Malaysian Way of Appreciation: The Forgotten Heroes

By: The Immortal Writer

Two Malaysian heroes passed away recently, sadly unbeknownst to many. They were Tan Sri Ahmad Noordin Zakaria, the Auditor-General for ten years (1976-1986) and the former Chief Secretary to the Government, Tun Abdullah Salleh.

Abdullah was also the founder of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and the chairman and chief executive of the then newly-formed Petronas in 1978.

Ahmad Noordin was an already well-known figure when I reported for work as a newspaper stringer in Malacca in 1985. He headed the commission which investigated the Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal, Malaysia's first outstanding financial scandal, when government owned Bank Bumiputra, through its subsidiary, lost some RM2 billion by dubious lending in Hongkong in the late seventies and early eighties.

One of the auditors sent by Bank Bumiputra to investigate the case in Hongkong, Jalil Ibrahim was murdered and his body dumped in a banana plantation. Jalil was a Malacca boy from a kampung in Tanjung Kling, some ten kilometers from Malacca town.

One day, sometime in 1986, my boss ordered me to look for Jalil's aged mother in that kampung when news went around that the authorities didn't look after the plight of the woman whose son had given his life for the sake of the nation.

Well, that was some 20 years ago. Even though the story I wrote was about the auditor's mother, I had to dig the file about the BMF case and Ahmad Nordin's name is familiar to me to this day.

So when Ahmad Nordin's death went unnoticed, I felt sad and strange why a truly great Malaysian hero like him slipped off easily from the minds of the people. It is really a great pity because he was an outstanding icon for all upstanding, incorruptible and dedicated civil servants.

Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang described Noordin as "an outstanding Auditor General who made his office a byword for accountability."

"He was outspoken, intrepid for accountability in his association and his role as chairman in the BMF inquiry.

"That role made him most famous and he became a symbol for accountability and transparency."

Ahmad Nordin's daughter Nasirah, 54, when asked what it was like having a public icon of integrity for a father, Nasirah said: "My father was our hero. We admired him greatly."

To me, Nasirah was right in every sense. Her father was her hero. She used the words, 'our hero'. In my opinion, 'our' meant 'the family' or 'the children'. It didn't take me long to realize that in life 'my or our heroes' are very near and close to us, yet we don't give a wimp until the persons vanish (are taken away by God).

As children we don't put much effort and courage to admit that our hero is actually our own father or mother not until they pass away. I liked an article written by Mona Abu Bakar in the Sun recently where she declared that her father was her hero and wished him the best during Father's Day.

Among other things Mona wrote: "While my mother's figure continues to loom large in our lives, Dad shaped us and taught us lessons in life in his own quiet way. He was not of the unapproachable and preachy type of father. Not of the present but absent variety either. And it was a bit too early for the Sensitive New Age Guy Dad. Dad molded us not so much by the things he told us but by being the person he was. His lessons however would not kick in until we reached adulthood and started our own working lives."

I too would like to confess here that my hero is my father. Even though my father's formal education ended at Year Six and he was just a primary school gardener, he and my housewife mother gave us the best that saw all of us (I have eight siblings) go through university and college.

During my schooling and university days I had never once heard my father or mother grumble or complain that they had not enough cash to pay the numerous fees and the needs of life.

He and she were always there whenever we needed them most. Of course at that time as growing children, teenagers and young men and women, we were only good at asking for money, money and money. In the olden days, the term 'Fama Fund' (Father and Mother Fund) was popular among the university students.

I too had never seen my father and mother locked in conflict with each other. Either there was no misunderstanding between them or they did it accordingly to the Muslim way of life.

Actually it is rare for people to live together under one roof without any argument and some kind of dispute, but reconciliation is better and correcting oneself is a virtue. What shakes the unity of the family and harms its infrastructure is the bringing out of conflicts into the open before the members of the family. It splits the family into opposing camps, not to mention the psychological harm that to the children, especially little ones.

Think about a home where the father says to the child, "Do not speak to your mother," and the mother says to him, "Do not speak to your father." The child is confused and filled with turmoil, and the entire family lives in an atmosphere of hostility. We should try to avoid conflicts, but if it happens, we should try to hide it. We ask Allah to create love among us.

