Abdul Razak Baginda on Malaysiakini (flashback to 20 November 2008)

Malaysiakini, 20 Nov 2008

What did Razak Baginda accomplish with his first press conference since his acquittal on 31 October 2008? I viewed this video a couple of times and came to certain conclusions after carefully observing his facial expressions and the timbre of his voice.

First conclusion: his press statement was from the mind, not the heart - except when he expresses gratitude for the support of his family. There was very little that was sincere or spontaneous about it, and reading from a prepared script certainly did not help his image. Damage control for Najib and Rosmah - and the political status quo - that's what Razak Baginda's press conference was mainly about.

His self-conscious references to Allah and Prophet Muhammad were specifically intended to project the image of a man who has grown "closer to God" because of his ordeal. Any gain in spiritual consciousness is hardly apparent in Razak Baginda's energy field - he comes across as just another arrogant, half-baked, self-serving businessman who knows exactly whom to curry favor with in Umno.

No doubt Baginda and Najib may have developed a genuine friendship in the course of their professional relationship, because they are similar in many ways. Both view themselves as cosmopolitan alpha male members of an elite, well-educated class of "global Malays" (more comfortable thinking and speaking in English, but they know how to accentuate their Malayness when it suits them). Both come across as fairly glib and accustomed to living privileged lives in the corridors of power - but both are pretty bad actors and should fire their scriptwriters immediately.

Baginda's main agenda, as I mentioned, is obviously to absolve Najib and Rosmah from any involvement with Altantuya's abduction and grisly murder, while attempting to regain a measure of sympathy for himself. He does so by lashing out viciously at bloggers who have kept the story on the radar screen, though he's careful not to name anyone. He keeps using the word "truth" ("The truth is the truth and nothing can ever change the truth!") - meaning the official version of the truth which (like 9/11) doesn't quite hold together as a scenario - but nevertheless must immutably remain "the truth" (for otherwise too many extremely large heads will roll!)

WHAT'S THE OFFICIAL VERSION OF THE TRUTH?

Najib never once met "the Mongolian woman." Altantuya was NOT involved in the French submarine deal even though she has been reported by reputable sources to have been engaged as an interpreter by Baginda's company, Perimekar Sdn Bhd. The RM534.8 million commission Perimekar received was absolutely routine and aboveboard. Razak Baginda ended the affair with Altantuya but she continued to harass him for money, and that's why she flew all the way to Malaysia with her cousin and another friend, hired a private investigator to track Baginda down, and demanded USD500,000. No immigration records were ever deleted - and even if it happened, it was purely an accident. Baginda was introduced to the two UTK personnel, Azilah and Sirul, by Musa Safri (Najib's security aide) who then conveniently vanishes from the story.

The fact remains: Altantuya was last seen alive by P.I. Balasubramaniam in front of Baginda's residence in Damansara. The private investigator testifies that Azilah arrived in a car with another man and a woman (presumably police officers) and ordered Altantuya to leave the scene with them. It's perfectly plausible that Baginda really had no idea what the UTK personnel were planning to do with Altantuya. It's also reasonable to say he had no authority over the UTK officers and therefore was not directly involved in the murder. So the glaring question that begs to be answered is:

WHO ORDERED ALTANTUYA KILLED?

There can be only three people who might have done that. The first is Musa Safri, if only because he has the authority to issue orders to the UTK officers. However, he had no personal motive to destroy Altantuya. He would just as gladly have instructed that Altantuya be detained for questioning and then forcibly put on the next flight to Mongolia. The second, of course, is Najib Razak - because he wanted to help his friend and business colleague Baginda out of a tight spot. However, I doubt Najib would jeopardize his promising political career by deliberately getting implicated in cold-blooded murder. Which leaves the third person, Rosmah Mansor, who has no official position in the government but who is widely rumored to call the shots in the Najib household. Rosmah may never have met Altantuya either - and the only reason she might have wanted to see her dead would be because her husband did, in fact, have an affair with "the Mongolian woman" whose continued presence in the country was also a grave threat to her husband's political ambitions.

I'm willing to concede that despite his clear complicity in Mindef wheelings and dealings, Abdul Razak Baginda doesn't look the bloodthirsty type and would have balked at ordering anyone killed. He was at his wits' end and didn't know how to deal with this very determined woman. It's in the public record that Razak Baginda engaged the services of P.I. Balasubramaniam (left), hoping to intimidate Altantuya and persuade her to leave him alone. However, things got a little messy and murky when Bala's assistant got too friendly with the Mongolian ladies. When Altantuya lodged a police report against Razak Baginda at the Brickfields police station, the situation became critical - and that's when Baginda broke the bad news about Altantuya to Najib and Rosmah.

