From Singapore ST
    SEP 1 1998
KL won't recognise trades on Clob

KL Stock Exchange threatens punitive action against those Malaysian
stockbroking firms which engage in indirect off-market transactions

By BRENDAN PEREIRA IN KUALA LUMPUR

THE Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange said that from today all trades in
Malaysian stocks must be done through the KLSE, a move that appears to
be targeted at Clob International -- Singapore's over-the-counter
market for mainly Malaysian equities.

To discourage the trading of local stocks offshore, the KLSE also put
the onus on stockbroking companies not to act on behalf of a client if
they have reason to believe the deal is on a stock exchange not
recognised by the KLSE.

Punitive action in the form of a warning, reprimand, suspension and
even non-recognition await firms who flout this rule. It will be
fruitless pleading ignorance of the nature of the trade or the
identity of the client because the new rules require stockbrokers to
take all reasonable steps to obtain "all essential particulars and
information of their clients".

Also from today, all holders of share certificates of companies listed
on the KLSE must deposit their certificates with the Malaysian Central
Depository.

It is understood that those who have not will be given three months to
do so. The goal is for all Malaysian equities to be lodged here, said
the exchange. Now, about 26 per cent of share certificates are
believed to be held by overseas investors, mainly in Singapore.

The exchange also announced measures to improve transparency:
Stockbroking companies may engage only in off-market deals in the form
of direct business.

A client must disclose to a stockbroking company the name of a nominee
for whom he is acting.

KLSE executive chairman Datuk Azlan Hashim denied strenuously a link
between the measures to end trading of local stocks offshore and a
need to check the influence of Singapore's over-the-counter share
market -- whose continued existence eight years after its birth
remains a bone of contention with regulators and politicians here.

He said the KLSE wanted to bring all off-market transactions back to
Malaysia. The measures were aimed at ensuring orderly and fair market
trading of Malaysian securities and to improve the overall market
transparency, he added.

"This is designed to strengthen our market. We don't go out to harm
anyone," said the regulator, adding that measures were in line with
objectives of the National Economic Recovery Plan (NERP) and its
statutory duty as an exchange.

The KLSE was under an obligation to "curb and prevent activities which
may amount to assisting in the establishing, operating and maintaining
a stock market that is not the stock market of the exchange".

In its NERP report, the National Economic Action Council proposed that
action be taken to deal with the "growing domination" of Clob
International in trading Malaysian equities. It called for an action
plan to restore the KLSE as a primary market for Malaysian shares.

Subsequently, it said the continued existence of Clob undermines the
KLSE.

Analysts told The Straits Times it appeared the KLSE was putting the
onus on Malaysian stockbroking firms to clip the wings of Clob, on
which 112 Malaysian stocks are quoted.

They noted that under the present system, Malaysian stockbrokers act
as authorised agents for the central depository. Therefore, after a
deal is closed on Clob, Singapore broking houses lodge the shares with
their counterparts in KL.

This practice is likely to end with the new rule forbidding a
stockbroking company from dealing in securities on behalf of a client
if it has reason to believe that the transaction involves a stock
exchange not recognised by the KLSE.

Brokers, meanwhile, have said interest in Malaysian stocks on Clob has
declined sharply due to regional difficulties. For example, a typical
day's total turnover on Clob in mid-August represented about 22 per
cent of total turnover on the SES or 3 per cent of the total value of
shares traded.

In 1995, Clob accounted for about 60 per cent of the total turnover on
the SES.

SEP 1 1998
REPLY: What SES says
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'CLOB International will continue to operate as long as there is
demand from investors for its services.

The Stock Exchange of Singapore is studying the implications of the
latest measures announced by the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.'
-- A statement from the Stock Exchange of Singapore in response to
queries.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com/pages/sinb6_0901.html

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From BT
Tuesday, September 1, 1998

Tenaga to seek redress outside purchase pacts
By WENDY LIM

TENAGA Nasional Bhd (Tenaga) is expected to seek a redress outside the
power purchase agreements (PPAs) it had signed with independent power
producers (IPPs) following recent developments in the electricity
industry.

The national utility is said to be looking for "favourable terms"
outside the PPAs and is likely to approach the IPPs for another round
of negotiations.
Tajuddin
1
Tenaga's executive chairman Datuk Dr Ahmad Tajuddin Ali said the
company is likely to use "historical circumstances and the lack of
sufficient data" in its argument for what has been described as a
"supplementary document" to the existing PPAs.

"When the respective agreements were negotiated, the parties involved
made certain assumptions as there were inadequate data for reference.

"These assumptions may no longer hold at this time," Tajuddin told
Business Times in Kuala Lumpur. The PPA is based on an 8 per cent
gross domestic product growth and estimated double-digit growth
annually for the country.

Electricity demand, however, has shrunk 12 per cent and Tenaga feels
that its proposal for talks with the IPPs on the matter is reasonable.

Tenaga's proposal has been further strengthened by Prime Minister
Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad who had a week ago indicated that a
re-negotiation of the PPAs is possible if they are unfair to one
party.

Tenaga currently spends close to RM10 billion a year for its entire
operations - generation, transmission and distribution, rural
electricity needs, research and development, training and education,
including operating a university.

Of this amount, RM3.5 billion goes to the purchase of 30 per cent of
electricity generated by IPPs.

"Surely, there is something amiss here ... either Tenaga is able to
keep its operational cost extremely low or we are paying too much for
the purchase of power from the IPPs," Tajuddin said.

Due to the complexity of the issue, Tenaga may approach the issue
outside the provisions of the agreement and instead propose a
supplementary agreement.

Like the PPAs which are specific to the IPPs, a supplementary
agreement will take into consideration the individual IPP's financial
position.

Sources said Tenaga and the IPPs are in a difficult position. "Changes
are bound to happen, sooner or later ... in the PPAs or in the
supplementary agreement. Tenaga had not been pleased with the PPAs
since they were first signed.

"It is better and beneficial for the industry if this issue is settle
once and for all.

"The electricity industry is a growing sector and there are bound to
be more businesses coming if a solution is found quickly," the source
added.

Tajuddin said negotiations are under way on a one-on-one basis with
IPPs that are willing to talk on its proposals to ease its short-term
cash flow problems.

Tenaga had submitted several proposals, including deferred payment,
easing billing cycle and discounts which vary between one IPP to
another.

Tenaga has also engaged lawyers to look into the legal implications of
a supplement document to the PPA.

Tajuddin said that Tenaga wants a fair solution which will not
adversely affect the country's credibility.

It is looking at ways to ease its financial problems without
jeorpadising investments made by the IPPs.

The already weak market took a bigger dip since the Tenaga voiced its
complaint on August 10.

Malakoff Bhd's share price fell 46 per cent from RM6.10 to RM3.30 on
Friday. Malakoff holds equity in two power stations - 75 per cent in
Segari and 20 per cent in Port Dickson Power.

Prices of YTL's shares dropped by 22 per cent to RM1.69 from RM2.18,
while Powertek was down 24 per cent from RM4.32 to RM3.28. The Tanjong
group, which recently bought over shares in Powertek, also dipped more
than 20 per cent in two weeks.

Tenaga shares also suffered similar fate. The blue-chip share is now
down to RM2.18, less than half of its initial public offering value of
RM4.50.

Sources said until the two parties reached an amicable solution, the
share prices of the IPPs and Tenaga will suffer the same fate -
downwards.
http://www.nstpi.com.my/bt

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From BT

Transactions on Clob not recognised
Tuesday, September 1, 1998
By ELENA SHAMSUDDIN

THE Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) has made it clear that it does
not recognise trading in Malaysian securities on Singapore's Central
Limit Order Book (Clob), the republic's over-the-counter share market.

At a press conference late yesterday to announce new KLSE measures,
its executive chairman Datuk Mohd Azlan Hashim said all dealings in
securities listed on the KLSE must only be effected through the KLSE
or a stock exchange recognised by it.

Asked whether Singapore's Clob is a recognised exchange, he said: "It
is not."

Azlan pointed out that the new measures are not aimed at any party,
but are part of overall efforts to strengthen the local stock market.

On what kind of impact the move would have on offshore transactions in
Malaysian securities, especially Clob trading, he said: "We can't take
into account activities outside our jurisdiction. Our responsibility
is restricted to our own jurisdiction and we implement and devise new
measures as we see fit to further strengthen ourselves."

The decision, together with other measures announced yesterday, are
intended to ensure orderly and fair trading on the local stock market.
They are also aimed at improving overall transparency of the Malaysian
capital market.

A stockbroking company is now prohibited from dealing in securities on
behalf of a client if there is reason to believe that the transaction
is intended to facilitate the dealing in securities on a stock
exchange not recognised by the KLSE.

Earlier this month, the National Economic Action Council had called
for Clob, which trades mostly in Malaysian stocks, to be closed down.

Some 100 Malaysian counters are listed on Clob, formed in 1990 after
Kuala Lumpur directed all Malaysian companies to delist from the Stock
Exchange of Singapore.

A dealer contacted yesterday said the question of Clob's survival is
not quite the issue. Being mainly retail-driven, with very little
institutional participation, "it would eventually die anyway," he
said.

There may be a short-term sell-off of Malaysian stocks which are
listed there but this will be because of the new rule on scrip
immobilisation, he said.

All securities listed on KLSE are now required to be deposited with
the Malaysian Central Depository. While no timeframe has been set to
achieve full immobilisation, transactions involving physical transfers
of share certificates have effectively been made immediately illegal,
another dealer said.

In addition, the Securities Clearing Automated Network Services Sdn
Bhd is the only recognised clearing house for Malaysian securities
trading, including off-market business, or direct business deals, he
added.

At the press conference, Azlan said, "we have not set the exact
timeframe... we have made it a rule for the shares to be deposited
into the CDS. We will monitor the progress and if required we will
make neccessary changes along the way. We will give people a
reasonable amount of time."
  http://www.nstpi.com.my/bt

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Dear Yap & Sabri,

congratulations for successfully getting  this maling-list going. May
God hold the members of this list in honesty, purity of intention,
unselfishness, love and humility so we shall find friends in here and
together we shall contribute to building a happy, united, harmonious and
prosperous nation. Amen.

Sincerely,

-Tok Aji-


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From The Times of India
1st September 1998

Big tumble in Hong Kong and Singapore, but Tokyo rises
By Thomas Wagner

TOKYO: As Asian markets reopened Monday after last week's global stock
market rout, share prices fell sharply in Hong Kong and Singapore. But
they rose in Japan, despite more bad news about Russia's economic and
political stability.

After only seven minutes of trading in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index
was down 5.7 per cent. By closing, it had fallen even further,
shedding 7.1 per cent, or 554.70 points, to 7,275.04.

In Singapore, where the benchmark index had crashed through the
crucial 900-point level for the first time in 10 years Friday, shares
fell 28.83 points, or 3.25 per cent, to a new low of 856.43.

However, on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, where the benchmark 225-issue
Nikkei stock average had sunk to a 12-year low on Friday, stock prices
rose moderately on Monday, gaining 192.26 points, or 1.38 per cent, to
close the day at 14,107.89.

``Given the big falls we had last week, world markets may be taking a
breather. But generally the fundamentals in Japan and Asia as a whole
remain bleak,'' Peter Morgan, a senior economist at HSBC Securities
Japan, said in an interview.

Elsewhere in Asia, the key stock index in Taiwan fell 2.8 per cent to
finish at a 22-month low, and stocks ended up rising 1.8 per cent in
South Korea, falling 1.4 per cent in Australia, and remaining nearly
unchanged in the Philippines.

Across Asia, Europe and the Americas, many stock markets fell by big
percentages last week. That left some people wondering if the year-old
Asian financial crisis, and the recessions it has caused in regional
powerhouses such as Japan and Hong Kong, could spread to the West and
sour its economies.

In the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 357
points Thursday and 114.31 points on Friday, leaving it at 8,051.68.
That shrank 1998's gain to 1.8 per cent. At July's peak, the Dow had
been up 18.1 per cent.

In Hong Kong on Monday, the blue-chip Hang Seng index fell sharply
when the government largely reduced its role in trading. For two
weeks, Hong Kong's government had been buying stocks to drive the
index to a level at which speculators who bet on stock prices falling
would lose money. On Friday, that aggressive government buying pushed
trading volume to a record US$ 10.1 billion. Traders estimated the
government spent US$ 9.1billion.

Even though stock prices seemed far more stable in Tokyo Monday, signs
of gloominess and fear about the world's economic future also remained
high in some areas.

