Muhyiddin says that he will be the ultimate No 2 but will Dr Mahathir underminds Najib if he does not likes what Najib is doing ?

Newly-elected Umno deputy president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will play the role of the ultimate No. 2 to Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Muhyiddin said in his winding up speech on Saturday that this was just as what Najib had done when he was No. 2 to Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Pledging his loyalty to Najib, he promised to be on his boss' side in both good and bad times.

"I acknowledge deeply that I am the number two man, not the number one.

"If a number two person is to act like the number one, the ship will surely sink. Thus, I pledge that I will be by his side, through good and bad times.

"I will not be the deputy that will bring about his downfall," he said.

The dollar as a reserve currency, China suggests an end to the dollar era

Handle with care

Mar 26th 2009
From The Economist print edition

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IN FUTURE, changes to the international financial system are likely to be shaped by Beijing as well as Washington. That is the message of an article by Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the People’s Bank of China. Mr Zhou calls for a radical reform of the international monetary system in which the dollar would be replaced as the main reserve currency by a global currency. It is a delicate issue, however. When Tim Geithner, America’s treasury secretary, discussed the proposal in New York on March 25th, his remarks sent the dollar tumbling before he made clear that, naturally, he thought the greenback should remain the dominant reserve currency.

Mr Zhou’s proposal is China’s way of making clear that it is worried that the Fed’s response to the crisis—printing loads of money—will hurt the dollar and hence the value of China’s huge foreign reserves, of which around two-thirds are in dollars.

He suggests that the international financial system, which is based on a single currency (he does not actually cite the dollar), has two main flaws. First, the reserve-currency status of the dollar helped to create global imbalances. Surplus countries have little choice but to place most of their spare funds in the reserve currency since it is used to settle trade and has the most liquid bond market. But this allowed America’s borrowing binge and housing bubble to persist for longer than it otherwise would have. Second, the country that issues the reserve currency faces a trade-off between domestic and international stability. Massive money-printing by the Fed to support the economy makes sense from a national perspective, but it may harm the dollar’s value.

Mr Zhou suggests that the dollar’s reserve status should be transferred to the SDR (Special Drawing Rights), a synthetic currency created by the IMF, whose value is determined as a weighted average of the dollar, euro, yen and pound. The SDR was created in 1969, during the Bretton Woods fixed exchange-rate system, because of concerns that there was insufficient liquidity to support global economic activity. It was originally intended as a reserve currency, but is now mainly used in the accounts for the IMF’s transactions with member countries. SDRs are allocated to IMF members on the basis of their contribution to the fund.

Mr Zhou’s plan could win support from other emerging economies with large reserves. However, it is unlikely to get off the ground in the near future. It would take years for the SDR to be widely accepted as a means of exchange and a store of value. The total amount of SDRs outstanding is equivalent to only $32 billion, or less than 2% of China’s foreign-exchange reserves, compared with $11 trillion of American Treasury bonds.

There are also big political hurdles. America would resist, because losing its reserve-currency status would raise the cost of financing its budget and current-account deficits. Even Beijing might want to rethink the idea. Mr Zhou praised John Maynard Keynes’s proposal in the 1940s for an international currency, the “Bancor”, based on commodities. But as Mark Williams of Capital Economics says, central to Keynes’s idea was that a tax be imposed on countries running large current-account surpluses, to encourage them to boost domestic demand.

