MH 17 HOW DOES THE WEST KNOW SO MUCH SO SOON?

Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 (2001) Now Malaysian Airlines MH 17 (2014)

Oleksandr Kuzmuk, pictured above, the Ukrainian Minister of Defense who resigned after the shooting down of Siberian Airlines Flight 1812.

WAS PUTIN THE INTENDED TARGET OF THE MISSILE ATTACK

Times of India one of many media organizations reports that there is speculation that Vladimir Putin’s aircraft may have been the intended target of the missile battery that brought down MH 17. Both planes are painted in similar colours and if visual contact was required to take out the target, the colours of a Malaysian Airlines aircraft are eerily and deceptively similar enough to look like Putin’s Illyushin IL 96 aircraft.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Whats interesting is that the Times of India once owned by Bennett Coleman is a very pro western paper with one of the largest if not the widest circulation of any publication in the English speaking world.

The claim or suggestion by the Times of India is no more a conspiracy theory than that being floated by US vice president Joe Biden and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott about what and how MH 17 met its end.

Perhaps the Air India pilots who flew within visual range of the ill fated MH 17 could shed some light on what occurred. They were only 25 Kms behind MH 17.

ANOTHER UKRAINIAN SHOOTING OF A CIVILIAN AIRLINER? LEST WE FORGET

The precedent for the shooting of Malaysian Airlines MH 17 in the Ukraine is the shooting down in 2001 of a Russian built Tupolev passenger jet a TU 154 by Ukrainian Armed Forces missile batteries on October 4, 2001.

In that crash 64 Siberian Air passengers and 12 crew on board the ill fated aircraft en route from Novosibirsk to Tel Aviv were killed when the plane was shot down over the Black Sea by a Ukrainian missile. No reason was cited for the shooting down of the plane except for the speculation that it was a military exercise gone wrong. The victims were mainly Jews.

There was an outpouring of grief and the Ukrainians were described as anti Semites by various Jewish groups following this event (and for their history of supporting Hitler and their documented careless disregard for human life in world war 2). It did not help that at the time of the crash their denials over the shooting down of a civilian airliner were equally careless as it is with the crash of MH 17.

More notably the Ukrainian armed forces then too offered speculative reasons as to what happened attempting to blame others for the shooting down of the Air Siberia TU 154.

DENIALS THEN AS THEY ARE NOW

It took a while for the Ukraine to admit that it had in fact shot down the aircraft. And that too after considerable pressure was brought to bear on the Ukrainian leadership by Russian investigators.

Ukraine’s then-president, Leonid Kuchma, eventually conceded that the Ukrainian military was responsible for the shooting down of the Russian passenger jet.

The day of the shoot-down of the aircraft occurred at a time the Ukrainian military was conducting a massive exercise which involved shooting down 23 missiles at drones.

“Experts say that the radar-guided S-200, among the farthest-flying and most capable anti aircraft missiles in the arsenal of former Soviet nations (at the time), simply locked onto the Russian airliner after it raced past the destroyed drone some 20 miles off the Crimean coast,” the New York Times’ Michael Wines reported then.

Then President of the Ukraine Leonid Kuchma accepted the resignation of his Minister of Defense, Oleksandr Kuzmuk, following the admission that the military was culpable.

From 2003 to 2005, Ukraine paid a total of $15.9 million to families of victims following a deal with the government of Israel.

Oddly enough the Ukrainians today rush to play what they say (without independent verification) that they intercepted radio conversation between Russian backed separatists discussing the shooting down of an aircraft at the same time MH 17 went down.

The west likewise keen to demonize the Russians and to take the heat off  the Ukraine on one side whilst conveniently taking the attention off Israel’s butchering of Palestinians by Israel’s military on the other is playing up that smokescreen of Ukrainian “evidence” that Pro Russian separatists brought the aircraft down.

If it indeed was a Russian mistake then how different a mistake would it be to that of the US shooting down an Iranian Air civilian passenger aircraft in the late 1980’s? In that particular instance, the US claimed its radar could not distinguish between civilian and military aircraft. How criminally convenient. But the west bought that excuse till the Pan Am disaster over Lockerbie believed to be revenge for the downing of the Iranian passenger jet. But the US un willing to test the resolve of the Iranians if they went toe to toe over that incident chose Libya instead to pin the tail on for Lockerbie.

THE MYTH OF THE AUDIO INTERCEPT

The latest from the “audio intercept” as the Ukrainians claim to have in their possession is one which requires very close scrutiny for what it does not say rather than for what it purports to.

The Russians have one of the most sophisticated field radio systems for communication in a battle zone which is designed to hop frequencies and to avoid detection.

The Russian made anti aircraft radio or wire guided missile batteries (BUK) which the Ukrainians and the Americans say brought down  MH 17 is in the military inventories of both nations.

The BUK (s 300 or its predecessor S 200) is a Russian designed and built anti aircraft system often marketed to client states via Belorussia and the state arms corporation Rosoboronexport. To “brother states” like the Ukraine it is sold directly. Most former Soviet states have these missiles in their inventories.

It seems that social media is attributing many absurd claims about the crash of MH 17 to a pro Russian military commander.  And the US and Australia appear to be lending credibility to these absurd comments each time they appear in the  press.

IT WAS ” (THE MUSLIM) COSSACKS” AND THE GRU- GOOD GUYS BAD GUYS

The rush to blame Russia and the Cossacks (the ethnic Muslim Russians who live in the Ukraine supporting Russia) in the “intercepted radio messages” is suspect.  Being Muslims they the Cossacks are an easy target of hatred worldwide. The apocryphal so called radio message “audio intercept” released by the Ukraine does not support Russian  (or any other trained army) protocols for communication on the battlefront in the field.

The Russians and their allies do not contact the GRU directly just as the filed operatives of US backed militia in Iraq, Afghanistan or other battle zones do not contact the CIA and its director directly to report an event. It is highly improbable and would be unprecedented if it did occur.

NEW IDEAS NEW TACTICS- NO SUCH THING AS AN INNOCENT BYSTANDER

There was no such radio intercept of the downing of the 3 other aircraft supposedly downed by Pro Russians separatists in the Ukraine. Suddenly all sides change tactics radically with the Pro Russian separatists speaking to the head of the GRU Igor Sergun and a Russian Major in the armed forces of the Russian Federation we are asked to believe by Holland and the US.

Then we have the paradigm shift in Ukrainian tactics of intercepting highly classified but uncoded open line communications between pro Russian separatists and Moscow.

What is tragic about this incident coming so close to the heels of the yet unsolved MH370 incident is that civilians are now more than ever coming to grips that there is no such thing as “innocent bystanders in a conflict”. That phrase coined by a Palestinian hijacker who hijacked a BOAC VC 10 aircraft in the early 1970’s told his passengers appears to have been prophetic indeed.

A LESSON FOR MAS AND THE MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT

It is time the government of Malaysia and its national Airline learned how to deal with the world and the western media by engaging professional media consultants regardless of their race colour class or creed when dealing with such disasters.

There is nothing wrong in an investment in quality, impressive public speakers (without the fake US accents) personnel, trained, knowledgeable  and savvy when dealing with the international media.

As it stands the prime ministers own ability to impress is impaired following the MH 370 incident. The then acting minister Hishamuddin Onn although not incompetent was short of what the media had expected. There is a special skill required to deal with a media organizations and agencies run by sensationalists ready and waiting to bait an ill prepared minister or other official in such situations. And that damage from not being prepared in such situations may be irreversible.

There is an art and a skill not present within the existing Malaysian media scrum. Neither is it present in Malaysia’s government apparatus capable of dealing with such a situation. And that’s a disaster in itself.

Government needs spokespersons who are skilled. People who are informed, with a legal background, international current affairs specialists who are forensic, articulate and possessed of people and crisis management skills sufficient for them to be able to interact amiably with the diverse and often hostile international media that throng to KL each time something like this occurs.

