Najib is playing Checkers, the other guys are playing Chess the Tragedy of Defensive Politics How Politics Is Threatening Real Progress in Malaysia

The Tragedy of Defensive Politics How Politics Is Threatening Real Progress in malaysia


He has chosen the mediator path. This has always been his way. But the new element is the election campaign. He is playing defensive politics, and Malaysia is suffering badly as a result. Better NOT compromise than chance alienating some of those in the HARDCORE CONTRIBUTOR. At least if I lose some major battles I will keep a the PAKATAN from winning office.


najib is again being outmaneuvered. As a close friend says, najib is playing checkers, the other guys are playing chess. But the root causes are the insupportable strategy of being calm  avoiding angry attacks, and ultimately accepting compromise with those who don't believe in gravity. This is not leadership. I yearn for FDR more every day.

WATCH:

iT'S TIME FOR THE CITIZENS TO ONCE AGAIN OWN THIS PLACE.

 Anwar Ibrahim, the man credited with radically changing the political landscape of Malaysia, could not contest the Mar. 8 general elections that saw the ruling coalition lose five state governments and its long-held two-thirds majority in parliament. 

There is a story in Ibrahim's having been crippled by a five-year-ban on contesting elections, as a result of having had to serve time in jail on criminal charges, trumped-up by his political opponents.

But the former deputy prime minister fought his way back to the political centre-stage and overcame ten years of virulent government propaganda mounted against him to forge an alliance and establish a powerful opposition in parliament.

"He is clearly the man of the hour, he made it possible," said Steven Gan, editor of the independent online news provider Malaysiakini.com. "He glued together a viable opposition, set a common theme and led the opposition to victory."

After Saturday's opposition successes politics in Malaysia will never be the same again and it was made possible through Ibrahim’s multi-racial People’s Justice Party which won the highest number of seats on the opposition benches in Parliament.

Together with the pro-Chinese Democratic Action Party and the Islamist Pan Malaysian Islamic Party or PAS, the opposition commands 82 seats, just 30 seats short of capturing the government.

It is the best ever showing by the opposition since independence in 1957 and heralds a new era of transparency, accountability and clean government that Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi promised but never delivered. The voters punished him, sending his ministers and his state governments falling like ninepins.

"He has made a big comeback and has given multi-racial politics a firm foothold," said Gan. "Now a two-party system of politics is possible not a single domineering entity that is corrupt and dictatorial."

During an interview with IPS, Ibrahim pledged to defend and promote free-market economy, foreign investment and continue the development process. But he emphasised that progress and wealth will now benefit the poor of all races, not the rich and ruling elite.

"We are confident that under our leadership and working closely with our partners (in the opposition) we will begin to implement policies to ensure a stronger and more vibrant economy in Malaysia," he said.

"We will ensure that investor confidence remains strong during the transition period and also to identify areas of concern that our new governments (state governments) will address in enhancing and improving their operations and performance in Malaysia," he said.

The opposition is now busy forming coalition governments in the five states it won and is promising a new economic agenda to the people, mainly by eliminating corruption. "We will have zero tolerance for corruption and this will have a big impact in reducing business costs and build confidence in small and medium enterprises," Ibrahim vowed.

"We also plan to divorce government employees from doing business with the government, thereby reducing incentives for cronyism and insider deals which are plaguing the current administration," he said.

Ibrahim’s comeback is astounding, considering that he spent six years in prison, unfairly accused and convicted on corruption and sodomy charges - now proven to be motivated by a political conspiracy at the highest levels involving judges, crony tycoons and political leaders.

A former Islamist student activist who turned Malay nationalist, Ibrahim has successfully reinvented himself as a leader of all of Malaysia’s races and campaigned on a reformist agenda.

"The result of the election is testament to Anwar's acceptability as a leader to all Malaysians because his agenda is fair and just and involves all races, especially the poor," said Ragu Kesavan, a human rights lawyer.

How did Ibrahim manage it? What is his winning formula? Political analysts say a key was his success in persuading the Islamist PAS party to drop its fiery rhetoric demanding a theocratic Islamic state - an agenda that usually drives the all important Chinese voters, about 30 percent of the electorate, into the arms of the ruling National Front.

He then forged a loose opposition alliance of three parties, allowing each to mobilise its supporters but campaign on a common theme, attacking rising prices of food and fuel, cronyism in the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party and equality for all races.

