Adakah Mereka Berani Derhaka Titah Raja?

A Kadir Jasin

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

“Dengan nama Allah Yang Maha Pemurah lagi Maha Penyayang”

RAJA-RAJA Melayu telah bertitah.

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Pertama, mereka menitahkan agar kerajaan menyelesaikan secepat mungkin penyiasatan yang berkaitan dengan 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

Kedua, mereka mahu tindakan sepatutnya dan tegas diambil ke atas orang-orang yang dibabitkan.

Menjunjung kasih Tuanku.

Kita mahu lihat sama ada kerajaan, bermula dengan Perdana Menteri (Datuk Seri Mappadulung Daeng Matti­mung Karaeng Sanrobone) Mohd Najib Abdul Razak, akan mentaati perintah Raja-Raja Melayu itu atau menderhakainya.

 

Mohd Najib Orang Besar Pahang

Seyogia diingatkan, Mohd Najib bukan setakat Pahlawan Bugis, beliau juga adalah salah seorang Orang Besar Berempat Pahang. Pastinya beliau arif mengenai kedaulatan Raja-Raja.

Kita juga mahu lihat sama ada Peguam Negara (Tan Sri) Mohamed Apandi Bin Haji Ali, Ketua Polis Negara (Tan Sri) Khalid Abu Bakar, Ketua Pesuruhjaya, Suruhnjaya Pencegah Rasuah Malaysia (MACC) Abu Kassim Mohamed,Gabenor Bank Negara (Tan Sri) Zeti Akhtar Aziz dan Jawatankuasa Kira-Kira Wang Negara (PAC) taat kepada Raja-Raja Melayu atau setia dan takut kepada Mohd Najib.

Peranan Peguam Negara (Mohamed Apandi) amat penting

Bukan amalan harian bagi Majlis Raja-Raja mengeluarkan titah mengenai pentadbiran negara. Tetapi apabila ia mengeluarkan titah mengenai penyiasatan 1MDB, pastilah ia sangat mendesak dan diperlukan.

Dalam erti kata lain, Raja-Raja Melayu berasa tidak boleh berdian diri lagi.

Pertimbangkan fakta-fakta berikut yang terkandung dalam titah mereka yang diumumkan oleh Penyimpan Mohor Besar Raja-Raja Melayu, (Datuk Seri) Syed Danial Syed Ahmad semalam:

1. Raja-Raja Melayu menekankan peri pentingnya semua pihak yang terbabit memberikan kerjasama  "sahih dan ikhlas" demi memastikan penyiasatan itu mencapai matlamat.

2. Hasil penyiasatan mesti dilaporkan secara terperinci dan telus supaya orang ramai yakin terhadap keikhlasan kerajaan tidak menyembunyikan fakta dan kebenaran.

3. Kegagalan memberi penjelasan dan jawapan yang meyakinkan dikhuatiri menyebabkan berlakunya krisis keyakinan.

Natijahnya, kecuali Mohd Najib dan para penyokong ekstrem beliau sudah hilang akal, "mereng" dan derhaka kepada Raja, mereka akan melakukan seperti yang dititahkan.

PERINGATAN: Mohon kerjasama dan persefahaman. Semua ulasan yang mengandungi unsur-unsur lèse-majesté tidak akan disiarkan.

Wallahuaklam.

Lessons From Zimbabwe, the Philippines and Togo

A Kadir Jasin

سْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ "In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful".

UPDATE, Oct 6 – Bernama reported a while ago that the Malay Rulers want the government to complete investigations relating to 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) as soon as possible and take appropriate stern action against those found to be implicated.

In a statement, the Rulers stressed that all concerned should extend "real and sincere" cooperation in order for the investigation to achieve its objectives.

"The findings of the investigation must be reported comprehensively and in a transparent manner so that the people will be convinced of the sincerity of the government which shall not at all conceal facts and the truth," they said.

The statement was released by the Keeper of the Rulers' Seal, Datuk Seri Syed Danial Syed Ahmad, after the pre-council meeting of the Conference of Rulers at Istana Negara today. The 239th meeting of the Conference of Rulers is scheduled for two days from tomorrow.

