In a previous blog post, I mentioned DAP’s tendency to trash Malaysia’s so-called corrupt and ill managed state own corporations, citing in particular 1MDB, and extol Singapore as the quintessential example of clean and accountable corporate governance, an oft repeated faux analysis motivated not by an honest appraisal of facts but rather DAP’s own familial ties to Singapore’s ruling PAP, and also as a smokescreen to distract from its own weak and opaque corporate dealings in Penang.
In response, some idiot smart alecs on social media have criticised my blog posts, asking why I care so much about Singapore. Actually, I don’t. I couldn’t give two hoots what Singapore does, it is not my country.
Moron asks the obvious on why a comparison with Singapore is made, gets slapped with answer
But you morons just love to parrot DAP’s hypocritical position on Singapore, thus mirroring its hypocrisy. Really, you Dapsters are nothing but hypocrites and a menace to society.
And of course, your own party, DAP, is the king of hypocrisy. And I am not just talking about how it has chosen to respond to Kamarul Zaman Yusoff’s criticism of the party’s providing support and a platform for Christian extremist evangalistas like Hannah Yeoh to preach the Bible via her position as Selangor State Legislative Assembly Speaker, a fact derived from her biography, Becoming Hannah, which your types ignore in favour of spreading and believing false and malicious allegations against Kamarul Yusoff.
Tony Pua likes to sound smart by asking the government to be accountable over use of state funds while turning a blind eye to his party’s raison d’etre down south
What is particularly mind boggling is the fact that such losses are seemingly tolerated by the Singaporean public, while we Malaysians itch to demonstrate over every single sen that goes unaccounted for, before we even know the full story, much less understand what is going on. Singapore’s Temasek might even have lost billions speculating in Pakistan based NIB Bank, but not only does the island republic’s media totally ignore the issue, but their public seem blissfully unaware, and are happy to remain that way. Wow.
No wonder Singapore’s economic is heeded for an Iceland style financial meltdown. Its own people don’t seem to mind that their government is misusing their own funds for market speculation which amounts to outright gambling.
Could it be the influence of having two huge casinos in such a tiny city-state? Who knows.
Meanwhile, DAP goes ballistic over 1MDB and make all sorts of unfounded allegations regarding that fund. What gives? Why this hypocrisy?
Doesn’t truth matter? Is competency, accountabilility and transparancy real or a mere soundbite?
Judging by DAP’s Lim Guan Eng’s decision to sell state land at Peel Avenue and Bayan Mutiara in Penang without calling for an open tender, it seems the Chief Minister has decided to bin these after being done with using them as a means of garnering political support.
It doesn’t matter that MCA and Gerakan have both questioned Lim’s lack of adherence to his own principles. They’re not the government in Penang any longer. DAP is in charge in Penang now. So the need for false soundbites to gain support is no longer pressing there.
What DAP does not have hold of yet, however, is our federal government. And considering that DAP, like its parent, the PAP, is not so competent after all, the need to decieve and be hypocrical continues.
If not, then how to get support and win elections, right?
It is already the end of May. The Kamarul-Hannah debacle, involving a UUM academician and known Christian evangelist Hannah Yeoh, started in the middle of the month when Yeoh lodged a police report against Kamarul for… what was it again?
Oh yes, Kamarul’s Facebook post, which “bersifat prasangka jahat dan jelas berniat untuk menyebarkan kebencian terhadap diri saya (i.e. Hannah Yeoh), pemimpin-pemimpin DAP yang dinamakan dalam kenyataan tersebut dan parti DAP,” (“smacks of prejudice and is clearly intended to spread hatred against me (i.e. Hannah Yeoh), DAP leaders named in the post and DAP as a party”)
Kamarul Zaman Yusoff (left) and Hannah Yeoh
She also stated that Kamarul’s post “menimbulkan risiko tinggi terhadap keselamatan diri [dia] dan ahli-ahli DAP,” (“poses a high risk to [her] safety and that of other DAP members”)
Naturally, Kamarul denied this in his own counter report. Then the whole debacle started. Let’s review how it played out on the pages (or should I say, the websites) of our news portals.
