Conduct unbecoming of the Malaysian judiciary?

What was that sleek silver grey BMW doing parked in the lot reserved for the Lord President, smack at the entrance of the Supreme Court?

Why was the MBf president and CEO, Loy Hean Heong, an interested litigant in a case before the Supreme Court, having a social chat with Hamid Omar? This report discusses the need for ethics to be practised by judges "from top to bottom".

MP for Buklt Bintang, Wee Choo Keong: Found guilty of Loy Hean Heong: A mld·morning call on the Lord contempt, his appeal Is pending President smacks of impropriety

A/iran Monthly 199-I:U (4) Page 2 ~------~~~------~ he sleek silver grey BMW day after Opposition Leader Lim l(jt In terse judicial language, a parked smack at the entnmce Siang related the incident to a meeting, more so a private one, be­ Tto the Supreme Court building stunned Parliament, the book did t ween a judge and a litigant of cases had a certain gleam of arrogance to "disappear" though Minister of Jus­ pending in court would be con­ it. It may have had something to do tice Syed Hamid Syed Albar Iuter sidered "highly improper". Even the Law Minister, in reference to the with the fact that the vehicle was explained that the book was "not missing but was replaced because it incident,. said in Parliament that it JWJCd tribunal is one of name there and signed the book," However, before the ca'lC could two salient ~unbits of the law of said the DAP MP. He then rushed proceed, MBfs solicitors filed a natural justice (the other being the out, got hold of fow· others, includ­ contempt of court suit against Wee right to be heard). ing two lawyers, to also add their for ignoring an injunction and evad­ Judges. said president of the Bar names to the book. Said Wee: "I ing service of order. ll1e court sub­ Council Zainur Z1karia, must not thought it would be a good idea to sequently found Wee guilty of only be unbiased, they must be seen have several witnesses because contempt

Alira11 Moutllly 19Y.J:/4 (4) Page 3 judge and even public confidence in and discipline of any profession in govemmcnt decides to postpone 13- the judiciary. the community. bling the bill to avoid a political!¥ "That's why judges often lead Therefore, although the embarrassing debate. secluded lives so that there will be no Malaysian judiciary docs not have a According to Hamid, the Code of doubt or suspicion of bias regarding wrillen code of ethics like the Ethics for High Court and Supreme their conduct. II is so important that Legal Profession (Practice and Eti­ Court judges would become a reality judges never discuss a ca<;e without quette) Rules or 1978, there is no by the middle of the year. He stressed all parties to a litigation being doubt that judicial ethics exist and that the move was not to belittle present. In fact, the judge should not that all judges are bowld by them, judges, but that it was in their interest even be seen with them," he said. said Thomas. as judges were also human and not What Zainur meant too is that it is He went on to say: "A judge must free from weaknesses. not the truth alone that is importanl, not lead a social life. He must not be The details of the Code are not the perception of propriety is elfU:tlly a social animal. There must be no known as yet. But the legal fraternity important. involvement whatsoever in business expects the Code to address some of Said one lawyer: "It is so elemen­ or commerce. There should be no the more common problems like tary. Even a first-year law student Mafia economics. in Justice Krishna delays in handing down judgements knows that." An indiscretion ~uch a.s Aycr's colowful phrase. A hennit's ~md the absence of written judge­ the one that took place between life is recommended ... A judge ments. Another irritable area is the Hamid and Loy, even given the should avoid impropriety and the ap­ postponement of cases which when premise that their conversation did pearance of impropriety in all his left to the discretion ofjudges C

A/iran Monthly 11JIJ4:14 (4) Page 4 HUMAN RIGHTS

DETENTION WITHOUT TRIAL Restriction·orders served

police supervision nnd restrictions were involved in any activities that In AM 1994: 14(2) we are placed upon his activities and could be construetl as being that of a carried an article on the movements. The restriction orders secret society. detention of two worker served on Dharmakounuar anu They maintain that the only ac­ Nadesan stipulate that: tivities that they have been actively leaders who were detained (i) They cannot leave the area to involved in were the activities of the on dubious ground~ under which they arc restricteu without Temple Committee and the local the Emergency Ordinance the written permission or the NUPW Committee of Lauang Sun­ 1969. THOLILALIYIN police officer in charge~ gei Kawang - activities that were at THOLAR. brings you the (ii) They !}ave to inform the of­ all times perfectly legal. ficer in charge as to their place of They vehemently claim that all update on this issue. residence; the charges that have been made (iii) They have to report to the against them are false. police station once a week; They are aghast and n 25 January 1994, two (iv) They have to remain in­ dumbfounded that vague allegations worker leaders doors at their respective place of by "unknown persons"- the veracity 0 Dharmakounuar all resiuence between the hours of of which will never be proven in Munisamy anu Nadesan all 8.00 pm and 6.00 am. court - can be used to ueny them of Munisamy were dctaineu by the It is a criminal offence for a their rights anu dvilliberties. Ternerloh Police unuer Section 3( I) restricted person to contravene or On 7 April, 1994, community of the Emergency (Public Order and fail to comply with any restriction or leauers from Ladang Sungei Prevention of Crime) Oruinance, conuition imposed on him. This Kawang hau a press conference in 1969. means that any per~on who fails to Petaling Jaya. They were the chair­ Section 3( I) of the Emergency comply with any of the conuitions or men and secretaries of the local Ordinance empowers a police of­ restriction imposctl shall on convic­ Union NUPW, MIC anu Temple ficer to detain a person for investiga­ tion bt: liable to imprisonment for a Commillees. They told the press that tive purposes for a period of up to 60 term of bt:tween two to five years. the six charges maue against Dhar­ rnakoundar and Nadesan were Jays. During this periou the person THE CHARGES may be served with either a two-year frivolous and fa lse. We have always maintained that detention oruer or a restriction oruer for example, in reference to the the detel)tion of th~se two worker signed by the Minister of Home Af­ charge maue against Dharmakoun­ leaucrs is linked to the management­ fairs. clar and Nadesan that they got drunk worker dispute that has been on­ On 24 Mnrch 1994, Dhar­ and were involved in a fight in a going in Ladang Sungei Kawang makoundar and Nadesan were coffee shop, the community leaders since early 1992. [For a uetailed served with restrict10n orders. claimeu that the two brothers neither analysis of this dispute anu the back­ smoked nor urank alcohol - in fact RESTRICTION ORDERS grounu to the detention see A/iran they discouragyu others from doing Dharmakoundar: Two-year restriction Monthly 1994: 14(2)]. so. order - Bandaran Banting, Daerah The restriction orucrs however They also claimed to have never Kuala Langat, Selangor rder to the two persons as being the heard of a secret. sodc::ty called the leaucrs of the secret society "Hindu "Hinuu Hijau" and denied the exist­ Nadesan: Two-year restriction order - Hijau ". The restriction oruers Jist ence of such a sc,crct society in their Bandaran Bahau, Daerah Jempol, some 6 charges against each of the estate. Negeri Sembilan two brothers. They called the authorities to CONDITIONS Dharmakoundar and Nadesan reopen the investigation anu revoke deny the existence of the secret the restriction orders made against When a person i~ served with a both Dharrnakoundar anu Nauesan. restriction order, he is placed under society "Hindu Hijau " or that they

Aliran Monthly 1994:14 (4) Page 5 They further expressed fear and Temcrloh Police, concern that they themselves might within the (irst two be the next victims of the Emergency weeJ...s of the deten­ Ordinance il they were to continue tion. to stand firm in management-worker This documen­ di~pute that is still on-going m tary C\Jjcoce Ladang Sungei Kawang. proved, beyond a reasonable doubt. INVESTIGATION that there exi'>tec.J 111 We beheve these charges to be Ladang Sung1.:1 fabricated and the result of false Kawang. a seriou~ reports anc.J petition-. presumably in­ management-~~o orlo.. ~tigated by the management ofTaiko er di~pute in \\hJch Plantation~ m Ladang Sungci both Dharmakoun­ Kawang dar and Nac.Je~n We beheve that these false were invohed. report-; and petitions coupled with a Despite this, it ap­ police invc..,tigation that appeared to pt:ars that the pollee be both co~metic O of60 days. In fact no one who was in the that they would be accused of being Dharmal<..oundar was questioned "bad boolo..-. of the management" wa\ involved in gang'>lerism and by the 10 on 4 Fehruaf) 1994 for 45 ever calleJ in lor que~tioning or tn detamed b) the police. minutes whi le Nadesan wa-; ques­ provide any clarilication. There i~ documentary evidence tioned by the I 0 on the ~une da) for *The worker-. of Ladang Sungci of ~ut.h expression<> ol lear and con- ~orne I hour 15 rnmutc~. Kawang ha\'e from early 1992 ex­ cern. * A large volume of documen­ pres~cd rear and concern that 1\.n imprc-,),ion could be created tary evidence wa.-. forwarded to the that the '>en ing ot a restriction order '" the end result of a three tier inve~tigati\c process. stretching O\er 60 days. That is, investigation by the local police. lot­ lowed by an ime'>llga­ tion by Bukit Aman and linally the '>igning of the order b) the Minl">ter of Home Affa1rs. Con\c­ qucntly. argument-; are made that the sy\tem is lull ofcheclo..s and balan­ ce-. to protect the in­ nocent. In reality, however, Community leaders of Ladang Sungei Kawang and Thotil aliyin Tholar at a press it appear' that there i-. no conference in Petaling Jaya on 7 April, 1994 three tier proce-;s 111 ex­ •~tcnce nor much ot a

A/iran Monthly 1994:14 (4) Page 6 check and balance in the system. The It would be pointless for him to a temporary job working in a BP station. local In vestigation Officer is attempt to do so because, (in spite of As he has been an employee of TNB entrusted with the duty of "inves­ the amount or evidence he has in his these past 13 years he is trying to make tigating" anu suhmilting a report to favour), the courts will not interfere arrangements so that he can continue Bukit Aman. Bukit Aman looks at or intervene in the subjective uiscre­ to be employed by TNB while being this report and decides whether or tion of theM inister of Home Affairs. restricted to Bahau. not to send it to the Minister. The A person could of course try anu Minister on receiving the report challenge a uetention or restriction from Bukit Aman makes a decision. order on the basis that such an order THE ON-GOING Thus in the case ofDhannakoun­ was technically flawed for failing to CAMPAIGN dar and Nauesan it appears that the comply with certain specified proce­ The campaign to secure the only persons who were involved in dural requirements. This challenge. release of Dharmakoundar and any first-hand "investigntion" or in­ however, (since it does not dispute Nauesan while they were detained in terrogation of the accused and their the substantive merits of the charges the Balai Polis Temerloh consisted accusers were the Police in Terner­ made), even if it were to succeed, of the collecting of signatures, the loh. It appears that neither Bukit would not prevent the police from writing of letters attesting to the Aman nor the Ministry of Home Af­ rearre!.ting the person concerned. good character of the two detainees fairs were directly involved - since Such a person would after the and the making of representations to their role is apparently limited to arrest be placed once again under police and various politicians. mere "paperwork" that originates investigative detention for 60 days from the police in Tcmcrloh. and then served with either a fresh We believe that these efforts detention or resttiction order. have been partially fruitful insofar as NO LEGAL REDRESS Dharmakoundar and Nadesan were The Emergency Ordinance ern­ LODGING AND served restriction orders rather than powers the Minister of Home Amtirs EMPLOYMENT detention orders. with a wide range of discretionary Dharmakounuar and Nadesan, However, the fact that two power, to make either uetention or were served their n:striction orders at worker-leaders can be detained and restriction orucrs. I 1.30 pm on 24 March 1994 at the summarily scrvcu with restriction Persons who arc scrvcu with Temerloh police station. orders. merely for being involved in uctention orders and detained at the They were then immediately n management-worker dispute, is rchahi litation centre have the rigbt to transported from Temerloh to Bant­ still intolerable and unjustified. make an appeal to the Advisory ing and Bahau respectively. There, That the Emergency Ordinance Board. they were handed over to the police can apparently he manipulated and Those who arc serveu with officer iu charge and after a briefing. seemingly made usc of by the restriction orders however, have no released. management of Taiko Plantation such right of appeal. They thus have . The Emergency Oruinance, al­ broods ill for the state of industrial no legal rights under the Oruinancc lows the State to take a person who relations in this country. to challenge the substantive merits has not been found guilty of any Since the Minister of Home Af­ of their restriction order. criminal offence, afier he has been fairs can at any time revoke the Purther to this, amendments to removed from his natural environ­ restriction order made against Dhar­ the Emergency Ordinance in 1989 ment for the purpose of relocating makoundar anu Nadesan, it is our expressly state that, there shall be no him in uiffercnt surroundings. The hope' that the Minister of Home Af­ judicial review in any court, of any police department which is entrusted fairs will soon rescind the restriction act done hy the Minister in the exer­ with the task of such "relocation" is orucrs maLic against the two. cise of his uiscrctionary power under not obliged to help a restricted per­ The uctention of Dharmoundar the Ordinance. son, obtain neither lodging nor and Nadesan f()Jiowcd by the restric­ This means that a person served employment. with either a detention oruer or a tion orders is a great travesty ofjus­ tiee. restriction order cannot go to court to Dharmakoundar: Has found a place to challenge the substantive merits of stay and a job ·pumping petrol" in a This farce has maLic a mockery the charges that have been made Mobil Station • he was employ·ed as a of the use of the Emergency Or­ against him. conductor in the Central Pahang Om­ dinance, casts great doubt on the ex­ That is to say. a person cannot go nibus Company at the time of his deten­ tent of police investigations and to court and try to prove that a tion. augurs ill for the state of industrial specific charge made against him is relations in this country . • false. Nadesan: Has found a place to stay and

Alira11 Monthly 1994:/4 (4) Page 7 RULE OF LAW THE EXECUTIVE'S PERCEPTION OF THE LAW

Azmi Abdul Khalid

"[lhe Federation of Malaya] ... is and with God's blessing shall be for ever a sovereign democratic and independent State founded upon the principle of liberty and justice and ever seeking the wei- fare and happiness of its people and the maintenance of a just peace among all nations."

