How 'jambu' Rafizi broke the NFC story

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alN900EnqfQ

Rafizi Ramli, who has led the campaign to expose the Cowgate scandal, has spoken about how he and his team were able to track down and make their startling disclosures on the National Feedlot Corporation.

Those involved in the NFC have said two disgruntled former employees were responsbile for leaking information to Rafizi, who is directory of strategy for Parti Keadilan Rakyat. Others have blamed a "beef cartel" out to sabotage the NFC.

Rafizi said the true identity of the whistleblower was anyone's guess — "I myself don't know to this day", he told MalaysiaKini.

The big break in his campaign came with an email from someone using the pseudonym "lembu", enclosing a PDF copy of the corporation's cash book.  Many people would have had access to the cashbook, he said.

Civil servants and NFC's many employees who went "in and out" could also have had a hand. "But the way the emails are written tell me it is not the cartel or disgruntled employees. But I think it's best I keep it to myself," he said.

He said it was Umno minister Noh Omar's defence of NFC in Parliament that brought the cashbook in his email.

"So that was the turning point. If Noh Omar hadn't gone to Parliament and said that 8,000-plus heads of cattle was a national success, it could have died there," he said.

Highlights of how Rafizi investigated the scandal:

• He and his team visited the National Feedlot Centre in Gemas, Negri Sembilan, under the pretext of wanting to buy cattle. They found the centre had at most 1,000-plus cows.
• Then the cashbook arrived by email. "I glanced through it quickly... and tried to pick up payments that did not fall into place. Payments for condominiums, and to high-end property developers certainly did not... make sense with a company of that sort...we went down (to check)."
• PKR made their own follow-up investigations, going to the sites of the properties and making searches.
• Going by gut feelings, they decided to take the risk. "If you want to have complete documents, I don't think you will ever get everything."
• No further inside information has arrived, only anonymous tip-offs in emails and dropped pieces of papers. "Yes, someone dropped a piece of paper which said a lot of things. For example, they bought houses there, they did this. But then again, a lot of (the information) when we did the follow-up... we were not confident. The (cashbook is) the one document which I think is really, really genuine. The rest may also be right but ... until we are 70-80 percent confident (and are able to corroborate)... otherwise we don't go near."

He said more disclosures will follow.

FULL REPORTS:
Inside job? How PKR got information on NFC
Noh Omar's defence triggered NFC whistleblowers
Even cows are used as sacrificial lambs

Do opposition ties run only as deep as Utusan’s lies?

Do opposition ties run only as deep as Utusan’s lies? — Lim Yin Kuin
May 10, 2011

http://web1.themalaysianinsider.net/breakingviews/article/do-opposition-ties-run-only-as-deep-as-utusans-lies-lim-yin-kuin/features/article/


MAY 10 — Utusan Malaysia never ceases to confound us with the most flagrant reporting, reinforced by the most inciteful editorials.

However, their fear-invoking propaganda designed to stoke racial sentiments among the less informed seemed to have grown stale over the last few months. Awang Selamat’s consistent output of outlandishness somehow plateaued, and even “his” detractors were beginning to yawn.

Then came last week.

An alleged conspiracy by Christian leaders to replace Islam as Malaysia’s official religion was exclusively leaked by Utusan’s fearless investigative journalists (exclusive in the conventional media, at least). Just as we were digesting the treacherous plans by non-Malays to subordinate Malay rights, Utusan (or should I say Umno) stepped up their fact-finding adventures a notch: flat out accusing Christians of attempting to subvert Islam.

Truth to be told, this isn’t the first time politicians have played the religion card. Umno-extension Perkasa has always viewed the defence of Islam as part of its struggle to preserve Malay rights. The issue of the Alkitab was harped on so extensively by the opposition during the Sarawak election that Umno was able to turn the entire issue on its head, alleging instead that Christians have become overzealous in demanding their rights, forcing the opposition to go on the defensive.

The incessant attacks by Utusan Malaysia and Umno (and the MCA, if you count them) on the opposition have not only taken the focus away from key issues in Malaysia, but have offered the opposition parties fresh grounds to co-operate. If I were a BN political strategist, this would be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, my own policy failures will be hidden from public debate. On the other hand, I am giving more impetus to the opposition parties to unite against me.

To counter the second point, BN supplements these attacks by trying to play up divisions within Pakatan Rakyat. Their pitching of Malay unity to PAS has so far failed in rhetoric, but with promises of government positions and their ability to dig up skeletons in the closet, who knows?

