What stops the gravy train is not ethnicity, but corruption and favoritism

Written by Maclean Patrick, Malaysia Chronicle

Even as Prime Minister Najib Razak faces demands from irate Malay businessmen upset that the days of easy government contracts were fading, his administration has been forced to admit the income gap between the haves and have-nots within a racial community itself including the Malays have widened to a stage that requires adjustment or risk a social blow-up in the not-too-distant future.

A top aide Nor Mohamed Yackop said the next hurdle was to solve income inequality within an ethnic group. According to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, while the Najib administration had successfully “reduced” income disparity between different races in the country, it had yet to deal with the economic gap of different social classes within a race.

“Although we have successfully reduced inter-ethnic inequality... there is disparity within the races itself,” he said during a public talk organised by the Malaysian Student Leaders Summit (MSLS).

But through the decades, experts have forewarned that unless corruption was eradicated and the government stopped rewarding cronies with plush deals, no solution could address the issue. Many point out that the elite Malay contractors would only exert more pressure on the UMNO-led government until they got their share of the pie. In which case, how could the gravy train ever travel down to the other races, or even to the middle and lower income Malays themselves?

A good example is how the Malay Economic Consultative Council publicly chided Najib a week ago for not doing more for Teraju, a recently-launched bumiputra development unit.

"PEMANDU has announced the implementation of 60 of 131 Entry Point Projects from the Economic Transformation Programme Lab while TERAJU has yet to announce anything," MECC president Rozali Ismail had said.

But was Rozali fighting for the Malay tycoons, of which he is one, or for the everyday bumiputra which not only includes the struggling Makciks and Pakchiks in the rural Malay villages but also the poor Iban, Dayak, Orang Ulu, Bidayah, Kadazan and other groups given the bumiputra designation.

Still a need for quotas, but why are the Bumis in S'wak, Sabah still so poor

Nor Yackop, who is in charge of the Economic Planning Unit (EPU) also said there was still a need for Bumiputera policies and quotas. A point of contention, that many Malaysians do not believe is true.

If Bumiputera policies were properly in place to help everyone compete on the same level playing feel, then why is it that the Bumiputeras of Sabah and Sarawak are still very much non-players on the economic landscape. Worse still, Sarawak as the richest state is also the one with the most poor.

Putrajaya has seriously got it all wrong when it comes to reducing the disparity of the poor and rich. And it begins with the fact that wealth distribution has nothing to do with ethnicity.

When will the BN administration ever learn that common things such as wealth cannot be explained by putting in elements of ethnicity into the equation. All human beings are born equal under the sun. The same sun lights up our days and the same moon shines in our night sky. We all breathe the same air and in the equation of the universe; time is the same constant for all.

To a large extent, it is the governments of the wolrd that determine how one human being can succeed versus another by offering the opportunities that present themselves within their respective country. Some governments practise equal opportunity. Some like Malaysia, don't.

If a government has policies that allow equal opportunity for all, then its citizens will be able to work well and see the rewards of their endeavours. This will assure that wealth is distributed according to the measure of work the individual puts in.

The harder one works, the more one earns. This is a competitive model that any human being can take part in regardless of their background.

Discriminative policies unchanged

Yet, though Najib and his administration speaks of creating a high-income society in Malaysia and to reduce poverty in all states; they refuse to remove policies that favour certain ethnic groups.

Think about, if the system is clean without corruption - without vested groups hijacking deals and keeping the country's wealth to themselves - money will flow efficiently through the system. The mulitplier effect kicks in smoothly. Wealth gets distributed. Without blockages and leakages, the velocity of money can speed up and this itself drives the economy at a quicker pace.

Nor Yackop’s statement is telling since it shows the government is starting to acknowledge that even among the Malays, there is a wealth disparity that continues to widen. He may not have stated the obvious but it simply means that there are certain members within the Malay community that are only interested in enriching themselves whilst disregarding their own people.

If truly, Najib and his administration want to eliminate wealth disparity; then they will have to remove the privileges that favor a singular ethnic group. They also need to create an environment where the harder one works, the better one earns with equal opportunity for all on all levels of Malaysian society.

It is time we remove the crutches that help a particular ethnic group and allow them to stand on their own two feet. Wealth distribution has nothing to do with ethnicity, instead it’s just about whether one chooses to work hard or remain lazy.

Breivik ‘underwent paramilitary training in Belarus’

Norway’s twin terror suspect Anders Behring Breivik trained at a secret paramilitary field camp in Belarus earlier this year, a Belarusian opposition politician said on Thursday, citing security sources.