A/iran Monthly 1994:14 (4) Page 8 hts Y.as the culmination of the } oung niltion had undergone a Undoubted!~. C\en a superior counU) 's Prodamation of traumatic e\rerience of inter-ethnic laY. \UCh as the Constitution can TIndependence that wa.., conflict, rnggered off hy the ci\il never remain unch:)nged irf any proudly and happily read out on disturbances on that fateful Tuesday ~lll:icty. Alteratton" become ncccs­ the 13th of May. I%9. ~ary to meet the changing time!> e of a constitution Gm·emment ... " ol the newly-inde there ha'> hccn an apprectation of, coulc.l he too ea.. il)' forgotten. even pendent state. There wa., also ex and re-.pcct for, thc general prin­ pu-;hed a!>ide, amid)! the ha\te of plica recognition ot the role of that ciplc!> of Con!>titutionali-,m and a clamourin}! for the truib of '>OctO <,upreme law for the peaceful and limited government. of Rule of Ltw economic development. order/' advancement ofthe I natwnj and fundamcntal rights. of Scpara- Mala)'sia ha<, not been free from m a constitutional monarchy ba.ll!d 011 Parliamentary demorracy." Hence, at the outset. there w not embody a Preamble as man) other written constitutions. forms a crucial basis for the structure thi'> Proclamation could be regardcc.l of parliamentary democracy in a:. a fitting sub\titutc. to expres-. the hope:. and aspiration.., of the people. Malaysia. to he c.lc\ iation. l.a-w hal> mon manifesto. In ll, there is abo mentton of the Con.,titution maJ..mg Curbing e\I:CS\i\C p<>Wel"\ through been reduced to the le\el of a mere tn\trumcnt, ju\t a means of l>ho-wing "pmn\/011 ... to wfeguard the fun­ JUdictal mc.lepcndence, of Par­ liamentary Democracy anc.l mini­ the world nt large that Government dame/Ita( 1ighiJ and ltherlies of 1he sterial responsibility. runs according to law. pMple." Should any cxi~ting law prove to E' tdence of the -.upremacy of RULE OF lAW be an obstacle to any executne in­ the rederal Con:.utution is to bl· tcntton or admtni~trati \ c action, that tound primaril) mthc Jeclaration O)' l.inle doubt exish .t'> to thc la-w wtll <>urel) be removed. C\Cn Arttclc 4( I) that recognition hy the Executi\C of the retro-,pectively iJ nccd be. On that 'This Co11sti111tion is till' supremacy of the Constitution and ha-.1-. alone, amendmcnts have heen \Lipreme Jaw of th1• Ffderation and the:: Ruk ol Law pa-....ed. regardlc" of the effects wn /a11 pa.Hed a/11 r \1crdcJ.a Dm Referenn: ,., usually m~de to upon con~titutional legal de\eiOp­ 11 luch B mconstste/11 11 tth this Con­ _prm is ion-. of that hallo\1. e::J dtx:u­ mcnt. \v hat more the '\pirit" of the .Htfltlton ~hall. to the extellt .of till' ment and other statute::~ ''henever law i!ICOII~/SI£'/IC)'. be I'll((/." policie~ arc being made or altered. Further respect lor law \\'a~ later whcncvcr Emergency law<. are being MISCONCEI VED & emoodted in the Rukunegara. the promulgmed. '' hcncvcr juc.lg~:~ arc DISTORTED Pnnctplcs of State proclaimed 111 being di"l'tplirec.l under Arttde 125 1970 to guide thc nation and people or the Attornc~-(ieneral ~~ bemg Bal>iC principk~ ofconsti tutional tO\\ard:- attainmcnt of national confcm:d -wid;:r powers under Ar­ law and legal doctrines that untver­ ~>liuarity. a democratic way of li fc. ticle 145 Some cynics may e\en feel !>ally -.eek to uphold ju<;tice and ~~ ju-,t \ociety, liheral rradttion, and'' that there ha" been too much refer­ freedom l>eem to tx· cither nahely progre.,-.i\e approach ence to the Cmc;tttution and that too nu-.conccivec.l or Jeliheratel} dl\ It cannot he dented that tim man~ .uncnc.ltrcnt<> have heen undu­ tot h:d. It i~ utterly depressing lor the document emerged onl~ after tht-. ly made over :1 brief !>pan of time. con-.t itutional lawyer or political

A/iran Mo11thly 1994:14 (4) f'agt 9 scientist to observe the manner in previously been challenged in court was severely limited - the fom1er whit:h the valuable objectives of on numerous occa-;ions, until was to expire two months after is­ defining, and thereby limiting, the amendment Act A 514 came into suance and the latter would cease to powers of the Legislature-Executive effect on Friday the 15th of May be in force fifteen days after both arc actively ignored. 1981. Citizens' complaints have Houses of Parliament first sat sub­ It does not enter the minds of been silenced forever by virtue of the sequent to the Proclamation. Any power-holders that th~ purpose of addition of Clause (8) into Article further extensions required positive limited government is to guarantee 150. actS by both Houses - approval had that powers arc exercised with the This classic "ouster clause" to be given by means of resolutions primary aim or establishing and ad­ completely removes the courrs in both legislative chambers. With ministering an effective machinery rightful role of dispensing justice to the removal of these controls. the of government without at the same persons aggrieved by the exercise of legislature no longer has the duty to time encroaching upon the rights of Emergency laws. Paragraph (a) of deliberate and debate any question the people. None of the necessary Clause (8) strongly asserts that the on the duration of the Emergency. curbs on political power are accept­ Executive's right to make Proclama­ Today, Proclamations and or­ able to the Government. tions and Ordinances dinances have indefinite life except Constitutional Supremacy, one " ... shall befinal and conclusive if expressly revoked by the Execu­ of the principles of the Rukunegara, and shall noI be chnllen;;ed or called tive or annulled by the Legislature. can unfortunately seem like a mere in question in any cout1 on any slogan, ak.in to so many others ground; ... " POLITICA L churned out by the Government. At­ This already explicit ouster of CONVENIENCE tempts have hccn made by the Ex­ jurisdiction of the judicial ann of It would not be amiss either to ccuti ve to encourage exemplary government from any involvement form the conclusion that these wide 'conduct' (Kepimpinan Melalui in a crucial field of constitutional powers had been used for political Teladan'- Leadership by Example), development has been further em­ convenience on quite a few oc­ to inculcate positive values amongst phasised to ensure that the message casions. Other than the Proclama­ civil servants ('Hersih, Cckap, is clearly understood: tions to meet the 1964 external threat Amanah' Clean, Efficient. "(b) no court shall have jurisdic­ of Confrontation by Indonesia and Trustworthy) and to foster national tion to entertain or determine any the widespread security problems unity ('Gerakan Setia Bersama application, question or proceeding pursuant to the May 13th 1969 dis­ Rakyat'/Semarak - Together In in whmever form, on any ground, turbances, the two other Proclama­ Loyalty With The People). regardittg the validity of ... " [all tions diq not convincingly point to Little esteem can now remain for aspects of Emerxency laws/" the existence of "ax rave emergency that supreme law after many fun­ It is even more disheartening to ... whereby"serurity is threatened ... " damental rights have been eroded, view this ouster clause in the context a'> envisaged by Article 150( I). the powers of the I ,egislature and of" the series of amendment<> that . The 1966 Proclamation in Executive enhanced (Article 66 have been made to this constitutional Sarawak seemed to be necessitated rendered insignificant the necessity provision since 1957.· by a political deadlock involving a for the Royal Assent by l.hc Yang di The pattern of changes wrought ChiefMinisterout of favour with the Pertuan Agong for Bills passed by by Amendment Acts in 1960, 1963, Federal Government. both Houses of Purl iament), and the 1966 and 1981 has been to sys­ Kclantan was the other State that role of the judiciary made subser­ tematically remove controls that discovered the ex tent of the wrath of vient to the l.egislaturc-Executive sought to prevent Emergency Federal authorities that could be un­ (amendments to Article 121 and Ar­ Proclamations and legislation as­ leashed upon any · 'uncoperative' tick 145). suming any likelihood of permanent component or the federal system. In existence. 1977 the State'~ chief executive, the CITIZENS SILENCED As early a~ 1960, when the pre­ Menteri Besar who had lost the con­ Some years bet-ore the 19SS in­ lndepcnden<:e Emergency of 1948 lidence of the state assembly capacitation of the judiciary, the majority, did not resign from office was legally terminated, measures Government introduced a controver­ but sought dissolution of the as­ had been taken to repeal the strict sial amendment that empowers it to sembly by the Regent of Kclantan. rule virtually without regard for the conditions pertaining to approval by Despite the Regent rightfully with­ supreme law and without any tear of the iegislature ~nd the limited life holding his consent to the request for judicial scrutiny. span of Emergency laws. dissolution, the Menteri Besarclung The wide-ranging Emergency Previously, the life of an Emer­ onto office. apparently with the powers provided by Article 150 had gency Proclamation or an Ordinance blessings of federal powers.

Alira11 M onthly 1994:14 (4) Page 10 It did not take long for the politi­ it is indeed clear that numerically Kelantan) Act, 1977 A Nonetheless, the numeric.1l hurdle sy en!>ued when it ww; publicly State Operations Council wa~ e~tab­ would not prove too much of an revealed that the Supreme Head ot lishcd to enable the Federal Govern­ obstacle for a ruling party in posses­ the Federation. the Yang di Pertuan ment to \ irtually run that ~ion of more than the re4uircd mini­ Agong. would no longer pia} an ef­ "tmuble~ome " tenitory . mum number of votes that can be fective role in the law-making Kelantan had pn:viou-.ly al\OC'I(­ S\\iftl) and ea.,ily garnered. proces.-,. JXrienccd a close encounter With the Constitutional Supremacy then E\en if the monarch. for 1-'ederal power of intervention when lies at the mercy ol th1:. parti<.:ular whatever rea ... on, ""ere to decline to the latter had failed 1n ItS legal action group of individuab. g1ve hi~ Royal Assent, the amend­ in I 96X against the State Govern­ ment to Art1ele 66(5) "deemed {him} ment lor allegedly acting unconstitu­ ADMINISTRATIVE llon It was adjuugcd by the federal but suffice to briefly refer to a tew pen, the Parliamentary Court in Gorertmu·nt of,'l.tala) fia v other major illustrntion'> ""ith their Dmught!>man had assi~ted the Ex­ Goramnent ofthe State vj J..l!lcmtw1 corre~ponding grounu., of m:tion ecutive in its mi,-.ion to guarantee that a mining company·., prcpa)­ Administrative convemence be­ the <,mooth working of the legisla­ rnent of royalties to the State did not came the reaM>n for amend1ng Ar­ tive proce~-.. con:.titute an act of 'borrow(ing)' a!> ticle 5(4)- the right of a person to be There wa~ little concern showed de tined m Article 160(2) of the Con­ brought before a magistrate within for the ~Ignilicance of the constitu­ -.titution- therefore Kelantan had not 24 hours of arre.,t ~o that the person tional role of the nation's symbol of violated Article I 11(2) which re­ can not be further det.u ned in <.:ustody sovere1gnty. The public expre!>sed ljUired f-ederal law to enable a State without the rnagi'>tratc'' authority It their dis.,atl'.lactJon with the original to borrow from financial ...oun:e!> became too cumbcr.orne to allow 19g3 amendment and that was re­ other than the Federation. lh1s nght to be exercised b} all per­ amcndcd in 19lS4to appe-'>. tic., deci'>ion. Parliament simply ln 1976, e>.ception had to be Supremacy of the Constitution amended the delinition ol 'bvrro1~ · created to den:,. thi'i nght 1rith could be rcgarucd a.., subservient to to effectively enlarge its scope of restmspef'tiveefjcct as}rom N57, to Supremacy of the Legislature-b­ meaning and application to encom­ persons arrested or detained under ecutive with 1ts monolithic political pass sunilarfinaneial tran.,actions by restricted residence laws. might dictatmg constitutional any State. In 1988, the 24-hour period wa-; development. The proce.,., of con.,titutional extended to 1-1 days for non-citi7en-; What then. one would ponder, is amendment ha-. hccn rendered arrested or detained under immigra­ the fate of Rule of Law? Surely that somewhat dillicult by Art1cle 159 in tion law. doctrine remams intact? After all. Then there arc the 19!B and 1984 there i~ parliamentary demoerac} in that an amendment Act requires the amendmenb to Article 66 ·\\hieh the country·. How could there be any support of a two-thards majority of arose from the fear of an) act or "tyranny and opprc~:.ion "m. referred the total composition of each of the om1ss1on by the con~tituuonal to in the preamble of the UN Univer­ two Houses of Parliament at the monarch that could adversely affect sal Declaration ot Human Right~. Sc<.:ond and Third Reading!> of the the smooth running of the legislative 194R. (Whcrea~ it i-; essential, if man propo!>ed Bill. This procedure is cer­ process, and thu!> the executive is not to be compelled to have tamly stnngent only when <.:om pared power. recourse. as a la~t re<;ort, to rebellion agam.,t tyranny and oppression, that w1th the legi~lative proc~uun: foror­ The event~ of that JXriod, dubbed a\ the 'Comtitutionnl human rights \hould be prote<.:ted by dinaf) Acts of Parliament Article Crisis', revol\'ed around the Ro:ral the rule of hm.) 62(3 l mere I} requires "a umple Assent that "a~ neeuc:u lor Bllb to Would it mean that human rights IIU.ljorit.\ of members {pr<'.ll'llt I and become Act'> of Pari iament. are being "pwtnted IJr the ntfe of I'Otillg; ... " The Go\'ernment w;h worned flm ", lor othen... i-.e Malaysians Uearing in mind the '>mall about the pos.,ibility of gtl\'crnment would ~ "c ompC'IIed to han• l.jUOrum of 26 forth~ Lower llou~e. legislative propo~als not emerglllg recourse as a la.1t remrt. to rebellion