Between incessantly making personal attacks and outlandish accusations against the opposition, and trying to play up their divisions, Umno has by and large made the first approach the dominant part of its political strategy. To which I say: maybe it’s time for a different approach?

Sure, the outrageous accusations have been effective in crowding out Pakatan Rakyat’s legitimate criticisms of BN in the headlines.

Craziness sells more papers and produces more hits on the Internet. In this year alone we’ve had a purported sex video of Anwar Ibrahim, the continuation of Sodomy II, Perkasa’s perennial madness, the relentless portrayal of the DAP as racial extremists and now the Christianity episode. But the opposition remains united.

Let’s make it perfectly clear: BN cannot be defeated overall in a general election because they make the rules, and the rules rule them out from losing, bar internal sabotage or horrific political miscalculations by the leadership. The question is how can they effectively stem the opposition’s ascendancy.

The emergence of a credible opposition has soured the political fortunes of certain sections of BN. The MCA and Gerakan have been wiped off the political scene, while many Umno members used to the old ways are unwilling to accept the challenge of fighting free and fair elections. Umno has faced questions over its credibility for the first time in decades. Their paranoia over losing power has driven them to go on the offensive against the opposition in the government-controlled media. However, their overzealous approach has increased the opposition’s resolve to stick together, as we have seen in this latest debacle, making their problem even worse.

PAS and the DAP have developed a strong rapport that would be otherwise unthinkable given their lack of ideological coherence. It was heartening to see the dignified stand both parties took when Utusan broke the news of the Christian plot. But then again, it’s easy to take a stand against the silly.

My solution to BN’s problems is this: stop pitching the crazy and give the opposition parties a break. Stop creating situations that force the opposition parties into a siege mentality and unite to form the coalition against idiocy.

Let them keep Selangor. Let the partnership run its course. When the time comes, we’ll see if the DAP’s centre-left social justice ideas can fall in line with PAS’s Islamic brand of social conservatism. I, for one, would like to see an earnest debate between the two parties on prevention vs cure policy solutions on social issues such as teen pregnancies and unwanted babies.

PAS has earned plaudits among middle-class-dominated suburbanites of Kuala Lumpur for its stand on religious moderation, but does it have an economic blueprint that matches the aspirations of the same group of people? In other words, if the common enemy, that is Umno, is temporarily out of the scene, can PAS and the DAP really work together?

In my opinion, an effective partnership between PAS and the DAP, if achieved, would represent one of the greatest accomplishments in Malaysian politics, not least because of the tremendous sacrifices that the leaders of these two parties have made over the decades for Malaysia. While it would be foolish to conclude prematurely that the two parties’ ideals are irreconcilable, conjuring up such a partnership will require strong political leadership from both camps. This paragraph is flush with idealism because sometimes I feel it’s our only hope against the current political discourse.

The first PAS-DAP experiment in Perak failed miserably due to the DAP’s own failings. We can only hope lessons were learned from that episode.

* Lim Yin Kuin reads The Malaysian Insider.

It Ain't Really 1Malaysia With Utusan and Co Around, Yes?

THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2011

It Ain't Really 1Malaysia With Utusan and Co Around, Yes?http://melvin-mah.blogspot.com/2011/05/it-aint-really-1malaysia-with-utusan.html

I can say that Hata Wahari, who was fired by Utusan had nothing to lose really from being fired. In fact, when he started spilling the beans about the "behind the scenes" on Utusan's print, at least it tells us of what I really feel that it isn't 1Malaysia - in fact it goes the opposite of 1Malaysia thing. The problem is, since we are forewarned is that the "makcik and pakcik" Felda might find it hard or refuse to believe that Utusan is spewing inaccurate things - hence Hata was saying "brushing off Utusan in rural would be a bad idea".

“But the rural community is predominantly Malay-Muslim. Who are they going to cross-check their facts with? Neither is there another Malay-language paper to counter Utusan’s reports. The only media they are exposed to is government-owned media.”

I guess that is the question mark on how to get rural people to wake up and understand rather than day dreaming really. "To counter Utusan reports" - can PAS take up and crank the effort to debunk whatever Utusan says? 

What's interesting is the process of how UMNO creates an issue, and then instructions are relayed to the current editor-in-chief Aziz Ishak. I guess this is how the pseudonym of Awang Selamat come into place as well.

The swing in Utusan Malaysia’s stance came shortly after the 2008 election when Khalid was replaced by Aziz Ishak. According to Hata, the latter does not question the editorial directives set by the Umno political bureau which reportedly sits every Monday night to discuss the paper’s agenda for the week.

