Dominique Ng & Advocates

Former Padungan assemblyman Dominique Ng was a little too eager to take advantage of the Malaysia Day announcement made by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on the repeal of a law on public assemblies.

He argued during his illegal Malaysia Day assembly at Padang Merdeka here yesterday that since Najib had announced the law’s review, he had the right to hold the event.

However, Kuching District police chief ACP Mun Kock Keong said there were yet to be any amendments to the said law, which is Section 27 of the Police Act 1967, as it would only be reviewed later.

“Proper procedures will be carried out during the review. Every aspect will be looked into and tabled in Parliament,” he told The Star after the illegal assembly.

ACP Mun said the law was still in force and the police would take appropriate action against those who break them.

Action would be taken against those participating in illegal assemblies, he added.

ACP Mun said that Najib’s announcement did not mean that the law had been amended and Ng’s assembly was deemed as ille-gal because he did not have a permit.

The assembly was to start at 10am with 15 participants but they were confronted by officers from the central police station who advised Ng to call it off.

Ng insisted that the assembly should go on, which it did for 15 minutes, but ACP Mun approached him and told him to stop.

No arrests were made and Ng was let off with a stern warning

He insisted that he had the right to hold the assembly in conjunction with Malaysia Day.

“We have been holding this assembly every year since 2005. We will continue to assemble every year on Sept 16 until Sarawak gets full autonomy within the Malaysia Federation,” he said.

The Staronline

On this coming 16th September, 2011, we celebrate Malaysia Day. It was on this day, 48 years ago, Malaya, Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore came together to form Malaysia. Singapore subsequently left to be an independant country of their own.

We will be holding our Flag Raising Ceremony at Kuching Central Padang at 9:30 am 16th September, 2011.

You are warmly invited as true Malaysian Sarawakians, to bear witness to this solemn occassion.

Dominique Ng

Gold is not an Investment as perceived by a lot of investors but rather it is an Insurance against bad times. As Warren Buffet said, the demand for gold is equal to fear demand. That means the demand of gold will be correlated to the level of uncertainty in the marketplace .The more uncertain the marketplace, the higher the demand for gold.

“Gold has no utility other than looking shiny and pretty. Gold demand equals fear demand and when people becomes more afraid than you in a year or two, then you will make money but if they are less afraid, then you will lose money. Gold by itself doesn’t produce anything and is a bad investment in the long run” – Warren Buffet on Gold Investment

An intelligent investor during uncertain times, will add gold in his/her portfolio as part of its asset allocation. It will be a smart move to just allocate a small percentage of your portfolio, probably about 3-5% to gold. This is to ensure that, if there are any huge dislocations in currencies and economies, you will still be protected in one way or another. Why only allocate such a small percentage and not more? Why Gold is not a good investment?

Firstly, gold price is highly manipulative, as demonstrated during the past decades. There is always a tendency for the fiat currency regime to suppress the price of gold whenever it possess a threat. Currently, we have two camps of people. One belonging to the fiat currency, while the other is pro gold standard. As such, there is a war going on between the fiat currency regime and the gold standard.

Unfortunately, those people that are calling the shots are the ones that are running the “fiat currency” regime. They will not hesitate to use any means available, either through the central bank, Presidential Orders and etc to suppress gold.

Contrary to popular belief, that The Federal Reserve is government owned because of the word FEDERAL. The Federal Reserve is actually a privately owned entity. It consists of 12 regional Reserve Banks and are mainly owned by the many member commercial banks. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York holds the largest percentage of shares (53%) in the Federal Reserve System.

The two largest shareholders of the New York Federal Reserve are JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup. JPMorgan and Citibank are the financial cornerstone of Morgan and Rockefeller empires. So, being the largest shareholders of New York Federal Reserve meant that, they are also the largest shareholders of the Federal Reservesystem in the U.S, since NY Federal Reserve holds the largest share in the system.

The cartel that owns the “fiat currency” also owns CME. So basically by owning the Federal Reserve, these cartels virtually have unlimited supply of “fiat money” at their disposal. Rockefeller is also known to be a shareholder of Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and at the same time also have a very large short position in gold futures, up to the tune of a few hundred billion dollars. So, there is a natural tendency for him to suppress the price of gold by using CME to hike the trading margins in gold.

