Who, what, when, where, why, how? That’s precisely what we would like to know, as Malaysiakini re-visits major issues that have stretched our analytical skills over the year.

Cronies and phoneys feature alongside phantoms and fakes, as well as missing persons and promises. What’s real, what’s not? Who gains, who doesn’t?

If we had the answers, these could so easily be turned into ex-files!


Phantoms of the election

Missing names, added names; transfer of voters without their knowledge, let alone consent; overcrowded occupancy at some addresses; busloads of voters rolling into town on election day... it’s enough to make a polls watchdogs froth at the mouth.

The all-too-familiar pre-election scenario was repeated in April during the Ijok by election, when the state seat fell vacant due to the death of assemblyperson K Sivalingam.

The gazetted electoral roll showed up an eight-year-old (going by the identity card number) and 31 voters above the age of 100 - of whom 19 were aged 107 years, according to a polls watchdog that discovered the ‘phantoms’.

In October, it was reported that 8,463 new voters had been transplanted into the Ipoh Timor parliamentary constituency between April 1 and June 30. Among them were 3,208 postal voters even though there no new army camp or new police station has been set up. The transferred voters were not informed about their relocation either.

The Election Commission (EC) claims it is doing all that it reasonably can to update the rolls. Tell that to voters who have to flit from polling station to polling station, hoping that their particulars have not morphed since the last election.

What will it take to convince the EC that a thorough overhaul is long overdue? With EC chief Abdul Rahman Abdul Rashid’s tenure being renewed for another year, expect same old, same old.


Ray of hope - for Big Business

The hottest economic buzzword of the year was ‘corridor’. Since the Iskandar Development Region project was revealed late last year, the government has launched two more multi-billion ringgit development master-plans.

These are the RM177 billion Northern Corridor Economic Region project and the RM120 billion East Coast Economic Region project.

They aim to “provide a ray of hope for the lower-income groups, particularly the hardcore poor, to come out of poverty and to enjoy these fruits of development”. Or so said Prime Minster Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

While the private sector and foreign investors are expected to contribute the bulk of the money required, only a few major investments have been announced to date - including a RM4.1 billion injection from four Middle-East companies.

Project details - such as incentives for lower-income groups and small businessmen - have yet to be finalised. In short, the real benefits continue to elude those who are waiting for a better life and it is business as usual for the government.

Only the mega projects have crystallised at this stage, with all tenders being distributed to government-linked companies and Umno-linked companies. These include the:

• Second Penang Bridge - awarded to UEM Builders and a China-based company

• Penang Sentral intergrated transport hub project - given to Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd

• Penang Global City Centre - given to Abad Naluri Sdn Bhd, linked to Patrick Lim aka Patrick Badawi

It appears that these projects are mainly to shore up the feel-good factor - for crony capitalists, that is.


Hard lessons in seat-pact talks

From a set deadline to no deadline - this is the path of negotiations among opposition parties over the distribution of seats for the upcoming general election.

Five months after the initial July deadline to wrap up the talks, there is no clear outcome over who gets which seat - although PAS, PKR and DAP leaders said that consensus had been reached for the majority of the seats.

The talks are crucial to ensure a straight fight between the opposition and the Barisan Nasional coalition, because the opposition missed the chance of winning some seats in the 2004 general election due to three-cornered fights.

The snag in pinning down the pact thus far appears to lie in the DAP-PKR sector. The DAP is said to be insistent in contesting Chinese-majority seats, but the PKR is just as adamant about fielding candidates some of these constituencies.

At the onset of the talks, a gag order was imposed that allows only three top leaders to comment on the outcome. This is due to previous complaints about leaks in the negotiation process, which had hampered the talks.

While the opposition seems to have learnt its lessons and is trying hard to avoid an open war in the media over seats this time, will it also learn the lesson of not repeating the last-minute decision to go for three-cornered fights?


Our forgotten minorities

From the Orang Asli and Orang Asal struggling to retain control of ancestral land to displaced Indians hoping to be at least noticed - Malaysian society has a long way to go before achieving equity across many fronts for its minority communities.

The Orang Asli are seen as little more than vote-banks, being deprived of essential needs if they show little interest in making ballot papers on command.

In Sabah and Sarawak, native peoples are losing access to natural resources that sustain their lifestyle. Land and water are the more important of these, as they come up against the state government and its business partners in the form of timber concessionaires and plantation companies.

