PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has named Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi from Barisan Nasional and Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) as Deputy Prime Ministers in his Cabinet line-up.
Anwar will also be the Finance Minister, and Fadillah will also be the Plantations and Commodities Minister.
The
Pakatan-led unity government will see Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail helming the Home Ministry, while Anthony Loke will be the new
Transport Minister.
Dr Zaliha Mustafa will be the new Health Minister.
The other names and positions in the newly-formed Cabinet line-up are:
Economy – Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli
Local Government – Teluk Intan MP Nga Kor Ming
Defence – Rembau MP Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan
Works – Kapit MP Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi
Home – PKR secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail
Digital Communications: Fahmi Fadzil
International Trade and Industry – Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz
Higher Education – Kota Tinggi MP Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin
Science and Technology – Tg Malim MP Chang Lih Kang
Women, Family, and Community Development – Batang Sadong MP Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri
Domestic Trade and Cost of Living – Pulai MP Datuk Seri Salahuddin Ayub
Law and Institutional Reforms (PM’s Department) – Pengerang MP Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said
Natural Resources, Environment, and Climate Change – Setiawangsa MP Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad
Foreign Affairs – Barisan Nasional secretary-general Datuk Seri Zambry Abdul Kadir
Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives - Datuk Ewon Benedick
Tourism - Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing
Education - Fadhlina Sidek
Unity - Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang
Religous Affairs - Datuk Seri Mohd Na’im Mokhtar
Youth and Sports - Hannah Yeoh
Health Minister: Dr Zaliha Mustafa
Sabah and Sarawak (PM's Department) - Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali
"Are we supposed to forget what they said during the campaign? Whatever principles left in politics has been thrown out of the window” - Dr Azmi Omar.
Ahmad Zahid has been caricatured as “King Zahid” and wearing a
crown, with leaders of the two coalitions on their knees, begging for his support.
Umno was painted as racist and corrupt beyond repair and Ahmad Zahid was vilified as a bandit, thief and kleptocrat.
Yet, both Anwar and Muhyiddin were going all out to get Umno onboard. “It is unbelievable how principles have been compromised to gain power.
A WEEK is a long time in politics and this could be the longest week ever as Malaysians wait to know who will be the next prime minister.
It is also a terribly confusing time with conflicting news reports about who has the magic number of 112 MPs as well as unverified claims that Pakatan Harapan leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had been appointed the 10th prime minister.
Finally, Anwar himself cleared the air outside the Palace gates, quipping that the post was still “vacant”.
Anwar, looking every inch the prime minister he is aspiring to be, was upbeat and it is quite evident that Pakatan, as the biggest coalition with 81 seats, has been given first option to try to form a government.
It is not an easy task and Malaysians will be on the edge of their seats for a few more days.
The irony of ironies is that Barisan Nasional, the biggest loser, has become the kingmaker that both Anwar and Muhyiddin are desperately wooing.
Barisan, with 30 MPs, was deeply divided. Some wanted Pakatan, some preferred Perikatan Nasional and some wanted to accept the opposition role.
The Barisan supreme council, which met yesterday, decided that whatever happens, the coalition will move as one.
Barisan deputy chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan’s stand is that the coalition is ready to be a responsible opposition.
“Let Pakatan and Perikatan proceed to form the government since they won the most votes. We are prepared to be the opposition and to check-and-balance the new government,” said the Rembau MP.
He said his coalition respects the democratic process and the fact that voters had chosen Pakatan and Perikatan.
The election results showed that voters did not want Umno in the government. They had given Pakatan 81 seats and Perikatan 73 seats.
Moreover, the Umno base had imploded in anger over their president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s earlier push to go with Pakatan.
The Umno base dislikes DAP and has been long weary of Anwar.
“We lost half our votes to PAS because we could not defend Zahid. We will lose the remaining half if we work with Pakatan and we will be swallowed if we join Perikatan,” said an Umno politician from Kelantan.
The advantage of going with Pakatan is that there would be no overlapping interests in terms of the support base.
On the other hand, being part of Perikatan has been compared with selling “goreng pisang” or fried bananas to the same Malay kampung, that is, fighting over the Malay market share.
The long and short of it is that voters, including the Malays, rejected Umno and it would be shameful to sneak back into government by the backdoor.
The fierce horse-trading has been a rude awakening for many Malaysians.