Those present are the president Najib Tun Razak, deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin, the three vice-presidents – Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Hishamuddin Hussein and Shafie Apdal – secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor and information chief Ahmad Maslan.

The agenda is then communicated to Utusan Malaysia’s editor-in-chief via the prime minister’s office. The paper will run an issue for three days before dropping it completely unless it receives strong public support from top BN ministers.

It’s a clever strategy because by the third day the other media would have snapped it up to continue milking it, which would leave Utusan Malaysia free to start the ball rolling on another issue.

The political bureau meeting part is very interesting. See this is ain't really 1Malaysia as they keep screaming. A shame for Najib really as he as the party lead has to take care of his own people there as well. The problem for him is dealing with hawks in the party. So Aziz Ishak, unlike his predecessor Khalid Mohd, doesn't have the much control and finesse over the editorial content.

It sounds not really 1Malaysia if you have one hand Utusan gets away with a slap on the wrist and instead Zunar's cartoon books gets a heavy-hand action in the form of banning it because of its satirical nature. I just don't understand why the government can't stand hard-hitting criticism and rather prefer to close their ears and listen to those "sweeting news".

If 1Malaysia talks about racial equality then care to explain why house buying is also segregating for Bumis and non-Bumis? Are we actually kow towing to those who scream of racial divides a.l.a Perkasa? Look at that example above and see for yourself.

Hata once said that the sales in urban areas for Utusan are going down and down. The saving grace for them is ads, main subscribers being government agencies and rural areas. But have most of us really realized the full reality of the situation?

This FMT comment highlights some of the points:

Utusan Malaysia is not racist; instead it is propagating an even worse mind-set –xenophobia or an excessive fear of strangers. Is Utusan Malaysia referring to those who are not Malays as strangers?

This is what Utusan Malaysia seems to want to propagate in Malaysia – a sense that anything not-Malay is fair game for persecution and blame

Any advancement by another race is seen as a threat to the position of the Malays at large.

And Utusan Malaysia prides itself on being the voice of the Malays, the bastion of strength that guards the interest of the Malays and any seeming jibes at Malay interests are attacked with fiery fervour.

If like Utusan, UMNO claims to represent all Malays, then perhaps they might want to rethink the big talk. It actually don't really work. Not all have the same opinion as they do. If you take a look at the fracas at the Sentul mosque over the sumpah laknat that Eskay did, you can see two main groups that clashed had different opinions. This justifies the wrong claim.

Does it lean to Najib's tagline isn't it or actually otherwise, yes?

The Prostitution of the Mainstream Media

SUNDAY, 5 FEBRUARY 2012
http://sakmongkol.blogspot.com/2012/02/prostitution-of-mainstream-media.html

A few days ago, a friend remarked that he hasn’t read the Utusan Malaysia for almost 2 years. When I asked the reason why, he answered simply by stating Utusan Malaysia has become the extended mouthpiece of UMNO and BN. Especially the former. Its editorials are nothing more than patronizing dictations by an officious Guru Kanan in charge of discipline. He finds the editorials insulting to the intelligence and nauseatingly overbearing. Who wants to read a paper that says Nik Aziz is delusional, while Dr Mahathir who hasn’t made peace with the new political realities, isn’t?

For substitute he now reads Sinar which has surpassed Utusan in circulation and credibility. I am inclined to believe many others share his revulsion for not only Utusan Malaysia but other members of the mainstream media too.  The citadel for the shameless media partisanship has shifted from Jalan Riong to the HQ of Media Prima.

For many years now mainstream media has become increasingly partisan and more overt in promoting the policies of UMNO and BN.  This evolutionary process by which the MSM became literally the mouthpiece of partisan politics, reached its zenith in 2008 when the media were instrumental in getting Abdullah Badawi kicked out. It was helped further by the existence of some nebulous and often secretive cells in the New Media, helmed often by equally publicity-shy media assassins cloaked under various aliases and pseudonyms. Their obsession for coward secrecy is surpassed only by the intensity of their vitriolic and penchant for ad hominem attacks.

These conclaves of media assassins in the new media are also said to be headed by banished journalists who thought they were legends in the own right. Once upon a time, they thought the world revolves around them and people worshipped at their feet. Some still do and are willing to pay these media witch doctors hefty sums of money.

Many journalists both in the official MSM and in the satellite new media dropped any pretense of objectivity and became not only cheerleaders but active de facto members of the campaign.   What has their newfound loyalty and prostration achieved for the journalism community?

