Mahathir - Pandikar sudah letak jawatan speaker...

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad hari ini mendedahkan Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia sudah mengumumkan peletakan jawatannya sebagai speaker Dewan Rakyat.

"Speaker sudah berhenti. Sekarang timbalan ambil alih," katanya dalam satu program Bicara Negara yang diadakan di Ipoh, Perak hari ini.

Bekas perdana menteri itu berkata jawatan speaker akan diambil alih oleh timbalannya yang akan meneruskan sesi Dewan Rakyat Isnin ini.

Pandikar kali terakhir dilihat bersama Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak ketika melancarkan sebuah projek perumahan rakyat di Kota Belud, Sabah, Ahad lalu. – tmi 

Beliau berkata demikian ketika menjawab soalan daripada hadirin dalam program Bicara Negarawan di Ipoh hari ini.

Mahathir sebelum itu menjawab soalan hadirin sama ada Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak boleh dijatuhkan sekiranya mendapat undi tidak percaya di Parlimen.

Bagaimanapun, akhbar Nanyang Siang Pau melaporkan melalui pos di Facebook, setiausaha Pandikar menafikan dakwaan berkenaan.

Malah, kata setiausaha itu, Pandikar sendiri terkejut dengan kenyataan dibuat Dr Mahathir.

Sementara itu Kiandee (gambar) juga dilaporkan menolak dakwaan peletakan jawatan Pandikar.

Kata Kiandee, spekulasi mengenai peletakan jawatan itu diketahui sejak sidang parlimen berakhir pada 9 April lalu.

Memetik kenyataan Kiandee, The Star melaporkan kedua-dua mereka bertemu beberapa hari lalu dan perkara itu tidak dibincangkan.

"Malah pada sesi lalu cakap-cakap mengenai peletakan jawatan itu timbul tetapi ketika itu Pandikar sedang bercuti. Beliau kemudian hadir pada akhir sesi," katanya.

Dalam perkembangan berkaitan, sumber yang rapat dengan Dr Mahathir sekali lagi menegaskan Pandikar memang ada bertemu dengan bekas perdana menteri itu.
"Saya boleh sahkan dia (Pandikar) datang bertemu Tun (Dr Mahathir) di Yayasan Albukhary pada Jumaat. Ia berlaku sejurus sebelum beliau mengambil cuti," katanya kepada Malaysiakini.- mk

Dr M says Parliament speaker quit, deputy speaker refutes claim... 

Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia is no longer the parliament speaker, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad told a forum in Ipoh today.

The country’s longest serving prime minister said that the speaker had resigned and that his duties will be undertaken by his deputy.

"He came to see me. He said he does not want to carry on, so now the speaker is his deputy," Dr Mahathir said.

Parliament will convene for its second meeting for the year on Monday.

Dr Mahathir did not disclose the reason why Pandikar Amin had quit as speaker.

He announced Pandikar’s resignation after he was asked if it was possible to remove Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak through a motion of confidence in Parliament.

Dr Mahathir said it would be quite difficult to do this as Umno did not have the numbers and would need the support of other BN MPs.

Pandikar’s resignation as speaker has been a subject of much speculation as rumours swirled that he was unhappy with the way Putrajaya conducted its business in the Dewan Rakyat.

Sittings had been pushed into the small hours to ensure that bills were passed with many MPs from the backbench and opposition expressing unhappiness over such practice.

Dr Mahathir urged the public to reject their division leaders who were openly pledging support for Najib.

He also warned that if Najib led the Barisan Nasional at the next general election, the ruling coalition would lose. This would throw the country into chaos as there was no real alliance in Pakatan Rakyat, the opposition pact.

In an immediate response, deputy speaker Datuk Ronald Kiandee told The Star Online that the Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia called it quits was pure speculation.

"Even in the last meeting, the talk of his resignation emerged but he was on official leave. He turned up at the end,” he was quoted as saying by the news portal.

Kiandee told The Star Online that last week Pandikar Amin had chaired the preparatory meeting of Commonwealth Speaker’s Conference to be held in January next year in Kota Kinabalu. 

Pandikar Amin was last seen in public when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak launched a people’s housing project last Sunday in Kota Belud, Pandikar's hometown. – tmi

Najib: BR1M bukan gua punya idea...

 Datuk Seri Najib Razak menafikan program Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) adalah rancangan politik untuk menarik pengundi, sebaliknya ilham daripada pihak Bank Negara Malaysia.

"Ini bukan cadangan saya. Ia cadangan jawatankuasa fiskal dan Bank Negara untuk tolong 40 peratus rakyat (berpendapatan rendah), bukan nak beli undi dan maksud politik tapi untuk tolong rakyat," katanya dipetik Bernama hari ini.

Menurut Najib, BR1M adalah jaringan sosial rakyat dan menjadi cara kerajaan memindahkan kekayaan jangka pendek negara kepada orang ramai.

Perdana Menteri berkata demikian ketika berucap pada majlis perasmian penyerahan Projek Perumahan Rakyat (PPR) Melana Indah Fasa 1 di Johor Bahru.