Muhyiddin Is New Deputy President

Mar 26, 09 8:04pm Malaysiakini

MCPX [Reactions below] 10.05pm: Muhyiddin Yassin, who bagged 1,575 votes, defeated Muhammad Muhd Taib (916) in the race for Umno deputy president. After the official announcement was made at 10.40pm, Muhyiddin was swarmed by supporters and press photographers. He is almost certain be appointed deputy prime minister. For the three vice-president posts, the winners are Zahid Hamidi (1,592), Hishammuddin Hussien (1,515) and Shafie Apdal (1,445). All the winners are seen to be loyal to incoming prime minister Najib Abdul Razak. Najib had yesterday suffered a setback when outgoing PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's son-in-law, 33-year-old Khairy Jamaluddin, seized the position of chief of Umno's youth wing - a nurturing ground for future leaders. In another high-profile contest, former cabinet minister and political veteran Rafidah Aziz was knocked out as leader of Umno's women's wing, in favour of her deputy Shahrizat Jalil, who is another ally of Abdullah. DEPUTY PRESIDENT Muhyiddin Yassin - Pagoh, Johor (1,575 votes) Muhammad Muhd Taib - Kelana Jaya, Selangor (916) VICE-PRESIDENT (3 posts) Ahmad Zahid Hamidi - Bagan Datok, Perak (1,592) Hishammuddin Hussein - Sembrong, Johor (1,515) Mohd Shafie Apdal - Semporna, Sabah (1,445) Mohamed Khaled Nordin - Pasir Gudang, Johor (1,397) Rais Yatim - Jelebu, Negri Sembilan (491) Mohd Isa Abdul Samad - Telok Kemang, Negri Sembilan (432) Syed Hamid Syed Jaafar Albar - Kota Tinggi, Johor (410) Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik - Masjid Tanah, Malacca (192) REACTIONS Muhyiddin Yassin This is a big responsibility and I will carry out my task to the best of my ability to work with Najib. I urge everyone - winners or losers - to remain united for the sake of party unity. We want to show that Umno, in whatever conditions, will take care of the Malay people, as well as all Malaysians in general. I give my assurance that I will work hard and will remain loyal to Najib. I believe the delegates are very mature and they know that deputy president's post is something significant and important. They know that this means Umno's business and they were looking to see who can assist the president-cum-prime minister. I believe they (the delegates) have made all the assessment based on my experience and I do thank them for what they have done. Muhammad Muhd Taib (who lost deputy president's post): I accept the decision of the delegates. I will continue to serve the party in any capacity. There will always be a winner and a loser in any contest. To me, I have no deep regrets. I accept it as the decision of the delegates. Umno must move on. What is important is to close party ranks to face current challenges and regain the people's support for Umno. When asked if all the winners were from Najib's camp, Muhammad responded with a laugh: "No! Umno's camp." Ahmad Zahid Hamidi I am thankful that the members have placed their trust to elect me. Now it is my duty to work in closing ranks with the party members in a bid to strengthen the party. I agree we have a difficult task ahead of us to strengthen the party, but with hard work and commitment from everyone, especially the winning candidates and party members, we can build this party to where it was once before. My win comes with a heavy responsibility and I will try and fulfil it to the best of my abilities. Hishammuddin Hussein I am thankful for the win and promise not to betray the trust that the delegates and members have placed on me. It is a chance for me to contribute further to the party that I love. Furthermore, I am thankful that members do not believe on the allegations made against me by various quarters, especially by the opposition. This is a sure and winning line-up (referring to the three winning vice-presidents) and we would work hard with the incoming president to build and strengthen the party. Shafie Apdal This is an important win for Sabah as this showed that a member from the state is able to garner the support of the people not only from East Malaysia but also from Peninsular Malaysia. My victory also proved the untruth in the opposition's allegations that a candidate from Sabah would be marginalised by Umno. I will work hard with the party president, deputy president and the other vice-presidents to rebuild the party. There is a much work ahead of us, and I am relishing to the task ahead. Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik (who came out last in the veep race) It is a difficult loss but considering I was the last to qualify as a candidate, it is nevertheless an achievement. I think the delegates have decided on Ahmad Zahid, Hishammuddin and Shafie. It seemed certain that this team would win. It is difficult when they have decided on a fixed team. Earlier tonight 9.10pm: The latest word is that two certain winners for the vice-president post are Zahid Hamidi and Shafie Apdal. The race for the third and final slot is a battle between Khaled Nordin and Hishammuddin Hussein. The race for the deputy president's race between Muhyiddin and Muhammad Taib is still too close to call. However both their supporters are claiming that their man is in the lead. And for the supreme council seat, Azalina Othman Said is said to be very happy after hearing that she had retained her seat. A total of 51 candidates are contesting for 25 places. 8.05pm: With the counting for the party polls going on for about 90 minutes now, word has it that Muhyiddin Yassin is leading the race to the deputy president. The other candidate for the race is Muhammad Muhd Taib. As for the vice-president's post, delegates are also saying that most of them have voted for Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Mohd Shafie Apdal and Khaled Nordin. The early favourite for this race, Hishammuddin Hussein, is said to be lagging behind. The other candidates for the veep race are Rais Yatim, Mohd Isa Abdul Samad, Syed Hamid Syed Jaafar Albar and Abdul Rahim Tamby Chik.

