Betrayal of trust
Malaysia's 'Darling' Status Isn't What It Seems
Never underestimate the power of delusion. Just ask Muhyiddin Yassin, the deputy prime minister of an Asian economy that last year almost beat Hong Kong as a destination for initial public offerings. The market in question: Malaysia.
The Southeast Asian nation topped Group of Seven-member Canada in 2012, ending the year as the world's fifth-largest IPO market. Not bad, considering Malaysia is Asia's ninth-biggest stock market, hardly a regional powerhouse. Malaysia was deemed a safe haven from Europe's debt crisis and a reasonable play on the China growth story.
Yet Malaysian officials shouldn't get ahead of themselves in thinking their economy has suddenly become a "darling of investors," as Muhyiddin has said. There's a strong whiff of complacency in his recent comments about how the government is raising its economic game. If only it were.
Muhyiddin's boss, Prime Minister Najib Razak, has talked a great game of reform. But Malaysia has yet to tackle the reason so many investors and multinational companies underweight the place: affirmation-action policies that hold back its growth and dynamism in the world's most competitive region.
Malaysia is sandwiched between industrial heavyweights Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, and a cast of fast-rising upstarts including China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Malaysia needs to act boldly and expeditiously to dismantle productivity-killing quotas that benefit only ethnic Malays.
"It's losing relevance and refuses to change its politically entrenched affirmative-action policies to gain back its economic prowess," said Chrisanne Chin, capital-markets consultant at IABT Research Malaysia. "The government is only interested in keeping power."
That creates a counterproductive brain-drain dynamic that encourages many non-Malays to seek opportunities overseas, especially in Singapore. "The brain drain is very real as the government continues its downward slide into mediocrity and decay," Chin said. "A darling of investors? I think not."
Muhyiddin and Najib must be careful about believing their own good press and get to work. Talking about leveling the playing field in Malaysia isn't the same as doing it. Until that happens, many executives and investors may take their business elsewhere.
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Malaysian PM caught up in murder, bribery scandal
Lindsay Murdoch
Persistent allegations could harm the ruling party's poll chances.
THE plot has all the trappings of a B-grade movie: the murder of a glamorous Mongolian socialite amid allegations of high-level bribery, blackmail, betrayal and political cover-up.
But these are real-life events, and they could set back the chances of Malaysia's ruling coalition in an election that Prime Minister Najib Razak must call by midyear.
Mr Najib denies involvement but the allegations will not go away. The internet in Malaysia is running hot with allegations by a disaffected businessman, Deepak Jaikishan, who is well connected in the ruling United Malays National Organisation.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Photo: AFP
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The second part of the controversy is driven by an inquiry
in France into a complex money trail left by Malaysia's $US2 billion
purchase of two French-Spanish built Scorpene submarines in 2002 while
Mr Najib was defence minister.Ms Shaariibuu worked as a translator in the latter stages of the deal negotiations.
Businessman Abdul Razak Baginda, one of the PM's best friends and a policy adviser, was Ms Shaariibuu's lover. Photo: ReutersMr Najib, who is preparing to contest his first election since being installed in power by his party in 2009, denies ever meeting Ms Shaariibuu or having any link with her. The government denies any wrongdoing in the submarine purchases.
But it was two of Mr Najib's bodyguards who dragged Ms Shaariibuu from a car, knocked her unconscious and shot her twice in the head on October 19, 2006, according to court testimony. She had begged for her life and apparently that of her unborn child.
The killers then wrapped her body in C4 plastic explosives obtained from the military and blew her up, ensuring the foetus was destroyed along with the identity of the father. For good measure, they erased her entry into Malaysia from immigration records.
The Scorpene submarine story has been tumbling out since 2002 when Mr Najib ordered them from French ship builder DCNS.
Two French investigating magistrates are looking into so-called ''commission'' payments of about $US160 million into companies reportedly set up by Mr Baginda. Documents have been seized from the DCNS offices in Paris.
