Malaysia’s 13 best scams

(Taken from Free Malaysia Today)

Selena Tay

February 8, 2012

The biggest scams in Malaysia are those conceived by the BN federal government.

COMMENT

Forget about the African-based black money scam. The biggest scams in Malaysia are those conceived by the Barisan Nasional federal government.

It is they who are professional scam-masters par excellence and they have two types of scams: the Money Scam and the Concept Scam.

This write-up will list both types of scams for your perusal.

First of all, the Money Scam:

1. SARA (Skim Amanah Rakyat) – This is the greatest investment scam ever. Dump in RM5,000 cash at one go and you will get RM13,000 in five years’ time. This is just too good to be true because the returns are more than doubled but still there will be many gullible “investors”. However, there are some who say that this is a scheme by the government to obtain the rakyat’s money to finance handouts to the rakyat during the campaign duration of the 13th general election. Whether there is any truth to this or not, only the wise can tell.

2. 1Care – this will just involved the rakyat paying more to the government and its cronies where health facilities are concerned. This scam is targeted at enriching the elite and the well-connected as is the purpose for all the scams.

3. EPF Housing Loan Scheme – this scheme is dangerous to the EPF contributors and could lead to a similar situation akin to the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the US if there are too many loan defaulters. EPF is rightly named the government’s Eternal Pilferage Fund and has now ended up as the government’s treasure chest. All the private sector workers who contribute to this fund have to protest. This shows that the BN government has run out of money in trying to help the rakyat and is now using the rakyat’s money to help the rakyat.

4. 1Malaysia products, badges, stickers, mugs, whatever – the purpose of these products is to enrich the corny manufacturer. Enough said.

5. BR1M (Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia) – has all the money (more than RM2 billion) allocated for this purpose been distributed? Some opined that part of the funds will be channelled into BN’s general election campaign machinery. No prizes for guessing, though, as BR1M is much shrouded in secrecy. All those who applied for this RM500 aid should be getting this cash because only those eligible will apply. Therefore, it defies logical explanation when there are still people who fail to obtain this cash aid. Thus, this has given rise to speculation that applicants staying in opposition areas where BN has no chance of winning will not be given this aid. This then begs the question where the remaining undistributed allocated funds will be chanelled to, a question which the BN government will surely find difficult to answer.

Next comes the Concept Scam:

6. 1Malaysia – the most prominent Concept Scam which is engineered to create a mind-numbing cult following with everyone chanting “1Malaysia, 1Malaysia” in a hypnotised state similar to what goes on in cult sessions. There is no solid foundation to this concept although Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has the gumption to state that this is a philosophy. Even those in his own camp do not adhere to this philosophy, not to mention practise it wholeheartedly 24/7. 1Malaysia is thus a concept to delude the masses, to cheat the people into voting for BN.

7. GTP (Government Transformation Programme) and ETP (Economic Transformation Programme) – these twin transformation programmes have transformed the pockets of government cronies from millionaires into billionaires and maybe even trillionaires. As for the rest of the ordinary rakyat, all we get is nothing but hot air.

8. NKRAs (National Key Result Areas) and NKEAs (National Key Economic Areas) – lengthy names but more of the same fluff.

9. NEM (New Economic Model) – is this dead and buried?

10. EOC (Equal Opportunities Commission) – this IS dead and buried. It should have been part of the NEM but was omitted due to intense pressure-lobbying from certain quarters.

11. Talent Corp – much money has been channelled into this corporation to promote Malaysia as a place of golden opportunities in order to attract Malaysian talent living overseas to return to these golden shores. Has the success rate of Talent Corp been published? Seems to have gone into near-oblivion.

12. E-mail scam – why must money be paid to a certain company just for sending out e-mails when there is free-of-charge e-mail service readily available on the world wide web?!

13. The 13th general election – this has been labelled the “mother of all battles” by the BN leaders and therefore it follows that this must be the mother of all scams because it involves money, concept (BN’s sloganeering) and the future of the nation; this is big-time scamming indeed. In this scam, foreign workers are given citizenship and their names inserted into the voter rolls to enable them to vote in the coming general election. This scam can result in the negation of Malaysian votes and therefore the true election results are subverted.

From the above listing, it leaves us no doubt that we are living in scam-country. The ideas that go into each scam is elaborate and simple at the same time. And really so many ideas!

By the way, has anyone noticed that Najib is the one and only prime minister who has spewed forth the most number of acronyms showcasing his so-called bold initiatives?