Muhammad Taib and the English Language

By Royce Cheah

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno deputy-president candidate, Senator Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib, is aware that there are people talking about his apparent lack of fluency in English.

In answering questions at the Umno overseas club leadership course yesterday, he not only took a swipe at his critics but also proceeded to list his achievements to prove that he had a good grasp of the language.

The question posed to him by one of the students was that Muhammad’s credibility was doubtful considering he was not fluent in English.

“I am aware that there are people talking about it. But this is just a script that normally comes out and it will change when someone supports a certain party.”

Muhammad said that he was the only Malay who graduated from Universiti Malaya with a first class honours in History in 1979.

“All my previous exams were also conducted in English - the London Cambridge Examinations and the Malaysian Cambridge Examinations.”

Muhammad added that when he was the Selangor Mentri Besar, he had managed to produce dozens of millionaires and was also responsible for bringing in investments from Taiwan, Korea and California.

“The thing is, I am only the Rural and Regional Development Minister now which is why you would only be reading small stories about me.

“Try and give me the International Trade and Industries Ministry and you’ll see,” he quipped.

At a press conference later, Muhammad said he would not speculate on his chances in the Umno elections.

He, however, commended former deputy-presidential candidate, Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, for the calm with which he faced a very difficult situation.Star

Pak Nasution: Tan Sri Muhammad said to he sat for for his Form Five examinations in English and he was a first class graduate at Universiti Malaya in 1989. He also had experience in bringing investments to Selangor when he was the Menteri Besar from 1986 to 1997 . We have to him a chance to see what he can do when elected as Deputy President of Umno.

US reaching out to Iran

America and Iran

Reaching out to Iran

Mar 20th 2009
From Economist.com

America's president calls for a new beginning in relations with Iran

AFP

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BARACK OBAMA is making a determined effort to engage Iran. On Friday March 20th the president of America released a videotaped message to the Islamic Republic, offering a “new beginning” in relations between the two countries. In the recording, timed to mark the Iranian new year, Mr Obama called for a diplomatic process that “will not be advanced by threats. We seek instead engagement that is honest and grounded in mutual respect.” After three decades of a dialogue of the deaf, with a particularly antagonistic period when George Bush confronted Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the current Iranian president, the Great Satan is seeking to reopen a conversation.

Mr Obama has commissioned a re-examination of policy on Iran. Hillary Clinton, his secretary of state, in an early gesture of conciliation, has offered Iran a seat at a conference on Afghanistan that is to take place at the end of this month. All the signs are that, if America and others involved in the diplomatic effort to coax the mullahs into talks could find a way to overcome Iran’s continuing refusal to stop enriching uranium, Iran would be welcomed back as a recognised force in the region with a guaranteed role in any new security arrangement in the Gulf. That could make other problems easier to tackle.