A new low for Malaysian journalism
The DAP owned and operated media, MalaysiaKini, Free Malaysia Today, The Malay Mail Online and The Malaysian Insight (aka The Malaysian Insider) have all united in defence of Hannah Yeoh, spawning article after article in her defence and in condemnation of Kamarul. As I highlighted in a previous blog post, over 30 people who were either DAP members or otherwise connected with the party in some manner all churned out their own statements and “analyses” against the man.
Screen grab of FMT’s staggering 29 articles over the Kamarul-Hannah controversy. Almost all contain harsh condemnation of Kamarul, with only one reply by Kamarul given coverage
That does not also include the countless comments by hysterical Dapsters, some compiled by MalaysiaKini but most existing in that portal’s own comments section of its articles, such as this one.
The talking points seem to be on Dr Kamarul’s own faith in his own religion, Islam allegedly shaken by Hannah’s book, Becoming Hannah, although his initial post was about the hypocrisy of DAP, a supposedly avowedly secular party, having Hannah, who says in her book she wanted to become a Christian preacher and admits that politics enables her to preach her faith more widely, as its representative. There is virtually no discussion on Hannah’s initial report against Kamarul or how it supposibly threatens the safety of her and other DAP members.
Meanwhile, framing of the narrative by the portals has reached a new low, even when taking into account their well known alignment with DAP and Pakatan Harapan. Take this Malaysian Insight article published today, Kamarul takes another swipe at DAP.
The Malaysian Insight’s extremely low journalistic standards show in how it reports Dr Kamarul’s Facebook writings
The portal used terms unbecoming for a news outlet, whose duty is to report facts, and not make intepretations thereon. Intepretation is a matter solely left for a reader to decide. Loaded judgments such as “twisting facts”, “using rhetorical arguments” and “linking personal beliefs” and “erroneous examples” betray a lack of journalistic objectivity.
There is also no citation of at least one example of “Umno’s allegations” on DAP. Worse, the portal claims that Anthony Loke and Tony Pua are not Christians based on a cavalier “check” without citing any source.
Sounds like Dapster party propaganda to me. Is this supposed to be a DAP party newsletter or a proper news portal?
Keep in mind that TMI has lied before, and Raja Petra Kamaruddin once remarked that TMI was as independent as he was a virgin, LOL!
At church listening to Anthony Loke preaching on faith and politics. Way to go Reb!
Now, a simple check around social media, particularly Twitter, reveals that both Loke and Pua are in fact Christian. So TMI gets caught with its pants down, again! Go figure.
Aleluyah? RT @imokman: Sooooooo glad to hear from my pm that I'm not a pendatang. I need to go to church to give thanks now!!!
Earlier, I wrote that only 3 people have written articles in defence of Kamarul. Since then, a reader has written to me, pointing out that a statement was made by 6 NGOs, the Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy (CENTHRA), Concerned Lawyers for Justice (CLJ), the Malaysian Lawyers Circle (MLC), PPMM (Muslim Lawyers Association), iPeguam (ISMA’s law wing) and Young Professionals (YP). Nonetheless the coverage for Kamarul’s side of the story remains miniscule.
So far, the only press that has come forward to defend Kamarul (you know, besides Harakah, Ismaweb.net and the usual Islam-based parties) is Tanjak, an obscure portal that would seem to have recently been started.
Tanjak, a new portal, has produced 10 articles on the Kamarul-Hannah controversy so far, mostly detailing Kamarul’s side of the story
But from my analysis of Tanjak, article nothing therein would suggest that they have pro-Umno or pro-BN tendencies in particular, at least overtly, although they are definately anti-DAP from what I have found. They even have two articles bashing the MCA, Malay votes that Umno will lose because of MCA and MCA’s guerrilla war against Umno, although the party is a member of the ruling coalition.
News portal menara.my has also given Kamarul very limited, mostly BM coverage, though.
Pro-BN news portals that I can find (and readers are welcome to point them out if there are more) would be Raja Petra Kamaruddin’s Malaysia Today as well as Malaysia Outlook. Set up by the Centre for the Right to Good Governance, Outlook seem like a government outfit in and of itself, at least thats the impression I get scrolling its articles, which seem to be mostly an attempt at promoting what the government does.