The statement said: "The failure to give convincing clarifications and answers is feared to have resulted in a crisis of confidence.

ORIGINAL POST
 

A EUROPEAN Union (EU) diplomat, who proudly told me that he “attended” both the Yellow and the Red Shirts demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur recently, thought I was joking when I said Malaysia could be heading in the direction of Zimbabwe or, worse, Togo.

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That struck the cord immediately with him because before being posted to Malaysia, he spent several years in Zimbabwe. He ought to know much more than I do about Zimbabwe. My only trip to that land-locked east African nation was way back in the 1980’s to report on the Non Alliance Conference.

Then its leader, President Robert Mugabe was still celebrated as a hero and a nation builder. By our standard, Zimbabwe was poor but by African standard it was not. It was one of the best-developed post-colonial nations in Africa.

Today, Mugabe is 91 years old. He has been in power for 35 years – first as Prime Minister and later President. He is tyrannical. Zimbabwe’s economy has literally collapsed. It no longer has its own currency. The war that Mugabe helped to perpetuate killed as many as 30,000 of his own people and displacing many more.

The Zimbabwean dollar became a junk currency. Last June it was withdrawn from circulation because even Zimbabweans did not want it. Today the government’s official currency is the US dollar while South African rand, Indian rupee and Chinese yuan are widely used. Chinese yuan is accepted because China is Zimbabwe’s big brother while the US dollar is preferred because Zimbabwe’s trade is large denominated in that currency. Some say its is because many big men water land (orang besar tanah air) of Zimbabwe keep their haul in US dollar.

The worthless Zimbabwean currency

(Datuk Seri) Idris Jala, when he was a minister, warned that Malaysia could become like Greece if subsidy was not gradually phased out. Many people were upset with him. Then things were not as bad as today.

His warning proved prophetic. If the present political and economic crises are not immediately solved, we could become like Greece or worse like Zimbabwe and Togo.

A Spooked PM Won’t Not Go

The Prime Minister, (Datuk Seri Mappadulung Daeng Matti­mung Karaeng Sanrobone) Mohd Najib Abdul Razak refuses to resign, confidence in the economy is declining, the ringgit is plunging, cost of living is rising, capital is fleeing, the people are seething, Umno is fracturing and the Barisan Nasional is dying.

When Mohd Najib took power as Prime Minister and Finance Minister in 2009 the ringgit was doing well after Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi removed the peg in 2005. RM rose steadily to around 3.30 from 2011 to the middle of last year. Since a year ago, however, it had fallen to as low a 4.70.

There is so much that we can blame the external factors for our predicament. We are suffering a major confidence crisis and trust deficit. Our strong economic fundamentals are being ignored by investors because they do not have confidence in our government.

It is for the above reasons that I had braved the possibility of being condemned by suggesting that we should allow him safe passage. I am saying it again. Let’s give him a safe passage. Let's make it easier for him to leave.

We have to ask ourselves, which is more important - putting him on trial for alleged corruption or saving the country?

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad wasn’t stating anything new when he said, Mohd Najib won’t leave because he is afraid of being arrested and charged, and that the ringgit would recover if he resigns.

Want To Be Like Zimbabwe?

Do we want him to do the Mugabe by staying on at whatever cost while the economy heads towards the abyss? Or we allow him a safe passage?

Let us put aside our thirst for his blood and set our focus on saving our country from ruin. The longer the current situation persists, the worse it is for us.

Mohd Najib needs executive protection

We all know that he would do all he could to stay put. He may be putting a brave face at home and abroad but deep in his heart he knows the moment he resigns or losses control of the AG’s Chamber, the police, the MACC and Bank Negara, he would be arrested and charged.

We see that in his desperation to be accepted, he is trying to sound in sync with the rakyat. Take his most recent statement in New York that 1MDB’s business model was too idealistic and it went into heavy debt financing. That’s what we have been saying all along. With the ringgit in free fall, 1MDB’s debt could have risen way about the reported RM42 billion.

We will all be damned by the future generations if we do nothing to stop this rot. We should be gravely concerned about our present and about the future of our children and grandchildren.