Here are more glaring questions that remain unanswered: Why did the Attorney-General publicly announce that only three people were involved - Razak Baginda, Azilah and Sirul? Why did he replace both the prosecuting team and the presiding judge at the last minute? How was the crime discovered in the first place? Knowing Razak Baginda's close friendship with Najib, wouldn't the defence minister have been an obvious target of police questioning - especially since the UTK personnel involved were his personal bodyguards? Why did the PM not instruct his deputy to take temporary leave of absence to facilitate a thorough probe into the whole complex affair? Why did the trial judge, Zaki Yasin, shoot down Karpal Singh's petition for new evidence to be included without giving it due consideration? And why did both the prosecution and defence teams appear so eager to gloss over "embarrassing" testimony, e.g., when Burmaa Oyunchimeg (Altantuya's cousin) stated that she had seen a photograph showing the deceased dining with two Razaks?


And why would Balasubramaniam be prompted to issue such a detailed statutory declaration implicating Najib - and then withdraw the allegations within 24 hours?

WHERE IS BALA AND HIS FAMILY - AND WHY MUST HE GO INTO HIDING?

When amateurs attempt to deny, cover up, or obfuscate, they invariably bungle. Razak Baginda's greatest blunder at the press conference was to include this totally lame endorsement (and I quote in full):

"I have known [Najib Razak] for quite a while. I would say this, he would make a good prime minister. I have known him over the years and he is a well-read person. We had countless talks about books, I would exchange books, he would lend me books and he sometimes took my books. If there are things he is impressed about, we would discuss it. He is aware what is going on in the world. Intellectually, he is not bad and I say he would make a good PM."

Najib Razak's ambition to become PM is seriously jeopardized by the dark cloud of suspicion that persists in hanging over his head in connection with Altantuya's gruesome murder. No matter how often and how vehemently Najib denies knowing "the Mongolian woman"... no matter how many Korans he swears upon... and no matter what any of his loyal supporters say about his innocence... the public will not be convinced unless several things happen, namely:

1) The Attorney-General is sacked for criminal abuse of power and replaced with somebody credible. Abdul Gani Patail (left) was assigned to fix Anwar in 1998 and he did so willingly and without conscience. That's how he got promoted to AG.

2) The Inspector General of Police is sacked - for the same obvious reasons.

3) Balasubramaniam a/l Perumal reappears to explain his vanishing act and is recalled as a key witness in the Altantuya trial.

4) The home minister identifies the person(s) responsible for deleting Altantuya's immigration records and discloses where the order came from. Furthermore, he withdraws his appeal against Raja Petra Kamarudin's release from Kamunting. The vigor with which RPK has been persecuted suggests that the entire top Umno leadership is involved in the Altantuya cover-up.

5) Azilah and Sirul are ordered to reveal their faces in court.

6) Najib and Rosmah instruct the AG's Chambers to withdraw the defamation and sedition charges against Raja Petra so that they can initiate libel suits against the blogger for publicly accusing them of direct involvement in Altantuya's murder.

These are the minimum conditions required to clear Najib Razak and Rosmah Mansor of suspicion once and for all. I am willing to bet my tenuous credibility as a despised blogger who trades in innuendo and insinuation that not a single one of these conditions will be met.

[First posted 20 November 2008]

Walt Disney, a closet Pythagorean?

Azly Rahman on the metaphysics of blogging (repost)

ZEN AND THE ART OF BLOGGING
Azly Rahman | Malaysiakini | 11 May, 09 11:57am

When I was growing up, I wanted to be Grasshopper, the character in David Carradine's TV series Kung Fu.

Grasshopper was a child imbued with immense interest in learning about what life means and how to create himself. The conversations between the master and the student intrigued me.

My interest in the philosophy of martial arts, drawn from the teachings of the masters of the Shaolin Temple, led me later in life to also study Oriental Literature and Philosophy, reading great works such as The Dream of the Red Chamber, The Tale of Genji, and The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon.

I watched numerous kung fu movies and wanted to also be like Bruce Lee, the man who synthesized Western and Eastern philosophy into an avant-garde form of martial arts.

Reading Buddhism in one of those periods of my spiritual enrichment and encountering works such as Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and The Dancing Wu Li Masters, I found the idea of deconstructionism and the psychology of awareness even before I plunged into the study of social semiotics in my years in New York City.


Zen Buddhism's most famous advocate in the West is Richard Gere, the American actor who is deeply involved in the campaign for a free Tibet. Gere often speaks with the Dalai Lama in making the world aware of the persecution of the Tibetans by the Chinese government.

Awareness is a key principle of the teaching of the Buddha. Siddhartha Gautama is a quintessential example of a human being who discarded the garment of nobility and elitism and came down to earth and explored the bare nakedness of alienation and dehumanization.

From a prince to a pauper he evolved, in the final days transformed into a philosopher. His struggles against the demons called Mara and his exploration of the self as the powerful cause and effect of existence itself - and how wisdom like pearls will emerge out of deep meditations on the fate of humanity - all these have become a life history example of how one can be at peace and harmony with the universe.


