1. We are reading a lot about illegal logging and illegal workers. It is right that illegal logging should be stopped and illegal workers arrested and deported.

2. But what about legal logging? They may be legal but they are also destroying even more of our shrinking forest. It is time that we limit legal logging. Concessions for legal logging should be controlled.

3. Just because permits are issued does not mean that the logging is not destructive of the forests. It may mean a lot of money for the recipients of the permit, but the need for timber from the forest can be replaced with other kinds of timber.

Continue reading DEFORESTATION 2 →

1. Perutusan ini ditulis kerana saya tidak dapat hadir di Mesyuarat Agong UMNO kerana berada di luar negara. Tetapi kerana saya kurang sihat untuk keluar negara, saya mungkin hadir Insya’allah! Walaubagaimanapun saya ingin membuat kenyataan ini juga.

2. Sebagai orang tua, dan orang tua UMNO pula, izinkanlah saya memberi sedikit pandangan.

3. Semua tahu UMNO sekarang tidak popular seperti UMNO dahulu. Ada yang berkata UMNO tidak lagi relevan.

4. Sedikit sebanyak pandangan ini berasas. Jika UMNO dikalahkan dan hilang dari muka bumi, kepimpinan dan ahli UMNO tidak boleh nafi sumbangan mereka kepada kejatuhan parti yang begitu berjasa kepada Melayu dan negara Malaysia.

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1. When we became independent in 1957 we had a clear idea about education in Malaysia. We wanted every Malaysian child to go to national schools where the medium of teaching would be the National Language based on the Malay language, the language of indigenous people. They would know and be close to each other, get used to their different cultures and be distinctly Malaysian.

2. For a time the “English Schools” were to be allowed to go on. The students at these schools were from all the ethnic groups in Malaysia.

3. When Minister Aziz Ishak as acting Education Minister decided that all schools must be converted to national schools with the national language as the teaching medium, the Chinese raised a big row. Cabinet then decided that the vernacular language schools would be allowed. They were re-designated “Jenis Kebangsaan” or National Type. The national type primary vernacular schools would receive Government aid but the national type secondary schools were not to be supported by Government. The decision was political. Nothing in the Constitution provided for this. Then another Education Minister in 1971 decided to abolish Government secondary schools which teach in English.

Continue reading MALAYSIAN EDUCATION →

1. Let me begin by admitting that I am not a trained economist or financier. Still I don’t think it is fair for anyone to say I do not understand BR1M and the good things about it. I have in the past made some decisions on economic and financial matters which seem to have given good results for the country.

2. I have been opposed to giving monetary handouts as a way to increase the income of people right from the beginning. If at all financial aid should be given to the very poor who are unable to work to earn an income. My primary objection is because handouts on such a scale look too much like bribery. And when this is given near elections or the manifesto promises this, the impression that it is about buying votes just cannot be dismissed. If incomes are to be increase it should be by way of creating opportunities for work or business.

3. But BR1M has more negative implications than that. It increases the tendency towards personal dependence on the Government even for one’s income, without any effort by oneself. It weakens the character of people and reduce their competitiveness in the market place.

4. We want high incomes. But high income should come from increases in productivity. High productivity results from better education and training. A manual labourer cannot be more productive than a mechanic or a craftsman. And they in turn cannot be as productive as an engineer. The ability to increase productivity comes from greater added value to the products.

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1. As I was being driven along one of the magnificent roads in our country, I saw a stream of lorries loaded with logs passing in the opposite direction.

2. I asked my companion who was from that area as to who the logs belong to.

3. He turned and smiled conspiratorially and whispered the owner’s name. I could hardly hear him but it would seem he was afraid of being heard. He was clearly scared although apart from the driver and my ADC there was nobody else in the car.

4. Vast stretches of our forests are being cleared but nobody seems to know for whom the logging is done. But what is obvious is that our most valuable heritage – the great rain forest is being destroyed.

Continue reading DEFORESTATION →

1. Sesungguhnya perubahan yang diperlukan oleh UMNO Selangor ialah pembubaran dan penyusunan semula. Pemimpin-pemimpin UMNO Selangor perlu terima hakikat bahawa mereka kalah dalam PRU 12 dan 13. Mereka perlu undur.