A/iran M onthly 1994:14 (4) Page JJ • against ... "authoritarian rule·> more "lwme-grOII'/1" fonns of con­ A !>trong political maJonty in trol over Exc~.:uti vc abu~c:. There has Parliament has not asststed in giving RULE BY J.AW been no attempt for in~tance, to elfect to such a convention. The Ex­ Yet, Rule of Law h~Ls been ~ub­ adopt an Islamic or a more spiritual­ ecutive is alway-; confident of pnrty stituted with Rule by I ,aw ly-ba~ed. a~ uppo!>ed to the so-called loyalty providing unwavering sup­ Akin to the approach adopted for "Westem ". concept of human rights. port lor all it:. actions. whibt the amending the supreme la\\, law­ Instead. fundamental freedoms pubhc ha., been prevented, through making too is ba-.ed pnmanly on the are complete!) frowned upon as med1a and other controb, from gain­ junsdictional and procedural ap­ being ob!>tades 10 national de,elop­ ing -.ufficient infonnation and proach. lt is argued that a-. long as the ment. knowledge w1th which it could ac­ legislature acts in accordance with As for the "We.l"lmtmter" ~true­ qUire the awareness and political the leuer of the law, which could lure of government that ha~ been matunty to enable it to fulfil this even be altered in order to suit and transplnnted here from the foreign meaningful role. validate Executive actJOn whenever shores of former colonial powers. its In addHion. ~eriou~ problems necessary, then Rule uf Law i<; said salient feature:. that !.erve to mini­ revolving around ethnic origin~. to exist. mise concentrnllon of power have religion or other divi!.ive factoro;, There is thus no concern with neither been utili~ed. nor replaced con{lnue to plngue Malayswn justice. freedom or any other with a more \uitable "loml" feature. societ). pre\ enting it from spenking democratic value~. Ministerial re!>pons1bility to Par­ with one \ oke on matters of com­ There is little dillerence m this Iiament is ,, mean~ \1 hereby the mon <:onccm meaning that has been accorded to People's repre,cntati ves keep Fmally, 111 the area of administra­ the Rule of Law from the pnnciple Cabinet Mini-.tcr!'> on their toes and tion of ju-;ticc, the running of the that conferred the semblance of require!> a Mimster to resign on his court~ ha-. not remained free from legality to inhuman act~ of Hitler's own m;cord becau~;c of mismanage­ executive Lnterterence With the ex­ Nazi Germany, oppn:s!>ive ru le by ment or inefficiency in his Ministry cuse of clurifying the delimitation or Ru-;sia's Stalin and other "hmjili" or even a-; a rc!>ult of pero;onal scan­ powers between the legislature-ex dictators. But the Mnlay~ian dals. ccuti\e and the JUdiciary, relentles!> 'ptlradise' is certntnl}' nowhere near Under the We~tmin ... ter S)Stem. incur...ion<, made into the arena ot tho-.c t\\0 historical 'lwrbaritie~·. it is a con~tJtutiOnal con1ention. a JUdiCial function' hed as to the effecti 1e proclntming. acts or orni')<,~on-;. fi1r such a person meamng ot Independence of the Yet the an•mcr that \\ill he gi\cn to resign. He I!> prov mg 1-:xecuti\e JudJctary to such denial would be in the form accountability to the leg1slnture that He IS further perplexed when he of a question - what guarantees are serves as guardian of the public in­ observes that one of the Government to be found in the constitutional, terest. Mini.,trie:. named Ministry of Justice legnl and politicnl structures that We abo notice that it is the has been trun.,lated as Kementerian could effectively prevent any pos­ "honourable" thing to do in modern KehaiJman (Mini,try or the sibility of unchecked pm\cr Ill the Japan, obscn ing centuries old tradi­ Judician ). hand<> of mere mortab being Pondering carelull}. he wonders tion. misused and abused. ho\\C\er '>\ hether the Court'> an: also under the Yet. the foreign "\Vestem" cus­ gradually, to the end that control ol the Executive. tom or the Ao,ian tradition are not authoritarianism finally tal..ec; root? So \\here then are the suppo-;ed considered significant enough to The Executive has been sy'>­ 3 <,eparate untl di!.tinct branches ot emulate by members of the temntically wiping out all possible government? . . "checks and balances" within the Malnysian C•tbinet. The Malay!>ian Constitution has Separation of Powers doctrine that The author, the late Haji Azmi, was one of codified this convention in Article the most outstanding leaders of ALIRAN fonns a crucial basis fur the structure 43(3) and (4) with "tollectil'e in the eighties. He was also Associate of parliamentary democracy in Professor at the Faculty of law, responsibilitv ", and 43(5) .,., ith the Malaysia. University of Malaya. "indil'idual" re.,pon\lbilll) of volun­ l11e accompan) mg crc,ccntlo of The above article, completed in August tary reo;ignation from oflicc. 1991, was perhaps Azm i's last lull-length reasons to ju<>tify these ac11on<; of HO\\e\er. a con,titutional con­ essay on the subject of Law. Azmi de-.truction ha.., ah\a)\ hccn that passed away 111 May 1992. \ention can onl) \.\Orl.. \\hen the in­ the<;e clement'> of forc1gn . ~h-1tem" The ALIRAN MONTHLY expresses its dividual him,cll rcallo,e' he has 10 gratitude to Puan Rohana Yusul, Azmi 's origin are unsuitable lor our clime. resign or there i' pubhc pressure fur widow, lor allowing us to publish the Yet, the!>e ubjech of dc!>II'UCtion article for the benefit of the Malaysian him 10 ~tep down. have not been replaced wllh other public.

• AliratJ Mo11th/y 1994:14 (4) Page 12 plex in Gombak) will come away thinking that all is well with the LETTERS Orang Asli, especially with regard to their request for land. Datuk Napsiah Omar, in deny­ ing claims that the Orang Asli were not being given land, said that "34,599 ha have instead been given (that is, approved gazetting), 17,903 ha gazetted and 79,684 ha at the application stage." However, in December 1991 in reply to a Parliamentary question, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Rural Development (then the Ministry responsible for Orang Asti affairs) disclosed that DAVID MARSHALL: Being a former Singapore Chief the quantum of gazetted Orang Minister, he is eminently qualified Asli land was 20.666.96 ha. THE ISA SHOULD BE to know what is good for our This means that since 1991, ABOLISHED South-East Asian societies. there has been an actual decline in Do you get the message, the area of land set aside for the I was interested to read about Mahathir nnd Goh? Orang Asli, from 20,666.96 ha to the views of former Singapore True Blue DemocraJ 17,903 ha. Chief Minister David Marshall as KOTA KJNABALU Thus. contrary to what the Min­ reported in the New Swu/ay 'limes, ister expressed, Orang Asli lands 27 March 1994. arc being taken from them. More Referring to Singapore's specifically, a total of 2,763.96 ha present situation (which could easi­ LESS ORANG ASLI of Orang Asli reserves have been ly apply to the Malaysian situa­ LAND TODAY! de-gazetted and (legally) lost to tion), Marshall said: the Orrulg Asli in just over the last "Firstly, the government needs two years. Any ordinary person reading to change its attitude of being too Had the Minister known this the front page report of The Sun of fmn and having ruthless control when she was being briefed, we 4 March 1994 (on the visit by the over practically everything. They are sure that she would have National Unity and Social must allow the people to decide realised that all was not well with Development Minister. Datuk Nap­ for themselves. They should stop the status of Orang Asli land. Or sinh Omar, to the Department of thinking that they are the only in­ that gazetting lands as Orang Asli Orang Asli Affairs (JHEOA) Com- telligent group of people in the country. ''They need to have a more human approach. The human ap­ proach should also apply to the kind of penalty that they give criminal offenders. I say they should abolish the death penalty and flogging of criminals. 1l1e 1n­ tcmal Security Act (IS A) should also be abolished. "The government should also stay totally out of the trade unions. Let the workers deci~e for themsel- ves." I whole-heartedly support Marshall's noble sentiments. Orang Asli: Still suHering from land loss and insecurity

A/iran Monthly 994:14 (4) Page JJ reserves is insufficient sccurtty few, for a few. A vision where the proved by the above authorities that such lands will not be seized Barisan Nasional government but actually cost only RM9,500. from the Orang Asli. hopes to create a nation of • Eleven projects costing Sadly, Orang Asli fears in the sycophants by the year 2020. AM329,692 were authorised and past now seem well grounded: In the year 2020, if we are un­ paid in full while in the stage of im­ lack of permanent security to their lucky, we would not only see ana­ plementation. lands can lead to land loss and in­ tion of sycophants but also we security. would see an emergence of a new • Nine projects costing AM35,500 It is now clear that Orang A<;li untouchable (cannot be touched by ~ were authorised and paid in tul lands are being de-gazeued, that the law) class of corrupt political even before the start of the project. those approved for gazetting are businessmen who would run amok: • ThirteeJ:~ projects costing not getting gazetted, while applica­ with immense wealth and power. AM169,439 were paid in full even tions for gazetting, some made They would have nothing to fear when the contractors did not fol­ three decades ago, are not being for they would be protected by low the building specifications. given attention. elites from the Barisan Nasional. • Seven projects each costing Colin Nicholas. The only government agency AMSO,OOO were given to contrac­ BalJ Tony Williams-1/tlnt that could stop this, is the Anti­ Corruption Agency (ACA). But tors without going through normal Center for Orang A~li Concerns tender procedures. My project PETAUNGJAYA who can trust them'? Nobody, ex­ cept the elites from the Barisan. costing more than AM10,000 has Apparemly. 11 is common to go through such tender proce­ knowledge that the ACA is the dures. MIXED MARRIAGE Barisru1 elites' 'tenninator/ • Disused mining land in the Kinta, punisher'. The ACA is used as Larut Matang and Satang Padang With "reference to Mrs Ferida some sort of a political rotan, it is districts were developed into Kam­ Chaudhary's views in her letter unleased with great fury and also pung Tersusun. The cost of levell­ titled 'Allow Mixed Marriages' in on those in the Barisan who have ing the disused mining land was A/iran Monthly 1993: 13(11), I fallen from favour. It turns a blind borne by the poor rakyat who would like to inform you that I eye to powerful politicians even were given land in these Karn­ have been expecting to hear from when they are corrupt. pung Tersusun. a woman like Mrs Chaudhary. Ac­ Lately, the ACA has been TI1e levelling of the land which tually, what Mrs Chaudhary said, going around Perak, not in a fren­ cost RM4 million according to the was absolutely correct to any per­ zy to stem the tide of corruption, Auditor-General, should have son who really knows the real but to give lectures. been borne by the rich miners. meaning of lslam. But if the ACA is honest, they This was clearly stated in the need not go far to find corruption. Islam is a universal religion. I agreement between the miners and do not need to change my culture They just have to leaf through the the State Government. Why didn't if I am married to a Malay. But, Auditor's report KUALA LUMPUR According to the 1991 Auditor­ but until now no action has been 21-12-93 General's report, a random check taken against these officers. Why? on 66 projects implemented by the It is also strange that the Perak Taiping ;md'Batu Gajah District of­ State Government did not make fices from February 1992 to any report to the ACA. Why? CORRUPTION - A March 1992, found six cases of The State Assembly was allo­ MALAYSIAN NORM? mismanagement of public funds. cated so short a time that not all The six cases were: members of the House could stand The dawn of a new vision in • Four purchases of goods valued up and speak. I, for one, was not Malaysia- a vision of a few, by a at RM73,260 which were fully ap- given a chance to speak on the six

A/iran Mo111hly 994:14 (4) Page 14 corruption cases. The reason is clear, you and I should know bet­ ter! ChooSing Chye STATE ASSEMBLYMEN TEBING 11NGGI (PASIR PUHH),PERAK

A TALE OFTWO NEILS

First. there was Andrew Neil who made the allegation in London's Sunday 1imes that The Press in Malaysia exercised unprecedented freedom during the constitutional politicians had been offered crisis involving the Monarchy. bribes. This caused a major tift in Anglo-Malaysian relations at the retaliatory measures taken by the played a principal role in the event very highest level. • Malaysian government. Rather it and for once it seemed it had Then along came Lt Col is wrilten as a recognition of tlie regained ito; freedom. Robert Neil and his four men who sad state of Press freedom in 1l1is occured during the height went missing around Mt Kinabalu. Malaysia, a freedom which of the confrontation between the The subsequent search and rescue detives from an even greater one; monarchy and the government. In opemtions involving Malaysian that of freedom of expression, the a bid to mlly public support for its and British personnel matrix from which all other cause, the government lifted the demonstrated to us that, on a freedoms flow. ban contained in the Sedition Act. people-to-people level, The Press plays an indispen­ Immediately after that, page Malaysians and the British arc still sable role in maintaining and creat­ after page of the daily newspapers able to cooperate and work ing a well-informed, dynamic and were flooded with adverse together successfully, not­ forward-thinking society. It also coverage of the monarchy. Before withstanding the antics of our top gauges public opinion and acts as the Press was given this leeway, politicians. the primary medium for this such coverage was simply unthink­ Congratulations to the rescue opinion to be channelled back into able. team, in particular the RMAF, for society in order to generate debate The usually lame local Press, a job well done. and discussion. metamorphosed almost overnight · Syabas Its pivotal role in a democratic into a bold and fearless crusader of PENANG society is to ensure that those in truth and justice. Public account­ power remain accountable to ability all of a sudden assumed all­ society. This can be achieved by importance. in-depth rep011ing and analysis in In short, the Press went all out PRESS FREEDOM = matters of general public impor­ to expose and question those who, tance. Investigative journalism at the very least, exuded symbolic FREEDOM TO should be employed to probe, powers. In so doing, the Press suc­ PUBLISH check and ensure that those in ceeded in making the monarchy ac­ FAVOURABLE power exercise it responsibly. countable to the public which in If the Press is denied the right tw-n provided the necessary sup­ NEWS! to exercise this fundamental role, port for the government to press democracy is under threat. Power on with the constitutional amend­ This letter is not wrilten with without accountability is, admitted­ ments. the view of endorsing that what 'ly, a dictatorship. However once the issue of the the British media had published It was only recently that the royalty was resolved the Press im­ about the Pergau dam affair was Malaysian public had the rare ex­ mediately slipped back into its per­ true. Neither is it written in sup­ perience of what puqlic account­ manent state of hibernation-alive port or opposition to the ability is about. The local Press but unconscious.

