The list of 10th Malaysia Plan projects will be revealed after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak tables the 2011 budget next month, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop said today.

However, only projects for implementation in 2011 and 2012 of the five-year plan (2011-2015) would be announced, he added.

“We will announce the list for every two years and not for the whole five years as was done previously,” he told reporters when asked to comment on a statement by Bukit Bendera Member of Parliament Liew Chin Tong that the 10MP projects had yet to be announced when they should have been revealed last month.

There was no delay in the announcement as claimed, Nor Mohamed said after presenting Aidilfitri aid in his Tasek Gelugor parliamentary constituency.

Najib had said when tabling the 10MP in June that programmes and projects would be implemented on a rolling plan basis, with the allocation for programmes and projects provided on a two-year basis beginning 2011-2012.

He had said that this allowed commitment to be made based on the financial position of the government and provided flexibility to respond to new priorities and changes in the global and domestic economic environment.

BERNAMA
NST

Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak must explain why the actual 10th Malaysia plan is still not available.

In the PM’s speech to Dewan Rakyat on 10th June, he said:

“Beginning with the Tenth Plan, the implementation of programmes and projects on a rolling plan basis will be introduced. With this approach, allocation for programmes and projects will be provided on a two-year basis beginning 2011-2012. This allows commitment to be made based on the financial position of the Government and provides flexibility to respond to new priorities and changes in the global and domestic economic environment. The detailed list of the programmes and projects for the first rolling plan will be ready by the end of August 2010.”

The 10th Malaysia Plan departs from the previous practices of detailing allocations for states and ministries.

Dewan Rakyat spent a day listening to the PM’s speech on the 10th Malaysia Plan, six days debating it and four days hearing replies from ministers, while Dewan Negara spent a total of six days on the Plan. In essence, the Parliament was debating on thin air, having not been provided with any details. The Plan was a document of statements which sounded good, but not accompanied by any actual plan.

It was strange that the Government rushed to present the Plan without a definitive programme for the next five years. Was it, as alleged, because of PM’s superstitious concerns? Or, was there an effort to hide the actual programme from Parliament, especially the issue of allocations to Pakatan Rakyat-controlled states?

The Government is supposed to have released the detailed list of programmes and projects for the first rolling plan for 2011-2012 by the end of August 2010, but I have been made to understand that it is still nowhere near completion.

The Prime Minister must explain to Malaysians:

First, if the departure from previous practices of listing allocations to states has been done maliciously;

Second, why the first rolling plan for 2011-2012 has not been disclosed in August as pledged; and

Third, will Parliament be given the opportunity to debate the rolling plan, which is essentially the actual plan?

Liew Chin Tong

Press Statement By DAP Secretary-General and MP For Bagan Lim Guan Eng In DAP Petaling Jaya Headquarters On 22.8.2010.

Utusan Malaysia Should Withdraw And Apologise For Cheating Malaysians With Their False Reports On A Big Civil War In Malaysia Bigger Than The 1969 May 13 Racial Riots.

Utusan Malaysia should withdraw and apologise for cheating Malaysians with their false reports of a big civil war in Malaysia bigger than the 1969 May 13 racial riots. This threat of a bigger war that May 13 was in a special column by Penolong Ketua Pengarang I of Kumpulan Utusan Malaysia, Datuk Zaini Hassan , entitled “Benar ‘perang besar’ boleh berlaku di Malaysia”.

No proof had been offered of who was pushing for a new constitution or what were its contents. Utusan only referred to Perak Mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria’s claim that three copies of the “new” Federal Constitution were given to him during a ceramah in Alor Setar.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz in the Star on 20.8.2010 rubbished the claims of a new Constitution to replace the present Federal Constitution. Harussani had claimed that the new constitution would expunge the special rights of the Malays and the position of Islam as the official religion of the country.

Describing Harussani’s claim as “coffee-shop talk”, Nazri said it was a waste of time for the police to investigate the matter. DAP fully supports Nazri’s description of the new constitution as “coffee-shop talk”. Clearly, as said by the Minister, there is no new constitution.

