Media Statement: Stop Being 'BN Apologist'

Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Paul Low should perhaps do his homework first before attempting to “justify” Malaysia’s poor rankings in the Revenue Governance Index Report

Paul Low should read the Revenue Watch Institute (RWI) 2013 report first before defending the Barisan Nasional government of their inability in resource governance, which is clearly shown by the Malaysia’s poor ranking in the report’s Resource Governance Index (RGI).

In responding to the poor ranking, Paul Low was reported saying that it is because the disclosure of overseas agreements make up a "big item" in the index and Petronas has to respect the host government’s requests for non-disclosure while doing operation overseas. This excuse given is contrary to that stated in the RGI report.

Media Statement: Malaysia Poor Ranking in Resource Governance Index (RGI)

Malaysia fares worse than Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Iraq in the latest Resource Governance Index published by Revenue Watch Institute.

Malaysia ranks 34th out of 58 countries with a score of 46 out of 100 in Resource Governance Index (RGI) published on 8 May 2013 by Revenue Watch Institute (RWI), a non-profit organization that promotes effective, transparent and accountable management of natural resources. Malaysia is categorized as ‘weak’ among the four standards of governance - satisfactory, partial, weak and failing while our neighboring countries Indonesia and Philippine are categorized as partial with better rank of 14^th and 23^rd respectively. We also tail behind 8 African countries - Ghana (15^th), Liberia (16^th), Zambia (17^th), Morocco (25^th), Tanzania (27^th), Botswana (30^th), Gabon (32^nd) and Guinea (33^rd) as well as countries like Indonesia Kazakhstan (19^th), Venezuela (20^th), Azerbajian (28^th) and Iraq (29^th).

Petroleum sector is one of the most important sectors in Malaysia, representing 10% of gross domestic product and 20% of exports as well as 40% of federal government revenue in 2011.  According to Petroleum Development Act of 1974, Malaysia national oil firm, Petronas, has the exclusive right to manage the petroleum sector and can grant licenses and sign contracts without public scrutiny. It is only accountable to the Prime Minister. Because there’s a lack of disclosure policies, Petronas is currently publishing little information on extractive contracts or resource-funded subsidies. On licensing, it announces the award of licenses through press releases with little details and without the disclosure of the terms and conditions.

Stagnant Water to Dried Land

About 2 weeks ago we've received complains that an abandoned land near SS2 mall and Damansara Bistari has turned into a 'lake' - stagnant water that smells and a potential breeding ground for different diseases. 

So I did a press conference together with the residents, pegawai kesihatan from MBPJ and our councillor Lee Suet Sen on 18 May 2013. The land owner responded to the call and dried up the land. On the right is the picture of the dried land on 28 May 2013.

To all the land owners, please make sure your land don't pose any inconvenience and potential health hazard to the residents around. Thanks. 

Flash Flood, Rivers and JPS

I did a press conference on 22 May 2013 together with the residents around Jalan SS21/42a to highlight the urgency of JPS (Jabatan Pengairan dan Saliran) to start their river embankment  project, which was supposed to start on 13 Mar 2013. The JPS contractor has finally started work the following day after the press conference. 

Serious riverbank erosion as a consequence of the lack of concrete embankment not only pose danger to buildings by the side of the river (pic) but also bring significant silting effect (pic) downstream, causing shallower riverbeds and potentially flash flood. In fact, Kampung Chempaka, which is situated downstream from this area, just suffered flash flood about 3 weeks ago at Jalan PJU 1/4. 

Erosion: Dangerous to Buildings by Riverside (upper side of the pic)

Silting Effect: Accumulation of Sediments

12 Days After GE

I would like to share with you here a beautiful write-up by Lauren Chew, my 17 year-old intern, about her internship with me. Lauren is in the middle in the photo, while her dad by her side. Mr Chew entrusted his daughter to me just a few months before she leaves for US to pursue her study in Political Science.