The Staccato Malaysian accent is horrible and for most of the time not understood. With punctuation and expressions all misplaced in what should otherwise be a short and sharp response is often dragged on, disabled by the accent, the diction, mispronounced words and inappropriate analogies.

It is best that Malaysia give the media a plausible explanation of events than for them to make up their own minds and lend their own interpretations in frustration from dealing with incompetent spokespersons.

Such a situation always ends up causing untold damage to a nation that has gained so much in a short time and has so much to lose in a shorter time by the poor handling of these events.

 

 

 

ANWAR THE END

ANWAR: A CONTRADICTION IN TERMS

The Malaysian opposition in politics is doomed to repeat the failures of its leading light Lim Kit Siang, the longest serving opposition leader anywhere in the world.  Being in opposition is all Lim it appears has achieved in his political lifetime. And that’s Lim’s legacy. It is now likely to be passed on like that proverbial poisoned chalice  to Anwar Ibrahim or anyone else who succeeds him in opposition.

Recent events and developments in the fortunes of  Parti Keadlian Rakyat (PKR) leader seems to suggest that Anwar may have already drunk out of that poisoned chalice of Lim’s.

The Malaysian government (if that’s who is behind  the timing of the Court of Appeal decision against Anwar: although there is no evidence to back up that proposition), could not have chosen a better time to destroy Anwar Ibrahim than now. With the reversal of his acquittal on the charge of sodomy in the High Court of Kuala Lumpur Anwar is now set to face a further test of his credibility as a person and as a politician. 

Yet there are those who will say that the Court of Appeal’s decision on the Sodomy charge against Anwar Ibrahim is politically motivated and timed. Lawyers are amongst these critics. And if it is indeed the case that the timing has been politically motivated then, why not? we ask.

Anwar is a politician with a history of playing dirty and outside of the Rule of Law and the rules of fairness and justice (The Fairuz Video for one).

For all intents and purposes Anwar’s ambitious play for the Kajang seat is over before it even began.  A political still birth. His political fate has been sealed with a criminal conviction and a jail sentence.

Anwar may now be barred from contesting the Kajang by election under Article 48 (e) of the Federal Constitution. Under that particular article of the Federal Constitution he is disqualified under the Constitution from holding office as a member of parliament.

The courts are not bound to stay the sentence imposed on him by the Court of Appeal pending a further appeal on his behalf. A stay of execution is not a right that accrues to Anwar but a discretion in the hands of the judges to exercise if they are persuaded to do so. And considering how the legal fraternity and Anwar have treated the courts in the recent past, they should not expect the good graces of the courts and judges who they have brought into disrepute to prevail. The courts are not inclined to show any mercy or tolerance for the man or his mission. It would be inimical to justice and the preservation of the reputation and integrity of the courts and its judges to do so.

An analysis of the law and a prelude to Anwar’s acquittal being quashed is to be found in our earlier article here from 201.

https://takemon.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/anwar-naked-but-free/

PARALYZED FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES

The US, especially presidential hopeful and big time Anwar supporter, Hillary Clinton and her president Obama are in a pickle in the Ukraine now.

Having backed a bloody coup there by the Nazi group Svoboda in the Ukraine ( a group not unlike what Bersih is to Malaysia), the US and Hillary are now faced with a reality they had not foreseen or calculated into the matrix of politics in that region. Those same failures appear to have manifested themselves in Egypt, Syria, Malaysia, Thailand and Libya.

These American funded “Springs” abroad are quickly turning into winters of discontent and rivers of blood everywhere. In light of whats happening in the Ukraine and with Putin’s fight back and local resistance, Anwar and his problems pale into insignificance and irrelevance as far as the west is concerned. Anwar and his mates (Ambiga included) are no priority for the west to deal with now.

The west have bigger fish to fry and their hands are getting burned in the process. Their media will throw a one liner on and off in the interests of hedging their bets on Anwar Ambiga and their minions. Anwar is a non entity. Ambiga is on a very slippery slope and a watch list.

WHO AND WHAT IS ANWAR?

Anwar is a man whose sole objective in his personal and political life has always been his ego and that of his family dynasty  interests (apart from demonizing Dr. Mahathir). And as long as that remains his creed and the main focus of his politics he will continue to be a target of his opponents, friends and foes alike. And as long as he treats the law and the courts with contempt, he can expect nothing better in return.

Anwar will continue to fall into traps he sets for others and in the process he will continue to shoot himself in what remains of his already shot out foot.

The fact of Anwar Ibrahim’s bi sexuality is legend from his days at Malay College. The fact he has been unable to shake off allegation after allegation against him in this regard is where his main problem lies. His supporters are in large part to blame for his problems. Its always been and always will be only about Anwar and his family versus Dr. Mahathir and not about his no show policies. And that’s been a fatal flaw for the opposition and Anwar in general.

Western Gay lobbies wanting to transplant their life styles and interests into the Malaysian socio political and cultural milieu stand tall amongst Anwars backers. The others who pursue personal and political interests of their own using him are the likes of Ambiga Sreenivasan  and the Kit Siang dynasty. Neither of the latter or former are any different to Anwar in many respects.

In previous articles on this blog we warned of these so called Anwar supporters. Anwar paid no heed to these warnings. Instead we were subjected to the invectives and threats by PKR supporters and followers .

Anwar should have learned to rely less on each of these so called ‘supporters,’ each of who has an agenda of their own whilst riding comfortably on his coat tails. There is no cohesion within the opposition. There never will be any as they represent disparate mainly personal interests which have no alignment with national priorities. And they never will win in their present form. That’s also because the opposition one hears of is not the only opposition to government in Malaysia. PKR are merely another set of loud mouths amongst many.

THE OPPOSITION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE COURTS

Each time the “opposition” to government in Malaysia receives a favourable judgment in the Malaysian courts, they refer to the judges who hand down those judgements as “Brave” “Great” and “Good”. Whenever an unfavourable judgment comes down on any of them or their activities however just that judgment may be, they attack the government in all its forms, the judiciary and the courts in the process.

Such conduct may be forgiveable (although it is not) when lay people attack the integrity of the courts and judges. However these attacks are often the work of lawyers and politicians. As lawyers these critics are officers of the courts, sworn to protect its integrity, to maintain and uphold its dignity at all times. They do not. That’s a dereliction of the duty of the Malaysian Bar Council and its members. And the buck ought to stop with them.

Back to Anwar Ibrahim and his present dilemma. Anwar may have thought he was running free. However he does run around like a desperate man with his past catching up behind him (if you will excuse the pun).

Anwar knew all along that the ghost of his Sodomy past ( and other sexual indiscretions) would come back to haunt him. The video images of Anwar in his tryst with an unnamed prostitute was merely the tip of a large moral iceberg. His wife and daughter as first family in waiting ought to have said or done something about it. They did not.

ANWAR THE MAN ?

Anwar has never been known for his discretion. Quite the opposite. He has an ego the size of Mount Everest. Where he has no stage he  is prone to creating one either by standing on the weaknesses of others or by creating a platform of cheap rhetoric and personal attacks on others he despises. Judges, the courts and parliament. This is because Anwar is a man with whom time has caught up and to whom his mortality is now a reality.

He looks gaunt, tired, frail and emaciated at the best of times. The reasons for this are best known to those close to him. Anwar does not like being attacked. He does not mind others being the target of his bile and vitriol though.

Anwar has nothing of an achievement in political terms to boast of as a politician or a leader. His promises of late (the last decade) have been remarkable for its failures to deliver. He has never given up an opportunity to miss out on an opportunity either.

ANWAR’S PROMISES OF A SECULAR DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT AND FAIR PLAY

The contradictions of Anwar and his PKR (his family) are best manifest in the recent matrimonial dispute between his daughter and her beau.

Whilst spitting out secularism and democracy from one side of the PKR mouth to frothing point, Nurull Izah chose the jurisdiction of the Syariah courts to launch her divorce proceedings against the prince she married. So much for support of secular promises by the PKR.

