Wither Goes Malaysia

                                                                WITHER     GOES      MALAYSIA

The concept of Malaysia was a British idea to prevent Soekarno from taking over British North Borneo and Sarawak .
The British colonial office had invited the Federal Malay states , Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak to join in a federation
of independent states to form a new entity called Malaysia. However each of the five states had different motive and
objective for joining the federation which would eventually tear at the seams to destroy Malaysia. The ultra and radical
Islamic UMNO  of the Malay Federal States took it as an opportunity to eventually take over the British colonies of 
Sarawak and Sabah. Singapore saw it as an opportunity to extend and widen its influence over new horizons. The
autonomous self-governing states of Sabah and Sarawak volunteer to join the federation on the premise that Singapore
is a member of the federation. The British minister of state for colonial affairs Lord Lansdowne signed the Inter-government
Committee Report in 1963. The report stated that any state that voluntarily entering a federation had an intrinic right to secede
at will. Under the IGC constitutional arrangements were formulated that include  the safeguards for the special interest of
North Borneo and Sarawak to cover such matters like religious freedom,education, representation in the Federal Government,
the position of the indigenous races, control of immigration, citizenship and state constitution. The IGC Report was accepted
and signed on 27th February, 1963 by UK, North Borneo, Sarawak and Federation of Malaya. Under the terms of the
agreement a basic clause stated that basically Sabah and Sarawak are free to to leave the federation at any timeand do
not need the approval of each of the federal states to leave or need the support of the Rulers' Council to leave. All Sabah
and Sarawak need to do is to pass a resolution in their respective parliament or Dewan Undangan Negeri to leave and Sabah
and Sarawak will become an independent sovereign nation.

After the British had left the ultra Islamic UMNO leaders began to plan and scheme the taking over of the local self-governing
autonomous parliaments of Sabah and Sarawak. In Sarawak the first local Chief Minister , Stephen Kalong Ningkan was
ousted by UMNO in 1966 and he was replaced by a muslim Chief Minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud. Before long the autonomy of
Sabah and Sarawak was eroded. Datuk Harris of UMNO treacherously cede the oil rich producing Island of Labuan to the
Federal government as a federal territory. In addition the unequal sharing of exploitation of Sabah's and Sarawak's rich resources
of timber and petroleum caused great anger and dissatisfaction. There were strong calls for secession from the Federation by the
Sabahans and Sarawakians. Then in 1994 there was direct political intervention by the Federal Government of Doctor Mahatir.
It was a political tactic by UMNO led Federal Government to seize control and manage the autonomous power of the Borneo
states of Sabah and Sarawak,

It was agreed in the IGC that Sabah and Sarawak will have no official religion. There will be freedom of religion, respect for
adat or customary law and while state government holds authority over land , the natives will pledge loyalty to Malaysia.
However, all original agreements were soon torn to shreds by ultra radical UMNO leaders. The natives such as the Dusuns,
Kadazans,Muruts, Bajau, Ibans, Melanaus and Bidayuh claim that their life was better before Malaysia. There were no Muslim -
Christian conflict before Malaysia. Recruitment for civil  service and schorlarships was based on merit and not on race or religion.
Then soon after usurping the autonomus power of the local assemblies the UMNO leadership began to take in more than 1.7
million muslims from the Phillipines and Indonesia to overwhelm the the 1.5 million Sabahans, Similarly large numbers of muslims
were taken into Sarawak from Indonesia and Philippines. This is a direct travesty of the IGC signed in 1963 .

Since 1963 all governors of Sabah and Sarawak were muslims while others were effectively denied the posts. When native leaders
demand higher royalty for oil and timber resources rather than the measly 5% they were mysteriously eased out or silenced. The
issue of race and religion predominate in Sabah and Sarawak in line with the " Ketuanan  Melayu  " Malay Supremacy and dictates
of the ultras and religious radicals of the UMNO  Federal Government.