During the past two decades no other sector of the economy has experienced such overwhelming financial and employment devastation and severe loss of credibility. In a scathing reference to NST Malaysia, Lee Kuan Yew the former Singapore PM simply said that it has lost credibility. What do people read? They read Harakah, Roketkini and of course, the Internet.

Yet the vast majority of the media do not understand why theirs is a declining and failing business model.  They are still in denial and cannot accept the reality of the marketplace, as their actions have prompted the Malaysian public to lose all confidence in their objectivity and integrity.

The 2013 election season has begun and this same media finds itself in the position of having to defend and reinforce the man they chose to sleep with.  They have willingly opted to do exactly that. The mainstream media is systematically pulling out all the stops to destroy any and all viable BN challengers in an undeclared but understood alliance with the Najib re-election machine.

Rather than objectively analyzing the folly of the Najib class warfare strategy and its potential to undermine and destroy societal cohesion, the mainstream media has trumpeted and encouraged this divisive and dangerous strategy.  Clearly, the economic proposals which Najib has announced thus far seem to work preponderantly for the benefit of a select clientele.

Which class welfare agenda is Najib pursuing?   The welfare agenda hasn’t change from the dictats of Dr Mahathir despite the very public and pompously loud announcements of Najib via his various acronym initiatives. It’s the welfare of the wealthy corporate class and the adherents of the free market economy. Except, in the Malaysian application of that concept ‘free market’ has nothing to do with the ideas of market efficiency and productivity which economists are propounding. The ‘free market’ which the Najib administration pushes on and supports is the market freedom for the selected few and the klelptocratic elite to lay their hands on economic resources.

The Perkasa movement, conceived by friends of UMNO  and encouraged by Putrajaya, as well as blessed by many in the mainstream media, was intended to further reinforce the war against the ‘subversive’ and disloyal majority. It was intended also to redirect the anger and blame for all of our country’s woes away from the statist policies of the Najib administration. Yes, Najib hasn’t really moved at all from the mindset of the government knows best. His declaration about the age of government knowing best was naked rhetoric. It’s all an elaborately propped stage.

Anwar Ibrahim is being cast as the villain in this stage production. He must be destroyed by unproven and salacious allegations of sexual perversions.  And yes, the only judgment that matters now must come from the courts. If the courts cannot convict him for want of evidence, we the laymen cannot read beyond what is manifestly stated in law.

Nik Aziz and Haji Hadi are portrayed as wild-eyed and unstable religious fanatics. They are , says Utusan Malaysia, delusional losing grip on reality. One needs only to scour the characterization of these people in the pro UMNO blogs. There, you get to read the vilest descriptions of Hadi and Nik Aziz .  Of course, such characterizations would never be applied to any BN candidate.

When it comes to Lim Guan Eng there is no ethical barrier too high for the media to tear down in an attempt to discredit him.  The specter of unfounded and outright lies about his son’s harassment of an equally innocent young lady being given unhindered coverage by the media and UMNO blogs is considered acceptable, as well as any innuendo or accusation created out of whole cloth.   Such a scenario would never be contemplated if the person or persons involved are UMNO and BN leading lights. Hence, the controversy surrounding Shahrizat and the NFC imbroglio are uncritically lapped up by the mainstream media as a ‘test from God’.

What has this loyalty to the UMNO and BN masters wrought for the members of this once-proud profession? The landscape of the once mighty journalism community is one of utter devastation. The daily circulation of all major newspapers has dropped. The NST has even been described as a kid’s newspapers. The devastation of the mainstream papers is well documented in this blog.

How does the journalism community react? The most important and fashionable matter for the vast majority of the journalism community has been to be part of the in-crowd, which requires little independence of thought or even the ability to generate an original thought. Thus many in the media are still caught up in the old paradigm of good versus evil wherein conservatives are good and liberals are evil.

The inconvenient truth is, a majority of the members of the mainstream media are incapable of recognizing their error in blindly supporting the statist agenda of the BN government over the years.  Regardless of the evidence at hand, either historic or contemporary, their egos and narcissism so dominate their psyche that admitting a mistake is tantamount to the apocalypse.  Thus they appear willing to sacrifice their own future and credibility by actively campaigning for UMNO and BN’s re-election rather than honestly report on the lies and machinations of this administration and their devastating impact on future generations.  The only outcome the media has guaranteed is the continued decline and degradation of their once noble profession.