On another score, his wife and daughter both have an overriding obligation to their constituents and to the public they claim to serve, to have said something about Anwar’s sexuality and, at the very least to have said something about the state of their family. They are after all a first family in waiting and we have a right to know about them.

There is no privacy in public life for them to hide behind. As public figures their trademark has been to condemn and defame anyone who they disagree with. Yet Wan Azziza and Nurull have remained deafening silent on at least the video. What kind of first family does the country deserve?

In the view of the PKR Datin Rosmah, the family of former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohammed is fair game but not the first family in waiting of Anwar, Wan Azziza and Nurul.

A year ago the country was in the grip of election fever. Anwar was so confident he would trounce the Barisan to snatch government from them and went around distributing victory speeches to select western media representatives, requesting an Australian journalist put the finishing touches to his draft.

It was not to be so and he cried foul losing the support of even those Gay journalists from abroad who crowd around the man often enough hoping he will be the crest of that tsunami sweeping the west in the advancement of Gay rights ‘uber alles’.

We reported from interviews with prominent Saudi Wahhabi clerics just prior to the elections last year 2013. Each of these clerics said Anwar categorically that Anwar was the forerunner to an Islamic state in Malaysia. And they blessed him.

A GOOD OPPOSITION IS NECESSARY BUT NOT THE PKR

Anwar is not being honest. He never was and never will be. There is and always will be need for an opposition whether that be in Malaysia, England, Japan or the USA. But an opposition for the sake of an opposition is a recipe for disaster as it is evident in Malaysia.

A weak and incompetent opposition like the PKR strengthens government and reduces its efficiency paving the way for weaknesses and yes corruption. But there is an opposition in Malaysia and it is not only the PKR or Chinese assemblies like the DAP.

The opposition we speak of does not take to the streets on Hillary Clinton and George Soros’s money or that of the National Endowment for Democracy. They are more into engagement and negotiation, proper political discourse and argument even if through blogging and writing.

The opposition we refer to are people who are proudly independent and can rely on their own intellect, intelligence and their ability to fight within a democratic parliamentary constitutional government. Their arguments based on merit, fact and not rumour. But they are not the stuff the pretend journalists of the alternative media are interested in. These are the silent achievers who do not have a finger in someone else’s pie.

A BAG OF HOT AIR

Anwar shifts his policies (what policies?) and his preferences, his position on any topic like the proverbial fly does from turd to turd. He has no policies other than the borrowed clichés from wherever it falls.

He moves from constituency to constituency and from electorate to electorate unnerving even some of his closest aides and advisors. And yes Bloomberg and other trash rags seeking world domination through street campaigns would love that.

Anwar has not once posited a single costed policy of his which could be identified as an alternative to what government can or already does not provide to the citizens of Malaysia. He instead boasts of a ‘one size fits all’ raft of promises which can never be achieved in the manner he says it could be.

SODOMY AN ACQUITTAL CAN BE APPEALED- BAD LEGAL ADVICE

In 2012 a court acquitted (not dismissed ) Anwar on a charge of sodomy against his wife’s driver. That acquittal if read closely, was a precursor to an appeal. That appeal has now resulted in a higher court setting aside or overturning that earlier acquittal. The reasons for the earlier court’s decision was flawed.

That decision was unsound and the reasoning for that acquittal was peppered with appealable content chapter and verse. Anwar allowed to speak from the dock let out a tirade then which was used to hang him recently. That was the fatal flaw of his over confident lawyer. He hid from an opportunity to be cross examined, his alibis (all 13 of them) having disappeared in the heat of the hearing.

Adding to this problem one might want to know why someone like Anwar, a moving target of the government as he claims he is, would continually find himself in hot water.

To find an answer to that question a cursory read of the application drafted by lawyers acting for the Catholic church in the Allah affair would hold a clue. Anwar was and continues to be represented by incompetence from amongst the Malaysian legal profession to compliment his own.

BAD LEGAL SKILLS HANG THE DEFENCE

The Church’s application is a prolix document which relegates to a small appendix at the end of their application, the questions they seek to have resolved by the court.

A copy of that 50 page document is supplied in PDF form at this site: http://www.loyarburok.com/2014/03/05/allah-submissions/

The document is preceded by what is meant to be a set of legal arguments. Much of what is in their pleadings in that document is not footnoted, has little reference to legal authorities or merit from a legal perspective. It is desultory and haphazardly cut and paste. It has little in the character of properly drafted set of pleadings by skilled lawyers.

This is what Anwar and the church are faced with as an opposition to government. And till they are able to correct those flaws in their strategies and their ranks they are doomed to wander in the proverbial political wilderness.

ANWAR A MAN WITH MANY DAGGERS STUCK IN HIS BACK

It was clear a long time back that Anwar would never be prime minister of Malaysia. At least not while he has his so called “allies” and “advisers” remain with him in the PKR.

There is not a single force within the opposition from Bersih, especially Bersih who has not made or sought to make a deal independent of Anwar during these past 3 years with the Najib government in office.

There is much evidence and documented evidence at that, that Bersih and the DAP have all acted in a conspiratorial manner to hasten Anwar Ibrahim’s demise politically.

There is much evidence that Berish’s leadership had indicated in private conversations that Anwar would never be PM. Yet the mule cart rolls on as the wheels fall off one by one and the mules die.

ANWAR KNEW ABOUT THE SABAH MASSACRE?

HOW MUCH DID ANWAR KNOW ABOUT THE SABAH MASSACRE IN ADVANCE?

Attempts to brush off the links between the founding chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Nur Misuari and Pakatan Rakyat’s  Anwar Ibrahim only raise more questions. Fresh queries are being raised about what exactly was the topic of discussion between them when they met in Jakarta a few months ago.  Have they been in communication since? What common agenda did an ex-Filipino rebel and an ex-Malaysian Minister share?

Only answers to these questions will calm the disquiet created in the Philippines and Malaysia by Wikileaks’ revelation of the duo’s links.  Wikileaks had reported of diplomatic cables sent by the US mission in the Philippines.

The 2007 report to the US State Department described Misuari as someone who still harboured aspirations to ‘regain’ Sabah from Malaysia.  The report had also quoted a Filipino official as saying that Malaysia was concerned about Misuari’s intentions towards Sabah as well as about his recent contacts with Anwar.

Anwar Ibrahim’s condolences to members of the Malaysian armed forces and their families following the raid by members of the “Sulu Sultan’s Army’ is hollow and an insult to the memories of those who were murdered in cold blood. Anwar needs to provide answers and this can only be done through an open and public inquiry. Not through the carefully crafted but insincere statements he is known for every time he puts his foot into it.

Members of Malaysia’s armed forces have expressed grave reservations about Anwar and his party. An officer of the rank of colonel who agreed to discuss the matter said words to the effect ” we do not get involved in politics although attempts have been made to politicise the army. Anwar and his friends tried to implicate us in the death of Altantuya. You will recall Raja Petra Kamaruddin making those statements. When an army officer on leave approached Raja Petra in London on the Altantuya affair (army intelligence) he Raja Petra said Anwar had put words in his mouth“.

NOT JUST ANWAR WHO IS SILENT-THE DAP HAS MUZZLED ITS MEMBERS ON THE SUBJECT

It is telling that, since the story broke, Anwar has largely remained silent about his meeting with Misuari.  PKR Deputy President Azmin Ali and Anwar’s daughter Nurul Izzah attempted to brush aside the significance of the Misuari-Anwar connection. But not many have been swayed by their feeble attempts to whitewash a potentially-explosive revelation.

Azmin tried to justify the Misuari-Anwar connection by saying that at the time of the Wikileaks report, Nur Misuari was the governor of Mindanao, so many leaders met Misuari.

But he did not explain why a former Governor who later spent time in jail and currently holds no position in the Philippines continued to have contacts with a FORMER Malaysian Minister who also later spent time in jail and currently holds no position in Malaysia.