Cyberspace is a world of Maya with Mara shooting arrows at the enlightened ones. One has to be a Shaolin master in order to fight these demons and to continue to evolve into wise individuals.

Paid cyber-troopers in the Malaysian Mahabharata of this millennium is a feature of this perpetually fragmented world. The industrial model has collapsed. The Malaysian monarchical state is in trouble. The Perak plague is a beginning of the Balkanization of this Asian despotic state we are attempting to reconstruct.

Fight the demons

In cyberspace, bloggers are playing the art of making others aware of issues and in the process hopefully imparting wisdom. Bloggers are artists practising the art of harmonizing truth, realism, and activism.

Truth and falsehood multiply endlessly in cyberspace. At the center of the personhood of the blogger lie awareness and the Zen-ness of the master's craft. It is the awareness of what to do with truth and falsehood and the subjectivities and reflectivities in between that determine whether the blogger is fighting the Maras the Buddha fought, or has become one of the Maras.

In cyberspace, bloggers are educating, whether it is education for peace or for war. The more popular the blogger, the greater the impact of the message. The blogger is a weapon itself - in the whole enterprise of waging war or waging peace.

In the political scene, Malaysia is being deconstructed by bloggers. It is a natural progression of the anarchic nature of the Internet. No politician is safe. You can neither run nor hide in cyberspace. It is a Matrix of the Maya world we inhabit; a world of the Maras that attacked Buddha and of the masses that stormed the Bastille.

Malaysia will continue to be destabilized by bloggers - for the better - in her evolution towards the establishment of a just republic or a republic of virtue as the French ideologues of the 18th century would say.

Politicians and pirates of the Malaysian Caribbean, ones who stole from the poor to give to the rich, are in constant fear of bloggers - especially of the Zen bloggers. The Zen blogger, like the messiah on twitter is one who does not speak ill of others in cyberspace but makes people ill by invading the inner spaces of those who abuse power and by oppressing others.

Like a Rumi poem, the Zen blogger takes the middle path in spreading a message of peace through deconstructionism. But deconstruct, the blogger must. Through right thought, right action, right conduct, and right blogging, the blogger must make others aware of what life ought to be. In Malaysia, what ought to be has become what we are wrought to be. This means we have evolved from a nation of tolerance in the 1970s to a nation of totalitarianism in the 21st century.

Like the Wu Li masters and Little Grasshopper, the blogger must know how to dance when given a sword. Like Bruce Lee, he must know how to harmonize the philosophies and create a lethal art of war in his or her work in waging peace.

Only when blogging is an art and science of educating for peace and not a dance of death in Dante's Inferno - not when bloggers can be bought and sold for millions of ringgit by owners of the production of falsehood - we can see the Zen and the art of blogging at play.


Bloggers must journey into the self and fight the demons within. You must, as the Sufi teachers would say, be skilled in journeying from the levels of Shariat, Tarikat, Hakikat, and Makrifat - the levels of outer and inner consciousness that define the harmonious self.

For, essentially, as bloggers we answer to our inner conscience. And ultimately, we are a republic unto ourselves, in a world in which the state is still a necessary evil.

Bloggers - beware and be aware.

[First posted 12 May 2009]

In Search of the Historical Jesus ~ 49-minute BBC documentary

[First posted 2 January 2014]

WINNING THE HUMAN RACE ~ by Dean Johns

I wasn't going to do any blogging today (just plowing through all the shit on the news portals exhausts me) but I was so chuffed with Dean Johns's well-considered piece in Malaysiakini, I simply had to clone it for the Magick River blog as a special tribute to an inspired humorist I'd like to meet one day. Dean Johns is definitely among my favorite columnists after Steve Bhaerman aka Swami Beyondananda and the late Art Buchwald.

Winning the human race
Dean Johns | Aug 13, 08 1:01pm | Malaysiakini

It seems ridiculous to me that, as members of the species that calls itself Homo sapiens, we’re not wise enough to realise that it’s enough of a struggle to survive the one short lifetime we’re individually allotted without wasting our energies striving for superiority over each other.

But it’s hardly surprising, I suppose, that our intellects still have so far to go in achieving ascendancy over our instincts. After all, it’s only a relatively few thousand years since our cortexes enabled us to transcend nature’s tooth-and-claw law of the survival of the fittest.

So, as ‘civilised’ as we fancy ourselves to be, and as aware that co-operation makes more sense than competition, it’s no wonder that primitive emotions still prevail over reason in our relationships with our fellow humans.

Not that we haven’t made a great deal of progress. Most of us are committed, at least in principle, to caring for the less physically, mentally and financially fit among us. Many of us believe passionately in equal rights and opportunity for all.

'Annunciation' by Mati Klarwein (1961)

We fight for the rights of our weak or victimised brothers and sisters, fund charities to go to their aid, beg the UN to protect them with sanctions and peace-keepers and even, as a final resort, fight wars on their behalf.

