PENAMATAN PERKHIDMATAN TAN SRI APANDI ALI

1. Tan Sri Apandi Ali telah fail tuntutan di Mahkamah terhadap saya setelah saya letak jawatan sebagai Perdana Menteri. Dia tuduh yang saya berniat jahat dan tidak turut undang-undang dalam menamatkan perkhidmatannya sebagai Peguam Negara.

2. Saya telah beri kenyataan saya kepada pihak Peguam Negara. Saya pertahan tindakan saya dan percaya bahawa saya telah ikut prosidur yang ditetapkan dengan menasihati Yang di-Pertuan Agong bagi menamatkan perkhidmatan beliau sebagai Peguam Negara.

3. Pada masa itu saya berasa Tan Sri Apandi tidak dapat bertindak bebas kerana beliau merupakan peguam UMNO sejak sekian lama.

4. Dia tidak mungkin dapat berlaku adil dalam siasatan terhadap 1MDB dan salahlaku Dato Seri Najib. Malahan dia telah kata bahawa Najib tidak bersalah kerana kononnya tiada kes, sebelum apa-apa tindakan siasatan dibuat.

5. Sikap berat sebelah Apandi ini terbukti apabila Najib didapati bersalah oleh hakim Mahkamah Tinggi dan Rayuan dan dijatuhkan hukuman penjara 12 tahun serta denda RM210 juta.

6. Semasa saya beri keterangan kepada pihak Peguam Negara (Tan Sri Idrus Harun) bagi persediaan kes saman Apandi terhadap saya, saya telah dimaklum bahawa proses penamatan perkhidmatan itu betul dan mengikut prosidur dan Rule of Law.

7. Mereka maklumkan bahawa saya dan kerajaan telah memberi nasihat betul pada Yang di-Pertuan Agong supaya Tan Sri Apandi Ali ditamatkan perkhidmatan.

8. Saya terkejut apabila baca berita baru-baru ini tentang satu penyelesaian diluar mahkamah dibuat diantara Kerajaan dan Apandi. Terma penyelesaian juga dirahsiakan.

9. Saya tidak pun dimaklum tentang terma penyelesaian walaupun saya merupakan saksi utama.

10. Saya menulis pada Peguam Negara. Saya tidak bersetuju dengan cara penyelesaian tersebut dibuat. Saya berasa kerajaan tidak sepatutnya tunduk memandang bahawa tindakan penamatan perkhidmatan Apandi mengikut semua urusan dan kuasa yang ada pada Kerajaan.

11. Saya tidak faham kenapa terma penyelesaian harus dirahsia dari saya serta rakyat. Rakyat berhak tahu. Lebih-lebih lagi jika ianya melibatkan pampasan.

12. Apakah pampasan perlu dibayar jika tindakan dibuat mengikut undang-undang? Di mana prinsip Rule of Law.

13. Saya berpendapat penyelesaian memberi pampasan besar itu untuk seorang yang gagal melaksanakan tanggungjawab dengan baik adalah amat dikesali diwaktu mana sekalipun. Saya tidak mengaku salah dan bersedia untuk tuntutan Apandi di adili di mahkamah.


THE DESTRUCTION OF MALAYSIA

1. No one can deny that the Malaysia of today is not the country that the world acclaimed as the Asian Tiger. It is not even a shadow of its former self. It is now a kleptocracy – a country of thieves led by thieves.

2. How did this come about? How did a tiger descend so low as to be a failed country? The answer lies in the corruption of the country by specifically a corrupt leader.

3. When a person says “cash is king” he means that “corruption is king”. That was what Najib Razak said when he became Prime Minister of Malaysia. It is shocking but he meant it. His actions before and after his declaration proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that he believed in corruption as a way to achieve anything that he wishes. And among these was his ambition to continue to be Prime Minister of Malaysia for as long as he lived.

4. He apparently believed that in order to be effective corruption must be big. The size must be such that the recipient would find it difficult to reject. Just imagine a man who had never seen a thousand Ringgit is given a million Ringgit to do something wrong or immoral. Few would be able to resist.

5. And so when everyone is aware that he has stolen huge sums of Government money, none of the UMNO leaders or members would criticise him, not even to ask him to explain. They continued to support him.

6. As mentioned above Najib believed that to be effective the bribes must be very substantial. He needed to have billions of Ringgits for the schemes he had in mind. He was not thinking only about the money to be given as bribes. He wanted a lot of the money for himself and his wife.