We can wait for the next general elections in 2017 or 2018 to force him out. Even that is not a sure thing. He might still win and by then it might be too late for the country.

Look at our neighbour the Philippines. It used to be better than us. It took only one bad leader and his wife to ruin it. Marco had long gone but the Philippines has never really recovered from what he and his wife did.

The singing couple Marcos and Emelda: They ruined the Philippines

 Marcos and his free-spending wife, Emelda would not have left on that night of Feb 25, 1986 had the US not guaranteed them their safety and President Corazon Aquino had not allowed them free passage.

Or our country could become like Togo. The west African country is the 26^th poorest country in the world. But in April, less than a month after the UNDP issued a report stating that the people of Togo were the least happy people in the world, its President, Faure Gnassingbe, was re-elected for a third term. His family has been in power for 48 years. His father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, took power in a coup in 1967. All over the world bad leaders get re-elected by enslaving the people and manipulating the electoral process.

Akhirulqalam: Let me categorically state that not all people around Mohd Najib are bad and rude. Yes, some are very bad and extremely rude. But most are decent men and women who themselves are not in total agreement with him. I met a couple of them at a wedding reception in Putrajaya on Oct 3. Special thank to (Datuk) Rohana Mahmood.

Historical anecdote from the Philippines: Prime Minister Cesar Virata contacted President Cory Aquino by phone. Mr. Virata informed Mrs. Aquino that he had just gotten a phone message from the Americans requesting him to be the "honest broker" in negotiating the departure of Mr. Marcos "in safety" from the Palace. Malacañang was already besieged by angry crowd. Virata asked President Aquino if she wanted to impose any "conditions". Mrs. Aquino replied, "Tell him it's okay to go - my only condition is that he leave the country."

Footnote: If you have time, watch the movie “Turks and Caicos” on Astro’s Cinemax. It is about unscrupulous American contractors who conspired with a rogue British spy to overcharge the British Government, laundered their loot in Turks and Caicos, and set up a secret fund for the British Prime Minister who has the ambition of becoming an international statesman. Like Caymen Islands, Turk and Caicos is an offshore financial centre or tax haven.

Wallahuaklam.

Pemenjaraan Dr Khir dan Implikasi Terhadap Skandal 1MDB

A Kadir Jasin

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

“Dengan nama Allah Yang Maha Pemurah lagi Maha Penyayang”

BEKAS Menteri Besar Selangor, (Datuk Seri) Dr Mohamad  Khir Toyo, berkata beliau tidak melakukan kesalahan rasuah.  Betullah tu.

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Dalam sistem penghakiman kita, adalah hak mutlak yang tertuduh untuk menafikan tuduhan ke atasnya dengan mengaku tidak bersalah (plead not guilty).

Malah orang yang bersalah dan bersedia mengaku salah pun diingatkan (cautioned) oleh hakim jangan mengaku salah. Tapi kalau hendak mengaku juga, dia akan diingatkan dan dibagi amaran padah pengakuan salahnya itu.

Dalam sistem kehakiman Inggeris yang menjadi asas kehakiman kita, penghakiman hanya boleh dibuat oleh mahkamah. Hanya mahkamah berhak menentukan sama ada seseorang itu bersalah atau tidak.

Malah keadilan (justice) memihak kepada tertuduh (the accused). Mula-mula sekali, tertuduh tidak bersalah sehinggalah dibuktikan bersalah (innocent until proven guilty). Jadi Dr Khir “tidak bersalah” sehinggalah “dibuktikan bersalah”.

Beban mutakhir adalah di bahu pihak pendakwa. Pendakwa wajib membuktikan “tanpa sebarang keraguan” (beyond reasonable doubt) akan kesalahan tertuduh. Maksudnya tanpa syak wasangka.

Pihak pembela pula hanya perlu mewujudkan keraguan yang berpatutan (reasonable doubt) bagi membebaskan anak guaman mereka daripada sabit kesalahan.