Even in Singapore, where newspapers often work with the government to
keep people calm, signs of panic prevailed. ``World markets sent
reeling: world faces global meltdown as its leaders fail to find
solutions to Russia's worsening crisis,'' said the front-page headline
in Saturday's The Straits Times. ``Fear of complete meltdown rules
markets,'' said a headline in the Business Times on Monday. (Reuter)
http://www.timesofindia.com/today/01busi6.htm

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From SCMP, HK
Tuesday  September 1  1998

KL bans trading of Malaysian shares in Singapore
Surprise move: Anwar Ibrahim
BARRY PORTER in Singapore

Malaysia has stopped the trading of its companies' shares in Singapore
in a move almost certain to escalate cross-border tensions.

The surprise announcement on a National Day holiday came ahead of a
special cabinet meeting scheduled for today to discuss economic
measures that Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has said would "shock"
the world.

At a news conference last night, Kuala Lumpur's stock exchange
chairman, Mohammed Azlan Hashim, said trade in the shares of Malaysian
companies on Singapore's over-the-counter market would no longer be
recognised.

He said Malaysian share transactions must go through Kuala Lumpur's
stock exchange or one that it recognises.

Trade originating from the Singapore's Central Limit Order Book (Clob)
"is not recognised", he said.

Presently, about 25 per cent of the volume in Malaysian shares is
executed on the Clob.

"We understand industry participants might be concerned at the
relatively short time in which these measures are implemented," Mr
Azlan said.

"We realise, however, that industry participants are faced with
similar urgent circumstances - circumstances that can be addressed and
eventually overcome by these measures," he added.

Meanwhile, rumours are rife in Kuala Lumpur that the new measures
expected to come from today's special cabinet meeting could include
curbs on the outflow of capital to safeguard Malaysia's currency as
interest rates are brought down.

Financial markets have been buzzing since Bank Negara governor Ahmad
Mohamed Don and his deputy, Fong Weng Phak, resigned abruptly on
Friday.

Malaysian officials attributed the resignations to differences over
interest rates, but bankers said the men opposed pending measures that
could include controls on capital.

Other rumours circulating in the foreign-exchange market yesterday
ranged from an imminent cabinet reshuffle, to an announcement of snap
general elections, to Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's
resignation.

"I have heard it many times, but it's not true," Bernama news agency
quoted Mr Anwar as saying in his political constituency in the
northern state of Penang.

Speculation about Mr Anwar has mounted as Dr Mahathir and Special
Functions Minister Daim Zainuddin steer economic policy on to an
expansionary track and away from the austerity package that the deputy
prime minister and the central bank had pursued.

P.K. Basu, chief regional economist at Credit Suisse First Boston in
Singapore, said foreign investors might be required to place a 30 per
cent deposit at Bank Negara, the central bank, that could be withdrawn
only after 12 months.

That would reduce volatile short-term capital flows, he said.

By bringing share trading back to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia hopes to
bolster its capital market and to improve transparency.

The government had been concerned about Clob's lack of accountability
and had complained that it was being used by speculators to short-sell
the stocks of Malaysian companies.

"[The Malaysian Government] sees it as an irritation, another means by
which speculators can harm their capital market," said Chia Yew Boon,
head of Singapore and Malaysia research at Santander Investments
Securities.

"They also think of it is a loss of business," he said, "but I don't
think they have thought through the implications."

By effectively shutting down Clob, Malaysia may have ridden itself of
unwanted short-term speculators, but analysts warned that it also
risked the loss of genuine long-term Singapore investors.

Since the start of Asia's financial crisis in July 1997, Malaysia's
main stock index has fallen more than any other index in the region,
about 75 per cent.

The Malaysian ringgit has weakened nearly 40 per cent against the US
currency in the period.

Special Site:

Asian Crisis

http://www.scmp.com/news/

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From SCMP, HK
Tuesday  September 1  1998

Malaysia : Patriotic fiesta dispels gloom


AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Penang
The nation yesterday cast off the gloom which has seen it spiral into
an economic downturn to celebrate its 41st anniversary with joy and
patriotism.

"The mood is one of joy. The spirit is flying high," Fauzi Rahman, a
35-year-old businessman said.

Concern over "the economic crisis did not show on the faces of the
thousands of people who lined the road to watch the celebrations", he
added.

The northern island-state of Penang played host to two hours of
national day celebrations witnessed by King Tuanku Ja'afar and Queen
Tunku Najihah along with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and his
entire cabinet.

Mr Fauzi said despite the economic gloom there was a strong sense of
patriotism with many waving the national flag and cheering as the
colourful parade marched past.

Featuring in the celebration was a cultural dance and a field show by
about 3,000 students, a procession and march-past involving 67
contingents and 26 bands with 7,972 participants.

Sarojini Mohan, a local resident, described the celebration as a
colourful "fiesta".

"The crowd was just overflowing. They lined the street. I guess no one
thought about economic woes. They were just excited," she said. Ms
Sarojini said Dr Mahathir got the loudest applause when he arrived in
the Kembara, Malaysia's first four-wheel drive vehicle.

The celebrations culminated in a thrilling thrilling fly-past by eight
F-18 Hornets of the Royal Malaysian Air Force.

http://www.scmp.com/news

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From SCMP. HK
Tuesday  September 1  1998

Singapore : Officials in lather over beach raves

Good clean fun: sud-seekers at one of the Sentosa foam parties,
attacked by some newspapers as "too wild and raunchy". Agence
France-Presse photo
BARRY PORTER in Singapore
Authorities are wary about the latest hot dance craze.

Two pubs on the tourist island of Sentosa have been staging beachside
foam parties, an idea imported from the much wilder Spanish beach
resort of Ibiza.

Revellers in beachwear gyrate to dance music in a giant inflatable
pool while overhead machines churn out thick white suds.

The parties are hugely popular among young Singaporeans, but a debate
is bubbling over what organisers say is just innocent fun.

The republic's conservative press has condemned the parties as "too
wild, raunchy, steamy and wet".

Sunset Bay Beach Club director Cindy Ann Berlandier said: "We have
people dancing in bikinis and bare-chested men. It is a bit more
raunchy than an ordinary disco. But it is just good clean fun."

Kaz Sajimin, manager of the Pink Flamingo Beach Pub, which also runs
foam parties, said: "Everyone loves it. I've not received a single
complaint."

Nevertheless, the Singapore police force, Public Entertainment
Licensing Unit and Central Narcotics Bureau plan to keep watch on
parties to ascertain if any activities break the law.

Natalie Mah, spokeswoman for Sentosa Development Corporation which
manages Sentosa Island, said drastic action would be taken if any laws
were broken.

Sunset Bay had parties suspended for a month after underaged drinkers
were found in the crowd. Its owners have been ordered to deposit a
bond which could be forfeited if it breaks the rules again.
http://www.scmp.com/news

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From SCMP, HK
Tuesday  September 1  1998

Dow suffers 500-point plunge
AGENCIES
Updated at 6am:

Wall Street took fright yesterday at the global economy and a North
Korean missile launching over Japan, sending the Dow Jones industrial
average to its second-largest point loss ever.

The benchmark index fell 512.61 points, or 6.3 per cent, closing at
7,539.07 and wiping out all gains made this year. Its steepest loss of
554 points was recorded during the October 1997 slide.

Broader indicators also fell: The Nasdaq composite index posted a
record loss of 140.46 points, or 8.5 per cent, to 1,499.22; and the
Standard and Poor's 500 fell 68.23 to 958.91.

''I think people realise it's a 'crash-ette','' Robert Stovall,
president of Stovall/Twenty-First Advisers, said of the market's fall.

Trading volumes swelled as a wave of selling hit in the last hour of
trading.

''The word capitulation comes to mind,'' said Philip Orlando, chief
investment officer of Value Line Asset Management.

Wall Street was unsettled by Russia's unfolding political crisis after
Duma rejected Viktor Chernomyrdin as prime minister. Russian President
resubmitted Mr Chernomyrdin's name to the lower parliamentary house,
deepening a politcal crisis that requires swift and decisive action to
deal with Russia's teetering economy.

Global investors speculated that a political paralysis might push
Russia into a nasty economic crisis after the rouble's recent
collapse.

US President Bill Clinton left Washington for a summit with Mr
Yeltsin, saying he was on a mission to keep the world's second-largest
nuclear power ''on the path of reform''.

North Korea's ballistic missile firing over northeastern Japan also
troubled Wall Street.

http://www.scmp.com/news

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Political leaders judged by higher standards
From NST
Sunday, August 30, 1998


A politician, who, during the boom years, sometimes had to eat two
business lunches a day, now often eats alone in his office.

Some days, he's so free, he spends his time watching TV in his office,
tuned most of the time to CNN.

As a result, he has become quite acquainted with the White House
scandal. For instance, he can recite off-hand the poll figures on
President Bill Clinton and talks about the "blue dress" like a DNA
expert.

He thinks the live telecast of the American President's "confession"
is one of the most fascinating things he has seen in his adult life.

If the TV-watching politician's recent experiences are any indication,
it is possible the economy has slipped to second place as the topic of
the day at the "layman's parliament" _ the warong and the coffeehouse.

The majority of Malays are generally quite astonished that many
Americans seem less concerned that their President cheated on his wife
than the fact that he may have lied to the American public.

To the Muslim, illicit sex, which is basically what the American
President has admitted to, is a morality issue or to put it more
plainly, a sin.

Illicit sex falls within the category of wrongs in Islam known as dosa
besar or major sins which also include wrongs like blasphemy, slander,
drinking, gambling and dishonesty.

Among the Malays, as Defence Minister Datuk Syed Hamid Albar puts it,
political leaders are expected, among other things, to be religious
models.

"Leadership goes hand in hand with the responsibility of morality," he
says.

In fact, in the last two decades, there has been a growing emphasis on
religiosity among the Malay political leadership. Malays, rightly or
wrongly, have come to equate piety with good leadership.

Thus, Umno elections except, perhaps, in 1993, usually find delegates
voting in at least one "religious-minded" candidate for the three
vice-presidents in the party.

It also explains to some extent how Pas has managed to hold on to
Kelantan. Malay politicians, whether Pas or Umno, rarely fail to lace
their speeches with religious verses and parables.

The better-versed ones gladly take to the pulpit during Friday prayers
and politicians who are able to lead jemaah prayers in the mosque,
surau or at home are greatly admired.

Tan Sri Wan Mokhtar Ahmad enjoys that sort of reputation in the party;
so do Datuk Dr Yusof Nor, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Datuk Dr
Abdul Hamid Othman and, of course, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

During the bad old days of rampant money politics, delegates voting at
the party elections received gifts that invariably included expensive
fountain pens, watches, pocket money and prayer mats!

Years ago, Dr Nordin Selat defined the ideal Malay leader as being
religious, knowledgeable and who knows the adat (custom).

"Being religious is not the sole criterion but it's certainly a very
important one," says Nordin who left academia for politics and is,
today, quite happy as a gentleman farmer.

It is also not all that difficult, he says, for politicians to package
themselves as pious figures. They just have to be seen regularly at
the mosque, say pious things and go to Mecca several times a year.

It has come to a stage where having an uztaz for a father or an uztaza
mother carries more clout than being the son of a lawyer or daughter
of a doctor.

In that sense, the religion has come to define the parameter of what
is acceptable or unacceptable behaviour in Malay political leadership.

That is not to say that the religion was unimportant in Umno's early
history.

Back then, as pointed out by writer and social critique Rustam A.
Sani, religious politicians enjoyed a special status except that great
measure was put to their commitment to the cause, to the struggle for
independence.

The connection between religion and politics in this country grew more
discernible after the Islamic revivalism of the 1970s.

But, as Rustam suggests, the rivalry between Umno and Pas for Malay
votes also contributed to the trend.

"Among some political groups, if you are not religious, then you are
not in. So, people who are not all that religious try to be in the
in-group by acting religious. The dualism simply baffles me," says
lawyer-politician Datuk Dr Rais Yatim.

But Tunku Abdul Rahman, says Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Sanusi
Junid, was definitely one politician who did not pretend to be what he
was not.

Malaysia's first Prime Minister, in spite of his anglophile ways, his
self-professed enjoyment of the occasional drink, his love for
horse-betting and his appreciation of women, was widely accepted, even
loved, as a leader by Malays and non-Malays.

But do Malays tend to judge others more harshly when it comes to sex
scandals as opposed to say, financial corruption? Their interest and
outrage over the former, as past experience has shown, seems so much
deeper and more extensive.

Sanusi, for instance, is all fire and brimstone when it comes to the
subject of sexual misconduct.

"Men do terrible things when driven by sex ... history is filled with
such examples," he says.

Says a Kuala Lumpur lawyer: "There is some sort of double standard
there ... both (whether sexual transgression or financial corruption)
are equally serious."

Rustam's answer to the question is boldly blunt and, perhaps, the
least hypocritical: "Don't let anyone fool you ... that sex is not a
big thing in Malay society. It's something we all like to do but won't
admit.