Secondly, if the margin hikes by CME doesn’t work, the Federal Reserve through Bernanke will not hesitate to invoke a Paul Volcker 1981’s “shock and awe’. In 1981, the then Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker in his bid to end the effects of ravaging inflation (13.5% in 1981) from commodities and gold, raised the interest rate to 21.5% in 1981. At the same time foreign dollar holders are also dumping the dollar in protest over the foreign policies of the Carter administration.

As a result of the interest hike, it has officially ended the bull market for gold from the 1970s to 1981. Gold price went into a downward spiral for the next 20 years. The tripling of the interest rate, at the same time also forces global interest rates to go through the roof and triggering a global recession. By 1982, the dollar’s status as the world reserve currency was restored.

Finally, during the last Great Depression in the 1930s, there were bank runs and shutdowns. Also, following England’s 1931 decision to remove the pound sterling from the gold standard, foreigners are turning to the US for gold. At that time, the Federal Reserve Note is 40% back by gold. The authorities know that that if everyone starts converting their dollar holding to gold then in no time there will be no gold left to back the currency. Hence, the money supply will collapse completely.

Something drastic needed to be done, to halt the alarming trend, on 5th April 1933, President Roosevelt confiscate the gold of Americans by changing the FRN, from a promise to pay in gold into legal tender itself, back by the full faith and credit of the United States. He debased the US dollar by 40% overnight, by raising the price of gold from $20.67 per troy ounce to $35.00 per troy ounce.

However, nobody can take advantage of this offer because people are not allowed to exchange their gold until 31st December 1974, where Americans can then buy, sell and hold gold. It is like having a counter in the KLSE suspended for the next 40 years and by the time it reopens in 2051, I don’t think many of us will be around.

Desperate time requires desperate measure and we will not be surprise if the Obama administration will again confiscate gold. As you can see the odds of winning in this game in the long run is biased towards the cartels. As long as those in charge are pro “fiat currency”, then gold price will always be suppressed and they can resort to any measures that they deemed right, even by using arm twisting tactics.

Nobel laureate Nouriel Roubini, after several false call for a market top when the price of gold touched US 830 and US 1300 twittered the following message, with emphasis added.

“SPAM (American pork luncheon meat) is a better hedge against inflation than gold : you can eat it and it can lasts 1000 years. Gold is as Keynes aptly said, a barbarous relic.”

Anyway for the sake of discussion,, as we know the price of gold futures precedes spot gold price. When everyone starts to scramble for physical gold, naturally all those who are holding paper gold futures will start dumping, when they realize there will be no physical gold for delivery. This will lead to a collapse in the price of gold futures. Since spot gold price follows the price of gold futures, what will it be of spot gold prices? Can anyone enlighten me on this, please? – Malaysia Chronicle

A recent diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks has a rather ominous entry that pinpoints the then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad as being the perpetrator of a citizenship-for-votes scam, with the alleged direct involvement of the then Election Commission chief.

The cable stated: “During their discussion, Hussin claimed that (former EC head) Rashid admitted his direct involvement in UMNO’s shadowy 1990s push to assume political control of the East Malaysia state of Sabah. During that decade, UMNO granted citizenship and Malaysian Identity Cards (ICs) to over 600,000 foreign migrant workers (predominantly Muslims from Indonesia and Mindanao) in Sabah, in exchange for their votes in state assembly elections (ref B). UMNO-affiliated parties subsequently took over all of Sabah’s state assembly seats. According to Hussin, Rashid “admitted to personally issuing over 60,000 fraudulent Malaysian ICs in Sabah,” to help UMNO assume political control there. Hussin told us Rashid characterized his Deputy EC Chairman, Wan Omar, as “an UMNO member who is anti-reform.”

Project M

The "Off-Shoot" of Project M now working as GROs in Kuala Lumpur. When a Malay looking woman in Nite Clubs tell you she is from Sabah, they are likely products of Project M.

The granting of hundreds of thousands of Malaysian citizenships to illegal migrant workers in exchange for their agreeing to vote the BN federal government helped Mahathir put his UMNO party in power in Sabah.

Sabah UMNO is now the dominant party there and even has the largest number of members, exceeding even Johor, the birthplace of the nationalist Malay party.