Religion, Islamic theocracy or parochial and racial issues did not figure in the opposition campaign this time, giving no ammunition to the government to exploit. Ibrahim’s message of change resonated with ordinary Malaysians irrespective of their race or religion, observers said, because it touched on rising food and fuel prices which affected all people. They said people were aware of the real danger of their prosperous country going bankrupt through the pursuit of narrow policies. "Voters voted against Badawi because of his inability to deliver on the promises he made in 2004, including the promise to fight corruption, the promise to reform the police force, the promise to be a prime minister for all ethnic groups, and the promise to improve the civil service," said political researcher Ong Kian Ming.

Chinese and Indians, descendents of immigrants under British colonial rule, who have long felt treated as second-class citizens rallied to Ibrahim's "we are all equal" banner.

He also won over urban Malay voters who had not benefited from the New Economic Policy (NEP) - a Malays first affirmative action policy - by saying the benefits had been hijacked by the Malay elites.

Early in the campaign voters were wary of Ibrahim's reformist agenda and the turnout at his campaign rallies seldom reached 1,000 people, but midway during the 13-day campaign the turnout steadily swelled to over 30,000.

Although Ibrahim did not contest, he is the de-facto opposition leader. He is unlikely to formalise his position by contesting in a by-election and return to parliament as opposition leader.

Pressed on this, Ibrahim told IPS: ‘’I rather look at myself as an alternative government or a government-in-waiting than an opposition leader."

He also surprisingly did not rule out accepting smaller political parties which are now members of the ruling National Front into his opposition coalition provided they subscribe to his reformist agenda.

Political parties, now partnering the substantially weakened ruling coalition, may switch allegiance and join Ibrahim. Crossing the floor is not without precedent in Malaysia and even the beleaguered Badawi has come down to saying that anyone crossing over from opposition benches would be welcomed. 

THE DIRE STRAITS OF THE MIDDLE CLASS OF AMERICA HAS MADE IT NEAR IMPOSSIBLE FOR OUR POLITICIANS TO KEEP UP THE PRETENSE THAT OUR CURRENT GOVERNMENT TRULY WORKS FOR THE "PEOPLE." BETWEEN THE MULTIPLE OVERT AND SECRETIVE BAILOUTS, THE MASSIVE BONUSES AND THE CIRCULAR USE OF OUR TAX MONEY TO LOBBY FOR THESE CONTINUED HANDOUTS, YOU CAN NO LONGER HIDE FROM THE EVIDENCE. WHEN SENATOR DURBIN SAID "THE BANKS... FRANKLY OWN THIS PLACE," YOU REALIZE IT WAS NOT IN JEST. COUPLE THIS WITH RECENT PROTECTIONS HANDED BY THE SUPREME COURT TO CORPORATIONS TO DIRECTLY INFLUENCE ELECTIONS AND IT CAN MAKE THINGS SEEM HOPELESS FOR THOSE NOT ON WALL STREET OR THEIR CHOSEN POLITICIANS. FAVORED CEOS AND NOW EVENFOREIGN COUNTRIES GET ALL THE PRINTED MONEY THEY NEED, LEAVING US PAYING BOTH OUR BILLS AND THEIRS. AND NOW NEARLY A QUARTER OF ALL AMERICANS ARE CURRENTLY UNDERWATER IN THEIR MORTGAGE BECAUSE OF THAT STEADFAST HONOR. IF YOU ARE ONE OF THEM, CHANCES ARE YOU DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG. ALMOST ALL OF YOU WERE NOT SUBPRIME BORROWERS OR SPECULATORS, BUT MERELY PEOPLE BUYING A HOUSE THAT THEY THOUGHT THEY COULD AFFORD AT THE TIME. YOU WERE JUST UNLUCKY IN THAT YOU BOUGHT A HOUSE DURING A TIME WHEN AN OUTDATED WALL STREET AND THEIR COMPLICIT POLITICIANS DECIDED TO USE HOUSING TO REGAIN THE INCOME THEY LOST DUE TO THE SCHWABS AND ETRADES OF THE INTERNET AGE. YOU DIDN'T CAUSE THIS MESS. THEY DID. NOW YOU ARE STRUGGLING TO MAKE THE SAME PAYMENTS ON THIS MORTGAGE ON YOUR NOW OVERPRICED HOME EVEN IN LIGHT OF A CRASHING ECONOMY AND MASSIVE DEFLATION, ALL WHILE THE GOVERNMENT DOESEVERYTHING IN ITS POWER TO HELP WALL ST. KEEP THE BONUSES COMING.