"Among the Malays, it's something you are not supposed to talk about
openly. For example, if you meet someone, you are not supposed to show
you are attracted to him or her, otherwise you'll be thought of as
gatal. But privately, people talk about sex all the time. That's why
sex can be so easily exploited into a flaw of your personality."

According to Syed Hamid, allegations of sexual misdemeanour,
especially if it involves married persons, strike at the very core of
the family institution whereas corruption, though a serious issue,
touches ordinary people in a less personal way.

"A man who cheats on his wife betrays his family. He diminishes his
image as a family man, a husband, a father. It's something almost
everyone can relate to."

And, says the same KL lawyer, if the man is a leader, he must be
prepared to be judged by standards higher than others.

"When we elect somebody, we place our trust in them. It's a great
responsibility and because they exemplify our hopes for the future,
they are expected to live by standards higher than others," says the
lawyer.

In that sense too, says Razak Baginda, head of the Malaysian Strategic
Research Centre, there are lessons to be learnt from the American
episode of sex and politics.

Strong religious values are crucial, but touting them to climb the
ladder of political ambition is like toying with a double-edged sword.

"They don't really mix, not any more ... especially if you want to
survive politically," says Razak.
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From NST
Sunday, August 30, 1998

Who Will Save Malaysia? The Government and the people
By Lyn Chai

The front cover (Asiaweek, Aug 28) depicts a single lifebuoy stamped
with the Malaysian flag floating helplessly in a stormy sea.

It is true, Malaysia is facing its most serious challenge in decades.
Like our neighbours, what started as financial turmoil in the regional
currency markets has now transformed into undisputed economic
recession. Statistics and data tend to dehumanise the very real social
cost that is borne by the population.

Businessweek (Aug 17) focused on "Asia's Social Backlash" reporting on
soaring joblessness in Japan, growing bitterness in South Korea and
political opposition rallying in Thailand.

It counted 90 South Korean companies going under everyday and an
average of 25 people committing suicide per day in the first quarter
of this year - a 36 per cent jump from a year earlier.

The current crisis has spared few in the region and Malaysia is all
too aware that our social as well as economic well-being is under
threat.

Yet, Malaysia has been the only country to come forward with its own
national blueprint to chart the economy out of the prevailing
quagmire.

In January this year, a specific agency was established to study and
recommend solutions to tackle the economic problems - the National
Economic Action Council.

In June this year, a Minister of Special Functions - with a proven
track record of success in overcoming the last recession in 1986 and
engineering a decade of phenomenal economic growth of eight per cent
per annum - was appointed specifically to concentrate on strategies
towards economic revival.

In July this year, the National Economic Recovery Plan (NERP) was
unveiled, highlighting six key objectives, 44 lines of action and over
500 recommendations.

A plan that was commended as being frank, comprehensive, integrated
and realisitc, that acknowledged weaknesses in the system and proposed
specific and decisive recommendations in response.

How is it then that Malaysia is attacked for "unwillingness to face
the fact that times have changed", that "there is no indication that
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad sees anything particular
that needs fixing" or that "he is more focused on the politics of
staying in power ... than identifying solutions for fixing the
economy?"

The publication of the 216-page NERP itself makes such statements
impossible to justify.

Is it because Malaysia has not obediently and blindly swallowed
standard perscriptions doled out by the IMF? Articles and opinions
that support, for example, Malaysia's lowering of interest rates,
abandonment of IMF decrees and criticism of speculators is growing in
academic, political and business circles worldwide.

Nobel prize-winning economist Milton Friedman states: "In my opinion,
the IMF is largely responsible for the Asian crisis."

Cambridge University Professor of Economics Peter Nolan in an
interview in Kuala Lumpur recently was adamant that countries should
be in full control of national economic policy and not allow
institutions such as the IMF to dictate terms from afar.

He said it is the responsibility of each government to produce its own
economic goals and policy, bearing in mind the unique conditions of
the country in question.

He added that "IMF's track record is imperfect at best, and proven to
be unmitigated disasters in some cases".

China, for example, formulated its own path and pace to success
without the tumultuous social upheaval and economic disintegration now
facing IMF-led Russia.

Malaysia continues to be criticised by certain foreign media for not
facing decisively and being entrenched in the past.

Yet when pro-active measures are introduced by the Government, they
are either ignored or flatly dismissed as being "wrong." Asiaweek
calls for "new approaches and solutions ... things like more
transparency among banks and competitive bidding for government
contracts."

These are just two recommendations out of 500 that have already been
outlined in the NERP.

Asiaweek describes that "inventory liquidation may be the most
lucrative business" in Kuala Lumpur.

It is precisely because healthy companies are suffering from the
credit squeeze that the Statutory Reserve Requirement and interest
rates have been reduced, and the Asset Management Company (Danaharta)
and the Special Purpose Vehicle (Danamodal) have been established.

Flushing out weak and inefficient companies is a necessary and painful
process that Malaysia is prepared to undertake but not at the expense
of the country's financial and industrial backbone on which we depend
on future growth.

Asiaweek calls this move to loosen monetary policy contrary to
"conventional wisdom" i.e. the IMF whose flaws and failures we have
already ascertained.

But it is "conventional" methods and lack of new thinking that
Asiaweek had previously accused the Government of.

Morgan Stanley observes that deflation, not inflation, as reflected in
the July consumer price index, justifies the latest cut in Bank
Negara's intervention rate and that "easier monetary policy and
aggresive fiscal expansion are the only ways for Malaysia to avert a
depression-style GDP contraction".

CIMB Securities' econometric research also shows that ringgit changes
are more influenced by regional currency movements than interest rate
differentials.

It is curious how one can conclude that "Malaysia is now the most
problematic in the region perhaps outside Indonesia" when we compare
indicators of unemployment, inflation, foreign debt borrowings and the
absence of political instability, devastating riots, food shortages,
protests and strikes that have ravaged other Asian nations.

"Our Nation, Our Responsibility". This is the motto for this year's
National Day and reflects the spirit and determination Malaysians must
adopt.

No one should be exempt from what Asiaweek calls the "rescue business"
as each individual Malaysian must contribute towards the country's
recovery.

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is
"not out of the rescue business" as Asiaweek contends.

Weekly Cabinet meetings aside, the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime
Minister and Special Functions Minister meet everyday to find new and
better solutions in tackling the dynamics of the on-going crisis.

We should question why, as Asiaweek reported, "You can't expect the
architects of the old Malaysia to re-engineer and rebuild a new
Malaysia". First of all, we should make it abundantly clear that the
aim is not to build a "new Malaysia".

It is the present Malaysia that the Government is strengthening by
addressing specific shortcomings that have been recognised, promoting
better management and corporate governance that will ultimately bring
the benefits of sustained economic growth.

Our Prime Minister was once heralded by the foreign press as a
"visionary". Surely, we need visionary capabilities in this time of
crises. Asiaweek asks:

"Who can save Malaysia?" "In normal times," Asiaweek looks towards our
Prime Minister, but what exactly constitutes "normal times"? The
recession of 1986? Is 10 years of eight per cent growth "normal", as
if this did not require effort, vision and leadership?

As has repeatedly been urged, it is evident that we, Malaysians, hold
the best chance of "saving ourselves" from this crisis.

There is no ulterior motive or hidden agenda but our own national
interest which is synonymous with our individual social and economic
well-being.

We cannot allow ourselves to be swayed by negativity and pessimism. If
others wish to see us as drifting in an expanse of sea, are we to
drown to satisfy them? Malaysia was not built by defeatists. We will
swim to shore.

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From NST
  Sunday, August 30, 1998

Other Thots: A time to celebrate and to reflect
By Datuk A. Kadir Jasin

There are as many reasons to celebrate our National Day tomorrow as
there are reasons not to. Our country is 41 years old tomorrow and is
facing one of the worst challenges in its history.

The national-level celebration will be held in Penang. It is a fitting
tribute to the State which has successfully transformed itself from a
colonial outpost to an economic dynamo and from a colony torn by
communal strife to a peaceful tropical island.

When we celebrated last year's National Day, the Asian economic crisis
had just started. We had not expected the problem to be as deep as it
is today.

Tomorrow, we will be celebrating the special occasion in the midst of
the worst economic crisis ever to hit us and the region.

In fact, there is now the growing fear that if the Asian crisis is not
halted and the recovery set in motion, the whole world will be
affected.

As much as we may like to teach America and Europe a lesson or two on
global economic interdependence by making them suffer with us, such a
thought is unproductive and can be self-fulfilling.

In any case, the Asian crisis is already sending shivers down the
spine of US industries. The big Asian buyers of American products like
aeroplanes, defence equipment and computers, to name a few, are gone.

Those who can still afford them are heading elsewhere. They are either
buying regionally or are looking towards Europe where their currencies
fetch a better value than in the US.

Thanks to Wall Street and its backers in Washington, DC, whose
modern-day "religion" is a free market, the Asian currencies have so
badly depreciated against the dollar that few Asian buyers can afford
to shop in the US any more.

So, while the 25-year-old fund managers and currency traders in Wall
Street, the grand temple of this modern-day "religion", might have
made a pile speculating in currencies and shares, the hardworking
25-year-old computer designers and programmers in the Silicon Valley
and Seattle are not so lucky.

What the Wall Street currency traders and speculators have done is to
inflate their pockets at the risk of turning the US economy into a
bubble economy similar to that of Japan.

The US may have the money, but its economy could become less strong
fundamentally as a result of the bubble effect.

qAlthough, as individuals and a nation we are poorer today, we are
better off than most other people in the region and elsewhere in the
world.

We suffer only the economic problems. But our neighbours are not only
suffering economic hardship but also the havoc of nature and political
instability.

Floods have covered much of China and Bangladesh for weeks while
drought-induced famines have taken the lives of millions in North
Korea and some parts of Indonesia.

Except for water shortages in some parts of the country, which is
largely due to the bungling bureaucrats and inept private sector
providers, we are spared these natural disasters.

So, it is all the more reason why we should celebrate, or more
accurately, commemorate Hari Kebangsaan tomorrow.

It is an occasion to praise God for giving us the good land, for
strength to renew our commitment to building a multi-racial and
multi-religious nation and to join forces in overcoming the economic
crisis.

No less important, it is a time to restate our commitment to the
spirit of Merdeka and to strengthen our resolve to keep our freedom.

We may be free from the clutches of the old type of colonialism but
that does not mean that our freedom is guaranteed. In the
post-colonial and post-Cold War period, economic power has replaced
military might as a tool of subjugation.

The new form of colonialism does not have to take the deliberate and
visible form of the viceroys and colonial advisers, the pledges of
loyalty and treaties.

The new colonisers will use the currency and stock markets, the
multilateral treaties and the International Monetary Fund to subdue
nations and peoples.

With the ability to control the value of currencies being a potent new
tool for global domination, the US and the majority of developed
countries are not likely to support us any more to regulate currency
trading.

While the unabated Wall Street-led currency and stock devaluation,
which started with the Thai baht in May last year, had impoverished
tens of millions of people around the world, Americans are enjoying
the highest standard of living on account of cheap imports from around
the world.

The attack on Asian currencies, which has since spread to Australia,
Russia, South Africa and South America, reached a conspiratorial
proportion when massive capital flight followed.

Today, while Asian economies suffer acute capital deficiency, America
and Europe enjoy massive inflow of funds from around the globe.

What better way is there for the US, which has been suffering gaping
trade deficits with Asia, especially with Japan and China, than to
encourage a reverse in the flow of capital.

Of course, some Wall Street types will argue that the US does not need
Third World capital.

That is exactly the point. The US does not need Third World capital.
But by devaluating currencies of Third World countries and sending
their economies tumbling, Wall Street had precipitated the flight of
capital from these poor countries.

This is not about the call to bear arms, to blow up American embassies
and to pelt American diplomats with rotten eggs, but about trying to
protect our independence and our economic well-being.

Maybe it is time for the Government to announce the "shocking
measures" hinted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad on
Aug 15 since little has changed in the international currency and
share markets to provide us with real hope.

qWe have given ourselves more than a year to understand the problem
and take appropriate countermeasures.

Our dedication to the IMF-type policy of high interest rates, tight
money supply and low spending has not helped.

The ringgit continues to be weak, the stock market has lost much of
its value, the housing and construction sector has stagnated and the
manufacturing sector is struggling under the weight of high cost of
funds and a shrinking global market.

Fiscal and monetary measures aimed at specific sectors have not
produced the desired results as they are either not radical enough or
have come too late.

But most worrisome is the rapid decline in the level of confidence
among investors and consumers. Without private sector investment and
consumer spending, the economy will sink deeper into recession.