7. He therefore conceived of very big projects which cost billions of Ringgits. Among the projects were the East Coast Railway and the high-speed train between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. He also decided to buy power plants.

8. For these projects money that he borrowed run into billions of Ringgits. By overpricing some of the money could be hived off and disappear.

9. But Najib found a way to exceed the ceiling the Government was allowed to borrow. He set up a Government – owned company ostensibly to invest. Normally such a fund would come from excess revenue earned by the Government. But this fund is to be borrowed.

10. Although 100% owned by the Government, the company, 1MDB (1 Malaysia Development Berhad) was not subject to the Government ceiling for borrowing. At that time the ceiling was 53% of the GDP. He borrowed 42 billion Ringgit, the biggest loan ever raised by the country.

11. Part of this money was used to buy power plants at above the market prices. Much of the rest of the fund just disappeared after having invested in dubious oil and gas projects in the Middle East. Some money was moved through banks in the Caribbean, in the Seychelles and Singapore. Somehow a substantial sum ended in Najib’s account in the AmBank.

12. Later Najib claimed that billion plus in his bank account was gifts from Saudi royalty.

13. This claim can be verified. But little attempt was made to trace the movements of the money. Large sums of money are not easily moved. Cash would be so huge that it is not practical to move it around. It has to be in the form of documents; cheques for example or electronic transfers.

14. There must be records held by the banks issuing the documents or receiving the documents. There will be records both at the issuing banks and the receiving banks.

15. Then the banks must record how the money came to be in the banks, the depositor or depositors, the way the money was earned. If the investigators cared, they would be able to trace the movements of the money and prove whether the claim that it was a gift is true.

16. But there is no evidence that a thorough investigation was carried out. And so the claim that it was a gift was accepted.

17. The sum is very big. The Saudis may be rich and generous but even they would not reward a foreign leader such a huge sum of money for his role in helping the Palestinians.

18. Then there is the money and expensive articles found in the Pavilion. Initially the police claimed that the money and the articles were bought with money from 1MDB.

19. Later it was claimed that the Government could not prove that the money and the purchase of luxury articles were with money stolen from the Government – principally from 1MDB.

20. And so it was decided to give the money and the gifts back to Najib as they were the gifts to him. As pointed out above, tracing the source of the money was not thorough. It is more likely that they were not gifts. Imagine the Saudi king giving so many luxury handbags to Rosmah. There are no documents to prove this. But jewellers in New York claims they sold jewellery to Rosmah. Has the Malaysian authority investigated this.

21. If Najib cannot prove that the gifts were gifts, they should not give the money and the gifts to Najib. Like the Government the proof that these were gifts were not adequate. The Government should retain the money and gifts until the sources are proven.

22. At this moment no one knows where the rest of the 42 billion Ringgit has gone to. It was suggested that Jho Low had taken the money. I suspect that blaming Jho Low is because he could not be reached. It is not possible to investigate him.

MALAYSIA TODAY

1. I am prepared to accept that, in terms of development, Malaysia has fallen behind Indonesia and Vietnam lately. Of course we have always been behind Singapore.

2. But I was shocked when I discovered that we are also behind some African countries. We are not prepared to use the latest technology to achieve efficiency and limit corruption. We reject this technology because it may expose the wrong doings of our Members of Parliament.

3. I am told that if we adopt this new technology there would be loud protests from members of Parliament. It would seem that many of them are involved in the export and import business.

4. And so the country continues to lose lots of money because we reject better ways of management.

5. But African countries are saving billions because their management, using the new equipment is more efficient. They are already drawing ahead of us.
6. Of course we need not feel ashamed about our being overtaken by African countries. Haven’t we been told that stealing Government money is not something we should feel ashamed about. If our boss does it, it is okay.

7. After all the boss throws a few crumbs to us. That is how generous the boss is. We have shown our appreciation by supporting the party of the boss. They may shamelessly steal more money and give us some in appreciation. That’s okay.

8. Don’t adopt the new technology because if may cause our law makers to lose money. Reject it. Let the country go bankrupt. Its only the country losing money. You don’t lose. It’s okay.

THE WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION

1. For a long time now Malaysians have expressed disgust with the corruption of the politicians.

2. It is one thing to be against corruption but it is another thing to act against corruption.

3. Many would say that there is no opportunity to act against corruption. But really there is.

4. The state election and elections in general will provide opportunities to act effectively against corrupt practices.

5. In the Johor State Elections we should see the corrupt parties being challenged and defeated by the anti-corruption people.