It is a potentially rewarding time to try. In the next few months Iran's leaders, nudged by its people at presidential polls in June, will have to decide whether to return to the comity of nations or stick to their angry, self-isolating revolutionary rhetoric. An immediate response to Mr Obama's latest message came on Friday, from an aide to Mr Ahmadinejad, suggesting that Iran may be open to dialogue. “The Iranian nation has shown that it can forget hasty behaviour but we are awaiting practical steps by the United States”, said Aliakbar Javanfekr, although he added that Iran’s government expects to see “fundamental changes” in America’s policy to the country.

Fathoming the intentions of the men in turbans who run Iran has long proved one of the hardest of diplomatic tasks. It is a prickly country, proud of its history and wary of the other great peoples—Arabs, Turks and Russians—who ring it. America is all around it too: in Turkey, a vital member of NATO; in Iraq, where it still has more than 130,000 troops, despite a gradual drawdown; in Afghanistan, to which Mr Obama has promised to send another 17,000 soldiers to add to the 38,000 already there; and just across the Gulf in Bahrain, a statelet that Iran in its feistier moments claims as its own, where America anchors its Fifth Fleet. Most Iranians think that foreigners, especially Americans, Britons and Arabs, are still determined to do their country down.

Persian pride thus dictates that if the regional likes of Pakistan, India and Israel can have nuclear power—and the bomb—then surely so should Iran, though it vehemently denies any intention to build nuclear weapons. Most of the rest of the world, led by the Americans and the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council, including China and Russia, disagree with differing levels of firmness. Three Security Council resolutions in recent years have imposed targeted sanctions on the Islamic Republic for refusing to stop enriching uranium, a potential bomb ingredient. Israel, in particular, is appalled by the prospect of Iran having the bomb.

The candidates now limbering up to fight for Iran’s presidency are a varied bunch. The most dialogue-minded of them, Muhammad Khatami, a former reformist president, has just dropped out of the race. He may, however, now back a tougher reformist alternative in the person of Mir Hosein Mousavi, prime minister during Iran’s war with Iraq in the 1980s. For his part, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a belligerent, Holocaust-denying populist, is determined to stay put, with the Revolutionary Guard behind him. For now, he seems also to have the backing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a cleric anointed by the late Ayatollah Khomeini, the founding father of a revolutionary theocratic Iran.

And there is the nub of Mr Obama’s problem—and Iran’s. It is Mr Khamenei, not the president, who ultimately calls the shots in foreign policy, including nuclear matters. A strict vetting system can block the candidacy in elections of anyone deemed too liberal or too secular. Mr Ahmadinejad has made a hash of the economy, so there is at least a chance he could be defeated at the polls by a more pragmatic figure. But all candidates will support continuing the nuclear programme. Even if a reformist won, he would not necessarily bring harmony to Iran’s relations with America and the outside world.

Time, however, is running short. Israel’s probable new government, if sufficiently alarmed, could decide to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities even without an American green light. Mr Obama will seek to persuade others, especially Russia, to tighten sanctions and thus strengthen his hand. Ideas for putting in place the conditions to get talks going include a time-limited suspension of uranium enrichment in return for freezing sanctions; removing stocks of low-enriched uranium (which, enriched further, could make a bomb) for fashioning into reactor fuel abroad; and setting up an international consortium to manage enrichment in Iran with UN monitoring (though this would help it hone its suspect nuclear skills).

Iran has much to gain by showing a readiness to limit its nuclear ambition. It may never do so, even at the risk of being bombed. So far it has shown little sign of flexibility towards Mr Obama. But he should still have one more try.

How China sees the world and how the world should see China

Mar 19th 2009
From The Economist print edition

IT IS an ill wind that blows no one any good. For many in China even the buffeting by the gale that has hit the global economy has a bracing message. The rise of China over the past three decades has been astonishing. But it has lacked the one feature it needed fully to satisfy the ultranationalist fringe: an accompanying decline of the West. Now capitalism is in a funk in its heartlands. Europe and Japan, embroiled in the deepest post-war recession, are barely worth consideration as rivals. America, the superpower, has passed its peak. Although in public China’s leaders eschew triumphalism, there is a sense in Beijing that the reassertion of the Middle Kingdom’s global ascendancy is at hand (see article).