A/iran Monthly 994:14 (4) Page IS The criticisms made by the The New Straits Times carried The opposition in Malaysia did British media, whether jusllficd or the full text of the speech of our not go against the people and the - not, demonstrated clearly the sheer Prime Minister, where he country, but against the govern­ lack of ability on the part of the criticised the wldemocratic veto ment. If what they did was against Malaysian government to tolerate power within the UN. But it is dis­ the law, then charge them in court. any form of criticism. This dismal appointing to note that he does not In fact Lim and his colleagues had state of affairs will ultimately fully practise what he said at the challenged the government to reflect the maturity of our society UN. He chooses to retain the Inter­ charge them in court for any offen­ and the nation as a whole. nal Security Act (ISA) in ces the government claims they Being accountable means con­ Malaysia. Can someone answer had committed. Why detain them fronting these criticisms, or for me: which is more undemocratic - under the ISA where they are not that matter any criticisms, head­ the UN veto power or the ISA in subject to public examination? on. If the criticisms prove to be un­ Malaysia'? Clearly, the ISA only protects true, there wili be litlle difficulty Mahathir, in his speech the interests of the ruling party. in showing the truth. There arc claimed that we could not be For as long as the ISA is around, it many ways to counter fal se and un­ cowed or fri ghtened into not speak­ is going to discourage and dis­ founded criticism, the court of law ing our minds, and that we would suade many individuals from being one. say what we should say. Does he speaking up. So, do we say what However, if there is some truth practise \\-hat he said in the UN? we feel we should say as claimed in the criticism, then being ac­ In fact, most of us here in by Dr Mallathir? (Most probably countable would entail conceding Malaysia are afr.tid to voice our • we will be the next victims of the to the truth and making immediate opinions whenever the ISA is men­ ISA if we do so). These questions appropriate reparation. As human tioned. Nearly everyone knows have to be answered. For those of beings are fallible, so are govern­ about the lSA. The lSA allows the us who really want to see ments. They can be right some­ government to detain without democratic values grow in our times but not, logically speaking, trail; it violates the universal decla­ mother land, there is actually no all the time. ration of human rights (e.g. Ar­ choice - the lSA has to go. Just as what is right should be ticles 9,10 and 19 - the right to the Another undemocratic event acknowledged. then what is wrong freedom of expression and the took place last year, when our Par­ should be questioned. That is the right to a fair and proper hearing liamentary Opposition Leader was essence of accountability. by an independent, impartial suspended from parliament for Press freedom in M~1laysia tribunal.) Since it provides for raising the Maika shares scandal means freedom to publish that detention without trial, the ISA has issue. Again, Malaysia created his- which is favourable. To restrict become a serious psychological . tory wi U1in the Commonwealth by that which is unfavoumhlc, the na­ obstacle to the development of becoming the first country to tional Press will continue to freedom of speech and action. suspend its Opposition Leader. If publish half-truths. In the process, The history of the !SA is a his­ the Parliamentary Opposition freedom of expression is com­ tory of dt:tcntion without proper Leader could be suspended for ex­ promised and public account­ reason. TI1is law has been m:mipu­ pressing himself, then I wonder ability gravely undcnnincd. latcd in the past against political who else will be able to speak out M Yow opponents of the govcmment of against corruption and abuse of KUANTAN the Barisan Nasional. Lim Kit position. Siang, our Parliamentary Opposi­ Karpal was also suspended tion Leader. was ruTested at least from Parliament, back in the twice under the ISA. What was his 1980s because he spoke out, as a ABOLISH crime'! Why was Karpal Singh Member of Parliament should, detained under the ISA? Why was about the immunity of our rulers. UNDEMOCRATIC P Patto detained under the ISA? The same issue was brought up by LAWS Not for any criminal activities. but the government at the beginning for what they said in public rallies of this year. Why was he I wish to rc~;pond to the speech and their battle against the viola­ suspended when the government it­ of the Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir tion of human righLs. for standing self raised the same issue again at the 48th United Nations General up against corruption etc, which this year? Assembly in New York on 1 Oc­ were all in conformity with the In his speech. our Prime Mini­ tober 1993. · laws and the constitution. ster also declared that Malaysia

A/iran Monthly 994:14 (4) J>age 16 believes in press freedom. Tf he should be more democratic before tation that takes the social context was correct, why is my opinion, as he critises the undemocmtic UN and structural issues seriously. a Malaysian, especially on the veto power. Let us hope that he It is therefore, impemtive for government fully censored and not will uphold what he has said at the the Ministry of National Unity and published at all'! Most of us might UN. Freedom will not flouri sh, Social Development to take the ap­ even think that the opposition, for and justice will not triumph unless propriate steps to also recognise, example the DAP, has "closed these formidable psychological register and regulate social work shop" or is frightened to speak up obstacles are removed once and as a profession. against corruption, violation of for all, starting with the ISA. One major hurdle towards this human rights etc as we hardly hear LPengLam is the lack of training oppor­ from the opposition (for instance TAPAH tunities for social workers to the book Bailie for Denwcracy, by 18-11-93 receive basic formal training at a Lim Kit Siang, contains state­ certificate level. An example ments which were not published in which highlights the acute situa­ the press). Another violation of the tion is revealed in a basic survey Universal Declaration on Human GIVE DUE conducted on 10 voluntary or­ Rights: the right to know, the right ganisations in the Klang Valley to take part in the government of RECOGNITION TO which employ about 250 full -time this country directly or through SOCIAL WORKERS staff serving 2,500 clients. It was freely chosen representatives. AS A PROFESSION found that 85 per cent of these Similarly, radio and television staff had not undergone any for­ are completely under the control mal social work course or training. The recent announcement by of the government. TI1e fact is, the May I urge the Ministry of Na­ the National Unity and Social press today has been used as a tional Unity and Social Develop­ Development Minister Napsiah political tool and monopolised by ment to consider the following Omar on 21 October 1993 regard­ the government or the ruling party. suggestions? ing the registering of counsellors How many of us have heard of Firstly, set up a National Social with the National Counselling "the one man, one vote" issue? Workers Council or recognise and Council is indeed a timely one. Many might not have even heard empower the Malaysian Associa­ The attempt is to regulate the of this issue before. For ex:unple, tion of Social Workers to register profession and set certain profes­ the Parliamentary seat of Gua and regulate the profession. Basi­ sional standards. cally, provide basic standards for Musang in Kelant~m has 20,503 On the whole our Malaysian full-time employed staff in residen­ voters while the Parliamentary government in general and the seat in Petaling Jaya is more than tial, community and management Ministry in particular must be three times the size with 67,846 roles. hailed for many positive 4111empts Secondly, set up a Joint Coun­ voters. The ratio is more than 3: l. in fostering a caring society. This means three votes in Pctaling cil on social work tmining, com­ While it is necessary to register Jaya is equivalent to one vote in prising voluntary agencies counsellors. a more urgent t:JSk is, Gua Musang. This violates the currently involved in social work not only to register, but to recog­ training, the Department of Social principle of "one man, one vote". nise and train the numerous paid Welfare and local universities, to How many of us know all staff in Non-Govemmental Or­ about the Maika shares scandal, coordinate and facilitate joint ac­ ganisations working as social foreign exchange scandal etc'! It is tion in meeting !mining needs and workers in residential, day-care not because we 11re not concemed: also to develop a core curriculum and community-based services. it is because of the blackout in the that will provide the basic The negative aspect in regulat­ press. These and other un­ knowledge and skills essential for ing the counselling profession flfst democratic laws like the Official effective service which is relevant and not parallel with social Secrets Act (OSA) have dealt a and contextual. workers in general is the affmna­ severe blow to parliamentary 1l1irdly, in order to ensure tion that the recognised profession democracy. Let us answer the call professionally qualified staff join is therapy-based and that the focus in the battle for democracy, in voluntary agencies, it will be help­ is on

Alirau Moutltly 99.J:J4 (4) Page 17 scale. II is acknowledged that there arc very few USM, social work graduates employed in volun­ tary bodies. One key reason ts th~o: low salary paid by the voluntlf)' sector. In line with our caring society approach, those providing care must be well equipped with knowledge, skills and attitudes. Just goodwill and good common sense is rfot sufficient. These vir­ tues arc necessary and needful; upon them must be built the ap­ propriate skills needed to tackle the complex problems at the in­ dividual, family and commutHty levels in a rapidly industrialising country like ours. Denison Jayasooria Centre for Community Studies KUAI.A LUMPUR MB Muhyiddin with political luminaries: Johor Baru needs decent housing and 29-11-93 health for its people rather Ulan city-status

ing. Meanwhile. we wait for the the findings will be. when the authorities to account for the huge board of inquiry is being headed JB CITY STATUS: amount of tax-payers money by, among all people, the bead of which has gone down the drain. the Public Works Department. TAXPAYERS' In the wake of this catastrophe, The very Head who apparently MONEY WASTED it is a mockery that at least RM 9 failed in his job causmg much suf­ million is to be spent (or misspent) fering and misery. I "'ish to highlight just two of on just two prOJects of little value The Johor Baru Munidpal the severJI 'projects' b

A/iran Momh/y 994:14 (4) Page 18 • CO D COLD lilA A YSIANS A local newsp::1per reccntJy carried a story about a • vagrant who lived beneath a Oyover somewhere in Kuala Lumpur. It was a r.uher sad story of a homeless man JrCDAI-f NIGHTMARE chased out of his home and who now !>-pent his d.'lys begging so as to be able to buy a hot meal each day. What a relief, now th.1t the nightmare has finally And when night came, he huddled under layers of passed! For a while the awful spectre of Disneyland and discarded clothes on a won1-out mattress in the shelter of Hollywood had hung. like the Sword of Damoclcs over the Oyover. the Kedah plains and the heads of the simple folks there. The newspaper was alerted to the man by motorists We are talking about the aborted Jerai International Parle who had seen him slccping or cooking a humble instant True. the Kcdah rural people could do with more meal over a rtre. Sorne of those who called the paper were development and entertainment, but surely not of the sort solicitous about his well-being. that would mean uprooting them lock, stock and barrel Others were quite heartJess -they complained that his from the land. And in their place, a cultural form that is presence was an eyesore and an embarrassment not only totally alien to this land, but which is one of the particularly since, they said, many tourists pa<>S the spot worst forms of American cultural imperialism. daily. Apprehension over the implications of the project It is amazing how some Malaysians have come to came not only from the people, but political c:.u-e more for the feelings of tourist~ than that of fellow heavyweights like Daim, Anwar ll>rahim and Dr M citizens who happen to be down and out. They are willing himself. And what started out seeming like a goldmine to get rid of a desolate and homeless man so that tourists for various interested parties tumed out to be a will be spared an unsightly scene. It is so sickening! pic-in-the-face for the MB of Kedah who sulked and Clearly. Malays.ans are still a long way off from the pouted and. looking about for a scapegoat, decided to caring society that we talk so much about but practise so blame the media. sparingly. But we are certainly very near to being a However, a Kedah politician blamed "the paradise for tourists for whose dollars both officials and opposition" for abortion of the project. The opposition, the man-in-the-street seem willing to bend over he said, had exploited the issue with all sorts of backwards. falsehoods. How interesting that the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister should be described as the opposition and accused of falsehoods. One would not be SUfl.lrised if this politician fmds himself out in the cold

A/iran Monthly 1994:14 (4) Page /9 when the time comes to choose candid:.1tcs for the general India· s ~trliamentary debates more decent and k>gical election which by alJ indications seems to be Mound the Will Ulat ever be possible in India or :my oUler parliament comer. in the world? What is amazing is the kind of words and phrases that have emerged from the mouths of parli:llllCntarians. Some of it would fall nicely in the guuer or the septic tank • in the backyard. The Mal:lysian parliament is no exception to idiotic, racist :md sexist language. I!NYTJ-IING FOR TOIJRI5T5 If a simiiM version were published here, it would certainly run beyond 21 ~ pages. It does make one cold And the chase for the tourist dolw never seems to with w·cad that the laws of the land are in the hands of end. A politician in a northern state, who had been such types. entrusted with the tourism portfolio, suggested that the virgin forests in the state be converted into a 'tourist destination'. whatever that means. He said that the forests, black areas until recently and • inaccessible to all except t11e security forces, were waiting to be exploited for tourism - the trees and the GRADUATING TO YES-MANSHIP animals must be shuddering in fright at his belligerence. He prob.'lbly doesn't know, but western tourists may be It looks a.<> though government scholarship-holders, keen to experience the rainforests, but not after they have especially those sponsored to study abroad, are expected been turned into "tow-ist destinations". to be yes-men. incapable ofviewing things any other way Those who are fond of reading between the lines except from the offici;1l point of view. An MCA bigwig, would probably conclude that persons such as these are in the process of dishing out scholarships to some more concerned about the green gold that lies within the students (Ule general election must be nearer than we virgin forests raUler th:m their tourism potential. It seems thought}, was heard whining about how ungrateful some to be the trend these d:.1y - logging in the name of student-; had turned out to be. development. The biggest justification of this sort to date Instead of supporting or speaking favoumbly of Ule must surely be the Bakun Dam. government while abroad, he complained that some Even Bidong, the fom1 cr Viernamcsc camp, i!i to be students had criticised the government and its policies turned imo a tourist isl~md. 1l•e MB uf the state actually such :L'> Vision 2020. In other word<>, those wretched, had the nerve to claim th:u Ule isl:lnd had become "a disloyal ingr.nes had bitten the hand that fed them. He mnjor attr.tction for visitors to the state. including fonner implied they had not gained from their studies. refugees who are now residing in other countJics". He One would beg to differ. Students who are able to must be nuts to think that fonner refugees would want to look at government policy critically apart from echoing return there after U1e way they suffered, physically ~md Ule official line may be the ones who have benefited most psychologically. while waiting for repatriation. from higher education. Life abroad is supposed to equip As said earlier, some people, especially politichms. one with a wider worldview and one of the most valuable will cook up all soils of half-baked justifications in the things that a student could gain from university studies is name of tourism. It is as though U1eir state will be to t11 ink critically. considered developed or advanced only if there are Perhaps. the bellyaching bigwig would like all busloads of tourists rolling in. min or shine. students to resemble the stuff being chumcd out by local universities or "factoncs". as a fom1er vice-chancellor of a univcrs•ty descritx!d the institution. Some universities arc hMdJy more th~m glorified school<;. In one university, • the students really look pathetic -strolling about campus in long pants, long-sleeved shirts, ties and shoes. FOIII MOUTHS The purpose of t11is formal dressing. it seems, is to prepare the student-; for t11e corpomte world. They are How interesting! India ·s lower house of parliament, sadly deceived if they think they look very professional the Lok Sabh:t. ltlS just come out with the eighth edition and corpomte sweating buckets in a country that happens of "Unparliamentary Expressions". Its 218 pages, which to be just a few degrees above the equator. include all sorts of nasty comments culled from In fact. t11ey look like fools! Moreover, a tie docs not parlrunents 3J"Ound tJ1e world, arc aimed at making m.'\ke a corpomte mw1. Surely what matters more is t11e