6. Most of the parties fielding candidates for the Johor Election are from parties tainted by corruption in the past. They were so corrupt that the electorate rejected them in the fourteenth Election.

7. But now they are back. Maybe they will field new candidates. But the parties and the leadership are still the same. They may talk about wanting to do away with corruption. But their campaign would depend much on bribing the voters in one way or another.

8. Against these corrupt parties will be newer parties, led by politicians who had refused to be bribed into overthrowing the Government elected by the people in the 14th General Elections. They uphold democracy even if they had to make costly sacrifice.

9. For the corrupt the choice will be very simple. They will vote for the candidates from the corrupt parties. But for those voters who are against corruption their votes will reflect their strength in their stand against corruption.

10. It will be difficult. For numerous elections they had remained loyal to their chosen party. They had overlooked some deviations by their party, gave them the benefit of their doubt and supported the party. But now the corruption, the deviations have become very serious. They have affected the good reputations of the past. In fact the good name won by the party has been reversed not only in Malaysia but also in the world. Corruption has actually overthrown a Government chosen by the people, a democratic Government.

11. Some loyalists may choose not to vote. If they do that, the diehard loyalists would still vote. And the corrupt candidates would win. The Government would be corrupt and continue to be corrupt.

12. But if they, the anti-corruption voters are still truly against corruption they would come out in great numbers and vote for the anti-corruption candidates. The result would be a clean Government.

13. But will there be enough votes for those against corruption to win. If the 14th General Election is any indicator, they can win.

14. The 14th General Election showed the determination of the free voters. i.e the voters who were tied to no party, exercising their right to support candidates of their choice. Thus the opposition won.

15. This time around the anti-corruption voters would be more because of their disgust with the two governments which had seized power through party hopping – through non-democratic means.

16. But will the anti-corruption party win enough seats. It is possible that it will not. There would be a need to form some kind of coalition with partners who are not involved with corruption.

17. Remember UMNO by itself could not form a Government. Although UMNO is also a Malay party it accepted the need to work with non-Malay parties.

18. Pejuang too would be a leader in a coalition with multiracial parties which subscribe to its anti-corruption principles and is aware that disparities between people and states need to be corrected in a fair and equitable way.

WAR IS A CRIME


1. War is about killing people. And killing people is a crime. Yet so-called civilised people choose war in order to settle conflicts between them.
2. I had tried to criminalise war. But I was unsuccessful. Today wars are being fought. They are terrible because everyone is regarded as legitimate targets, not just the soldiers but all the non-combatants, men, women, the old, the sick, children and the babies. No one is spared.
3. And now the weapons. They are more powerful. They destroy whole cities and the people living in them. Buildings, old and new are pulverised and levelled to the ground.
4. The destruction is beyond imagination. The wounded are left unattended, crying and screaming with pain. The dead, sprawled and decomposing on streets, twisted, without limbs or heads, being eaten by dogs and other animals.
5. And all these are done by men, so-called civilised men. And they do it on the instruction of older men. Now they are committing genocide.
6. I would like to appeal to the leaders of powerful countries to stop this carnage. War does not solve anything. But the cost is horrible.
7. Please stop it.
8. Please go back to negotiations, to arbitrations, to courts of law.
9. The result may not be satisfactory. But wars also produce no satisfactory results.
10. But at least no one gets wounded, no one dies, no devastations of whole countries when we do not war.
11. I would like to appeal to the leaders of great powers to stop resorting to wars as a means of settling conflicts.
12. Stop inventing new and more destructive weapons.
13. Stop selling arms.
14. Strengthen international institutions for peace.

A NEW ECONOMIC POLICY

1. It is well-known that Malaysia became industrialised through foreign direct investment or FDI. Malaysia was actually among the first to do this. Prior to this the newly independent countries were unwilling to give a role to foreigners in the development of their countries.

2. But the Malaysian policy showed that FDI did not result in the foreigners controlling the economy. Instead the country became industrialised quickly.

3. Seeing this many other countries followed suit. Today there is a struggle to attract FDI. And Malaysia is unable to attract FDI as well as before when we were able to offer relatively cheap labour and tax incentives. Other countries now offer cheaper labour and better incentives. It is time Malaysia find other ways to develop its economy.