Truth matters and Theory R

http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/185566
KJ John
4:19PM Jan 3, 2012
I am a dreamer and am convinced that dreaming and communicating ideas and ideals about a better tomorrow will someday help someone else. That is also my personal public theology about life.

Therefore, I write my thoughts and ideas and publish them for public scrutiny. Not so much to convince anyone else but with the prayer and hope to inform and may be influence the other’s thinking towards the same good ideas and ideals!

I surely believe these are good and true ideas! They are mine today, but some day I hope they are yours too! These ideas and ideals were formed and shaped after many years of thinking and reflecting on the same.

Therefore, I would like to make 2012 my year of integration with integrity within my community of friends and relatives; wherein I try to put together all my ideas and ideals into a comprehensive and mutually exclusive model; which I call “Theory R” based on a challenge that Dr RC Sproul made in his book, “Stronger Than Steel.”

Theory R is about the ideal of living a life of integrity while still well integrated within the rest of one’s community and society. Such integration with integrity requires very high standards of both personal integrity and good habits but also organisational integrity and effective performance.

These are ideals worth pursuing for anyone who is a true believer in any “Other” of eternal significance.

The Star of Dec 31, 2011, carried the story of a Dr Nehemiah Lee and his “Nehemiah Wall”. From the write-up, he appears to live his life quite integrated with integrity.

It also carried a write-up by the Chief Secretary Sidek Hassan, who also articulates ideas and ideals about the nature of public services and personal and institutional values he holds very dearly.  He too appears integrated with integrity.

Finally, it also carried a challenge by two other people; one known and the other less well-known.

Idris Jala challenged Malaysian industries and corporations to think about global competitiveness and not just focus on their market share under the proverbial ‘katak dibawah tempurung.’

Real and lasting value

He reasoned that the Malaysian sky alone is too small within a framework of new kinds of global competiveness. He dreams of one day having a Malaysian brand name equivalent of any well-known Korean product!

Most telling for me and my world view hypothesis was, however, the article by Roshan Thiran who talks about how it is heretics within our organisations that ultimately creates real and lasting value.

He extols Steve Jobs and his ‘heretical experience’ of leaving Apple and returning one day with a positive vengeance and the world is today better for that.

He was a true transformational leader. Roshan defined heretics as “someone whose views, beliefs or actions are in opposition to popular beliefs and traditions”.

A heretic in your company is “someone who simultaneously holds great loyalty to your organisation but has a revelation of a new truth the organisation has yet to grasp”.

Roshan also prays that one day we can create a Malaysian Steve Jobs but more importantly learn to respect and extol such ‘heretics’ within our community and society.

What has all this got to do with truth matters and Theory R? Well, whether it is Sidek’s personal values close to his heart, or Idris’ global vision for change and performance improvements, or Nehemiah’s religious values of integration with integrity, they all believe in one common reality; that there is one truth which is objectively good for all, and the values linked to that truth can and must define the public spaces.

They define the common good. They must define the one true good value.

I call such a truth value the first and foremost R. It is called “Revelation”. As all truth seekers know truth must always be revealed by the ‘Other’; it can never be discovered by logic and reason alone.

Therefore. there is always an ‘aha’ moment for all such personal discoveries and knowledge of truth when the complete and comprehensive truth of such a matter or non-matter become real and known to the knower.

Then, in the language of Michael Polanyi, one can say, I know how to ride a bicycle for the first time ever. Polanyi’s book “Personal Knowledge” is worth a good read!

Willing and voluntary actor

When one knows the truth; that knowledge will also set one free to say: “I who understand truth of the common good in that situation and can become responsible for the truth that I do now know in a very personal and real way.”

Such a personal responsibility statement makes one move away from assuming the role of a mere agent (i.e. playing a role) to becoming a willing and voluntary actor in any given situation.

In my experience and personal knowledge to date, whether with Sidek’s colleagues, or Idris’ corporate CEOs, or Nehemiah’s construction industry partners and competitors, most do not move beyond being agents of a particular worldview and merely “playing a role”; what Thomas Kuhn calls the “old or normal paradigm”.

It is called “the mainstream worldview”, if defined especially by the ‘Occupy Movers and Shakers’ of Wall Street.

Therefore, what each of these “heroes of The Star newspaper” believe is that they can shift paradigms based on their personal Theory R, or their current, even if limited worldview, and their personal knowledge of such truths.

In fact, my friend Deputy Minister of Higher Education Saifuddin Abdullah defined this experience and personal knowledge in his address to a group of us interested in Education, Marginalisation and Poverty at the MiDAS@UCSI Truth Matters forum recently.
His off the cuff keynote addressed, in Kuhn’s language, the older normal paradigm and the new not-yet-mainstream paradigm of virtual reality. Kuhn first called and labelled this phenomenon “a paradigm shift”.