Misuari now harbours hopes of ‘reclaiming’ Sabah and Anwar harbours hopes of ‘reclaiming’ his government position.  Were they hatching a plot to help each other fulfill their hopes?

It is not only Anwar who is suddenly media shy over the Sabah massacre and Anwar’s unexplained meetings with Misuari and his lieutenants. The DAP our sources tell us have muzzled their members and any party official from making comment about the Sabah massacre. They appear to understand the impact of the massacre on the nation’s psyche and the inevitable conclusions reasonable Malaysians will draw from the Anwar Pakatan connection with those murderers. And they in the DAP and PR promise a “clean government?”

NOTE:

The US embassy in Jakarta at the time sent a cable to Washington making note of Anwar Ibrahim’s contacts with the former Moro Liberation Front chief. In that cable Anwar is said to have met with an maintained contacts with separatists regularly. The cable suggests Anwar had been sympathetic and was in touch with separatist even during his time in government.

Singapore’s own intelligence service is said to have contributed to the US cable.

‘大耳窿’ THE AH LONG:

A SYMPTOM OF FAILED BANKING PRACTICES AND PERSONAL MORALITY IN AN INSATIABLE CONSUMER SOCIETY

 “The trade of the petty usurer is hated with most reason: it makes a profit from currency itself, instead of making it from the process which currency was meant to serve. Their common characteristic is obviously their sordid avarice” … Aristotle Greek Philosopher.

They are called ‘loan sharks’ in the west, Yamikinyu in Japan, Sauekar in Mumbai or the Kabuli in Delhi. They are the Kabuli because of their Afghan origins.

Ah Long (derived from the Cantonese ‘大耳窿’ ) is a term used to describe loan sharks in places like Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Operating illegally and most often under the patronage of unseen public officials and  corrupt police, the Ah Longs are the product of age old Triad practices that originated in the courts of the medieval clans and warlords who preyed on the poor and thrived on debt slavery in pre Maoist China.

Today the Ah Long in Malaysia operates via the convenience of a wide network of third party mercenary thugs and corrupt off duty policemen.

The Chinese Triads today employ mainly Tamils and Indonesian thugs to execute ‘enforcement’ of debt obligations for them. Typically these thugs are from the ranks of displaced and desperately unemployed youth willing to do anything for a dollar.

A RECENT EXAMPLE OF THE TRIAD THIRD PARTY MERCENARY CULTURE

The Triads engage these unemployed displaced youth in much the same way the wife of murdered businessman Leong Kian Sheong is alleged to have used 3 Tamil assassins to carry out the brutal murders of Kian Sheong and his mistress, Vivien Wong.

Wong’s and Leong’s throats were cut from ear to ear. A ceremonial and symbolic act the hallmark of Triads. The prevalence of Triad activities wherever Chinese communities exist is common as it is pervasive, widespread and sinister. The Chinese in Malaysia and Singapore do not like the existence or the history and cultural origins of the Triads mentioned along racial lines. It is an embarrassment and a convenience rolled into one for the Chinese especially where offences like those of the murder of Leong Kian Sheong involved members of two non Malay ethnic groups in Malaysia, viz the Chinese and the Tamils.

WHO AND WHAT IS THE AH LONG?

The Ah Long  is the loan shark who lends money to the vulnerable, the weak and the economically challenged. Typically their customers are people who are unable to obtain loans from scheduled banks and finance companies.

The Ah Long’s primary targets are inveterate gamblers, low and mid income families, the high level consumer and the asset rich cash poor sectors of communities of Malaysia and other south east Asian nations.

A ready made market exists in the upwardly mobile class of consumers in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore in whose DNA can be found the genes of social climbers and the class conscious, whose ascendancy in society is acquired though financial gain and material possessions at any cost. Asians.

The Ah Long’s services are often spread by word of mouth and public notices. They boldly advertise in public in a style that deceptively borrows the language of licensed lenders and banks. As is the case with loan sharks in the west, in Japan, India and other places, the Ah Long is charcterised by the extraordinarily high interest rates he charges on short term loans unsecured and backed in redemption by the most unimaginable forms of violence and human degradation.

WHITE SLAVERY ORGAN TRAFFICKING AND THE AH LONG

“You have among you many a purchased slave Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules,You use in abject and in slavish parts Because you bought them. Shall I say to you Let them be free, marry them to your heirs. Why sweat they under burdens?. . . You will answer The slaves are ours.’ So do I answer you.The pound of flesh which I demand of him is dearly bought. ‘Tis mine, and I will have it.”
(IV.i.89–99) (The Merchant of Venice)

Corruption through infiltration of Australia’s immigration and customs services has finally come to the surface. A report published by the anti corruption commission of New South Wales in December 2012 revealed serious infiltration into the immigration service by mainly Chinese drug gangs from abroad.

The investigation resulted in the arrest of a number of officers serving at terminals in Sydney, Melbourne and two other major air and sea ports in Australia.

Statistics reveal an alarming number of young women from the communities of Chinese, Viet Namese, Thai, and Japanese migrants working off Ah Long debts as prostitutes in the west. Many would have arrived in their destinations as students, casual workers in restaurants or factories arranged by Ah Longs and their corrupt network of associates in these places.

On arrival these victims soon discover that the promises of the Ah Longs of a better life in their new destinations is nothing more than an inducement to a life of inescapable misery.

None of the Asian social welfare groups intervene. Not the Churches, not the NGO’s nor their ethnic community groups. It almost always falls on the conscience of the European hosts to assist and to redeem these victims and where possible to repatriate them in a dignified way.

FOREIGN MAIDS- AN AH LONG BUSINESS

Another variation to the Ah Long theme is the menace and tragedy of the house maid phenomenon sweeping all of the prosperous regions of Asia and the middle east.

A large majority of these so called “maids” the NGO communities support are in fact victims of debt slavery. They are often transported to places like Malaysia under the ‘legitimate’ cover of maid employment agencies in order to pay off debts. And perhaps negligently and unknowingly the Churches support and patronise this practice of keeping maids in places as Malaysia by lobbying for more of them to be imported into places like Malaysia.

The vexed and highly emotive issues of the abuse of maids raised by the Catholic church, women’s groups and Irene Fernandez in Malaysia has focused on the working conditions of these victims of a form of white slavery. But none of them have a focus or agenda for eradicating the source of its evils and the trade itself.

There has been no comment or policy initiative from the Church, Women’s interest organizations or from Irene Fernandez herself a lead spokesperson of an NGO at the forefront of this issue.

Other vile and criminal methods inflicted by Ah Longs to enforce repayment of their loans include, serious assaults, knee capping, literally being fed to trained Rottweiler dogs in their cages, rape and forced oral sex on the spouses and female children of borrowers.

The practice has been reported in and around the KL, Kelang, the Syah Alam corridor of Selangor state where Ah Long predators are most prolific in plying their trade. Johore and Perak are not far behind the if statistical data on the subject is to be believed.

POUND OF FLESH- LITERALLY

There are at least 24 reported cases of new born male children of borrowers in Peninsula Malaysia, being offered or forcibly taken by the Ah Long in satisfaction of an unpaid debt. These children are then sold into the lucrative black market for male children to childless couples abroad.

The most common use for young women in debt default situations with the Ah Long is more often in prostitution till a debt is paid off and that could mean forever.

A disturbing trend common in China and India and now emerging in Malaysia and Singapore is the collateral of body parts in satisfaction of a debt.

A Tamil woman in Malaysia is reported to have been lured into sacrificing one of her kidneys to a compatible recipient via the Ah Long in Kuala Lumpur. Actual details of the transaction were made known to us by members of a local evangelical church in Kuala Lumpur. The irony of the transaction is that the recipient of the kidney is also known to be from a family of worshipers at this same church.

The practice is widespread in many developing countries and is beginning to grow legs in Malaysia.