4. It is noted that some of the most successful development has taken place in Japan, Korea and China. These countries do promote foreign direct investment. But they are less dependent on FDI. Instead we see them going into industries that were monopolised by the developed countries.

5. They dared to do this because they felt that the advantage they had should be exploited by themselves.

6. The first advantage they had was a big domestic market. By controlling imports their domestic industries would be protected. They could sell even the early, low quality products in the domestic market. Over time their products improved and they could enter the international market to compete with foreign products.

7. They went into the manufacture of “white” goods for the kitchen. Today they have ousted European and American products in this field.

8. But the domestic market was not the only advantage they had. They had abundance of low cost labour. Their products were cheaper and were able to compete with costly imports and later in the international markets.

9. Their Governments were supportive, legislating needed laws to protect local products. Additionally, cheap loans were made available. Even land was made available.

10. Technology was a problem. Nationals were sent abroad to work in foreign countries and to study in foreign universities. Gradually technology was acquired. Most of these foreign – trained workers, scientists, and top executives were foreign trained.

11. The most important area is manufacturing. It is important to know how things are made. Automation and robotics were acquired and installed in local production lines. Very quickly local industries were able to mass produce sophisticated products for the world market.

12. Support from banks and the Government enabled the industries to grow. The Korean car for example was not of international standards. But supported by the local market the industry grew and became able to be mass produced. With the advantage of cheap labour, the cars achieved good quality acceptable to the international market.

13. Malaysians seemed not to have noticed that very early Malaysia had gone into industries to serve the world market.

14. Perhaps the first was the pineapple canning industry. Under the British the empire’s market was reserved for the products of the Empire. It was called imperial preference.

15. Then came rubber and oil palm. Large tracts of Malaysia’s forest were sold or leased to largely British companies. Very quickly the Malaysian rubber and oil palm estates dominated the world market.

16. But the large estates were mainly British owned. The locals could not copy as they were not given enough land to go big and dominate the market. The locals were small players. It was only after independence that the locals could acquire the big estates. Had they realised the importance of size, Malaysian companies would probably be big like the Japanese Zaibatsu or the Korean Chaebols.

17. Still Malaysians have shown that they have the capacity to be big and dominate the world market. This happened by accident with the glove industry.

18. Taking advantage of the supply of rubber, glove making industries were started. Then came COVID-19 pandemic. The demand for gloves grew by leaps and bounds. The local glove-makers responded.

19. Today Malaysia is the biggest supplier of gloves in the world.

20. We missed the opportunity to become the biggest producer of other rubber products in the world. We made tyres for motor vehicles. But we supply only a small number. Perhaps the quality does not meet the special need of tyres for different use. But we can set up big research laboratories.

21. But besides tyres there are hundreds of rubber products which sell by the millions. We need to go into them in a big way.

22. We also produce palm oil, but largely we export the oil raw. It is time that we add value to our palm oil exports.

23. However, it is not necessary that we go big only when we have the raw materials. We can import the raw materials or the parts and components and re-export them as finished products.

24. The most important thing is to go big. The corporation must be locally owned or majority locally owned.

25. We need to master electronics. We have a microchip producer – Silterra. Investments in microchip is big. But the Government can help. Today Korea and Taiwan monopolise this industry. And the returns are very big.

26. If we go into big industries and dominate the market, much of the returns will accrue to Malaysia. We can still cater for foreign direct investments but we will not be dependent on them for the growth of our industries and economy.

SEBUT NAMA

  1. Jangan sebut nama Najib kerap. Dia akan jadi lebih popular.
  2. Lupakan sahaja nama Najib. Lupakan dia curi duit. Lupakan dia dibicara dan didapati salah. Dia dihukum 12 tahun penjara dan denda dua ratus dua puluh million Ringgit.
  3. Jangan sebut. Kalau sebut nama Najib dia akan lebih disukai ramai. Orang yang popular dalam negara demokratik akan jadi pemimpin, jadi Perdana Menteri pun.
  4. Perdana Menteri boleh curi berbilion Ringgit. Jangan sebut nama pencuri ini. Ia akan jadi popular, jadi Perdana Menteri dan curi duit lagi.
  5. Jangan sebut nama dia. Di mahkamah jangan sebut nama dia. Maka keadilan akan berlaku. Kena hukum. Tetapi tak payah jalan hukum. Diam sahaja. Jangan sebut nama dia.
  6. Kalau tak sebut nama orang yang salah, nak sebut nama siapa.
  7. Sebutlah nama siapa pun. Tak mengapa. Itu keadilan di Malaysia.
  8. Boleh tarik balik kes. Ada Peguam Negara (AG) untuk ini. Jika tak ada, tukar AG sahaja. Jangan sebut nama. Akan kena sue kerana menghina.
  9. Tak ada duit nak bayar peguam. Itu masalah awak. Undang-undang tentang tidak sebut nama masih berkuasa. Tak dapat bayar peguam masuk dalam sahaja. Itu undang-undang. Negara utama the Rule of Law, pemerintahan mengikut undang-undang. Kelentong sedikit dari undang-undang tak mengapa.
  10. Jangan tegur. Itu contempt of court, menghina mahkamah. Itu salah. Lebih baik lari ke negara lain. Jika tidak. Masuk dalam.
  11. Itu keadilan.