So when I became a father of several secondary and primary school going children, only then did I realize it was a very heavy responsibility to see my boys and girls get the best in the very competitive and challenging world. And as adults, we found out that it was hard to turn off our emotions during conflicts.

The most unforgettable incident that touched my heart about my father happened some 30 years ago when I enrolled as a Form One student for the Prep School, Malay College Kuala Kangsar. To go to Kuala Kangsar, my father and I took the bus from Malacca to Tampin and from there took the express train.

Since that journey was the very first time I left to some faraway places, I just couldn't sleep all night long so I just stared at the darkness of night from my seat. All I could see was distant lights and when the rain roared in the jungles and estates, fire flies in the dark night kept me busy and excited.

We reached the Kuala Kangsar station at 3.00 a.m. There, we waited for the early signs of the day and then marched to the grounds of the college. It was more than a kilometer away. It was a sight when I saw my father carrying a flour sack stacked with my two small pillows on his head and a big bag in his hand.

When we reached the living room cum registration office at the Prep School, my father and I sat on the hard long bench instead of the cozy cushions with our luggage (the flour sack) in front. Looking around I saw the other boys' fashionable bags. Nowadays when I think about it, I can feel how humble or down to earth my father was on that big day when he chose not to use the comfortable seat.

It seemed that only my father and I arrived at the prestigious college by train and then continued on foot while my friends and form mates came in cars, some in flashy ones. I felt very small in the new world and I didn't know what was inside my father's heart.

But I sensed he must have been very proud to have a son at the college. It was because before we departed from our kampung, I heard some family members say: "Congratulations to have a doctor, perhaps an engineer or may be a prime minister in the making!" (They were referring to Tun Abdul Razak, the then Prime Minister who was an old boy of the school).

Remembering that memorable event in 1975 brought me close to tears but I don’t shy away to declare that my father is my hero!

Anti ISA Demonstration in Kuala Lumpur Occurred on 01.08.2009

I arrived at Jalan Tun Perak around 1.40 pm saw the FRU's men stood under the LRT's bridge toward Dataran Merdeka. I chat with few men infront of CIMB Bank. One of them said those assembled at the DM were stupid, did not thinking of their families' members fate if anything happened to them.

Disagreed, I said they were really brave men who did not like us who were only able to see them demonstrated to uphold justices. I further told them in order to leave in this world as human beings, we had to use our brain (knowledge), soul (believing), and 'tawaqal' to the Almighty Allah swt.

A safeguard slowly approached us and added that we had to think of our families' survivals first. He added, such demonstration would only make other people to suffer, especially people who wanted to move freely in KL, and to the traders.I told him such postulation was only for not knowledgeable and short-thinking people. Angrily, I said that was why he was only able to become a safeguard! Then I left.

I went near to the FRU's men under the lRT's bridge. Suddenly I heard I was called by someone who called me, "Hei abang, abang ke ni?" Oh, my first cousin Nasrun Osman, a trader. I was invited to go to his rented storeroom for textiles behind CIMB Bank. Just for a while, where then I proceeded to SOGO.

At 3.00 pm, I was already at SOGO. Beside SOGO I chat with a 'Pak Cik' who arrived from Talang, Kuala Kangsar. Five minutes later, suddenly the FRU's men bombarded us with canon of acid water and tear gas explosives nonstop.

By 3.30 pm, Myself and the PakCik stood on the bridge on LRT Bandaraya. Down there, we saw few men were caught terribly by the FRU's men. Few girls near us started to yell at the harsh actions. Few FRU's men rushed up onto the bridge and caught the girls infront of me, but were released for a while when later the chief of the FRU's men arrived later at behind started to instruct his men to re-arrest the girls who were already ran deep inside the LRT's station. We did know what happened to the girls then because the situation at that time was noisy and unpredictable. We were worried since already trapped! On the KL City's air, a helicopter was spying on the crowd and releasing information what the security's forces should do then.

