NEWS REPORT

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on January 30, 2012

US soldier agrees to plea deal in Iraqi killings

1. A US soldier killed 24 Iraqi civilians, men, women, and children and was charged for manslaughter before a US military court.

2. US law allows for plea bargaining between the prosecutors and the accused person. Through this the soldier agreed that he would plead guilty if the charge is changed from manslaughter to dereliction of duty.

3. He was then sentenced by the court to reduction in rank to private, pay cut by two-thirds and three months jail.

4. We don’t have provision for plea bargaining in our laws. When Anwar’s Government takes over he will make our laws more modern, not so lapok(archaic) as they are now. Then those accused can bargain and the charge of whatever can be reduced so the accused can plead guilty to a lesser charge.

5. Just think, you kill 24 innocent Iraqis and get three months jail. That is justice.

KAITAN BANGSA DENGAN BISNES

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on January 25, 2012

1. Seorang pengerusi badan Kerajaan berkata pembangunan negara ini akan tergendala selagi ada usaha mengaitkan bangsa dengan bisnes.

2. Kita akui yang pengerusi berkenaan mempunyai kebolehan tertentu yang menyebabkan ia dilantik oleh Kerajaan sebagai pengerusi, tetapi orang lain tidak mempunyai sifat tertentu dan masih perlu diberi pertimbangan dalam perniagaan dan lain-lain berasas kepada bangsa mereka.

3. Benarkah pengambilan kira bangsa dalam perniagaan di Malaysia melalui dasar DEB menghalang pertumbuhan ekonominya? Dunia mengakui bahawa Malaysia yang berbilang kaum ini lebih cepat dan tinggi tahap pembangunannya dari negara-negara membangun yang lain yang tidak mempunyai masalah bangsa untuk diambilkira.

4. Memang mungkin jika masalah kaum tidak menghantui Malaysia pertumbuhannya menjadi lebih pesat. Tetapi apabila agihan kekayaan begitu luas di antara kaum, besar kemungkinan permusuhan akan berlaku antara kaum yang miskin dengan kaum yang kaya.

5. Permusuhan ini sudah tentu akan menyebabkan ketegangan dalam masyarakat dan menjadikan negara tidak stabil dan terdedah kepada huru hara dan rusuhan.

6. Keadaan seperti ini akan menghalang pelaburan, dagangan dan perusahaan. Dalam iklim seperti ini ekonomi tidak mungkin tumbuh dengan baik. Pembangunan akan terjejas.

7. Yang jelas ialah mengenepikan masalah bangsa dalam negara berbilang kaum, tidak juga menjamin kepesatan pembangunan.

8. Kata pepatah Melayu, telan mati pak, luah mati emak.

9. Namun adalah lebih baik pembangunan terlewat sedikit daripada kehancuran akibat rusuhan.

EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on January 19, 2012

1. Ever since the Europeans and this includes the Americans, lost to the Eastern countries in the manufactured goods markets, they have switched to the financial market. Through the many products they created in this market they seem to be able to grow and maintain their wealth and prosperity as shown by such indices as the GDP and Per Capita income.

2. But the business is spurious. The financial market is basically about gambling. Ever since America decided that the market should regulate itself, that there should be less Government, all kinds of unacceptable practices have been allowed. Short selling expanded from shares to commodities to currencies, Banks lend more money than they have and allowed highly leveraged borrowings by hedge funds and currency traders. They indulge in sub-prime loans, securing these imprudent lending by mortgaging and insurance.

3. In real business the costs in the European countries are unduly high because of high salaries and wages for workers’ pensions, bonuses, short working hours, long paid holidays, unemployment and other social benefits. The standard of living may be high but European products cannot compete with the products of the East in world markets.

4. The currency trading today, for example is said to be worth four trillion dollars a day, equal to the total productivity of Germany in one year. Whereas producing goods and services by Germany spins off all kinds of supporting and other businesses as well as millions of jobs, currency trading spins off no businesses nor create any real jobs. All the dealing involves only the entry of figures in bank books. The earnings are real enough and can contribute to GDP and Per Capita growth. But the picture of economic growth indicated by these indices is false as the wealth belongs to a very small percentage of the population.

5. The sums involved are however huge, running into hundreds of billions and even trillions of dollars. When the bottom fell out, the losses are equally huge, sufficient to bankrupt even the biggest banks. Even countries can go bankrupt.

6. When you lose money, you become poor. Countries are the same. When they lose money or they borrow beyond their means and cannot pay, they become poor.

7. The problem is an unwillingness to admit that they, the Europeans, the Americans, the icons of the free market and economic prosperity are now poor. As a result all the manoeuvres so far are aimed at staying rich, at maintaining a lifestyle that is untenable.