The party that Pakatan and Perikatan had condemned throughout the campaign was being courted as though it is a beautiful virgin bride.
Umno was painted as racist and corrupt beyond repair and Ahmad Zahid was vilified as a bandit, thief and kleptocrat.
Yet, both Anwar and Muhyiddin were going all out to get Umno onboard.
“It is unbelievable how principles have been compromised to gain power. At least with Mahathir in 2018, they laid the cards on the table for voters to choose.
“But this time, they said no ‘kluster mahkamah’, they campaigned against corruption. We voted for one thing, but they were going to give us something else,” said Dr Thor Teong Ghee, the CEO of a charity healthcare centre in Penang.Ahmad Zahid has been caricatured as “King Zahid” and wearing a crown, with leaders of the two coalitions on their knees, begging for his support.
It must be said that although Muhyiddin reached out to Umno, he drew the line on working with Ahmad Zahid.
In Perak, Umno and DAP supporters are still reeling with shock over the new Umno-Pakatan state government. The two parties were going at each other tooth and nail, but are now cuddling in bed.
“Are we supposed to forget what they said during the campaign? Whatever principles left in politics has been thrown out of the window,” said political commentator Dr Azmi Omar.
Just days ago, the Umno campaign had slammed DAP as racist and anti-Malay.
Perak DAP chief Nga Kor Ming, on his part, had jokingly told a ceramah: “Buy one, free one. Vote for Barisan, get Zahid for free.”
Now that the joke has become reality, Pakatan supporters are scrambling to do damage control and justify the U-turn.
“Democracy has a way of humbling those who talk big. Some say it is hypocritical but what we are seeing now is realpolitik,” said senior fellow at ISIS, Eddin Khoo.
Even PKR superstar and Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli was not spared.
He had declared that he would be the first to speak out if Anwar tried to work with Ahmad Zahid. A photograph of him shaking hands with Ahmad Zahid at the Pakatan-Barisan meeting yesterday drew a flood of comments.
Putrajaya is a glittering dream and politicians will do anything to achieve the dream.
But the onus is not on the loser to help form the government. Barisan was rejected by voters, it belongs on the opposition bench.
The onus is on the big winners to work together and sort out the mess.
The views expressed here are entirely the writer's own
This is the strongest criticism yet, written by a Malay about the contemptible Malay power elites.
Apa Malu!
Malays-and-muslim-two-of-a-kind-corrupt-arrogant/
aloq staq
awez khan ali Selamat Pagi Malaysia
The Malays are a broken people. Broken by our own leaders. Broken by the antics, greed, and hubris of Malay political leaders lost in a world where self-interest and nothing else, matters. It is a world where these political pariahs take every advantage of any opportunity to make themselves some money.
Whether these political pariahs are stealing money from Tabung Haji where Malays have saved their hard-earned cash in order to do their holy pilgrimage to Mecca, or getting commission and kickbacks in the purchase of Covid 19 vaccines which are critical to the saving of Malaysian lives – especially the most vulnerable Malaysians – the old and those in the front lines fighting the pandemic by putting their own lives in danger.
Whether it is playing Russian roulette with the lives of our Armed Forces by purchasing submarines and weapons not fit for purpose that could result in the death of our Armed forces or not providing them with Helicopters and weapons that they need to defend our nation and our people against any encroachments from without.
Our children’s education is disadvantaged by the hundreds of millions siphoned from the Ministry of Education budget. Money allocated to buy solar panels, laptop, text books and the construction of schools to anything else that our children would need for their education – the contracts to supply these items are grossly inflated to pay off politicians and even the ex PM’s wife, Rosmah Mansor.
They even take money from suppliers of food and drinks for our students. There is simply no limit to what these political pariahs will do to make money.
And as if the education of our children is not sacred enough for them to leave alone, the Islamic religion is also a source of funds for these political pariahs. They have no shame, they have no sense of fairness and certainly, there are without morals and ethics in their greed for anything they consider of value for themselves.
And the most despicable of things they do is for PAS to use Islam to benefit their political pariahs. And as if it is not enough that these political pariahs steal, their wives, children, and extended family are also into the thieving.
I spit upon these political pariahs.
These political pariahs are still today free to roam and plunder our nation at will. All of them Malays. Most of them are old. All of them must be discarded and punished for what they have done in plundering our national coffers. What they have plundered from our coffers must be taken back from them and put to good use to help our nation get back on its feet and prosper.