But many of us are also, it seems, still our neighbours’ worst enemies. We are driven to squander our own and everyone else’s time and energies in fatuous and ultimately futile attempts to show that we’re the biggest, baddest, fastest, strongest, meanest, richest, luckiest, sexiest, holiest or somehow the most superior people on the planet.

Not that I’m against striving for excellence, just as long as we keep a sense of proportion and stop short of pathological displays of domination and triumphalism.

The Olympic Games are a classic case in point. Purportedly a celebration of fraternity through sportsmanship, they've been subverted in the century of their modern existence into a sort of symbolic four-yearly world war.

Qualities like sportsmanship, grace and courage still survive, thanks to the indomitable spirit of many of the athletes, but such values are increasingly replaced by hysterical official and media expressions of ‘patriotism’ in which nothing counts but medal tallies.

As debased, commercialised and ridiculously expensive as it is, however, the ritual warfare of the Olympics is of course vastly preferable to the real thing. Communist China’s drive to demonstrate its superiority over the US – or vice versa – beats the heck out of staging the contest with nuclear weapons.

But warfare persists nonetheless. In Darfur, for example, where China supports the Sudanese government with arms and munitions, while the US fights on in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And no sooner had the Olympics started than US and NATO ally Georgia up and invaded South Ossetia, provoking Russia into a massive counter-strike.

Judicial gymnastics and synchronised spinning

Meanwhile, the usual suspects elsewhere are up to their customary fun and games. The Generals in Burma are still sporting the medals they’ve awarded themselves for their defeat of democracy, Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party are still claiming victory in Zimbabwe, and Barisan Nasional continues to treat Malaysia to world-class performances in judicial gymnastics and synchronised spinning.

Skullduggery will be in vain sooner or later, of course, as history shows that nobody wins the human race forever, or even leads it for long.

History is nothing if not a long, long litany of ‘winners’ who once dominated the world, at least as they knew it, and today are nothing but losers or even almost lost to memory.

Whatever became of, to name just a few in no particular order, to the Etruscans, Spartans, Macedonians, Romans, Hittites, Huns, Mongols, Vikings, Aztecs and Incas?

Whatever became of the British, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires, or the Greater Asian co-prosperity sphere, or the thousand-year Reich or the USSR?

We all originated in Africa, or so science confidently informs us. Africans and people of African descent are still winning the human race in a great many sports, from distance-running to basketball. And the world’s top golfer, Tiger Woods, an American Afro-Asian.

Asians are winning the human race in sheer numbers these days, and soon may be pre-eminent economically too if India and China sustain their current rates of growth.

Of course who’s winning the human race right at this moment depends entirely on your point-of-view.

In my book it’s the Scandinavian nations for their combination of prosperity, social consciousness, environmentalism and good governance. And for some of the same reasons, I rate Canada and New Zealand right up there too.

The US is bigger, richer, more populous and has a far more powerful militarily than any of the above. However, it is too arrogant and overbearing, in my opinion, for its own and the rest of the world’s good.

China is big and powerful too, and fast overtaking the US economically, but far too corrupt, unprincipled and undemocratic to be a credible contender for leading the human race anytime soon.

But in any event, the struggle for supremacy, be it military, political, economic, technological or athletic, is ultimately a losing proposition. Whatever tribes, sects, ethnic groups, parties or nationalities we’re born into or choose to join, we’re all in this human race together.


So the sooner we can relinquish our primitive urge to win at all costs, and rid ourselves of leaders who treat us like losers, the better off we’ll all be.

[First posted 13 August 2008]

The sacred union of male & female expressed as tantric ballet

It's so uplifting just to watch this beautiful couple act out the immortal romance between Yang and Yin, Adam and Eve, Shakta and Shakti, Consciousness and Energy.

They are Vladyslav & Aiusha from Kiev and I honor them for their dedication to their magickal art of portraying the erotic impulse in its most sublime and inspiring form.

Ironic that such heavenly talent and beauty should have arisen from the Ukraine, where hell has broken loose in recent years. Never have I seen a more passionate and astoundingly acrobatic pas de deux performed to such ecstatic perfection.

[Thanks to Julia Reuter for sending me this video link!]

What happens when Jada Pinkett & Will Smith combine their DNA?

Published on 24 Sep 2012
Directed and Edited by Mike Vargas/Nuyorktricity

Published on 1 May 2012




Uploaded on 18 Oct 2010



Uploaded on 3 Mar 2011



Published on 21 Sep 2012



Published on 6 Aug 2012



Published on 16 Dec 2011





Uploaded on 11 Jul 2010

ALTANTUYA ASIDE... (reprise)

Names change... Syed Hamid Albar is now running a gigantic scam called SPAD... Musa Hassan stepped down in September 2012 and fearing a Pakatan Rakyat takeover, began making conciliatory noises, trying to hedge his bets, even threatening to expose "Altantuya's real murderer" in Bangkok... his successor Khalid Abu Bakar, turned out to be 10 times worse... the shituation remains the same, only it's costing us 100 times more because of inflation!