The second quarter economic figures are testimony to the lack of
effectiveness of the monetary-driven recovery policy. The economy
contracted by a further 6.8 per cent from 2.8 per cent in the first
quarter.

Although inflation remains largely under control at 5.7 per cent and
the external trade surplus shot up by a whopping RM13.3 billion,
bringing the first half year total to RM22.1 billion, due to higher
exports and lower imports, the future has yet to show promise.

The economy is expected to continue to contract in the remaining two
quarters of the year, albeit more slowly with the promise of a
marginal growth for the coming year.

In the meantime, the Government, on the advice of the National
Economic Action Council, has started to coax the interest rates
downward while putting in place measures to remove the non-performing
loans of the banking system and recapitalising affected banks.

For these and other more Keynesian-type economic recovery measures to
be implemented smoothly, the Government needs the full support of the
Cabinet, the civil service and the private sector.

John Maynard Keynes, as we recall, favoured active stimulation of
demand by Governments, arguing that recovery from recession was best
achieved by gove
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From NST
Sunday, August 30, 1998

PR adviser of Bank Negara clarifies

KUALA LUMPUR, Sat. - Bank Negara public relations adviser Wan
Norhiyati Wan Ibrahim today denied that she had resigned from the
central bank.

In clarifying a foreign report, she said she was leaving because her
four-year contract with Bank Negara was expiring on Monday.

"I am actually a Maybank (Malayan Banking Bhd) staff and have been at
Bank Negara on secondment. As such, I have to return to Maybank after
the contract ends," she said.

Wan Norhiyati returns to Maybank as public affairs division head
effective next Tuesday.

"It is very unfortunate that the expiry of my contract has been
misconstrued as resignation," she added.

An AFP report today said Wan Norhiyati had resigned from Bank Negara
and a fourth person was under pressure to leave after the resignation
of the central bank's Governor Tan Sri Ahmad Mohd Don and his deputy
Datuk Fong Weng Phak.

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From NST
Sunday, August 30, 1998
Anwar: Ignore foreign media speculations
By Patvinder Singh and Tony Emmanuel

KUALA LUMPUR, Sat. - Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
said senior Bank Negara officials have given an assurance to the Prime
Minister and himself of their cooperation in continuing national
policies to revive the economy.

Anwar said the senior officials had met him and Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir
Mohamad this morning.

Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, said the people should ignore
foreign media speculation that a third senior executive had
purportedly resigned from Bank Negara and a fourth was under pressure
to leave.

"There is much to do ... let us not waste time paying heed to
speculations in the foreign media."

He added that the nation should remain united and support the Prime
Minister and the Government in carrying out measures to revive the
economy.

The Agence France Presse report came in the wake of the tendering of
letters of resignation of the central bank governor Tan Sri Ahmad
Mohamad Don and his deputy, Datuk Fong Weng Phak, on Thursday. The
resignations are effective Sept 1.

"Those (senior Bank Negara officials) remaining behind met the Prime
Minister and myself, assuring us of their cooperation in continuing
with all that is required in the central bank," he told reporters at
the Selangor Turf Club Equestrian and Sports Centre in Sungei Besi.

Accompanied by his wife Datin Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and their
children, Anwar, who is Malaysian Equine Council president, officiated
the National Horse Show.

In a report filed from here, AFP said Bank Negara consultant Wan
Norhayati Wan Ibrahim had also decided to resign, with effect from
Tuesday, returning to Malayan Banking Berhad where she was previously
employed. (Wan Norhayati has clarified that she did not resign).

The report, quoting unidentified bank officials, said the focus of
attention was now moving to associate governor Abdul Murad Khalid,
following the appointment of Datuk Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz as acting
governor.

"I have not received any information about such resignations," Anwar
said.

Asked when a new governor would be appointed, Anwar replied that the
Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Ja'afar has consented to Zeti's
appoinment as acting governor.

"She would continue as acting governor and I have full confidence in
her carrying out her responsibilities."

Pressed further to comment on possible candidates to take up the
position as governor, Anwar said: "There is no new appointment ...we
have given her our full support and have faith in her carrying out her
duties."

Asked for his advice to those who interpreted recent developments as a
political manoeuvre during the current economic problems, Anwar
replied: "We cannot stop them from making speculations ... But we have
to be focussed on reviving the economy."

Asked if Ahmad Don and Fong had given reasons for their resignations,
Anwar said they had not.

"When the letters were submitted (and they were firm with the
decision), I consulted the Prime Minister and we agreed that we should
accept the resignations," Anwar said.

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From NST
  Sunday, August 30, 1998
'Muslim nations still subservient to Western systems'
By Ashraf Abdullah and Ainon Mohd

KUALA LUMPUR, Sat. - Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today Muslim
countries, although powerful enough to impoverish the richest of
nations, were still subservient to systems created by the West.

The Prime Minister said there were many countries which had tried to
impoverish Muslim nations and forced the ummah into deprivation, but
they (the Muslim nations) did not fight back.

Citing an example, he said although Muslim countries had been blessed
with large petroleum deposits, they had not used them to their
advantage.

"We should really be rich but we are not. Through a certain mechanism,
the price of petroleum has been brought down so low that oil producing
countries are now as poor as they were before."

Dr Mahathir was speaking at the closing of the seminar on "Islamic
Financial Services and Products" organised by the Institute of Islamic
Understanding Malaysia.

He said that although it would seem simple for oil-producing Muslim
countries to co-operate and reduce petroleum output in order to push
up the price, they did not do so.

Dr Mahathir said if this was done, those who were now trying to
impoverish the Muslim nations would also suffer the same fate.

"We have the means to impoverish them. Just imagine what will happen
to the millions of motor vehicles on the roads in America if we turn
off the petroleum taps. They will be brought to a standstill."

Replying to a question from the floor, Dr Mahathir said oil-producing
Muslim countries also had the power to depress the value of the US
dollar if they used other currencies to trade.

He said this was because the petroleum trade formed one of the largest
commercial dealings using the US dollar.

In this regard, the Prime Minister invited religious experts and
scholars from the Muslim world to put their heads together and come up
with systematic methods to ward off economic threats.

He said these experts must come up with strategies which could make
Muslims more receptive to instantaneous changes, especially in the
fields of finance and economy.

"Today, we cannot leave religious interpretations to people who
consider themselves as learned in religion because the knowledge that
we need to acquire in order to make a good interpretation, is large
and wide.

"The expertise cannot be with just one person alone. We need a group
of experts not only in the law of Islam but also in other fields."

Dr Mahathir said in the field of finance alone, the interpretations
had become more and more complex as new instruments were invented to
facilitate trade.

"Unless we come up with our interpretation in accordance with the
teachings of Islam, we may find ourselves left behind, in terms of
wealth that we have.

"I am sure if we put our heads together, we will be able to come up
with a positive solution."

He said that although some would argue that wealth was not necessary
to Muslims as long as they performed all the teachings of Islam in
preparation for the hereafter, this would only result in Muslims being
left behind.

"We have seen how Muslims who were poor had to migrate to other
countries, and over time, they would lose touch with Islam and
eventually they would leave their religion."

Dr Mahathir said it was important that Muslims sought an alternative
method of carrying out financial dealings.

"We are seeing a very rapid explosion in terms of financial dealings
of the world and we need to come up with new ways of doing business
with money.

"We have to prove that it works by deeds not by words. We have all the
time to think about what is permitted by Islam and what is not."

He said that if Muslims held on to their faith, they could develop the
ummah to an extent that they could compete successfully with others.

"We believe that we can do this if we give careful thought to the
interpretation of the teachings of Islam in relation to the financial
affairs of Muslims."
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From NST
Sunday, August 30, 1998

Adhere to code of conduct, judges told
By Hafiz Yatim

MALACCA, Sat. - Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah today
reminded judges not to violate their code of conduct as this could
result in conflicts of interests.

He cited, as one example, situations in which judges heard cases
involving lawyers who were related to them.

He made the call in his speech when witnessing the elevation of
Datuk Augustine Paul to a High Court judge.

Paul was formerly a judicial commissioner.

Mohtar reminded judges that they were bound by the amended
Anti-Corruption Act 1998, which came into force earlier this year.

Under the Act, judges, as a whole, come under the definition "public
body".

"With this amendment, it is wise that judges review and evaluate their
behaviour so that it would not create conflicts of interests, which in
turn may also violate the Judges Code of Ethics 1994."

The six situations which, he said, may result in such conflicts of
interests, are:

l Judges hearing cases in which the lawyers appearing before them are
their relatives;

l Judges hearing cases which are represented by law firms owned by
their relatives;

l Judges hearing cases from law firms which are still using the
judges' names, although these judges have resigned from their posts in
those firms. To avoid such confusion, Mohtar said, it was time the Bar
Council advised such law firms to drop the names of those who had been
appointed judges;

l Judges receiving free golf membership or becoming members of
prestigious clubs;

l Judges admitting to the Bar any lawyer who is also their relative;
and,

l Judges involving themselves with lawyers in gambling activities.

Also present at the event were Bar Council chairman Dr Cyrus Das, High
Court judge Datuk Suriyadi Halim Omar, State Legal Adviser Datuk Abdul
Rahman Putra and State deputy public prosecutor Anselm Fernandis.

Das, in his speech, spoke of the five qualities that are sought in a
judge - independence, integrity, competence, detachment and
impartiality.
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From The Sunday Times, UK
   August 30 1998
                                     BUSINESS FOCUS

    The sultan of Brunei rules one of the world's richest
  nations. But royal extravagance, bad investment and the
oil-price slump have led to a cash crisis.
Garth Alexander reports
      BRUNEI'S MI$$ING BILLIONS


When the Queen last met the sultan of Brunei he was the
world's richest man. But when she visits the former British
protectorate next month she will meet a man who is neither
the world's richest, nor, perhaps, the second richest.

Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah appears to be suddenly facing a cash
crunch.

Last month Bruneians were shocked by a report that Prince
Jefri, the sultan's youngest brother, had fled the country and
left Amedeo Development Corporation (ADC), his private
company, to collapse under as much as £10 billion of debts.

Friends of Jefri claim that story is not only inaccurate but may
have been deliberately concocted to disguise the far more
serious decline in the oil-rich state's revenues. According to
bankers, the Asian financial crisis has finally caught up with
Brunei and forced it to slash its lavish spending programmes
and consider radical changes to the way its patrimonial
economy is run. It is impossible to confirm the extent of
Brunei's problems because details of its finances are treated
as state secrets and the government has denied there is any
crisis.

                               ©
            Prince Billah: heir to throne

But The Sunday Times has discovered that the sultan has
been quietly running down the huge portfolios he once kept
with a handful of investment banks around the world. In the
past year billions of pounds of equities have been removed or
liquidated, implying that the sultan and his extended family are
being forced to dig into their reserves to keep the government
running and cater for their own extravagant habits. Plunging
oil prices, conspicuous consumption and bad investment
decisions appear to be the main reasons for the cashflow
problems.

The Brunei Investment Agency (BIA), which controls most of
the state's assets, is believed to have lost 40% of its value
during the past year as a result of the collapse of neighbouring
Asian economies. Many of BIA's investments were locked
into long-term securities in the region. Its total worth is now
estimated by some observers at about $20 billion (£12
billion), a third of the $60 billion the Financial Times has
reported it is worth. Jefri, who was the former head of the
BIA, was stripped of its chairmanship in May.

ARTHUR ANDERSEN, the accountancy firm, is reviewing
ADC's and BIA's accounts and conducting a worldwide
search for the "missing billions". Tom Waring, a former Bank
of England investigator who took part in the hunt for the
£830m lost when Barings collapsed in 1995, is playing a big
role in the search after a Brunei appeal for help to the British
Foreign Office.

Investigators are trying to determine whether Jefri incurred
debts at ADC as a result of using its assets and others at the
BIA to finance or collateralise his personal purchase of a
string of luxury hotels and businesses in other countries. If
they can prove there is a connection, they will presumably try
to requisition his overseas properties and sell them to pay off
ADC's creditors.

But a spokesman for Prince Jefri, 44, says the idea that
ADC, which carried out most of the state-financed
construction projects in Brunei, has collapsed under billions
of pounds of debts is "rubbish". He says it had short-term
liabilities of about $500m and a bank overdraft facility of
$50m. "It carried little debt outside of what was considered
normal for a business of its size," he says.

Jefri claims he did not flee from Brunei and is not in hiding but
is openly managing his prosperous overseas business empire.
He says he is the victim of a palace intrigue led by his brother,
Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, the foreign minister, and by a
group of Muslim conservatives. In a letter published in Le
Monde two weeks ago, Jefri wrote: "Amedeo was a healthy,
profitable group until its assets were seized by conservative
forces within the government. What is really happening in
Brunei is a power struggle between different groups - one
supporting an open, modern and pro-western policy, which I
represent, and the other wanting a conservative, religious
regime."