The narrative spun over and over again: that the Christians will destroy Islam, that the Chinese and DAP will take over the country, and that the Malays must have the political power to survive in their own Tanah Air is stale and are no longer relevant in the world the Malays live in today.
Let us get rid of these Malay political pariahs and banish them where they can no longer shame the Malays by what they do.
We know who they are, and it is time that these political pariahs be held to account for what they have done to the Malays.
Whether they are Prime Ministers, Ministers, Menteri Besar, all those loathsome and despicable Yang Berhormats or those little Napoleons who think that being a Malay gives them license to behave in an obnoxious manner to other Malays, and anybody else that question their plundering of our nation’s resources.
Let us start by making sure the Father of all Plunderers, Najib Razak, is in incarcerated immediately, to be followed by his wife, Rosmah Mansor and anyone else who has been the cause of the fall and fall of the Malays.
Today I am ashamed to call myself a Malay. Being a Malay means you have to take responsibility for what these Malay Political Pariahs have done.
Today being a Muslim in Malaysia is nothing to be proud of because all these plunderers, thieves, and scammers are Muslim. The non-Malays do not have to tell us these things.
There are many Malays today who can think, and we know what Malays have done to our country. You do not have to tell us how much the non-Malays have contributed to the development of Malaysia. We Malays know. You do not have to tell us that Malaysia is also your home. That too, we know. And we know that the Malays have been left behind by the others because it is all there for the Malays to see.
The best politicians are not Malays. The least corrupted politicians are not Malays. The most hard-working politicians who deliver on their promise to their electorates are not Malays. But this much we Malays know. The most corrupted politicians in Malaysia are Muslims. The most arrogant politicians are Muslims. And the politicians who do not deliver on their election promise are also Muslims.
So there you have it, this nation of ours has been brought to its knees by corruption and the political shenanigans and devious duplicity of these Malays and Muslims. And you and I know that it will also have to be the Malays and Muslims who will have to work to get these political pariahs into the dock, to be tried, convicted, and incarcerated if there is to be any hope for our nation to survive past 2020.
What is the Unification Church and could it be linked to former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s assassination?
A bride poses for a photo before a giant image of the late founder of Unification Church Sun Myung Moon and his wife Hak Ja Han before a mass wedding ceremony in Gapyeong on September 7, 2017. Photo: AFP
The curtains have come down on former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after the sobering end of his funeral. But the cloud of suspicion surrounding his assassination still looms large in the minds of many around the world. Sentiments of shock continue to be expressed at the fact that Japan's worst political assassination since World War II is related to a cult.
On July 8, Abe was fatally shot while addressing a crowd at a campaign stop in Nara by a 41-year-old man identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, who confessed to the police that he "did not resent Abe's political beliefs," but that his resentment toward the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, known as the Unification Church, a religious movement founded in South Korea, turned into a desire to kill the former national leader.
Yamagami believed Abe had promoted a religious group to which his mother made a "huge donation," Kyodo news agency has said, citing investigative sources. His mother subsequently went bankrupt.
The police investigation into the assassination prompted the head of the Japanese branch of the Unification Church to confirm on July 11 that Yamagami's mother is a member.Looking back on the history of the Unification Church, people have seen the specter of an extremist religious group looming over the political arena of Japan, South Korea, and even the US.
In the mid-1960s, Abe's maternal grandfather and former Japanese Prime Minister, Nobusuke Kishi, would never have imagined that his association with Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, would sow the seed that eventually led to the death of his grandson.
Expansion of a cultMoon founded the Unification Church in South Korea in 1954. Within a year, about 30 church centers had sprung up. Moon began organizing the Unification Church on a large scale in the US in the early 1970s. He also sent his church emissaries to Japan in the early days when the Unification Church developed fast. He settled in the US in 1972.
One of the activities that the Unification Church likes to practice is Tetsuya Yamagami. Moon claimed that he can complete the unfulfilled task of Jesus: To restore humankind to a state of perfection by producing sinless children, and by blessing couples who would produce them. According to media reports, thousands of couples often attended such mass weddings. But those couples would only meet each other weeks prior and they went into marriage based on Moon's arrangement. Many had to remain separated for several years doing church work.