Ms Shaariibuu, who spoke several languages, became Mr Baginda's lover after they had met in Hong Kong. Stunningly beautiful, she had been married to a popular Mongolian singer and to the son of a famous Mongolian fashion designer.
Ms Shaariibuu admitted in a letter found after her murder that she had been blackmailing Mr Baginda, who had jilted her after they had travelled through Asia and Europe together.
She reportedly had wanted a $US500,000 cut to remain silent about her knowledge of the deal.
Ms Shaariibuu was abducted outside Mr Baginda's house, where she was said to be causing a scene. Her murder was eventually uncovered following continued pressure from her well-connected family and the Mongolian embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
The two bodyguards were convicted of murder in 2009 but have claimed they are scapegoats and are appealing against death sentences. Pleading with a court not to execute him in February 2009, Sirul Azhar Umar described himself as a ''black sheep that has to be sacrificed'' to protect unnamed people.
''I have no reason to cause hurt, what's more to take the life of the victim in such a cruel manner,'' he said.
''I appeal to the court, which has the powers to determine if I live or die, not to sentence me so as to fulfil others' plans for me.''
A judge sensationally dropped an abetting a murder charge against Mr Baginda in 2008 before any evidence was heard and he is believed to be living in exile in Britain with his family.
Among several claims made by Mr Deepak - a carpet dealer - to opposition and independent websites are that he interceded to have a private detective change his 2008 sworn declaration that Mr Najib had had a sexual relationship with Ms Shaariibuu. The Prime Minister has repeatedly denied any relationship with Ms Shaariibuu, calling it a ''terrible lie''.
Often sensational claims and counter claims in the case have been barely reported in Malaysia's government-controlled mainstream media.
The Malaysian human rights non-government organisation SUARAM, whose approach to a magistrate in Paris in 2010 prompted the French investigation, has complained of official harassment.
But the claims are hot issues on opposition and independent websites, led by the Hong Kong-based Asia Sentinel online magazine, which published confidential files on the case last year and whose editor, John Berthelsen, has doggedly pursued the story for years.
Malaysia, with a population of 28 million, has an internet penetration of more than 62 per cent, one of the highest in south-east Asia.
Some commentators in Kuala Lumpur, including Wong Choon Mei writing in the Malaysia Chronicle, have speculated that 59-year-old Mr Najib could be forced from office before he gets to call the election. Jittery powerbrokers in UMNO fear that if he remains head of the coalition, they may lose to the opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, and his Pakatan Rakyat coalition.
There is infighting in UMNO, which has shared power in the country for more than 50 years, as the latest opinion polls show Mr Najib's approval rating has fallen to its lowest level in 16 months.
Wong wrote in the Chronicle on January 7 that UMNO watchers believed former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad had decided to throw his weight behind Deputy Prime Minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, and effect an 11th-hour change in leadership, although many have cautioned that such a move could boomerang and create even greater infighting.
But Mr Najib, the son of Malaysia's second prime minister, has emerged unscathed by the prosecution of his bodyguards and is publicly ignoring the French inquiry and Mr Deepak's claims as he presents himself as a reformist, abolishing several restrictive laws and implementing a program to bolster unity among ethnic groups.
Malaysia's economy has fared well and the country is considered by the Work Bank to be an attractive place to do business. On January 8, Mr Najib denied rumours he had suffered a minor stroke due to the pressure of the allegations by Mr Deepak, saying he is healthy. ''So don't listen to the blogs, please,'' he said.
Analysts say the election will be the strongest ever challenge to UMNO's rule. Mr Najib has called the coming election ''a defining point for the destiny of the people and country''.
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The one and only way of getting people to listen to Najib's speech. And this time it is the Indians from plantation. Free transport to collect free provisions. This is how Najib thinks of the Indians in Malaysia.
As for Chandra, there is no word to describe a pariah.
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/tunku-aziz-saturday-rally-betrayal-of-public-trust-mockery-of-democracy/
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