His spokesman says: "Amedeo was not in trouble prior to the
arbitrary seizing of most of its assets by these reactionaries,
who are determined to crush Prince Jefri's powerbase and
with it the only real force for opening up Brunei to the West.
The changes [at ADC and BIA] represent the tightening grip
of a group of Muslim conservatives, backed by their
shadowy foreign advisers, that has gained an unhealthy
influence over His Majesty the Sultan."

Nor will Jefri simply surrender in the face of the push against
him. His spokesman says: "While the religious conservatives
find it easy in Brunei to make up laws as they go along, any
attempts to behave in such a cavalier fashion with the
business interests of Prince Jefri's family in the rest of the
world will have to deal with real laws and proper courts to
enforce them."

Brunei officials have called Jefri's charges "ridiculous" and
deny the existence of any "Muslim" plot. They suggest he is
trying to confuse the issue to frustrate any attempts they might
make to seize his foreign assets and repay his creditors.

Among the various properties owned by Jefri's family trusts
are three of the world's leading hotels - the New York
Palace, the Bel Air in Los Angeles, and the Plaza Athenée in
Paris. Amedeo Crown, a Jersey-registered company owned
by Jefri, owns Asprey and several other well-known British
businesses. Amedeo Crown is currently trying to sell some of
these companies, including Mappin & Webb and Watches of
Switzerland. Other British assets include several pricey
mansions in Hampstead; Jefri is believed to have paid £9.1m
for two adjoining houses in The Bishops Avenue, and then
spent another £10m to combine them into a single building.

Late last week he applied for a High Court injunction to
prevent KPMG, the accountancy firm, giving any financial
information about his private affairs to the Brunei authorities.
KPMG has been auditing the books of the BIA and ADC for
several years and it would be natural for investigators to
question its staff.

DETERMINING the truth in this murky Oriental power
struggle is made almost impossible by the fact that Brunei is
an absolute monarchy with no political parties or freedom of
speech. The government is conducted in almost total secrecy.
Residents say they believe their telephones are regularly
tapped, and they are afraid to speak to reporters.

When Jefri was asked to return to Brunei for this month's
glittering investiture of the sultan's son, Prince al-Muhtadee
Billah, 24, as heir to the throne, he declined and issued a
statement that implied he did not think it would be safe. He
said: "There is little I can do to oppose the destructive action
of reactionary forces, which are becoming increasingly
entrenched at all levels of government."

Theoretically, almost all Brunei, a 2,223square mile blob on
Borneo's north coast, belongs to the 52-year-old sultan and
his family. One diplomat says: "They treat the Brunei
Investment Agency and the treasury as their own private
piggy bank. It's impossible to separate what belongs to the
government and what belongs to the family. They're
essentially one and the same."

Jefri's extravagance - which includes owning an Airbus, a
Sikorsky helicopter, a luxury yacht (called Tits) and a fleet of
expensive cars - is no more remarkable than the sultan's. The
sovereign spent $400m to build himself a 1,788-room palace,
with air-conditioned quarters for his 200 polo ponies, and
more than 50 crystal chandeliers in the main dining room. He
is the world's biggest single buyer of Rolls-Royces and his
parties are notorious for their excesses.

Brunei's 300,000 citizens are officially described as the
richest in southeast Asia, with a per capita annual income of
$25,200. But their real income is far smaller because the
royal family consumes the lion's share of the country's wealth.

The annual spending of the sultan, his three brothers and their
families amounts to nearly $2 billion, according to one
westerner who knows Brunei well. Total oil and gas
revenues, which account for nearly all the country's earnings,
typically fluctuate between $2.5 billion and $1.7 billion, and
with the oil-price collapse are now rumoured to be closer to
$1.5 billion. This is not enough to pay the royal family's
rumoured expenses. The government still has to find a further
$1 billion to pay for itself and the large number of Bruneians it
employs.

JEFRI'S downfall may have been partly triggered by two
high-profile court cases brought against him in America and
Britain. The claims made during these trials about his sexual
exploits tarnished Jefri's reputation and seriously embarrassed
the sultan.

In March Bob and Rafi Manoukian reached an out-of-court
settlement with Jefri over two property deals they claimed he
had failed to honour. During the London trial Bob Manoukian
claimed Jefri's "appetite for girls" made his conduct
"completely unacceptable by western standards". He claimed
that at one time Jefri kept 40 prostitutes at the Dorchester
hotel, which is owned by the BIA.

A more damaging case was brought against Jefri and the
sultan by Shannon Marketic, a former Miss USA, who sued
both men for $90m. She claimed she was tricked into going
to Brunei by a talent agency with the offer of a
$21,000-a-week "promotional job", and once she arrived
found she was expected to engage in sex with Jefri's friends.

There was considerable scepticism about some of Marketic's
claims. The sultan and Jefri were given sovereign immunity
from prosecution by the American courts. But that has not
prevented the world's free press writing about Marketic's
torrid accusations of all-night sex parties. Normally the case
would have been quietly settled to avoid further controversy.
But Jefri decided to fight the case, whatever the cost,
because giving in to it would open him up to suits from "50m
other gold-diggers", in the words of one associate.

Against this background of bad publicity Prince Mohamed
and his allies moved against him. They launched their attack
on ADC while Jefri and the sultan were out of the country.

The Borneo Bulletin, which is owned by Mohamed, ran a
story claiming Jefri had been mis-spending money and had
lost a fortune. The construction minister withdrew ADC's
work permits, making it impossible for the company to
continue several big projects, including the $750m Jerudong
Park Hotel and complex. ADC's accounts were frozen so it
could not pay contractors or suppliers.

Before the sultan learnt about his brother's alleged financial
shenanigans he received a nasty shock. He had generously
assured several of his southeast Asian neighbours that he
would spend billions of pounds to help prop up their
collapsing currencies, but suddenly discovered his own
finances were under pressure and he would have difficulty
making good on his offer. It was a "massive embarrassment",
says one investment banker.

By the time he returned to Brunei, Mohamed had marshalled
the evidence he needed to persuade the sultan that Jefri was
the cause of the country's financial mess. ADC's assets were
seized and Jefri was stripped of his posts.

Haji Awang Abdul Aziz, the education minister and a devout
Muslim, was placed in charge of the BIA and instructed to
lead an economic taskforce to find a way out of the crisis.

The feud between Jefri and Mohamed dates back to the
1980s when Mohamed was financially and politically
embarrassed by his involvement in two big business scandals,
the collapse of the National Bank of Brunei (controlled by
Tan Sri Khoo) and QAF, a big holding company. Jefri, who
is a former finance minister, ridiculed Mohamed according to
palace sources and accused him of making lousy investment
decisions.

He now claims that Mohamed, Aziz and a murky group of
foreign advisers - including 40 Iranian "teachers" - have
poisoned the sultan against him. The two brothers have not
spoken for several months, and the sultan is said to be furious
with him.

THAT MAY be a role that the stern-faced former Sandhurst
cadet feels he has to adopt to protect his family's increasingly
tenuous position. Although the sultan provides generous
benefits to his subjects, including free education, healthcare
and pensions, his autarky is an anachronism that few people
believe can last much longer, particularly if Brunei's economy
begins to contract.

In June Forbes downgraded the sultan from the world's
richest man to the second richest. It estimated Bill Gates to
be worth $51 billion and placed the sultan's worth at $36
billion. But that appears to be too high. Warren Buffett,
whose fortune Forbes placed at $33 billion, is probably the
world's second-richest man. The sultan's fortune has, some
believe, shrunk to less than $30 billion, making him the third
or fourth-richest individual.

With Brunei's oil and gas reserves due to run out within 23
years, the tiny state clearly needs to find a new source of
revenue. Attempts to build industries have foundered because
of the lack of sufficient native workers; Amedeo's
construction workers are almost entirely imported from
neighbouring countries. Any attempt to develop an
agricultural economy is foredoomed because only 2% of the
tropical country is arable.

This is why Jefri's claims of a growing Muslim fundamentalism
may not be so far-fetched. The sultan is acutely aware of his
need for Muslim political support. The first and last election
to be held in Brunei was in 1962. It resulted in a sweeping
victory for the socialist party, whose long-term agenda
included the removal of the sultan. The election results were
annulled, sparking a rebellion that was swiftly suppressed by
British troops. The next popular movement for change may
not be so easily crushed.
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk


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From The Sunday Times, UK
   August 30 1998
                                   BUSINESS NEWS
   Brunei Sultan pulls billions out of market
                    John Jay

  THE SULTAN of Brunei, until recently described as the
  world's richest man, has pulled billions of pounds out of
  western and Japanese investment banks, as speculation
  grows about the economic health of his tiny oil-rich state.

  The Brunei Investment Agency (BIA) is thought to have run
  down its funds with Morgan Grenfell Asset Management
  (MGAM), which at one stage was the sultan's lead fund
  manager, from about £5 billion to less than £500m.

  But MGAM is not the only fund manager to have suffered
  big cash outflows. JP Morgan, the American investment
  bank, at one point managed vast sums but these are now
  believed to have been run down to less than £1 billion.

  Similar outflows have taken place at Citibank, which is also
  the BIA's commercial bank but is now understood also to
  manage less than £1 billion, and at Japan's Nomura. It is
  thought to retain only a tiny percentage of the money once
  invested with it.

  None of the firms would comment on the withdrawals
  because they are pledged to preserve their clients'
  confidentiality. Details of Brunei's finances are treated as
  state secrets.

  Nor was there any comment from Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah's
  communications advisers. One western adviser said: "Why
  should we help The Sunday Times when it wants to write
  articles to undermine the economic stability of Brunei?"

  The news of the withdrawals comes at a time when the
  sultan's accountants are working feverishly to determine the
  size of Brunei's assets after taking losses running into billions.

  The hunt follows a dispute between the sultan and his
  youngest brother, Prince Jefri, and the closure of one of
  Jefri's companies, a Brunei building business called Amedeo
  Development Corporation (ADC). When the Brunei
  government closed ADC, it had unpaid bills of £500m and
  projects worth £1.5 billion under way.

  Jefri chaired the BIA until he was removed this spring in a
  Putsch by his estranged elder brother, Prince Mohamed. He
  was replaced by Haji Awang Abdul Aziz, Brunei's education
  minister and an ally of Mohamed, and has since claimed in a
  letter to Le Monde that his downfall was the result of a plot
  by Muslim conservatives opposed to his "open, modern and
  pro-western" policies.

  Early reports suggested ADC had £10 billion of debts but
  Jefri's spokesman said this number was "rubbish" and
  claimed that the missing billions were the product of general
  extravagance by the ruling family as well as investment losses
  taken in the Far East financial crisis.

  Following a plea for help to the British Foreign Office, the
  sultan has been offered the services of Tom Waring, a
  lawyer who was brought into the Bank of England following
  the Bank of Commerce and Credit International collapse and
  later worked on the hunt for Barings' assets after Nick
  Leeson's trading caused it to go bust.

  Contrary to earlier reports, the Bank of England itself is not
  involved in helping Brunei to recover funds.

  Waring has recruited Arthur Andersen to probe Jefri's
  interests held through companies trading under the Amedeo
  name. These include the New York Palace, the Bel Air in
  Los Angeles, and the Plaza Athenée in Paris, three of the
  world's top hotels, as well as Asprey, the British jeweller,
  which supplies tens of millions of pounds of jewellery to the
  Bolkiah family each year.

  But the accountancy firm is also doing a broader
  investigation of Brunei's assets and is thought to have made
  contact with a number of the New York and London fund
  managers that have managed its money in an attempt to
  reconstruct the precise flow of funds over the past few years.

  Another accountancy firm has also become embroiled in the
  dispute between the sultan and his brother.

  Last Thursday, Jefri sought a High Court injuction to prevent
  KPMG handing over financial information about his private
  business interests to the Brunei authorities.

  Jefri is a former client of KPMG's British operation, which is
  also a professional adviser to the BIA. Further evidence will
  be presented to the court on Wednesday.

http://www.sunday-times.co.uk


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From The Star
http://www.thestar.com.my
Sunday, August 30, 1998
The Week That Was

BANK NEGARA CHIEF QUITS: Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Ahmad Mohd Don
and his deputy Datuk Fong Weng Phak are to resign effective Sept 3,
the Finance Ministry said without giving any reasons for the
resignations. Assistant governor Datuk Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz has been
appointed acting governor.
The post of governor is one of the most influential positions in the
economy, ensuring the country's economic and monetary stability
including a stable currency and low inflation and overall control of
the banking and insurance industry.