Dr Khir dan pasukan pembelaannya gagal cetuskan "reasonable doubt"

Jadi, walaupun Dr Khir “bersumpah” beliau tidak bersalah, pihak pendakwa berjaya membuktikan tanpa sebarang keraguan bahawa beliau telah melakukan jenayah yang dituduh manakala peguam beliau gagal menimbulkan keraguan yang berpatutan.

Sekarang sahlah kesalahan beliau. Penafian beliau tidak bermakna lagi di segi undang-undang. Maka dengan itu, Dr Khir dipenjarakan selama 12 bulan dan harta yang terlibat dirampas.

Dengan itu juga, jadilah beliau Menteri Besar Selangor yang kedua dipenjarakan kerana rasuah dan menjadi antara segelintir pemimpin kanan kerajaan yang didapati bersalah melakukan rasuah.

Natijahnya:

1. Sama ada beliau mengaku bersalah atau tidak, Dr Khir telah dibuktikan terlibat dengan rasuah.

2. Pemimpin politik masih boleh disiasat, didakwa dan didapati bersalah mengikut undang-undang Negara.

3. 0rang baik dan berprofil rendah menjadi alpa, bongkak dan hilang akal apabila mendapat kuasa. Dr Khir boleh dikatakan tidak dikenali sebelum dilantik entah dari mana (out of the blue) menjadi Menteri Besar pada tahun 2000.

4. Pemenjaraan Dr Khir memberi kesan psikologi yang positif kepada rakyat jelata iaitu tidak ada sesiapa pun berada di atas daripada undang-undang (above the law).

5. Kesabitan kes Dr Khir memberi makna yang istimewa dan tersendiri dalam kaitan dengan penyiasatan dalam negara dan antarabangsa membabitkan 1MDB dan Perdana Menteri (Datuk Seri Mappadulung Daeng Matti­mung Karaeng Sanrobone ) Mohd Najib Abdul Razak.

6. Ada beberapa persamaan di antara kes rasuah Dr Khir dengan “derma” RM2.6 bilion yang masuk ke dalam akaun peribadi Mohd Najib, khususnya alasan politik dan dakwaan rakyat jelata tidak rugi apa-apa.

7. Tidak seperti Dr Khir yang menafikan keterlibatannya, Mohd Najib terus berdiam diri malah tidak menafikan kewujudan akaun peribadi RM2.6 bilion itu sebaliknya para penyokong beliau mendakwa wang itu adalah “derma” daripada seorang dermawan misteri Arab.

8. Para peguam Mohd Najib juga masih berdolak-dalik mengenai ancaman saman terhadap Wall Street Journal kerana mendedahkan hal itu walaupun telah mengeluarkan ancaman itu hampir tiga bulan lalu (8 Julai).

9. Pemenjaraan Dr Khir pastinya menaikkan tahap kebimbangan mereka yang terbabit atau dikaitkan dengan skandal 1MDB dan tabung peribadi Mohd Najib.

Anekdot 1: Jumpa Mohd Najib buat kali pertama pada tahun 1977 untuk temu bual bagi pihak akhbar Business Times sempena ulang tahun pertama beliau sebagai Ahli Parlimen Pekan. Berbual mengenai beliau berjalan kerluar daripada bayang raksasa (giant shadow) bapanya, Allahyarham Tun Abdul Razak Hussein. Bayang raksasa adalah padanan tajuk filem Kirk Douglas (bapa Micheal Douglas) “Cast A Giant Shadow” (1966).

Anekdot 2: Jumpa Dr Khir di Pejabat SUK Selangor, Shah Alam ketika beliau di puncak kuasa. Beliau dan kakitangannya berasa saya terlalu kritikal terhadap beliau. Waktu itu sudah timbul cakap-cakap yang tidak menyenangkan mengenai tindak-tanduk beliau. Saya mengingatkan Dr Khir agar berhati-hati sambil merujuk kepada “sumpahan” (curse) jawatan MB Selangor.

Akhirulkalam, bukan mudah menjadi saksi kepada sejarah dalam suasana di mana sejarah diabai dan dinafikan!

Wallahuaklam.

The Red Shirts Way of Preserving Power

A Kadir Jasin

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ "In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful".