Bernama melaporkan, BR1M bukan bertujuan untuk memalaskan rakyat tetapi merupakan jaringan sosial rakyat dan cara kerajaan memindahkan kekayaan jangka pendek negara kepada rakyat.

Kenyataan Najib yang juga Menteri Kewangan itu dilihat sebagai mengulas kenyataan bekas Perdana Menteri Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad baru-baru ini yang mendakwa pemberian BR1M memalaskan rakyat.- mk

BR1M not political ploy but Bank Negara's idea...

Prime Minister Najib Razak denied the 1Malaysia People's Aid (BR1M) was a political ploy to attract voters saying the idea originated not from him, but Bank Negara.

"This was not my proposal, it was proposed by the fiscal committee and Bank Negara to help 40 per cent of the people, not to buy votes or for political purposes, but to help the people," he said according to Bernama.

Najib, who is also Finance Minister said this in his speech at a ceremony to hand over the Melana Indah Phase 1 People's Housing Project (PPR), Johor Baharu today.

"I want to ask how many of you who have received BR1M, has it made you lazy?

"Do you want BR1M to continue? Whoever doesn't want BR1M can leave," he said to cheers from the roughly 15,000 at the event.

He was reportedly responding to his predecessor Dr Mahathir Mohamad's criticism over the annual cash handout.

BR1M is one of the issues in Mahathir's arsenal since the long-serving PM declared war on the PM in his blog postings since last month.

The PM said the cash handout to the lower income group was not aimed to make people lazy but it is a social network of the people and the government's way to transfer the country's short-term wealth to the people.

The former PM in his many criticisms have said the handouts were a burden on federal reserves and a form of vote buying, among others.

Apart from BR1M, Mahathir has also relentlessly attacked Najib on the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, the crooked bridge and the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

In his most vicious attacks yet, Mahathir last month called on Najib to step down lest he drags Umno down with him. - mk

PM jadi Santa Claus, Obama marah-marah...

Pada malam Khamis lalu, Datuk Seri Najib Razak berlagak seperti seorang pensyarah kewartawanan. Katanya, pengamal media mesti profesional, bertanggungjawab, bla bla bla dan bla bla bla bla bla.

Orang media sebenarnya sudah muak mendengar syarahan seperti ini. Ia adalah syarahan biasa yang sering terpacul dari mulut ahli politik.

Biasanya, orang politik yang suka membangkitkan isu tanggungjawab media ini mahu mengelak daripada menjawab isu besar melibatkannya.

Kita tahu Najib sekarang berdepan masalah besar. Kata timbalannya, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, Isu dana 1Malaysia Development Bhd boleh (1MDB) meletup di muka Umno.

Bagaimana mahu terus jadi perdana menteri kalau bekas perdana menteri Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad pun memandang lekeh kemampuannya?

Orang politik juga biasanya tidak segan silu menyatakan kepada petugas media bahawa peringatan mereka ibarat nasihat daripada seorang bapa kepada anak.

Mereka tidak sedar, atau mungkin memang memasang harap agar nasihat seperti ini akan membuat orang media tidak ghairah untuk membongkar skandal salah guna kuasa dan rasuah.

Haruan makan anak

Lebih-lebih lagi jika peringatan ini diselitkan pula dengan nasihat supaya menjaga adab Melayu seperti bersopan santun dan hormat orang tua.

Apa yang dibimbangkan, pihak berkuasa yang dianggap sebagai bapa ini bertukar menjadi haruan makan anak, seperti yang diperhatikan seorang wartawan veteran, Fathi Aris Omar.

Bencana besar akan berlaku bila tiada pihak ketiga yang mampu menyemak pihak berkuasa ini, katanya dalam tulisan di Facebook.

Sebab itulah, orang media tidak perlu pergi ke majlis malam media seperti malam Khamis lalu, jika hanya untuk menadah telinga bagi mendengar Najib bersyarah mengenai mata pelajaran “Journalism 101”.

Warga media mahu perdana menteri yang berani mencabar mereka untuk mendedahkan masalah dalam pentadbirannya.

Tiada gunanya Najib bersyarah seperti pensyarah pencen mengenai tanggungjawab wartawan tetapi membungkam dalam isu sebenar yang perlu dijelaskan.

Selepas puas berleter mengenai tanggungjawab media, Najib seterusnya mengagih-agihkan hadiah pula kepada para wartawan dalam majlis tersebut seperti Santa Claus.

Inilah nasib wartawan di Malaysia. Jika kebetulan menang gula-gula seperti kereta dalam majlis PM, bagaimana pula kesannya pada objektiviti mereka dalam melaporkan isu pentadbiran Najib?

Beg isteri lebih mahal

Najib kelihatan sangat kagum ketika menyampaikan hadiah tersebut kepada pemenang. Tapi itupun bukanlah apa sangat.

Ada pemerhati yang melihat, beg tangan yang diperaga oleh isteri Najib ke sana ke mari itu jauh lebih mahal dari harga kereta tersebut.

Kita tahu, majlis seperti ini adalah masa untuk Najib beramah mesra dengan orang media dan bukannya untuk menjawab soalan seperti dalam sidang media.