China’s prime minister, Wen Jiabao, no longer sticks to the script that China is a humble player in world affairs that wants to focus on its own economic development. He talks of China as a “great power” and worries about America’s profligate spending endangering his $1 trillion nest egg there. Incautious remarks by the new American treasury secretary about China manipulating its currency were dismissed as ridiculous; a duly penitent Hillary Clinton was welcomed in Beijing, but as an equal. This month saw an apparent attempt to engineer a low-level naval confrontation with an American spy ship in the South China Sea. Yet at least the Americans get noticed. Europe, that speck on the horizon, is ignored: an EU summit was cancelled and France is still blacklisted because Nicolas Sarkozy dared to meet the Dalai Lama.

Already a big idea has spread far beyond China: that geopolitics is now a bipolar affair, with America and China the only two that matter. Thus in London next month the real business will not be the G20 meeting but the “G2” summit between Presidents Barack Obama and Hu Jintao. This not only worries the Europeans, who, having got rid of George Bush’s unipolar politics, have no wish to see it replaced by a Pacific duopoly, and the Japanese, who have long been paranoid about their rivals in Asia. It also seems to be having an effect in Washington, where Congress’s fascination with America’s nearest rival risks acquiring a protectionist edge.

Reds under the bed

Before panic spreads, it is worth noting that China’s new assertiveness reflects weakness as well as strength. This remains a poor country facing, in Mr Wen’s words, its most difficult year of the new century. The latest wild guess at how many jobs have already been lost—20m—hints at the scale of the problem. The World Bank has cut its forecast for China’s growth this year to 6.5%. That is robust compared with almost anywhere else, but to many Chinese, used to double-digit rates, it will feel like a recession. Already there are tens of thousands of protests each year: from those robbed of their land for development; from laid-off workers; from those suffering the side-effects of environmental despoliation. Even if China magically achieves its official 8% target, the grievances will worsen.

Far from oozing self-confidence, China is witnessing a fierce debate both about its economic system and the sort of great power it wants to be—and it is a debate the government does not like. This year the regime curtailed even the perfunctory annual meeting of its parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), preferring to confine discussion to back-rooms and obscure internet forums. Liberals calling for greater openness are being dealt with in the time-honoured repressive fashion. But China’s leaders also face rumblings of discontent from leftist nationalists, who see the downturn as a chance to halt market-oriented reforms at home, and for China to assert itself more stridently abroad. An angry China can veer into xenophobia, but not all the nationalist left’s causes are so dangerous: one is for the better public services and social-safety net the country sorely needs.

So China is in a more precarious situation than many Westerners think. The world is not bipolar and may never become so. The EU, for all its faults, is the world’s biggest economy. India’s population will overtake China’s. But that does not obscure the fact that China’s relative power is plainly growing—and both the West and China itself need to adjust to this.

For Mr Obama, this means pulling off a difficult balancing act. In the longer term, if he has not managed to seduce China (and for that matter India and Brazil) more firmly into the liberal multilateral system by the time he leaves office, then historians may judge him a failure. In the short term he needs to hold China to its promises and to scold it for its lapses: Mrs Clinton should have taken it to task over Tibet and human rights when she was there. The Bush administration made much of the idea of welcoming China as a “responsible stakeholder” in the international system. The G20 is a chance to give China a bigger stake in global decision-making than was available in the small clubs of the G7 and G8. But it is also a chance for China to show it can exercise its new influence responsibly.

The bill for the great Chinese takeaway

China’s record as a citizen of the world is strikingly threadbare. On a host of issues from Iran to Sudan, it has used its main geopolitical asset, its permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, to obstruct progress, hiding behind the excuse that it does not want to intervene in other countries’ affairs. That, sadly, will take time to change. But on the more immediate issue at hand, the world economy, there is room for action.

