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  • Najib Razak Risks Backlash In Malaysia Following Deals With PRC

    Najib Razak Risks Backlash In Malaysia Following Deals With PRC

    KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is facing grumblings back home that he is “selling off” his country after returning from China with about US$34 billion worth of deals, which could help lift the economy ahead of elections.

    The concerns emerge from a deep-seated distrust of the Chinese among Malaysia’s Malay-Muslim majority, who form the support base for the ruling United Malay National Organisation (UMNO).

    Najib was quick to dismiss the concerns after concluding his six-day visit to China.

    “Some have scaremongered that Malaysia is being sold off. This is absurd and absolutely false,” Najib said in a statement on Friday (Nov 4), insisting the projects will be owned and run by Malaysians.

    The deals include Malaysia’s first significant defence deal with China, an agreement to buy four Chinese naval vessels.

    Najib’s visit followed that of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who announced his country’s “separation” from the United States and signed agreements and loan pledges worth an estimated US$24 billion with Beijing.

    Malaysia’s Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai also defended the deals with China, dismissing fears of overt Chinese influence in the country. Speaking on the sidelines of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing between Malaysia’s Tunku Abdul Rahman University College and China’s Tsinghua University, he told Channel NewsAsia that “we actually attract foreign direct investment (FDI) from any countries who want to invest in Malaysia”.

    “At the same time, we buy anything also from those countries who can give us the best offer and that is natural,” he said. “So I think if we buy ships from China, it’s because China offered us the better deal. If it’s any other country, we can buy from France or we can buy from the US.”

    The minister was also asked to respond to criticism from Malaysian opposition MP Tony Pua, who referenced a media report that suggested Malaysia had spent a “ridiculous price” on the “most expensive rail infrastructure project in the world in its class” – the East Coast Rail Link project.

    Pua had questioned why Malaysia had borrowed RM55b (US$13b) from China, given that Liow had said that was not the cost of construction, but only the value of the Financing Framework Agreement.

    Liow reiterated that the price was for the “framework of cooperation”, and that it was an outline. He added that the cost was not finalised.

    UMNO leaders expect Najib to brief them soon so the party can start allaying any fears about China’s rising influence in Malaysia, said Shahidan Kassim, a senior member of the party’s supreme council and a federal minister.

    “All of this has its pros and cons, but in UMNO we must have a policy statement on this,” he told Reuters.

    ETHNICITY AND RELIGION

    Ethnicity and religion are sensitive issues in Malaysia, where Muslim Malays form a little over 50 per cent of the population of 31 million. Ethnic Chinese make up about 25 per cent and ethnic Indians about 7 per cent.

    Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese have long been a scapegoat for the Malay community, with UMNO leaders pointing to ethnic Chinese economic dominance to unite Malays and keep a firm grip on political power.

    Last year, ethnic ties became strained under the weight of two opposing demonstrations largely split along racial lines. A ‘Malay pride’ rally blocked off Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur in a show of strength following an anti-government rally dominated by Malaysian-Chinese. Najib’s government summoned China’s ambassador over his remarks ahead of the “Malay pride’ rally.

    Clashes are expected again this year as thousands of anti-government demonstrators plan to protest in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 19, calling for Najib to resign over the money-laundering scandal linked to Malaysian state investment fund, One Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

    A member of UMNO’s policy-making Supreme Council, Irmohizam Ibrahim, said Najib’s deals with China have stoked concerns among party leaders.

    “We’re expecting the prime minister to address these issues at our next Supreme Council meeting,” Irmohizam told Reuters.

    “We will then need to go down and explain to the grassroots that … the deals are purely for the economy and trade,” said Irmohizam, who also serves as Najib’s strategic director in the party.

    Malaysia’s opposition is questioning the China agreements but for different reasons, saying it is tilting the country toward Beijing.

    “Malaysia’s economic dependence on any single nation is unreasonable and will affect the country’s freedom and geo-political strategy and foreign policy,” jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said in a statement issued from prison.

    “GOLDEN JEWELRY”

    Najib is planning elections in the second half of 2017, a government source has told Reuters.

    The investments from China could help the prime minister pump-prime Malaysia’s economy before then. A 2017 national budget Najib announced last month calls for only a modest spending rise, amid a continuing slump in commodity prices.

    Senior UMNO leaders and urban Malays, however, are uncomfortable that Chinese money will drive the development of strategic assets, according to James Chin, director at the University of Tasmania’s Asia Institute.

    Chin says the Malay elite welcomes Chinese investment in purely commercial deals such as property purchases, but are more wary about agreements such as a 55 billion ringgit (US$13.11 billion) deal for the Chinese to develop a rail network.

    “The problem with these deals is that they are seen as selling the country’s golden jewelry,” Chin said.

    Ties between Malaysia and China reached a high point last December when Beijing came to Najib’s rescue with a US$2.3 billion deal to buy 1MDB assets, helping ease concerns over its mounting debt.

    Relations with Washington became strained after the U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits in July implicating the prime minister in the money-laundering probe at 1MDB, the advisory board of which Najib chaired until recently.