NGO IGNORANCE CHURCH COMPLICITY AND THE DETERRENCE OF SHAME

Much of data collected from the public on the Ah Long culture in Malaysia and Singapore has been collected by foreign researchers and agencies who are more trusted by victims than their local counterparts whose only concern appears to be scoring political points.

The NGO’s in Malaysia are perceived to have no depth, knowledge or genuine concern for the welfare of the weak in their societies. Victims have nowhere to go. The churches in Malaysia too are distracted by the political debates that have been raging there and have no time for the victims of Ah Longs.

There is a widespread culture of mistrust of public officials and anyone even remotely resembling a public official in Malaysia. When it comes to reporting crime it is known that ‘shame’ crimes where especially the chastity of a woman is likely to be called into question 90% of them go unreported.

The more powerful cultural deterrent and disincentive to reporting the Ah Long is the underlying sentiment of shame attached to being a borrower. A borrower from an Ah Long at that. And it is that sentiment that deters victims from coming forward. The social stigma attached to being in the debt of an Ah Long and its ugly consequences further discourages more public discussion on the subject and reporting of the offences of the Ah Long.

The Ah Long is classed as the biggest social menace in Malaysia and Singapore. It comes a close second to drugs and alcohol and is often credited by social workers for family break ups and suicides especially amongst young women. Women the biggest victims of the Ah Long experience in families. Its consequences are too diverse to fit into a sociologists limited pigeon hole for quick analysis.

THE LONG REACH OF THE AH LONG

There was a time when the Ah Long was the local hoodlum or grocer who had extra cash and a bit of muscle to lend to people in desperate need of money for a wedding or funeral expenses. The practice was condoned but it nonetheless received a degree of social acceptance in the wider community at a time when insurance and banking products did not cater for such contingencies as they do today.

Surprisingly for a country at the forefront of Sharia banking and finance and a Muslim country at that where religious doctrine eschews usury and forbids it as one of the cardinal sins and the root of all evil, Malaysia has one of the world’s highest incidences of the Ah Long experience.

The scourge of the Ah Long is growing unabated in all major cities of Malaysia and has spread its tentacles to the rural heartland of Malaysia. It has reached all levels of society and its spread is said to rival that of the evangelical Christian youth movements and multi level marketing.

STUDENTS & POLITICIANS

Large numbers of Malaysians go abroad to study each year. Amongst this crowd are those who enroll at foreign institutions of learning as students as a means of migrating abroad seeking better economic opportunities than those available to them in Malaysia.

There have been a number of arrests of students engaging in illegal activities in their host nations especially in places as Canada, the UK, Australia, the US.

Non traditional destinations for commonwealth students like Holland, has featured in the spread of the Ah Long and its cultural base. Amsterdam, London and Vancouver have each witnessed an entrenched culture of the Triad develop like a rash in their midst over the past few decades.

In 1973, the Dutch government chartered a Sabena (Belgian Airlines) DC-10 to repatriate a plane load of Malaysian Chinese who they had rounded up, charged and convicted in Holland for various crimes ranging from heroin trafficking, extortion, protection rackets and prostitution.

It was then described by an Interpol officer as “the tip of a very large iceberg”. As alerts were issued for Chinese youth especially from Malaysia at various western entry points after the Holland incident in 1973, a tsunami of “students” slowly  began their gradual and intense migration to these lucrative destinations to ply their illicit trades on behalf of the Ah Long.

Students today account for more than 50% of the illegals from Malaysia into the west caught, charged, tried and deported for various Ah Long related crimes. Most of these sent by the Ah Long through their vast  network of travel & migration agents which includes a few lawyers in the destination countries and in Malaysia.

However the Ah Long’s most high profile couriers to date has been a Malaysian politician caught attempting to smuggle over a million dollars in cash into Australia. The politician in question was apprehended by alert security and customs officials at Brisbane airport two years ago. Sadly this politician is not alone.

DR. VICTOR CHANG – VICTIM OF THE AH LONG

In 1995 pioneering Australian Chinese heart surgeon Dr. Victor Chang was gunned down by two Malaysian Chinese gangsters in what police described as a failed extortion bid.  What’s not publicly cavilled is the proposition that Dr. Chang had in the view of some been the victim of the Ah Long and their Triad organizations. It is believed Chang had refused to sell a part of his invention, an artificial heart to Triad “investors” who had approached him in private to invest. The consequence of that refusal is now deeply embedded in the psyche of many Australians.

Whether there is any truth to that story with Dr. Chang is hard to tell. But to ridicule the proposition is foolhardy considering the extents to which Ah Longs and their Triad organizations have historically gone in the past in pursuit of money through extortion.

The Triads thrive in Sydney openly displaying many of their traits at restaurants in the water front and with the open soliciting for prostitution of young mainly Chinese women in most of Sydney’s major suburbs. The corrupting of Sydney’s police could not have been a very difficult task for the Ah Long considering the long history of corruption within the New South Wales police force and its other law enforcement agencies.

Many Australian politicians are known to have accepted bribes, expensive gifts and other inducement to favour Triad interest in Australia. It includes influencing immigration and business license decisions, government letters to Chinese business people engaging in business in South East Asia and China and for a variety of other purposes such as places at universities and favourable exam results.

AIRLINE STEWARDESSES AS ESCORTS AND MAS PILOTS TRAFFICKING DRUGS

More recently and notoriously an MAS airline pilot Thiagu Supramaniam was arrested in 2012 at Brisbane airport in possession of a five kilos of meth amphetamine first thought to be heroin on his person. And the problem does not stop there.

Thiagu is not the only known airline pilot involved in the trafficking of large quantities of high grade heroin, cocaine, ice and ecstasy on behalf of the Ah Long.

 More than half a dozen Malaysian Airlines stewardesses abroad particularly  in Europe and in the US have been caught doubling up as ‘Escorts” whilst on stop overs in these destinations. Holland, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney and Los Angeles being the new popular, lucrative spots for these girls to ply their second trade in because of the strong presence of Triads there.

The recent death of a Chinese Malaysian airline stewardess in Holland is widely believed to have been linked to the Triads whose presence in Europe is anchored in Holland. She is believed to have been a ‘working girl’ for the Triads unbeknownst to her family. The real cause of her death has never been revealed apart from the obvious, a fall.

Whilst Hong Kong and Taiwan have previously been  prominent in the “Escort” circuit for airline stewardesses, the preference for these girls and their Ah Long pimps has always been the larger cities of the west where the Triads are now a well entrenched criminal organizations.

PROSTITUTION RIFE AMONGST MAS STEWARDS AND STEWARDESSES 

The practice of prostituting airline stewardesses abroad is quite widespread. In fact it has been reported and brought to the attention of MAS management previously. The problem though is securing a conviction without which the allegations remain just that and the ability of management to act is limited without a conviction. Or at least that is the theory.

MAS stewardesses have long been “party girls” to board members and their official guests at functions in Malaysia and abroad. There are at least two known videos of prominent Malaysian’s from the 1990’s in compromising positions and situations with Malaysian Airline stewardesses. And the vice does not stop there.

By contrast Singapore Airlines (SIA) is know to chaperon their stewardesses whilst they are abroad knowing full well the temptation and propensity for such activities by Asian gangs preying on their girls whilst abroad. SIA too it is known have suffered the experience of the Ah Long preying on young vulnerable women whose families are in debt to them. However to their credit the airline has become more circumspect and vigilant about the problem now.

Reliance on Ah Longs and other shark lenders as alternatives to banking and its red tape in Malaysia as an industry now challenges the dominance of the regular banking and finance sector. This is  the case at least where private personal lending is concerned. The pervasive influence of the Ah Long has deeper and more sinister social undertones that are not immediately apparent in the “ economically prosperous  moral jungle” Malaysia.

Where gambling of all variety thrives especially amongst the Chinese communities in Malaysia and Singapore, the influence and long dark shadow of the Ah Long is ever present. Oddly enough their most desperate victims are the Chinese themselves and if for no other reason than their renowned propensity for gambling.