Thousands of couples attend a mass wedding held by the Unification
Church on August 27, 2018 in Gapyeong, South Korea. Photo: VCG
At the same time, Moon was particularly interested in politics. Church leaders plotted a strategy to defend former US President Richard M. Nixon for his role in the Watergate crisis and held rallies in support of him. In the late 1970s, Moon was embroiled in many scandals and was under investigation by US federal authorities mainly over allegations that he has ties to South Korean intelligence and was involved in bribing members of Congress to support President Park Chung-hee, according to a New York Times report.
Moon liked to court world leaders and politicians to advance the Unification Church and sometimes he behaved quite oddly.
Moon, who spoke fluent Japanese, launched an anti-communist group in Japan in the late 1960s, the International Federation for Victory Over Communism, and built relations with Japanese politicians, according to the church's publications, Reuters reported.
Nobusuke Kishi, Abe's maternal grandfather and a former prime minister, was an honorary executive chair at a group banquet hosted by Moon, the International Federation for Victory Over Communism said on its website.
In 2004, Moon had himself crowned "humanity's savior" in front of members of Congress at a Capitol Hill luncheon, read the New York Times report.
Prominent people including the US president were paid to appear at Moon-linked conferences. "The first President George Bush did so after he left office. Others, like former President Gerald R. Ford, Bill Cosby, Mikhail S. Gorbachev, and Jack Kemp, attended banquets and gatherings, sometimes saying later that they had not known of a connection between Moon and the organizations that invited them," said the New York Times report.The Unification Church has a long history of courting Republican officials as part of a propaganda campaign, according to media outlet The Independent. In September 2021, former US President Donald Trump appeared in a virtual address linked to the Unification Church. He praised the founders of the Unification Church. Abe also participated in the same event.
The Financial Times reported that for decades, close ties between the Unification Church in Japan and prominent figures in the governing Liberal Democratic Party have been an open secret in Japanese politics.
"The Unification Church has a strong capacity for brainwashing with propaganda and external expansion. Through the establishment of personal worship and an emphasis on donations for purposes of enrichment, meddling in private property distribution and marriage autonomy of the congregation, the group has garnered a loyal following," an Beijing-based expert on Japan studies surname Zhou told the Global Times.
On the other hand, Zhou pointed out that, through generous political cash and mutual exploitation, the Unification Church has gradually gained a strong foothold in East Asia and the world.
Along with the expansion of the Unification Church was the growth of Moon's business empire. He was involved in many industries in South Korea and also had various commercial interests in Japan. Right-wing nationalist donors in Japan were said to be an important financial source. In the US, he had business interests in a range of fields including jewelry and construction, and bought properties including the New Yorker Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
"In addition to spreading extremist ideas, the Unification Church also has a strong sense of modern business management, operating the religious group as a company, investing and expanding extensively in industry, finance, culture, education, media, and other industries, providing the basis for a 'virtuous' cycle of development for the expansion of its extremist ideology and political infiltration," Zhou said.
The church has about 600,000 members in Japan, out of 10 million globally, Reuters reported.
Thousands of couples attend a mass wedding held by the Unification Church on August 27, 2018 in Gapyeong, South Korea. Photo: VCG
Conservative tone
During the Cold War, the Unification Church movement was criticized by the mainstream media for its anti-Communist activism.
In 2010, Moon bought the US-based media publication the Washington Times into the New World Communications, an international media conglomerate similar to Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, which owns Fox News. The conglomerate was directly affiliated with Moon's Unification Church, the US News reported.
The newspaper often plays up claims that the Chinese mainland will "invade" the island of Taiwan, for example, citing US officials who accuse the Chinese military of posing an "acute threat" to the island
The New York Times reported that Moon acknowledged that in the two decades since the founding of The Washington Times in 1982, he pumped in more than $1 billion in subsidies to keep it going.
In 2002, during the 20th anniversary party for the Washington Times, Moon said, "The Washington Times will become the instrument in spreading the truth about God to the world," the Washington Post reported in 2009.
Unification is a political concept, and the Unification Church, which uses this concept as its name, has always been a heretical religious organization with distinct political positions and intentions, Zhou noted.
Unification Church followers hold a memorial service mourning the death of their leader Sun Myung Moon in the church's Seoul headquarters on September 3, 2012.? Photo: AFP
Alarm bells
The cultist elements behind the Abe assassination have set off alarms in China, which has maintained a zero-tolerance attitude toward cults through various efforts.
