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Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.
Barack Obama
Tun Mahathir throws 3 hot potatoes at PM Najib
SOURCE : http://wfol.tv/
Live News Update
The rumor mill in Malaysia is grinding fresh tales and as usual, we are putting some up here for our regular readers. It appears that Najib Tun Razak will have to decide on how to handle a ‘pushy’ Tun Mahathir who has thrown 3 hot potatoes at him.
The story of the ‘hot potatoes’ is from Singapore where the assistant Foreign Editor of the Straits Times of Singapore indeed raises the eyebrows when he argues that Tun M will live to his reputation and will not relent on his demands. Yet before we see how the three hot potatoes are going to affect PM Najib or not, let us have some backgrounder.
It is being said that before PM Najib Tun Razak took over office, there has been verbal accords between him and Tun Mahathir. Indeed, this cannot be verified with the inexistence of any records of such an agreement made ‘ad verbatim’ reports the rumor mill in Putrajaya.
Sources in Malaysia says PM Najib seems very confident that he will have a better fate than his predecessor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and the reason is that even Tun Mahathir is now in accord with Tun Abdullah’s ideas of the Iskandar corridor. PM Najib is to ensure that his policies do not curtail the three fundamental rules of being a follower of the latter:
<!–[if !supportLists]–>1. <!–[endif]–>Do not appoint anti-Mahathir Ministers
<!–[if !supportLists]–>2. <!–[endif]–>Do not let up on Anwar Ibrahim
<!–[if !supportLists]–>3. <!–[endif]–>Do not bring down Malay supremacy
Apparently, PM Najib is on the wrong footing as he has appointed at least one vocal anti-Mahathir minister who is a minister in the Prime Minister’s department. The reason Minister Nazri Aziz is in the Cabinet of Najib Razak is clear. Nazri is very popular among the Umno grassroots and supporters. The opposition and its supporters may not agree on that but this is a fact and it must be taken into account. Tun Mahathir is not that popular anymore with the Umno youths, grassroots and with a large number of the party’s supporters. This means PM Najib may have felt confident to appoint Minister Nazri and this within his office of Prime Minister in order to ‘protect’ Nazri from Tun Mahathir’s outburst.
Minister Nazri’s reaction to Tun Mahathir’s attack against his nomination is a victory for Najib Razak though this is only the first round. It is also apparent, according to the rumors, that Minister Nazri has the full and total confidence of PM Najib who in turn knows the limitations of Tun M in pressing his hands to appoint or revoke any Ministers. It is 1-0 for PM Najib who has faced-off the 1st rule regarding the appointment of pro or anti-Tun M ministers.
The rumor mill has it that PM Najib will give a cooling period to the entire opposition machinery and the first gesture is the Penanti by-elections. By putting ahead the idea of a no go for the by-elections in Penanti, PM Najib is tickling the nerves of the former PM Mahathir but is offering an olive branch to the opposition. PM Najib is said to be a good strategist who has also learned a lot from Anwar Ibrahim in the days of the AIDS syndrome that attacked the Umno when the party was at its lowest ebb and at breaking point in the 1980’s. For those who do not remember or do not know, AIDS was the Anwar Ibrahim-Daim-Sanussi Junid group and PM Najib was rotating around this powerful group within the Umno until the dismissal of Anwar Ibrahim as Deputy Prime Minister and the rise of the ‘reformasi’ era in Malaysia in 1998.
It is then said by the ‘shaman’ of the rumor mills in Putrajaya that Prime Minister Najib Razak is sympathetic to Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Apparently Najib Tun Razak was prepared to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia in a time just around the 2010 when a certain Anwar Ibrahim would become Tun and resign from his post of Prime Minister. Najib was very supportive of Anwar Ibrahim’s rise and was – it is said – shell shocked by the events that lead to Anwar Ibrahim’s dismissal and his jailing as well as the entire court saga that tarnished the image of Malaysia. The ‘shaman’ says Najib Razak do not want another such scenario at all and would prefer that his former ‘best’ friend Anwar Ibrahim plays the opposition role fully and gains power by electoral means if Anwar Ibrahim is capable of doing so. Well ladies and gentlemen; it is the rumor mill speaking so do not get angered by some of the facts, truth and realities in this story.