MURDER AND POLICING THE AH LONG MENACE

The Ah Longs menace has resulted in a number of documented suicides by debtors so hopelessly in debt and unable to cope with the psychological, physical and social consequences of their indebtedness to the Ah Long. The most tragic of which is believed to be the pilot of a Silk Air flight 185 that crashed into a lake in Sumatra Indonesia killing 97 passengers and the crew.

There are reports of murder directly linked to Ah Long activity. However the statistics in this area are somewhat blurred because prosecutions have been frustrated through the inaction interference and omissions of corrupt members of the police force and the involvement of lawyer intermediaries intervening to scuttle due process.

The disturbing trend is such now that off duty policemen are known to accompany Ah Long enforcers, along with Tamil thugs to keep watch whilst they “enforce the Ah Long’s rights” under the debt obligations against the borrower.

This is known to range from a straight forward threat, to molesting a female member of the household, taking a woman away “for a ride” giving the debtor time to make repayment in full within say an hour. The known consequences of these rides have often known to be, a rape, others sexual assaults not quite amounting to rape like forced oral sex and in some cases mutilation.

CONSUMERISM: SOCIAL STATUS AT ANY COST

A sociologist describes this phenomenon as a by- product of a consumerism. It is known to be common in societies especially amongst Indians and Chinese where social status expressed in material acquisitions, a larger house, a newer car, a child studying abroad, expensive jewelry, brand name accessories, overseas trips and other lifestyle addictions are common. But the greatest and most common source of the vice is from gambling. And the Chinese have no monopoly in this vice in Malaysia today although they control much of it.

Malays from across the spectrum of Malay society have acquired a taste for the good life and with it the promise of fast wealth from gambling. A game of chance. And with that many chance their lives away.

Government negligence is something that most people are unable to explain nor the government explain away. The cost to the economy is immeasurable at the social, human and economic level. The reason is that much of this vice and its effects often go unreported. Debtor victims are ashamed for being in debt and many more are ashamed of the punishments inflicted on them by the Ah Long. And the price they pay in various assaults, the degradation and personal humiliation for their sins is the price for their silence.

There is a particularly ugly and enduring stigma attached especially to female members of families of the Ah Long experience.

GOVERNMENT TURNING A BLIND EYE- A BLACK EYE IN FUTURE

If government were to seriously go about attacking this menace they would enforce available criminal sanctions against the Ah Long in an exemplary manner. Many within the police force and other government organizations would be affected if this did occur.

What the government may be ignoring in all of this also is a huge potential vote bank. If it only took the initiative to force “debt forgiveness” against Ah Longs or impose punitive high taxes on Ah Longs when caught to discourage them from continuing in the business it could well drive Ah Longs out of business and recoup unpaid taxes in their networks reducing considerably the impact of this huge social menace in Malaysia.

The Ah Long may well be Malaysia’s Greek debt problem which the state chooses to ignore. One day the chickens will come home to roost and that one day may not be too far away.

RAJA PETRA KAMARUDDIN TO RETURN

COMING IN FROM THE COLD

In 2011 in a highly controversial article in GRK we reported that Waythamurthi had been negotiating with government for his safe return to Malaysia. We also reported of the overtures Raja Petra Kamaruddin the mercurial and narcissistic blogger had been making overtures to government of Malaysia intermediaries for his safe return to Malaysia.

A few weeks ago it was reported that Waythamurthi returned to Malaysia via Johore Bahru. His return was uneventful. His office, Hindraf and Waythamurthi himself had long denied any overtures to government were made or that he was likely to strike any deal with the Malaysian government for his return.

Also read: https://takemon.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/anwar-will-not-be-pm-ambiga-kit-siang/

THE RUNAWAY PRINCE A PRODIGAL SON

We have learned recently that Raja Petra Kamaruddin better known by the acronym RPK, is to return to Malaysia. RPK is reported to have concluded a deal with government he has been negotiating for sometime  in exile to secure his return to Malaysia.

What is not known though is whether the deal struck between government and RPK will allow RPK to return to Malaysia prior to the next general elections. The next general elections, Malaysia’s 13th since it gained independence from the UK is due to be held on or before April 2013. It is not known whether RPK’s return will be postponed till after the event.

What is not also known are the finer details of the deal. Whether RPK will face court on a number of outstanding charges against him including several of criminal defamation and the more serious charges of contempt may well be part of the deal between RPK and government. The charges of contempt were contemplated or even laid by prosecutors prior to RPK’s hasty departure for the United Kingdom in 2010.

The government’s reasons for agreeing to allow RPK to return to Malaysia though are clear. From what we know they are not too dissimilar to the reasons that paved the way for a deal that allowed the Hindraf former exile Waythamurthi to return to Malaysia recently. But there is a quid pro quo.

ALL IS FORGIVEN- BUT AT A PRICE

As has also been widely known for sometime there has been a gradual ‘drip feeding’ of vital information to government about the structure and identity of key individuals within the opposition and their affiliated groups. The ‘drip feed’ comes from well cultivated and strategically placed insiders in each of the opposition led organizations. They include the Malaysian Bar, Bersih and PKR as well as the many so called NGO’s.

The Catholic church and its allies have also provided a rich vein of insider information through carefully placed informers within the church. It appears that God does work in strange and mysterious ways. The result is a long list of  individuals and organizations perceived to be threats to the peace stability and security of the country. And there is good reason for that perception. Many on this list are tied to the objective of the overthrow of government outside the ballot box.

Groups like Bersih are long known to have been connected to foreign governments and their covert operating units in the Asia Pacific region. The structure and operational strategies of many of these groups are now intimately known to government and its intelligence apparatus. Information obtained by government connects specific individuals directly with foreign governments, the so called “NGO’s” and their hidden agendas, the overthrow of the Barisan government.

Much of the funding and technical assistance supplied to local branches of foreign NGO’s, opposition political parties, the alternative and social media to disrupt local politics has a distinct European (EU) and American tinge to it. The list is said to cut across a very wide spectrum of government. The list includes public servants, the diplomatic corps and the judiciary.

Sadly top tier foreign universities from Harvard, the University of London, Melbourne, the University of New South Wales and Monash universitiy have also been identified as a training ground and host for the operations of the more sinister of these groups like the Neo Cons in Washington.

THE LIST

What is referred to as The list is highly classified and detailed report about cladestine anti government activities locally and abroad now in government hands. In it are listed the names of high ranking public servants. As expected, members of the Malaysian Bar, the Churches and a number of judges sitting and retired feature prominently in that list. Each is identified as having participated in one way or the other in attempts to overthrow government in Malaysia. All of the named are said to be either directly or indirectly connected to foreign organizations connected to foreign governments with a specific agenda for the region. The creation of client states.

More disturbing to government is the identity of two mid ranking diplomats currently serving at major diplomatic stations abroad. Their activities have been the subject of close scrutiny by government for sometime following ‘disclosures’ by former anti government operatives living locally and abroad. The information on suspects provided in detail by exiles and active members of opposition groups who have ‘turned coat’.

Reasons believed to have been given by insider informants for turning coat against their former colleagues we are told is that many are said to have become disillusioned and disatissfied with the very elitist, exclusive manner in which many of these opposition groups and NGO’s operate.

Many within believe opposition groups have become personal feifdoms and are treated like the private enterprise of its leaders. Ambiga, Waythamurthi, Guan Eng and Anwar are but 4 of the main examples cited for the proposition. The level of foreign penetration in Malaysia’s opposition aimed at destabilising government is quite extensive it appears.

Singapore thankfully in its own interests has identified, interviewed and managed to contain informers from within NGO’s, Bersih, PKR at a very high level. Many of these informers, officers of each of these groups have been compromised into providing critical information to Singapore’s intelligence agencies. These informants are from within many of the Malaysian opposition groups and NGO’s operating in the region. There are some, foreigners who have since been deported. Needless to say such information gathering by Singpore would be incomplete without a fair share of Malaysian government informants amongst them as well.