Malaysiakini | 31 March 2009

Meanwhile in a related development, the police chief issued a warning to all political parties not to incite, provoke or utter words that are deemed to be seditious.

Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan also said that they must avoid making unfounded and baseless allegations on their opponents or the party they represented.

"Police will be monitoring all political ceramah and will record them. We urge everyone including supporters not to provoke or taunt anyone during their campaigns," he said in a statement today.

Musa also added that the police would beef up security in all three by-election spots to prevent untoward incidents.

Even if Altantuya Shaariibuu never existed... and therefore never met Najib Abdul Razak or Abdul Razak Baginda... never demanded USD500,000 for keeping mum about backroom negotiations she was privy to over the purchase of three submarines for the Malaysian Navy in 2005... and therefore was never abducted on the evening of 19 October 2006 by police officers in front of eyewitnesses, toyed with like a trapped mouse, shot twice in the head and then blown to smithereens with C4 military-grade explosives... that still does not immunize the erstwhile defence minister from being investigated for corruption of the highest order.

Kickbacks, okay, commissions amounting to hundreds of millions of ringgit cannot be cavalierly swept under the Umno carpet.

What about the PSC Naval Dockyard fiasco involving billions in inexplicable losses? As defence minister at the time, Najib Razak should have been immediately sacked for gross mismanagement. This extraordinary debacle was never investigated and no heads were seen to roll. Amin Shah, the Umno crony responsible for the grotesque budget overruns, reportedly fled the country. He ought to be doing time for embezzlement or criminal breach of contract.

Instead, against the wishes of more than 90% of the electorate, Najib Razak is on the verge of being anointed by Umno as Malaysia's sixth prime minister. Correction: CRIME minister!

Where got meaning, I ask you?

As for Musa Hassan's outrageous warning...

HOW DARE YOU DICTATE TO THE RAKYAT, YOUR EMPLOYERS?

You, sir, are essentially the nation's Chief Security Guard. We, the rakyat, pay your salary to safeguard our property and our public spaces. We do not take instructions from our security guards, do you understand? Of late, your personnel have behaved so despicably you deserve not only to be IMMEDIATELY SACKED... but thoroughly investigated for all your alleged misdeeds since 1998. Musa Hassan, I hold you personally responsible for the absolute and utter degradation of the Malaysian police, whose reputation for criminal misbehavior has sunk far below that of the most vicious street gang.

You can make people fear you... but you can't make them respect or trust you. I know you see yourself as a tough guy, tougher than even Rahim Noor. However, less than a year ago you underwent heart bypass surgery. Have you been listening to your heart? I guess not! Instead, you choose to obey your criminal masters in Umno. You have joined forces with the crime minister - the biggest desperado in the country - and you are waging war against the rakyat. Do you HONESTLY believe you are serving your goddam bangsa dan agama? Musa Hassan, I urge you to repent and voluntarily step down. I'm sure the rakyat will find it in their hearts to forgive you and let you spend the rest of your days in peace, making amends.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics began to crumble and disintegrate into dozens of semi-autonomous countries. Russia came under the control of powerful Mafia-style crime syndicates and renegade generals. It's a miracle the country still exists. And look at the tragedy that befell Zimbabwe when that hideous monster Robert Mugabe rose to power... yes, I'm talking about Mahathir's bosom buddy, birds of a feather!

We don't want this to happen to our beloved Malaysia. But it appears that the crime syndicates, masquerading as Captains of Industry and the corporate elite, are determined to suffocate our newborn democracy in its crib - so that they can continue with impunity their 50-year rape and pillage of the nation's wealth. Not only are you liars, hypocrites, thieves and murderers... you are about to commit infanticide!

I regard it as my moral duty to thwart your evil designs. Anyone else care to join me?


[First published 1 April 2009, reproduced 1 April 2012 as a public service announcement in view of this headline]

Excuse me, Mr Pink Lips, but your fly is wide open... & the case isn't closed!

courtesy of Malaysiakini

THE MALAYSIAN GOVERNMENT MUST TELL US ABOUT THE ROLE OF TERASASI

Dr Kua Kia Soong

Having had the privilege of looking at some of the PARIS PAPERS on the Scorpene scandal recently, it behooves me to give anxious landlubbers a “hitchhiker’s guide” to this convoluted mesh of payments that have gone on to grease this most expensive (more than RM7 billion) arms purchase in Malaysia’s history.

Since SUARAM lodged its complaint with the French courts for a judicial review of the Scorpene contract in November 2009, the French prosecutors have certainly been busy with their investigations. They have interviewed officials in the French state company, DCN and related companies such as Thales as well as officials in the French ministry of defence. They have looked into bank vaults and scrutinized contracts, memoranda of understanding, memoranda of intent, invoices, bank accounts of various people including Abdul Razak Baginda. There are also some rather telling internal confidential reports of DCN and the French ministry of defence.