But, even Kuhn recognised that “a paradigm shift” involved fundamental and radical shifts in worldviews almost equivalent to a religious conversion. See this concept of a paradigm shift in his book entitled “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.”

Please see http://des.emory.edu/mfp/Kuhn.html for a more detailed analysis of the full thesis, for those interested.

All it really takes is change in mindset

Hammer & Champy (1993) applied such a process of reengineering as “the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service and speed”.

Therefore, my question to the three mainstream The Star heroes, “where is the starting point of the paradigm shift you are seeking to try and engender?

I agree that our nation is stuck in the middle income trap. I agree that the Public Services Department has become incompetent and too bureaucratic and, in fact, even “idiocratic” (my coinage through these columns), so why is it we are still buying their loyalties through further “financial incentives” when all it really takes is a mindset change or paradigm shift?

Is money and perks the real source of the problem of the public services incompetence and non-accountability?

Or, it is simply the lack of good moral public service leadership who can say to ‘no’ to ministers and anyone else “yes minister, but... you have not considered two other public policy options on this issue of concern.

Can you please consider all options before we make the most rational and optimum choice of policies for the common good?”

Folks, if we can nurture such good, upright and moral public officials, we can “revert to the constitutional values of old and seek to serve only public interest and the common good!”

But all this calls for a Public Services Department which is not only professional but also morally and ethically upright and can say ‘no’, if and when such a negative response is needed.

But, unfortunately today we still sign off, “saya menurut perintah”, and it is falsely and wrongly assumed to mean blind loyalty to the current bosses of the day.

I say “it is elementary Mr Watson, elementary”. May God bless the Public Services.

KJ JOHN was in public service for 29 years. The views expressed here are his personal views and not those of any institution he is involved with. Write to him at kjjohn@ohmsi.net with any feedback or views.

Two halves not a whole

http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/186214
KJ John
3:23PM Jan 10, 2012
When it comes to truth matters, judges are trained to focus on the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Therefore I find it amusing, at best, and absurd at worst, that the retired judge from Singapore has denied the truth of the matter about the case of his colleague plagiarising his work.

The core issue is whether or not someone else “plagiarised his work of a written judgment?” The simple and truthful answer is simply ‘yes or no.’ Instead, we find the political doublespeak of “I made no complaint about the matter!”

Usually in the field of knowledge and education, wherein the issues or plagiarism emerge, when it is a clear and personal coinage of an individual, that piece of creative work is considered a ‘work of art,’ and such works of art are clearly and truly the intellectual property of the individuals involved.

Therefore, over the years in human civilisation, the so-called intellectual property law and legal processes are involved to determine and define the piece of work and her origins. It is not rocket science and can easily be verified for the truth of such a matter. Most universities have a simple software for this verification.

Suffice to note, there is also an alternative ‘copyleft movement’ to the ‘copyright’ movement. The ‘copyleft’ became popular with the internet age and constitutes those who object to all items (especially software) being personalised and copyrighted. They may believe that all ‘knowledge’ has a divine source and therefore should be shared freely and easily. We do not pay the Chinese for their gunpowder nor the Indians for their zero.

To quote these ‘copylefters’ from ‘googlespace’: Proprietary software developers use copyright to take away the users’ freedom; we use copyright to guarantee their freedom. That’s why we reverse the name, changing “copyright” into “copyleft.”

Another quote: “The copyleft movement is a diverse and growing alliance of artists, authors, activists, and legal theorists who are building an alternative to the current restrictive regime of intellectual property controls. The movement grows out of concerns over well-funded corporate strategies to privatise and commodify all human knowledge, creativity, and meaning.

“Corporate tactics include legal bullying (filing lawsuits against teenagers sharing movies or songs), neo-colonial bio-prospecting (genetically modifying and patenting seeds and other forms of life), and aggressive trademark and patent acquisition and protection (such as Fox News’ famous lawsuit against Al Franken’s use of the phrase “Fair and Balanced” in his 2003 book).”

Judge wanted to encourage copyleft?

Therefore maybe, just maybe, the Singapore judge is part of this movement, and wanted to encourage ‘copyleft’ as a way of life in Asia. But, even then, maybe he could have simply said, “If mine was a good judgment then so be it, and I am happy to hear that foreign judges are quoting my decisions!”