Guan Eng starts serving jail term

MP JAILED: DAP Member of Parliament Lim Guan Eng began serving his
18-month jail term following the Federal Court's decision to uphold
his conviction and sentence on charges of publishing false news and
sedition. He is disqualified from continuing as MP for Kota Melaka,
the seat he won in 1986, as the Constitution prevents a person who is
sentenced to a year's jail or more from serving as MP.

He has 14 days (from Tuesday) to file a petition seeking a pardon from
the Yang di-Pertuan Agong under Article 48 Federal Constitution.

WITHOUT FEAR OR FAVOUR: The Attorney-General said decisions to
prosecute are based on evidence, and not who the suspect is, upon
presenting his Chamber's Policy on Prosecution. If there is abuse in
the investigating sector, then there is the prosecution to oversee and
correct it; if there is abuse by the DPPs and PP then it is for the
courts to correct it. It was also part of his office's on going effort
to be more transparent, "within the limits of the law of secrecy," he
added.

TO BOOST ECONOMY: The Government said it will find the needed
resources to inject an additional RM7.03bil to stimulate the economy
and held out the hope that Malaysia will register a 1% growth. Special
Functions Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin said Malaysian reserves
currently at RM57bil were sufficient to finance about three months of
retailed imports and the Government had to protect the nation's
interest first even if actions taken were misinterpreted as being
anti-market.

LAST RESORT: The Internal Security Act will only be used as a last
resort on Internet users who threaten the country's security and
racial harmony, said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Ong Ka Ting. He
reiterated that the police would always be liberal and reasonable but
they would not tolerate the spreading of rumours in the form of
poison-pen letters to create civil unrest.

TG TUAN RESCUED: The Cabinet has directed Malacca to relocate its
proposed tourism project at the Tanjung Tuan forest reserve and
wildlife sanctuary, said Science, Technology and Environment Minister
Datuk Law Hieng Ding. The 30ha construction project to build resorts
and more than 1,000 chalets would have taken up 28.8ha of the 99.6ha
of the bird sanctuary and flyway for up to 300,000 migratory birds.

SEEKING TRANSFER: Magnum Corporation Berhad public affairs director
Datuk S. Nallakaruppan, who is being remanded at Bukit Aman, filed an
application in the High Court to be transferred to the Sungai Buloh
prison on the grounds that the move to Bukit Aman was unlawful and the
interrogation he was put under had nothing to do with national
security.

HOLDING UP: Malaysians are not showing any signs of panic over the
situation which has been described as an economic crisis by the
foreign press said Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad during the launch of
the Kembara, the first national four-wheel-drive vehicle produced by
Perusahaan Otomobil Kedua Sdn Bhd. In fact most Malaysians did not
feel anything at all, while some such as palm oil producers, were
happy as the commodity is traded in US dollars, he added.

WELL AHEAD: The world's largest container ship, Regina Maersk, sailed
into the West Port easily putting to rest doubts over the port's
ability to handle super vessels. Transport Minister Dr Ling Liong Sik
said Port Klang offered a 1.5m draft from the approach channel to the
berth and sophisticated shoreside cranes to handle onboard containers,
putting it ahead of many foreign ports.

FOREIGN NEWS

RUSSIAN GOVT SACKED: Russian President Boris Yeltsin abruptly sacked
the entire Russian Government as Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko and
his team paid the price of an unprecedented economic and financial
crisis. A US$22.6bil bailout led by the International Monetary Fund in
July failed to restore calm. Former premier Viktor Chernomyrdin was
named as interim prime minister.

DRUGS ONLY: The pharmaceutical plant destroyed by US missiles, as it
was said to be making precursors for chemical weapons, produced only
antibiotics and drugs to treat malaria and tuberculosis and its owner
never met Osama bin Laden, the owner's lawyer Ghazi Suleiman said. The
owner, Salah Idris, might seek US$50mil in compensation from the
United States, he added.

ON THE WAY OUT: Indonesian Armed Forces Chief General Wiranto said
that the son-in-law of former president Suharto would be discharged
from the army, and possibly court-martialled, for his role in the
abduction and torture of political activities. He added his decision
was taken without any pressure from any side or person and it is
clearly in the interest of Abri and that of the nation and the state.

NEW THREATS: Epidemics, crime and price gouging have emerged as new
threats as the worst floods in decades rage across China said the
state media. The last nationwide tally issued nearly three weeks ago
said the flooding had killed more than 2,000 people, left millions
homeless and caused damage estimated to top 200 billion yuan.

PLANET HOLLYWOOD BLAST: A bomb killed two persons and injured 27 in
the Planet Hollywood restaurant, South Africa in what a radical group
said was in retaliation for US attacks in Sudan and Afghanistan. Two
callers told the city's Cape Talk radio station that the blast was the
work of the Muslims Against Global Oppression group which first
surfaced in March when US President Bill Clinton visited Cape Town.
http://www.thestar.com.my/current/30week300.html


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From The Economist
Issue 4th Sept 1998
Malaysia’s rough justice

K U A L A    L U M P U R    

The jailing of an opposition leader is the latest case to raise
concern about freedom of speech in Malaysia

“KEEP justice alive, keep Guan Eng free”, proclaimed a banner
displayed outside Kuala Lumpur’s highest court by supporters of
Malaysia’s opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP). But on August
25th the court upheld a conviction for sedition against Lim Guan Eng,
a prominent DAP member of Parliament, and packed him off to prison. It
is not only Mr Lim’s supporters who are wondering where this leaves
freedom of speech in Malaysia.

With the downfall three months ago of President Suharto in Indonesia,
Malaysia’s prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, has become South-East
Asia’s longest-serving ruler. Buffeted by the economic storms that
have driven his country into severe recession, he is also beginning to
look more and more autocratic.

For much of August, Dr Mahathir has been touring Malaysia, rallying
support. One day he rants against the foreign elements he says are
responsible for Malaysia’s economic predicament, and on another he
shrugs off talk of crisis—despite plunging industrial output and a 7%
drop in second-quarter GDP compared with the same period a year ago—as
mostly the invention of the foreign media. All this fuels speculation
he may call a snap election later this year to consolidate his grip on
power.

The prime minister seems to be parting company not just with
foreigners but also with his long-time deputy, Anwar Ibrahim. Until
recently, the 51-year-old Mr Anwar looked like the heir-apparent to
73-year-old Dr Mahathir. Now Mr Anwar appears to be increasingly
pushed to the margins.

In June Dr Mahathir brought an old chum and former finance minister,
Daim Zainuddin, into the cabinet with an economic brief that has
clipped Mr Anwar’s wings. Soon after, two newspaper editors and a
television executive, all known supporters of Mr Anwar, lost their
jobs. True, the police are now prosecuting the author of a book, “50
Reasons Why Anwar Cannot Become Prime Minister”. This was circulated
among delegates who were attending the recent general assembly of the
United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the ruling party. It made
allegations of sexual misconduct against Mr Anwar, which he denies.

Any criticism of the government and its policies has long disappeared
from the local media. Some lawyers and opposition politicians now fear
that, with Mr Lim’s case, the judiciary is reinforcing the trend.

Mr Lim’s offence goes back to 1995 when he spoke out about a sex
scandal that appeared to involve the then chief minister of Malacca, a
prominent member of UMNO. A 15-year-old girl claimed to the police
that the minister was one of 15 men with whom she had had sex. In a
public speech, Mr Lim asked why the attorney-general, Mohtar Abdullah,
had pressed charges of statutory rape against the other 14 men but not
the minister. The attorney-general said there was insufficient
evidence to make charges. Mr Lim also asked in a pamphlet why the girl
was being held by police—in “protective custody”—but the minister was
not detained.

Mr Lim’s voice was not the only one raised in outrage. Marina
Mahathir, the prime minister’s daughter, wrote critically about the
case in her local newspaper column. But among the critics, only Mr Lim
was prosecuted. He was convicted last year and fined. An appeals court
earlier this year upheld the ruling and imposed a prison term. The new
ruling, in a second appeal, means Mr Lim will serve two concurrent
18-month prison terms, and as a result will lose his seat in
Parliament.

Some Malaysian lawyers claim the decision to prosecute was
discriminatory and the evidence so flimsy that it hardly justified a
court hearing, much less a conviction and such a harsh sentence. The
chief justice, Eusoff Chin, who led the hearing, disagreed. If an MP
broke the law, he declared, people should not blame the authorities or
the courts, the fault was the MP’s.

A Canadian lawyer observing the trial for Amnesty International
reached a different view. “The government of Malaysia’s continuing use
of restrictive legislation on those who express dissenting opinions
engenders a public reluctance to criticise those in power,” he said.
<Picture>
Nor is this the only legal action raising concern about use of the law
in Malaysia. A Draconian internal security act, which allows the
detention of people without trial, was recently used by police to
arrest four people for spreading untrue rumours on the Internet about
civil unrest in Malaysia.

Malaysia is also in dispute with the United Nations over a prominent
lawyer, Param Cumaraswamy, who was appointed as a UN special
rapporteur to monitor judicial independence. Remarks he made accusing
some Malaysian businessmen of improper behaviour has led to lawsuits
seeking some $70m in damages for defamation. Malaysia was unimpressed
by a note from the UN’s secretary-general, Kofi Annan, affirming Mr
Cumaraswamy’s role and his immunity from prosecution under existing
conventions. The case is now pending before the International Court of
Justice in The Hague.
http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/current/index_as5255.html
========================================================
ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM
Don't let the bastards grind you down
========================================================
Uncle Yap Yok Foo                  yfyap@...
Tel : 603-7811648                  Fax : 603-7812108
========================================================


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From Singapore ST
 AUG 30 1998

All-time mob target -- the ethnic Chinese Indonesian
LETTER FROM JAKARTA
By SUSAN SIM
INDONESIAN CORRESPONDENT

MY EDITOR in Singapore asked me the other day if I wanted a bodyguard.
No way, I am not going to be the laughing stock of the Jakarta press
corps, I scoffed, even as some other part of me conjured up the
alluring image of Kevin Costner as a constant companion.

"What about a gun? You're a marksman, aren't you?," my editor asked.

Well, putting live bullets into paper targets is not quite the same
thing as forcing them into flesh and bone, I demurred.

Not even close to firing paint balls at your dearest, demented friends
in the make-belief jungles outside Jakarta.

But my editor was not to be put off so easily. He was concerned about
my well-being and so we discussed the merits of an automatic pistol
over a revolver.

I told him I had always fancied a Glock automatic and he, newspaperman
that he is, mused aloud about the newsworthiness of a story about one
of his foreign correspondents packing a gun on the job.

Thanks, but I have always believed in safety in anonymity.

So, to ease his conscience, he agreed to increase my housing allowance
so I can move into a fortress.

Since my present lease is expiring anyway, I have been house-hunting.
My criteria hasn't changed much from when I first moved to Jakarta two
years ago.

Condominium facilities are nice, but hey, how often do you use that
virtual reality cycling gizmo in the fitness club anyway?

As a property consultant friend always tells me, only three things
matter -- location, location, location -- especially if you don't
fancy getting stuck in traffic gridlock every day.

Only, now I slip in one additional question when I view prospective
homes: How many armoured personnel carriers were parked in front of
this place in May?

Two puts the property on my very short shortlist. A whole streetful
and it goes right to the top.

I also give points for immediate proximity to five-star hotels and the
private homes of certain ministers and generals, for their owners can
always be counted on to command, or buy, armed protection and so offer
the entire neighbourhood a sort of safety shield.

It is not that I have become paranoid, even if I have always slept
with the lights on and behind at least four locked doors in my present
home. But when the Jakarta governor tells residents to arm themselves
and be prepared to fend off attackers, it seems only sensible to be a
bit choosy about one's neighbours.

So the second key question in my house-hunting quest is: What is the
resident profile of this apartment block/estate? Anything more than a
sprinkling of ethnic Chinese and the property gets struck off my list.


RACISM is an ugly beast. And cowering before its blows, real or
imagined, can only feed its hunger. But fighting back requires more
than a visceral belligerence.

There has been much flexing of the primordial muscles lately, ever
since the accounts of organised gang rapes of ethnic Chinese women
during the May riots here surfaced.

Against this perceived attempt by unknown groups here to imitate the
ethnic cleansing habits of the Serbian army against the Bosnian
Muslims, a number of ethnic Chinese groups overseas appear to have
taken it upon themselves to exact retribution on the entire Indonesian
nation.

In their haste to show ethnic solidarity with Chinese Indonesians, do
they also know, one wonders, about the indigenous Indonesians who
sheltered fearful Chinese neighbours in their kampung homes and shared
what little food they had?

Do they also know that the Indonesian groups which first exposed the
crimes and are now pressuring their own government for a just
accounting are, to a man, and woman, all not of ethnic Chinese origin?