The Unification Church has been classified as a cult since the 1990s in China. In May 1997, the Ministry of Public Security listed the Unification church as a cultic organization, according to chinafxj.com, a website promoting China's anti-cult policies under the State Council.
The chinafxj.com website states that the Unification Church has been infiltrating China since as early as the country's Reform and Opening-up in 1978 in the name of investment, sponsorship, and tourism, in a bid to take root in China and expand its influence.
In recent years, the cult's infiltration efforts have become more active in China. Its affiliated organization "International Education Foundation," for instance, carried out penetration activities in some cities in the name of cultural exchange and educational cooperation. The church also set up branches secretly in Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Xi'an, and other major cities to carry out illegal missionary activities. Sunmoon University also tried to absorb Chinese believers via cooperation with China's universities, said the website.
Currently in China, the Unification Church is among the list of 18 defined cultist organizations masquerading as Christian churches, according to chinafxj.com.
The cults share similar traits and modes of operation, such as deifying leaders or founders, promoting inhumane, antisocial, and immoral theories, and inciting the public to confront the larger society, Yan Kejia, director of the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Religious Studies, told the Global Times. "The cults could easily confuse the public by taking advantage of religious beliefs and feudal superstition."
China has been cracking down on cults, especially since the late 1990s, Yan noted. "The efforts have been greatly beneficial. The campaigns against cults are widely understood and supported by the public and have brought a breath of fresh air to the society."
"The Abe incident proved that governments should pay great attention to issues surrounding cultic activities. It also reminds China that the work to fight cults should be consistently enhanced," he said.
In this file photo taken on April 21, 2015 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe waves as he headed for Indonesia at the Tokyo International
Airport. Photo:AFP
Patients lying on stretchers outside the emergency department of the Hospital Tengku Ampuan Rahimah in Klang because there is no place for them inside.
PETALING JAYA: The health system in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Labuan will soon be paralysed unless there is a reduction in daily Covid-19 case numbers, warns health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
In a statement on his Facebook page, Noor Hisham said that to date, the two states and federal territories have shown an increase in new daily cases which exceed the maximum capacity of hospitals there.
He also expressed concern about the trend of Covid-19 cases being admitted to intensive care units (ICU), saying that the ICU bed capacity nationwide is now over 90%.
“The number of new daily cases being reported shows no sign of reduction, and instead, had increased by an average of 2.6% over the last seven days,” Noor Hisham said.
“If this goes on, the health systems in these two states and federal territories will be paralysed,” he said.
Noor Hisham said that among the steps the health ministry has taken to address this is by dedicating several hospitals in the Klang Valley solely to treat Covid-19 patients – Hospital Ampang, Hospital Sungai Buloh and the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Specialist Children’s Hospital (HPKK UKM).
It is also considering using Hospital Shah Alam to treat Covid-19 cases and has proposed that this be allowed at the Universiti Putra Malaysia Teaching Hospital (HUPM) and Hospital Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM
Apart from further increasing the bed capacity at Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL), Hospital Selayang and Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR) in Klang to be used as treatment centres for Category 4 and 5 patients, Noor Hisham said that the health ministry is also transferring non-Covid-19 patients to private hospitals – especially around HKL and HTAR.
Noor Hisham’s statement comes just hours after Klang MP Charles Santiago highlighted the scarcity of beds at HTAR, where Covid-19 patients were “parked” outside the emergency department due to a lack of beds inside.
Last week, social media was abuzz with photos of doctors in Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) performing procedures and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on the floor as the hospital’s capacity was stretched beyond its limit.
Absorbing topic: Ouyang (top centre) with local academics (clockwise
from top left) Dr Chang, Prof Wong, Dr Chan and Dr Ngeow discussed the factors behind China’s success at the recent ‘Governance of China: Perspectives from Southeast Asia’ webinar.
CHINA’s success in building a strong economy, eradicating abject
poverty, curbing the spread of the deadly Covid-19 virus and promoting
the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to benefit the world can be
attributed to its strong governance capability, according to a recent
seminar.
From a backward country in 1978 to an economic juggernaut today, the
Middle Kingdom’s rise over the past 40 years has been spectacular. What
has its leaders done to create one miracle after another? This question
has spurred academics at the Institute of China studies (ICs),
Universiti Malaya, to explore factors behind Beijing’s achievements.