Karpal Singh is a lawyer by profession, and a politician by purpose of living; but always a truth seeker. I once had the privilege of sharing the next door cabin with him on the KTM in the early 80s. En route from Bukit Mertajam the train broke down somewhere in Perak, midway.

I remember the anger, vehemence, and insistence that his right of travel was now denied and that Karpal was going to sue the KTM for breach of contract, as he has a court case to attend in Kuala Lumpur. I was not only amused but more so, educated about rights and privileges of human beings and citizens from a public service entity. He hired a cab and left for KL, but I got a free ride that day. All I had to do was simply listen to his lectures about truth matters.

The legal profession; which judges belong to as well, is protected and preserved by laws, case-law, precedents, conventions, and protocols. Therefore, when the legal personalities “profess” anything, they must speak the truth about the matter in question.

The word to “profess” means to tell the truth about any matter. It is like a witness statement.  But, it also means the whole truth about that matter!  Half-truths are never whole truths and any judge worth his salt knows that, I presume.

Please forgive my emotions here as I always wanted to become a lawyer after ‘Perry Mason’ fame, and never made it. And I envy Karpal that as he is almost there. Consequently also, the preamble and personal oath of every witness is “to tell nothing but the truth”, i.e. the whole truth in legal parlance.

Therefore also, having two lawyers who are judges across the small straits that separate us but from originally one nation-state, telling two half-truths about the matter may not be the whole truth. My vote therefore goes to Karpal and his legal colleagues who, I believe, have made a legitimate complaint about the matter within the Bar Council.

It is the Malaysian complaint which matters, and not just whether the Singapore judge feels offended or not, and least of all whether he made a complaint about it.

As a public policy person, I find the timing of both the visit of the Singapore delegation and the date of the court judgment for the Anwar case, and now the press release from the Chief Justice all rather amusing.

Politics are pre-eminent

It all looks like a well-coordinated ‘wayang kulit’ as Mariam Mokhtar so well described, and how our newspaper reports these politics of life but ignores the truth of a matter. There is no politics in Malaysia that does not touch every other area of life. Politics are pre-eminent in Malaysia.

Allow me to quote a personal story to make my case about this issue. When I completed my doctoral thesis, I was blessed by so many people in the journey that I really wanted to repay their kindness by making my published final thesis a ‘copyleft’ matter. And frankly, this was even before I was aware about ‘the copyleft movement.’

I simply did it for the philosophical reason that all truth belongs to the Good Lord and if I can share such truths with others for free, that would make my work more accessible to all and sundry.

I made that request and was duly informed that Microfilms International, the company with rights to all ‘dissertations abstracts’ in all American universities could not agree with my request, and the university advised me that I should agree to their publishing rights if I wanted to graduate.

It was my doctoral thesis but they had more legal jurisdiction about the matter than what I really wanted. So much for liberal human rights. Maybe that explains why the 99 percent are the ones who want to occupy and reclaim all of Wall Street.

May God bless this nation and that 99 percent who choose the next government. Truth matters!

KJ JOHN was in public service for 29 years. The views expressed here are his personal views and not those of any institution he is involved with. Write to him at kjjohn@ohmsi.net with any feedback or views.

Media and good governance

http://www.malaysiakini.com/columns/186795

KJ John 10:24AM Jan 17, 2012

Truth matters not just in the affairs of a nation, but also in the cobwebs of our mind's ideas and ideals of personal construction. Ideals are ideas pushed to the natural end of imaginary time, and what one wishes for as a perfect condition in an idealised world.

Visions of and for life are also ideas and ideals; projected about both the here and now and the thereafter! These are often called worldviews.

I consider worldviews as meta-paradigms. Paradigms are rational and logical and can be defended as such. Meta paradigms require a further belief system which is often unquestioned and taken for granted!

Paradigm shifts happen when there is a religious-like reorientation from the older worldview, and may not often be merely very rational! In an earlier column I talked about such paradigm shifts!

Newspapers are guardians of public morality; of and for good governance. Therefore there must be clear thinking, accurate presentations, and then valuable publications of such public events or truths.
The editorial in any printed daily newspaper is always a public non-personal statement about the state of their "clear thinking and accurate articulation" of issues of public concern and interest.

The NST in its editorial of the ‘day after' wrote:
"The Anwar judgment is proof of the Government's earnestness in upholding justice and the rule of law even for the politician most determined to topple it."

What flawed, unclear and convoluted logic. It reflects the thinking of the government, which it represents through this piece of writing!