Do take some time to read this article. It's simply beautiful. This is from a 17 year-old Malaysian girl who witnessed the dirty GE13 and yet still believe that we can change and there is hope for this nation, because beauty outweighs the ugly - infinitely.

Quick Updates

Dear readers of this blog, 

It's been a long time since I've updated my blog. For those who are expecting sustainable development and urban planning articles from me (which I've  mentioned in my previous blog that I am going to write) and those who requested me to write more in Chinese, please be patient ya, I am a bit busy now.

So what have I been up to? 

I've been tied up with the preparation works for DAP social media election strategy, planning and execution. Najib said that this is a social media election, and if there's one thing that I would finally agree with him, it would be this. That's why we have been working really hard to make sure everything fell into place come election time. Today should be the last day of preparation, tightening loose ends and waiting for the nomination and election dates to confirm!! **phew** 

In the DAP and Pakatan Rakyat, we are facing huge disadvantage over our opponent in term of election publicity. To describe that it would be this: David vs Goliath. Our main disadvantages are media and money. 

The main media (TV, radio and newspaper) are all controlled by the Barisan Nasional. O ya, Rais Yatim did say that Pakatan Rakyat are allowed 10 minutes to present our manifesto in RTM. But they are enjoying the remaining of the 1430 minutes of the day?? This is the biggest humiliation to the democracy of this country!! In term of money, our fund is no where near, Barisan Nasional has literally splashing tax-payer money everywhere to get votes. RM 2 million for Psy in Penang is peanut, they've just spent RM 36 million last month alone on Astro advertisement!

So guys, it's going to be a tough fight. And yes, we are on a very disadvantaged position, but LAWAN TETAP LAWAN. And remember, in that story, David defeated Goliath with just one stone. Hopefully with our works and campaigns in the cyber world, we can nullify their monopoly in the media and huge financial resources. If you are active on Facebook, you'll see a lot more from us after the nomination and election dates are confirmed. Also, we have just launched UBAH TV, an online 24 hours TV channel, please help us promote. You can access to the online channel at: http://ubah.tv  

I just want to let you know that, behind all the videos, graphics and UBAH TV that you see or are going to see on Facebook, Youtube and online, are a group of young, talented and dedicated staffs and volunteers. They have been working days and nights. Hopefully our works will pay off with a change of regime! That will be the biggest reward for us all.

Over in PJ, I have continued to work with Theresa Lim (Chairman of JKKK Kampung Chempaka) to serve people in Kampung Chempaka. We've just got the land geran for about 50 residents here. Many the residents have applied for those lands for many many years to no avail. In fact, this is the first ones to be approved after almost 10 long years. There should be an institutionalised change in term of new village land planning (which I shall discuss perhaps in the future), but for this point of time, what we could do was to help the residents to first solve their immediate problems. Here is the picture when we give away the geran to the residents.

When the federal government gave away their vote-buying BR1M (Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia), they seem to have forgotten that many of the old people did not know how to apply for it. BR1M though a BN program, the money belong to the rakyat, so we've started a 4 weeks registration drive in the Kg Chempaka and Kg Damansara to help the the residents to register BR1M so those eligible will be able to get their RM500. I've decided that we should help them to apply online straight so to reduce clerical errors of paper applications. Here are the pictures of us in one of those registration drive nights. 

If you notice, many of the volunteers are young (some not in the picture), the young I am talking about here is really young, teens and early twenties. But I must admit that they are way better than me in network and computer! Above all, I am so encouraged to see them coming out to serve the community in young age, and youth like that are hope to our society. 

Source: Chinese Rocket Fanpage

Source: Chinese Rocket Fanpage

I have many more to update you all, but left with very little time, tons of work waiting now. I must apologize for my pasar English in this letter. Bye!

Ubah Sekarang, Bersihkan Malaysia!