Will PM Najib turn Tun Mahathir’s potato number two into the dustbin like he did with his nomination of Minister Nazri Aziz? It appears that PM Najib may be heading for a 2-0 win against Tun M on the issue of Anwar Ibrahim, says the ‘shaman’. In the Riau provinces, the Malays are said to be very interested in the events in Malaysia. They are also saying that if PM Najib could be sympathetic to Anwar Ibrahim’s political career, then Anwar Ibrahim may have a better chance to become PM by winning massively in the next General Elections.
Well, as you all know by now, it is already 3-0 for PM Najib Razak against Tun M. The Malaysian government said on Wednesday it will immediately remove a 30 per cent requirement for ethnic Malay ownership of investments in parts of the services sector as it tries to boost the country’s flagging economy. Prime Minister Najib Razak says the move is mainly in the areas of health and social services, tourism, transport, business and computer-related services. This is indirectly versus the rule of supporting at all cost the Malay supremacy in business deals. By removing this bid that allows Malay individuals and groups to earn windfall shares and cash from foreign investors just by being Malay shareholders/directors, PM Najib may have gone against the third TUN M rule. What will Tun M say regarding this? Wait and see. It could just be 3-0 for PM Najib and if that happens, there is no reason for anyone to believe that Najib Razak will not survive the usual Tun M outbursts against his ‘protégé’. That is what the rumor mills says…On top of that, PM Najib recently announced that all the ‘Sahams’ are not ‘Bumiputera’ centric and are open to all ‘races’ in Malaysia. It is a victory to anti-racist campaigners!
Now what happened to the Singapore potatoes? Well, read the column of Reme Ahmad the Foreign Editor of the Singapore Straits Times. There’s a plenty in his blog column of which we took the liberty to publish and promote on this website.
Pilihanraya kecil: BN manafaat Peserta PLKN berkempen
SUARA KEADILAN
Anna Yusof
KUALA LUMPUR, 22 April (SK) : Badan pemantau pilihanraya Malaysian for Free & Fair Election (Mafrel) berkata ia mempunyai bukti bergambar rekrut-rekrut PLKN dan Y2Y berseragam dikerah dalam perarakan Barisan Nasional semasa hari penamaan calon serta berkempen di pilihanraya kecil N29 Batang Ai awal bulan ini.
BN didakwa melanggar undang-undang pilihan raya dengan menyalahgunakan kedua-dua peserta Program tersebut untuk kepentingan mereka semasa kempen pilihanraya kecil tersebut.
Pengerusi Mafrel Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh dalam sidang akhbar di Kuala Lumpur hari ini berkata, satu laporan lengkap memperincikan penyalahgunaan sumber kerajaan oleh BN dalam tiga pilihan raya kecil lalu akan diserahkan kepada Suruhanjaya Pilihanraya dalam masa terdekat ini.
“Penyalahgunaan prasarana awam dikesan dalam ketiga-tiga pilihan raya lepas. Ini termasuk pengunaan prasarana awam seperti dewan masyarakat, kenderaan kerajaan dan majlis rasmi kerajaan untuk tujuan kempen,” tegas beliau
Menurutnya lagi mobilisasi pelatih-pelatih dari program khidmat negara semasa hari penamaan calon di Batang Ai adalah amat dikesalkan,
Selain itu, Mafrel turut mendakwa BN menyalahgunakan sejumlah besar wang rakyat untuk tujuan politik dalam pilihanraya Batang Ai.
“Di Batang Ai sahaja, BN menjanjikan projek-projek bernilai lebih dari RM175 juta termasuk pembinaan kompleks polis bernilai RM58.7 juta, pusat jalur lebar bernilai RM2.5 juta, projek turap jalan bernilai RM62 juta dan penambahbaikan dan pemulihan rumah panjang bernilai RM2 juta,” tegas beliau.
Fenomena Tingkat 4 versi baru Najib
HARAKAH DAILY
SEMENJAK beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini, orang-orang Umno begitu fobia dengan istilah Tingkat Empat (4), Jabatan Perdana Menteri, Putrajaya.
Istilah Tingkat 4, dipopularkan mantan Perdana Menteri, Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Ketika mana beliau merujuk kepada kebobrokan dan kerakusan kuasa kroni-kroni Abdullah Ahmad Badawi yang diketuai menantunya, Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar.
