Anwar expects further crackdowns under Najib

by

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/malaysia/21818-anwar-expects-further-crackdowns-under-najib

Published by The Malaysian Insider

BANGKOK, March 31 – Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on Monday again warned that the imminent rise to power of rival Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak will likely provoke a further crackdown on popular dissent in the economically struggling Southeast Asian nation.

Speaking in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in Bangkok, Anwar said: “I think we can clearly see a trend developing. Already we can see what Najib’s rule will be like.???

Read more

Three Singapore banks listed among “World’s 50 Safest Banks 2009”

by

 

Original report by GLOBAL FINANCE magazine

KUALA LUMPUR, March 31, 2009: None of Malaysian banks made it to a list of “World’s 50 Safest Banks 2009” rankings published recently by “Global Finance” while neighbouring republic Singapore could boast of three placements.
 
Singapore’s DBS Bank garnered spot 20, United Overseas Bank at 37 and OCBC at 38, according to the rankings — led at the top three by KfW (Germany), Caisse des Depots et Consignations (CDC) (France), and Bank Nederlands Gemeenten (BNG) (Netherlands) — released by the internationally well-regarded US magazine, in a Company statement in New York on February 25, 2009.

Read more

Dr M’s shadow looms large again

by

Published by The Malaysian Insider

MARCH 30 – Even as he was making his farewell appearance before Umno members, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi got upstaged by his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad.

Last Saturday, when Umno leaders, including Abdullah, were delivering their winding- up addresses, Dr Mahathir strolled in casually to rousing applause and even posed for pictures with the hapless Abdullah and soon-to-be premier Najib Razak.

Dr Mahathir had been scheduled to attend the assembly on Thursday but was a conspicuous no-show. He explained in his blog on Friday that it wasn’t because his son (Mukhriz) had lost in the contest for Umno Youth leader (to Abdullah’s son-in-law Khairy Jamaluddin) but because “the Youth has openly accepted the practice of money politics???.

Read more

Umno leaders’ embrace at party congress spells trouble for Anwar

by

 

KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 – The past, present and future prime ministers of Malaysia put years of backstabbing and badmouthing aside when they embraced at the Umno party’s congress – and that could spell trouble for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

It was a stunning moment of public unity for Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, his predecessor Mahathir Mohamad and incoming leader Najib Razak, a trio whose brawling has been a boon for the opposition.

The moment came on Saturday after Dr Mahathir – who resigned from the United Malays National Organisation in 2007 out of anger with Abdullah – walked into the venue with his wife, Dr Siti Hasmah.

Abdullah was winding up proceedings on the final day of the five-day congress of the party, which has dominated Malaysian politics.

Read more

Najib must be Screened by a Royal Commission of Inquiry

by

30 March, 2009

At a heated press conference at the end of the UMNO Annual Assembly on March 28, the newly crowned President of UMNO Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak failed to dispel swirling rumours of his alleged links to the murder of Mongolian beauty Altantuya Shaariibuu.

This press conference had attracted unusually intense foreign press attention, due to heightened international media coverage over the scandal as Najib’s anticipated ascension to premiership nears. And as the name of Altantuya splashes in news features that pop up all over the world from France to Australia and from US to India, Najib seems to be irretrievably linked to this sex-corruption-murder scandal in which  a multi-billion dollar Government arms purchase featured prominently.

Read more

Mahathir merajuk, ‘let them eat silicon chips’

by

Now that Najib Razak is set to become Prime Minister, we can look to a Cabinet reshuffle and irregardless of whether Hishamuddin Hussein remains Education Minister, the decision on Math and Science in English (PPSMI) should be announced soon. Dr Mahathir Mohamad will likely descend on Najib with the gale force of three Furies combined should his pet project, the PPSMI be overturned. The vindictiveness Dr M showed inexorably against Dollah Badawi for rejecting his Crooked Bridge and other legacy should be a salutary lesson. 

Read more

Najib plans rapid reform

by

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_355363.html

Published by STS

March 27, 2009

KUALA LUMPUR – MALAYSIA’S incoming prime minister will radically restructure the country’s economy and its state companies to make them more efficient and to wean them off dependence on the government, a source told Reuters on Friday.

Mr Najib Razak, currently deputy prime minister, will take over the top job next week and the economic reforms will be mostly implemented within 100 days, a radical departure from the incumbent Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who did not deliver on reform.

Read more

A Consolidated Post on UMNO new Chief and his Team

by

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/090326/3/3y6z5.html

“Unknown” Najib ready to be Malaysian PM

by Reuters

KUALA LUMPUR, March 27 — Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is set to be Malaysia’s sixth prime minister, has been in Parliament for over 30 years, yet outside of a close coterie of friends and family he is an enigma. Yesterday, the 55-year-old, who is the son of Malaysia’s second premier, was endorsed as the leader of Umno, the main party in the Barisan Nasional coalition that has ruled the country for 51 years.

Read more

UMNO Youth new chief KJ starts on right note…

by

http://desiderata2000.blogspot.com/2009/03/umno-youth-new-chief-kj-starts-on-right.html

“KJ disagrees with barring new media” was the cheery (Rhymes with Khairy eh?) headline in Malaysiakini.com that greeted Desi when I did my morning house call at the news centre, and I guess I was impressed.

If this is the representative potential of the new head helming the UMNO Youth movement following yesterday’s crucial party elections, there is some hope yet for a party that is seen largely as heading towards Doomsville. I won’t write off the racist coterie of so-called Malay-centric politicians yet, and maybe this Oxford-trained “youth”ful leader might be the medicine the inward-bound older generation of UMNO pilitikuses can learn from to keep up with the times. Yes, recalling an olde Bob Dylan’s refrain still relevant, although sounding cliche but still current — especially how and where ICT impacts 21st century society is concerned — The times they’re a-changing…

Read more

Najib’s Tough to-do List

by

http://www.straitstimes.com/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=1d9ed2a4b2930210VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=4e60758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD

KUALA LUMPUR: WHEN Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi romped home to a stunning electoral victory five years ago, Malaysians romanticised about how his leadership would usher in an era of reform.

They thought that under a more open leadership, their country’s rigid politics would play catch-up with the economic gains achieved under his autocratic predecessor, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

As Mr Abdullah prepares to pass the reins of leadership to his deputy in a handover process that begins later this week, hopes of renewal and reform have all but evaporated.

Instead, the mood is one of uncertainty largely because of the daunting in-tray of political and economic woes Mr Abdullah leaves behind for his successor, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Read more