This is the Project M, long suspected as the cause of the immigrant influx in Sabah in the 1990s that eventually brought about the establishment of UMNO in Sabah politics.

It was a sly move to subjugate Sabah-based political parties to the UMNO-led federal government’s dominance via the ballot box, through the granting of voter rights to foreign migrant workers.

No doubt, the move worked and it gained victory for UMNO, but Sabah is awashed with foreigners till today. The local population is slowly being edged out by the foreigners who have voting rights just like any other Malaysian.

To the Sabahans, this is the highest form of treachery – the selling of their birth-right by their own federal government just to gain a political foot-hold in a state. What difference is this to the killing off of the Dodo birds by European settlers, who saw the bird as a pest?

Project A for Amnesty?
In 2011, there is also a sudden rush to register foreign workers, only this time it is an Amnesty program on a national scale.

And not too long after this Amnesty exercise by the Home Ministry, there is now talk about increasing the number of constituencies in Sabah. Immediately, alarm bells of massive gerrymandering rang out from those who have experienced it before and suffer till this day.

The signs are clear, BN is out to retain its hold on the federal government at all cost.

The creation of constituencies is not the prerogative of the federal government but the job of the Election Commission. Yet, why are politicians aligned with the BN government calling for it at both federal and state levels?

Such moves by the government and the EC’s feigned ignorance should not be taken lightly by the citizens of Malaysia. In fact, it should put us on guard to ensure that our constitutional rights are protected.

Extinct like the Dodo
If the government of the day is unable to protect our rights, then it falls down to our own shoulders to come together, unite and as one to demand that they are protected. We are responsible not only to our generation but to those that come after us, in making sure that their rights as citizens are protected.

Thus, the call for the eradication of election fraud should be at its strongest now. The people must stand up now.

The Election Commission must be put to work to weed out the problems within the system. We need to elect men and women who can safeguard the citizens of Malaysia and not sell off our birth-rights for a quick profit. Leave the bickering over petty matters to the politicians but what the folks in Malaysia must demand are their fundamental rights to build the nation they wish for themselves and their children.

Who can protect our constitutional right to vote better than ourselves? If we don’t make a stand, then Malaysian might well suffer the fate of the Dodo bird and become an extinct society. – Malaysia Chronicle

Ten years ago, the Chinese community in Malaysia thought in terms of ‘us’ (The Chinese) and ‘them’ (The Malays). Fast forward to the present and what do we have? A complete paradigm shift where the Chinese (and even other groups in Malaysia) realize that it is no longer a race struggle but a class struggle that we face in Malaysia today! In other words, no longer is it Chinese vs Malays but Malay-Chinese-Indian vs Malay-Chinese-Indian in a class struggle.

Undoubtedly, the political consciousness of Chinese has changed very radically. The Chinese community today are now more politically active and dare take a stand on issues – a far cry from those who cowered in fear ten years ago! (As a Chinese, I am discussing it from a Chinese perspective without prejudice against other races. I thought I’d better make this clear from the start.)

Whereas in the past, there were few Chinese who were involved in activism, the years of being sidelined have propelled them out of the comfort zone to come out in full force such as during the Bersih rally, even though some deny that fact. The stigma of being called ‘pendatang’ has injected us with new courage and indignation. And yes, we are finally coming out of our individual tempurungs for a better Malaysia for all!

And why are Chinese Malaysians braver now? It is because they are fed up. Angry. Frustrated. Hurt. Even after contributing to the vibrancy of the Malaysian economy by opening up all kinds of enterprises, even after trying to be positive contributors to the development of this country, even after trying their best to integrate and to assimilate to the best of their abilities, they still have to fight for rights before the government gets to be more hard core in marginalizing and sidelining us. All this is done while they have the cheek to grandly deny that they are NOT sidelining us and worse still, we cannot voice our concerns or question this.

After slogging away and contributing to taxes, we see how vernacular schools i.e. hua xiao (do not get enough funds, and deserving students do not get scholarships. Our bright students who do not meet certain ‘requirements’ have to be on F and M scholarships i.e. father’s and mother’s scholarship. Whereas in the past people kept quiet, now we see how even a young man Chan Xian Yao, 19, a student who failed to obtain a “Khazanah-Cambridge Scholarship” filed a suit against Khazanah Nasional Berhad and three others at the High Court through his father Chan Chow Wang’s law firm. (Read more here.)