KEADILAN MALAYSIA

  1. Tiap-tiap hari dunia dapat membaca laporan berkenaan perbicaraan kes 1MDB yang diadakan di Amerika Syarikat.
  2. Dalam perbicaraan ini ramai nama tokoh-tokoh di Malaysia yang terlibat dengan jenayah mencuri duit 1MDB dilapor. Kesalahan yang dilakukan oleh mereka disebut. Di antara orang yang disebut berkali-kali sebagai terlibat dengan menipu 1MDB ialah Najib dan Rosmah.
  3. Laporan-laporan ini boleh dibaca dalam akhbar Malaysia. Tetapi yang peliknya ramai orang Malaysia tidak sedikit pun marah terhadap Najib dan Rosmah, jauh sekali merasa malu.
  4. Di PRN Johor parti Najib di sokong sehingga menang 2/3 kerusi Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN).
  5. Dalam satu rakaman video Perdana Menteri (PM) ditolak ke belakang oleh Presiden UMNO, yang tarik Najib ke depan di tempat Perdana Menteri. Dari peristiwa ini adalah jelas Najib lebih dihormati oleh UMNO daripada Perdana Menteri.
  6. Apakah jenis Kerajaan yang didirikan oleh Ismail Sabri jikalau ia boleh dihina di hadapan dunia.
  7. Ramai ahli UMNO hendak supaya PRU 15 diadakan segera. Apakah Ismail Sabri akan jadi Perdana Menteri jika UMNO menang. Tentu tidak.
  8. Yang akan jadi PM tentulah penyokong kuat Najib. Bagi Kerajaan yang akan didirikan, yang utama ialah membebas Najib dari hukuman 12 tahun penjara.
  9. Contoh sudah ada. Anak tiri Najib terlepas dari penjara kerana bagi balik separuh dari duit yang dicuri.
  10. Najib boleh bagi balik banyak mana yang dikehendaki oleh Kerajaan Barisan Nasional (BN). Ia akan diampun.
  11. Setelah mencuri berbillion Ringgit Najib yang didapati salah, tidak dipenjara barang sehari pun.
  12. Ini keadilan di Malaysia. Curi seekor ayam masuk penjara serta merta. Oleh itu curi berbillion. Didapati salah oleh mahkamah. Bagi balik setengah billion. Bebas.
  13. Belum jadi. Tetapi boleh jadi. Saya agak-agak sahaja.
  14. Ya. Saya akan dipanggil untuk soal siasat.
  15. Di Malaysia ini satu tekanan yang menakutkan.
  16. Tutup mulut. Tutup telinga. Awak okay.

HISTORY (PART 2)

14. The Malay governments of the Malay states had always been friendly towards the Chinese migrants. They were allowed to govern themselves through a system of Kapitans.

15. Far from seizing the properties of the Chinese the Tunku at independence actually granted one million citizenships to unqualified Chinese and Indians.

16. The Malay governments of independent Malaya then dismantled most of the British restrictions in business including the abolition of the crown agent and the favoured treatment of British companies. Chinese businesses were allowed to replace the British companies in every field. Naturally they did well and grew big.

17. The role of the big British companies in the development of rubber and palm oil estates, in transport and shipping, in international trade were also diminished. Local companies largely owned by the Chinese found the Malay dominated Governments’ economic policies were far more friendly and open than the British.

18. Chinese businesses began to flourish. Chinese retailers no longer live in their premises but they retire to large and luxurious housing estates. Much of urban land was acquired by the newly rich Chinese traders in the towns and the suburban areas.