Over the past quarter-century no country has gained more from globalisation than China. Hundreds of millions of its people have been dragged out of subsistence into the middle class. China has been a grumpy taker in this process. It helped derail the latest round of world trade talks. The G20 meeting offers it a chance to show a change of heart. In particular, it is being asked to bolster the IMF’s resources so that the fund can rescue crisis-hit countries in places like eastern Europe. Some in Beijing would prefer to ignore the IMF, since it might help ex-communist countries that have developed “an anti-China mentality”. Rising above such cavilling and paying up would be a small step in itself. But it would be a sign that the Middle Kingdom has understood what it is to be a great power.

Penamaan Pokok, Tugu Kemuncak Penderhakaan - Zambry

IPOH, 9 Mac (Bernama) -- Menteri Besar Perak Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kadir menyifatkan tindakan pembangkang membina tugu berbentuk plak di bawah pokok hujan di Medan Istana di sini serta menanam lima batang pokok "sebagai tanda dan kemuncak penderhakaan kepada institusi Raja".

Beliau berkata tanda penderhakaan mereka jelas apabila menentang pelantikan beliau sebagai menteri besar oleh Sultan Perak Sultan Azlan Shah serta mengadakan persidangan Dewan Undangan Negeri (DUN) tanpa perkenan baginda.

"Tindakan yang dibuat itu adalah simbolik dan secara terang-terangan menunjukkan tindakan penderhakaan kepada Tuanku Sultan dan institusi Raja di Perak.

"Kita lihat mereka mengatakan itu adalah tempat dan pokok demokrasi, tetapi bagi saya ia adalah tempat 'patik mohon sembah derhaka' sebenarnya. Itulah punca dan kemuncak yang mereka lakukan," katanya kepada pemberita selepas menghadiri majlis sambutan Maulidur Rasul dan pelancaran Bulan Dakwah peringkat negeri oleh Sultan Azlan Shah di sini hari ini.

Mengenai penanaman lima pokok berkenaan, beliau berkata pihak pembangkang mengetahui bahawa kawasan tanaman itu adalah kawasan rizab jalan dan terletak di bawah pentadbiran Majlis Bandaraya Ipoh (MBI).

"Soalnya mereka sudah mendapat kelulusan MBI atau belum (untuk menanam pokok dan tugu berkenaan). Mereka (pembangkang) juga memberi tafsiran kepada rakyat dengan manipulasi politik bahawa apa yang mereka lakukan itu benar," katanya.

Semalam, bekas menteri besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin merasmikan tugu berbentuk plak di bawah pokok hujan di Medan Istana di sini yang menjadi kawasan berlangsungnya persidangan DUN pada Selasa lepas.

Mohammad Nizar sebelum itu turut menanam lima anak pokok spesies yang sama sebagai simbolik kepada prinsip pakatan pembangkang di sebuah kawasan lapang berhampiran dan majlis itu turut disertai para pemimpin dan wakil rakyat DAP, PAS dan PKR.

Dalam perkembangan lain, Zambry berkata kerajaan negeri akan mewujudkan Maahad Tahfiz Al-Quran di setaip daerah di Perak dalam usaha memelihara dan meningkatkan lagi syiar Islam.

Beliau berkata setakat ini hanya ada beberapa daerah sahaja yang mempunyai Maahad Tahfiz dan jumlah itu perlu ditambah.

Selain itu, katanya kerajaan negeri juga bersedia untuk memberi sejumlah peruntukan bagi membaik pulih masjid dan surau di negeri ini.

Katanya setakat ini beberapa masjid telah menerima peruntukan pembangunan kerajaan negeri seperti Masjid Trong sebanyak RM50,000, Masjid Sultan Yusuf di Rapat Setia (RM200,000) dan Masjid Parit Buntar (RM100,000).