Utusan should be ashamed for publishing provocative reports pitting non-Malays against Malays and threatening a big war worse than May 13 racial riots that turned out to be false. Since a Minister had declared that Utusan Malaysia was publishing “coffee-shop” talk that was baseless and false, Utusan should withdraw these reports and apologise for misleading and cheating the public.

LIM GUAN ENG

The Malay ground will be the next big battleground and the fight will be between traditional arch rivals Umno and PAS.

POLITICIANS everywhere have been talking about an early general election although there has not been the faintest hint from the man who will decide when it will be.

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has been typically tight-lipped. But no one doubts the seriousness with which he is approaching the big event because it will be pivotal to his political career and the future of his party and coalition.

With a large segment of the Chinese said to have made up their minds about voting for change, the battle ahead is likely to be for the Malay vote.

The Malays are a big group (about 60% of the voting population) and they form the majority in 62% of the 222 parliamentary seats.

Moreover, they are no longer confined to the kampung and the outskirts. Up to 70% of Malays are urban-based and are now an urban force to be reckoned with.

At the same time, there are some four million people who are eligible but have not registered to vote: 80% of them are Malays, four-fifths of whom live in towns and cities. There are now attempts to get these people to sign up in time for the next elections.

“The battleground in the general election will not only be a contest for the Malay vote, but it will also be about convincing young, urban Malays,” said DAP strategist Liew Chin Tong.

Given that, the urban battle will be between the two chief Malay-based parties, Umno and PAS, with the multi-racial PKR playing back-up to PAS.

Urban Malay voters are going to be harder to read and predict than their kampung cousins.

Patronage politics does not have the same effect in urban areas as in rural areas where the penghulu knows everyone and where, as some joke, the penghulu’s wife knows all the women in the kampung and even the names of their cats.

“It’s a whole different ball game in the city. Urban complexities make the kind of social control that Barisan is familiar with in rural areas quite impossible to replicate. Neighbours don’t even know each other’s names let alone each others’ politics in the city,” said Liew. Read the rest of this entry »

Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin Tong has slammed the government for spending too much money on two “white elephant” projects in Putrajaya.

“(Astaka Morocco and Monumen Alaf Baru) serve no function and were built to serve the fantasies of (former prime minister) Dr Mahathir (Mohamad),” he told reporters in the Parliament lobby.

“The figures … show that about 20 people visit the Astaka Morocco daily, which is far too little when one considers the amount spent on it.”

Replying to Liew in the House earlier, Deputy Federal Territories Minister M Saravanan said the Astaka Morocco had cost RM20 million to build and RM250,000 per year to maintain. Read the rest of this entry »

Penang Chief Minister YAB Lim Guan Eng will be visiting Singapore on 29th June – till 1st July 2010 to attend the World Cities Summit 2010 on the invitation of Minister of National Development Mr. Mah Bow Tan. The Singapore government has invited the Chief Minister to attend this Summit which will bring together practitioners and policy makers with leading experts in their field to identify innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges facing cities today.

This summit will offer leaders, mayors, policy makers and the civil society a strategic platform to attend a high-level summit, plenary sessions, networking forums and technical workshop. The theme for the second Summit is “Liveable and Sustainable Cities for the Future” focusing on leadership and governance and building liveable and sustainable communities.

As the most livable city in Malaysia on par with Kuala Lumpur ranked by ECA International, this summit will help to acquire knowledge and skill-sets required to allow Penang to evolve and sustain this critical competitive edge. Penang has also been ranked 8th most livable city in Asia and 64th globally. The Chief Minister will be also be one of the 8 panel speakers in the Ministerial Dialogue “Leading the Change: Building Liveable and Vibrant Cities”. This dialogue gathers past and present practitioners of governance, urban theorists and planners from around the world to discuss the need to build sustainable cities through leadership in the government and urban planning.