“Breivik visited Belarus several times. This spring, as part of his preparations for his twin attacks, he visited Minsk, where he underwent training at a secret paramilitary field camp,” Mikhail Reshetnikov, the head of the opposition Belarusian Party of Patriots, told the Gazeta.ru online newspaper.

He cited sources within Belarus’s “security organs.”

Breivik, 32, has admitted to carrying out a bombing in Oslo, which killed eight, and a mass shooting at a Labor Party youth camp on the nearby island of Utoya, which left 68 dead. He has not accepted criminal responsibility, however, saying his actions were "atrocious but necessary" measures intended to "save Norway and Western Europe" from a "Muslim takeover."

Breivik mentioned in his online manifesto visiting Belarus to study the effects of fallout from the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The former Soviet republic’s state border agency has confirmed he was in Belarus from March 4 to March 11, 2005.

Reshetnikov also claimed Breivik had participated in “sabotage-terrorism drills” under a former Belarusian special service officer and that he had used a fake passport to enter Belarus.

“His codename in Belarus’s KGB was Viking,” he added. “Rumors say he also had a girlfriend in Belarus.”

“The theory that Belarus’ special forces were involved in training Anders Breivik seems, of course, far-fetched,” political expert Viktor Demidov was quoted by Gazeta.ru as saying.

“On the other hand, [Belarusian] President Alexander Lukashenko’s friendship with Muammar Gaddafi is no secret - neither is his fondness for Adolf Hitler.”

Norway is taking part in NATO operations in Libya and Gaddafi has threatened attacks against Europe.

In the Jews, Najib and Rosmah look to pin fallout from RM24mil ring?

Written by Wong Choon Mei, Malaysia Chronicle

As anticipated, a massive clean-up has begun for Prime Minister Najib Razak, starting with his wife Rosmah Mansor and her alleged RM24.4 million diamond ring. The main purpose - to defend his very shaky UMNO presidency ahead of party polls due next year.

Although the country is also headed for snap elections widely expected to be held in October or November 2011, Najib appears more concerned about his personal power as more leaders from both within UMNO and BN turn to his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin for guidance after a series of governance and political blunders by his administration.

Meanwhile, pundits expressed disappointment that Najib would again revert to Jew-bashing in a bid to get Rosmah and himself off the hook. Although news of the garagantuan diamond ring had shocked everyday Malaysians, not many have doubts that the first couple had more than enough money to make such a purchase, which in US terms is worth $8 million.

What the pundits are alluding to is of course, the Scorpenes corruption scandal, in which Najib has been accused of benefiting through his close friend, Razak Baginda, a commission allegedly paid by vendor DCN in the form of a maintenance deal worth 114 million euros or RM570 million. Against such an amount, $8million is but a drop in the ocean, and critics remind the Scorpenes was just of the many deals Najib has been doubted over since taking to politics at the age of 22.

How does Jacob's criminal record prove Najib's and Rosmah's innocence

However, what is distasteful this time around was the way the UMNO media wrapped themselves around the owner of Jacob & Co, Jacob Arabo. Arabo is a Uzbekistan-born Jew, who has been to jail before.

In 1998, Arabo was arrested by the FBI for alleged criminal possession of stolen property. The charges were later dropped. He was arrested by the FBI again in 2006, this time for allegedly laundering US$270 million (RM810 million) for the notorious Detroit-based Black Mafia Family (BMF) drug gang and failing to report large cash purchases to the Internal Revenue Service.

However, to critics of the Malaysian first couple's lavish lifestyle, Arabo's criminal record does not in anyway clear either Rosmah or Najib. How can Arabo's guilt prove their innocence? In fact, Pakatan Rakyat leaders are confident that should the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission be allowed to do an independent investigation into the Scorpenes and Altantuya Shaariibuu scandals, the first couple might well find themselves behind bars too.

It must be pointed out that Najib has denied any involvement in the Scorpenes corruption scandal and says he has never never met Altantuya before. However, French lawyer William Bourdon was just last week deported from Malaysia when he came to brief his client, top NGO Suaram, and various citizen-groups about the French investigators' progress in the case. The Parisian authorities are due to begin open court hearings some time in September.

Rosmah herself said "there is nothing I want to say because I have no time to address such things. Let (the blogger) say what he want." She was responding to a query put to her in Kedah a day ago on whether the ring was hers, as alleged. She sidestepped giving any direct denial, and moved on to grab some sympathy from the public by saying, “this is slander but what have I not experienced? I have experienced it all. So, rather than address this, it is better I pay attention to public issues as these are more important.”