Despite whatever economic development achieved or the level of affluence enjoyed, or even the existence of middle class Chinese, does democracy and equality really exist? How far has the status quo crushed the patriotic hearts of the people by discriminatory policies, such as in education and housing?

While in the past many hid in political passivity, more and more are rising up to join organized movements to demand greater power, free speech, or other democratic rights against a repressive political system. In the last ten years, the winter of discontent has led to heavy debates which are more and more animated. Goodbye reticence, hello boldness!

Previously, it was normal for Chinese to give their support to MCA or Gerakan but the tide has changed because they will not suffer any more wishy-washy policies but are ready for political change via activism and the ballot box. The image of infallibility of MCA or Gerakan has been completely eroded in the last few years and regardless of how much they swivel in self- denial, they can forget about winning the support of the Chinese in the next election. Since they lost miserably in 2008, what have they done? We know how these two political parties have fared in recent years, and more damningly, many have perceived them as being unwilling to take accountability for their mistakes. Even now, they are in political inertia and their popularity ratings are plummeting. Have they tried their best to protect and promote the welfare of Chinese? How many will continue to support them and resign themselves to stagnation? I am sure that if candidates are good, Malaysian voters will vote for them based on the quality of their leadership and commitment and not along racial lines! And now, we have to contend with the implications of Nazri’s statement here.

In the last six months, the quality of life in our country is worsening despite claims of economic growth. Our pockets are lighter and we have to work longer hours to make ends meet. With the removal of subsidies and increases in fuel cost, the cost of living has spiralled out of control. My son has just graduated and I cannot see how his current salary is sufficient to afford his insurance premiums and housing loan (if and when he saves up enough $$ to buy a place).

In reality, the income gap in our country has increased so alarmingly that we now have one of the highest Gini co-efficients in the world as seen HERE. Whatever fruits of our labour or economic success have not been fairly distributed so the spoils are NOT being enjoyed by those who work hard! The winter of discontent on the ground is real but does it appear that the status quo are able and willing to address the situation? Does it seem that they are more intent to do cosmetic surgery to make things look good when in fact, they do not?

Obviously, the widening gap between the classes have made many dissatisfied and has given them the impetus to find courage within themselves. Thus it is clear that voter discontent has grown in recent years as housing prices soared while wages stagnated and we see a surge in foreign workers/illegal immigrants. We are beginning to question – does the status quo put the interests of the rakyat before the egos of their leaders? The fact remains that many Malaysians from across the board will vote against the tide in a backlash against rising income inequality as we suffer in a class struggle that should not exist in the first place!

Even Singapore is worried about how the ground has shifted because they can see how the changes in Malaysia can affect Singapore. And they have reason to be afraid because of what happened in March 2008 and even in the recent polls in Singapore. The changes in Singapore also affect Malaysia. Thus, Malaysia and Singapore ‘feed’ on each other in a symbiotic relationship.

Scaring us with bogeyman tales of what might happen if we went against the grain in our voting will NOT work. In fact, that will make us vote AGAINST them even more. Fundamentally, Malaysians are braver and no longer willing to accept blindly the many myths that are being churned out via the MSM. For sure, the proliferation of the Internet and social networking media has enabled Malaysians to bypass the state-owned media to express our discontent and thereby creating a more lively, rancorous and outspoken public discourse. This and more has led to the rising political consciousness of the Chinese and Malaysians in general.

In the days to come, we will see whether the winter of Chinese discontent, even that of Malaysian discontent is powerful enough to dislodge the status quo and put into place a government that will put the rakyat first above all else.

More than ever before, CHANGE IS IMPERATIVE!!! May this discontent give us a political consciousness that empowers and emboldens us to VOTE WISELY! We need a sweeping victory via a HUGE majority. And only YOU and all of us can make that happen! So, what are we waiting for?

MasterWotdSmith

Good Men: Sabah and Sarawak made it a point that they would not be part of the Malaysia project unless they first became independent from British rule.

That was why they declared independence on Aug 31, 1963. Only two weeks later was the Malaysian agreement signed.