A/iron Monlldy 199./:14 (./) Page 20 attitude and the intellect speed up. Given the students' unprotesting and timid Four of the six men accused of the mw-der were hired acceptance of such a ricticulous dress rule, it is hard to by tlae local PRJ for the rally while the other two were believe !hat within lies the making of an intelligent, bold fonner policemen. and dynamic person. On the other hand, the students are Salinas, it would seem, is paying a heavy price for his not entirely to blame since they have very little freedom top-down method of policy-making. In trying to please when it comes to things like this. So perhaps one should the big powers, he forgot to consult the little people in his blame the "factory-opcr:uors" who have betrayed their bxkyard. own shallowness by emphasising fonn over function. • • C IIDT TJII u SP rr. n ~onoTc The man, whom shares speculators still continue to The goodness seems to have gone out of ~;ports. First. love to hate, recently advised individ~1l stockmarket Olympic icc skater Nancy Kerrigan was shunmcd on the players not to dabble in shares but to leave it to the leg by an attacker who L1ter tumcd out to be linked to a professionals and fund managers. The man claimed he rival Tonya Harding. The act litcntlly took the word sport was wonied by the way ordinary Malaysians had grown out of sports leaving only an "s" which may be read any so obsessed with the stockmarket It seems productivity way you like. Then, ju~t w; we were consoling ourselves declined by 35 percent at the height of the market boom. that such things would never happen here, all those Look who's talking. If this man can play the stories about massages that were more tJKm maS!>."'ges hit stockmarket for pocket money. why can't othen;? Which the news. average materialistic Malaysian would not want to be Whatever happened to the clean, healthy and like him - made for life and without a care in the world? wholesome side of sports'? And playing the stockmarket for weekend spending. The more materialistic among Malaysians believe that he made a large part of his millions through shares speculation and are probably trying to achieve similar • resuiL'> through forays into the stockmarket. In short, he should be the last person to tell others not to speculate on shares. People who live in glass houses should wear clothes. The political violence that has exploded in Mexico since Nafta came into being have led some to label that much touted trade bloc as an albatross around the neck ' of the Mexican president, Carlos Salinas. • First carne the peasant uprising in the south,then Luis Donaldo Colosio. the candidate 1.'\fgeted to take over - r- -- from Saltnas as president of the Institutional RC\Oiuuunary Party, wa<; murdered at an election rally. It was quite a sight! Buddhist monks in Korea trying The upri:.ing has since been atlributcd to resentment to scule their differences with their fists. llte holy men t among the impoverished south against what they from two rival factions had come to blows over the issue ~ perceived as a govemmcnt :md system that had done lillie of who should take administrJtive control of South 1 for the roor n.uives. Nafta. coming the way it did then. Korea's Buddhist temples and, it followed. the millions seemed to :.}mbolisc evetything that W wrong in the of followers. One faction,the rcfonnists, had accLL'iCd the country. leader of the other of con-uption and intimacy with The eH~nts have rubbed the shine off what S:llinas politicians. h.1d thought ~ould bc a coup for his administration. And What in the world has happened to the non-violence now, accordmg to repons. Colosto wa<; murdered for • they are forbidden to even harm a fly - so piously reasons also related to Salina-> economic and politic:~ preached by the Buddhists? And worse yet, why are policies. Conservatives within the PRJ had been unhappy Buddhist monks hanging out with politicians? Don 'tthey over Salin' policies which C'olosio had pledged to know !hat it is the surest way to taint one's reputation?

,1/iran Mtmthly 199./:J.I (4) Page 21 Perhaps it is from the politici:ms that they have lean11 how they lugged suitcases stuffed with cash to the bank to usc U1eir fists to seuJe a point since many a Parliament to deposit for their politician employer. But this chap did has been tw11ed into fight-rings by its members. These bet heavily on lotteries. Investigations showed that he monks have truly made a mockery of what they profess beUed US$29 million and won US$9 million, in effect. to believe in. They might as well grow back their hair. spending US$20 million to legitimise US$9 million. shed their frocks and become politicians. However, much of his "winnings" actually crune from kickbacks from construction companies. charities, members of Congress and mayors. And he is apparcntl y not the on I y one dipping his dirty • h;md into the tiU. Dozens of other legislators are also involved in stealing millions from the federal budget. It UNWILLING SERVANTS would seem that it's not easy to tell a thief apart from a politician. Dr M says he is prepared to lose Sabah to the opposition if the BN state govemment fails to fullil its responsibilities to the rakyat. He does not want the abuses of the PBS govenunent, which took U1e oppo11uruty to • enrich itself at the people's expense to be repeated. How the hearts of the newly elected must have sunk at his OIIE-EYED WATCHDOG words! //1 ~ It meant that aU their wheeling and dealing, wild ,v;):J ( :;,, ~~£ }' ,...,.._ spending and even wilder party-hopping had been for ~~tY:~ ~ ~·J:r.--~/, ,. ~' •~vt:s noughL They had struggled so hard to be in power, to be '-"~ r- · · / ' \~cc~t[ e part of the next govemment. And all for what'? To be ~ !1 ~#~ )i~' JJ ~ servants to U1e rakyat? What a let-down for some of t11e ziJ d I 'm) ~. I ~ - l country's most notorious opportunists! Dr M's I 1~~~- , {( \))/i-1 (it ;II' ! commitment to a clean govemmcnt is encouraging except that one cannot help remembering how the BN ~ ~~ ~~/~@ -i J ;f,l ~a~; )..,_ \ ~·d / ~-~/ rl(~\ '/ ~ ~ t-l had propped up one corrupt Sabah govemment after ~~~ ;'~I // :~n- ~(( ({ ;J)I I wji another until the last one. :~ tk~\~,'"--- ~~. «lga _~;. ., · r:-;;71 0 - 9 \ ~~~~!!~ ,, ~0~u. ~I~ • ~ 1/,1~ tl/jO tb -ollflfr c0 rI \l?f~ . lr~' /Tf/ 0 ABADBET So! the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Conswner Affairs seem to have Bmzili:ms who thought they had grown cynical and regained the sight oftl1e blind eye that they had twncd to had resigned themselves to tales about corruption among ermnt private colleges aU t11ese years. And only after a their political representatives found that their propensity newspaper highlighted the disgust expressed by parents to be shocked had yet to hit satur.Uion. One of their over U1e lies being advertised by some of these colleges. congressmen. when questioned how he came to Ifthese remarks seem a bit unkind, then one can only say accumulate US$5 1 million ·in a string of bank accounls that it is hard to believe that these two bodies were since 1989, claimed tl1at he had won 24,000 lotteries! completely unaware of what these colleges had been up This lottery winner used to live in a two-roomed to. True. we are anxious to encourage the private apartment until he was elected to Congress in 1963. He education industry, but surely not at the expense of has never looked back since. students and our goal of being a regional centre for Today, he owns a lakefrontln.'lnsion in Brasilia and education? As a result of this blind eye syndrome, the a bcachfront penthouse in Salvador, one of Braz.il's colleges grew bolder and bolder with their claims of poorel>1 cities. And he shuttles by private jet between his goods and services. By keeping silent, the authorities two luxurious homes. were effectively condoning what was going on. Who will Now under investigation for corruption, the act against the authorities? congressman testified that God had helped him to win all NNP that money, while two fonner drivers told investigators

Aliran Mo11thly 1994:14 (4) Page 22 HEART TO HEART

Wlat comes from the/ips reaches the ear, what comes from the heart r~h9s the heatt -Atab provwb

PRISON NOTES: Jailing people won't solve problems

I n traditional Kenyah life, sorry for them. some had been in for even after I was released. there are no such things as more than eight years, and they still lf modem laws continue to prisons. Back in the old days, have many more years to serve. punish and jail us for defending our there used to be a lot of tribal Life in priwn wasn't easy. Food land and traditional lifestyle, our feuds for land and someone al­ wa<; inadequate to sustain health and communities and families will never ways got killed. But no one goes most of the time vegetables were feel safe .• to jail. Disputes and disorders are Jacking, so I only took half of my Tapa Aja@ Ajau, settled through a law made by our ration. 59 year-old Kenyah farmer ancestors. It was vr.:ry cold in the early hours Today, however, prisons arc especially on the solid floor. but they Source: Panchar Penemu No. 28 seen as the cure for most 'vices'. never gave us mattresses. Only a March:_Apn11994,1PK S1bu, Sarawak, But jailing people won't solve piece of thick gunny cloth. which 1 prolcms. doubled as a mattress and blanket. I was imprisoned with eight of I had fever and was coughing my longhouse peers from Long badly during the one month inside, Geng. Be1aga on 22 February 1994. but 1 dJd not know how to ask for Before that, we had been in and out medicine. My coughing persisted of court hearings since 14 January 1992 when we were lirst arrested. TI1ey said that we had dis­ obeyed the police and had caused trouble for Seriku, the logging company. We had only gone out looking for our friends who did not return to the longhousc - but they ar­ ~1ed us anyway. All nine of us were separated: I was held with 14 other convicted criminals. It was hard, at first, to be held v.ith these tough guys who were always laughing at me. They must have found it amusing to sec an old man with elongfttcd earlobes learning to 'tapik' (salute) during roll calls! Back in our cells, they taught me how to 'tapik' and form straight lines. With all sorts of non-ver­ bal cues. 1 soon learned a bit about them tmd v. hy they had robbed banks. etc. I really felt

A/iran Mo1111rly /994:14 (4) J>tJge 23 JUSTICE needless spending ~n longboat fuel and cJtpress boat fares, meals, lodgings, etc. for the communJIJes, until the recent court decision. VICTIMS OF LAW: The jail sentence was an added hardship for the Long Ceng people who have been hit recently by Ooods and the crops of some families were destroyed. Reminiscing As it was the harvesting sea.~on, it was most difficult for the families who had to make do without the vital farm hand to assist in the tasks. "I pitied my wife. She is old now but has to tend to the fann 0 n~b'" ~~~~~" !~!~.,~from long aU alone," lamented Tapa. Geng, Belaga were fmed by the High Court of Sibu RM 1,000 Others echoed the same sentiments over tlus forced separa­ each, m default, one month's jail for illegal assembly under hon from their spouses, siblings, children and grandchildren, Section 27(4) of the Police Act. especially now that the longhouses were afflicted with The len were Alang B ilong, 65; Enjok Along, 63; Tapa Aja hardships. @ Ajau, 59; Aga Larang, 45; Cara Jalang, 37; Karim Merang, "It was funny indeed, getting up at 6am to sing. In the 32; Micky Suli, 23; Edwin Alang, 22; Ibral1im Ngang, 19; and longhouse, we would use this time to do farm work," recalled Dcsarn Una, 16. Karim. Only Aga paid the fine and returned to Long Ceng to relay "During meal times, prisoners fought their way to be t11e the news to the longhouse communiLJes, whereas the other nine first in line to get the small portion d1shed ouL Then they would went to jail. rush back for another round to appease their hunger pangs. Even after their release on 22 March. the group is still Seasonl.-d prisoners were good at this," he added. bafOed over their detenhon. They have never k.illl.-d anybody Breakfast was bread with bitter coffee while the two main or comm1tted any robbery -yet they were kept in the same ce II meals consisted of some rice with salted fish and either chicken w1th criminals. or beef, sometimes an egg - all poorly cooked. Such an ordeal was hard for them to accept. Most of the Kenyalls did not crave for more. In fact, some Enjok, 63, said, '"Sometimes I search myself asking what even left their ration unfinished. I have done wrong to be puni~hed and jailed with criminals, Drink.ing water was also lacking. • when all we wanted wa.~ to defend our land, look for food Some of them fell ill, like Tapa, Micky and Enjok. honestly in our forest and support our poor f-~tmily. '" Though they found the cell stiOmg w1t11 8 to 15 people, 11 Youngster Desrun remarked. ·'The law is unfair, the wurt was not as bad as the toilets that were 'very duty'. Clumsily should not have penalised us but it did. I am not afraid to go to clad in tl1ick prison clothes, it was really hot inside the tmy cell jail because I believe it is our right to safeguard our land and witll no fan. families. When you arc imprisonl.-d for something you believe At4pm, they were allowed outside the grounsaging his day to look for the missing two. cellmates ")Vhey t11ey found out I was good at it", Karim's 'The next day, when all 34 persons 1.hd not return, we experience was otherwise. organised a search party of 15 women and 10 men. We "Inside, we were nut allow

Alirall Monthly /994:14 (4) Page 24 DEVELOPMENT

Jerai International Park: Between grandeur and people's development

Osman Aroff: His 'noble effort' turned out looking more like a 'major blunder'

Kedah Menteri Rcsar Osman ArofT recently announced the cancellation of the RM17 billion j erai International Park in a hun·. It wali one of the rare occasions when a state government wa11 forced to take into consideration the sentiments of the local people. MUSTAFA K ANUAR anai)Ses the factors behind the people's rejection of such a massive "development" project.

t \\ilS suppo'>ed to have been the In a packed press conference. gantuan tourism project. bigge!>t th~mc park Malays.ans - Kedah Menteri Besar Tan Sri Osman Aroff. like many other Iincludmg th~ country folk of Yan Osman Arolf c>.prcssed, among leaders in the country, seemed to and Kuala !\1uJ,t of Kcdah -would other things. !>urprio.;c as to wh} the have been earned :may with the idea ever see thl'> ''de of the Paci fi c until Jerai International Park project. of implementing a 'development the Kedah Swte gO\·emmcnt, the which would taJ...e more than 16 JXOJect', be it huge. expensi\e or/and partner ot the RM 17 bllltun years to complete and which he con grandiose, without taking into con­ JOint-venture project. abruptly sidered a 'noble effort '. was made to ~ideration the '>ocio-economic and announced 11\ cancellation on April look like a 'major blunder' . cultural impact upon the local 13. 1994. The ...rate govern mt!nt H i~ ~hocJ... could have been com­ people, and the ba.,ic needs of the e\entuall} lxmcJ to ri.,ing prote't' fortabl) averted 1ad he and the rural pt:oplc. In addition, thco.;c of the local communitit! ~ anJ rcle\ant parties and authorit ic~. 111 • le::}(ler\ 3ppt"ar In hr competing with Ji!>plca.,ure !!\pressed b) ccrtalll the first place. cared to consult the each other m their quest to ha\e quarter' in the ruling part} . ordinar} people regarding the gar- 'development projects' which they

