mr Lee says this quota is applied to private businesses as well.

The government would often give licenses to a Malay company and he would have to partner with them in order to do business, he said.

"That is standard practice throughout Malaysia," he said.

'Chinese tsunami'

Many voters are put off by the government's policies that favour ethnic Malays

Prime Minister Najib Razak wants to attract this talent back, but it will be tricky. In polls on 5 May, the disaffected Malaysian Chinese community largely abandoned his Barisan Nasional coalition.

Mr Najib still secured a simple majority despite winning only 47% of the popular vote.

That's because constituency sizes give greater weight to rural Malay voters, who are the core supporters of the governing coalition.

There were also allegations of electoral fraud, which the governing coalition has denied.

Mr Najib's former political secretary and senior visiting fellow with Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, Oh Ei Sun, says the results are disappointing to the Malaysian talent overseas, who are believed to be mostly opposition supporters.

Some flew to Malaysia just to cast their ballots but when the opposition won 50% of the popular vote and still didn't form the government, many went back feeling hopeless, Mr Oh said.

He believes many more professionals may leave the country.

Read the Full Report from BBC HERE

Malaysia - The Dark Forces of Corruption

For the first time in more than half a century, Malaysia's corruption-tainted ruling coalition - which has held power since independence from Britain - looks like it could be in serious trouble. No political party in the world has been in power for longer than the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).

But now an opposition victory on Sunday promises sweeping change for nearly 30 million Malaysians and for the foreign investors who have helped transform the country into one of Asia's leading "Tiger" economies... against the odds.

Against the odds because Malaysia is a country where corruption is endemic. Big corruption. The opposition, led by former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, has campaigned for clean government - and it could yet turn out to be a winning ticket.

Corporate misbehaviour

Malaysia has an appealing edifice of modernity and sophistication.

But when it comes to corporate bribery, that image shatters. The country was last year ranked the world's worst offender in Transparency International's bribe payers' survey. Many Malaysians were shocked by this, though unsurprised... if it's possible to feel both at the same time.

Another survey last year by international corruption watchdog Global Financial Integrity ranked Malaysia as the world's third largest source of illicit financial flows - an estimated US$285bn in capital flight in the decade up to 2010.

An untaxed financial haemorrhage, depriving the exchequer of funds that could have been used to improve Malaysians' living standards.

Exposing the culprits

But over the past few years, Malaysians have also seen their corrupt officials exposed, one after another. Some scandals have been about little brown envelopes or vote-buying. Others have been pretty exotic.

One even embroiled the man who is now Malaysia's prime minister in a murky saga involving the mysterious murder of a Mongolian model and alleged kickbacks on French submarines.

"At one point it was a scandal a week," Ambiga Sreenevasan, former president of the Malaysian bar council, told Channel 4 News. "People are truly sick and tired of it, and the sheer amount of money bleeding from the system."

At one point it was a scandal a week. People are truly sick and tired of the sheer amount of money bleeding from the system.Ambiga Sreenevasan

Dato' Ambiga now heads Bersih 2.0 - a group campaigning for free and fair elections - whose name means "clean" in Malay.

Bersih wants an end to corruption and to stop dirty politics. "Since 2008, we've had a strong opposition and they've raked up so much dirt, exposed a lot of misdeeds of public officials. Everyone knew it was happening, but to see the details? It's horrified everyone."

One particular scandal has horrified more than most. It has exposed corruption on a grand scale and has, in Ms Ambiga's view, "disgusted voters."

Read the rest of the Report by Channel 4 News of UK here: http://www.channel4.com/news/malaysia-elections-the-vote-to-stamp-out-corruption

The Day of Reckoning - GE 13

As we approach the day of reckoning for these bunch of crooks in our government, be prepared to see some desperate attempts to scare you from going out to the polls and in trying to get you to stay indoors.

These crooks are incapable of change as they will do what they do best which is to get your vote by hook or by crook, we have seen and should be very clear by now as to their approach, they either try to bribe you or scare you and that's their inherent characteristics as this is the only way they know how.