But they also want a stake in development through economic opportunities, and access to education, healthcare and voting rights, based on their complaints to the Human Rights Society of Malaysia (Hakam).

The Indian Malaysian community, which has been just about invisible, is in poor shape in economic terms.

It does not fare much better in terms of educational opportunities, social status or respect for their human rights as a spate of temple demolitions nationwide has shown. The nation’s leaders were appalled when this community-in-shackles dared to march in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 25 to protest discrimination and marginalisation.

Many more Malaysians are falling through the cracks, of course, for poverty crosses all boundaries. But how long more must the forgotten minorities bear the brunt of institutionalised neglect?


Ramli: The force is not with me

It didn’t have the drama of a schoolyard brawl, but take nothing away from the high-level intrigues in the Internal Security Ministry and the spillover into its sub-agency, the police force.

A tit-for-tat riff between Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum and Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan was the prelude to a rift between Musa and Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Ramli Yusuff.

To cut a sordid story short, the cops and Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) investigated a claim in March that Johari had been paid RM5.5 million for releasing three underworld kingpins in the ‘freedom for sale’ scandal. That came to nothing and he was cleared in June.

In July, though, Abang Jo instigated an ACA check on Musa for apparently being paid RM2 million to free three gangsters - Musa was later to attribute this to a frame-up by his own men.

By the end of the month, the ACA cleared Musa - but then began a probe on an unnamed ‘senior police officer’ for abuse of power and illegally amassing assets worth RM27 million.

On Oct 30, the ‘senior officer’ dropped a bombshell in an explosive statement at a press conference - Ramli admitted he was the ‘RM27 million man’ and spilled the beans on all involved. The murky details were the stuff of a thriller, bringing into focus the moves of a lawmaker, alleged lawbreaker and law enforcement personnel.

For his pains, Ramli was immediately suspended - he was due to retire in December anyway - and faces four charges to which he has claimed trial. You might think this would have wrapped up the saga, but nooooooo, there was a cliff-hanger to come.

On Dec 14, Johari was implicated in a corruption trial in Johor Bharu involving a company director who is alleged to have taken a total of RM119,000 on behalf of the deputy minister and two others.

Johari promptly denied this, but the case is set to start on April 16. Who will it finger and what more will it reveal? Can’t wait for the sequel...


Good governance...not!

Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan and Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) head Zulkifli Mat Noor have had more in common that their responsibility for the three main institutions of government. Each has also been embroiled in controversy rooted in allegations of corrupt practice.

If many expected Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to make good his promise of transparent and responsible government by quickly removing them from office, reality told a different story.

Musa was cleared by the ACA of alleged corrupt practices and got an extension to his contract of tenure.

Zulkifli was cleared by the police of any misconduct and allowed to go on retirement.

Ahmad Fairuz too was allowed to retire - instead of being offered an extension of his tenure - when his role in the judicial rot was questioned.

While the premier has little to say on such matters, legal action has been instituted against Musa’s rival in the police force - commercial crime investigation head Ramli Yusuff - for alleged corrupt practice.

Belatedly, however, Abdullah succumbed to pressure in December to create a royal commission to look into allegations that judicial appointments and promotions had been brokered with the help of a senior lawyer.

And that’s about it, as far as accountable governance goes. You could lodge a ‘missing promises’ report, but that’s likely to be filed under ‘no further action’.


Mahathir vs Pak Lah - more rounds?

The first round of the all-out clash between the Big Two in politics kept Malaysians agog last year, with claims and counter-claims that covered economic mismanagement, cronyism, nepotism and corruption.

Round 2, widely anticipated this year, has not (yet) materialised between former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his successor Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Perhaps it was poor health - Mahathir had suffered two heart attacks in May and November last year - or his preoccupation with engineering an alternative ‘war crimes tribunal’ that was launched in February.

While Mahathir continued with frank comments in May about thorny issues that marked his 22-year administration, there was none of the fire and brimstone of the scathing attacks on Abdullah previously.

Mahathir sent a congratulatory message to Abdullah for his marriage to Jeanne Danker on June 9. And Abdullah surprised many by publicly congratulating Mahathir and his wife Dr Siti Hasmah on their 51st wedding anniversary on Aug 5.

Within weeks though, on Sept 4, Mahathir was rolled into an operating theatre at the National Heart Institute where he underwent a six-hour coronary bypass surgery, his second since 1989.

Abdullah was among the VIP visitors but he was not able to meet Mahathir - doctors’ orders were that only immediate family members could be at his side at the intensive coronary care unit.