In Malaysia, when all else fails, blame the Jews

Gauging by the tack the UMNO media are moving towards, a plot is now in place to clear Rosmah by claiming that her name was falsely used and without her knowledge. This means that screenshots of the Malaysian Custioms department computer system may well be authentic. One of the screenshots clearly show her name under the importer column (scroll below).

This ties in with a stridently anti-Semtic article that came out in the UMNO-owned Utusan newspaper, which takes its editorial lead directly from Najib. So offensive did the Jewish diaspora find the July 18 editorial, that the B'nai B’rith International issued a stinging rebuke. The Utusan had blamed “foreign Jews” for instigating the July 9 Bersih rally for free and fair elections.

It also sparked another influential US media, the Huffington Post, to run a commentary entitled In Malaysia, when in doubt, blame the Jews.

"The Jews? Most citizens of the overwhelmingly Asian economic giant have never and will likely never meet a Jew in their lifetime. And yet the folks at Utusan Malaysia, which is influential among Muslims in rural areas who rely on government-linked media to shape their worldview, are apparently confident warnings about a "Jewish plot" would resonate in a land without Jews," wrote Rabbi Abraham Cooper.

Jacob the Jeweller, Fagin the thief

Indeed, the time may well have come to draw the curtains on the Najib administration lest it causes further harm to the country's image. Even now, the UMNO media under his charge are making free with Arabo's nickname of Jacob the Jeweller, imputing the same derogatory connotation as in Fagin the thief - the villian in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist.

As former US ambassador to Malaysia John Malott commented recently, the Najib administration kept "shooting itself in the foot". To the First World community, perhaps most telling is the way Najib tried to suppress the Scorpene details from surfacing last week. William Bourdon's deportation travelled far and wide, much further than from Kuala Lumpur to Paris.

"This is a government – even though they have spent millions on Public Relations firms and management consultants – that keeps shooting itself in the foot. The deportation of the French lawyer is only the latest example. Now, for the first time, all the juicy details of that scandal – including the model who was murdered by the PM’s bodyguards – have appeared in the Washington Post. It just adds to the confusion among people here – what kind of a country is Malaysia, anyhow? And is Najib really the person that he has portrayed himself to be?" Malott had told Malaysia Chronicle in a recent interview.

China boosts naval power with carrier program: sources

By Ben Blanchard and Benjamin Lim

(Reuters) - China is building two aircraft carriers as part of a military modernization program that is causing concern among other Asian countries, sources said on Wednesday.

President Hu Jintao has made the navy a keystone of China's defense upgrade, and the carriers will be among the most visible signs of its rising military prowess.

China is ramping up its military spending as the United States considers cutting its defense budget, although Washington still far outspends China on security and is much more technologically advanced.

"Two aircraft carriers are being built at the Jiangnan shipyard in Shanghai," a source with ties to China's Communist Party leadership told Reuters, requesting anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the program.

China's Defense Ministry has confirmed the existence of one carrier, a former Soviet vessel that was bought from Ukraine in 1998 and was once destined to become a floating casino.

That vessel, the Shi Lang, will be used for training and research purposes, ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said, seeking to reassure other countries that China would stick to its defensive military policy.

But he said it had a right to protect its extensive maritime territory and coast.

"This is the sacred responsibility of China's armed forces," Geng said in a statement.

"Building a carrier is extremely complex. We are currently refitting an old aircraft carrier, to be used for research and testing."

"An aircraft carrier is a weapons platform; it can be used for offensive or defensive purposes. It can also be used to maintain global peace and for rescue and relief work," he added.

Geng gave no timetable for starting sea trials but said pilots were being trained to operate from the carrier.

Sources with ties to the Communist Party and the military said that the ship would likely be based in the southern island province of Hainan, which sits atop the trade lanes of the sensitive South China Sea.

China has been flexing its muscles more aggressively in those waters, where a territorial dispute with Taiwan and several nearby countries, including Vietnam and the Philippines, has festered for years.

Geng said the timing "had nothing to do" with the tension there though the message will be clear to many in Asia.

"China can now project its power to even further away from its coastline," said Alexander Huang, professor of strategic studies at Taiwan's Tamkang University.

"That will have significant security implications to forces operating in the Western Pacific, including the U.S., Japan and Australia, so this is a watershed development."

The carrier will add to regional concerns about China's military modernization and arms build-up. Defense spending is rising fast and Beijing continues to test new high-tech equipment, including a stealth fighter.