Besides that, the delegation will be giving a media briefing on 30th June 2010 about the various projects in Penang available for open tenders such as Fort Cornwallis, Gold Bazaar, Bayan Mutiara and Craig Hotel. The briefing will be conducted at SunTech Convention Center, Singapore and has been listed as one of the media events by the World Cities Summit 2010.

The Chief Minister will be accompanied by Y.B. Liew Chin Tong , MP for Bukit Bendera; Puan Zailena Noordin, General Manager of PDC (Penang Development Corporation) Properties and Wong Kim Fei, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister (Press).

In March, 2008, YB Sim Tze Tzin revealed a letter written by UEM Managing Director Dato Ahmad Pardas Senin to Director of Economic Planning Unit of Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr. Sulaiman Mahbob. The letter dated August 2007, titled “Projek Jambatan Kedua Pulau Pinang – Analisa Kewangan” was sent to Parti Keadilan Rakyat by a whistle-blower.

There were several main points in the letter.

- Concession period 45 years.
- UEM requested the Government to provide Soft Loan (GSL) at 4%.
- UEM asked as high as RM22,872 million government assistance from the Government including Investment Tax Allowance (ITA), Government Grant, JBIC Loan and Soft Loan.
- Construction price was RM4,068 million.
- Projected Toll charges would amount to RM7,065 million Read the rest of this entry »

If there is a figure in recent South East Asian history who represents the inextinguishable struggle for democracy and human rights, it is Aung San Suu Kyi.

There have been an increasing consciousness for a greater democratisation in South East Asia and this was evidenced by the electoral success achieved by the political oppositions in traditionally hegemonic governments.

A strong democracy will ensure that the interest of the people is protected against the onslaught of self-interested governments and big businesses and a strong democracy will ensure that the resources and wealth of the nation is responsibly managed.

Aung San Suu Kyi remains imprisoned and incarcerated for the last 20 years for advocating for democratisation within her homeland, Myanmar.

Neither she nor her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) has been allowed to fulfil the mandate of the citizens of Myanmar as a democratically elected Government.

The strongest words have been said to and about the current military junta, but nothing is more forceful than the fact that the people of Myanmar continue to live in poverty while their ASEAN neighbours are prospering.

The conscience of the junta is imprisoned where Aung San Suu Kyi is. And it is not too much therefore to say that Myanmar lives in Aung San Suu Kyi, and until she is free, Myanmar will continue to live in the prison of socio-political and economic oppression.

The Democratic Action Party (DAP) of Malaysia joins the world to wish a solemn happy birthday to Aung San Suu Kyi. We pray for her earlier release and the democratisation of Myanmar.

Pakatan Rakyat MPs today unanimously threw their support behind four Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia students who were allegedly “victimised” under the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) 1971.

In celebrating their “bravery”, the MPs equated the students’ courage to stand up for their rights to that shown by the 12 volunteers who were part of the convoy ferrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, which came under Israeli attack last Monday.

This acknowledgement came in a joint statement issued by the MPs and student representatives of Solidarity Mahasiwa Malaysia (SMM).

SMM had presented Pakatan with a declaration calling for freedom of speech, independent academia and campus democracy.

Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin Tong, questioned the rationale behind the move when Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak was himself calling on the people to be innovative and informed.

“How do our students become innovative, knowledgeable and informed citizens and leaders if we keep stifling them through undemocratic means?

“It just contradicts the PM’s desire for an informed society,” he said, adding that he would propose that Parliament set up a special committee to investigate the students’ complaints as documented in the SMM declaration. Read the rest of this entry »

Bukit Bendera MP Liew Chin Tong called on the Cabinet to scrap the RM800 million plan to build a new Parliament House in Putrajaya and instead reconsider upgrading existing facilities in the current parliament building.

The Public Works Department had proposed last year to upgrade the existing facilities, but the suggestion was shelved in the 2010 Budget, Liew claimed.

The DAP strategist pointed out that it would be cheaper to build additional buildings around the current site in Jalan Parlimen to fulfil the need for extra space rather than move the entire facility. Read the rest of this entry »