A search for “Hannah Yeoh” only turned up one search for Michelle Yeoh on Malaysia Outlook, indicating that zero attention has been paid by this news portal has been paid to the controversy
Apart from the press statement made by the 6 NGOs above, and another article on Christian Zionism, RPK has for sure kept clear of anything to do with the Kamarul-Hannah controversy. One wonders why, considering the amount of attention it got.
Outlook too, has virtually zero to say on Kamarul Zaman Yusoff and Hannah Yeoh.
Is BN simply not interested in articulating for Kamarul? Given allegations in DAP media that he is an BN and Umno agent, wouldn’t Umno or BN at least have something to say about that? Why this deafening silence?
Or is Kamarul considered a PAS issue? Even so, they should at least say something. Their silence is disconcerting indeed.
Biased news coverage a concern
Granted, in a democracy, news outlets are generally free to be at least a bit partisan if they can’t be truly objective. In the UK for instance, The Telegraph is known for being right wing and pro-Conservative, while The Guardian is left wing and generally pro-Labour.
But at least these biases are admitted by the news outlets themselves. Even then, everyone expects at least one totally neutral reliable news source for the facts, and that role is usually supplied by the BBC.
But in Malaysia, news portals such as MalaysiaKini, The Malay Mail Online, The Malaysian Insight and Free Malaysia Today pretend to be independent, but actually carry the DAP agenda. This is worrying indeed.
Even BN owned and operated media don’t play a proper role of checking, or at least correcting, the reporting of these portals, thus emboldening them into all sorts of spin, even telling outright lies, and getting away with it.
The situation could not be made clearer by how the Kamarul-Hannah controversy has played out. But who has taken notice, and more importantly, what is being done about this? That is the question.
Everyone who is anyone in Malaysia these days knows about the 1MDB hype. Set up in 2009 by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, the sovereign wealth fund was meant to turn Kuala Lumpur into a financial hub and boost the national economy through strategic investments in profitable ventures, things went awry in 2015 when 1MDB missed some payments to some banks and bondholders. Then, all hell broke loose.
The US Department of Justice announced a civil forfeiture of assets acquired from funds allegedly siphoned from 1MDB and the Prime Minister was accused of siphoning RM2.6 billion of 1MDB’s funds into his personal bank accounts.
Later, an enquiry led by the nations’ Attorney-General cleared the PM, stating that the money was a donation for the 2013 general election. The propriety or otherwise of that move, the fact is that the issue of money transferred into the PM’s bank account would seem to be resolved although other investigations related to 1MDB are still ongoing.
But of course, no amount of action taken or investigation undertaken can ever pacify the Democratic Action Party (DAP) who is milking the matter for its own political mileage. Laughably, party supremo Lim Kit Siang, ignoring his own past calls in the 1990s for an RCI into Tun M’s own BNM Forex scandal losses, called for an RCI into the scandal. But this man will call for an RCI into just about everything and everything.
Papa Dapster LKS will call for an RCI on just about everything, even a leak from a kitchen sink
Gerakan man Teng Chang Yeow on DAP’s plans for Pulau Jerejak. What is going on?
But that’s DAP for you. Hypocrisy is such a part of the party culture that it should drop the first word of its name, i.e. democratic, and replace it with hypocritical, thus making the Hypocritical Action Party (HAP).
But this HAP or DAP we talk of is born of another certain political party that exists in our neighbour to the south, the People’s Action Party (PAP) which rules Singapore. And just like its child in Malaysia, parent and teacher PAP too, hones and perfects hypocrisy into an art form, so much so it has acquired a reputation for this skill worldwide, then as well as now.
When the 1MBD saga erupted in Malaysia, Singapore’s PAP government, eager to provide its Malaysian child with some political capital, as well as please its American friends, the Clintons, announced its own investigation into the scandal. Their Monetary Authority and Commercial Affairs Department swung into action, arresting a slew of individuals connected with the money trail where the same was found in Singapore.
But amidst all the charade, a local scandal of an even bigger magnitude was developing in the island republic. In 2009, Singapore independent news blog The Online Citizen reported that Temasek Holdings, the official investment arm of their government, lost S$40 billion in bad investments! The government, which had for decades prided itself on efficient management of the city state’s economy, didn’t seem so competent anymore!