"China's next moves have to be watched carefully, or there eventually could be a negative impact on maritime safety in Asia," said Yoshihiko Yamada, a professor at Japan's Tokai University.

Xinhua news agency said it was the first time the government had confirmed it was pursuing a carrier program.

PENTAGON DOWNPLAYS PROGRAM

The Pentagon declined to say whether it had intelligence confirming the Reuters report but noted that China has publicly acknowledged the existence of one carrier and its intention to build more.

Pentagon spokesman Colonel Dave Lapan, however, downplayed any immediate leaps that could be expected from China's carrier program.

U.S. officials pointed to a U.S. Navy intelligence estimate that China would still have only "very limited" aircraft carrier proficiency and capability by 2020, even if its carrier program proceeded as expected.

The top U.S. Navy intelligence officer earlier this year told reporters he believed China wanted to start fielding multiple aircraft carriers over the next decade, with the goal of becoming a global naval power capable of projecting power around the world by mid-century.

The official said it would take years for China's navy to learn how to integrate flight deck operations and attain the sophistication needed to use them effectively.

Security analyst Dean Cheng of the Heritage Foundation in Washington said the new carriers squared with a 2011 Pentagon report but also raised many questions.

"Will they be smallish ones like the Shi Lang, with some 30 aircraft? Or USS Midway-sized aircraft carriers, with an airgroup of around 60 aircraft? Or a Forrestal/Kitty Hawk-class with an airgroup of 80-90 aircraft?," he said, referring to China's training vessel and major American carriers.

The old Soviet carrier's refitting has been one of China's worst-kept military secrets. Pictures of it sitting in Dalian harbor have circulated on Chinese websites for months, and it has been widely discussed in state media.

China would be the third Asian country to have a carrier after India and Thailand, but it will take time before it can go to sea in Asian waters that have largely been the domain of the U.S. Navy since World War Two.

"It will be a long while before China develops a fully-fledged carrier capability, it will take a long time to train the necessary crews ... it may be up to decade until China has carrier capability," said Tim Huxley, director for defense and military analysis at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore.

Beijing's rationale for having an aircraft carrier is more than just about modernizing a navy whose most notable engagements of the past few years have been territorial skirmishes in the South China Sea with other smaller nations.

Sending naval vessels further afield, to the waters off Somalia to fight pirates, and through the southern Japanese islands, has also partly been about ensuring trade routes are protected.

China frets about the powerful U.S. military presence close to its shores, in particular U.S. bases in Japan and South Korea, and Washington's close but unofficial ties with Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own.

"Aircraft carriers are essential for China primarily to defend its territory and territorial waters and bring a semblance of parity among the world's big powers," Wang Baokun, a defense studies professor at Beijing's Renmin University, wrote in the China Daily earlier this month.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Magnowski in Singapore, Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo, Christine Lu in Taipei and Phil Stewart and Paul Eckert in Washington; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Paul Simao)

Jesus’ apostle’s tomb unearthed in Turkey

DENİZLİ - Doğan News Agency (DHA)

An Italian professor has announced the apparent discovery of the tomb of St. Philip, one of Jesus Christ’s apostles, at the ancient city of Hierapolis in the Aegean province of Denizli.

The discovery of the grave of the biblical saint, who was killed by the Romans 2,000 years ago, will attract immense attention around the world, said Francesco D’Andria. St. Philip, one of the 12 apostles, came to Hierapolis 2,000 years ago to spread the Christianity before being killed by the Romans, the professor said.

D’Andria has been leading archeological excavations at the ancient city for 32 years.

“Until recently, we thought the grave of St. Philip was on Martyrs’ Hill, but we discovered no traces of him in the geophysical research conducted in that area. A month ago, we discovered the remnants of an unknown church, 40 meters away from the St. Philip Church on Martyrs’ Hill. And in that church we discovered the grave of St. Philip,” said D’Andria.

D’Andria and his team have not opened the grave but are planning to do so soon.

“St. Philip is considered a martyr. In fact, the church built in his name on the Martyrs’ Hill is, for this reason, also called Martyrion, despite the fact there were no traces of the grave of St. Philip. As we were cleaning out the new church we discovered a month ago, we finally found the grave. With close examination, we determined that the grave had been moved from its previous location in the St. Philip Church to this new church in the fifth century, during the Byzantine era. We are extremely happy and proud to have discovered the grave of a saint whose name appears in the bible – this surely is an important discovery for religious tourism, archaeology and Christendom,” the professor said.