19. There is every evidence to show that the Chinese prospered more under Malay rule than under British. It should be noted that for almost 60 years of independence Malaya was ruled largely by a Malay party – the United Malays National Organisation.

20. The Malays could have ruled Malaya by themselves. At the beginning there were enough Malay constituencies. But deliberately the Malays under Tunku Abdul Rahman diluted the Malay dominance by giving non-Malays additional citizenship.

21. Additionally the Tunku appointed Chinese and Indians in his cabinet. The Government may be dominated by Malays but the views of the Chinese and Indians were given due consideration. The Governments have effectively become multiracial.

22. This belies the claims that in independent Malaya the Malays would seize Chinese property. Nothing of that kind happened. Instead all obstruction to Chinese businesses were removed.

23. One of the most significant act by the new independent Malay dominated government was to grant banking licences to two Chinese applicants. It should be noted that the British were reluctant to let locals go into banking. But the Malay dominated Governments were more forthcoming. With that the problems of finance for the Chinese businesses were mitigated.

24. Upon independence Malaya was ruled by a Malay dominated Governments for more than 60 years. It cannot be denied that it was during this period that Malaya developed fast and became known as an Asian Tiger. It was also during this period that Malaysian Chinese businesses expanded and overflowed into many foreign countries.

25. What should be noted is that Malay Governments were more liberal towards Chinese businesses than British Governments. Not only was there no Malay seizure of Chinese properties but the Chinese acquired more properties and citizenship.

26. Pejuang is a Malay party. It is going to contest in election with the aim of becoming the governments of States and the federation.

27. There is no reason for non-Malays to fear governance by Pejuang simply because it is a Malay party. It will follow the path laid out by former Malay leaders. It will work with non-Malays and it will adhere to the Rule of law and strive to reduce disparities between town and country, States and States and race and race. It should be noted that in the process of bringing up Malay participations in the economy, the Chinese and Indians also benefitted.

28. I have written about this aspect of the history of Malaysia because it is not common knowledge. The history books have not mentioned this. Generally it was thought the British provided benign Governments. In terms of competence, yes. But the fact remains that the British discriminated against the locals, in particular the enterprising Chinese.

29. By comparison the independent Malay Governments had been more liberal. Yet generally the impression given is that the New Economic Policy discriminates against the non-Malays, the Chinese in particular.

HISTORY (PART1)

1. Malaysia has been independent more than 60 (sixty) years. Obviously most Malaysians did not experience foreign rule, particularly British rule. What they know about the British is what history books largely written by British historians tell them.

2. Naturally the British glorify their systems and achievements. They do not stress much on the fact that their rule was authoritarian. There was no democracy.

3. But the local people, the Malays, Chinese and Indians did not see anything wrong with the lack of democracy. And the British exploited the docile acceptance of everything that was done by the British administration.

4. The administrative machinery was headed by British officers. Without officially discriminating in their own favour, they carry out a policy which denied rights to the local. In particular they kept the Chinese out of the economy.

5. Thus immediately upon taking over the administration the British stipulated that all Government procurements must be made through the Crown Agents, a British semi-Government agency based in London. The locals, especially the enterprising Chinese were completely cut off from this lucrative business.

6. Additionally all big businesses were monopolised by big British companies. This included transport, trade and shipping.

7. Big Government construction contracts were also confined to British companies. This included the Johor-Singapore causeway and Government office buildings.

8. Huge tracts of forest land were sold or leased to British firms for the opening up of rubber and palm oil estates. While the British firms could gain ownership and approval for up to 25,000 acres, the locals had to buy only 200 or 300 acres. The same goes for mining land.

9. Roads and ports were built to facilitate the transport of the products of British estates and mines for export. The favoured port was Singapore and the growth and development of peninsular ports were stunted.

10. The British companies were registered and listed in London. There was no income or corporate taxes. The financial gains from business in the Malay Peninsular did not go to the Malaysian Governments.

11. All this while rumours were spread that should Malaya become independent, the Malays would seize Chinese properties. This led to many Penang Chinese forming what they called the Straits Chinese British Association. They regarded themselves as the Queen’s and King’s Chinese and campaigned to get British assurance that if the Malay States become independent, the Straits Chinese could migrate to the U.K.

12. When the Tunku seriously proposed independence for Malaya, there was hardly any support from the Chinese.

13. Actually Chinese fears were without foundation.