It is time for the rakyat to wake up to all these “bold initiatives” which are in fact well-designed scams. It is also a salient point to note that suddenly the SARA and BR1M scams are running concurrently so close to the general election. Is there anything to this? Mind you, these scams can generate much funds for the government.

All said and done, we must put an end to all these scams. Otherwise, it will seem that we enjoy getting duped by a bunch of crooked professional scammers.

Selena Tay is a FMT columnist.

"One Sarawak" should mean one Sarawak

After PM Najib Razak introduced his “One Malaysia” concept, CM Abdul Taib Mahmud followed suit by introducing his version of “One Sarawak”. Next we may hear the Mayor of Kuching introduces “One Kuching” and someone else introduces “One Simunjan”, or “One Malay”, or “One Chinese” or “One Dayak” and so on.

I have, and so many others, tried to interpret the meaning of “One Malaysia” and to me “One Malaysia, One family” where equality, justice and fairness should be the guiding principle. But judging by what is happening now, it seems that “One Malaysia” has a different meaning and interpretation.

Not many people really understand it. Not even the civil servants especially those in the Ministry of Information, who recently underwent a course to understand it.

For Sarawak, it is hoped that “One Sarawak” should be “owned” by all Sarawakians who should enjoy her wealth and prosperity. But currently it appears that “One Sarawak” belongs to one family where businesses, government contracts and tenders are grabbed and monopolized by those closely connected with the family members. Projects in SCORE are a fine example. The rest of the Sarawakians are by-standers.

“One Sarawak” is a mere slogan that helps divert the people’s attention from the real problems confronting Sarawak. One such problem is involving NCR land like the termination of the rights of the natives over their ancestors’ land and leasing such land to companies for the plantation of oil palm.

It is the off-shoot of “politics of development” where development is being concentrated in Mukah such as the proposed airport, the coal powered station, new administrative centre and so on, whereas other under-developed divisions like Kapit remain undeveloped.

If it is to be practised true to its name and concept, “One Sarawak” should really mean one Sarawak where its citizens from the various ethnic groups should be given equal opportunities in fields of education, in recruitment to the civil service and promotions, given business contracts and tenders, given political posts such as in government-linked companies as well as to participate in Sarawak’s development.

“One Sarawak” should therefore be aimed at eradicating poverty, a very, very rampant occurrence in the rural areas. Do the present State government and its leaders have the political will to do it now? Or do the rural people have to wait for election times to hear the BN politicians announcing those projects? – The Broken Shield

Source: http://www.thebrokenshield.blogspot.com/

Iban Student deprived of her rights

It is indeed a sad story of a student, Nadia Selimin, who scored 9As and a B in her Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) early this year, but denied entry to further her studies at Kolej Matrikulasi just because her mother is a Chinese. Her father is an Iban, Selimin Kring.

Sad, because there is such a thing as prejudice being practised in Malaysia, despite the fact that we are supposed to be in the 21st century and has been independent for 46 years in the federation of Malaysia.

Her plight was brought up YB Mong Dagang, State assemblyman for Bukit Begunan at the Dewan Undangan Negeri meeting.

In fact under PM Najib Razak’s “One Malaysia” concept such prejudice should no longer exist. But yet Nadia’s case is a tip of the iceberg. There are many more silent sufferers of this biased policy of the government.

Under the Sarawak Interpretation Ordinance, Nadia is a Dayak Iban and as such she should be entitled to any privileges as spelt out in Article 39 of the State Constitution or Article 153 of the Federal Constitution read together with Article 161A of the same Constitution.

We would have thought that the special position and privileges of the Natives are fully guaranteed under the Supreme Law of the country. But that is not so as the case of Nadia clearly shows.

What should we do to rectify this anomaly? Can suing the authority concerned of any help? Or bring her case to higher authorities? Or through our respective YBs?

At least in the case of Nadia I think we have to thank YB Mong for highlighting her plight. We need more YBs like him who are not ashamed to be called Dayaks to highlight Dayak problems. – The Broken Shield

News and views

1. One Malaysia, one family?

Each Prime Minister has his own slogan to strengthen his government. While Dr. Mahathir Mohamad stressed on the “Ketuanan Melayu”, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi spoke of “Islam Hadhari”. Najib Tun Razak talked about “One Malaysia”.

But what is One Malaysia? Is it like a big family? Sharing common identity, enjoying same privileges and rights? To many of us that is what it means.