Tingkat 4 dikaitkan dengan perhimpunan suatu kuasa stail baru, orang baru dan anak-anak muda di sekeliling Abdullah (ketika itu) yang menguasai serta menentukan masa depan negara dan parti (Umno-BN).
Golongan Tingkat 4 bukan sahaja tidak disenangi Mahathir, tetapi juga oleh kebanyakan orang-orang Umno kerana, dengan kedudukan mereka sebagai kumpulan lingkaran PM (PM’s circle), seolah-olahnya kuasa mutlak terletak di tangan mereka.
Mereka tidak menjalankan tugas-tugas pentadbiran (administratif), tetapi dengan kuasa yang diberikan PM, mereka adalah perangka dan pelaksana hala tuju dasar-dasar negara, kerajaan dan Umno-BN.
Mereka juga bertindak sebagai spin-doctor, mengawal dan memanipulasi media untuk kepentingan politik PM dan Umno-BN.
Besarnya kuasa mereka yang berada di Tingkat 4 ini jugalah yang menentukan apa yang patut dan apa yang tidak patut dilakukan pegawai kerajaan, orang-orang Umno dan media arus perdana.
Mereka ini sebenarnya berada di luar circle kerajaan dan parti, tetapi membuat tugasan-tugasan, yang kebanyakannya dilihat sebagai redundant atau mengambil alih tugas pegawai kerajaan dan parti.
Pegawai-pegawai yang menjadi PM’s circle ini terlalu kebal kuasa mereka. Jika mahu sebarang urusan dengan PM, cadangan atau apa sahaja hajat, harus menembusi mereka terlebih dahulu.
Dengan kata lain, jika mereka tidak berjaya diyakinkan sama ada dalam bentuk pujukan atau rasuah, jangan haraplah hendak berjumpa dengan PM.
Penguasaan mutlak mereka menyebabkan Mahathir begitu marah kerana, pada zaman pemerintahannya, tidak wujud pegawai-pegawai Tingkat 4 yang berkuasa. Semua kuasa dan penentu dipusatkannya ke bilik pejabat PM, sehingga beliau dilabel sebagai diktator.
Selepas Abdullah diundurkan, Mahathir tidak berhenti-henti bersuara dan pernah menyuarakan kebimbangannya, bahawa fenomena Tingkat 4 ini, akan berulang pada zaman Mohd Najib Tun Razak.
Khabarnya fenomena ini sudah berulang. Apa yang dibimbangi dan ditakuti Mahathir dan orang-orang Umno seolah-olahnya sudah berulang kembali, sebaik sahaja Najib mula berkuasa.
Khabarnya ada ‘kuasa baru’ yang diwujudkan, berada disekeliling Najib sekarang ini. Kuasa baru ini bertindak sebagaimana pegawai Tingkat 4 di zaman Abdullah.
Pegawai-pegawai inilah yang mengetengahkan gagasan One Malaysia seperti yang dicanangkan Najib.
Malangnya buat Najib, ialah kerana, gagasan ini tidak disenangi kebanyakan orang Umno. Bagi mereka gagasan One Malaysia ini besar implikasinya.
Tidak jelas kata mereka. Tidak diberi penjelasan atau tidak mendapat persetujuan dari kalangan Majlis Tertinggi Umno.
Malah, tatkala akhbar Utusan Malaysia yang begitu pro Najib dan dianggap sebagai pelopor chauvanisme Melayu membuat tajuk ‘Bangkitlah Melayu’, khabarnya mereka dikecam hebat oleh kumpulan Tingkat 4 JPM kerana dianggap sebagai bercanggah dengan One Malaysia.
Khabarnya ramai editor-editor akhbar arus perdana diberi amaran. Malah ada yang menyiarkan temubual ‘pihak-pihak tertentu’, walaupun bertujuan positif untuk Najib, tetapi diberi amaran kerana tidak disenangi pihak yang rapat dengan Najib.
Malah lebih obvious (ketara) lagi apabila ada orang Umno mendakwa, khabarnya dilantik tiga orang pegawai khas untuk Rosmah Mansor. Mereka terdiri dari seorang Melayu, Cina dan India.
Perkara ini tidak pernah berlaku pada zaman Dr Mahathir atau zaman Abdullah. Tiada pegawai khas untuk Hasmah Mohd Ali atau Endon Mahmood (allahyarham) atau pun Jeanne Abdullah.
