From Harakah 21st February 2000

Fadzil warns UMNO and gives lessons on Islam, economy and good governance

In a lengthy and hardhitting Parliamentary speech on February 14, PAS president and Parliamentary Opposition Leader Fadzil Noor warned of UMNO's extinction if the party failed to heed calls for reforms. Fadzil also touched on various current issues affecting the country ranging from the judiciary to the recent high handed experiments in the country's educational system.

Fadzil Noor ... head calls for reforms now Parliamentary Opposition Leader Fadzil Noor in debating the speech by the King said that UMNO had become quite irrelevant - "unless there is a rethinking".

Fadzil said that this was not his opinion but that of the chief executive officer of Malaysian Strategic Resource Centre (MSRC) - one of the Barisan Nasional think-tanks - told at a seminar on "Malaysian Politics in the 21st Century" organised by the MSRC.

Quoting from the Current History journal Fadzil warned: "If you are not current, you are history". This is to say that UMNO is nearing the end of its era of relevancy.

Recalling that it was nationalism, that is Malay Nationalism-- the basis and ideology of UMNO-- that urged UMNO to struggle for independence. But after getting independence, UMNO inherited the parliamentary liberal democratcy ala-Westminster style. The same nationalism made UMNO to reject Malayan Union.

"The Hisbul Muslimin party which was based on the Islamic ideology was also strongly opposed to Malayan Union but the party was banned after a few months. This saw the founding of the PAS in 1951," he explained.Fadzil then dwelt on the current state of law in Malasysia. He said that the Malaysian legal circle now uses new terms such as "Rule by Law" and not "Rule of Law" - terms made popular by former Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang.

"It is obvious how the legal process has been abused to 'right the wrong' and to 'wrong the right', how the victim has become the criminal and the criminal instead the hero.

"Strangely, all this in accordance with the Process of Law or Rule by Law," exclaimed Fadzil. The selective prosecution has now become a part of the legal system of Malaysia.

"The people are still questioning what action was taken by the courts on the report by former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim against Rafidah Aziz involving in five corruption cases and that of Eric Chia of the nearly RM10 billion Perwaja scandal case.

"We also want to know what action was taken by the police with regard to the report on Daim Zainuddin alleging he received money from three corporate bosses while he was still the Finance Minister.

"And what about the case of Rahim Tamby Chik on four cases of corruption - as reported by Anwar based on information from the former Kota Melaka MP Lim Guan Eng?" asked Fadzil.

Fadzil likened UMNO to the mighty dinosaurs that once walked the face of earth but now long extinct, unable to adapt to the changing times. "What UMNO needs is not some spare parts but a complete overhaul - right from its principles and objective of struggle to its leadership.Election Commission's "dirtiest election"

Fadzil also condemned the dirty tactics of the mainstream media in painting black the leaders of the Alternative Front (BA) and the injection of fear should the BA win the recent General Election.

"The role of media on injecting fear into the Chinese and Indians should there be an Islamic state and the implementation of hudud; the threat against civil servants if they voted for the opposition; threat against teachers that they would be banished to the islands; and the threats to withdraw taxi permits if taxiowners found to support the opposition; all these - is this democracy?"

On the phenomena of phantom voters Fadzil said that this has been proved in Sabah - the doubling of the same IC numbers; and dead voters on the electoral roll.

"The BA had raised these issues and particularly the failure of the Election Commission to register 681,000 new voters. In New Zealand, it takes only few days before the election to register as a voter. Fadzil suggested the automatic registration of new voters as soon as voters come of age with the cooperation of the National Registration Department.

He repeated the call by Lim Kit Siang in 1995 that a parliamentary committee be set up headed by the Opposition to investigate into the abuse of the election process so that the 11th General Election would not have been as dirty as the recent one.

"If the suggestion had been taken up in 1995, then the 10th General Election would not have been as dirty as promised by PM." Judiciary

Fadzil said that there is an urgent need for the return of the sovereignty of the law and the constitution:

"With the loss of the judicial independence (kewibawaan), the rubber stamp role of the executive powers has become too strong on the legislative powers as stated by Rais Yatim in his book based on his Ph.d theses on "freedom under exectutive power in Malaysia - a study in Executive Supremacy."

"Will Rais Yatim now uphold the truth he once stated?"

"No matter what the answer will be from the minister himself now, the truth is the people await reforms and the rehabilitation of the sovereignty of law that was first accosted in 1988 in the worst crisis involving the judiciary when then Lord President Tun Salleh Abas and two other judges were stripped of their posts."

Fadzil also said that the results of the last election showed clearly the people's dissatisfaction over the control of the judiciary, unfair distribution of wealth, corruption, cronyism and nepotism, wastage, gross injustice and personal political cruelties against Lim Guan Eng, the ISA crackdown and the detention under Police Act and the height of it all - the injustice suffered by Anwar.

"It is proof we can no more tolerate racial politics, outdated mindsets and autocratic repressive governments.

"The attachment to Islam does not allow Malays to tolerate injustice and cruelty that has no place in Islam and the Sunnah [examplary conduct] of the Prophet. For that is against humanity," says Fadzil. Mega projects

Touching on the economic situation, Fadzil drew attention to the huge debt the country owes.

"The national debt is said to be at RM161.3 billion. The debt of the public sector stands at RM72.5 billion and the rest are debts of the private sector.

" The rhetoric is that we do not want to borrow from the outsiders (World Bank) but the deficit budget insists that we do. "In such a situation too, the PM justifies his extravagant projects with the slogan 'Malaysia Boleh'.

"This is not UMNO money! This is the people's money." Fadzil said that the billion ringgit projects of Putrajaya, KLCC and KLIA means millions of ringgit a day in interest alone!

"It is difficult to take the signs of recovery such as trade surplus in the first three quarters of the year as an indicator, due to the fact the real factor that increased the trade surplus is the weakness of the ringgit.

"The government calls for increased domestic demand by allowing massive deficit spending," he said, adding this is only a short term strategy.

Fadzil also doubted the multiplier effect of the lavish projects such as Putrajaya, KLCC and KLIA.

"Where is the logic of PM's 'the bigger the project the lesser the cost'?"

Fadzil also called for the need for more transparency in the administration all funds such as EPF, Socso and Tabung Haji to avoid misuse of funds to save ailing companies that are closely linked to leaders of the ruling parties.

Explaining that there is a big group of people who had been sidelined, Fadzil said that we have all type of poverty amongst us: such as "poverty", "abject poverty" and "hardcore poverty".

"There is the need for political will to set up funds for housing just like the political will that set up funds to help the ailing companies to recover.

He urged to give priorities to housing, squatters and the lower grade civil servants.

"Action plans and funds of billions of ringgit will urgently be needed to solve the housing woes of the people in five year period," said Fadzil.

On the role of mosques, he agreed that mosques should not be politicised. He refered to the pro-Mahathir sermon by Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin at the National Mosque days before the general elections. In that incident, the sermon drew immediate protest when hundreds of worshippers booed Abdul Hamid and staged a walk out.

"Let mosques be the centre where one can advise to correct the wrongdoing around us such as gambling, riba' (usury), abuse of power, corruption and such," Fadzil suggested.

Fadzil also agreed to the need for an overhaul of the education system, but called on UMNO leaders to "stop experimenting" with different systems of education.

"Let us not be the laughing stock. Everytime we change the minister of education, we change the system. Let the system be knowledge based and evidence based," said Fadzil.

"The emergence of a generation which is poor in soul and unable to shine in the professional fields that they choose shows there is a need for an overhaul," he added.