This timeline is crucial, and it was deliberate. The formation of Malaysia was the coming together of already independent entities.

Sabah and Sarawak did not ‘join’ nor were they ‘subsumed’ into an existing federation. A new federation was born. This is a very important distinction.

Arbeena: Should Sabah and Sarawak be detached from the federation, there would be several mini-states emerging. Let Sabah and Sarawak tackle the problem of ensuring that the Dayaks, Kadazans, Malays or Melanaus do not demand for a separate homeland.

Peninsular Malaysia would just be a better place for Malayans. After all, Sabah and Sarawak in reality are not part of Malaysia. We have to go in there with passports. And the state immigration can deport you at will.

But before the Sabahans and Sarawakians can even think of secession, please bear in mind that there are more Sabahans and Sarawakians living in here than Malayans living there.

Lone_star: History says prior to Sept 16, 1963, Malaysia did not exist. Prior to that date, there were the Federation of Malaya, Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore.

On Sept 16, 1963, the four came together to form Malaysia. On Aug 9, 1965, Singapore left Malaysia. So, today Malaysia consists of the Federation of Malaya, Sarawak and Sabah and will truly be 48 years old on Sept 16, 2011.

Lexicon: Peninsular Malaysia would be a better place for all Malayans? Much of Malaya’s wealth down the years has come from Petronas, and therefore from Sabah and Sarawak.

Malaya is not exactly a beacon of racial understanding for the whole world, is it? Sabah and Sarawak have shown far less tendency to fracture along ethnic lines since 1963, whereas many Malayans are already paranoid about one another’s ‘imagined conmunities’.

Many Malayans are already living in little Bantustans.

Onyourtoes: Malaysia is a federation of states, both in the peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak. If we argue that Malaysia’s independence day was on Sept 16, 1963 that is fine.

However, if the argument is tainted with Sabah and Sarawak becoming more equal than other states, I am not sure that should be the approach we are taking.

A federation of states must be sufficient strong to keep the states together and yet at the same time able to allow sufficient regional/state autonomy. A delicate balance is required; skewing toward either direction is not good.

Today it is not just Sabah and Sarawak having issues with the federal government. May be in the future, all states should renegotiate to bring about more equitable and expedient distribution of jurisdiction between the federation and the state governments.

Thinking aloud, I am much in favour for education, health services and police to be put under the respective state governments.

Rentap: When you are not Sarawakian or Sabahan, you don’t know how it feels to see your own people living in very poor conditions. Despite being the richest in terms of resources, the people are the poorest in the country.

StevenForMalaysia: The Malaysian flag should be revised to highlight the three entities which formed Malaysia – Malaya, Sabah and Sarawak.

This is the only way to humble those West Malaysians who think they are the masters of this country.

From Malaysiakini

This is the fact that Malaysia was formed in 16th September 1963 between Malaya, Sarawak, Sabah and Singapore. History cannot be amended and it’s well written.

Only Malaya was granted independent on 31th august 1957.

Do get the facts right oh dear Malaysian.

When I read Malay literature on the Malacca Sultanate period in primary school days, I had always come across stories about Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat, the more famous among several other “Malay” warriors with the surname “Hang”.

“Malay” in inverted commas was because we at tender age of 10 to 11 never doubted that these two legendary heroes were the pride of the Malay sultanate. Serving the then Sultan Mansur Shah as obedient servents of royalty. How could we forget the “duel” between the two sworn “brothers” Tuah and Jebat.

Five years into secondary 3, we once again encountered the two Malay heroes through a literature books, and nobody (including the “ignorant” teachers I guess!) corrected our young minds about our misconceived belief the two were indeed Malay heroes. We had been indoctrinated so much to think thus, and our history lessons never did mention about Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat with details that we remain indoctrinated till we left school these two were indeed Malaya heroes and deserved constant mention in officialdom.

Of course I remained ignorant about historical facts about these heroes until some three decades later. I was “introduced” to a teacher who had been educated in the Chinese vernacular school, and early into our “socio-political” discussions at the kedai Mamak he one day asked me a question: “Chong,what race did you think the famous duo Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat were from?”

Out of the blue came what I believed at first was a juvenile question; I nevertheless answered the quiz thus: “Malay-lah, what else, koboi!”