Jika dakwaan ini betul, peruntukan mana digunakan untuk membayar gaji mereka bertiga? Kenapa perlu sampai tiga orang? Jika dakwaan ini benar, ianya harus disiasat kalau-kalau wujud penyalahgunaan kuasa PM atau isteri.
Namun, untuk bersangka baik dengan Rosmah, kemungkinan ketiga-tiga pegawai ini dibayar untuk menggunakan wang poket beliau sendiri.
Namun, apa pun yang diperkatakan, baru tiga minggu Najib berkuasa, sudah macam-macam cerita negatif yang ditimbulkan oleh orang-orang Umno.
Lebih buruk lagi ialah apabila kuasa besar yang diberikan kepada PM’s circle ini, telah mengetepikan peranan pegawai-pegawai yang sedia ada, yang lama bertugas dengan penuh setia terhadap Najib.
Barangkali akibat khayal di kemaruk kuasa, Najib terlepas pandang tentang hal-hal ini semua.
Harus juga diingatkan kepada Najib tentang fengshui orang-orang Cina terhadap angka 4 (empat) ini. Bagi orang-orang Cina angka 4 merupakan angka ‘sial’ kerana disebut sebagai ‘sei’ yang membawa erti mati.
Bukan apa, silap haribulan, kuasa yang terlampau diberikan kepada pegawai Tingkat 4 JPM, akan menyebabkan orang Umno-BN semakin marah dan rakyat semakin meluat dengan kerajaan.
Jika semua ini tidak dibendung dan diatasi, kebarangkalian untuk Najib menjadi penjawat jawatan PM terpendek dalam sejarah politik Malaysia, akan menjadi realiti._
Probe into ‘Slumdog’ child star sale claim
CNN.COM
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) — India’s child-rights watchdog has sought a report from police investigating allegations by a tabloid that the father of a “Slumdog Millionaire” child star tried to sell her to an undercover reporter, the watchdog’s leader told CNN.
Rubina Ali has backed her father over newspaper allegations he offered her to an undercover reporter.
Meanwhile, authorities in Mumbai have recorded the statements of Rafiq Qureshi; his “Slumdog” daughter, Rubina Ali; and his former wife, Khurshida Begum, senior police inspector Prakash Salunke told CNN.
Qureshi has denied allegations made in Britain’s News of the World that he tried to sell 9-year-old Rubina for £200,000 ($290,000), Salunke said.
In her statement, the child-actor favored her father, according to the police.
Qureshi’s former wife, whom he divorced several years ago, endorsed the allegations leveled against him by the British newspaper.
Police are investigating, Salunke said.
“Slumdog Millionaire” won eight Oscars this year, including best picture.
Director Danny Boyle’s rags-to-riches movie tells the story of a tea-boy at a Mumbai call center who earns a spot in the Indian version of the quiz show “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?” He raises the suspicion of the show’s host when, despite the lack of a formal education, he begins to answer the increasingly difficult questions with ease.
The movie is set largely among the poverty-stricken districts of Mumbai, which is home to Rubina and other “Slumdog” child stars in real life
Big surge in births of drug-affected babies
ABC NEWS
Research by a prominent West Australian scientist, Fiona Stanley, has uncovered a surge in the number of births of drug-affected babies.
A study of more than 600,000 children born between 1980 and 2005 has
shown a 40-fold increase in the number of children born with Neonatal Withdrawal Syndrome.
That equates to more than 1,000 drug-affected babies born across the country each year.
Professor Stanley says there is a high concentration of Indigenous children born with Neonatal Withdrawal Syndrome.
But she says an increasing number of non-Indigenous children, born to older mothers, now dominate the figures.
“The vast majority of these babies were not Aboriginal, but there is a higher rates amongst Aboriginal mothers so certainly being Aboriginal is a risk factor and that’s to do with things that we know that there’s more likely to be living in poor conditions and having substance abuse issues,” she said.
“Interesting as well they are not young these mothers, so there’s not all kids having teenage births and being drug addicts at all and so there are many mothers that are older.”
Clinton concern for Pakistan fate
BBC NEWS
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accused Pakistan of abdicating to the Taleban by allowing them to control parts of the country.