WELL, IT IS BECOMING TIME TO TAKE MATTERS INTO YOUR OWN HANDS... I SUGGEST THAT YOU CALL YOUR LENDER AND TELL THEM IF THEY DON'T LOWER YOU MORTGAGE BY AT LEAST 20%, YOU ARE WALKING AWAY. AND IF THEY DON'T AGREE, YOU NEED TO CONSIDER WALKING AWAY. IT PROBABLYDOESN'T FEEL RIGHT TO YOU. THAT IS BECAUSE YOU PROBABLY ARE A GOOD PERSON. BUT YOUR MORTGAGE IS A BUSINESS DEAL, AND IT IS NOT IMMORAL TO WALK AWAY FROM A BUSINESS DEAL UNLESS YOU WENT IN TO THE DEAL WITH THE INTENTION OF DEFAULTING. BUT SOMEHOW, EVEN THOUGH THE CORPORATIONS ARE PUMPED TO EXERCISE THEIR NEW RIGHTS, FORMER BANKERS LIKE HENRY PAULSON, CURRENT ONES LIKE JAMIE DIMON AND -- GET THIS -- NOW EVEN FANNIE MAE EXECS WANT TO KEEP YOU FROM EXERCISING YOUR RIGHTS. BUT BEFORE YOU LET THEM (OR ANYONE COMMENTING BELOW) FORCE YOU INTO PAYING THAT $500K MORTGAGE ON A $300K HOUSE, ASK THEM IF THEY'LL PUSHJERRY SPEYER INTO "HONORING HIS OBLIGATION" BY BREAKING INTO HIS $2 BILLION PERSONAL PIGGY-BANK TO KEEP PAYING FOR STUYVESANT TOWN?

OR HOW ABOUT ASKING HANK AND JAMIE TO LECTURE FELLOW BAILED-OUT CEO JOHN MACK ABOUT HOW "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO MEET YOUR OBLIGATIONS, NOT RUN FROM THEM"? MAYBE MAKE HIM USE SOME OF HIS $50+ MILLION FOR THOSE BUILDINGS HE BOUGHT IN SAN FRANCISCO?

AND BEFORE SHAMING AND PUNISHING AMERICAN HOMEOWNERS, DID THEY NAG STEVE FEINBERGABOUT HELPING "TEACH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE...NOT TO RUN AWAY" BY WRITING A CHECK OUT OF HISBILLION-DOLLAR POCKET TO COVER ALL THE STIFFED LANDLORDS AND VENDORS AT MERVYN'S? AFTER ALL, AT LEAST YOU AREN'T SINGLE-HANDEDLY PUTTING 1,100 EMPLOYEES OUT OF WORK WHEN YOU WALK ON YOUR MORTGAGE. AS PART OF THE DEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE, YOUR MORTGAGE HOLDER GETS INTEREST PAYMENTS FROM YOU AND THEY ALSO USE THE NOTE TO YOUR HOUSE FOR THEIR CAPITAL RESERVES. IN RETURN, THEY TAKE THE RISK OF A FORECLOSURE. IN MANY STATES, YOU PAID EXTRA TO HAVE A NON-RECOURSE LOAN WHERE THE LENDER JUST GETS THE HOUSE BACK IF YOU STOP PAYING -- YOUR INTEREST RATE WOULD'VE BEEN MUCH LOWER IF YOU WERE HELD PERSONALLY LIABLE LIKE A STUDENT LOAN. BUT IF YOU STILL FEEL BAD, THEN DONATE THE MONEY SAVED TO CHARITY INSTEAD OF TO THEIR BONUSES. AND WHEN SOMEONE TRIES TELLING YOU WHY IT IS SO WRONG, HERE ARE SOME ANSWERS: - YES, IT MIGHT SEEM SELFISH, BUT YOU ARE ACTUALLY GOING TO HELP FIX OUR COUNTRY THE RIGHT WAY, THROUGH THE USE OF PURE CAPITALISM. THERE ARE 3 PARTIES INVOLVED IN YOUR MORTGAGE -- THE MORTGAGE HOLDERS, THE SERVICING BANK AND YOU. YOU PROBABLY WANT TO STAY IN YOUR HOUSE. MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY OWN YOUR MORTGAGE ALSO WANT YOU TO STAY IN YOUR HOUSE, PREFERRING AMORTGAGE REDUCTION THAT YOU KEEP PAYING INSTEAD OF THE TOTAL LOSS OF A FORECLOSURE. BUT THE MAJOR BANKS (BOFA, WELLS FARGO, JP MORGAN, CITI, ETC.) THAT UNDERWRITE AND SERVICE THE LOANS DON'T CARE ABOUT EITHER OF YOU. THEY (WITH THE AID OF THEIR GOVERNMENT) JUST CARE ABOUT HIDING THEIR TRUE FINANCIAL CONDITION FOR LONG AS POSSIBLE SO THEY CAN CONTINUE TOBONUS THEMSELVES OUTRAGEOUSLY. THE CREDIBLE THREAT OF YOU WALKING AWAY FROM YOUR MORTGAGE EN MASSE IS THE ONLY MARKET-BASED SOLUTION THAT WILL FORCE THESE BANKS TO WORK WITH THE MORTGAGE HOLDERS ON YOUR BEHALF.