Wow! Tuah and Jebat were Chinese pirates

Koboi” is the nickname I gave to him because I was of this habit of gifting someone I liked a nick; he called me “sifu”, and we had hilarious exchanges in both English and Bahasa and Mandarin. I believe this “sifu” was given as he felt my English standard surpassed him after he knew I was a journalist my whole working career and that I dabbled in short story and poetry writing as well.

But Koboi was the “sifu” in Chinese history and Chinese literature.

“Hang Tuah and Hang Jebat were Chinese “pirates” from China who accompanied Admiral Cheng Ho (Cheng He) in one of the latter’s trips to Malacca!”

I believe I must have stunned by his “revelation” about the two 15th century heroes’ ethnic origins.

After a brief pause when he must have seen my jaw dropped, Koboi continued: “The Malaysian school teachers mostly remain ignorant of this fact, and popular literature continued to perpetuate this myth.”

I bet some or most of my readers did not know of this historical fact!

Now many readers must be wondering how this narration till now had anything to do with Mohamad or Mat Sabu, right?

Where is the proof Sabu was factually wrong

Well, because for the past one week there had been lots of attacks on the PAS deputy leader on his comment about the Bukit Kepong incident. I reproduce here some relevant paragraphs that appeared in the NST of Sept 3, 2011, page 3 headed “Mat Sabu remarks an insult, say ex-soldiers”: A clip of the (Mat Sabu’s) statement, posted on social networking websites, including YouTube, shows Mohamad clearly saying: “Dekat nak Merdeka nanti, siarlah cerita Bukit Kepong. Bulit Kepong itu polis itu British. Yang Serang Bukit Keponglah pejuang kemerdekaan. Ketuanya, Mat Indra (Muhammad Indera).”

(“Nearing Merdeka, the Bukit Kepong clip will be aired. In Bulit Kepong, the police were Britishpolicemen. Those who attacked Bukit Kepong were the true freedom fighters. Their leader was Muhammad Indera.”)

Mat Sabu reportedly stated this at a ceramah I Tasik Gelugor, Penang, on Aug 21. And of course he had many detractors from the UMNO camp; surprisingly, even DAP MP Karpal Singh had urged Mat Sabu to retract the statement. I read a good and well enunciated piece by Centre of Policy Initiatives (CPI) director Dr Lim Teck Ghee who had questioned Prof. Emeritus Khoo Kay Kim’s comments well quoted by the mainstream press criticizing the PAS leader’s statement, but I won’t dwell on this because it would be “digressing” too much from the subject focus — my appealing for of the need for revisiting History.

The NST report’s last two paragraphs read:

Suparman Taib, 56, who lost his left leg below the knee in a booby trap while conducting a sweep in the jungles of Kelian Intan in Kroh, Perak in April 1981, said he and his comrades were deeply troubled over Mat Sabu’s statement.

“History cannot be altered. Many lives were lost and we feel it is only right for Mat Sabu to make a public apology,” said the former soldier from the 22 Royal Malay Regiment based in Sungai Petani.

There is no need for Mat Sabu to tender any apology to anyone at this juncture. Can any historian prove that Mat Sabu was “factually incorrect” on his narration of the Bukit Kepong?

Can anyone challenge my friend Koboi’s version of some myths of socalled popular History p[ertaining to the Malacca sultanate and the socalled “Malay” warriors?

Beheaded

And one interesting anecdote I must recall based on Koboi’s narrative before I stop.

Another popular myth was that after a failed mission to bring bring a princess for the Sultan Mansur Shah, Hang Tuah disappeared into thin air.

“No, this is not true. Hang Tuah and his comrades had actually become pirates on the high seas.

“On the order of the Ming dynasty emperor then, Cheng Ho captured Hang Tuah and escorted him back to China where he was beheaded.”

So a revisit of the Bukit Kepong incident and based on historical facts, will it be fair to return a final verdict if Mat Sabu was indeed “guilty of an offence” – against royalty, claim some detractors! Or Khoo Kay Kim and his fellow historian-academics should do more research and serve ignorant Malaysians better by dismissing more myths in our perceived knowledge of Malaysian History instead of allowing politicians and some half-past six newspapers continue the deception? – Malaysia Chronicle