UMNO had calculated its strategic move to throw out Singapore from the federation so that ultra UMNO could have its way in
achieving "Ketuanan Melayu" in Sabah and Sarawak. Since Singapore is no more in the Federation the people of Sabah and
Sarawak feel strongly that they too should not be part of the equation and should secede from the federation which is  their
constitutional right. However, because UMNO holds complete political power and dominate the military and police force the
natives are hamstrung and in the meantime unable to secede. The big powers and United Nations must intervene
eventually to help the natives of Sabah and Sarawak to get rid of the yoke of ultra UMNO to achieve their righteous independence
and sovereignty,

Sg
Wednesday,30th September, 2015

The unbelieveable talent of politicians

We have just witnessed the appointment of a new cabinet of ministers, with some ministers taking on new ministries and some new faces being appointed as ministers. Many people have taken for granted that this is a normal thing, just getting people appointed as ministers. There is nothing unusual about it.

From the HR perspective, this is the biggest fallacy that no one ever questioned. Now what am I talking about? These are very important appointments that require exceptional skill sets. They are not the cashier or the counter sales girls. Even these lower skill jobs require some form of training and may be some form of relevant qualifications. Now you are getting it.

In political appointments, there is no skill sets to talk about. There is no profession training needed. You can put Ah Meng as a defence minister or an education minister, as long as he is elected by the people and the party puts him into the job. Now the picture is getting clearer. In the industries, every joker is talking about skill sets and lack of skill sets to hire or not to hire, to go overseas to look for the talent with the required skill sets.

There were hue and cries about our lack of talent in the IT and finance industries. But we never heard of lacking talents in politicians. There was no need for any qualifications or training as politicians. Maybe being a politician is the easiest thing, in born, a natural skill that does not need any training. But when one takes on an appointment like finance, education, defence, law, health, etc etc, is there any specific training or qualifications needed? No, no need, anyone is good enough to be in any ministry. We put a soldier as an Education Minister and he is expected to know what education is all about. We put an eye surgeon to become a Foreign Minister and he will know the job. We put an administrator as the Transport Minister, and instantly he is an expert in solving transport problems.

In conclusion, either the job of a politician even at ministerial level is so easy that no training is needed and any training or experience will do, or a politician is born to be multi talented, born to know everything and be an expert in everything. An MP will automatically become an advisor to clan associations, sports associations, clubs, guilds, industrial associations etc etc. Somehow an MP also becomes a knows all.

It is really good to be a politician, your status, skills and talent immediately changed overnight and one becomes a knows all superman or superwoman without the need for any professional training.

This is the best profession on earth. No need special professional training and good for life.

15 Prime Ministers for Singapore

This is my recommendation. You don’t have to agree but I have good reasons for it. The appointment of two ministers each in MTI and Education is so well received that the reasons for it must be right. Singapore should seriously be thinking of having 15 Prime Ministers to be efficient and productive and to take the country forward

Here are some of the favourable comments in support of having two ministers in the two ministries reported in the ST. No one has a bad word for it. No one can find anything wrong with it. It has no flaws, as good as a concept in perfection. I will put them down in point forms for ease of reading.

1. Challenging period and tepid economy

2. Two ministers mean greater focus on each area, each dedicated to specific areas, aka dedicated ministers, I like the pun

3. Global competition and fast pace technological advancement

4. Greater attention and accountability

5. Business can expect more help, also know the priority of govt

6. Boosting economic growth like a car with two engines or is it two exhausts

7. Ministers would have more time to interact with business leaders

8. And for better coordination it is apt to have a coordinating minister on top of them. If not we may end up like the housing crisis, influx of population but not building flats

9. SME Association Kurt Wee even suggested a third minister dedicated to SMEs. This is good anticipation ability to see the trend for more ministers

The two minister concept is such an ingenious creation that the govt should have thought of it long ago. Never has a govt initiative been so well received. And by the comments from the business leaders, the govt really needs to have more ministers in every ministry. Singapore is growing, the world is growing, jobs are getting so big and so complicated, one minister is just impossible to cope and do a good job.