For them, the cause is not one of ethnic pride, but of human rights.

Still, perhaps this distinction is irrelevant when one considers that
the all-time favourite target of amok mobs here has always been the
ethnic Chinese Indonesian.

Is this state-sanctioned violence against a vulnerable minority group?
Or simply ingrained racism?

Almost every Indonesian intellectual who has tried to explain to me
the riots I have covered in the last two years here insists that the
average Yusuf is not anti-Chinese. But his tolerance is often sorely
tested by corrupt government officials who pander to his richer ethnic
Chinese neighbours while spitting on him.

And when his limits are breached, Yusuf does tend to react violently.
But not mindlessly. So he usually does not attack government
institutions and risk retribution, but directs his anger instead at
the unprotected shops, homes and churches of those arrogant ethnic
Chinese in his midst.

Still, the May riots in Jakarta did not fit this mould. There was just
too much violence against ethnic Chinese men and women. Was there a
masterplan to somehow traumatise them indelibly, or worse, drive them
out of Indonesia? Who would do such a thing? To what purpose?
Speculation has been rife. Answers have been harder to come by.

Against this climate of fear and distrust, many Chinese Indonesians
are arming themselves, turning their housing enclaves into walled-in
ghettos, some of the womenfolk wearing ridiculous so-called chastity
belts.

Others are doing everything short of plastic surgery to meld into
their environment, blaming bad karma for giving them pale skin and
slant eyes when they have already repudiated their Chinese language
and customs.

Those with foresight, and no intention of calling any other country
home, are fighting back -- through the political arena. Using an old
weapon -- money -- they are looking for new political forces to ally
themselves with, or "new horses to back", as a friend put it.

Their search for a national leader who can unite the nation and offer
their tiny community some semblance of a lasting security will take
different paths, for there can be no easy consensus where the future
is concerned.

Foreign observers like myself -- a somewhat colour-blind Singaporean
-- cannot pretend to understand fully their anxieties, for this is not
our home.

Instead we can comfort ourselves at the sight of two eight-year-olds,
one Chinese, one Javanese, sitting side-by-side at an outdoor art
competition at the Independence Proclamation Park, painting their idea
of a new Indonesian society where skin colour did not matter.

And smile indulgently too at the cute two-year-old artist who thinks
those celebrating Indonesia's 53rd Independence Day should have happy,
beige, blue and orange faces.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com/pages/cpe7_0830.html
========================================================
ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM
Don't let the bastards grind you down
========================================================
Uncle Yap Yok Foo                  yfyap@...
Tel : 603-7811648                  Fax : 603-7812108
========================================================


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From Singapore ST
AUG 30 1998

Facts show we help, says PM

PRIME Minister Goh Chok Tong last night reiterated that Singapore will
help Malaysia and Indonesia within its capabilities, and also revealed
that Thailand had drawn down US$720 million (S$1.27 billion) from
Singapore's loan commitment pledged last year. Speaking at a National
Day dinner in his own Marine Parade ward, he noted that some people
thought the Republic had not done much to help its neighbours.

"That was why I revealed how we had helped Indonesia and Malaysia in
my National Day Rally speech." Singapore had also helped Thailand, he
noted. The Republic joined in an International Monetary Fund support
programme for Thailand last November, pledging a US$1 billion loan
commitment. Thailand has already drawn down US$720 million, he added.

"However, I assure Singaporeans that we will help others only within
our capabilities," he told 1,200 guests at the Sin Leong restaurant.

"Our resources are limited. We can only play a catalytic role and
rally others to help the region," he said.

"We believe that when the facts of Singapore's help are known,
Singapore's quiet, catalytic role will be better understood and
appreciated."

Assessing Singapore's relations with Indonesia and Malaysia, he said:
"We are facing pressure from our two neighbours, because as the
region's economic pie shrinks, the countries within the region see the
pie shrinking."

He added: "It is sad that when there is a crisis, countries should be
working together, but we find that countries tend to be a little
prickly, sensitive, and get bogged down by unnecessary friction."

He also offered five survival techniques for Singaporeans going
through a "grave crisis" for the first time:

• Do not panic;

• Unite as a people;

• Make sacrifices;

• Work harder and smarter; and

• Look beyond the crisis. Do not be bogged down by present
difficulties.

He noted: "The shared experience of fighting and overcoming this
crisis will bond the younger generation."
http://straitstimes.asia1.com/pages/one1.html
========================================================
ILLEGITIMI NON CARBORUNDUM
Don't let the bastards grind you down
========================================================
Uncle Yap Yok Foo                  yfyap@...
Tel : 603-7811648                  Fax : 603-7812108
========================================================


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From NSTP Regional News by AFP

Malaysia celebrates independence with economy under threat

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 30 (AFP) - Malaysia will celebrate its 41st
anniversary of independence Monday with a gloomy economic outlook as
Premier Mahathir Mohamad struggles to keep the economy afloat.
Mahathir, who has led Malaysia for 17-years has urged the people to
unite and act in concert as the country is facing one of its worst
challenges since independence from the British in 1957.

"We will fight. All Malaysians will fight. You and I, this is our
country," the prime minister, who is the prime architect of the
policies which changed the once commodity dependent country into a
technology based economy, told people during a nationwide tour.

The Asian economic crisis which began last June has dealt a severe
blow to the once booming economy with rising unemployment and
companies going under.

Chandra Muzaffar, president of the International Movement for a Just
World, a human rights group, said the 41st celebrations will not be
like any before.

"We are in the midst of an economic crisis," he told AFP.

Having enjoyed an average of eight percent economic growth for the
past 10 years, the economy is now in a recession after two consecutive
quarters of negative growth.

Malaysia's gross domestic product (GDP) contracted 6.8 percent in the
June quarter following a 2.8 decline in the three months to March.

Chandra said possible political differences between Mahathir Mohamad
and Finance Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is also the deputy prime
minister, were also "a matter of some concern."

Other recent incidents did not bode well including the resignation of
senior central bank officials, he said.

Bank Negara Malaysia governor Ahmad Mohamad Don submitted his
resignation to Anwar on Wednesday while deputy governor Fong Weng Phak
handed over his resignation on Thursday.

Anwar himself has been sidelined in recent months following the June
appointment of former finance minister Daim Zainuddin as "special
functions" minister with responsibility for economic development.

Daim, a close ally of Mahathir, has since successfully pushed for
successive easings of monetary policy, putting him at odds with the
central bank and Anwar.

http://www.nstpi.com.my/nstpi/


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From Singapore BT
31st August 1998

Ahmad Don a scapegoat for slumping KL economy: bankers
By Meera Thramaratnam in Kuala Lumpur

WHILE he was a tough no-nonsense banker who put in place policies that
stood a chance of prevailing against the current crisis, central bank
governor Ahmad Don finally had to resign to take responsibility for an
economy that was slumping faster than most had feared, senior bankers
said over the weekend.

With Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad clearly at odds with the central
banker's tight monetary policies and prudent approach to counting up
the country's doubtful debt, they said his chances of survival
depended on signs that the policies were working and the economy would
begin to recover. That wasn't the case.

In the months prior to Mr Ahmad Don's resignation, bankers noted that
he had been sidelined from every institution formed to tackle the
country's crisis. He was not represented in the National Economic
Action Council, or the Corporate Debt Restructuring Committee, or
agencies formed to help recapitalise banks. The bank was, instead,
represented by its assistant governors.

Mr Ahmad Don is not the first governor to run up against Dr Mahathir
and his economic czar, trusted aide and Special Functions Minister
Daim Zainuddin. Abdul Aziz Taha, Malaysia's third governor, handed in
his resignation in 1985 ahead of the end of his tenure shortly after
Mr Daim came into office as finance minister.

But his resignation had less to do with differences over policy
issues. Back then, Mr Taha also sat on the all-important Capital
Issues Committee, now replaced by the Securities Commission.

Mr Taha, described as a very strict by-the-book-accountant by fellow
bankers, ruled against deals favoured by his political masters,
reports said. Bankers told BT their personal differences made Mr
Taha's position untenable once Mr Daim came on board.

Jaffar Hussein, who was subsequently appointed governor, turned Bank
Negara into one of the most feared currency traders in the world. The
central bank made handsome profits until it bet heavily against George
Soros that the UK would not devalue the pound, and suffered massive
losses. Mr Jaffar resigned not because he was pushed but because he
wanted to take responsibility for his "mistakes". Indeed, he was held
in high regard by the nation's highest politicians.

When Mr Jaffar died recently, for instance, Dr Mahathir was one of the
first to offer his condolences. Mr Ahmad Don may not be as well
remembered in the annals of Malaysia's central bank history.

The central bank governor had been attacked by Mr Daim and Dr Mahathir
for his tight monetary policy during the crisis which they said helped
hurtle Malaysia into its first recession.

Despite Dr Mahathir's wish that monetary policy be eased, the central
bank continued with open-market operations throughout the first half
of 1997 which neutralised the effect of cuts in banks' statutory
reserve requirements, and so angering the top leaders.

Bankers remarked that the prime minister was furious to see the
decade-long efforts to build up strategic industries like the car
industry literally destroyed overnight as a result of what he saw as
the central bank's tight credit policies.

As late as November, Mr Ahmad Don berated Malaysia's bankers for not
reining in loans growth fast enough, bankers recalled.

One banker remarked that Mr Ahmad Don's decision to focus exclusively
on monetary policy tools during the crisis cost him his job. "He
thought, as a bond expert, largely in terms of interest rate and
currency, and arguably now, we can say it wasn't at all the right
thing to focus on when the economy ground to a halt," said the banker.


Mr Ahmad Don, who presided over the toughest regulatory changes in the
industry, is also being faulted for tightening the definition of what
is to be considered a non-performing loan. By his book, a loan becomes
non-performing if it is not serviced for three months, down from the
previous six months.

"By cutting the period from 6 months to 3 months, many businesses
found two years' cashflow eroded to one-year."

He compounded the mistake by not allowing businesses more credit to
offset the tighter provisioning policies and higher rates, which
according to a senior banker, was what really made his position a lot
worse.

Indeed, the central bank's provisioning policies made it hard for
banks to keep healthy NPL levels and bankers say few banks can
continue to operate as solvent entities without quick action from
newly-formed agencies set up to address deteriorating asset quality.

Mr Ahmad Don's resignation has left a vacuum and bankers say that few
bankers would want the job if it was offered because of the potential
damage the appointment could do to their reputation.
  http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/1/nfrnt04.html


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From SCMP, HK
Monday  August 31  1998

Taiwan clamps down on trading in Soros funds
AGENCIES in Taipei

Taiwanese authorities, watching the battle between the Hong Kong
Government and international speculators, have ordered a crackdown on
what they say is illegal trading in the funds of United States
financier George Soros.

The Securities and Futures Commission on Saturday issued a stern
warning to securities investors and consultancies against selling
funds managed by Mr Soros, the United Daily News and Liberty Times
said.

The commission told the newspapers Mr Soros's funds could not be sold
in Taiwan as the government had not authorised their trading. Anyone
found trading them would be "severely punished".

Taiwanese authorities have worried that their efforts to defend the
sagging stock market - which plunged 477.45 points, or 6.61 per cent,
last week - might be thwarted if Mr Soros's funds entered Taiwan,
local stockbrokers said.

Officials said the funds could not invest in the Taiwan market and
could not be sold to prospective investors.

The papers said the commission and Bureau of Investigation had been
watching the trading of Quantum Fund and Quota Fund.

They reported that the Quantum Fund had recently lowered the minimum
investment price to between US$20,000 and $30,000 per unit to attract
local investors.

Brokers told the press that, since the first quarter of this year,
Quantum and Quota had seen monthly sales of more than $3 million in
Taiwan.

One fund manager said that, as far as he knew, under-the-table selling
of the funds had existed in Taiwan for some time.

"The government is afraid that introduction of Mr Soros's hedge funds
in Taiwan might lead to massive speculative attacks on Taiwan
markets," the fund manager said.

The Quantum Fund has $10.6 billion in assets worldwide and Quota has
$3.1 billion, according to Soros Fund Management.

Mr Soros is known in Asia as the subject of vitriolic attacks by
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who alleged the US
financier had a role in destabilising regional markets.

With foreign exchange reserves of $83.6 billion, Taiwanese officials
have vowed to "fix" speculators should they attack the island's
currency.

Financial officials said economic liberalisation would go ahead
despite the regional financial crisis, which began in July last year.

The finance ministry and central bank are to meet in October to review
restrictions under which foreign investors can only hold up to 30 per
cent of all listed stocks.

http://www.scmp.com/news/template/Biz


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From Melbourne Age
31st August 1998

Ethnic Chinese join forces on the Internet
	 to reveal worldwide web of suffering
By GARRY BARKER

Chinese people throughout the world are joining forces via the
Internet to combat the discrimination and suffering they have endured
in their adopted countries.