2. Hari ini untuk mendapat calon Menteri Besar di kalangan pemimpin UMNO pun tidak ada. Ini boleh diadakan dengan ramai jika UMNO Selangor sedia menerima ahli baru. Pemimpin UMNO biasanya tidak suka menerima ahli baru yang berbakat kerana takut mereka dicabar dan hilang jawatan atau tidak dapat jadi calon pilihanraya. Oleh itu usaha mereka bukanlah memperkuatkan UMNO tetapi memperkuatkan kedudukan mereka.

3. Penerimaan ahli baru dengan ramai termasuk yang berbakat adalah perubahan yang utama yang perlu dilakukan oleh UMNO Selangor.

Continue reading UMNO SELANGOR PERLU BERUBAH →

1. Kebebasan adalah suatu petanda kedewasaan sesebuah negara. Kita dewasa. Dan kita beri banyak kebebasan termasuk kebebasan bersuratkhabar. Malangnya kadang-kadang kebebasan disalahguna. Ada akhbar di Malaysia yang sering menyalahgunakan kebebasan mereka.

2. Kita tidak lagi boleh masukkan sesiapa dalam tahanan ISA. Oleh itu apabila sesuatu disalahguna, maka penjelasan perlu dibuat. Jika tidak kebebasan akan membawa mudarat terutama apabila yang ditegur ialah Kerajaan.
3. Saya jarang membaca akhbar The Edge. Tetapi baru-baru ini saya terbaca rencana yang bertajuk “Tabiat 1MDB membayar lebih untuk memperolehi (hutang) duit.”

4. 1MDB ialah satu dana yang ditubuh oleh Kerajaan sebagai dana kekayaan negara (sovereign wealth fund) untuk dilabur supaya negara akan dapat hasil dari kekayaannya bagi masa depan.

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1. Saya terbaca dalam akhbar bahawa KTM akan membangun landasan untuk mengurangkan kerugian sebanyak RM2.5billion. Kerugian tiap tahun adalah sebanyak RM185 juta. KTM merancang menaikkan tambang untuk mengurang kerugian. Walaubagaimanapun Dato Ahmad Maslan dalam Parlimen berkata KTM akan untung RM31 juta tahun depan. Alhamdullilah.

2. Tiap hari ramai datang berjumpa saya kerana kononnya saya boleh nasihat Kerajaan berkenaan masalah yang dihadapi oleh mereka. Sebenarnya saya bukan penasihat Kerajaan. Tetapi kadang-kadang saya tegur Kerajaan. Samada diterima atau tidak, wallahua’lam.

3. Memandang bahawa KTM sedang merancang untuk mengurang kerugiannya, teringat saya akan cadangan yang boleh memberi sedikit keuntungan kepada KTM.

Continue reading KERETAPI TANAH MELAYU →

1. Pada abad kedua hijrah pasukan Islam dari utara Afrika berjaya menyeberangi terusan yang kini dipanggil Straits of Gibraltar dan menakluk Semenanjung Sepanyol (Iberia). Dibawah pimpinan Tariq, pasukan Islam dapat mengalahkan pasukan Sepanyol dan Portugis.

2. Selama 800 tahun Islam berkuasa di Semenanjung yang dikenali sebagai Al-Andalus oleh Arab.

3. Tetapi orang Islam di Al-Andalus berpecah selepas pemerintahan Abdul Rahman Ke-3. Ketua-ketua Wilayah bersikap bebas dan Al-Andalus berpecah kepada beberapa negeri kecil. Negeri-negari ini sering bermusuh sesama mereka dan berperang.

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1. Dalam usaha PAS untuk mengurangkan sokongan orang Melayu kepada UMNO, PAS mendakwa bahawa orang UMNO menjadi kafir kerana bekerjasama dengan orang bukan Islam, khususnya orang Cina yang beragama Buddha atau Taoist dan orang India yang beragama Hindu

2. PAS mendakwa bahawa orang Islam tidak dibenar oleh agama Islam bekerjasama dengan orang bukan Islam. Mereka akan menjadi kafir jika berbuat demikian. Oleh itu, orang Melayu dalam UMNO dan penyokong mereka sudah menjadi kafir.

3. Tuduhan ini dibuat dengan begitu serius sehingga orang PAS benar- benar percaya orang UMNO kafir. Susulan daripada itu, orang PAS tidak lagi sembahyang berjemaah dengan orang UMNO. Mereka sembahyang berasingan dibelakang imam mereka sendiri.

Continue reading TAHALUF SIYASI →