- NO, YOU WILL NOT "HURT" YOUR NEIGHBORS -- CERTAINLY NOT NEAR THE SCALE OF THE BANKSTERS. CHANCES ARE SOMEONE JUST AS NICE WILL YOU WILL MOVE IN AND (UNLIKE YOU) PAY A FAIR, NON-INFLATED PRICE FOR THE HOUSE. ENCOURAGE YOUR NEIGHBORS TO FIGHT BACK AGAINST THE BANKS AND ASK FOR THEIR OWN MORTGAGE REDUCTIONS AS WELL.

- YES, IT MIGHT MAKE GETTING A LOAN HARDER FOR EVERYONE. CONSIDERING THE SPATE 0% DOWNNINJA LOANS OVER THE PAST DECADE, THAT PROBABLY ISN'T A BAD THING.

- YES, IT MIGHT HURT YOUR CREDIT. BUT WITH TIME, PEOPLE BOUNCE BACK FROM HAVING FORECLOSURES ON THEIR RECORD. SEARCH ONLINE AND THEN TALK TO A LAWYER ABOUT THE REPERCUSSIONS, WHICH VARY BY STATE.

- NO, THE BANKS WON'T NECESSARILY PASS THE LOSSES ON TO CUSTOMERS. THEY ALREADY MAKE A LOT OF MONEY. IF COSTS ARE PASSED ON TO EVERY CONSUMER WITHOUT BANKS COMPETING ON PRICE, THAT'S A SIGN OF ILLEGAL COLLUSION OR A MONOPOLY. LET'S FIX THAT INSTEAD OF JUST LETTING BANKS RUIN OUR LIVES. THEY MIGHT, HOWEVER, NOT ALL MAKE $145 BILLION IN BONUSES NEXT YEAR DOING SOMETHING FUNDAMENTALLY SO EASY THAT IT IS AN UNPAID JOB IN MONOPOLY. MEANWHILE, OURCAPTURED GOVERNMENT HAS MADE IT CLEAR THAT THEY WANT TO FURTHER REWARD THESE BANKSTERS BECAUSE THERE ARE CLEARLY BETTER WAYS TO "SAVE" THE ECONOMY WITHOUT REWARDING THOSE MOST RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DAMAGE. INSTEAD OF CLAW BACKS FOR THE PAST THEFT AND STRONG FINANCIAL REFORM FOR THE FUTURE, THEY CHOOSE TO COVER-UP THE GROSS MISUSE OF OUR TAX MONEY, MAKING OUR COUNTRY WORSE BY HELPING THE CRIMINALS ON THE BACKS OF THE MOST HONEST. BUT THANKFULLY, IN THIS COUNTRY WE STILL HAVE THE TOOLS TO FIGHT BACK AND REGAIN OUR COUNTRY. OUR VOTE, OUR VOICE, OUR LAWS AND WHAT WE CHOOSE TO DO WITH EVERY PENNY WE HAVE THAT DOESN'T GO TO TAXES ARE THE BENEFITS OF OUR HARD-FOUGHT FREEDOM, AND IN THIS BATTLE WE MUST USE THEM ALL TO FIGHT BACK. Years ago, there was a good book published on how to manage investments. It took its lessons from tennis. If you are a club player, you will win if you play defensively. Don't go for winners, just avoid mistakes. That was also the best way, the author insisted, to manage a mutual fund, for example. Slow and steady, defensive, no big ambitions, don't try to beat the market badly. That's now the OBAMA game plan.For the past week, India has been trying to come to terms with a phenomenon they neither understood nor anticipated.The abrupt emergence of Anna Hazare as the symbol of a largely middle-class outburst against the insincerity of the war on corruption has been puzzling. In many ways, this 71-year-old self-professed Gandhian from rural Maharashtra is a total antithesis of what modern India apparently stands for. He is neither young nor tech-savvy ; he doesn’t talk the ‘development’ jargon of well-travelled NGO activists; and his politico-cultural symbolism — Chhatrapati Shivaji, Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Bharat Mata and Vande Mataram—is seemingly at odds with modernist impulses of India’s aspirational classes. Yet, Anna has become the unlikeliest symbol of a movement that may well end up unseating a government, even if it doesn’t succeed in cleansing public life.