Shock!
Horror!
Nope. Due to the tight leash they have over their media, even online social media, the fine citizenry of Singapore hardly batted an eyelid. Those that did, of course, feared for their very existence.
Meanwhile, mismanagement at the board of Temasek Holdings continued, resulting in even more losses. Neptune Orient Lines, a loss making state shipping company was to be sold. A leaked WikiLeaks cable from the Singapore US Embassy revealed that a planned leadership transition at Temasek did not occur, because Ho Ching, wife of the Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, refused to give up her leadership role at the (state-owned, mind you) holding company! Funny. And they say our own PM’s wife, Rosmah Mansor is a control freak.
Temasek Holdings (as well as the Singapore version of 1MDB, the GIC) continued (and still continues) to bleed cash, reportedly losing S$24 billion in its latest financial year ending March 31, 2016. Some of them, such as a purported loss of S$55 million due to a 2015 investment in a children’s broadcasting company, ABC Learning Limited, went unreported by the state controlled media, i.e. SPH and MediaCorp. So far the estimated losses amount to some US$80 billion, a far, far higher amount then is alleged to be siphoned from 1MDB.
But why no outcry? No condemnations? No taking to the Singaporean streets a la Bersih?
If Malaysia has Bersih as an anti-corruption pressure group for street demos, Singapore deserves one too over Temasek Holding losses. They can call it kotor.
Because the party behind the Singapore government and DAP’s parent, the PAP, is also stacked to the brim full of hypocrites!
Still, at least other patriotic Singaporeans from other, more honest political parties, such as Chee Soon Juan of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) have questioned the losses and called for a parliamentary inquiry, which is being resisted by the PAP.
Meanwhile, the dastardly people behind it all have even taken the step of poking their paws into the Singaporean people’s savings in the Central Provident Fund (CPF) to cover their losses! Another independent Singapore news blog, The States Times Review, reported that S$9.78 billion of CPF money was lost bailing out lost investment in the purchase of a company’s shares in 2007. A Singapore political blog reports that GIC manages CPF funds previously managed by Temasek Holdings, which also, incidentally, still has access to the CPF!
Chee Soon Juan of the SDP has asked his PAP Government to come clean with the missing CPF funds, but he can only do so much
PAP is not completely oblivious to the disquiet (and in Singapore, a disquiet is most it will ever hope to be) surrounding this issue, though. The Singapore Ministry of Finance has assured Singaporeans that CPF funds are completely safe and all debt obligations remain accounted for. In this smokescreen attempt it is aided by non-other than compliant international media such as the CNBC, who spin that the losses are due to ‘challenging market conditions’. Such media is in turn controlled by PAP’s American friends.
The truth is, they’re not, not really. As astute Singaporean blogger Andy Xian Wong points out, CPF debts aren’t being repaid. They are merely being restructured, per the increase in contribution requirements and retirement age. He cites the example of 2009, when Temasek lost S$40 billion, suddenly the minimum contribution amount was raised by 10.4 per cent. Coincidence? He thinks not. And I happen to agree.
World renowned economist Associate Professor Christopher Balding knows what he is talking about
Christopher Balding, Associate Professor at the Peking University HSBC School of Business in Shenzhen, China and PhD holder in Political Economics from the University of California, agrees as well. In his own blog, he laments that money belonging to Singaporeans, no less, and held on trust by the PAP Singapore government in the CPF on their behalf, is being squandered, akin to an investor who has free licence to do as he will with another’s cash. How can this be? he basically asks.
But there won’t be any answer to that question, because Singapore is not Malaysia. In Malaysia, people are free to shout and march their asses out whenever a whiff of a scandal is murmured. In the Disneyland with the death penalty to the south, however, simple desires to know more about state investment decisions are already met with veiled legal threats, and any notion of demonstrating against the government is unthinkable.