Mrs Clinton said the situation in Pakistan posed a “mortal threat” to the security of the US and the world.
She said extremists were being allowed to control territory such as the Swat Valley, in north-western Pakistan.
She also called Pakistan’s judicial system corrupt, adding that it has only limited power in the countryside.
Earlier this month, Pakistani President Ali Zardari signed a law implementing Islamic law – or Sharia – in the Swat Valley region as part of a deal to end a two-year Taleban insurgency there.
Once one of Pakistan’s most popular holiday destinations, the Swat Valley is now mostly under Taleban control.
Thousands of people have fled and hundreds of schools have been destroyed as a result of a Taleban-led insurgency.
The Swat Valley is only about 100km (62 miles) from Islamabad, and reports suggest the Taleban are trying to expand the area under their control.
‘Existential threat’
Giving evidence in Washington to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Mrs Clinton said the situation in Pakistan “poses a mortal threat to the security and safety of our country and the world”.
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“I think the Pakistani government is basically abdicating to the Taleban and the extremists,” she said.
She called on the Pakistani people to speak out “forcefully” against their government’s policy, in what the BBC’s Richard Lister in Washington called an unusual move.
The government’s policy was conceding “more and more territory to the insurgents , to the Taleban, to al-Qaeda, to the allies that are in this terrorist syndicate”, Mrs Clinton said.
US President Barack Obama has put new emphasis on trying to resolve the security problems in Pakistan, our correspondent says, offering billions of dollars in aid but demanding greater co-operation from the government.
Using stark language, Mrs Clinton said the situation in Pakistan needed urgent attention.
“I think that we can not underscore the seriousness of the existential threat posed to the state of Pakistan,” she said, describing the rebels as a “loosely-confederated group of terrorists and others seeking to overthrow the Pakistani state”.
The presidents of both Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan – where international forces are battling the Taleban – are due to come to Washington for talks next month.
During her hearing Mrs Clinton also answered questions on Cuba and Iran, warning that Tehran faces “very tough sanctions” if it rejects offers of engagement over its nuclear programme.
The US was “laying the groundwork” for such measures if Iran refused dialogue or the process failed, said Mrs Clinton.
Sri Lanka rules out amnesty as troops close in
ABC NEWS
Sri Lanka has ruled out an amnesty for the Tamil Tiger leader as troops press a final offensive against the cornered rebels despite a global outcry over the plight of civilians trapped in the war zone.
President Mahinda Rajapakse said Velupillai Prabhakaran, whose Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are fighting to prevent complete defeat after being pushed into a narrow stretch of coastal jungle in the north-east of the island, would not be pardoned.
“The LTTE leader has spurned the possibility of pardon by us,” the president’s office quoted him as saying. “He must now face the consequences of his acts.”
However, two senior Tiger officials surrendered on Wednesday as the military reported that more than 100,000 civilians had escaped from rebel-held territory and sought shelter with troops since Monday.
The rebels’ chief spokesman Velayudam Dayanidi, better known as Daya Master, and an official who once served as an aide to the late head of the Tigers’ political wing, SP Thamilselvan, turned themselves in to government forces.
The crisis has sparked international calls for a ceasefire amid growing concern for civilians trapped in the war zone.
Video footage by state television showed men and women carrying infants and the sick were seen wading through waist-deep water to get to safety while thousands waited for food.
“Our operations to rescue civilians are continuing,” government defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters, describing the Tigers as a spent force with just 12 square kilometres of land left.
“They are fighting a losing battle,” he said, adding the government also “strongly believes” that Prabhakaran, 54, was still in the area.
The Tigers, who have been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland since 1972, have acknowledged losing ground and have accused the government of killing 1,000 civilians in recent days.
The military said fleeing non-combatants were fired on by the rebels who allegedly kept villagers as human shields.
The rival claims are hard to verify as independent reporters are not allowed near the conflict zone but aid agencies have painted a grim picture.
“The situation is nothing short of catastrophic,” said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, operations director for the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The UN Security Council is due to meet this morning (Australian time) to discuss the conflict, French ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert told reporters at the United Nations.
“I have no doubt that there will be a common expression of very serious preoccupation and of our common will for the fighting to stop, for a truce, for a ceasefire, for whatever is needed for the civilians to leave the area,” he said.