But, is it the truth? The NST logic about governments and governance is totally flawed. Any government is always the Executive Authority of a nation-state. But, it is fundamentally different from governance as a process of administering a nation-state.

In real terms therefore, "the government" is made up of a cabinet of ministers, plus all others given the legitimate jurisdiction for their explicit authority. For instance, that includes the chief secretary, the attorney-general, the IGP, the armed forces chief, and all others who have explicit legal jurisdiction for the good governance of the nation-state.

These may in fact include the 38 or so "reclassified super posts" under the JPA's new salary scheme wherein these officers are apparently going to be paid about 40% more, but also open to review and exit if non-performing!

In the US system of governance, these appointees are called cabinet-level appointments, if held by public servants and there is often a need to review their appointments publicly before such appointments are affirmed!

I had a classmate from my university alumni who was considered by the US Congress before her appointment as the chief trade commissioner for the US Government under presidents Bush and Clinton.

The second arm of good governance is always the Legislature. These are made of the speakers of the two houses of the Parliament, and made up of all MPs, regardless of whether they are cabinet appointees or otherwise!

It's Parliament that commands

When Parliament sits, the executive authority of the day must respect and honour the appointees! The parliamentary staff are full time employees of the Parliament, and technically should not be public servants of the executive order.

I remember the only time I appeared before Parliament, at a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee that was chaired by the late P Patto of the DAP. He was fearsome. We were under review when I was registrar of the National Institute of Public Administration, Intan.

During the early days of Intan's PTD pre-service training, the students were all sent for their rural posting wherein they had to stay in a Class 3 poor home during their six weeks and carry out some research and learning activities.

They were given cash allowances as per diem to pay to the foster parents. Of course, receipts were requested but the documentation of these was less than complete when you are covering about 200 homes. The non availability of receipts for their home stay was the issue of focus by the PAC.

My former Intan boss, who was then holding the portfolio of the Mayor of KL City Hall, not only made it a priority to attend the meeting but to also give an excellent report to the point that the Parliament was happy with his response and answers. In fact, the newspapers reported that the PAC was happy for the very first time with the answers of the former director of Intan.

In those days, the Legislature was respected and even the cabinet did not interfere in the workings of the PAC. Anyone called up would turn up without fail, with some fear and trembling!

But, today we hear of ministry secretaries-general and director-generals who refuse to turn up for unknown or unstated reasons! How insulting to the Legislature! What can be more important than an appointment in Parliament before the PAC or a Special Committee to the Parliament?

The third and equally responsible part of good governance is the judiciary. Whether we like it or not, after the massacre of 1988, the judiciary has become a lame duck or a wounded tiger, angry with itself for the courage it lacks.

Yet, every chief justice tries his best to bring the judiciary to its heights again, but many carry their own legacy problems with them too. Therefore they lack the audacity of moral leadership!

The fourth arm of good governance in my ‘Theory R' is the neutral, professional and public services of the government (it includes all the non-executives).

The fifth is the media as the next estate of good governance, with the responsibility of moral oversight of public events. The sixth estate is the NGOs and the seventh is the citizens as individuals who finally get to vote out the government of the day, which does not perform.

Citizens want good service

Citizens do not really care about the colour of any flag; what they really want to see is good and excellent service!

Based on the above model of good governance, let us review the NST editorial for accuracy and clarity in public pronouncements! Let me first simply rebut their assertions:

• The Anwar judgment may have had nothing to do with the government's "earnestness in upholding justice." At best, the credit can only go to the judge for being fair to the process, or at worst, to some scheming "boss" who may have some other ulterior motive and is influencing the judgment! Alternatively a good boss who gave excellent advice.

• The government upholds ‘rule of law' by obeying the rule of law; it was sad to see that this very court was insulted by the non-presence of the so-called VIP witnesses! Nowhere else in the world will the judge allow important witnesses not turn up in court!

• True justice, like the Lady of Liberty, does not see the "type of human being, whether politician or commoner!" Or, even if the politician is most determined to topple the current government! Those are non issues to the case in point! That is why she is called the Blind Lady of Justice!

Dear NST team of editors: please stop being stooges to others! My Theory R says we have to not only do the right things, but we must do it the right way, and finally with the right attitude!

Obviously, you as the Umno vehicle, speak as if you are the government. Please assume your humble role as one of the many media professionals who have the responsibility to engender good governance in Malaysia!

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KJ JOHN was in public service for 29 years. The views expressed here are his personal views and not those of any institution he is involved with. Write to him atkjjohn@ohmsi.net with any feedback or views.