Category: Politik

Elected Presidency Changes: Big Step Backwards For Malay community

I worry about the unintended consequences of changes to the elected presidency, especially the move to reserve elections for minority candidates.

I was brought up in an era where we Malays were told we had to fend for ourselves in school and in our careers, as Singaporeans of other races did. After initial trepidation, due in part to seeing how Malays in other countries in the region depended on race-based policies to help them advance, Malay Singaporeans grew out of their historical reliance on such crutches. And that has over time become a source of pride and motivation for the community.

In my frequent travels to neighbouring countries and in the speeches I deliver there, I speak proudly of the significant progress the community has made as we proved we could stand on our own feet. That was thanks in no small part to the brave decision by our earlier leaders to take away our proverbial crutches and make us compete on a level playing field. Like everything else, healthy competition drives the community to a higher level.

Now, I worry that all that is being undone. The announcement that next year’s presidential election will be reserved for Malay candidates strikes me as a major step backwards. Like it or not, it risks being read as a vote of no confidence in the community. It seems to suggest that we are still unable to compete on the same level with the rest of the population and that we remain a troubled community that requires – selectively – a big handicap. It makes me wonder what happened to our belief in boosting self-reliance and self-respect through doing away with affirmative action and race-based state aid in education and career progression.

During the last three decades of minimal race-based policy assistance, Malays have worked hard to prove our self-worth with significant achievements in the education and professional arenas. Today, more private sector and business leaders are drawn from the community than ever before.

There has been gradual but meaningful progress in all other statistics too, including education. The sense I get from my daily interactions with members of the community is that we are patient in waiting for further public sector achievements. I did not sense any clamour for the next president to be from the Malay community.

America waited more than 230 years for a member of a minority race to be elected president. That did not make people from minority races there feel any less American. When the day finally arrived in November 2008 and Mr Barack Obama was elected America’s first black president, the outcome was greeted with great celebration not just within the country but in countries across the free democratic world, including those in Asia and Africa.

Here in Singapore, the last time a president of a minority race was in the Istana was five years ago. The last time we had a Malay president was 46 years ago. I believe most Malays are willing to wait patiently for our next Malay president to be voted into office based on his own merit and in a contest against other capable Singaporeans of different races or creeds, however long it takes.

I personally think that even without changes to the elected presidency, it will not take quite so long. After all, minority MPs have regularly won elections in single-seat constituencies while others have led teams in group representation constituencies – a scheme originally created to assist minority candidates to be elected into Parliament – instead of being pedestrian members of the GRCs.

I would argue that more than a Malay president, what Singapore needs is policy consistency – we cannot afford policy twists and turns, especially on a selective basis, no matter how well intended.

Still, if the chance to have a member of their community as president is offered on a platter, not many Malays will reject such a gift. That is human nature. But what would be even more satisfying is a hard-fought campaign leading to the election of a Malay president who deserves the position based on the famously Singaporean values of grit and merit.

That is worth waiting for. The changes to the Constitution relating to the elected presidency may have inadvertently denied me and other members of Singapore’s minority communities the pleasure of seeing that happen.

Source: The Straits Times

November 15, 2016
Wajib Daftar Semula NRIC Apabila Cecah Usia 55 Tahun Mulai Januari Depan

Semua warga dan Penduduk Tetap (PR) Singapura yang akan mencecah usia 55 tahun pada atau selepas 1 Januari 2017, dan belum diberikan kad pengenalan (NRIC) ganti dalam tempoh 10 tahun sebelum ulang tahun mereka yang ke-55, perlu mendaftar semula bagi mendapatkan NRIC baru mulai Januari tahun depan

Ini diumumkan Penguasa Imigresen dan Pusat Pemeriksaan (ICA) hari ini (14 Nov).

Bayaran pendaftaran S$10 dikenakan bagi warga Singapura dan S$50 bagi PR, menurut ICA, iaitu kos yang sama untuk mendaftar bagi NRIC pada usia 15 tahun dan pendaftaran semula pada usia 30 tahun.