8. The only real way out is to accept a lifestyle that is associated with lower incomes. But the people are demanding to live the rich life they were used to before. The austerity programs are rejected with demonstrations and strikes. And these simply aggravate the situation.

9. If wages and salaries as well as bonuses and other perks are lowered, then the production of goods and services by the workers would cost less. The goods will be able to compete again in the markets against those of the East. Real businesses would then be able to be resuscitated.

10. At the same time the financial market should be curbed. Operations out of tax havens should not be allowed and all accounts must be submitted to the authorities. Currencies should be pegged to a new independent trading currency based on a specific amount of gold or other precious metal. The fluctuation in value would be minimal, making doing business less uncertain.

11. With the lower cost of production there will be no necessity to outsource in Asia. The industries of Europe would be revived and contribute towards overcoming unemployment and early settlement of debts. Real wealth would be generated.

12. The Europeans also spend far too much on weapons. Research, development and upgrading swallow up huge amounts of money. As the weapons become more sophisticated the costs go up sky high. Where before a fighter plane would cost a million dollars, now they cost 50 to 100 million dollars.

13. Yet these weapons are quite useless in fighting the guerrilla wars they are likely to face. And they dare not have wars with countries with the same military capacities because it would be ruinous for everybody and would probably spell the end of the world.

14. Their military budget contributes to the wastage of funds as the likelihood is that the weapons would never be used for the purpose they are developed, certainly not on the scale they are being prepared for.

15. Everything points towards a new Bretton Woods. The world’s economy has become much more liked and integrated that a new set of monetary, financial and banking system needs to be negotiated and devised, taking into consideration the views and problems of the poor countries as well. There should be no thoughts about hegemony; military, political or economic.

HAK MERAYU

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on January 17, 2012

1. Dalam sejarah kehakiman di Malaysia, Anwar menang pertandingan membuat “appeal” atau rayuan terhadap keputusan mahkamah yang dikenakan kepadanya.

2. Selama empat tahun kita tidak dengar lain selain daripada appeal Anwar terhadap keputusan mahkamah berkenaan dirinya dalam kes Saiful.

3. Awal-awal lagi dituntut supaya hakim ditukar kerana kononnya berat sebelah. Dengan itu perbicaraan ditangguh sementara tuntutannya ditimbang oleh mahkamah. Masa berbulan-bulan berlalu kerana mahkamah terpaksa menentukan tarikh untuk mendengar rayuannya.

4. Setelah diputus yang hakim berkenaan boleh dengar rayuannya, ada lagi rayuan yang dikemukakan.

5. Jika keputusan yang dibuat baru-baru ini mendapati Anwar bersalah, percayalah ia akan membuat appeal kepada Mahkamah Rayuan (Appeal Court).

6. Jika Appeal Court bersetuju dengan keputusan Mahkamah Tinggi, maka Anwar akan rayu kepada Federal Court.

7. Jika Federal Court mengesahkan keputusan oleh High Court dan Appeal Court, maka Anwar akan tuntut untuk kesnya dibawa kepada Special Court.

8. Tetapi apabila Anwar didapati tidak bersalah kerana tidak ada corroborating evidence, hak mangsanya untuk membuat rayuan dipertikaikan.

9. Apakah dalam negara ini pembesar pembangkang mempunyai hak istimewa bahawa keadilan hanya berlaku apabila ia didapati tidak bersalah?

10. Apakah dalam negara ini mangsa yang kerdil tidak berhak kepada keadilan sehingga dia tidak boleh merayu untuk didengar oleh mahkamah yang lebih tinggi?

11. Apakah di negara ini keengganan pembesar pembangkang mengangkat sumpah bukan sahaja di masjid dengan menjunjung Al Quran tetapi semasa dibicara dalam mahkamah biasa tidak mempunyai apa-apa makna terutama kepada orang Islam, dan sumpah laknat oleh si kerdil juga tidak boleh diambilkira?

12. Atau apakah menjadi satu daripada perjuangan Pakatan bahawa apa yang disarankan oleh Anwar dalam BBC bahawa undang-undang negara ini sudah lapok dan perlu ditukar kepada kebebasan untuk meliwat mengikut liberalisme Barat?

SUING IN COURT

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on January 11, 2012

1. Malaysian politics of today is frequently punctuated with court actions. In particular there are now a lot of litigation cases. And the amounts sued for invariably run into millions of Ringgit.

2. Despite the efforts of the learned judges there are still huge backlogs of cases of all kinds, civil and criminal, which probably will never be heard, much less adjudged. This is because the hearings take such a long time that the parties to the cases would have forgotten the facts or they would have died.

3. And, as they say, “justice delayed is justice denied”.

4. The litigations by politicians may be justified. But politicians must accept that as politicians they would be bad-mouthed by their opponents. It is up to them to counter the allegations made. They should not always be suing in court.