A group of FRU's men tried to catch people at the five foot way of SOGO facing the LRT's station, however later were stopped by the SOGO's guards by yelling at them that there was a private premises. They stopped and turned away shyly. We later were instructed to leave the LRT's bridge one by one to go away by the FRU's men.

By 4.00pm, I went to Pasar Malam LTAR, again I had to run with few other bloggers because we were bombarded nonstop by the FRU's men. An ice/drink tank was broken due to the water shootings. At 5.00 pm, I had discussion on the situation with few PAS members included a PAS committee member from Cheras, and NGO bloggers near Semua House. One of them is Reform3.blogspot.com. from Alor Star.

That night through TVs' news, showed several selected traders of LTAR were interviewed who condemning all the demonstration's participants. They claimed incurred huge losses! Actually, the demonstrators had done no damage to them at all. The glass damage was due to the shooting of water canon by the FRU's men onto the Pasar Malam of LTAR, and it happened right infront of my eyes.

Noted prior to that many traders made a lot of profits because almost their customers that day were the demonstrators who had arrived early before the demonstration started! Not the menteris or the FRU's men were their customers.

Egoism in Perak - Have Brains Lets Think

The three judges' judgment; Sultan could select and at the same time could sack the MB? But what we laymen understand; the Sultan could select and nominate the MB but not to sack him.

Perak's fate could be ascertained by the decision of one or two or three judges? To solve the problem, then let the Perakians decide through the re-election which party they want to administer the state.

To us laymen again; Law as a guidance for our harmony and prosperty. Discreetly, on certain instances, law could be adjusted to suit what the majority's wanted.

Law is not something so sacred that forces us to follow blindly. It is as a tool to safeguard our harmony, and propagate prosperity for all.

We have brains, lets think.

Lima Minit Untuk Mengumumkan MB Perak Yang Sah(?)

Tiga hakim Mahkamah Rayuan hanya mengambil lima minit untuk mengumumkan Zambry Kadir daripada BN adalah Menteri Besar Perak yang sah dan bukannya Nizar Jamaluddin dianggap luar biasa.

“Lebih mengejutkan ketiga-tiga hakim berkenaan mengambil pendirian senada bahawa Sultan Perak mempunyai kuasa penuh untuk melantik Zambry tanpa mengadakan sidang Dewan Undangan Negeri untuk mengambil undi tidak percaya terhadap Nizar,” kata Setiausah politik Nizar, Misbahul Munir Masduki.

Hakim Md Raus Sharif, Zainun Ali dan Ahmad Maarop tidak memberikan hujah bertulis bagi menyokong keputusan mereka yang mempunyai implikasi mendalam terhadap sistem demokrasi berparlimen di negara ini dan kuasa-kuasa istana sebagaimana yang termaktub dalam perlembagaan.

Mengulas keputusan mahkamah itu, peguam Nizar, Sulaiman Abdullah berkata, “Negara kita mempunyai hakim-hakim luar biasa dengan kebolehan luar biasa.”

“Kini Nizar hanya boleh merayu kepada Mahkamah Persekutuan sebagai ruang perundangan terakhir untuk menegakkan mandat rakyat dan perlembagaan negeri Perak,” jelas Misbahul dalam blognya hari ini.

Keputusan Mahkamah Rayuan hari ini tentunya sukar ditelan oleh bukan sahaja penyokong Pakatan Rakyat tetapi juga pendokong demokrasi malah di kalangan peguam sendiri.

Presiden Majlis Peguam Malaysia K.Ragunath berkata keputusan mahkamah hari ini seolah-olah meletakkan kuasa-kuasa Sultan sebagai menjangkau parlimen atau dewan undangan negeri.

Ragunath berkata Mahkamah Rayuan seolah-olah memberikan Sultan kuasa-kuasa yang menjangkaui daripada apa yang diperuntukan oleh perlembagaan.

Penasihat Dap Lim Kit Siang berkata keputusan mahkamah tanpa penghujahan bernas adalah mengejutkan dan satu penganiayaan proses keadilan.

Namun beliau menjangka keputusan itu akan menjejaskan lagi kredibiliti Perdana Menteri Najib Razak.

“Keputusan hari ini hanya membuatkan rakyat lebih marah dan mempercepatkan kejatuhan Barisan Nasional,” kata Lim Kit Siang.