What Malaysians See Above Water

So far, the Malaysian Ministry of Defence has told Parliament that:

1. The cost of two Scorpene submarines together with logistic support and training was close to 1 billion euros;

2. Payment to Perimekar Sdn Bhd for “coordination services” was 114 million euros.

Malaysian tax payers will still need to pay even more for maintenance services, support & test equipment, missiles and torpedoes, infrastructure for the submarine base, training of crew, etc. The total bill for these two submarines will be in excess of RM7 billion.

But are these two the only transactions in a sordid affair that has claimed the life of a fair Mongolian lass named Altantuya?

Perimekar Never More than a Travel Agency

Negotiations on the submarine contract started in 1999. At the time, the French state company DCN had this view of Perimekar:

“The amount to be paid to Perimekar is over-evaluated. It is not worth it…They are never more than a travel agency…The price is inflated and their support function is very vague…Yes, that company created unfounded wealth for its shareholders.”

But this system was created by the Malaysian government so DCN had no choice.

Before 2002, French Bribes to Foreign Officials Were Tax Deductible!

Before 2002, when new laws in France and OECD Convention were brought in to make bribing of foreign officials a crime, any money used to bribe foreign officials was even tax deductible! Such is the nature of arms deals all over the world.

The former finance director of DCN, Gerarde Philippe Maneyas had made a claim for 32 million euros (RM124 million) allegedly used to bribe Malaysian officials for purchase of the Scorpenes. The budget minister had questioned such a large bribe although he did eventually authorize the tax break.

Bypassing French Law and OECD Convention

Najib Razak, then defence minister & deputy prime minister,
and Altantuya Shaariibuu, murdered Mongolian translator

With the new French law and OECD Convention against corruption in place after 2002, the French arms merchants had to find a way to pay commissions to their foreign clients. The method used was to create “service providers” that could “increase invoices” in order to take the place of commissions.

Thus, when the French state company DCN terminated its contracts, Thales took over as a private company, not involving the state. Thales International was appointed to coordinate the political connections.

A commercial engineering contract was then signed between DCNI and Thales, referred to as “C5”. It covered 30 million euros in commercial costs abroad. The companies used in the Malaysian case were” Gifen in Malta, Eurolux in Luxemburg and Technomar in Belgium. The travel expenses of Baginda and Altantuya were covered by these.

Another “consulting agreement” was signed in 2000 between Thint Asia and Terasasi for 2.5 million euros.

Commissions and Dividends through Perimekar & Terasasi

Mr & Mrs Abdul Razak Baginda

The commissions and dividends for the Scorpene deal were funneled through two companies, Terasasi and Perimekar, both owned by Abdul Razak Baginda. His wife, Mazlinda is a director in Perimekar while his father is also a director in Terasasi.

Malaysians have heard about Perimekar and its “coordinating service” in the submarines deal. But so far there has been no mention of Terasasi.

Could the Minister of defence tell the Malaysian public and Parliament the exact role of Terasasi in this Scorpene deal?

From the Paris Papers, we know that at least 32 million euros (RM144 million) were paid by Thales International (Thint) Asia to Terasasi. There is an invoice by Terasasi dated 1.10.2000 for 100,000 euros. There is also an invoice from Terasasi to Thint Asia, dated 28.8.2004 for 359,450 euros (RM1.44 million) with a hand-written note saying : “Razak wants it in a hurry.”

This increase in invoices replaced the former dispensing of high commissions.

A confidential report in the Paris Papers notes:

“It appears that the management of Thint Asia is aware that the amount paid to Terasasi ultimately benefited Najib or his adviser, Baginda.”

Thus, as our French lawyer, Joseph Breham has put it: “Investigations so far have provided sufficient evidence to point our finger at Malaysian officials in this hearing.”

[First posted 3 June 2012]

Saiful to answer charges of "qazaf" (reprise)

At 11AM today (27 November 2008) Saiful Bukhari Azlan, who lodged a police report 28 June 2008 that he had been anally raped by Anwar Ibrahim, presented himself at the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Department (JAWI) for further questioning with regard to Anwar's formal complaint on 9 July 2008 that Saiful Bukhari had committed qazaf (wrongfully accusing a chaste man or woman of adultery or homosexuality without four reliable witnesses).

The punishment for those who accuse others of committing adultery and sodomy without substantiation is, according to various Islamic scholars, similar to those who commit such offences.

HERE'S A POINT-BY-POINT SUMMARY OF SALIENT FACTS SURROUNDING THIS PERPLEXING AND SORDID AFFAIR THAT HAS MADE MALAYSIA THE BUTT OF ENDLESS ANUS JOKES:

1. Saiful Bukhari Azlan is reportedly Mumtaz Jaafar's "Godson."

2. Mumtaz Jaafar is reportedly Rosmah Mansor's business associate and "bag lady."

Mumtaz Jaafar (MJ) & Rosmah Mansor (RM) with a Wanita Umno group (from The Dandelions)

3. Najib Razak finally admitted (under pressure) that Saiful Bukhari had visited him and his wife at their residence "a few days" before Saiful lodged his infamous police report against Anwar Ibrahim. Najib had earlier stated that Saiful only visited his office and discussed getting a "scholarship" with Khairil Anas Yusof, "special aide" to DPM Najib. Initially, Najib insisted he had "never met" Saiful personally. Then MT published part of a video interview with a friend of Saiful Bukhari who attested he had accompanied Saiful on his visit to Najib & Rosmah's residence...