Actually the move has already been started long ago in the PMO. There are quite a number of ministers in the PMO, suggesting that there is a need for more PMs. So with ministries getting more ministers to help to run, it is unfair to expect the PM to work alone. The current practice of having so many ministers in the PMO should be abolished and replaced by having more PMs with one PM overseeing one ministry. Then to make sure that there is proper coordination and efficiency, there will be a Coordinating PM to gel the PM team together.

Singapore will have the most effective and efficient govt to take it forward in the next 50 years. This is political entrepreneurship, with creative and innovative new ideas in govt.

What about cost? Never mind, if the new structure of having so many ministers is productive, it would pay by itself even if the cost of govt is 10 times more. You must pay for good quality right? It is the result that counts. Did you see why Singaporeans are paying so much for housing and cars and still able to pay? The simple answer is that they can afford it as they are making a lot of money. So there is no need to worry about cost of govt when there are productivity and growth.

We need to seriously study this new approach to govt for more productivity. The old concept of productivity means one minister wears 10 hats and one MP with 50 directorships. The new productivity formula is many ministers in one ministry and many ministers of state and parliamentary secretaries and Chairman of committees to work together to improve productivity.

This is simply ingenious. Harvard is going to take this idea further and develop a course on it for a Ph D in Govt Administration.

Who else is offending Malaysia?

The Bersih 4 protest had offended Malay dignity and Islam. The Chinese Ambassador’s comment in Petaling Street that China opposed discrimination on ethnic minorities has offended Malaysia, an interference in Malaysia’s domestic affairs. The Acting Foreign Minister had called up the Chinese Ambassador to clarify on his remarks that had ‘attracted attention and caused concern to the Malaysian public’. Interestingly no minister has raised concern about the aborted protest in Chinatown that threatened peace and security and violence against the Chinese minority.

What about the FBI investigation on Najib’s involvement in 1MDB and the threat of arresting the PM? Would that be a concern or important enough to call up the American Ambassador to clarify on the matter and to ensure Najib’s safety in the USA? Maybe the public did not see any problem with that and so not a concern and not offending to Malaysian or Malay dignity.

By the way Jamal is going to organize another protest this time against Dr Wan Azizah in her constituency. This protest is more political in nature and the police have less reason to ban it. Just hope that this protest is just against Azizah and nothing else and would not spread into Chinatown and take on a different slant and different consequences. Maybe the shops would be closed again for good reasons. The public would not be concerned for anything bad to happen surely.

Hsien Loong’s new cabinet

A new cabinet was announced yesterday with Lui Tuck Yew replaced by two new faces in Ng Chee Meng and Ong Ye Kung plus several ministers of states and parliamentary secretaries. Vivian is promoted to Foreign Minister and Boon Wan has taken over the hot seat in Transport. Other than the overloading of several ministers and ministers of states and parliamentary secretaries to helm each ministry, a way of saying that that the job is damn big and requiring many ministers to cover, attention is all on Boon Wan’s role in Transport.

The talk of the town is the matching of the most troublesome job to the most effective minister in the cabinet. Boon Wan is touted as the minister that solved the housing issue which to some was never an issue until his predecessor messed it up with his screwed up policies. Boon Wan should thank the person for digging a hole that all he needed to do was to fill it up and get all the credit like he had done a miracle.

The Transport Ministry is a different kettle of fish from the series of failed housing policies that were in a way consciously created for some spoofy reasons. Though much work and money have already been spent to tidy up the problems in public transport, this is not as easy as filling a hole that someone dug. And if the population is going to rise to 6.9m and more, the little extra lines added would still not be enough to meet the rising demands. Boon Wan would now have to face a real tricky situation that is evolving all the time and any mistake or failure would be felt immediately in real time. The commuters cannot be told to wait for 3 years when the train stops running.

The real test of Boon Wan’s ability has just begun. This transport problem is real and it is not just building more lines and having more trains on the track. It is not just a brick and mortar issue. Let’s hope Boon Wan will do a miracle deserving of praise in transportation.