Cheers,
Bee Yin

论给脸

前几天我们行动党发起了一个运动叫做 Spark the Change － 激起改变之火。这个运动的开幕是我们17辆车在新年假期前贴上UBAH车贴，寓意把UBAH带回家。

如果民联要在来届大选入主布城，我们一定要赢得非城市席位。这个并不容易，非城市选区大多数是国阵堡垒。民联没有国阵所垄断的媒体去传达信息，没有国阵的财力去买票，没有国阵的奸计去策化不公选举，我们有的是一个一个期待改变的马来西亚人。所以我们就发起了这项运动让所有的城市朋友回家的时候不忘把改变的讯息带回家乡。

这个是我们 Spark the Change 开幕礼的照片。

这辆就是我的UBAH车。

我其中一个家人看到我的脸书贴文后叫我驾车回昔加末后把车包起来放在我哥家。我问为什么？他说要“给脸”我爸，所以不可以放在家里。（我爸是我们新村的马华村长。）

身为这项活动其中一个策划人的我，会为了“给脸”我爸而把车藏起来吗？不会。我把UBAH车驾回昔加末真的是不“给脸”我爸吗？非也。

当国阵让我国流失8930亿黑金时，他们有“给脸”纳税人吗？当国阵把财富往朋党的口袋塞时，他们有“给脸”那些更需要帮助的弱势人群吗？当国阵把我国教育搞到一塌糊涂时，他们有“给脸”那些望子成龙的父母吗？当国阵把一个又一个成绩优秀的学子拒于国立大学门外时，他们有“给脸”这些年轻人吗？当国阵把准证发给Lynas时，他们有“给脸”关丹的同胞吗？当国阵为了赢得大选大批的批准外籍人士成为我国公民时，他们有“给脸”我们这些正牌公民吗？当国阵强力控制主流媒体时，他们有“给脸”我们需要的新闻自由吗？当国阵厚颜无耻的炒作种族课题时，他们有“给脸”国家需要的开明和平吗？

我，真的需要“给脸”他们吗？

我要“给脸”的是我热爱的国土的未来，我要“给脸”的是我们这一代的梦想，我要“给脸”的是我们传给下一代的希望。

我爸真的会因为我为了改变这个国土的决心而觉得没脸吗？

我很少用中文写部落格，可是今天用了中文，因为我知道我爸虽然看不懂英文他会常常来这里看我写什么。我希望他知道，女儿永远会为他舍己服务社会的精神为荣。可是，我不认为他忠心了这么多年的政党能给马来西亚一个美好的未来。我“给脸”的是我爸争取社会福利的精神，我不“给脸”的是那个腐败不堪，毫无道德的政党。

再说，两线制的好处是相互制衡，不是吗？马华如果有车贴我爸要贴我也会大大方方，毫无顾虑的回家。

爸，两线制就从我们家开始吧！

昔加末的同乡们我要和我的UBAH车一起回来咯！

改朝换代，告别腐败！改变就从我们开始吧！

Keep your ideal, Amanda!

This morning, I came across an article written by Amanda Fan at TMI entitled "Come home, Malaysians!" (here) and closed the window after reading it. After a while I thought I should have shared it on FB, so I googled for the article. Then I found another article written by Timothy Tiah back in 2011 with the same title "Come Home Malaysians" (here). Now I am seeing the Malaysiakini sharing the same article by Amanda with a different title "Stay and help change Malaysia for the better" (here) . 

Since I decided to chill a bit today and brain drain has always been an issue that is very close to my heart, I read all the comments at all the 3 sites. Many people left comments to Amanda and Timothy Tiah to tell them the real problem and advised them to get down to the reality. To summarize all of those comments, the overall dilemma are the following, 'how can we encourage people to come back to Malaysia when there is no equal opportunity?' 'how can we encourage them to come back when they can earn much more and reach their full potential else where?' We just can't. Unfortunately, we just can't. 

Nevertheless, I AM WITH YOU AMANDA! Hold on to that ideal and never let it die even when the reality hits in. Study hard, excel in your university and come back to serve the nation never mind the imperfections. And when you are back, make sure you are actively involved in making a difference here in Malaysia, big or small.