Perhaps the lionization of another diminutive man with an infectious smile is an indication that the more India changes the more it remains the same. Nearly four decades ago, professor W H Morris-Jones observed that Indian leadership follows three idioms: the traditional, the modern and the saintly. The last fits uneasily into perceptions of Indian modernity or, for that matter, the caricatured view of its conservatism. But in the past 100 years, the most significant movements for change have been propelled by people who lived in a world of their own imagination and were driven by exacting ethical standards.


Frankly, you had to be a bit crazy in 1919 to dream of unseating the Raj. You also had to be very other-worldly to believe in 1973 — barely a year after Indira Gandhi’s anointment as “Durga” after the Bangladesh war — that the corrupt edifice of the Congress Party could be brought down. Maybe it is too rash as yet to place Anna on par with either the Mahatma or ‘Loknayak’ Jayaprakash Narayan — the two saintly crazies who reshaped 20th century India. Yet, it is important to recognize that being impractical has never been a deterrent to inspirational leadership, at least not in India.


There are many features of the alternative Jan Lokpal Bill proposed by Anna and his supporters that are either outrageous or quirky. The belief that a Lokpal appointed by a committee of the great and good should have overriding powers over an elected government is at best utopian and, at worst, anti-democratic. And the proposal of who should constitute the electoral college of the virtuous is, to say the least, eccentric. Why should all those of Indian origin honoured by the Nobel committee in Sweden and Norway and the last two Magsaysay Prize winners — chosen by a committee in the Philippines—be ex-officio members of a desi star chamber. Why not the recipients of the Padma Vibhushan and Bharat Ratna? Or for that matter, why not everyone honoured by the local Rotary Club?


The issue, fortunately, is neither the Lokpal Bill nor even the principle of ‘civil society’ representation in the drafting committee—a characteristically NGO-ish demand. The overwhelming majority of those inspired by Anna’s fast don’t seem all that preoccupied with the minutiae of a proposed legislation. What has excited them is the fact that someone of unimpeachable integrity has chosen to take a stand and confront a decrepit and smug system on the issue of corruption.


In 1921, when Mahatma Gandhi asked people to abandon schools, colleges, law courts, and resign from government service in the quest of swaraj in just a year, only a small handful actually did so. Indeed, many of India’s foremost intellectuals, including Rabindranath Tagore, were disturbed by what they saw as Gandhi’s reckless manipulation of impressionable young minds. But Gandhi’s larger moral appeal outweighed the shortcomings of his political strategy. The Mahatma became a national inspiration in the struggle for independence; Gandhism always remained a fad. A similar distinction marked JP, the symbol of resistance to Indira Gandhi’s authoritarian misrule and his woolly ‘Total Revolution’.


In the coming weeks, there will be fierce assaults, not least by rival ‘civil society’ activists, on the implications of Anna’s Jan Lokpal proposals. Some of these will be couched in lofty constitutionalism such as the sovereignty of Parliament ; others will be blended with competitive self-righteousness ; and still others will see Anna as an unwitting tool of the anti-Congress opposition, just as the communists saw ‘fascist forces’ in JP’s movement.


Aclinical dissection of what Anna actually represents and the forces backing him will not, however, divert focus from the growing groundswell against corruption. There is a political space for a credible, even angry, movement against the rot in India’s political system. Circumstances have allowed a venerable, gutsy and untainted outsider to fill the void. It’s the sentiment behind his anointment that is relevant, not the fine print of a law to make


As Prime Minister Najib Razak tries to build public support for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into a sex video implicating his arch rival Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim, another high-profile and ongoing inquiry may be extended - setting the stage for two concurrent inquiries to take place in Kuala Lumpur.