As a member of the One Malaysia, we as Dayaks do expect to be treated with equality and fairness and to enjoy the various privileges. Under the Abdullah government, the Dayaks were not allowed even to form their own party, Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC), rejecting it on grounds of security threat.

What threat? Tell me how many Dayaks have become terrorists, have been organising illegal demonstrations in the streets of Kuching or Kuala Lumpur or have been arrested under the famous Internal Security Act (ISA)?

The only arrests made were those Dayaks who are defending their NCR lands from being robbed and sold to big companies for the planting of oil palm.

If the Prime Minister is really serious about implementing the One Malaysia concept, then he should do something to prevent the NCR land from being taken away. What he can do is to tell the State government to put a stop to such discriminatory practices. But will Najib do it?


2. YB Dayaks should be blamed?

While the Democratic Action Party (DAP) state secretary Chong Chieng Jen blamed the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) for the racial imbalance in the public service, the Dayak community should blame the Dayak elected representatives be they in SUPP, PBB, SPDP and PRS for not bringing up the matter with the government.

Like SUPP who always claimed that they “are Chinese representative in the government,” SPDP and PRS who also claimed that they represent the Dayaks in the government should speak up. Failing which they are doing disservice to the community they suppose to represent.

Now you go to every office or department, you only see one race. Seldom have you seen other races. Certainly this is not good to the One Malaysia concept as espoused by the newly appointed Prime Minister.


3. Dayak Bidayuhs upset over exclusion

The Bidayuh community is unhappy with the newly formed government of Najib Tun Razak over the non-inclusion of a Bidayuh MP in the cabinet. – The Broken Shield

(See the full story of Malaysiakini below)
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Source: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/102325

Najib to face a Bidayuh mutiny?

The Dayak Bidayuhs - numbering more than 200,000 in Sarawak - once again feel slighted when none of their three parliamentarians was included in the recently-formed Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak's cabinet.

The three MPs - Richard Riot (Serian MP from the Sarawak United People's Party), James Dawos Mamit (Mambong, Parti Pesaka Bumiputra) and Dr Tiki Lafe (Mas Gading, Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party) - have received negative reactions from their constituents as a result of them being overlooked by Najib.

Some called for them to resign their seats in order to show their displeasure against the Najib government, while others have called on them to join PKR.The three MPs admitted receiving many SMSes from their supporters and members of the Bidayuh community.

"I know that the prime minister has the prerogative to appoint members of his cabinet, but by not appointing one from the Bidayuh community, he has made his 1Malaysia concept a mere rhetoric," said Dawos when asked by journalists.

Tiki, when contacted, also expressed disappointment and said he was now on the ground to seek feedback from his constituents on the next course of action to be taken.

This is the second time that the Bidayuh community has been sidelined from the cabinet.After the March 2008 general election, the community was excluded from the cabinet of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Tiki was a member of the Abdullah government but was dropped from the cabinet after the 2008 general election.

His place was taken over by another SPDP leader and a member of the Orang Ulu community, Jacob Dungau Sagan.

Last year, there were rumours that Riot and Tiki were on the verge of joining the opposition. Riot and 1,000 supporters burnt their Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) membership cards but he and Tiki withdrew their threats after BN leaders met them.

‘Bidayuhs are penumpang'

In a related development former Mas Gading MP and Star president Dr Patau Rubis urged the Bidayuh community to stop complaining and give Najib a chance to settle into his job.

"All the Bidayuhs are penumpang (passengers) of other people's boats and we should not complain.

We do not have a voice," he said, adding that the Bidayuhs were now further divided after joining PKR.

Another Bidayuh leader Patrick Anek Uren, also a former MP for Mas Gading, called on Tiki to quit as MP as he had failed to represent the community in the federal government.

"As an MP, you are elected by the people and to serve them as well as to deliver all things that benefit the people. It is not a privilege for you to seek employment for yourself.

"I think Tiki has failed us and I demand his resignation immediately," said Anek, who was noted for his oratory and courage for fighting for the Bidayuhs' interests.

choing Anek's comments, PKR Bidayuh chief coordinator Granda Aing said the three MPs should become independents or join his party.

Otherwise, he said, their worth was only RM4 million, referring to the money given by Najib to the Bidayuh community a couple of months ago.

Former president of the deregistered Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) Daniel Tajem said that the Bidayuhs should not complain as they were always very close to the BN government.

"Accept whatever is given to the community," he said.