    SHIFTING POSITIONS

    China and Malaysia agreed to enhance naval cooperation, after sealing the deal to buy four Littoral Mission ships, fast patrol vessels that can be equipped with a helicopter flight deck and carry missiles.

    Malaysia, along with three other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei – are among the countries contesting territorial claims with China over the South China Sea. China claims nearly the entire body of water as its territory.

    Najib said last month the disputes should be resolved through dialogue with Beijing.

    Duterte during his visit persuaded the Chinese to let Philippine fishermen operate around a disputed shoal, before declaring his unhappiness with Washington over its criticism of his lethal antidrug campaign.

    ASEAN, meanwhile, has struggled to come up with a unified position on the South China Sea disputes at its meetings.

    “ASEAN will not go away… but increasingly the idea of the multilateral track will be downgraded as now we see a swing from two key claimants to a more bilateral approach,” said Euan Graham, director of the international security program at the Lowy Institute, a Sydney-based think-tank.

    (US$1 = 4.1950 ringgit)

     

    Source: www.channelnewsasia.com

  • Nuradillah Zakbah – Meet The Singaporean Accidental Mediator Who Brought Peace Between An African American And PRC Family In France

    Nuradillah Zakbah – Meet The Singaporean Accidental Mediator Who Brought Peace Between An African American And PRC Family In France

    A Singaporean woman used her language skills to mediate a misunderstanding between an African American man and a group of Chinese tourists in France’s Charles de Gaulle airport on Saturday (Nov 5).

    Ms Nuradillah Zakbah, 31, was in Paris for a seven-hour stopover, enroute to Portugal where she was attending a conference. She works as a creative technologist at an advertising agency.

    She was in a queue at immigration in front of an African American tourist and a group of Chinese tourists when she heard a commotion behind her.

    “As I turned around, this rather tall African American man made eye contact with me and said ‘Can you believe this? This group of people just called me a n**ger!’” she told The Straits Times.

    The Chinese group, comprising of two men and three women, were puzzled as to why they were being scolded, and the two parties started quarrelling, she said.

    “And a man I assumed to be the grandfather of the group was pointing his fingers and shouting back at the American man,” she added.

    “That was when I realised that the Chinese tourists had said the word ‘that’ (na ge) in Mandarin a few times in their conversation, which sounds like the word ‘n**ger’. Therefore the American tourist might have misunderstood them.”

    Ms Nuradillah, who is Malay, told The Straits Times she intervened on the “spur of the moment”.

    “I had to explain to him (the American man) that he misunderstood – and had to explain to him that I understood a little bit of Mandarin to know that they were saying or pointing to ‘that thing’ (na ge) instead of calling him the derogatory term,” she told The Straits Times.

    She also explained the misunderstanding to the Chinese group “in the best broken Mandarin” she could. She asked them to forgive him and move on from the situation.

    After her intervention, both sides were slightly embarrassed and shook hands and apologised.

    She also explained to an airport security guard in her “broken French” that the incident was just a misunderstanding.

    Where did Ms Nuradillah pick up her language skills?

    “I picked up Chinese from friends growing up, reading subtitles on Channel 8 dramas and also went to a basic Mandarin course at 18 – to prepare myself for the workforce back then,” she said.

    Ms Nuradillah recounted the incident on her Facebook on Saturday and the post has since received numerous comments that praise her act

    Through this episode, Ms Nuradillah also realised the importance of living in a multicultural society.

    “I thought that it was just really cool to be able to help others out because I’m a Singaporean. That was the time that I was extremely thankful to have lived and grown up in a place that exposed me to a diversity of cultures and languages,” she said.

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Woman Thinks Changi Airport Terminal 1 Is Her House, Airs Wet Laundry And Lepak

    Woman Thinks Changi Airport Terminal 1 Is Her House, Airs Wet Laundry And Lepak

    Stomper Zarastara was disgusted when she saw a woman hanging her wet, smelly clothes on the back of seats in the public area of Changi Airport Terminal 1 yesterday (September 9).

    The Stomper said that his happened around 8pm last night and that it wasn’t raining.

    “She probably washed her clothes in the toilet then hung them to dry because they were dripping wet and smelly”, Zarastara recalled.

    She added that her friend informed the airport staff who promptly got security to tell the woman to clear it.

    The Stomper and her friend had walked away by then when they heard her arguing loudly.

     

    Source: www.stomp.com.sg

  • Topless Woman On Nicoll Highway Arrested

    Topless Woman On Nicoll Highway Arrested

    She was spotted walking topless in the middle of the busy road.

    A witness, who wanted to be known only as Madam Yu, 51, told The New Paper that the woman caused a traffic jam along Nicoll Highway towards Mountbatten Road at around 5.45pm yesterday.

    The senior personal assistant, who was in a car driven by her husband, said: “The woman was carrying her bra in her right hand. She was strolling calmly towards the city near The South Beach hotel. Many vehicles swerved to avoid her.”

    TNP understands that there was no accident during the incident, and the woman is a China national.