ICA menjelaskan bahawa proses itu perlu dijalankan kerana gambar pada NRIC sedia ada menjadi lapuk sedang usia para pemegang NRIC meningkat, dan mungkin menyebabkan mereka sukar dikenal pasti, terutama warga emas.

“Selain mungkin menyusahkan para pemegang NRIC, ini juga boleh menimbulkan risiko keselamatan kerana pihak berkuasa mungkin tidak dapat mengenal pasti seorang individu secara tepat berdasarkan gambarnya yang sudah lapuk,” menurut ICA.

Timbalan pengarah Pusat Khidmat Rakyat di ICA, Chui Wai Cheng, juga berkata: “Terdapat juga risiko bahawa jika kad itu diambil orang lain, individu itu boleh mengambil identiti pemegang kad asal. Ia mungkin dari segi urus niaga kewangan, atau percubaan membeli barangan dan perkhidmatan dengan menggunakan identiti orang lain.”

Mediacorp difahamkan bahawa ICA sudah menerima maklum balas tentang kes-kes sedemikian, namun tidak menjejak perangkaan itu kerana sesetengahnya adalah insiden privet dan tidak dilaporkan.

Tambahan lagi, ICA menyatakan mulai 2017, ia merancang untuk mengumpul imej mata ketika NRIC baru dikeluarkan.

Ini setelah Parlimen pada 10 November meluluskan pindaan pada Akta Pendaftaran Nasional untuk mempertingkatkan keberkesanan dan kecekapan operasi ICA.

PENDAFTARAN SEMULA ADALAH WAJIB

Mereka yang dikehendaki mendaftar semula bagi NRIC mereka akan menerima surat notis dari ICA sebulan sebelum ulang tahun ke-55 mereka. Mereka akan diberi tempoh setahun untuk membuat pendaftaran semula – selepas mereka mencapai usia 55 tahun hingga sebelum mereka mencecah usia 56 tahun.

Mereka yang tinggal di luar negara boleh mendaftar semula NRIC dalam tempoh setahun selepas pulang ke Singapura.

ICA menyarankan agar pendaftaran semula dibuat secara online menerusi laman ICA.

“Mereka juga boleh mendaftar semula menerusi kios-kios layan diri di eLobby di tingkat satu Bangunan ICA.

“Pemegang NRIC yang tidak dapat mendaftar semula online boleh mengisi borang permohonan dalam surat notis ICA dan mengirimkannya kepada Pusat Khidmat Rakyat ICA,” menurut ICA.

Pendaftaran semula yang dibuat online akan mengambil masa sekitar tiga hari kerja untuk diproses, sementara tempoh untuk permohonan menerusi surat diproses akan mengambil masa sekitar dua minggu, menurut ICA.

Ketika membuat pendaftaran semula, pemegang NRIC perlu mengemaskini perincian peribadi mereka dan menyerahkan gambar terkini mereka.

Kad pengiktirafan akan dikirimkan sekiranya permohonan mereka diluluskan. Para pemegang NRIC boleh membuat temu janji online atau menerusi app mudah alih ICA untuk mengambil NRIC mereka.

ICA menambah bahawa adalah satu kesalahan di bawah Akta Pendaftaran Nasional sekiranya pemegang NRIC gagal mendaftarkan semula NRIC-nya dalam setahun selepas mencapai usia 55 tahun, atau dalam setahun selepas pulang ke Singapura jika beliau tinggal di luar negara.

ICA juga menyatakan ia akan mengirimkan surat-surat peringatan enam dan sembilan bulan selepas pemegang NRIC mencecah usia 55 tahun untuk meminta mereka membuat pendaftaran semula, sekiranya belum berbuat demikian.

Bagi rakyat dan PR Singapura yang mencapai usia 55 tahun sebelum 2017, pendaftaran semula NRIC secara sukarela akan diperkenalkan mulai 2018, menurut ICA. Butiran lanjut akan diberikan tahun depan.

