Promises must be kept, Dr M says after Johor ruler criticises Batu Puteh decision
Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has defended his government's decision not to proceed with an International Court of Justice (ICJ) review on Pulau Batu Puteh’s sovereignty in 2018.
This was after Johor's Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar criticised the decision in a recent Facebook post.
On his blog today, Mahathir said Malaysia and Singapore had both agreed to let the ICJ rule on Pulau Batu Puteh and to accept the ruling.
In 2008, the ICJ gave the sovereignty of Pulau Batu Puteh to Singapore.
Malaysia then filed a fresh review in 2017.
Mahathir, however, said that the ICJ's decision was final and that the court's ruling must be respected.
"An honourable country must keep its promise. Only a dishonourable country would break it.
"Final is final. If a country does not keep its promise, then no other country would enter an agreement with it. It would become a pariah state," he added.
It should be noted that while the Pakatan Harapan government withdrew the review in 2018, it later decided to file a review again in 2019.
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ReplyDeleteNajib's Boeing buy a promise to Trump he can't keep.
Rais Hussin
Published: Sep 25, 2017
COMMENT | During Prime Minister Najib Razak's disastrous trip to the US, where he spent a total of 30 minutes with President Donald Trump, promising him more than RM100 billion in Malaysian investments, perhaps two lines were crossed.
First, Malaysia does not have that kind of financial heft to throw around. If Malaysia did, it is surprising that the country would spend close to a third of Bank Negara's reserves on foreign purchases.
Bank Negara's reserves right now, as was affirmed by Bank Negara Malaysia, is at US$100.8 billion (RM432 billion). Would it make sense to splurge more than RM100 billion on making "America great" again while the Malaysian ringgit has lost more than 25 percent of its value since 2015?
More importantly, another line was crossed. This involved the chain of credibility. The CEO of the Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAS) Peter Bellew confirmed that MAS will lease - and not buy - 16 planes first, and will buy another 25 only if the business proves profitable by 2020. Indeed, the Malaysian Reserve quoting MAS CEO Peter Bellew reported that:
"Global lessors and lenders will pay for the national carrier’s 16 new Boeing aircraft."
Indeed, the Malaysian Reserve further reported that Bellew said MAS would not own the aircraft, but would lease it from leasing firms and lenders as was "the norm" in a September 15 internal memo it sighted.
This is totally in contradiction to what Najib said to Trump and the whole US cabinet.
If Malaysia Airlines's internal memo is considered authoritative, and there is no reason it shouldn't, as the memo was issued to all 12,000 workers, the first delivery of the eight wide-body Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, with a list price of US$2.5 billion (RM10.5 billion), is expected in the third quarter of 2018.
Yet, Najib told Trump that Malaysia Airlines would buy 33 planes from Boeing, of which eight would be 787 Dreamliners, with the rest being of other makes.
This leads us to wonder what Malaysia Airlines's plan is? And, more importantly, why is the Malaysian PM stepping into the corporate and commercial turf of an airline that retrenched 6,000 workers in June 2016 alone, and has no clear plan on how to go forward as a major airliner?
Peter Bellew himself confirmed that unless the coast is clear in 2020, where profits and revenues are already regular and sustainable, MAS is not in any position to make any purchases let alone leases.
Credibility at stake
The whole aviation industry is flexible enough to accommodate the expansion and retrenchment of the airlines, though. Was Najib seizing on this point to make a promise to Trump which Najib did not intend to keep?
If this is the case, then the reputational integrity of Malaysia has literally been put on the line of the US-Malaysia bilateral relationship. And, if the motivation was to impress Trump, then Najib could not have chosen a worse target....
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ReplyDeleteNajib broke promise to repeal sedition law, made it worse, say global jurists
The Malaysian Insider
April 10, 2015
Datuk Seri Najib Razak reneged on his promise to repeal the pre-colonial Sedition Act and instead made the law worse, said the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), condemning the passing of amendments to the act at the Dewan Rakyat early this morning.
The statement from ICJ, issued just hours after Dewan Rakyat passed the amendments, added that the changes allowed greater scope for the law to be abused by authorities to violate human rights.
Noting that the amendments were part of a series of bills that were rushed through Parliament this week, ICJ's legal adviser Emerlynne Gil said: "It is unfortunate that Prime Minister Najib Razak has chosen to renege on his promise to abolish the Sedition Act and instead went ahead to make the law worse than it already is.
“It is undeniable that these amendments would send a further chilling effect on the freedom of expression in Malaysia that is already restricted.”
The amendments, which critics said would make the law more draconian, were passed by a vote of 108 to 79 at 2.30am this morning after 12 hours of heated debate.
Najib had promised three years ago to repeal the controversial law.
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A "Tribute" to Dr M ( Pariah Old Man )
ReplyDeleteby Andrew Cheng
"A Doctor In The House wry and sly
The Malay Dilemma you feign to cry
Soon after the tragedy in May 69
Rising from ashes you became mighty and high
A good 22 years you reign in style
Shedding crocodile tears when time to say goodbye
A crooked man with a crooked mind
Wanted a crooked bridge the rational hard to find
Billions vanished without any trace or sign
Plundering the country is never a crime
Corruption, cronyism and racialism, all are fine
Leaving this beloved Bolehland way far behind
Ketuanan Melayu, Hidup Melayu is your battle cry
You scream all these to cover your deception and lies
Many saw these but pretend to be blind
Mercy upon those who do not toe your line
Know not why you lose memory when in a bind
Another intelligent devil like you we hope not to find.
Najib najib najib. Najib this, najib that. You guys are obsessed with him. This is about Dr M and you all go whataboutism on Najib.
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