The catalyst was Indonesia, where, once again, on the fall of a
president, indigenous Chinese have been made scapegoats for national
problems.

A web site titled Huaren (www.huaren.com), based in Pasadena,
California, is busy chronicling atrocities in Java, North Sumatra and
Solo with headlines such as ``They loot! They burn! They rape! They
kill!''

It has graphic pictures of incinerated bodies and of pretty teenaged
girls they say were raped by Indonesian troops.

Other countries, among them Australia, are under scrutiny, too. The
site carries huge reports about the rise of Pauline Hanson and One
Nation.

Huaren is the pinyin, or Mandarin, word used to describe Chinese-born
people living abroad.

The site does not propose violence but makes a plea for ethnic unity -
for the millions of Chinese living outside the country to band
together to help themselves. The web site organisers hope to gain
worldwide support .

``We are a group of individuals who are scattered throughout the world
with one goal in common: a passion to promote kinship and
understanding among all overseas Chinese,'' wrote Mr Joe Tan, a New
Zealand-based, Malaysian-born, research chemist who was one of the two
founders of Huaren.

Mr Tan says that as a youth he was discriminated against by Malaysian
Government policies and laws deliberately favoring the ``bumiputra''
(``sons of the earth'', the name Malays use for themselves) over the
generally more economically advanced indigenous Malaysian Chinese.

As Indonesia's crisis heightened and reports of atrocities against
Chinese in Java, Sumatra and elsewhere began to leak out, Mr Tan used
the Internet to express his rage.

Indonesia's Chinese were ``prisoners in their own country'', he wrote,
adding the attacks were extreme examples of the persecution Chinese
immigrants had received all over the world. They had suffered on the
goldfields of Australia, as coolies on the railroads of America, and
as refugee ``boat people'' escaping the communist victory in Vietnam.

One Malaysian Chinese woman living in Melbourne said: ``It's painful,
but true, that we Chinese seldom do anything about the persecution of
our own kind elsewhere in the world.''

``By nature, Chinese don't like politics,'' said Mr Gerald Man, a
Malaysian-born Chinese who lives in Brisbane. With Mr Morry Lee of
Toowoomba, he is building an Australian section of the main site.

``Mostly we want to avoid trouble. But the outbreak of violence in
Indonesia really got to me. I have a lot of photographs taken of
atrocities in Indonesia - really horrible pictures, mostly of rape
victims. Some of them were taken by the soldiers, the criminals, who
did the rapes,'' Mr Man said.

The photographs, which had been smuggled out to him, prompted him to
act. Similar atrocities had occurred during the fall of President
Sukarno in Indonesia in the 1960s and also during the 13 May race
riots in Malaysia in 1969, he said.

Two huaren on opposite sides of the planet set it all in motion. Mr
Joe Tan began it with an Internet discussion site. In Vancouver,
Canada, Mr Daniel Tse, a Hong Kong-born engineer, read the material
and saw parallels between the plight of Indonesian Chinese and of Jews
in Europe during the Nazi years.

Ethnic Chinese in North America had spurned their heritage in an
attempt to avoid being identified with communist China, Mr Tse said.

He contacted Mr Tan and together they founded the World Huaren
Foundation.

But there are critics, too. Among the floods of email are messages
such as that from Mr Bob Tsung, who works in Cape Town. What was
happening in Indonesia was not new, he said. He sympathised, but
wrote, ``if you're not welcome anywhere, get the hell out''.

But despite that probably common outlook, support through
www.huaren.com continues to grow. At last, many of the overseas
Chinese say, they have somewhere to express their rage.

http://www.theage.com.au/daily/980831/news/news14.html


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From SCMP, HK
  Monday  August 31  1998

Malaysia
Free speech must be curbed for national security, says A-G
ASSOCIATED PRESS in Kuala Lumpur

Defending the country's sedition laws, Malaysia's Attorney-General
said free speech had to be kept in check to uphold national security,
a report said yesterday.

"It's easy to say that there must be complete freedom of expression
but it must be balanced in the interest of the country's security,"
Attorney-General Mohtar Abdullah was quoted as saying in the Star
newspaper.

The comments negated a request made by Malaysia's Bar Council last
week for an urgent review and easing of sedition laws after the
imprisonment of an opposition lawmaker for criticising the judiciary.

Council president Cyrus Das had said the ruling, passed by the
country's highest court, would have a "restrictive and dampening
effect on free speech", particularly among elected officials.

Mr Mohtar replied that citizens had the right to criticise the
Government but that freedom of speech and expression were privileges
and had to be carried out in keeping with the law.

"If it goes beyond what the law permits, it will affect society and
cause destruction to the basic institution that upholds it," he said.

Mr Mohtar said there was no valid reason to review the sedition laws
and other related legislation unless asked to do so by the Government.

Last Tuesday, Lim Guan Eng, deputy secretary-general of the opposition
Democratic Action Party and an MP for 12 years, was sentenced to 18
months in prison on charges of sedition and printing false news. The
Federal Court overturned Lim's second appeal and upheld an earlier
conviction in a lower court, making him Malaysia's first sitting MP to
be sent to jail.

Lim had distributed a pamphlet that criticised Mr Mohtar and the
Government for not pressing statutory rape charges against a top
government official.

It also queried why the underage girl involved was detained but not
the politician.

Separately, Mr Mohtar told judges to mind their ethical conduct to
ensure they did not violate recently imposed rules on the judiciary
and officials.

In January, Malaysia's so-called Anti-Corruption Act was amended,
outlining a new rules for judges to prevent conflicts of interest on
the bench and in public.

http://www.scmp.com/news


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From Financial Times, UK
www.ft.fom
  MONDAY AUGUST 31 1998
  Asia-Pacific

MALAYSIA: Mahathir attempts to rally spirits
By Sheila McNulty in Kuala Lumpur

The east Asian financial crisis may have crushed Malaysia's ambition
to construct the longest building in the world, but it has not kept
the country from seeking less costly records.


Already home to the world's tallest building and highest airport
control tower, Malaysia yesterday attempted to set a record for the
world's longest convoy of cars.


It is all part of an attempt by Mahathir Mohamad, the prime minister,
to teach his people that, while their country may be small by world
standards, there is nothing they cannot do.


Dr Mahathir personally led the convoy of 1,998 locally-made vehicles,
driven by ministers and citizens, to mark national day. He did it in
the national Proton car, which Malaysia boasts is the only Asian
vehicle to have been parachuted on to the north pole. And the convoy
crossed a bridge reported to be Asia's longest.


With Malaysia in recession, this celebration of 41 years of
independence from Britain might have been expected to be less
enthusiastically celebrated than those during the boom years, but Dr
Mahathir is doing his best to use the crisis as a rallying point.


Malaysia, unlike its neighbours, has not sought an International
Monetary Fund aid package but is trying to revive the economy on its
own.


The theme of this year's celebration is "Our Nation, Our
Responsibility". "We must strive on our own to revive our nation's
economy and defend our sovereignty and independence," Dr Mahathir said
in his National Day address to the nation. "Outsiders never wish to
see Malaysia recover by continuously attacking the country's currency
and the stock market whenever the government initiate measures to
revive the nation's economy," he said.


Whether the convoy does indeed earn Malaysia a place in the Guinness
Book of World Records remains to be seen. But it has done what Dr
Mahathir knew it would: stoke the nationalistic pride of a people
grappling with their biggest crisis in at least a decade.


About 2,500 volunteers turned out under rainy skies to help. They know
their feat will certainly make it into a book the country has compiled
to herald such achievements: Malaysia's Book of Records.

http://www.ft.com/hippocampus/q86e1e.htm


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>From Singapore ST
> AUG 29 1998
>17 report torn S'pore passports

From NST
'Allegations of torn passports unsupported'
Monday, August 31, 1998

JOHOR BARU, Sun. - No official complaint has been made to support
allegations that Johor Immigration officers had torn pages from the
passports of Singaporeans, said State Tourism Committee chairman Datuk
Jimmy Low Boon Hong.

He said there were doubts about the allegations which had been
highlighted in the Singapore media over the past few days.

On Friday, the Television Corporation of Singapore reported in its
news segment on the allegations.

The report included an interview with an alleged victim, whose name
was not disclosed.

A Chinese daily in the republic had also reported of 17 cases of
Singaporeans having their passports torn by Malaysian Immigration over
the past two weeks.

"These allegations are extremely serious. If it really did happen, I
think any victim would logically lodge a report with Immigration
authorities here immediately," Low said.

"If the victim has any fear about doing this, he or she can lodge a
complaint with the Malaysian High Commission in Singapore.

"With some simple details such as the time and date of the incident,
and the Immigration booth number, the Immigration Department here can
easily trace the culprit if any and take action if the allegation is
found to be true.

"How can we possibly investigate a complaint when no report is lodged.
Besides, why should the victim interviewed on the republic's
television want to hide his identity.

"If the passports were really torn on the Malaysian side, how did
Singapore Immigration fail to detect the damaged documents?

"How come the alleged victims themselves claim that they only
discovered the pages missing from their passports several days later?
Most importantly, why were no reports lodged, to enable authorities
here to investigate?

"Something is seriously wrong. I do not know what the agenda of the
Singapore media is in playing up such heresay," he told reporters
after opening the Bug Fest '98 Carnival at the Crowne Plaza Hotel
today.

More than 150 Volkswagen owners from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand
took part in the annual carnival, where prizes were given for the best
restored and best maintained car.

Low said there had been no such incidents in the past and millions of
people had entered Johor through the Causeway.

He cautioned the Singapore media not to tarnish their reputation, by
highlighting such cases without first verifying their authenticity.
  http://www.nstpi.com.my/nst


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From NST Editorial
Editorial Voice: CONDUCT ABOVE ALL
Monday, August 31, 1998

Attorney-General Tan Sri Mohtar Abdullah's call for judges to adhere
to their code of conduct is timely.

As the safeguard of the rule of law, the judiciary should not suffer
from erosion in ideals, integrity and intellectual rigour. It must not
lose sight of the fact that the courts belong to the people and judges
exercise their powers for the people - not for their wives, children,
relatives, persons or office of great height and might. It must take
charge of ensuring its own accountability to litigants as well as the
public.

This requires judges to avoid acts that could create conflicts of
interests. A strict compliance with the code of conduct and abstinence
from situations and associations which may compromise their position
and cast aspersions on their integrity are imperative lest the public
view judges as chameleons that keep changing colours and allegiances.

As innocuous as it may be, presiding over a child's or relative's call
to the Bar raises needless questions on the judge's detachment and
impartiality.

Judicial decision-making should not be actuated by malice, bias or
animus which is why judges should not hear cases represented by law
firms which still used their names despite their resignation from the
firms or are owned by their relatives and where the lawyers appearing
before them are relatives.

It is incumbent on them to keep their behaviour untarnished. They
should give no room and no cause for people to solicit favourable
verdicts from them. As pointed out by Mohtar, they should not receive
free golf club membership or become members of prestigious clubs.

Their behaviour and dealings outside the courts should not denigrate
the noble institution of the judiciary. Indeed, for the sanctity of
democracy and rule of law, probity in a judge's public life has to be
maintained at every cost. And, in doing so, it may entail sacrifices
which could, ultimately, lead to a life devoid of glamour and glitz.
There is much truth in the expression that a judge's life is solitary.

Their code of conduct and the personal responsibility to avoid any
unbecoming conduct are designed to preserve judicial independence
where they can exercise their function uninfluenced by political or
individual interests.

The judiciary should not be subject to the whims of politicians,
electorate, lobby groups - not even to moral judgments which may not
accord with the fundamental values inherent in our legal system.

Its primary responsibility is to uphold legal principles, even when to
do so is unpopular. For example, criticisms of the judiciary have
arisen on the issue of freedom of speech following the Federal Court's
decision to turn down Kota Melaka Member of Parliament Lim Guan Eng's
appeal.

It is worthwhile remembering that the judiciary bears the
responsibility for articulating, within legally permissible bounds,
and developing the body of legal principles which govern the
resolution of disputes in a way that best serve Malaysian society. And
it must do so in a way which maintains stability, coherence and
consistency of the law.

The judiciary's accountability also lies in its duty to provide
reasons for their judgments. In striving to be more open in their
judgments, they should express any judicial discretion or non-legal
considerations that they exercise in a particular case. This would
remove perceptions of prejudice.

Judges must bear in mind that, "justice is not a cloistered virtue and
she must be allowed to suffer the scrutiny and comments of ordinary
people".

http://www.nstpi.com.my/nst


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