Source: Berita MediaCorp

November 15, 2016
Malacca Harbour Plan Raises Questions About China’s Strategic Aims

A RM43 billion (S$14 billion) harbour being developed in Malacca aims to overtake Singapore as the largest port in the region, but questions are being raised about the need for the added capacity and whether China’s eager participation has to do with good business or its crucial strategic interests in the Malacca Strait.

For China, not only does most of its trade pass through the Malacca Strait, but so does up to 80 per cent of its energy needs. This prompted then President Hu Jintao to make the “Malacca Dilemma” a key strategic issue as far back as 2003.

“There is the strategic element of the Malacca Strait. It always starts with an economic presence, which can develop into a naval one, because China will be obliged to ensure the safe passage of its commercial ships,” said Dr Johan Saravanamuttu of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, who studies the Malaysia-China relationship.

The Melaka Gateway joint venture is part of a wider port alliance between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing to increase bilateral trade and boost shipping and logistics along China’s much-vaunted Maritime Silk Road.

Chinese firm Guangxi Beibu International Port Group already owns 40 per cent of Kuantan port, which faces the disputed waters of the South China Sea, and 49 per cent of the Kuantan Industrial Park in Pahang, the home state of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.

The Malaysian authorities are talking up the game-changing Melaka Gateway deal between little-known KAJ Developments and energy giant PowerChina International, which will form a joint venture and spend RM30 billion to reclaim three islands off Malacca’s coast. The entire Gateway development will be completed in 2025 but the deep-sea port is expected to be ready by 2019. The Malaysian government hopes to attract the bulk of 100,000 vessels, most of them Chinese, that ply the Malacca Strait annually.

Some industry players have expressed concern about the cannibalising of existing ports along the strait, especially in the light of Singapore’s own port expansion.

Though the Malaysian government has said a new port is needed because Klang, the country’s most important port, will be full by 2020, studies appear to show otherwise.

A World Bank study commissioned by the government last year showed a new port on Malaysia’s west coast is not necessary, as existing facilities have yet to reach capacity, according to sources. Both operators at Port Klang – Westports and MMC – have also made expansion proposals that would double the port’s capacity, the sources added.

“Because there seems to be no logic to the Melaka deal, many are questioning if this has more to do with military rather than commercial interests,” a logistics player told The Straits Times.

Sources also said the reclaimed islands would be given freehold status and the port granted a 99-year concession – both rare and generous terms. Melaka Gateway did not respond to a request for comment.

China’s military presence around Malaysian waters has increased significantly since last year. In September last year, all three branches of the Chinese armed forces took part in a six-day joint exercise on “disaster relief” in the Malacca Strait.

China has also gained access to Kota Kinabalu, a crucial dock in Sabah close to the disputed Spratly Islands, where Beijing’s construction activities have been a source of diplomatic strife in the region.

A former port authority chief noted that China has made moves to reduce its reliance on the Malacca Strait, such as via port-and-rail or pipeline projects in Pakistan, Myanmar and Eastern Europe, which means “we cannot take Beijing’s commitment here for granted”.

“If China pulls out her support, the port becomes useless because it has no hinterland, unlike Klang and Penang which serve a big local market. In fact, many businesses prefer to send their goods to Klang by road instead of the existing Malacca or Penang ports because it is more efficient.”

Critics have questioned Malay- sia’s over-reliance on China, in the light of the huge deals struck during Datuk Seri Najib’s recent visit to Beijing, as well as a whopping RM55 billion loan to build a railway that will eventually link Port Klang on the west and Kuantan port in Pahang and also Terengganu and Kelantan.

“There is the question of over-dependence, and the diplomatic leverage involved if Beijing were to move in more aggressively. So far, Najib is still hedging, but when it comes to investments, you can’t expect as much from America as you can from China. If you want to go up against Singapore, then this port makes sense, especially when it is in the form of foreign investment, given Malaysia’s fiscal constraints,” said Dr Saravanamuttu.