Mahathir’s recuperation was initially complicated by infection of the wound. Since leaving hospital, he has completed his recovery but has stayed out of the public eye.

The two did meet in December at the Langkawi International Maritime and Airspace Expo - a brainchild of Mahathir - but no sparks were reported.

Mahathir has also remained silent over his nephew’s tell-all book which portrays him unfavourably and Abdullah in shining terms.

Hmmm... what gives? Has he conceded a walkover or is he merely conserving strength before pouncing once more?


NEP: Next Episode Pending

Whether or not the New Economic Policy (NEP) has outlived its usefulness remains a hotly contested topic.

The past year, however, witnessed the emergence of some unlikely voices, calling for a review of the affirmative action policy.

PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim has often decried Umno's abuse of the NEP in order to shore up Malay support.

But it must have made quite a few people sit up and take notice when top banker Nazir Abdul Razak contradicted the stance of his brother, Deputy Prime Minister Najib, and called for a thorough review of the NEP in order to make Malaysia more economically competitive.

However, it was European Commission ambassador to Malaysia Thierry Rommel's parting shot - as he completed his tenure - that riled up the government. He said the NEP's protectionist policies have not only dissuaded investors from making Malaysia their business base, but is the root cause of inefficiencies that plague the public sector and have a negative impact on private companies.

Oh, oh! The mat salleh’s temerity, not for the first time either, saw a predictable reaction - the government protested Rommel’s lack of locus standi to discuss the issue.

But then, four former top leaders - Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Musa Hitam and Anwar Ibrahim - in an interview with financial weekly The Edge, in varying degrees also expressed the opinion that the NEP should be reviewed.

Will the Umno leadership find the courage to break the cycle of dependence among bumiputeras, now that they have backed the need to dismantle the subsidy mentality in everyone else?


Everything is going up!

Throw out the plastic cards and avoid the malls in the Year of the Rat in 2008 - you will need the cash for everything else. Like petrol, toll charges, electricity, gas, public transportation and food.

Toll charges and electricity rates had, of course, gone up early this year, with noisy street protests achieving little more than the frenzied emptying of water cannon and tear-gas canisters.

Over the year, the price of cooking oil, rice, instant noodles and canned food increased by 15 to 20 percent, after civil servants were given a pay increase of up to 35 percent in July. Even pisang goreng and kuih now cost more.

The government has approved a 7 to 50 percent hike in toll-rate on seven highways from 2008. It is likely to approve proposals by national oil and gas company Petronas and electricity supplier Tenaga Nasional Bhd for a tariff revision for gas and electricity.

With everything going up, up, up - including even the back-up Angkasawan - dare we hope for the more of the same on Bursa Malaysia? Prepare to pay more for just about everything in the new year.


Barking up the wrong tree

Civil society groups longed for an Alsatian, but were given a Shih Tzu instead.

That about sums up the long-running saga of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) that wasn’t.

After a 30-month wait for the government to live up to expectations in disciplining the police force, the outcome as 2007 came to an end was a much diluted version - the Special Complaints Commission (SCC) Bill was tabled in December.

Unlike IPCMC, the SCC can probe all law enforcement officers, not just the police.

That’s the only good thing from this new bill. From the commission’s composition to its powers to its compositions of members, the government was bent of watering-down the IPCMC draft bill proposed by the Royal Commission on the Police in 2005.
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/36176

Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang lost no time in dubbing the SCC a ‘fake IPCMC’ due to its restricted scope of duties and the inability to initiate investigations.

Those who had served on the royal commission felt royally ... erm ... let down.

Just one of the many unspoken questions was why the government had (mis)led the people to believe the IPCMC would be set up, right until November this year.

The SCC bill, unsurprisingly, succeeded in getting past the first reading in Parliament on Dec 13, but was surprisingly withdrawn before the second reading scheduled on Dec 18.

No, the bill will not be repealed - all we can expect is, hopefully, an improved version of it by the new session of Parliament next March after consultation with stakeholders.

But what of long-standing complaints about corruption and misuse of power by the police? Will these ever be eliminated, now that the so-called watchdog may be one with neither bark nor bite?

Reports prepared by the Malaysiakini team

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Previous X-Files

2006 X-files: An inelegant silence
2005 X-files: Wish-list for action
2004 X-files: The plot thickens
2003 X-files: Unresolved cases
2002 X-files: The saga continues
2001 X-files: New entries