WHEN the Yellow shirts had their demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur on 29 and 30 August, the purpose was to continue their demand for free and fair elections.

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Additionally they wanted to save the country from what they perceived be a bad government under Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Mappadulung Daeng Matti­mung Karaeng Sanrobone) Mohd Najib Abdul Razak.

Then, on Sept 16, almost out of the blue, came the Red shirts, whose purpose was purportedly to save the Malays from being “bangsat” (immigrants) in their own land.

At first Mohd Najib and his panglima Umno (Umno worriors) and srikandi (female warriors) were coy about admitting the party’s affiliation and sympathy with the protestors.

But when it became apparent that the gathering might match or even surpass that of the Yellow Shirts, they started to openly align themselves with the demonstrators. By now Mohd Najib and Umno appear to have conclusively embraced the Red shirts.

There are a few things to consider in the post-Yellow and Red Shirts demonstrations. Among them:

1. That armed with money and political support, the organisers of Red Shirts had been able to corral enough participants in a span of a few days using the Malays greatest fear – being overwhelmed by the non-Malays. They portrayed the Bersih protests as a non-Malay conspiracy to take over the county.

2. This was what Umno had done in the past, albeit more subtly, and that’s what they are likely to do at the next general election. They will use money and political power to garner votes while instilling fears among the Malays that they are in the danger of being swept away by Chinese Tsunami. The latter term was Mohd Najib’s own creation.

3. There are enough people around the Prime Minister who believe that with money and political power, they can continue to marshal enough rural votes in the name of the survival of the bangsa (race) to cling on to power.

4. Mohd Najib’s emotive use of “bangsat” is bound to find currency with many rural Malays. Mohd Najib himself believes that if he could hang on to power until the next GE to lead the Barisan Nasional to victory.

5. So those who think that Mohd Najib will be done away with soon and the BN will be gone in the next GE better think twice. For as long as he can get half of the pak cik, mak cik, the Orang Asli, the rural folk and Felda settlers to side with him, Umno would be returned to power and his position would the be unassailable. He would be vindicated.

6. All that he has to do in the interim is making sure that no criminal action is taken against him and BN legislators are kept in a tight grip to avoid defections and a vote of no confidence.

7. If the red shirt organisers could, within less than two weeks, put up such a show by bussing the people from faraway places that knew neither the rhyme nor the reason for joining the protest, there is nothing to stop them from using the same modus operandi to win the next GE.

8. Mohd Najib’s motto – money is king - sells well with the poor Malays in the villages and Felda settlements. With continued depression in commodity prices and rise in the cost of living due to the fall of the ringgit and the imposition of the GST, the power of money is even stronger among the rural poor. Impoverishing the people has its merit.

9. Mohd Najib does not need the clever Malays and the urbanites. He knows he cannot spook them with his “bangsat” slogan or threaten them into submission by spreading fear that their every move is being watched. The arrest and detention of (Datuk Paduka) Khairuddin Abu Hassan (KAH) and the expulsion of Aninah Saadudin from Umno have the effect of proving that intimidation is now a strategy.

10. But Mohd Najib, Umno and the government are losing on the media front. The mainstream media, the mainstay of their propaganda campaign, is losing grips of the audience and is in dire financial situation. Their integrity and reporting standards have fallen so badly that they lost literally every legal suit brought against them by Mohd Najib’s opponents. Their defence of Mohd Najib, Umno and the government crumbled when they lost these suits.

11. Readers, viewers and listeners are rapidly declining. Take the once mighty Utasan Malaysia newspaper as an example. The official website of Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) Malaysian puts its circulation at 173,000 copies a day when back in 2003 it was selling around 320,000 copies. It peaked in the 1990’s around 350,000 copies. Its publisher, Utusan Melayu Berhad is in dire financial position. Bernama reported that for the 2014 financial year its losses increased four-fold to RM82.64 million. The same trend is seen at Media Prima Berhad and, to a lesser degree, at the Star Publications Berhad.

12. The influence of the independent media like the Malay language Sinar Harian and the Edge is increasing so is that of the media platforms like blog, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Attempts by Mohd Najib and his backers to use these platforms, starting from the 2013 GE, had not been a sterling success. Instead their sites are being used by the people to pour scorn on them. 

