TR EMERITUS

The harsh conclusion on outgoing Malaysian Premier Abdullah Badawi's legacy is that he will depart the political stage with very little to show. On the economic front, his pledge to bring greater transparency to government never materialised and his lack of success in cutting red tape and tackle graft has undermined Malaysia's competitiveness as a regional investment centre. The Abdullah-inspired blueprint to create growth clusters called corridors in strategic zones - such as the Iskandar development region in Johor - is still in its infancy and could stumble because of the global economic crisis. Datuk Seri Abdullah held his last Cabinet meeting yesterday, and bade farewell to his ministers after a little more than five years as the country's fifth prime minister. He will leave office with the country's political landscape in its most unsettled state in decades. His successor Najib Razak is expected to be sworn in as the premier tomorrow. Mr Abdullah is cursed by his own party, Umno, on two fronts. One for the poor performance of the Barisan Nasional coalition government in last year's general elections, and the other for allowing former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim to return to active politics. But then again, Mr Abdullah's report card might be read differently in years to come, with many analysts and diplomats believing that history will take a kinder view of the bland premier. 'History will look at him as Malaysia's Gorbachev,' says a senior South-east Asian diplomat, referring to former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose reforms unleashed democratic changes that led to the break-up of the Soviet Union. 'And Najib and his team will realise that you can't put the genie back into the bottle.' A well-intentioned politician, Mr Abdullah recognised that Malaysia's problems, such as graft in government and the penchant for mega-projects to stimulate economic activity and deliver political patronage, were chipping away at the country's competitiveness as an investment destination. But his efforts to clean up government came under heavy opposition from the entrenched civil service. And his reform agenda ran counter to the culture in Umno, a patronage-driven party in which warlords have long relied on easy access to government contracts in return for political support. Datuk Seri Najib will quickly realise that Mr Abdullah's failure in reforming the economy has only postponed the hard policy changes the country must implement to attract foreign capital. He has no option but to confront the forces which opposed the changes Mr Abdullah wanted to make. Mr Najib will also realise that Mr Abdullah's move to allow greater space in politics was simply because there was no stopping the wave of change sweeping through an increasingly sophisticated electorate tired of Umno's patronising style of governing. 'When I talk about democracy and freedom of discourse, it is not an easy job to do. But you have to allow people to enjoy it,' Mr Abdullah told local editors at a farewell lunch on Tuesday. Despite his bland public image, he is an experienced grassroots politician. After majoring in Islamic Studies at the University of Malaya, Mr Abdullah joined the government in the mid-1960s, and was soon recognised by Tun Razak Hussein, Mr Najib's father who would later become prime minister. The late Tun Razak took power after bloody racial riots in May 1969. He appointed Mr Abdullah as one of his assistant secretaries to the National Security Council, which was the supreme political body during the two years when the country was under a state of emergency. After the council was disbanded, Mr Abdullah returned to the civil service before entering politics in 1974. Four years later, he won election to Parliament in his home constituency of Kepala Batas, a seat in Penang that he had successfully defended in the past eight general elections. Unlike his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad, Mr Abdullah is unlikely to give his successor any grief. Close associates say that Mr Abdullah would not make any demands to be appointed as adviser to the national oil corporation Petronas, a post that has gone to the country's last two premiers and is currently held by Tun Dr Mahathir. 'He doesn't want to create any headaches for Najib,' says one close associate familiar with Mr Abdullah's retirement plans. The outgoing premier has publicly stated that he wants to be involved in promoting Islamic causes. Mr Najib is expected to appoint his predecessor as head of the respected Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia. Government sources say the body will be renamed the International Institute of Islamic Learning to provide a more international profile to the organisation, which researches religious issues. Source: Straits Times EDITORS' NOTE: Pak Lah is a decent man and perhaps too decent to be the Prime Minister of Malaysian. Though he had failed to carry out his promised reforms, none of his successors will come close to him in liberalizing political space in the Malaysia. History will take a kinder view of him in many years to come.  Read More →