Ketua Pemuda Angkatan Keadilan Pemuda Samsul Iskandar Mohd Akin menyifatkan keputusan itu “memualkan” dan dipengaruhi oleh tekanan politik.

Beliau berkata keputusan tiga hakim itu jelas begitu cetek, tanpa disokong oleh fakta bernas bukan sebagaimana penghujahan lengkap yang diberikan oleh Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur yang mengisytiharkan Nizar sebagai Menteri Besar sah sebelum ini.

Pemerhati politik berpandangan bahawa keputusan ini memang sudah dijangka kerana bibit-bibit campurtangan politik ini telah diwar-warkan oleh Perdana Menteri sendiri apabila beliau berkata BN hanya akan menimbang mengadakan pertemuan dengan Pakatan Rakyat bagi mencari penyelesaian krisis politik Perak setelah selesai proses mahkamah.

Umumnya penyelesaian politik tidak ada kena-mengenai dengan keputusan mahkamah dan kenyataan Najib itu menimbulkan persepsi beliau sudah tahu hala keputusan Mahkamah Rayuan sebelum membuat kenyataan itu awal minggu ini.

Court of Appeal: Judgement Tomorrow 3.30 pm

By SK English News

The hearing began with Zambry’s lawyer Cecil Abraham submitting that High Court judge Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim had erred in adopting a previously decided case law - the Stephen Kalong Ningkan case.

Cecil also questioned the judge for not attaching sufficient weight to documentary evidence produced before him on the legality of Zambry’s appointment.

The lawyer said Justice Abdul Aziz himself had admitted he did not consider evidence showing how the Perak Sultan ordered Nizar to resign but the latter refused to do so. Cecil added that the state’s constitution provided for the royal command that Nizar resign.

“The sultan then interviewed all 28 BN reps, the three independents and (the then state Umno chief) Najib Abdul Razak on Feb 5 to ascertain if BN had the majority,” Cecil said. “Only then did the sultan inform Nizar that his request for dissolution was rejected and asked him to step down.”

Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail, who is intervening in the matter on behalf of the federal government, then took over.

Gani said that Nizar’s affidavit indirectly admitted that he had lost the majority in the state assembly by acknowledging that there was a deadlock, with both Pakatan and BN having 28 seats each.

Gani also said that since the Speaker of the assembly, V Sivakumar, would not be allowed to participate in a vote of no-confidence, the BN would have 28 seats to Pakatan’s 27.

House rules dictate that the Speaker can only vote if both BN and Pakatan had equal number of seats, minus the Speaker’s.

The AG also argued that there were no provisions under the Perak constitution that a menteri besar must be voted out through a no-confidence motion.

“If you have lost the confidence, you must resign. You cannot let the system go to disarray as we had seen in the legislative assembly,” Gani said.

He also supported Cecil’s argument that the High Court should not have used as a precedent, the Stephen Kalong Ningkan case.

Nizar’s side of the story

When the court reconvened after lunch at 2.10 pm, Nizar’s counsel Sulaiman Abdullah began by slamming the submissions put forth by Cecil and Gani, calling them ‘trash’.

Basically, Nizar’s stand is that the Sultan is empowered by the constitution to hire but not fire.

So regardless of the checks performed as mentioned by Cecil, the act of sacking Nizar was unconstitutional as it could only be performed by Nizar’s peers in the state assembly via a no-confidence vote. Not behind closed doors at the discretion of the Sultan.

A three-member panel is hearing the case after Nizar’s request for a five-man bench was rejected. The judges are Abdul Raus Sharif, Zainun Ali and Ahmad Maarop.

The hearing is expected to take a few days before the court can make a ruling, although DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has expressed concern it might be trying to rush things through.

“Court of Appeal seems to want to finish hearing today. Hope there is no rush,” the veteran leader twittered from his mobile phone.

Sulaiman asked the court to put in perspective the arguments from Cecil and the AG. If these were accepted, then it means that even the prime minister can be fired by the Agong, if the latter so deems that the PM no longer enjoyed the support of the majority of BN lawmakers.