Saiful posing with Khairil Anas Yusof (special aide to Najib) at the Deputy Prime Minister's office in February 2008.

4. Malaysia Today also published a story stating that Saiful Bukhari had met Senior Assistant Commissioner (II) Mohd Rodwan Mohd Yusof in Room 619 of the Concorde Hotel at 2:30 PM on 25 June 2008 (3 days before the police report was lodged). The MT report also alleged that Saiful had been in phone contact with Rodwan Mohd Yusof and other police officers for several days prior to that rendezvous at the Concorde. Rodwan Mohd Yusof happens to be IGP Musa Hassan's "dirty tricks" agent and was involved in Anwar's 1998 sodomy trial (he demanded Anwar's DNA sample from the Hospital Besar KL which was later used on the infamous Tivoli mattress). To date there has been no official denial or investigation of these allegations. Rodwan Mohd Yusof had "no comment" when questioned by reporters.

5. Saiful Bukhari Azlan's biological father, Azlan Mohd Lazim, had abandoned Saiful's mother when Saiful was still a toddler. Recently, Azlan Mohd Lazim (seated beside Saiful, above) reappeared in Saiful's life when he accompanied his estranged son to the swearing ritual at the Federal Territory Mosque officiated by a newly appointed imam, Ramlang Porigi, on 15 July 2008 (one day before Nomination Day for the Permatang Pauh by-election). Azlan Mohd Lazim was also present at a press conference afterwards. It was subsequently revealed by MT that Azlan Mohd Lazim earns his living mainly as an Umno go-between, fixing deals and negotiating clandestine transactions, and was instrumental in coordinating the secret PAS-Umno meetings soon after 8 March 2008. Azlan Mohd Lazim is on a special committee of Umno entrepreneurs, headed by Romeli Musa (of Sapura Holdings) determined to stop Anwar Ibrahim from becoming PM and Pakatan Rakyat from taking over the federal government.

Click here for behind-the-scenes report on how PKR pulled off this remarkable coup.

6. During the Permatang Pauh by-election campaign, looped video footage of Saiful Bukhari swearing on the Koran that Anwar Ibrahim had forcibly sodomized him was repeatedly and almost continuously projected on giant outdoor screens at all BN operations centers. However, Ramlang Porigi, the imam who had officiated at Saiful's swearing ritual, showed up at PKR ceramahs & publicly stated that he was unwittingly and unwillingly dragged into the whole affair - in fact, Ramlang revealed that Khairil Anas Yusof ("special aide" to the DPM) had arranged the swearing ritual and that Ramlang himself had no say in the matter. He was bombarded with angry messages from friends and strangers afterwards and realized he had to come out in the open & officially disassociate himself from Saiful's swearing ritual.

7. Saiful Bukhari showed up at Hospital Pusrawi after lunch on 28 June 2008 complaining of acute pain in his own arse ("someone shoved some plastic object up my rectum..."). He was rectally examined by Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid who found no signs that Saiful Bukhari had been forcibly sodomized and said as much in his medical report. Subsequently, the Hospital Pusrawi report was leaked to the media (it first appeared in Malaysia Today, of course), and that made the entire case go limp. On 7 August 2008 Anwar Ibrahim was charged with "consensual" sodomy under Section 377B of the Penal Code, contradicting Saiful Bukhari's insistence under Koranic oath that he had not consented and was, in fact, raped by Anwar (believe it or not, Ripley!)

From Malaysiakini.tv, 4 Sept 2008

8. Dr Mohamed Osman Abdul Hamid subsequently read a statement at a press conference endorsing the authenticity of the leaked Hospital Pusrawi medical report and maintaining that he stood by the results of his rectal examination. Dr Osman also revealed that he had been repeatedly visited by police officers who made him sign statements in Malay which he did not fully understand (being a Burmese national) & which contained extraneous details added by the police.

As far as I'm concerned this case is closed, QED.

For Saiful Bukhari's protection (from possible attack by morally inflamed Anwaristas and ardent connoisseurs of plump young rumps) I recommend that the good Burmese doctor be assigned to bung up Saiful's pert little ass. However, if Dr Osman has already left the country - and who can blame him, after all the stress he's been subject to? - then we'll just have to hand Saiful over to that Honorable MP from Kenabatangan, Bung Mokhtar Radin (who's reputed to be quite an expert on bunging up leaky holes).