One hospital in northern Vavuniya was “saturated” with patients coming from the conflict area, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) spokeswoman Olivia Blanchard told AFP.
“Around 1,700 patients have arrived to the hospital which only has 400 beds,” said Blanchard, who spoke by phone with medical staff earlier in the day.
The hospital in the government-controlled area had received more than 400 new patients in the past two days.
“The buses are still coming and they’re actually unloading dead bodies at times as some wounded people died on the way,” said Karen Stewart, an MSF mental health officer working in Vavuniya, according to a statement from the agency.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Congress: “This is such a terrible humanitarian tragedy. And we have been pressing the Sri Lankan government for a halt in the fighting so that we could secure a safe passage for as many of the trapped civilians as possible.”
Britain also urged a ceasefire, with Prime Minister Gordon Brown saying he would send a minister to Sri Lanka this week following talks with President Rajapakse.
“We will press on the government the need for humanitarian help but we will also press on him the need for a ceasefire and the need for a political solution to these problems,” Brown told lawmakers.
The LTTE were once considered one of the world’s most efficient guerrilla outfits, controlling over a third of Sri Lanka’s territory and running a de facto mini-state.
A Norwegian-brokered truce began falling apart in December 2005, and fighting since then has seen the progressive collapse of the rebel army.
–AFP
How far will Najib’s reforms go?
KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 — The partial opening up of Malaysia’s services sector to unrestricted foreign investment has been well received by market analysts and political leaders but they remain concerned with the pace of reforms.
The liberalisation is ultimately a move foisted upon the country because of its commitments to international trade agreements, and analysts say the government will have to spell out how far it intends to go with reforms.
An overriding question that remains is whether yesterday’s announcement heralds further changes, particularly in the opening up of more sectors or even dropping the Bumiputera policy altogether.
The lifting of equity restrictions in selected services sub-sectors will impact the Bumiputera business community but is expected to be felt mostly among bigger players.
On the other side of the nation’s lingering ethnic divide however, the non-Bumiputera business community, while generally welcoming the announcement, will also be questioning whether the government will also lift the equity restrictions placed on companies that tender for government projects.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak announced yesterday the lifting of equity restrictions on 27 services sub-sectors in order to attract investments and technology, create higher value employment opportunities and enhance the level of competitiveness of the sector.
James Chin, a political analyst with Monash University Malaysia, says the liberalisation is a good step, but that there are still a lot of restrictions.
“The question of who can bid for government tenders is a bigger deal,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
The DAP’s Tony Pua concurs, saying that while he welcomes “the selective liberalisation”, it was important to note that the demand side is still controlled.
“So you can set up a company, but will the government buy from you?” asks Pua.
Ibrahim Suffian, chief of opinion research firm Merdeka Centre, believes the net effect of capital inflows will benefit everyone and help win back support from non-Malays who want the New Economic Policy, the race-based affirmative action policy, to be reformed.
The independent pollster does not expect a major backlash from the wider Bumiputera business community as he thinks it will impact more the medium and larger Bumiputera companies.
“Najib has to explain how the liberalisation will benefit Malaysian businesses and the economy as supposed to just narrow communal interests,” says Ibrahim.
He pointed out that when Britain wanted to liberalise its financial services sector about a decade ago, there was a “hue and cry”.
As a result, however, London has today positioned itself as a global financial capital.
Professor Datuk Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, the director of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Institute of Ethnic Studies, believes, however, that some outcry must be expected, saying that there will be cynics from either the more right-wing Malay groups or from the opposition who will be dissatisfied with the government.
He also sees the liberalisation as Najib’s effort to keep the announcements of reforms coming as he is under pressure to win back popular support before the next general election.
He thinks that the services sector was chosen for liberalisation as, according to the statement to the media, it employs 57 per cent of Malaysians.
He also sees liberalisation as inevitable with globalisation. “It doesn’t mean we lose, but it is something necessary if Malaysian companies want to go into to business,” he says.
Chris Eng, head of research at OSK Research, says the liberalisation “should be good if it can be truly implemented.”
He has picked the healthcare and logistics sub-sectors as the ones which could see greater foreign investments but says that progress is likely to be slow initially.
Eng adds that he expects similar resistance to the announcement as to that of the dissolution of the Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development Ministry after Najib reshuffled the Cabinet earlier this month.
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