By Eugene Yeo It has been nearly a month since rumors about the 8 months bonuses received by two Northwest CDC staff first erupted on the internet and we still do not know the truth. One would expect the Mayor of Northwest CDC, who is the overall in charge of its staff to know the answer. Unfortunately, Dr Teo Ho Pin does not appear to know the performance bonuses of his staff which he is proud to admit readily in a public interview. The People's Association has been most consistently evasive about answering media queries about the bonuses. Instead of giving a simple, short and direct answer, they opted to justify the bonuses as within the guidelines set by the National Wage Council. Neither did its Deputy Chairman Lim Boon Heng confirm or refute the rumors. He too, defended the reward system of the People's Association as being "fair and reasonable". The government does not seem to be interested in responding to public concerns about the bonuses of CDC staff. A week later, the news articles on the fiasco were taken offline from the Straits Times and CNA website in a lame attempt to sweep the matter under the carpet in hope that it will soon fade away from public attention. We are indeed very sorry for bringing unnecessary distraction to the life and work of Dr Teo and Mr Lim. If only our civil service follows the example of its Hong Kong counterpart, there will be no need for us to impose on them. Though technically speaking, Hong Kong is only a "Special Administrative Region" under a nominally communist country, it retains the backbone of the British Civil Service from which our own civil service is built on. When our reader emailed to Dr Teo Ho Pin asking him about the 8 months bonuses, he was told by him that the salaries and bonuses of the CDC staff are "confidential". What's so "confidential" about the salaries and bonuses of civil servants? This information should be put up on the internet for the public to see. The Hong Kong Civil Service reveals the pay scales of ALL its civil servants according to the different grades on its website here:     On the contrary, there is no information on salaries of civil servants found on the website of the Singapore Civil Service here The Hong Kong Civil Service is an example of an accountable, transparent and responsible public organization. It is accountable to the people - every single cent of taxpayers' money is properly accounted for. Its operation is completely transparent. There is nothing to hide from the public. It is responsible to the people by keeping them well informed of how public funds are being utilized. And the Hong Kong civil service costs only a fraction of Singapore's. Is it anyway less efficient than Singapore? The Singapore government ought to be ashamed of itself! Every single penny of its political leaders and civil servant come from the people of Singapore. All we ask for is for them to reveal to us how our money is being spent and they have the decency to deny us access to information which is readily available in other countries as if it is some top national secret! This will not happen in Hong Kong because the Hong Kong government has established a "Code on Access to Information" (details here) to ensure that every Hong Kong citizen has the right to access to public information. Under this code, all government departments are obliged to release authorized information when requested as quickly as possible. Each department will designate an Access to Information Officer who will be responsible for promoting and overseeing the application of the Code and any person who believes that a department has failed properly to apply any provision of the Code may also complain to The Ombudsman. Are Singaporeans getting value for money?  Is this a first division or third division government? Will Northwest CDC, People's Association or the Civil Service for that matter please come clean with us? Not only should we know if the two CDC staff did receive the 8 month bonuses, they should also disclose the salaries and bonuses of all its staff on payroll of the public and post them online! The Singapore government loves to indulge in self-praise about its impeccable accountability, transparency and incorruptibility. Where is it when the people demands to see it? It is like a father praising his own daughter to be the most beautiful girl in the kampung when nobody else buy his words. Shouldn't the highest paid government in the world be held to a higher standard of good governance? Why are Singaporeans kept in the dark over such basic information about the salaries and bonuses of public servants? Is the government afraid a bigger furore will be triggered if the truth is revealed? All Singaporean citizens who have been paying their taxes dutifully over the years have the right to demand this information to be made public unless the PAP ministers and MPs stop paying themselves with taxpayers' money and run the government using their own personal fortune.  Read More →

Najib Abdul Razak will be sworn in as Malaysia's sixth prime minister on Friday by Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin. Chief secretary to the government Mohd Sidek Hassan said that the king has consented to the swearing-in of Najib, which will be held in Istana Negara at 10am. Najib, currently deputy prime minister and president of the dominant Umno, said he would meet the king early tomorrow with outgoing Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Officials close to the prime minister have said Abdullah would tender his resignation during that meeting. "Tomorrow, the PM will invite me to accompany him to have an audience with the king and subject to the king's consent, then Friday will be the (swearing-in) ceremony," Najib told reporters. "I have not had an audience with the king yet, so hopefully the king will graciously give his consent," he added. Najib was last Thursday officially declared president of Umno, a role that effectively clears the way for him to be premier because of its dominance of the political scene. He said he would also on Friday reveal details of the direction he wanted to take Malaysia amid economic crisis and political uncertainty, with the core of his roadmap being a programme aimed at uniting the multi-racial nation. Read rest of article on Malaysiakini  Read More →