Presiden Amerika Syarikat,Barack Obama juga ada menganjurkan majlis yang sama. Tapi ucapannya dalam majlis seperti itu bukanlah seperti pensyarah untuk penuntut asas kewartawanan.

Obama menggunakan peluang di satu majlis untuk membangkitkan isu besar – perubahan iklim dunia – yang tidak diendahkan oleh sesetengah ahli politik di negaranya.

Ucapan Obama disampaikan dengan cara separa lucu, dengan menampilkan seorang pelawak sebagai pembantunya agar beliau kelihatan tidak begitu marah-marah dalam satu majlis di Washington DC.

Tapi tujuannya memang begitu. Obama memang mahu dilihat serius dalam menangani soal perubahan iklim yang memberi kesan besar kepada negara itu.

Obama membuat ucapan itu di majlis makan malam bersama White House Correspondents' Association, akhir bulan lalu.

Ucapan Najib pula, dalam majlis Malam Media Perdana 2015 pada Khamis malam dengan para wartawan terkemuka negara ini.

Tapi cara Obama tidak seperti Najib yang paternalistik dan merendah-rendahkan wartawan ke tahap budak hingusan. - mk 

Media mega-draws reek of envelope journalism...

The way expensive gifts were thrown at journalists at the Premier Media Night on Thursday borders on 'envelope' journalism, yet Prime Minister Najib Razak who was in attendance has the gall to tell  journalists how to do their job while the expensive gifts were dished out.

The golden cow consists of lucky draws for a brand new Peugeot 408 costing over RM100, 000 on-the-road. Other freebies include bicycles and motorcycles, plus electronics such as two iPhone 6 (64 gigabyte) smartphones, Samsung Tab 4 tablets, and Samsung LED televisions of various sizes up to 75 inches, as well as a goodie bag for each guest consisting of an umbrella, crackers, a mug, a notepad, a flashlight, and a book on Islamic inheritance.

Altogether there were more than 600 prizes up for grabs last night for the gala attended by about 1,000 media practitioners, bloggers, civil servants, ministers, and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and his wife Rosmah Mansor. However, journalists from independent news portals like Malaysiakini were not invited.

I suspect there were not more than 300 working journos that night, the rest were made up by civil servants, bloggers, PR practitioners and hangers-on. The whole gala media night could cost over RM300,000 including the banquet and lucky draws.

That works out to be RM1,000 per journo. Well that’s close to what is known as envelope journalism.

It doesn’t matter if the gifts were sponsored, they still probably fall into the category of envelope journalism. It’s a different thing altogether when one bought a ticket to attend a charity or gala event and won a lucky draw. That is clear.

Ingrained in system

The envelope journalism phenomenon was virtually unknown among local journalists once upon a time but was a common practice in neighbouring countries where journalists are usually given an envelope stashed with cash for covering a press conference or interview.

The one who takes the envelope understands that this entails a good write-up of a cover-up of some bad news or both. Soon local journos caught the disease as media handlers and PR practitioners began to keep blank envelopes in their drawers as stock-in-trade.

Sometimes these envelopes are given overseas so as not to attract unnecessary attention. There are variations of envelope journalism, of course, expensive corporate gifts or lucky draws being some examples. It’s hard to draw the line but a journalist intuitively knows what exactly is envelope journalism when confronted with one.

I was shocked at the extent envelope journalism has afflicted the profession when I returned to journalism post-retirement. A few years my nephew asked if I could do him a favour by putting in a bit of PR for his client. Since it was a harmless and short piece or PR, I did that for him.

When the piece appeared he asked how much his client should pay me! Shocked, I asked him where he got the idea and his answer was that he thought this was standard practice. So I told him no more favours from then on.

Press freedom better gift

I remember a time when I was general-secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) three decades ago when a PR manager of a multinational tobacco company asked my advice how expensive a gift should his company give to a journalist.

My reply was the question should be how inexpensive the gift should be and that it should not be in cash. Maybe a corporate diary or pen would suffice provided the nominal value should not be more than RM20 (at 1984 value).

The NUJ later suggested a guideline to newspapers that their journalists can keep gifts with a value of not more than RM50. Anything more, he or she should surrender it to the company to be used as lucky draw at the company’s annual dinner for all staff.

As for cash envelopes they should be surrendered to the immediate editor who would then advise the company which gave it to take it back failing which it would be given to a charity of the company’s choice.

I have not known of any newspaper company adopting this advisory. Now back to the RM100,000 car at the Premier Media Night - surely it’s too big to fit into an envelope but its borders on envelope journalism.

Now for Najib’s advice to the media that night, according to Bernama, he said: “As the government, we consider the media as a partner. If we want to build our country, make it the country of our dreams, and bring it to the pinnacle of success that we can be proud of, then the role of the media is very important."

I suggest for next year’s Premier Media Night to celebrate World Press Freedom Day, the PM’s speech writer should also add that more importantly, the press should not be tainted with the scandal of envelope journalism and that only a press free of censorship and controls can only be a partner in national building with the government in any significant manner.- Bob Teoh,mk

cheers.