A CHILL WIND BLOWING THE FIRES OF CHANGE

The recent failures of USAID and various other ‘cover’ organizations such as Civil Societies in the middle east, where they have promoted radical change through funding street demonstrations has forced the US to rethink its strategies for fostering violent change worldwide. Sources within the Obama administration have begun to speculate about a new role for Hillary Clinton after the November elections there.

The British appear at least for now to have altered course from supporting the raft of opposition groups in Malaysia agitating for undemocratic overthrow of government to maintaining the status quo. No one is saying so officially of course. The conduct of the British establishment towards Malaysian opposition groups residing in London has somewhat chilled in recent months. Australia too must be considering a rethink if it hasn’t alread done so. Having failed in the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, their Malaysian adventures appear to alienate them from the more progressive elements in the region.

The killing of US Ambassador to Libya last week has forced a re think of the US strategy of creating “springs” much like Mao’s  cultural revolution uprisings in far flung reaches of the globe. Their gamble in this regard has not paid off. In fact it has failed dismally with the “street revolutions” in each of Egypt, Libya, Syria and Tunisia all having turned against US interests of late.

The hands of the US government are tied.  Government is paralysed in the run up to the presidential elections this year. Their miscalculation of the Arab Spring is politically too sensitive and embarassing to the extent no one on either side of the political divide in the US wants to own up to it.

The US response to ‘friendly Arab opposition movements’ once funded by them turning against them has been muted for the same reason. They are unable to act. The damage in anti American sentiment has spread worldwide beyond the middle east. The latest victim of their misadventure is the driver of their funding to foreign groups USAID. Russian president Vladmir Putin has ordered the organization shut down and its operatives out of Russia forthwith.

JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE- A CAN OF WORMS

When RPK (and Anwar Ibrahim) made much of the Lingham tapes, little did RPK and his handlers in the Malaysian Bar and Bersih realise that he had prized open a vital avenue for government to investigate and clean up the judiciary. Many within the ranks of judges are believed to be members and supporters of the oppostion and foreign interests.

There were no surprises it seems when names in the ‘drip feed’ list of ‘RPK’ and those NGO’s with links to USAID were put to a government official recently. The Malaysian government appears to have covered this sector quite thoroughly from the responses the official provided us on condition of anonymity.

Inflitration of each of these groups by government has been highly efficient and productive. Organization structural weaknesses in particular eltism and exclusivity has damaged many of these groups from Bersih, the DAP, Aliran. The Christian churches have fared no better.

PKR has had its own share of disasters of its own making rendering it an ineffective partner in the oppostion movement. But the RPK revelations led to more information being available by Ambiga’s own indiscretions in the media and those of one of her close confidants in a leak to a government handler.

Out of this treasure trove of information from RPK and others like him comes the most astonishing revelation. At the beating heart of opposition corruption is a core of individuals many would have little suspected of being as malleable, fickle and tradeable a comodity as the judiciary. Within their ranks government has uncovered a rotten core. A group whose purpose is to frustrate the government at every turn and make governing the country difficult bfore the next elections.

What has long been suspected about the involvement of the judiciary in foreign funded opposition groups is now confirmed. Suspects include sitting and retired judges who are active on the political and judicial circuits with the objective of undermining government.

JUDGE SHOPPING – WHAT PRICE A FAVOURABLE DECISION?

Apparently a major problem and some say a common practice amongst Malaysia’s most prominent law firms is the practice of Judge shopping. Identified in the list of judicial officers involved in this practice are high profile judges who continue to maintain direct contact with their handlers and whose activities on the bench go dangerously beyond the scope of their work and the power and duties of their office.

The practice of judge shopping was confirmed by Waythamurthi and some others within the legal profession. The whistle blew when Ambiga, refused Hindraf legal aid from the Malaysian Bar to members of Hindraf following their arrrest and detention under the ISA in 2007. Each of these Hindraf detainees were entitled to but denied legal representation by the Malaysian Bar on Ambiga’s express instructions.

That denial of their legal rights by the Malaysian Bar appears to have been the catalyst that precipitated a major backlach against the likes of Bersih, the Malaysian Bar and the opposition to government in Malaysia in general. The government realising there was a chasm created by the Bar went to work on deepening the divide.

Ambiga’s own conduct as a legal practitioner has for some time now been under scrutiny. And there is much to write about her conduct, performance and capabilities as a lawyer during her time as chairperson of the Malaysian Bar, prior to and subsequent. Her nexus to certain members of the judiciary then when she worked at a particular top tier firm in Malaysia too has drawn a lot of attention and criticism although the criticism has for some time been muted.

Judges under investigation today for involvement in the practice include at least 4 judges from the ranks of 3 very prominent law firms in Malaysia. These firms are known to maintain close connections to sitting judges who have risen to the bench from their ranks. The many decisions of each of these judges are equally well documented and the subject of independent analysis to prove they may have favoured clients of their former employers, the major law firms over others in litigation in disregard for fairness, equity or legal principles.

Judge and jurisdiction shopping is a common practice with large law firms and certain practitioners within the Malaysian Bar. Typically this practice involves lawyers manipulating daily law lists in the court registries to have their matters brought before and tried by “preferred judges”. Preferred judes being judges familiar or known to a particular lawyer requiring his services.

Interestingly it is known now that judge shopping has been a source of overt funding for the opposition groups in Malaysia as well. Through the practice of judge shopping and ‘judicial favours’ from the bench, the pay offs that ensue flow on to fund ‘NGO’s , select members of the Malaysian Bar, compliant the judicial officers and other agitators engaging in anti government activities.

Many of the participants in this regard and their families it is believed have received benefits as scholarships to study in the UK, Australia and the US as incentives to remain within the groups. None of these scholarships being Malaysian government scholarships.

THE BEST JUDGES MONEY CAN BUY

There is apparently nothing subtle about the misconduct of these judges and the conduct of the law firms that support them. The practice has been widespread for sometime now that it has become very much a part of the legal establishment in Malaysia. We have been provided access to at least half a dozen cases, complete with transcripts, pleadings, evidence, witness statements and judgements all of which go to support the proposition that judge shopping and judicial favours to large law firms are more than the suspicion of disgruntled litigants. It appears to be common practice in Malaysia.

Interestingly Raja Petra Kamaruddin himself boasted of his knowledge of this practice yet failed to pursue the subject further on his blog. It appears that his omissions in this regard may have been cured or corrected by the man by other means. The elitism of many within the bulge bracket firms and support for it by judges who favour them in court appears  for now at least to be resisted by a growing number of lawyers if for no other reason than for its economic impact on their livelihoods.

There are a number very high profile commercial cases that appear to have been the product of judge shopping. Lawyers in Kuala Lumpur, Johore Bahru and in the Kelang Valley who did not wish to be named, readily identified judges, individual cases in which judge shopping and judicial favours may have been involved and benefits given to clients of the larger law firms where individual judges had served as lawyers before coming to the bench.

A group of these lawyers have requested we pursue the problem further with them. Again the activities of the Raja and others like Hindraf may have been instrumental in leading government agencies to uncover and subsequently investigate the practice.

In deference to government’s on- going investigations into this matter we will not be publishing the identities of those judicial officers identified in a recently leaked document to government.

BUT WHO AMONGST US?

“Among the best traitors Ireland has ever had, Mother Church  ranks at the very top, a massive obstacle in the path to equality and freedom.  She has been a force for conservatism… to ward off threats to her own security  and influence“.
Bernadette  Devlin.

The Church has always seemingly been at the forefront of change. But not for the reasons of justice, fairness or equalit as one might think. The IRA struggle against Britain is perhaps an great example of a betrayal of the struggle of the Catholics in Ireland by the Church.

MONEY CAN’T BUY ME LOVE

On the list of suspected corrupt judges in Malaysia is a prominent serving High Court of Malaysia judge. The judge who is known to have presided over a highly controversial public inquiry recently is not only identified for his alleged involvement in some of these anti government activities behind the scenes, but also sadly because of the company he keeps. But he is also one of a number of judges recently found to be engaging in “judicial activism”.