13. Having said at that, the immediate concern remains the direction the country is heading. We have lost international respect, our economy is tittering on the brink, welfare of the rakyat is getting worst and the country is becoming less safe.

14. Akhirulkalam, if Khairuddin is a liar and the documents in his possession were fake or doctored, why should the Prime Minister fear him? Being a good friend of the US, he should have faith in the US justice system and allow Khairuddin to provide the FBI with the fake and doctored documents. Let the US arrest and prosecute him for lying. Lying to a US Government agency is a criminal misdemeanour.

Wallahuaklam.

Salam Aidil Adha Buat Semua

Moga-moga Allah Berkati Para Jemaah Kita dan Selamatkan Negara Kita. Amin

Implikasi Siasatan Juri Agung Terhadap Mohd Najib

A Kadir Jasin

AMERIKA di bawah George Bush dan anaknya, George W. Bush bencikan Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad kerana beliau bercakap bagi pihak negara-negara Islam, mengkritik Israel dan membela negara-negara membangun.

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Tetapi Amerika tidak menubuhkan apa-apa badan untuk menyiasat beliau.

AMERIKA di bawah Barrack Hussein Obama amat menyayangi Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak (atau Mohd Najib berasa beliau disayangi) kerana beliau seorang yang bersikap sederhana (moderate).

Dua Sahabat: Mohd Najib Sanjung Obama

Tetapi Amerika menubuhkan Juri Agung (Grand Jury) untuk menyiasat dakwaan rasuah ke atas beliau dan orang-orang yang rapat dengan beliau. Demikian menurut laporan akhbar The New York Times (NYT). (Di sini)

Juri Agung adalah badan penyiasatan tertinggi di Amerika. Lazimnya ia mengandungi antara 16 hingga 23 orang ahli walaupun ada masanya lebih ramai. Ia bertindak sebagai satu pasukan untuk jangka masa yang lama atau melibatkan banyak kes. Ia diselia sama ada oleh seorang peguam persekutuan, ketua peguam negeri atau peguam daerah.

Bidang Kuasa Juri Agung Luas

 Mereka berkuasa mendengar kes atau “membicarakan” seseorang secara ex parte iaitu tanpa kehadiran orang yang disyaki atau tertuduh.

Anak Tiri PM Jadi Sasaran

Dalam kes Mohd Najib, laporan NYT itu mengatakan penyiasatan akan dikelolakan oleh sebuah unit di Jabatan Kehakiman (Justice Department) yang bertanggungjawab menyiasat rasuah antarabangsa.

Sasaran penyiasatan ialah harta di Amerika yang dibeli oleh syarikat-syarikat kosong (shell companies) dimilik anak tiri Mohd Najib serta aset-aset hartanah yang bersangkutan dengan seorang yang rapat dengan keluarga Perdana Menteri.

Anak tiri Mohd Najib yang dimaksudkan itu ialah Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz, anak Datin Paduka Seri Rosmah Mansor dengan suami pertamanya, Abdul Aziz Nong Chik manakala kawan rapat keluarga Perdana Menteri itu ialah Jho Low.

The Wolves of Wall Street: Riza (kiri), Jho Low (kanan)

NYT memetik dua orang yang berpengetahuan mengenai penyiasatan itu sebagai berkata, para penyiasat juga sedang meneliti bayaran AS$681 juta yang dipercayai masuk ke dalam akaun peribadi Mohd Najib.

Dalam sejarah, banyak waran tangkap dikeluarkan terhadap warganegara asing atas perakuan Juri Agung. Sesetengah daripada mereka berjaya ditangkap, dibicarakan dan didapati bersalah.

Tugas Juri Agong bukan membicarakan orang yang disyaki tetapi memeriksa bukti dan membuat keputusan sama orang itu patut dibicarakan atau tidak. Dalam erti kata lain, Juri Agung memastikan sebab barangkali (probable cause) bukan salah atau tidak bersalah seseorang itu.