Kenny Gan (Letters to Malaysiakini): When Anwar’s trial begins, Saiful should be asked one question: ‘Does he agree to the charge under Section 377B of consensual sodomy?’ If he still insists as per his public stance that the act was non-consensual, the charge should be amended to Section 377C covering non-consensual sodomy or be thrown out.

This is more than a technical definition. Section 377C involves an element of force which must be proven and hence it is much more difficult to obtain a conviction given the facts of the case. There are no two ways about it. The prosecution cannot give themselves an easier job to convict Anwar for consensual sodomy while the witness denies it. For Anwar’s case to proceed under the present charge, Saiful must be willing to repudiate his public stance of forced sodomy and take the adverse repercussions given his swearing on the Quran. Otherwise, it must be amended to Section 377C. Anything else is a gross miscarriage of justice.

Check out this BONUS FEATURE on BEAUTIFUL ANUSES!

[First posted 27 November 2008]

Amnesty International & Anwar Ibrahim (repost)

This was originally published 22 November 2009... worth a revisit!

Anwar Ibrahim listens attentively as his former speechwriter, Dr Munawar Anees gives a chilling account of the humiliation and torture he suffered at the hands of Mahathir's secret police in 1998.


AI condemns intimidation of lawyers in Malaysia
Free Malaysia Today | Sunday, November 22, 2009

PETALING JAYA: Amnesty International is concerned over attempts to intimidate lawyers carrying out their professional duties in Malaysia.

Margaret John, the AI coordinator for Singapore and Malaysia, said the latest attack on the home of prominent lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon (left) illustrated once more the risks faced by Malaysian lawyers protecting the legal rights of government critics.

Last Tuesday evening, several Molotov cocktails were thrown into the house of Manjeet but unfortunately no one was injured.

Manjeet believed the attack was linked to private investigator P. Balasubramaniam’s recent exposure in the Altantuya affair cover-up where VVIPs were implicated.

Bala’s interview was done last month in the presence of three lawyers, one of whom was Manjeet.

“The incident illustrates once more that lawyers in Malaysia, acting in their professional capacity to protect the legal rights of government critics, are exposed to risks of harassment, threats and worst,” Margaret John said in a statement.

Following is the full statement by Margaret John:

I have learned that several Molotov cocktails were recently thrown into the home of prominent Malaysian lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon, a former Bar Council President. He said he regarded the attack on his home as a possible warning and threat to him and his family.

He and his family were fortunately out of the country at the time. The incident illustrates once more that lawyers in Malaysia, acting in their professional capacity to protect the legal rights of government critics, are exposed to risks of harassment, threats or worse.

Many of you will be aware that Manjeet Singh Dhillon is counsel for (now former) prisoner of conscience Dr Munawar Anees (right) and will know that Dr Anees made a Statutory Declaration during his incarceration a decade ago, in which he detailed the appalling treatment to which he had been subjected in prison. Manjeet has remained his counsel during the numerous court challenges to clear Dr Anees's name.

The Molotov cocktail attack is believed to be related to Manjeet Singh Dhillon's recent interview with private investigator P. Balasubramaniam, who had alleged a year ago that Prime MInister Najib Abdul Razak had been sexually involved with murder victim Altantuya Shaariibuu of Mongolia and that police were ordered to remove evidence of any links. Balasubramiam later retracted the allegations and fled. Manjeet Singh Dhillon asserted that he conducted the interview (now on Youtube) as a professional duty in the absence of Balasubramaniam's actual counsel, Americk Sidhu.

BACKGROUND

Amnesty International has previously expressed concern about attempts to intimidate lawyers carrying out their professional duties. In the most controversial case in Malaysia's recent history, defence lawyers were harassed and their offices searched during the trial for sodomy a decade ago of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.


At that time, prominent defence lawyer Karpal Singh (above) was arrested under the Sedition Act in connection with remarks he made in court. Referring to high levels of arsenic in Anwar's blood, Karpal Singh expressed in court his concern that "someone out there wants to get rid of him... even to the extent of murder. I suspect that people in high places are responsible for the situation." Karpal Singh is himself a former prisoner of conscience.

Fadiah Nadwa Fikri, one of five lawyers arrested by the police for attempting to provide legal aid to candlelight protestors detained at the Brickfields police station on 8 May 2009

.
One of the more recent cases involves five lawyers who were arrested for illegal assembly when they gathered outside a police station where a group of candlelight demonstrators was held. The five lawyers wished to provide legal assistance to detainees.

A number of international standards guarantees protection for lawyers carrying out their professional duties. These include: UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers and the Latimer House guidelines. Such standards, however, do not always provide protection in Malaysia in cases in which there is a link to criticism of the government.

Margaret John
Coordinator for Singapore and Malaysia
Amnesty International Canada

[First posted 22 November 2009]

To higher mountains & deeper valleys... & ever truer realities!

No more secrecy, secret societies, 

secret police, or secret governments... 

the Age of Darkness is over!