A/iran Monthly / 994:14 (4) Page 25 aside a golden opportunity to build ly have benefited the people? If it the local economy and to put this would have, who among these • spot of Kedah in the map of intema­ ·people' would gain from it? Lional tourism? Apart from being physically Let's take a quick look at what uprooted from their kampung land this project had to offer in the name (so as to make way for the construc­ of development' and progress' to the tion of the theme park}, which can be local people. psychologically and culturally The Jera.i theme park, to be traumatic, the local people may have developed by a joint-venture com­ had to abandon their traditional, pany called Mahalimpah Sdn. Bhd. agricultural livelihood. (comprising two companies Suria In tum, they may have been com­ Eksklusif Sdn. Bhd. and Duta Point pelled - by circumst:utces beyond Sdn. Bhd. and the Kedah State their control - to tum to the service Government). was to have been built and tourism sector of the economy in four phases on a 2,520 hectare site for future employment, thereby facing the sea in Merbok and Kam­ mai.Jng them economically less in­ pung Singkir. about30km from Sun­ dependent and subjected to the gei Petani. The fJISt phase was to strong dictates of the modem, have been completed by 1997, in capitalistic economy. time for the Commonwealth Games. The locals could also have been (Incidentally, 'nwhalimpah' c:m be trJnsfonned tnlo mere on-lookers interpreted as ·overflowing with and spectators of U1e antics (and mis­ money and fortune'.) demeanours) of the rich and famous According to a New S1rai1s who stop by to tan their skins and Times report ( 14/4f)4). the objec­ s:unple the 'freshness' of the tives ofthe park, among other things. countrystde. ap~U1 from clinching were: To be the country's first inter­ busmess deals. The locals, in short, national-class leisure ground; to be would have been pushed to the mar- the country's first comprehensive gins of abundAnwar Ibrahim: entertainment and recreation centre lik.clihood, visitors to this park Reservations over the Jerai project in Asia. would be given more of the Hol­ The main highlights of the lywood e of the 'preserved' the case of Johor cun·erllly. the than 40 countries (like the Disney local cuJtw·es, to give the centre and 'Aoaltng City' of Johor Ban1. World's Centre in Florida), state-of­ entertainment a ' local touch'. You In other words. political leaders· the-art technology for entenain­ might also get local Kcdahans and other elites' ob:scss•on with ment. exposition and convention employed by operators of hotels, something b1g and luxurious c:m in­ centres. a film studio and an cultuml centre etc. to help the deed cause economic hardship to the academy similar to Hollywood. the coveted tourists ·get acquainted' ordm:uy people in general and harm latest spons and recreation facilities. with aspects of local culture. For in­ to the environment :md local culture. an indoor stadium with a seating stance. as it hi.l'> been done in the past, l11e Kedah Menteri Besar repor­ capacity of 60.000 and a 500-ruom the tourists will be shown how to tedly regretted the attitude of the 5-star hotel facing the Straits or wear the sarong. baju kebaya. people towards development. He Malacca.' songJ.ok. etc. in U1e midst of merry­ retorted, 'If we do not come up with B:Lo;ed on Utis infonnation. mal-. in g. wining and dining. projects, they blame us for not doing would it still he any wondrr thnt the Put :1nother way. in the midst of anything. When we do. they create local people ofYan and Kuala Muda all these 'modem', 'progres.->ive' controversies.' districts as a whole opposed this ex­ type of development projects, how Were these local people really pensive project that had been swiftly and where do the local people fit into 'anti-development', so much so that billed as a 'development project for this scheme of things? As mere cogs they blindly ;md foolishly push~.:d the people'? Would this project real- in the wheel, while the 'big players'

A/iran Monthly 199.1:14 (4) l'uge 26 have a bigger 'piece of the action"! against the project. What we're trying to say is that Troubled Badaruddin even went in the past many projects that were to the point of hoping that this matter massive and expensive had been 'would not become a political issue'. conceptualised and implemented by lf this issue isn't poJjtical, what is? government leaders ctll in t11e name In theJera.i affair, it was clear that of 'development for t11e people'. much of the mainstream media In a democracy, it is expcct~.:d hadn't been fort11coming in their that the ordinary pcople be given duty to inform t11e people throughout sufficient infonnation regarding fu­ the country of what had occurred in ture 'development projects' and be that area of Kedah. One would have consulted by their elected leaders so thought that a few of them would as to enslll'C that these projects will have gone into the countryside and really benefit them. And equally im­ executed their investigative jour­ portant, this is to make sure that such nalism (or 'development projects do not adversely affect the MP for Merbok Daim Zainuddin: jouma.lism'. if you like) as they once ordinary citizens. soc1ally. econonu­ Jitters over Pas opposition to the did at the height of the 1993 'palace· caJly, cultumlly and healthwise. Jerai project and-government controversy'. We seem to have. at least 1n the leaders such as Prime Minister Dr Needless to say. it is imperative Jerai project case, a govcnunentthat Mahathir and his deputy Anwar that the ordinary people be given the is 'caring', atlentivc and accomoda­ Ibrahim had publicly expressed opportunity to express their views tivc to the wishes of 1ts people. A reservations over the Jerai project. over th ings that affect t11eir dai.ly combination of poss1ble factors can Mem!JI:!r of Parliament for Mcrbok, lives and the futlll'C of their children explain this. Daim Za.inuddin, had also inter­ and grandchildren. One, the Kedah State govern­ vened in this maHer. He, like t11e MP Such media coverage would be ment in many ways had to listen to for Jerai, Dadaruddin Amirudilin, instructive not only to the ordinary the deafening prote:~t s of its people. seemed to have got the jitters par­ people but also to their elected rep­ People had already set up local com­ ticularly "'hen there were reported resentatives. This type ofcoverage is mittees to register their collective cases ol pl.!oplc putting up {opposi­ not to seek scnsJtionalism, but to unhappiness and distress to the tion party) PAS flags to protest search for social justice. • relevant autho•ities. Two, the planning of this luxw)' ptOJCCI was 'ill-tun~.:d'. In an area where many of the people arc UMNO Baru members and sym­ pathisers, to go ahead with this con­ troversial project would have been foolhardy. if not pollt•cally fatal, especially when the next gt:neral elections is believed to be ·around the comer'. Page 2 of The Srar on Ap1il 14, 1994 provided a possible clut: and the seeming connection. Apart from highlighting the issue of the Jerai park, the tabloid also mserted at the bottom of the page u news item that carried a headline. 'Barisan parties told to be ready for polls'. Here UMNO Baru secretary-general Mohamed Rahu1at was reported to have advised members or the Barisan Nasional coalition to he ready for the general elections"' hich could be held ·any time now'. TIIfCc. this is also "'hy JXU1y

Alira11 Mu111hly 1994:14 (4) Page 27 Why We Oppose

proved urban living conditions for sive project was the happiest be­ Development does not the people. Thirdly, we are not cause of the huge profits to be mean only grandiose against investments, foreign or local. generated from it. Actually Pilecon majestic buildings at the Having given the reasons why does not have to put up much money we are not in favour, we must state expense of social, cultural up front to !>tart ollthc project or take categorically what we advocate. much risks. It was reponed that it had and moral considerations, We are in favour of orderly. recei"ed a RM75 million loan to says ABDUL RAZAK clean and systematic urban develop­ partly finance the initial develop­ AHMA() in explaining ment which will enrich the lives of ment costs. why the Friends of Selat the city people. This means we en­ Recently Hong Lee Pee, dorse the Structure Plan (i.e. the Tebrau Action Committee Pilecon's E~ecutin: Chairman. was "Ma'ltcr Plan") for Johor Baru town are opposed to the JB among tho.,e v. ho accompanied area. We support the exploitation of Muh)iddm in the tour to Hong Floating Cit) Project. our varied rich heritage and natural Kong. Ta1pe1. Osaka and Tokyo to resources for the benefit of the drum up support and sell the project majority of the people. We are in to foreign investors (Business Times favour or the proper utililation of 26 April 1993). It was also reponed n :l April 1993 the; contract land or planned comprehensive that Hong wanb to spread the risk for Johor's biggest urban development of the urban area. and speed up com.truction by having Odevelopment programme. We are certainly against hap­ other corporations and consortium!> the RM4 billion Johor Baru Float1ng hazard development which is only build portions of the development, Mini City was signed. The deal in­ meant to benefit a small section ol such as hotels and office blocks volved the Johor State Government the people. (Asiaweek, 12 May 1993). and the Johor CoaMal Development The same technique to hive off Sdn Bhd. a subsidiary of the pub he Defending the Project the projcct \\as u..cd by Brian Chang listed Pilecon Engineering Bhd. Jn defendmg the project, the of Pro met in h1s failed bilhon ringgit Accordmg to newspaper reports. Menteri Besar was reponed to have Langka\\ i development a decade the proJect 1s an ambitious, futunsuc said that it IS 'cheaper to have it th1s ago. \Ve cannot be \ery sure that development spread over 47 ha of way (floating city) than to acquire Hong or Muhyiddin will be more the .fohor StraitS (Selat Tebrau), we~t land" (See NST 23 April 1993). In successful with Waterfront City of the causeway. It was about 9.2 fact, he argued, the concept is even Project thi!> time around. million sq fl of floor space over the better technically than reclamation Straits, cffectl\ el) convert1ng the which poses environmental hazards. Contradicts Structure Plan sea front here mto a ne\v central bu-,i­ The former is environmentally It IS clear that the Aoating City friendly" he claimed. Yet others ness district \\ork on the rnaSSJ\e Project J!> not pan of the Structure have defended the project because project wJII <;tan soon and \HII be Plan (the Master Plan of Johor Baru) the development strategy in this case spread ovt:J sev,.xal phases over a 'Which wa.s approved hy the State is less time consuming and less dis­ 15-year period. Jt is noted that vir­ Go\'ernment on 4 January I9R5 pur­ ruptive. tually everythmg \\ill be bwlt abme ~uant to S.l()(6) of the Town and "Johor Baru i-. still a cit) of nar­ water· modern high-rise office Countf) Planmng Act 1976. towers. hotels, -.hopping complexes. rO\\ !>treets and small shop hou~s. The Structure plan is the basts for a con.,ention hall and a full range of To lit it out a.s a new dynamo ~ould all urban planning in the JB recreation facilities require massive (and di!>rupti vc) redevelopment. The solution, as 1n Municipality area. It provides the Our Principles Singapore and Hong Kong is to pu!>h policies in implementing develop­ We mu!>t make certain principle'> outwards by building into the ~ea". ment in the JB town area and covers clear\\h) we :~rc not in favour of the (Far East em Economic Revie1~. 6 most aspect'> of land use. transport proposed project. l\1a) 1993) and the problt:ms of road congestion, First!). we are not agam"t Pilecon Engmeering Bhd, the urban redevelopment, the environ­ de.,elopment per .fe. Second!). we compan) 'Which had won the lucra­ ment and a host of i-;sues within the are not aga1 nst progress and 1m- tive contract to undertake the mas- JB town area.

Aliran Monthly /994:14 (4) Page 28 and Singapore arc city states which arc land-starved whereas JB can fall back on liS va~t tracts which are un­ derutiliscd and are ~till undeveloped. Hong Kong and Singapore have undertaken -.cveral urban renewal project!> anti the} haH~ had to reclaim the <>ea bt!cau\c ol the acute land shortage. The '>arne problem does not afllict Johor Baru. What is more important i'> that Government plan­ ncr!> have not undertaken many urban renewal developments within the central bu:.incss district of J B; so why then must the town centre ofJB expand into the sea'! We nrc not against genuine de\elopment but we are certainh oppmcd to haphazard and capri·­ ciou~ dcvclopment "'hich will create more problem-, rather than sohe them. Consider All Views We agree that there should be expansion and development in the JJ3 urban centre due to the rapid gro\Hh in terms of its population and Muhyiddin: Angry over criticism of his Floating City Project. other econom1c acti \ ities. Howe\er. any urban development with far­ reaching con...cquences must he Sin..:c the apprmal of the Struc Government then had not } et come carefully thought out and properly lUre Pl.m in 1985. there were no of up with the idea of the Floating Cit}. plan ned takmg 1nto consideration all fict.tl alterations to it m. far it is (See Berita Horwn, 19 April 1993 ). the viewio of the affected city resi­ kno\\ n. It IS doubtful whether the He, however, did not disclose dents. 'tate Planning Committee, estab­ whether the Structure Plan was There must also be a philosophi­ lished under SA of the Act. has been revised and altered to enable the cal-economic and political founda­ relenred to on thb Waterfront City project to comply with it. tion on which development is based ProJa:t It is well !..now n that among We have come to the conclusion otherwise that development be­ olher thmg .... the functions of the that the Floating City does not relate comes meanmgless and irrelegant Com nun~ ... hall be to ad\ 1se on mat- orcompl) with the Structure Plan. It We take the \Jew that dc\clopment ters rel.llmg w the conservation. use appears that thmc who advocate the does not mean onl} grandio-.c, ruJ de' dopmcnt of!and in the State. project have entirely 1gnored the mt nmg authorit. h.ls approved the City is implemented it i~ illegal and also be anchored within the context proJe<.:l contrary to the pmvi~ions of the Town and Country Planrung Act, of the national milieu. In h1' an-='T) n:-.pon'>e to the 1976. In other words. development is ~ llltCt'm le\ elkd at hts pt:t project not an end 1n uselfbutthc beginning '\1uh) iddm alleged th:ll the State Flawed Development of the journe)' to freedom from era..,., Gm l'rnm.:nt ha' ... tut.hcd .Ill a-.pects The notion that our planning con!>umeri'>m which onl)' nl thl' project including it.., l'O\ Jron­ str.1teg~ '>hould tollow the paths of empha~1ses the materialistic aspects llll'nt.JI impact. He .1drn1tted. hO\~ Hong Kong and Smgapore is and i.., not founded on or related to e\ er. that \\hen the StruLture Plan monstrous!) \\rung anti unaccep­ the higher gnals ol human exbtence. \\J'i .tpprmed tn 19X5 . the St.tte table simply becau~t: Hong Kong •