Amerika adalah negara terbaru melancarkan penyiasatan rasuah dan pengubahan wang haram (money laundering) yang melibatkan 1MDB dan orang-orang yang berkaitan dengannya, termasuk Perdana Menteri. Beliau adalah orang paling atas dalam 1MDB selaku Pengerusi Lembaga Penasihatnya.

Negara-negara lain yang telah memulakan penyiasat dan membekukan akaun berkaitan 1MBD adalah Singapura, Hong Kong, Switzerland dan United Kingdom.

Orang tua-tua di Kedah kata, nak tergelak. Lucu tapi tak cukup cucu untuk ketawa.

Sebaliknya, dalam hal 1MDB ini ia lebih menjurus kepada malu dan aib. Inilah buat kali pertama dalam sejarah negara kita, seorang Perdana Menteri menjadi orang yang disyaki di luar negara.

Wallahuaklam.

Wartawan: Antara Kebebasan, Ancaman dan Cari Makan

A Kadir Jasin

MUTAKHIR, 21 Sept – Terima kasih mahkamah. Ada harapan untuk media massa bebas di Malaysia. Waktu untuk pemerintah menyedari bahawa era kuku besi sudah berlalu.

Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur hari ini membatalkan perintah Kementerian Dalam Negeri menggantung akhbar The Edge Weekly dan The Edge Financial Daily selama tiga bulan.

Hakim (Datuk) Asmabi Mohamad dalam mebenarkan permohonan kajian semula kehakiman (judicial review) oleh pemilik dua akhbar itu berkata, pihak responden (menteri) telah melanggar Seksyen 7 (1) Akta Mesin Cetak dan Penerbitan 1984.

"Responden tidak mematuhi keseksamaan peraturan ( procedural fairness) kerana tidak memberi butir penggantungan kepada pemohon," katanya.

Hakim berkata lagi, menteri telah mengambil pertimbangan yang tidak relevan dengan mengenakan penggantungan menyeluruh selama tiga bulan.

Kementerian Dalam Negeri menggantung dua akhbar itu berikutan laporan mereka mengenai skandal 1MDB dan pembabitan Mohd Najib di dalamnya.

POSTING ASAL

 

DARIPADA nostalgia dan kenangan lama mengusik jiwa, kita terpaksa kembali ke alam nyata. Semalam sejarah dan kenangan. Hari ini hakikat dan kenyataan.

PERINGATAN: Komen guna “Anonymous” tidak akan disiarkan. Sila guna Google Account atau Name/URL. Boleh pakai nama samaran.]

Terima kasih kepada pembahas yang mendoakan keselamatan saya. Mudah cakap, saya tidaklah berani sangat tetapi saya pun tidak terlalu penakut.

Saya diajar oleh Allahyarham ayah saya, berani atau takut harus berasas dan berpada. Kenali bahaya dan kurangkan ancamannya. Paling penting, kata ayah saya, hormati sesama manusia tetapi takut hanya kepada Allah.

Masa kanak-kanak saya takut hantu. Kita ditakut-takutkan dengan cerita hantu. Macam-macam hantu. Tetapi ketika belasan tahun saya hilang takut kepada hantu. Musim hujan, bila ikan naik dari sungai ke sawah untuk bertelur, hatta tengah malam pun saya keluar rumah untuk memeriksa bubu, tuar dan pelompat.

Saya tahu ancaman ada di mana-mana dan apa saja boleh berlaku, hatta yang tak masuk akal. Selama 46 tahun menjadi wartawan saya melaporkan dan membaca banyak kejadian aneh: manusia hilang tanpa kesan, tauke India dibunuh tetapi pembunuh tidak diketahui, wanita asing diledakkan dan macam-macam lagi. Yang terbaru  Timbalan Pendakwa Raya (DPP) (Anthony Kevin Morais) diculik di tengah-tengah kemewahan Bangsar dan mayat beliau ditemui di Subang Jaya.