This former “sickman of Asia”, invaded and humiliated by the West in the
19th and first half of 20th century, is now the world’s second biggest
economy. It is also the world’s manufacturing powerhouse and the largest
trading nation. It has lifted about 800 million people out of poverty
since Deng Xiaoping introduced reforms.
On the technological front, China is a pioneer and global pacesetter in
5G rollout, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, robotics, high-speed
railway, satellite navigation and space exploration.
In the “Governance of China: Perspectives from southeast Asia” webinar,
jointly organised by the ICs and the Chinese Embassy in Malaysia, Prof
Datuk Dr Danny Wong highlighted China’s 1.4 billion people are enjoying a
very high standard of living.
“China’s development plans and programmes are the envy of many nations.
All these achievements speak volumes of the country’s ability to govern
well – to be able to translate strategic plans into effective programmes
that bring results.
“One of the things that struck me as important and relevant now is the
manner China has been able to handle the Covid-19 pandemic very well.
This is a clear display of China’s strong governance capabilities – both
on the home front as well as in the international arena,” said Prof
Wong, who is the dean of UM’s Faculty of Arts and social sciences.
Prof Wong, also former director of ICs, shared his ground experience in
witnessing China’s ability to plan and implement longterm education
strategies.
Earlier this year, China announced economic goals for 2025 and 2035, and a carbon-free goal by 2060.
Analysing Beijing’s multi-decade efforts in poverty eradication, ICs
director Dr Ngeow Chow Bing attributed the success to Beijing’s strong
determination in eliminating poverty, market-oriented economy and
government’s strong involvement.
China’s governance system is unique, Dr Ngeow explained. Within the
system is a political structure with a very strong cadre/ official
mobilisation capability, target-based governance and pairing assistance
between rich and poor areas.
The specialist in China affairs said: “Under President Xi Jinping, the
‘last mile’ (the last 99 million very poor people) of poverty
eradication was targeted with precision. Party officials were stationed
at remote areas and their problems solved with tailored solutions.
“While China’s institutional structure is vastly different from other
countries and not replicable, its strategies in wiping out poverty can
be learnt.”
Giving the official view, Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Ouyang Yujing
said: “The secret of China’s effective governance is not enigmatic. It
lies in the political system – the socialist system with Chinese
characteristics adopted by the Communist Party of China (CPC).”
He said the “people-oriented” philosophy of the CPC in governance
has won over the hearts and confidence of its people. This could be
proven by surveys. And due to this, citizens are prepared to endure
hardship and sacrifice to help the government achieve its goals.
A stark example is seen in the lockdown of Wuhan in combating
Covid-19 last year, when residents showed a high degree of obedience
towards the directive to stay home and sacrifice personal freedom for
weeks.
Dr Peter T.C. Chang, deputy director of ICs, pointed out that
China’s unique one-party state has enabled the country to choose its
leaders in an effective manner. And the government has built up a
trusting relationship with the people.
But he opines China should not be seen as a threat, despite the
fact that it has become a global power with footprints around the world
through BRI.
“China’s rise is comparatively peaceful and benign. CPC ideology
is for China only. From Asean’s perspective, China is not a threat in
colonisation. We do not think China harbours that ambition, although
there are territorial disputes in the south China sea,” said Chang.
Apart from the CPC, China’s state-owned enterprises (SE) have also
played an important role in effective governance, according to Dr Li
Ran.
Within each SE is a CPC party committee functioning as a governing
body, similar to the board of directors in a company, she explained.
“This party committee ensures that the CPC’s policies and
strategies are executed. And this structure has made SE become the
visible hand to manage economic activities on behalf of the state,” said
Dr Li, a Chinese national serving at the ICs.
Many SEs have been mobilised to implement BRI projects overseas.
In Malaysia’s ECRL, China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) and
Exim Bank of China are the SES expected to ensure this state-linked
project will be a success.
But not all is rosy in SE governance as there are “zombie
enterprises” that have incurred huge losses or production over-capacity.
some have even been dragged down by corruption and scandals. All these
incidents have tarnished the image of Chinese governance.
However, under the leadership of President Xi, a lot of emphasis
has been placed on rooting out corruption and improving SE performance,
Dr Li observes. Harsh actions were taken against government officials
and CPC leaders involved in wrongdoings.