A/iran MonJhly 1994:14 (4) Page 29 ETHICS OUR GRAND DELUSION Blind and mute to the inequities and injustices in Malaysia

trouble maker of the world, now them of, at the very least, there is In this article, DR we have Uncle Sam and the enough freedom of the press to ARIFFIN OMAR accuses British as the international bullies permit their citizens to debate and Malaysian leaders of of 'the world supported hy the discuss public issues of impor­ Prcnch and their client states. tance? hypocrisy when they Thus western bashing has now be­ condemn the West for come a fashion and a favourite Monumental Hypocrisy practising double past-time. Malaysian leaders who arc standards. These leaders Howe\er. before we over-in­ now looked upon glowingly hy should look at their own dulge ourselves in condemning some Third World countries as the west, we should take a good champions of genuine Human double standards - they look at oursclvc-;. Rights and spokesmen of the rightly condemn the West Firstly. we have always main­ South, should be honest to the for ignoring the plight of tained that the western media. is citizens of this nation and cxplai n the Bosnians and other biased and one-s1ded. Undoubted­ why Malaysia has not ratified the oppressed people but at ly this is so. but what about our International Covenant on media? Do we have have a free Economic, Social and Cultural the same time they deny press or is the Malaysian press Rights and the International Malaysians their basic 1m:ll:ly an cxlcn:-.iun uf lite Mini:-.­ Covenant on Civil and Political human rights through the try of Information (or Disinfor­ Rights? Why have we not ratified existence of laws like the mation if you Iii--e)? Are issues the Covention against Torture, the Internal Security Act. that arc important to Malay~iu Convention on the Elimination of ever debated freely and fully in All f orms of Discrimination the press? For example. what Against Women and the Conven­ about the 9.6 billion ringgit loss in tion on the Rights of the Child? the forex caper? What about the I was a witness to the demands t 'has now become a common Tenaga crisis. the $10 million hy Malaysian government repre­ practice among our leaders to Maika shares and a host of impor­ sentatives at the World Con­ Iindulge in western hashing. tant i~sues all swept under the car­ ference on Human Rights at Scarcely a day passes by without pet of the Official Secrets Act? Vienna that the Americans and a speech. an article or even a letter Any attempt to have a free and other western nations accept the in our "free press" about the injus­ fruitful discussion is hampered by just demands by Third World and tice~. inequities and double stand­ the restrictive laws that curh our developing nations that ards practised by the west in freedom to discuss and express economic, social and cultural Bosnia-Herzegovina, Somalia. oursclve-; freely. Besides the Of­ rights be given the same status as the occupied Palestine territories. ficial Secrets Act, there is the political and ci vii rights and yet Undoubtedly this is true and we in Sedition Act. the Printing Presses we have not rati lied the Interna­ AI iran do not deny it. and Publications Act and the an­ tional Covenant on Economic, The west has been guilty of nual application of printing per­ Social and Cultural Rights. What some extremely serious injustice~ mits by an> maga.~:ine. newspaper monumental hypocrisy and that are now contributing to ten­ etc. Can we deny that in the double standilrds! sions all over the world. Where western countries for all the Of course, if we get to the bot­ previously it was the "evil Soviet hypocris) and douhle standards torn line. our leaders cannot ratify Union" that was seen as the arch that our esteemed leaders accused any of these Conventions because

A/iran Mo11thly 1993:14 (4) Page 30 they can neither observe them in law or in spirit. As an example, we all deplore the genocide in Bosnia and rightly ~o. But aren't we also guilty of genocide which we prac­ ll~e in othc:r fo rms Our polic1es towards the Orang A-;li in penin­ sular Malaysia as well as Sabah and Sarawak are aho perceived by some as a fo rm of genocide. We defore-.t the land due to log­ gmg acti\.Jties and thus deprive them of their land, thei r way of life. culture etc. What is the dif­ ference bet-ween us and the Serbs? Indigenous people of Sarawak; Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia: Their Doe ... it give us a '>pecia l ~ta t us annhilation comes in the destruction of their habitat. bee •Use we do not destroy the Pen .• n~. Kelabit, ·Murut etc with never have. So what i-; the purpose: of the bomb and bullet? Malaysia ha-. protested vehe­ holier than thou attitude of the Once we take their land we J...ill mently again~! a '>Ugge~tion by the government? lhe1rculture and their v.ay of life. US and 'orne we-..tern nations that Not too long ago, there were \\'hat do you term that? or course development aid shouiJ be newc; report<; highl1ghting child M.lla) ~ians are told that the Orang pegged to the human right<; record abu-.e Undoubtedly there are hor­ It have been compensated of the ;ud rccep1em '>late on the rendous case.., of child abu~c in throu~h ca-.h,. long houses etc. grounds that the people of that Malaysia and it is proper that the llu ~~true but we have effecti\.e- state will then ~uffer the double authorities take the necesary o;teps 1) de tro~ed their way of hfe, penalt} of ha\.mg a bad govern­ to curb such abuse. \ve acJ...now­ tht:u culture and even language. ment and of beil}g den1cJ aid be lcctge that they have done so ~orne great leader v\.ill no doubt cause;: of that Yet the federal through tht: press. public eJuca­ accu e u of V\anting the Penan, government de me-. aiJ to Jevelop tion and through NGO .... Rut \~hy Kelabll etc to rern;un in the Stone '>tatcs that arc controlleJ by the have we not ratified the Conven­ Age and become the research oppo~ition. It even tries it' best to tion on the Rights of the Chilli? materiab ol frustrated destabh'>e the<,e oppmi11on state Are \~C senous about protecting .mthropologi ... t~. But have we go\.crnments by any means. A the rights of children or is th 1c; one a'>kell our Orang A'>li what form good look at Kelantan and Sabah of the flash-in -the pan campaigns ol devel We v\ ill clearly illu~tratc th1s point that will be confined to the

Aliratr Jfmrthly 1993:14 (-I) Page 31 dustbins of history after it has granted? After all we do pay taxes globally. served its purpose of enhancing for such amenities. All this has been done with the the image of a few government Should we not respect and nur­ connivance of a pliable press ministers who arc badly in need of ture the cultural rights of devoid of any integrity, and the a political facclift? minorities in Malaysia as well as vocal support of prominent nc­ While we applaud and cheer protect the rights of our Orang ti vists, academics and others who our leaders for their brave stand Asli? We fight so eloquently and unwittingly give credence to such against the west's indifference justifiably so for Palestinians who a sham without realising that the concerning Bosnia-Herzegovina have been dispossessed by the fas­ commitment to a global struggle let us not forget that we were cist state of Israel; should we not for human rights is just a myth; silent when Indonesia invaded also fight to protect our Orang within Malaysia itself there is no East Timor in 1975 and that we Asli from being dispossessed of real commitment to the promotion supported the dcstructi ve action their lands by greedy timber lords or human rights on the part or the taken by the US against Iraq and with important state connections? authorities. went along with the cynical It is important that while we While we fight for a decent manipulation of the UN for this tell the west that they are account­ world for mankind, let us not for­ purpose. able for the wretched state of af­ get the known and unknown Today, what do we hear from fairs in the world today, we must detainees who have heen lan­ our leaders? We hear in loud and not also forget to hold our gover­ guishing behind hars for years in unequivocal terms the demand ment accountable to us for the Malaysia. There arc hundreds of that the UN must be many political and financial scan­ them. Let us pray for the poor and democratised, the GATT must be dals and its abuse of the ISA, the downtrodden who suffer In reformed, the IMF, World Bank Police Act, the Printing Presses silence and have no channel or and other international institu­ and Publications Act, the par­ recourse to any redress for their tions must be reformed so that a liamentary process, the media, etc grievances. Let us not ignore the truly just New World Order may that have caused so much suffer­ sick child of a poor family whose emerge. Ali ran is not against ing to Malnyinns. I say this with life ebbs away because private reform of the UN, the IMP, the sorrow because there is the ten­ hospitals are too expensive and World Bank etc. On the contrary, dency among some of us to cheer government ones arc inadequate we are all for it but we feel that if and applaud our great leaders and understaffed. we accuse others of double stand­ when they show up the inade­ Let us succour the homeless ards we must not practise double quacies of the west hut yet arc who cannot afford a roof over standards ourscl ves. blind and mute to the inequities their heads and who are not sure and injustices being practised of their next meal. Let us sym­ Fight For Justice here in Malaysia. pathise with the bright child who Therefore in the struggle for a We trip over each other in our is denied a place in the university genuine New World Order should haste to congratulate and support and is deprived of a chance for we not look at our nation and ask our great leaders when they lam­ self impro\·ement. Let us pity the whether we should begin by fight­ bast the we;;t. Of course, all such old and in firmed who arc depend­ ing forjustice for our people? l s it outpouring~ or support for such ent on public transport, who wait not. time for Malaysians to call for leaders lind their way into our ser­ in stoic patience in the blazing sun the abolition of the Internal vile and sycophantic pres·s and for a bu~ to take them to their Security Act, the Official S~crcts · give an aura of morality to leaders de~tinntion. Act, the Police Act, the Printing who should have been pilloried in l.ast but not least, let us pray Presses and Publications Act and the first place for the double for ourselves that we may not all such laws that certainly do not standards and hypocrisy that they worship false lenders who say one contribute to the well-being of our are practising here in Malaysia. thing and do the very opposite. citizens. That they have esc.tpcd honest We must remember that \\hilc we Should we not demand from scrutiny is because we have such endeavour to Iig:ht candles to our government better public cunning leaders who have hijack­ guide the world with our exhorta­ health facilities, better public ed the tcrminolgy and rhetoric of tions to observe decency and transport, aquality education sys­ the human rights movement and morality, let us not allow the dark­ tem, better housing and other have used it to cover up their gross ness of hypocrisy and douhlt> public facilities and amenities violations of human rights in standards to envelope us because that the citizens of most western Malaysia and yet present themsel­ we did not light a single candle of nations enjoy and can take for ves as champions of human rights truth and justice in Malny~ia .•

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Aliran Monthly 1994:14 (4) Page 33 In the first instance wasn't it the public's outrage that · forced the setting up of this committee to get to the bottom CURRE~I~f of the truth? Or was the com­ mittee set up to appease the present ~ublic anger, hoping CONCERNS that the 1ssue would die down and be forgotten in three months? Being transparent and ~ruthful is what accountability 1s all about - something which the government itself strongly advocates. We must be ac­ countable to the public both in words and deed. P. Ramakrishnan President 25 March 1993

REVIEW DECISION TO BAN "SCHINDLER'S LIST" Like Deputy PM Datuk female athletes that it be­ MAKE FINDINGS Seri Anwar Ibrahim, ALIRAN comes all the more imperative is also extremely surprised PUBLIC and crucial for the inclusion of that the film "Schindler's List" women on this committee. ALIRAN is both en­ has been banned. According to ALIRAN is heartened by couraged and happy that the Anwar, it is a good film -in his the fact ·that the minister is Youth and Sports Minister own words "satu filem ber­ conscious and mindful of the Abdul Ghani Othman had mutu". acted promptly in response to fact that the public is demand­ The decision of the the MAAU Council's requegt ing for answers. The minister Malaysian Film Censorship that it be investigated to dC'ter­ has very aptly summed up the Board to ban the film was mine "whether the i\lAAU con­ situation when he stated, "Too based on its claim that it is ducted itself properl}" in many questions have been raised by members of the subtle Zwnist/Jewish connection with the sexual propaganda ("propaganda harassment issue. public and they want to know what actually happened." Yahudi"). Other pensonalities The minister has appointed Having said that the mem­ including the FINAS chair­ a five-member committee of in­ bers of public "want to know man have also supported the quiry for this purpose what actually happened," ban for the same reason. ALIRAN, however, notes \\ith ALIRAN finds it incongruous In replying to questions regret that the entire commit­ that the minister should rule regarding the ban, the PM tee is made up of men, exclud­ that the committee's findings Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir ing the participation of women will not be made public. Rtatcd thnt the Malaysian in this affair The public has the right to government has the right to It would be proper and right know why the committee's ban any film it so desired. But to include at least a \\Oman t'o findings will not be made he also explamcd that while he serve on this committee. The public. How is the public inter­ opposes Zionism, he is not nature of allegation is such est served by withholding such anti-Semitic. and the alleged victims being findings? Like the PM, most

Aliran Monthly 1994:14 (4) Page .U Malaysians including Hussein as the governor of 1958, Bank Negara is required ALIRAN are opposed to Bank N egara over the massive to submit an account of its as­ Zionist expansionism to create loss ofRM 5.7 billion in foreign sets and liabilities to the Min­ a greater Israel. For this exchange speculation in 1993. ister of Finance once every two reason Malaysians have sup­ This resignation has been weeks. ported the just' struggle of the long overdue. He should have According to the Bank \ Palestinians for their own accepted full responsibility for Negara's oflicial publication, state, and demanded Israeli the RM 9 billion losses in­ Money and Banking in withdrawal from all occupied curred in 1992 and resigned Malaysia, "there is frequent Arab territories. last March instead of or­ contact between the governor But the film "Schindler's chestrating a futile attempt to of the Bank, including the List" is not about Zionist ex­ paper over the so-called "paper Bank?s Board, and the Mini­ pansionism. Nor, as far as we losses!" ster of Finance where views know, is it Zionist propaganda. Both he and the govern­ are exchanged and problems From what we have read ment should have been honest discussed (and) the Treasury is about the film, it focuses on the and truthful to the Malaysian kept fully informed of current heroic efforts of a single caring public then. Instead they chose and proposed monetary individual: he risks his life to justify the colossal loss as. policies or measures, and against all odds to save the something not out of the ordi­ problems are discussed in ad­ lives of some 1,200 innocent nary. In the process, many vance where a change in policy Jewish people from the Nazi believed, that they did not only requires government ap­ gas chambers in Poland during mislead the public but also proval". the Second World War. Need­ that august body, parliament. So the Bank's Board must less to say, the sufferings of the The cumulative loss over have known; the Minister of Jewish victims are portrayed the two year period is RM 15 Finance must have known; the realistically, as they should be. billion- a mind boggling figure Treasury officials must have The J ewish holocaust, a - which is equivalent to 30% of known; the government big­ genocide, is a shameful fact of Malaysia's foreign debt. This is wigs must have known. history. All Malaysians should by far the single biggest loss by What did they do to prevent be informed of the holocaust. any public or private sector or­ this catastrophe? Why didn't All forms of genocide must ganisation in this country in they act as prudent custodians be condemned and opposed. its entire history. In com­ of the nation's wealth? Or were We need to know of, and learn parison, the infamous BMF they all, as KJ Khoo wrote in from people like Schindler if scandal pales before this gar­ the Aliran Monthly in April we hope to get rid of cruelty gantuan loss! 1993:14.4, "gripped, as it were, and oppression against Given the scale and scope of in a gambling fever, merrily humanity. losses resulting from this im­ persisting as the losses For all the above reasons, prudent s peculation in foreign mounted, waiting optimisti­ we support the Deputy PM's exchange markets by Bank cally to recoup them in the effort.." to discuss the issue with Negara, ALIRAN calls upon next transaction"? the Prime Minister, so as to the government to set up a The Malaysian nation review the decision to ban an Royal Commission to inves­ needs and deserves honest educational film . tigate into all aspects of this answers. We hope the govern­ Dr Francis Loh scandal. ment and the Finance Minis­ Secretary Among other things, the try in particular does not Commission should find out attempt to paper over this 25 March 199-' why there was no mechanism scandal by making the gover­ to detect and avert the nor the scapegoat. speculation once the losses Instead, we would expect BANK NEGARA: started mounting and deter­ the Ministry of Finance to NEED FOR HONEST mine how deeply involved issue a truthful account of were the political masters of what really happened rather ANSWERS Bank Negara. than gloss over the scandal as ALIRAN welcomes the According to the Central something normal and in­ resignation of Tan Sri Jaffar Bank of Malaysia Ordinance evitable.