Mayat Morais disumbat dalam tong minyak

Takut memang takut. Macam-macam boleh berlaku. Sekarang pembunuh upahan amatur ada di mana-mana. Orang yang biasa dengan masyarakat yang memelihara anjing tentu tahu anjing kadang-kadang menyerang tanpa diarah dan tanpa provokasi. Tuan tak suruh serang tapi anjing serang. Mungkin anjing rasa tuannya terancam atau anjing nak tunjuk baik kepada tuannya. Jaga-jaga, penyakit anjing gila kembali semula. Lagi satu bala.

Anjing liar bawa penyakit anjing gila

Negara kita makin bahaya. Tetapi kalau kerana negara kita bahaya, kita takut dan tidak buat apa-apa, keadaan akan jadi lebih bahaya. Akhirnya Malaysia hanya layak didiami samseng, penyangak dan pembesar yang diiringi pengawal bersenjata.

Apakah itu yang kita kehendaki? Apakah itu Tanah Melayu dan Malaysia yang para pejuang silam idamkan apabila mereka melaungkan merdeka, merdeka, merdeka pada 31 Ogos 1957?

Negara kita menjadi begitu tidak selamat sehingga ada pengarang media massa arus perdana yang dikhabarkan membawa senjata api.

Kalau pengarang media massa arus perdana mengakui tentang betapa bahayanya negara sehingga terpaksa membawa senjata api, apakah kita hendak mempertikaikannya?

Dulu Lain

Ketika Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad jadi Perdana Menteri antara 1981 hingga 2003, beliau bebas memandu sendiri untuk meninjau buruk baik negara dan menikmati kepuasan memandu.

Masa itu pun ada ancaman. Pada awal tahun 1980-an pasukan bersenjata komunis masih cergas dan kegiatan kongsi gelap meluas.

Tetapi kini, pada saat negara kita diuar-uarkan akan menjadi negara pendapatan tinggi menjelang tahun 2020, polis menasihati Perdana Menteri, (Datuk Seri) Mohd Najib Abdul Razak jangan memandu sendiri atas alasan keselamatan. Hanya sekali beliau dibenarkan memandu sendiri ke Hotel Majestic.

Jadi jelaslah yang Malaysia makin tidak selamat atau Perdana Menteri kita sekarang menghadapi ancaman keselamatan yang tinggi sehingga menghadiri bahas umum "nothing2hide" pun ditegah polis.

Kebebasan

Terima kasih kepada anak buah dan rakan wartawan yang curi-curi berjumpa saya atau bertukar-tukar fikiran melalui SMS dan Whatsapp. Yang lebih berani seperti Ku Seman mengulas terus dalam blog ini.

Saya faham dilema mereka. Nasihat saya, kalau mereka makan gaji, mereka kenalah akur kepada majikan mereka. Alternatifnya mereka kenalah berhenti dan cari tempat yang secocok dengan pendirian mereka atau bekerja sendiri.

Sekarang bukan media arus perdana (MAP) saja dimiliki dan dikawal oleh kerajaan atau pihak-pihak prokerajaan malah banyak saluran media baru seperti portal berita dan blog turut dimiliki atau ditaja oleh kerajaan dan pihak-pihak prokerajaan.

Saya terpaksa bersetuju dengan mereka bahawa terlalu kerap MAP kena saman malu oleh pembangkang dan sering kalah dalam perbicaraan. Mereka hilang duit tetapi yang lebih teruk mereka hilang kewibawaan dan keyakinan khalayak. Duit itu lebih baik dibelanjakan untuk kebajikan kakitangan dan memperbaiki mutu pemberitaan daripada membayar saman malu.

Kesimpulannya, kejadian yang dulu dianggap luar biasa sekarang sudah tidak luar biasa lagi. Malah sudah jadi biasa. Wanita jelita dan DPP dibunuh sensasi. Pengarang media bawa senjata api. Hak menjawab dalam akhbar tidak lagi diamalkan. Manusia takut hingga cakap pun berbisik-bisik.

Pasca-skrip: Tahniah kepada (Datuk) Ahmad Rejal Arbee (gambar di atas) kerana dianugerahkan gelaran Tokoh Wartawan Negara (2014) dan kepada keluarga Allahyarham Zainon Ahmad atas anugerah Tokoh Wartawan Negara (posthumous) 10 September lalu.

Wallahuaklam.