But still, China has under-performed in terms of institutional
indicators and qualities in the region when compared with four leading
Asean nations, according to Assoc Prof Dr Chan sok Gee.
Her studies, however, showed there is now more accountability in
SES, improved government effectiveness and political stability under the
leadership of President Xi.
As China celebrates the 100th anniversary of the founding of the
CPC this month to remind its people of the role played by the CPC in
making China great again, its unique system of governance has emerged to
be a key part of many analytical writings on China’s success story
today.
BY HO WAH FOON
Celebrating CPC centenary
Keepsake: A China Post staff holding a set of 20 commemorative stamps
and a commemorative cover issued in celebration of the 100th anniversary
of CPC. — Xinhua
China
celebrated the ruling party’s anniversary last week. But for the
ordinary citizens, they have their own way to mark the event.
MANY
couples rushed to tie the knot last week in China. They wanted to
commemorate their special day just as China celebrated the 100th
birthday of its ruling party, Communist Party of China.
A bride from Beijing said she chose July 1 to register her marriage for long lasting relationship.
“Hope our love would last 100 years, just like today’s celebrations,” Shasha Liu told the local media last Thursday.
It
was the day to mark the 100-year formation of the CPC, the sole
political party in power that had led the country to become a moderately
prosperous society.
Marriage registration offices across China recorded a higher number of couples getting hitched last week.
A
Civil Affairs Bureau worker in Jinan city of east China’s Shandong
province revealed that they received more than 30 couples in the morning
alone.
“I could see that many of them are party members as they were
wearing a party emblem on their clothes,” she told the Global Times,
but did not reveal the average daily number of couples who had visited
the place.
At Baoshan district of Shanghai, a long line of people waited with excitement to start their new life.
“My
girlfriend and I are both party members, so we thought this would be a
unique way for us to mark this special day and also for the country,” a
man, who only wished to be known as Bai, said.
At a hospital in
Zhengzhou of central China’s Henan province, a couple in their 80s sang
songs along with other patients and medical staff as they celebrated
their 50th marriage anniversary.
The pair made the hospital ward their home after the man was admitted for Alzheimer’s several years ago.
“It has been 10 years since he has the disease.
“Even if he has forgotten about everything, I will continue to be by his side,” said the wife as she leaned on her husband.
Identified only as Li, she said their children were busy making ends meet and could not take care of them.
Stamp
collectors across the nation got into a frenzy purchase of
commemorative stamps and envelopes issued by China Post to commemorate
the occasion.
The set of 20 stamps and envelopes reveal the 100-year journey of CPC.
The
stamps use red and gold as the main tones while the envelopes contain
patterns of the party emblem, Great Wall and a golden inscription of
Chinese characters saying “Staying true to our original aspiration and
founding mission”, Global Times reported.
A long queue of people formed outside a post office in Shanghai as early as 6.30am.
Among them was 66-year-old Yang Chaode, who travelled 4,000km from Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
He had waited for the launch since the day before.
“My
friends in Xinjiang are waiting for me to send the letters to them,
with the postmark in Shanghai, the birthplace of CPC,” Yang added.
In
Wuhan, public bus driver Nie Sanhua cleaned up his vehicle in the early
morning before decorated the interior with stickers, posters, party
flag and other paraphernalia related to the celebration.
The CPC, founded on July 1, 1921, with just 50-odd members has grown with more than 95 million members.
The formation of the party was proclaimed in front of 12 people onboard a boat at a lake in Zhejiang province.
For decades, the CPC was in the dark on its founding date as there were hardly any records about its formation.
So, the party declared July 1 as its established date in 1941.
In the 1980s, more information was gathered with the findings of more documented records.
Today,
a replica of the boat – known as the Red Boat – is parked at the Nanhu
Lake, about 100km from Shanghai, to commemorate the event.
In Chinese, the top party leader is known as zong shuji which means clerk or secretary.
The
term – the lowest among the official positions – was adopted to show
the party’s determination to serve the people and stand alongside with
them.
Nanhu Lake has become a popular tourist spot visited by
nearly nine million travellers annually following a boost of “red
tourism”in recent years.
Red tourism refers to sites with historical and cultural significant to the CPC.
Thousands of couples attend a mass wedding held by the Unification
Church on August 27, 2018 in Gapyeong, South Korea. Photo: VCG 