Aliran Monthly /994:14 (4) Page 35 What transpired was havens" declared by the UN. neither normal nor ine\l'itable. Besides the general arms em .. 1he Executive Committee bargo on Bosnia, Bosnian for­ ces in Goradze were also forced , ______5 Aprill994 __ by the UN to surrender their arms. Much of the blame lies with Serb Slaughter and the US and the UN army chief UN's Moral Paralysis in Bosnia, Lt. Gen. Michael Rose. \Vhen at was obvious to Aliran views with utmost everyone that Goradze was alarm and disappointment the under siege, Ro:se told us he did political and military in­ not think that Goradze was in deciHivencss that the UN, the serious dang<'r. superpower and western The UN and the US instead countries have displayed while placed their hopes on peace the aggressor Serbs are left talks with the Serbs. But Ser­ freely to :;laughter human bian promises have never lives m the Bosnian city of Tragedy in Goradz.e: Need for justice matched their deeds. It is un­ Goradze tn particular and Bos­ and moral courage believable to see how naive nia-Herzegovina in general. Rose and the US Bill Clinton Equally disturbing is the We urge fellow Malaysians are to have relied on Serbian apparent lack of political will­ and members of the civilised promises which have been power and leadership on the international community to broken many, many times in part of the Non-aligned Move­ demand that the UN and other the past. ment as well as the Organiza­ relevant world bodies take The Serbs have now shown tion of Islamic Conference to decisive political and military their utter contempt for NATO consistently and systematical­ action so as to save th<.' and the UN by shooting at ly put pressure on the relevant beleaguered Balkan country NATO jets and kidnapping UN world bodieH like the UN and from further human misery. troops. certain western powers so as to In the final analysis, the Now that the UN is feeling help arrest the making of yet morality of the world com­ the heat, they are thinking of another holocaust in modern munity as a whole is being withdrawing their troops. But time. judged. Justice and mond th0.y h:1vP ::~lrPady caused un­ In desperate situations courage must prevail in this told damage by leaving the such as this, words of concern hour of need. Bosnian forces defenceless fol­ expressed by certain world Dr l'ttustafa K Anuar lowing the strict arms embar­ leaders are useless and indeed Exco ii·1emher go. A horrible genocide is discomforting, especially in taking place m Bosnia. the face ofhuman carnage that 20 .\pril 1 99~ If a multinational UN force is being committed by the ag­ could have liberated Kuwait gressor Serbs. What is r<.'ally from Saddam Hussein's oc­ needed now is swift military UN Watches As cupying forces, it is difficult to action to prevent more Bos­ understand why the same can­ nians from being killed, Goradze Burns not be done for Bosnia. maimed and tortured. The UN "peacekeeping" The Serb1an onslaught on For the UN and other mter­ troops might as well pack up the Bosnian town of Goradze national bodiCs not to do some­ their bags and go home. After has clearly revealed to us the thing decisive is tantamount to all, i~ is impossible to keep the moral bankruptcy of the rewarding the Serbs for their peace when no peace can be United Nations and the belligerence and punishing the found in the first place. Western powers who are sup­ Bosnians for their helpless­ \nil .\'oe/ Netto posed to be spear-heading the ness. Indeed. as already Exco Member "peacekeeping" efforts. pointed out by the :\1alaystan 21 April f99~ government, the credibility of Goradze is supposed to be the UN is at stake. one of the so-called "safe

A/iran Montlrly 1994:14 (4) Page 36 which is known to be under strong government influence. Bank Negara losses: The Finance Minister did not deem it fit to act in any manner~ honourable as the Bank Negara chief. Minister should resign Tongue m cheek, Anwar said he . had already in­ structed the Bani- to 'top <.peculation as far back as March n I ~t Apnl 199-t, the Governor of Bank Negara 1992. Ofcour..c, it is not easy to verify this. Nevertheless, (Central Bank) of Malaysia, Tan Sri Jaffar it i!> queer that when the 1992 losses were reported in 0 llw.. -.cin. "'hilc presenting the Bank Negara 1993, Anwar claimed that he had no prior knowledge and Annual Report for 1993 at the Press Conference, that he was awaiting a full report from the bank. announced that the Bank lost RM5.7 billion in 1993 as a result ot speculation in the foreign exchange market. This PROFIT OPTIMIZATION was no April Fool'sjoke. According to its charter, Bank Negara is entrusted In a similar press conference about a year ago, he with mainly the function of guaranteeing stability in the pointed out that there was a fall under the "other reserves" financial system and in the value of currency for the item from RM 10.05 billion to RM952.6 million. In com­ country. As s upervi~or and trustee for the wealth of the mon parlance, the Bank incurred a loss of about RM9.2 country, Bank Negara is supposed to be prudent and not billion for 1992. But the Governor claimed that it wa-s involve itself in speculation. merely a "paper los-..". But in 1988,Jaffar Hussein asBankNegaraGovernor There are those who estimate that the 1992 losses made an important speech. He noted that the hallmarks were much bigger because the 1992 Annual Report of the Bank's traditional reserves strategy were safety and -..howcd that the Bank had transferred RM$800 million to liquidity. "To these I have added a third and fourth the "other re-..erves" account and allocated RM2.7 billion dimension; profit optimization and market expertise", he for lo~ses expected a-. a result of actions in that year. stressed. wa... the Governor voicingjul>t his views or was he echoing his master's voice? NO PAPER LOSS It i'> noted that following this speech the Bank began Sim1larly. bigger losse~ have been estimated by to involve itself actively in foreign exchange speculation. economi ... ~ and bankers alike for 1993, perhaps double It was slowly becoming less prudent. Indeed, the Bank or triple the RMS 7 billion admitted by the Bank. Never­ was already mvolved in gambling the wealth of the thele-s<,, the official figure i-; enormous enough. At least country. The climax tn such activity was around 1992. thi' time the amount is not claimed as paper loss. Bank Ncgara involvement in the foreign currency In March 1993, following the Governor's long ex­ market was huge enough to cause large 11uctuations in planation that the RM9.2 billion was not a real loss, The price. Apparently, a!. early as 1989 the US Federal Minister of Finance, Datu"- Seri Anwar Ibrahim, assured Reserve had sent a letter to the Bank, asking it to restrain Parliament that there was nothing to worry. After all it its activities in the market. According to the December wa~ only a "paper loss". Of course, very few who knew 1993 issue ot"Euroeconomy"the Bank brushed this letter bcller believed Anwar, although he was able to convince aside and went on "to take even larger positions and in the majority of people, thanks to good coverage by the more diverse markets". rned 1a that he controls. An war had misled Parliament and Why did Bank Negara seem to display so much the people. courage? Surely it was not acting on its own. Many In 1993, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir believe that it muo;t have acted with the full blessing of its Moh.1mad. when urged by opposition party leaders to political masters. There are clear indications that invol­ take action on the Bank and its Governor, gave Bank vement in all kinds of speculations to make quick and big Negara his seal of approval by saying, "There were times profits hm .. almo ... t been a policy or an obsession of some m the pa't \\hen we made profit<;. At that time we kept of the top leaders in the National Front Government of qUJet, but nov. "'hen there IS a fall, we want to take action. Malaysia. That is not the \\a} We have heard of Maminco, a two-dollar com pan}, llus time round. the Go\'Crnor cannot offer the san1c set up to buy un. The intention was good, mainly to explanation an} more. Instead he had to offer his resig­ maintain un price at a reasonably high price. The nation. He ,,1id he had to take full responsibility and that Employee·~ Provident Fund was manipulated for this re 1gnmg "'a' the most honourable thing to do. The purpose. Unfortunately, either as an act of retaliation or que'!lion i,: did he act <;O on hi<; own or in order to save merely by sheer coincidence, United States relea'ied its hi~ pohucal masters·) stockpile. The price of tin fell. We suffered a loss of about On '(th April 199-t. Anwar the Finance Minister, to MR600 million. and it was all funds from workers' "hom Rank Negara is responsible, appointed a new contributions. Go' ernor in the person of Mohamed Md Don, who wa~ Then there was the notorious BMF-Carrian scandal, until then Managing Director of Malayan Banking, which resulted in Bank Bumiputra losing MR2.4 billion

Aliran Monthly 1994:14 (4) Page 37 and Petronas having to inject about an equal amount to worried at the prospect of the value of the pound sliding S happened? Both Jaffar Huso;ein and Nor cauo;ed by hcav)' ~peculation, espet;ially in pound sterltng Mohamed huve honourably resigned from their position~ and also, to a lesser degrece, in Deutschsmark. Why did in Bank Negara. Their action\ are appropriate and the dtsaster occur? There are many analyses that have praiseworthy. But urc we to believe that they have at:ted been offered, but two seem to be worth noting. so merely because they really felt re~ponsible for the Firstly. at the end of the eighties, when Tun Daim Bank's losses Or, to repeat the earlier question in a Zainuddtn wa\ Finance Mintster. foreign exchnnge different wuy. i~ it possible that they have acted under ~peculation "'as already the order of the day. But the duress to save ..,ome powerful leaders tn the country? quantum -.pcculatcd was not as huge }Ct. Profits were Nobod) IS gotng to believe thut they acted on their made. ns mentioned by the Prime Mim~ter. It seems the O\\-n. Nobody wtll believe thut they ut:tcd without the involvement wus stepped up after Anwar succeeded J...nowledge, in fact, the blessings, of the Prime Minister Daim. A senior Bank advi~or. Nor Mohamed Yakcup and Minbtt:r of Finance. Market !>peculation seems to wa'\ given nlmost a free hand to mannge this activity. have been u fuvourite indulgence of some important (Incidentally, tt appeared that Nor Mohamed was a clo... e in!>titutions in the country. As we noted ubovc, it appears associate of Anwar ~ince their ABIM days ) to reflect a long-Manding policy or pasllme pursued by Apparent!)'. huge profit<; "'crt: made at the beginning. the powerful Bartsan Government leaders. What tS , This spurred btgger amounts being -.pcculated. Tragical­ speculation if not gambling by another name. ly. about thts time, the pound wa\ devalued and The giguntic gambling indulged by Bank Negara depreciated significantly aguinst the Malaysian Ringgtt occurred under the very nose of the Finance Minister. It That was when the huge losses were incurred. According is to him the Bank and its Governor ure responsible. Is it to one tnformation, in 1992 ubout RM30 billion was not the convention that the Governor reports to the Min­ speculated. The amount lost by Malnysia needs no irn­ ISter every week? The losses incurred by Bank Negara i\ agmatton ..... hen the value of Sterling dipped b) about 30 cnormou~ b)' any standard. Anwar tries to minimise the percent. -;criou!>ness b) repeating that the Bank is strong because The second unulysis is quite different. As we J...now , it now has u reserve of more than RM90 billion. trade between Mulaysia and Britain is not very big. · Let us put the record straight. The so-called reserve is Therefore, Uank Negara docs not need to purchase too the accumulated balance from favourable international much \tcrling On the other hand, there was huge lll\·est­ trade- the ~urplus of export over import. It ha-; not grown mcnt on the pound. Was this due to political pre~!>ure ? from speculating or trading activities c:lrried out by Banl In 19g8, around the same time that Jaffar Hu:-.setn Negara in the foreign exchange market. Indeed. it is made hi' tmportant !>pcech referred to earlier. Mala) ... i.1 agamst it'> charter tor the Banl to act irnprudentl)' by signed u Memorandum oJ UodeNandtng (MOUJ Y.ith gambling it Britain to buy about RM4.5 billion worth of ami!> Irom Still a lot i'> not known about thi., scandal. It is more the lntter. Not long afterwurds :-.evt:ral deuls were closed. appropriate that an Independent or Ro)'ul Commission be valued at around RM5 billion. for contracts and loans set up to im ~~ttgate every m;pcct of 11 . related to the construction of the ne\~ Kuala Lumpur t\1cum\hile the most honourable thmg for the Mini­ International Airport (KLIA). sh:r of Finance to do IS to resign hi., post. to tale full In vic\\ ol the poor and detenoruting conditions ot the responstbtlit) for the Bank losse-. anc.J abo for ha\ing British economy, several leader.., in government \\t:re misled Parliament and the public . •

Aliran Monthly 1994:14 (4) Page 38 REFLECTIONS

by Heike Lemanzyk

hile hew. as in Pans. the German poet Rainer Maria Rifke used to go tor a walk every lunchtime with a young Frei'ICh woman. WEvery day they passed a woman, who sat motionless by the roadside, begg1ng. She took:. the g1fts of passers~by without showing any reaction or gratitude. To the surpnse of his companion, the poet never gave the beggar anyth1ng. When the Frenchwoman asked him why, he told her that th1s woman needed something for her heart, not her hand. The next day, Rilke brought a rose. His young com· panion thought it was for her and was very pleased. But instead he gave it to the beggar. To their surpnse the woman stood up. took Ailke's hand, kissed rt and hurried away with the rose. For over a week she did not return to her post Then she Was back aga1n. silent and mot1onless as before. What had she lived off all those days, wondered Rilke's compan1on. 'The rose,' answerd Rilke. If we want to treat others in the right way, we have to close our eyes and eats and open our hearts. If we concentrate on the external facade which we present to each other, the essential remains invtsible. · Ritke's beggar obvlovsly needed money and material , goods. to feed her tam1ly and herseff. Everybody passtng by could see this. But in fact she needed sometrnng which wanned her heart and fed her soul. To meet people's need we have tc-Jearn to see behind their masks and to let our hearts speak. One morning I arrived at work and found that my colteague had already been there for ten minutes and that evetythmg which could have gone wrong had gone wrong. She was in a bad mood, nervous, exCited and angry with herself and the Whole world. I felt that she wanted to pass her mood onto me so as to Justify her bad temper. But that woofd not have helped either of us, nm done anything about the things Which had gone wrong. We would not have been able to change anything. " So I decid~ to keep calm and talk about ot~r things, make some coffee and simply be her friend. At first l thought she would be angry With me. But in fact by the time we had had some coffee, her bad mood had evaporated. Later she told me that she had really needed a power which could calm her down so that she would find herself again. AntOine de Saint~Exupery says in The Little Prince; 'It is onry with the heart that one can see nghtly: what is essential1s invisible to 1he eye.' .'iourre: roR \ CR\.\Cil. · OCTOBERI/\0\'£,\IBJ.'R IW3