5. For Muslims they should be willing to swear properly that there is no truth to the allegations.

6. Often the litigation is intended to shut the mouths of their opponents. In Malaysia when a case is being heard in a court, it becomes sub-judice and comments outside can constitute “contempt of court”. By suing the matter becomes sub-judice and the opponents’ mouths would be shut. Through repeated appeals the case can be prolonged and the defendants’ mouths would remain shut to the advantage of the litigant for years.

7. For the person sued, much money would have to be spent on lawyers. For years he would be assailed with anxiety that he might be found guilty and if he is unable to pay he may be bankrupted.

8. Yet when the defendant wins, the litigant may need to pay cost only, which the court will fix. Often the amount would be a minute fraction of the amount he is sued for.

9. Because the cost to the litigant is so very little, the tendency is to sue for millions. This is grossly unfair to the defendants. If the law is intended to promote justice then the litigant should also suffer from the same anxieties for the length of time of the hearing and if his allegation is baseless he should pay his victim the same amount he sued for.

10. Then there would be justice and frivolous cases would not be brought before the courts. The judges would then have time for their other cases.

11. Incidentally I was sued for 100 million Ringgit. When after almost five years I won, I was awarded cost at 70 thousand Ringgit, which of course go to my lawyers.

TUNNEL LINK

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on January 07, 2012

1. It is heartening to see Malaysia and Singapore agreeing on a sub-sea tunnel to connect the two countries. The bridge that will not be built now is planned to have eight lanes. This is of course due to the expected heavy traffic.

2. The question is whether the tunnel can provide for this volume of traffic. An eight-lane tunnel would have to be very wide or it will need two tunnels. Even if it is a double-decker like the Smart Tunnel in Kuala Lumpur, it needs to be very tall especially as it must cater for the heavy vehicles with their containers etc.

3. Because it will be far below the sea-bed it will have to begin and end far inland as lorries and trucks need gentle gradients. It can be as far as four kilometres for both ends. This, together with the undersea part will stretch the tunnel to almost eight kilometres.

4. If the Singapore MRT is going to use it as well, there must be at least another tunnel. Trains need even more gentle slopes. So the length might be more than eight kilometres.

5. Can Malaysia afford the cost of half this project, assuming the other half will be borne by Singapore? The project will cost billions and will take very many years to complete.

6. When completed I hope the causeway and the railway line will be removed. We will not need them anymore. Then water will flow east west and vice-versa. And small boats will be able to use the Tebrau Straits without having to go around south of Singapore.

7. Both Singapore and Malaysia will benefit from the removal of the causeway.

MELAYU ISLAM

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on January 05, 2012

1. Sepatutnya orang Melayu tidak bermasaalah berkenaan agama mereka. Semua orang Melayu beragama Islam. Sejak sebelum merdeka lagi, dimasa penjajahan oleh British pun mereka semua beragama Islam. Jika mereka tidak beragama Islam maka mereka tidak diiktiraf sebagai orang Melayu. Apabila Malaysia merdeka, Perlembagaan negara menentukan bahawa walaupun mereka berbahasa Melayu dan beradat-istiadat Melayu, tetapi jika tidak beragama Islam, mereka bukan Melayu.

2. Perjanjian dengan British oleh Raja-Raja Melayu mengandungi larangan terhadap pendakwah Kristian mengkristiankan orang Melayu. Justeru itu tidak ada orang Melayu yang beragama Kristian dan hilang identiti sebagai Melayu.

3. Mungkin dari segi pengetahuan dan amalan, ramai orang Melayu tidak mencerminkan peribadi Islam sepenuhnya tetapi mereka tetap mempertahankan keislaman mereka. Bahkan mereka akan marah jika mana-mana pihak berkata mereka tidak Islam.

4. Orang Melayu juga tidak menghadapi masaalah kelainan mazhab. Mereka semua adalah dari kumpulan Sunni atau Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah, berimam dengan Imam Shafie. Dengan itu tidak ada perbezaan fahaman agama yang boleh memecahbelahkan mereka. Perpecahan dan permusuhan seperti yang terdapat di antara Sunni dan Syiah tidak terdapat dikalangan orang Melayu. Sudah tentu tidak berlaku bunuh-membunuh kerana kelainan mazhab antara mereka seperti yang berlaku di Iraq, Pakistan dan beberapa negara Arab.

5. Sesungguhnya orang Melayu amatlah bahagia kerana menikmati Islam yang tidak berbeza-beza. Apabila seruan dibuat supaya orang Melayu bersatu untuk menentang Malayan Union, dengan mudahnya mereka menyahut seruan, mereka bersatu tanpa mengambilkira dari negeri mana mereka datang.