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai batted away these concerns on his return from Beijing, telling reporters that “with the economy growing, we need more ports”. He said: “The port alliance… has seen results, bringing more competitiveness to our ports and logistic sectors.”

Source: The Straits Times

November 15, 2016
Trump Seru Henti Ganggu Golongan Minoriti, Umum Tidak Akan Terima Gaji Presiden

Donald Trump dalam wawancara televisyennya yang pertama sebagai bakal Presiden cuba menenangkan rakyat Amerika yang bimbang beliau akan mengambil tindakan terhadap masyarakat minoriti.

Pada masa yang sama, Encik Trump memberi jaminan kepada para penyokongnya bahawa beliau tidak akan mengecewakan mereka dalam hal hak menggunakan senjata api, menggugurkan bayi atau imigresen.

Bakal Presiden Amerika Syarikat itu – yang kemenangan mengejutnya dalam pilihan raya mencetuskan bantahan selama berhari-hari – memberitahu para penunjuk perasaan bahawa mereka tidak ada sebab untuk bimbang tentang tempoh beliau sebagai pemimpin negara itu.

“Jangan takut. Kami akan mengembalikan negara kami,” katanya dalam wawancara bersama rancangan ’60 Minutes’ di CBS.

TRUMP “SEDIH” MINORITI JADI SASARAN

Encik Trump berkata beliau “sedih” dengan laporan-laporan bahawa insiden-insiden mengganggu dan menakut-nakutkan masyarakat minoriti melonjak sejak beliau dipilih sebagai presiden – dan menyeru agar ia dihentikan.

“Saya tidak suka mendengar tentangnya. Saya sangat sedih mendengarnya. Jika ini membantu, saya akan katakannya, dan saya akan katakannya kepada kamera: Hentikannya,” kata Encik Trump apabila ditanya tentang lapoan-laporan tersebut.

Jutaan orang dijangka menonton ’60 Minutes’ untuk mendapat tahu bagaimana hartawan itu akan mentadbir negara, dan sejauh manakah beliau berniat untuk menukar slogan-slogan kempennya menjadi dasar negara.

Encik Trump memberi isyarat jelas tentang beberapa isu kepada para pengundinya.

Beliau mengesahkan rancangan untuk secara agresif menghantar pulang atau memenjarakan sehingga tiga juta pendatang haram – mereka yang mempunyai rekod jenayah.

Encik Trump juga berdiri teguh dengan ikrarnya untuk membina tembok di sempadan Mexico.

Beliau juga memberi isyarat tidak akan cuba mengubah undang-undang yang membolehkan perkahwinan sama jenis di Amerika Syarikat.

Encik Trump turut berkata beliau tidak akan menerima gaji AS$400,000 (S$566,000) yang diberikan kepada presiden Amerika Syarikat.

“Saya tidak akan ambil gaji ini. Saya rasa menurut undang-undang, saya harus ambil AS$1, jadi saya akan ambil AS$1 setiap tahun,” katanya.

Source: Berita MediaCorp

November 15, 2016
Damanhuri Abas: Dr Tan Cheng Bock Is The Only Choice For All Singaporeans

The President to be that the Malays want whom we know will speak up for us and all Singaporeans. The malay community do not want a Malay exclusive President with no powers.

Stay strong Singapore, God sees what is happening and will one day answer the prayers of the oppressed as He promises and always do.

We place our trust in Him!!!

5000 briyani for the Poor.

I just came back from a charity event.l was the Guest of Honour.
This event to offer food to the needy of all races is organised by Free Food For All and they are driven by a mission which they believe in,that made them give their sacrifice to become non-profit.Such an act is noble and gracious.
Many came to the event to pay a “meal for a meal.”Every packet you buy, another
packet will go to feed a needy.Also many order online which will be delivered to them.
I was impressed by the many volunteers helping out and the logistics involved.
The photos show MP Tin Pei Ling participating also in the event

Source: Damanhuri Abas

November 14, 2016