They are completely void of any principles and integrity being mired in a system of their own creation over these many years of complacency as one of the longest ruling power in the world.

In their system of wealth sharing where the wealth of the Nation are distributed in a partnership of a coalition of bands of bandits where each takes on a territorial or departmental allocation in accordance to the long established power sharing formula.

We should be prepared as we approach the day where we exercise our real power to vote, but our duty as citizen do not stop at the voting box, we have done much over recent years, we are now wiser to their vile trickery and have stood up in unity overcoming the veil of anxiety and fear from their unjust laws and enforcement.

They will step up on the fear creation in an attempt to cheat you of your vote and that is their objective, before that they were all out in baiting you with carrots and in bribery trying to buy your votes in exchange for sweet nothing.

Be prepared and once again to show our strength in unity as brothers and sisters, we will need to stand up and fear them not as we need to be there watching over and defending the sanctity of our electoral system.

Crooks being crooks will cheat you and swipe you off the minute you turn and that is why we will need to take watch and be on guard.

This is the final countdown and it is as much a day of reckoning for the Rakyat as it is for these crooks, this is the test that will show whether we are truly united and seek to see the change that we so desire.

We have come far and many had put in much time and effort for this day to happen and it is now within our grasp and for us to realise our dream of a better Nation free of corruption and injustice, for the sake of our children and theirs to come We Must Face This Final Battle on the 5 of May 2013.

Go here if you need guidance on polling day: http://asalkanbukanumno.com/
or here: http://harismibrahim.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/defend-your-polling-stations-and-we-take-putrajaya-on-5th-may-2013/

Caught! Stealing the Early Voting Ballot Boxes!

A Crooked BN Production Exposed!

An account of a Soaring Eagle

We have made an impact.
I’m not talking about stickers and graffiti. I’m not talking about crowds of people wearing our t-shirts (although there were a few). I’m not talking about ABU flags, caps or badges (we have produced nil).

I’m talking about substance – about the ABU message; about awareness and hope being spread among the common folk and fear among the UMNO elite.

My Distribution journey brought me back to several constituencies that we have visited before for Walkabouts.
Even two weeks feel like an eternity when you are on an election campaign, so I was impressed that people still remember our material well. Let’s just say I didn’t expect kampung folk to recite facts, dates, numbers from our material back to me.

When you get out of your car in Beruas, two hours off the PLUS Highway, after driving alone in a thunderstorm, and the local 60-year-old pak cik you ask for directions tells you, “Ohhh you dari ABUUU … saya dah baca risalah ABU. Ada lagi dalam van?” … One word: MAGIC.  ~ from: KaVee Yong ~

When we first met KaVee he had accounted that he is suffering from gout and that it was a genetic inheritance and as such he had thought that he could not be much in participating to the Eagle's walkabout.

Let us share with you here that KaVee had walked and covered as much and more, he is every bit a Soaring Eagle as he had taken the mental stance of wanting in participation in bringing about change and believed that he could contribute, this deep felt belief had enabled him to overcome all obstacles in many aspect including that he worked down south in the little rich Singapore.

He made the journey home every Friday right after work and participated in all the ABU weekend events and activities, he had all the inherent strength of goodness and had developed a  strong passion to seek positive change for his Nation.

KaVee typifies that when you had a clear and conscious awareness of your desire you will be able to draw all positive energy in overcoming any negativity or obstacles in your life.

There are many in within the Eagles who are able to Soar beyond their expectation and we had secretly admired and felt great pride in their contribution with many a times we had felt the pull of the heartstring.

Thank you Eagles, you had made all this fight worthwhile and we look forward to the 5 of May when we can all gather as one and hold hands in camaraderie.

Meanwhile we have 3 more days of work and let's give this days our all in this final battle for our homeland.

ABU!

Read KaVee's full story here: http://yongkavee.wordpress.com/2013/05/02/pakatan-will-win-if-allowed-to-my-personal-experience-with-abu/