6. Tetapi sekarang orang Melayu Islam di Malaysia sudah berpecah dan bermusuh-musuhan dengan teruknya sesama mereka. Agama yang satu, mazhab yang sama tidak terdaya menangkis serangan oleh ahli politik yang menciptakan syarat-syarat baru bagi agama Islam demi politik duniawi yang dikejar oleh mereka ini.

7. Oleh kerana syarat dan tafsiran-tafsiran ini tidak terdapat dalam Al-Quran atau hadith-hadith yang sahih atau dalam mana-mana kitab tulisan ulama-ulama silam yang muktabar, maka majoriti daripada orang Melayu Islam menolak syarat-syarat ciptaan mereka yang berkepentingan ini. Dengan itu berpecahlah orang Melayu Islam kepada dua kumpulan yang saling bermusuh antara satu sama lain.

8. Hasil dari perpecahan ini maka berlakulah sembahyang dua imam, larangan perkahwinan antara ahli dan penyokong parti yang tidak terima syarat-syarat ciptaan pemimpin parti dan perkuburan berasingan antara yang tidak terima dengan yang terima.

9. Yang lebih buruk lagi ialah ketaksuban pengikut kepada pemimpin ini sudah sampai kepada tahap menghalalkan apa sahaja yang dilakukan atau diperkatakan oleh pimpimpin. Apabila pemimpin berkata orang Islam boleh mencarut, kerana Tuhan juga kononnya mencarut, tidak ada sesiapa daripada anak buah pemimpin yang membantah, atau menegur pemimpin berkenaan. Demikianlah apabila pengikut yang taksub dengan pemimpin mendakwa bahawa pemimpin mereka adalah sama dengan nabi, tidak ada pembetulan atau bantahan daripada pemimpin berkenaan dan penyokong-penyokongnya.

10. Agama Islam di Malaysia sudah banyak tercemar dan pegangan kepada ajarannya sudah menjadi luntur kerana Islam diperalatkan untuk kepentingan politik duniawi. Orang Melayu yang bahagia kerana bangsa mereka dikait secara langsung dengan agama Islam, sudah hilang nikmat yang datang dari ikatan ini. Hasilnya ialah perpecahan, kelemahan dan kehinaan. Hasilnya ialah mereka menjadi pengemis di negara sendiri, pengemis yang meminta-minta sokongan dari orang lain. Mereka yang mengemis tetap akan menjadi orang suruhan kepada yang membantu mereka.

BORNEO HEIGHTS

As posted by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad at Che Det on January 04, 2012

1. Most Malaysians know Cameron Highlands and Genting Highlands. Their principle attraction is the coolness of the climate. They also know of Mount Kinabalu not so much because of its coolness but being, at 13,000 feet, the highest mountain in Malaysia.

2. Not many know of Borneo Heights, one of the most beautiful hill resorts in Malaysia. Situated only one hour slow drive from Kuching International Airport, the heights have retained much of its original tropical rain forest.

3. It is literally at the border between Sarawak and Kalimantan, Indonesia; literally because the border is a cliff which plunges 600 meter (2000 feet) from the southern boundary of the resort, to Indonesia Kalimantan. You cannot miss the border. One step over the rope marker you would be in Indonesia sans visa. The drop would not be pleasant.

4. The view from the top of the cliff is breathtaking. From the foot of the cliff, the thick tropical forest of Kalimantan spread to the distant mountains some 20 – 30 miles away (my guess – could be much more).

5. There appears to be no human habitation. But I was told the Indonesian Dayak shifting cultivators live there, though their long houses cannot be seen. I know of no other place where one can view a huge green tropical forest seemingly untouched by human habitation. Kalimantan is bigger than Sabah and Sarawak put together but it is very sparsely populated.

6. The resort has an eighteen hole golf-course laid out beautifully between thick forest. But more interesting to me are the beautiful temperate climate flowers which grow well there. They come in all shapes and colours. But deep purple seem to be the dominant colour.

7. I have a house there but have not been using it much. Not knowing where to go for my year end holiday, I decided to go there. I spent three restful, quiet days without air-conditioners.

8. The heights are as cool as ever. I was driven up in a 4WD to the vantage point to look down the cliff at Kalimantan and as usual it took my breath away. Our vantage point is 3,600 feet above sea level.

9. Borneo Heights was developed by Tan Sri Lee Kim Yew, a close friend of mine. Maybe this article will benefit a “crony” but if more tourists, domestic and foreign visit this beautiful part of Malaysia, tourism Malaysia will also benefit. And what we earn from tourism will benefit all Malaysians. It would be selfish of me to avoid writing this bit simply because I am afraid of being accused of cronyism.