A third is also being demanded - this time by civil society leaders and into the death of a Customs officer, Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed, who died while out on bail over a probe into a money-laundering racket believed to be worth at least RM108 billion.


All three inquiries would surely attract further international infamy for Malaysia, whose image has already been dragged through mud since the scandal-plagued Najib took over the top job in April 2009.


Already, the inquiries lack public confidence and have already been condemned as showy and costly tools used by the Najib administration to suppress the truth and prevent its alleged collusion with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission from being exposed.


The MACC is disturbingly the site of two mysterious 'death falls' and the reason behind two of the RCIs. The other RCI into the sex video is the one that Najib is personally keen on as it will directly tarnish Anwar and keep the opposition supremo busy while Najib's government begins preparations for the 13th general election which must be held by early 2013 at the latest.


Teoh's RCI


Firstly, the ongoing RCI on the death of Teoh Beng Hock, which was scheduled to end later this month, may have to be extended due to the need for more time to question witnesses.


In the recent proceedings, the MACC counsel had accused Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, the well-known Thai forensic pathologist of being incompetent and unprofessional for openly saying that she is of the view that the cause of Teoh's death is 80% homicide.


Saying that the phrase '80% homicide' will continue to haunt her, he has worked extremely hard to cast aspersions and doubts on her integrity, capability and credibility.


He had also accused Kajang Municipal councillor Tan Boon Wah of telling lies pertaining to being tortured by MACC officers.


The MACC counsel's implication was that, perhaps Tan wanted to elicit sympathy from the public as a smokescreen for the fact that he had been called in by MACC to be investigated for suspicion of corruption.


At one time, MACC officers in the witness stand had also tried to imply that perhaps the late Teoh too was guilty of corruption.


MACC lawyers try to confuse the public


To Ng Swee Lim, the DAP assemblyman for Sekinchan, the MACC's line of questioning is designed to confuse the public by making the public doubt the credibility of both Dr Pornthip and Tan Boon Wah.


And this was a dangerous ploy as it could backfire especially with a second death fall at MACC premises reported just last week.


"If the public has problems believing the credibility of Tan and Dr Pornthip, then they will think that perhaps Teoh Beng Hock did commit suicide after all," Ng told Malaysia Chronicle.


"But nowdays the public is not so stupid.  They don't trust the government anymore, now more so than before with the death of the Customs officer who was also found dead in the MACC premises in Cheras."


The MACC's credibility is highly in doubt at this point in time as the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Ahmad Sarbani, the senior Customs officer has raised many unanswered questions.


It has also cast fresh and grevious doubts about the commission's integrity and the federal government as a whole.


Whatever the outcome of the RCI on Teoh Beng Hock, Sarbani's death will only compound public suspicion of collusion between the MACC and top leaders of the BN, especially the Umno elite.


Ng was adamant that Teoh's family did right by not participating in the RCI as there was no point and no credibility in it anymore.


The sex RCI and shouldn't there be one for Sarbani


Another RCI is also in store as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz wants to publicly determine the identity of the man filmed having sex with a prostitute in a video implicating Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.


Ng lambasted Nazri and Prime Minister Najib Razak for pursuing their personal vendetta against Anwar at the expense of public morality and negatively influencing Malaysian culture.


"RCIs are not meant for looking into blue films, it is for serious matters such as suspicious deaths, embezzlement of large sums of money, overspending by the millions and billions and other serious issues such as these," said Ng.


Kamarudin Jaffar, the PAS MP for Tumpat is of the view that an RCI for the sex video is not a necessity as the police is still investigating the matter.


Should Nazri hammer one through, then the RCI should investigate why the police have not acted against the 3 men who call themselves 'Datuk T' for screening porn in a public place, said the PAS leader.


"Perhaps, an RCI must be called for to look into the double-standards practiced by the police. Having an RCI to look into porn films makes a mockery of the RCI which has already lost its credibility in the eyes of the public," Kamarudin told Malaysia Chronicle.


Meanwhile, calls are growing for an RCI into Sarbani's 'death fall' at the MACC.


However, the Najib administration is not keen on this, with Najib himself insisting Sarbani's and Teoh's death differed vastly, while opposition politicians and civil society leaders have said there were too many chilling similarities