    Responding to queries from TNP, police said they received a call about the woman at around 5.40pm.

    A spokesman added that officers arrived at the scene and arrested the 38-year-old under the Mental Health Act.

    Madam Yu, who has two adult children, said her husband had picked her up near her workplace at Clarke Quay Central shopping mall at around 5.30pm.

    They were heading home to Tampines when they were caught in a traffic jam near Raffles City shopping centre.

    She said it usually takes three minutes to travel about 1km from Raffles City to Nicoll Highway. But due to the jam, the journey took 10 minutes.

    Madam Yu said: “I was shocked when I later spotted the topless woman. I could have stepped out to help her but my husband could not stop the car.”

    Police investigations are ongoing.

     

    Source: The New Paper

  • China Businesses Taps Onto Global Halal Market, But Confused Over What Halal Really Means

    China Businesses Taps Onto Global Halal Market, But Confused Over What Halal Really Means

    QINGTONGXIA — The wine-swilling co-founder of Sai Wai Xiang Halal Foodstuff Co enjoys his pork and does not follow Islam, but still sells more than US$50 million (S$67.4 million) worth of food to Muslims across Asia and the Middle East.

    The company is at the forefront of a Chinese drive into the global halal food and beverage market, exporting as far away as Saudi Arabia.

    Businessman Deng Zhijun bills his wares as “products with Muslim ethnic flavour”, but has difficulty recalling some of Islam’s basic dietary tenets.

    “Muslims definitely don’t smoke and don’t drink alcohol,’ he said over a lunch at the company, in a garden lined with caged peacocks, macaws and chickens. “There’s also some kind of meat they don’t eat, but I forgot.”

    His half-knowledge is typical of China’s complicated relationship with Islam, which officially has more than 23 million adherents in the country. Some independent estimates put it as high as 50 million — which would put China among the world’s top 10 Muslim nations.

    Beijing’s officially atheist Communist authorities oscillate between tight restrictions and more liberal policies that are enforced unevenly.

    Mr Deng’s company is based in Ningxia, a western region a third of whose six million population are Hui. The group are a separate minority under Beijing’s classification policies even though most are essentially from the Han ethnic majority, differentiated only by being Muslims.

    Violence in Xinjiang, the homeland of the other main Muslim minority, the Uighurs, has killed hundreds, with Beijing attributing it to Islamic extremism and foreign influence, while activists blame draconian restrictions on religion and culture.

    In a promotional video playing at Sai Wai Xiang’s factory — set up 14 years ago — a table of happy Chinese diners clink glasses of beer before tucking into their meal.

    “Drinking red wine is very good for the body and has health benefits, just like eating halal food,” said Mr Deng, who recalled a recent trip to Bordeaux and said he often finishes a bottle of the local Ningxia vintages with dinner.

    PORK SAUSAGES

    The global halal food and beverage market is projected to grow to US$1.6 trillion by 2018, according to a report from the Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry, up from US$1.1 trillion in 2013.

    Mr Deng and other company executives pointed to President Xi Jinping’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative that aims to boost trade with a host of countries across South Asia and the Middle East, and he expects a windfall of incentives for halal food.

    But there are concerns over how strictly halal standards are followed in China.

    Last year, hundred of Muslims took to the streets in Xi’an to protest the sale of alcohol in halal restaurants. In Qinghai province a crowd destroyed a bakery after pork sausages and ham were found in its delivery trucks.

    Such fears have an impact in potential export markets, and food safety scares are common in China, from gutter oil to milk powder.

    The integrity of Chinese halal food was “questionable”, Dr Miriam Abdul Latif, a professor of food science and a halal expert at the Malaysian University of Sabah, told AFP, citing examples of “fake halal documents or certificates”.

    To build consumer trust, Dr Latif said, Chinese companies should have their products inspected by certification bodies from Muslim countries.

    SECURITY STRATEGY

    But the issue goes to the heart — or perhaps the stomach — of the relationship between religion and the state.

    China’s current halal certification system is a patchwork of local regulations, with varying strictness. Mosques technically have the right to inspect nearby facilities, but ultimate power rests with local government Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureaux.

    At a high-level national political meeting in Beijing last month, Mr Ma Guoquan, a delegate from Ningxia, called for a single national standard for halal food, and improved enforcement.

    “There are many problems regarding halal food management that can’t be ignored,” Mr Ma said, according to the Ningxia Daily newspaper.

    But some say national laws would be anathema to the ruling party’s official atheism.

    “This kind of legislation would be contrary to the principle of secularism,” Mr Xi Wuyi, a Marxism expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences wrote on China’s Twitter-like Weibo in March. “It could threaten China’s national security strategy.”

    At the same time some Muslims complain over too much government interference in their religion.

    Away from the high-level politics of policing halal food, many of the faithful in Ningxia rely on personal relationships to guarantee quality.

    “I know the meat I buy is halal because I know the butcher, I see him frequently at the mosque for prayer,” said rural resident Na Liang. “I know the baker, I know the family that runs the noodle shop and I know all the food I eat is halal.”

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com