In a 2015 blog post, DAP grandee Kit Siang repeated his mantra that Malaysia should learn from Singapore. “Fifty years ago, Malaysia expelled Singapore from the federation and the two entities went their separate ways. So distraught was Lee Kuan Yew, then Singapore’s chief minister, that he shed tears in public for the first and last time in his long and extraordinary career. Half a century later, it should be Malaysians who are crying,” he began. He then alluded to 1MDB, and falsely stated that such corruption would never be tolerated in Singapore, when it fact, it is not just tolerated, but actively happening. Clearly, DAP is smoke screening the Singapore government’s losses in Temasek and GIC on PAP’s behalf.
One BIG family: Papa Dapster and son above, Papa Papster and son below
So following Singapore’s lead, far from making us better, would make us worse off! But does Papa Dapster know? Yes, definately. Does he care? Nope, not at all.
At the same time, his son continues to bankrupt, rape and pillage Penang, perhaps shedding tears of joy over the fact that Penangites are so stupid and gullible enough to let him do so. May this extend to the rest of Malaysia soonest, he probably yearns silently.
With such gullible Malaysians, Kit Siang & Co may well get their wish.
Will we let this father and son show run our country, like the father and son show down south? Perhaps. But one thing for certain is that we certainly won’t do so for our love of good governance or hatred of corruption.
Such a move on our part would indicate that we have finally grown to accept what both PAP and DAP have been pushing upon us all this while – hypocrisy and authoritarianism. And we do so at our own peril indeed.
No doubt everyone who is anyone in Malaysia might have heard about the whole Hannah Yeoh controversy for now. Basically she lodged a police report against this academic from UUM, Dr Kamarul Zaman for a simple Facebook post. The post is titled “Hannah Yeoh contoh hipokrit terbesar DAP,” (This is a website version, view the original on Dr Kamarul’s FB here)
Apparently Hannah Yeoh didn’t like it, and she lodged a police report. In response, Dr Kamarul, exercising his right of self defence, lodged a counter report. So what did Hannah do?
Hannah Yeoh of (in)fame
Nothing but set her lap dogs upon the good lecturer.
What do I mean by lap dogs?
Let me explain. This Yeoh woman has been known since before to rear lap dogs, defined as supporters that are so fanatical about their support of her they cannot see any other truth other than what she says. Proof?
Thanks to my wife, who can read Chinese, I know about how a Sin Chew journalist, Lim Fang, was once savaged by the very same supporters when he questioned her appearing in mosques all draped in tudung. Boy, did she show him. (Read Lim Fang’s original Facebook post here). Her supporters are already labelled her dogs per that Suara Kini article, so I’m sticking with that label.
Hannah (third from left) in tudung gear
So Yeoh’s rabid dogs are doing to Kamarul now what they’ve done to Lim Fang in the past. Another blogger pointed out that in the 4 days since Kamarul lodged his counter report, a staggering 18 articles have been produced in her defence by the dubious pro-DAP news portals. And that was then.
What about now? Let’s see who have already had their peace so far, shall we?
WOW! Would you look at the above? A staggering THIRTY THREE (33)(Update: As of 30 May 2017) individuals and organizations have come forth to defend Hannah! The list reads like a who’s who of our Opposition! And these are just the stalwarts!
The erstwhile Dr Kamarul Zaman Yusoff of UUM fame
And for Team Kamarul? I only knew of one before, and that was Helen Ang. Which is why I have decided to start this blog. In the nation of hypocrites we live in, she has been the only prominent figure I have seen to stick to her guns and be consistent, earning my admiration. Which is why I have finally decided to start this blog of mine.
But I have since did a Google Search and found two other names to add, Danial Ariff Shaari and Faidhur Rahman Abdul Hadi, who both seem to be lawyers. Okay, maybe Lim Sian See as well.
But the academician seems to be doing a fine job of defending himself, though. After he lodged his counter report, he gave an interview, initiated a memorandum calling for DAP’s deregistration, and has even exposed Guan Eng’s agenda to take to the streets post next-GE if his party loses. This takes guts, especially when you’re the proverbial David up against a huge Goliath.
Well done, Dr Kamarul. As for Yeoh, well, shame on you. What a disgrace you are, to our race, our religion and yes, even our nation. Maybe most Chinese agree with you, but this one wants nothing to do with you, whatsoever.
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