He reiterated there was no provision in the Perak constitution that gave express power for the Sultan to sack a menteri besar. The Ruler can only dismiss state executive councillors but not his chief minister.

“There is no constitutional provision for the menteri besar to be dismissed or sacked. That has to be done at the assembly where a vote of no-confidence should have been made,” said Sulaiman.

Sulaiman also argued that there was no need for Nizar to tender his resignation as there was no motion for a no-confidence vote to be tabled in the assembly. In fact, Speaker Sivakumar had written to the Sultan on Feb 6 to ask for a special sitting and to seek the postponement of Zambry’s appointment.

“But the ruler did not accede to it and appointed Zambry instead,” he said.

Sulaiman stressed that Nizar was not challenging the Sultan’s power not to dissolve the assembly. “Neither are we challenging his powers to call the elected representatives but he cannot take the large step forward to determine Nizar has lost his manority and order him to resign.”

With that, Sulaiman - Nizar’s lead counsel - ended his submission, urging the Appeals court not to change the decision of the High Court. Another of Nizar’s counsel, Ranjit Singh, also submitted, re-emphasizing points raised by Sulaiman.

Rebuttal

Zambry’s lawyer Cecil has begun the rebuttal session, saying that a no-confidence vote was just one of many options to dismissing an MB. Tun Majid rebutted on behalf of the AG.

Meanwhile, Kit Siang has twittered back this meassage: “Today is Zambry’s 100 days as the squatter and usurper Perak Mentri Besar – and the question on everybody’s mind on Zambry’s first Black 100 Days is whether Perak would be Umno’s graveyard in the 13th national general election and Zambry the cause of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s downfall as the last Umno Prime Minister in Malaysia.”

Rebuttal has ended and the court has decided that it can deliver its judgement on Friday, May 22, at 3.30 pm.

Who is the Right Menteri Besar of Perak?

Or to confirm whether Nizar is the right Menteri besar? According to Sulaiman Abdullah, Nizar could be expelled as MB only true no confident vote during the Dewan Undangan Negeri's session. After MB was elected by the Sultan, the MB could only then be expelled by the Dewan.

While according to Zambry's counsel, the later has able to get the majority support of 3 state assemblymen, and after the Sultan has satisfied, then Zambry has been elected as the new MB.

Tomorrow, at 3.30pm., the Court of Appeal consisting of 3 judges will deliver the judgment who is right the MB. If, even the verdict was made, it still can be brought/appealed to the Federal Court(?). Huh, still long way to go!

The Malaysians Future Till 2012

Ask ourselves is there future for Malaysians? The power of salaries that we get tends to decrease. Not only of not getting increment for some, however some of us already jobless. Through pro-government media, they say there are lot of new jobs down there to apply. What type of jobs? Are they commensurate with the skills and qualifications that we have? When we say these, they say we are too choosy, or too 'manja'!

Then the leaders start to say, "We are okay and still far better than some countries. We are at this number, this number, so no worries." When the price of oil going up, still they say our oil prices still low if compared to some countries, blah...blah. The issue is, until when they are going to give us such excuses? Until one by one of us dies? I think.

However, the top leaders continuing with their activities to increase their assets by whatever means, where the rakyat are continuing striving helplessly generation after generation.

The rivers' waters day by day become milky, polluted, and some have dried up. If we looked Japan in TV programs, their rivers' waters are clear and unpolluted. Why? They are cunning that whatever factories that pollute their air will be transferred to operate in countries like Malaysia. When the Japanese build up more and more factories in Malaysia, the country's leaders will tell the rakyat how good they are of able to bring in more and more foreign investors, polluted investors.

In trade, the Japanese using most of their brains, but the Malaysians are using more of their physical organs to produce outputs; products or services. If our student intend to further study in Japan, they have to study and pass the Japanese Language first, the medium of instruction at the Japanese universities or colleges.

In Malaysia, English has been put up to the highest place compared to Bahasa Melayu. To most leaders, BM has no standard at all compared to English. But they forget other than Japan, what about France, Germany, and Russia? Their preferences are their mother tongue languages. English is secondary or as a tool only to achieve something.