More interesting is the case of a prominent  former judge of the High Court of Malaysia from a northern constituency (Perak) whose extra marital affairs has resulted in his own family supplying valuable intelligence on his personal life to government. That information we understand contains intimate details about this former judge’s many trysts with members of the underworld, acting sometimes as a go between.

Amongst the allegations of this particular former judges indiscretions include his having acted as liason between litigants (underworld figures and large corporations) and other members of the Malaysian judiciary during his tenure as a judge. It is widely believed that the man continues to offer his services in this regard for reward  liasing with at least one sitting judge in  a recent matter.

The particular informant member of the ex judge’s family asserts, the judge’s conduct in this regard was motivated for pecuniary and personal gain, to support a lavish lifestyle. The judge it is suggested had become involved with a number of mistresses, was fond of gambling. It is further alleged he had become captive to a number of high profile individuals in corporate and underworld circles for favours received in the past. However it was his infidelity and his mistresses that “broke the camel’s back” enraging his family enough for at least one member to come forward and disclose details of his other life away from the bench.

IN DARK CORNERS OF THE KNIGHTS

Closely linked to this judge is a former Court of Appeals judge who remains in public practice though retired from the bench. His activities are well documented by government to include his advises to Bersih and to Parti Keadilan Rakyat amongst other opposition organizations. However this judge too like Ambiga Sreenivasan had been previously highly critical of Waythamurthi and urged government action against Hindraf.

There is little doubt that at least with the Indian communities, the caste factor continues to play a key role in fostering divisions amongs those of them in opposition. However it is not their caste divisions but their misconduct in public office that has drawn the ire of government and its attention to their so called opposition political activities,

Two other former Court of Appeals judges whose controversial decisions in  recent years in high profile commercial cases  are also being investigated. Each of these retired judges is also being investigated for their conduct in other matters during their tenure in office. Both have a direct active involvement in the opposition.

Information about the conduct of judges now the subject of government interest it appears is just the tip of the ice berg. Payback time it seems may be after the general elections. Once more the informants are people closely connected to the judges, the informations having worked very closely with them.

The Lingham affair it now appears was deliberately engineered to be widely publicized and debated as an issue of judicial incompetence and corruption by the Malaysian Bar for political reasons. The Lingham tapes on analysis was used as a smoke screen to conceal the real corrupt and highly political and inappropriate activities of sitting judges within the Malaysian bench connected to the opposition and aligned to foreign interests.

WHEN WILL RPK RETURN AND WHAT IS THE DEAL?

Government must of its own accord and initiative now disclose the terms for the return and ‘forgiveness’ accorded to the likes of RPK and Waythamurthi. There is an obligation on the part of government to address the issues behind its decision in both cases.

Many Malaysians from all walks of life have been actively engaged in one form or the other in fostering change for the better in their country. It is the prerogative of every citizen and a fundamental human right of everyone regardless of their political complexion to seek positive change peacefully and in a democratic way.

It is also the right of every individual to expect full disclosure and the truth from their leaders. That includes not just leaders in government, but also those who claim the right to be that alternative government. Elected representatives, opposition members of parliament and those who lead unregistered political movements funded from abroad. What is needed especially from foreign funded organizations is full and frank disclosures about their sources of funding, their objectives and their organizational structures.

Thus far the opposition and especially Bersih, two groups who have hijacked the middle ground lying through their teeth claiming to have some divine or ascriptive right to be the sole voice and representative of alternative government in Malaysia have not been as transparent as they demand of government and those who oppose them. It is time that government disclosed what they have on these groups.

FRAUD AS A POLICY PLATFORM FOR A CRUMBLING OPPOSITION

BY WAY OF DECEIT

The proliferation of unsubstantiated, doctored and often completely fraudulent material by opposition groups in Malaysia and their supporters abroad requires a response. The disinformation campaign now entering its 4^th year has achieved little else than to discredit further an opposition already in disarray, splintered, fragmented and desperately searching for a way out.

Quite apart from being offensive, utterly false and poorly constructed, these “articles of faith” and proofs of a “better alternative government in the wings” ritualistically recite a litany of lies about Malaysia’s “low standing” in the international community, tales of “murder” “conspiracy” & “corruption”  in government. The core within this group is an anti Malay anti Islamic coalition funded from across the causeway and abroad. Their material a reflection of the desperation that mirrors the character of its authors, their”policies” and the aspirations of the communities they represent.

Much of the literature that forms the political agenda and arguments  of the opposition circulated via the internet in emails and so called alternative media is delivered in a thinly veiled anti Islamic campaign orchestrated by the ultra right wing of republican politics.

The mantras of this new media rifled from the garbage heap of Islamophobes of the politics of the Neo cons, restructured by local operatives to conceal its provenance attempting to give it that embarrassing and pitiful local gloss hoping to convince the public that these are erudite pieces of scholarship or award winning journalism  sufficient to bring down a government.

A CAMPAIGN OF LIES LIES AND MORE LIES

Driving this campaign of disinformation sadly are journalists, retired and serving judicial officers, ambitious civil servants, lawyers and a mish mash of wannabes, all rolled into a socio political sushi roll of rotting smelly left overs.  Bound together by the opposition’s singular objective of replacing the legitimacy of a “Malay domination of Malaysia” is a Chinese “political objective” touted as alternatives. That alternative is presented to the public in  as much the same way as it was prior to the separation of Singapore i from the federation in 1965. The truth history reveals now is that Lee was not asked to leave. The Tengku was made a patsy of Britain who engineered those remarks and played midwife to the birth of an independent Singapore sans Malay Malaysia.

Interestingly amongst them is that mushrooming of well funded alternative media. Complete with state of the art portable and fixed studio equipment, access to politicians like Anwar Ibrahim who is all ears and polite in their presence, high resolution and well designed IT protocols funded by certain business groups. Advertising revenue comes courtesy of a generous and deep pocketed group of NGO’s all in the nick of time for the up coming general elections in Malaysia.

WHERE AT FIRST TRY YOU DON’T SUCCEED-LIE

At a lower though effective end of the scale is that college of spammers and rumour mongers. Their patron saint being the fallen angel Raja Petra Kamaruddin and his fellow “bloggers” in crime.  At an even lower level of the spectrum are those who engage in the creation and relay of circulating chain email letters via the internet and email.

This group comprises the scurrilous, mischievous authors of the apocryphal defamatory material and lies of all sorts they spread. They consist mainly of emigres in places as far flung as Australia, the UK, Canada, New Zealand and the US. They range in socio economic order from students and temporary residents to new citizens, businessmen and second rate academics propped up by the intelligence apparatus of their host nations. A convenient and captive tool for the left overs back in Malaysia who still believe in the second coming of the White Raj.

Their staple is that even bolder and manufactured racist document, purporting to repeat the fictions said to have emanated from the lips of, in one case at least, the Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard.

THE JULIA GILLARD AND QANTAS PILOT FICTIONS

In that fictitious document currently doing the rounds, Prime Minister Julia Gillard is said to disparaged and publicly vilified Muslim migrants in Australia.She is said to have called on them to return to wherever it is they had come from if they were dissatisfied with Australia’s Anglo Celtic Christian way of life.

The Christian element in that chain letter is injected into that document by none other than the Catholic diocese and their allies in the council of churches in Malaysia.

In a second and similar,but equally unimpressive and defamatory circular bearing all the hallmarks of the opposition coalition of the Bersih variety is one which purports to have sprouted from the pen of a Qantas pilot.

That document claims the pilot in question vilified and chastised Muslims in Australia  in a similar style and for very similar reasons as the fiction attributed to Julia Gillard. Both documents bear a strangely identical anti -Islamic tone to their central themes with an uncanny though distinctive Malaysian Chinese style of language for its flavour.