President-Elect Obama names his Power-Dream Team before Inauguration on 20th January 2009 (New Cabinet on Capitol Hill)

Rahm Emanuel
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Rahm Israel Emanuel



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White House Chief of Staff-designate
Taking office
January 20, 2009
President Barack Obama
Succeeding Josh Bolten

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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2003
Preceded by Rod Blagojevich

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Democratic Caucus Chairman of the United States House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 4, 2007
Leader Steny Hoyer
Preceded by Jim Clyburn

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Born November 29, 1959 (1959-11-29) (age 48)
Chicago, Illinois
Political party Democratic
Spouse Amy Rule
Children Zachariah Emanuel
Ilana Emanuel
Leah Emanuel
Residence Chicago, Illinois
Alma mater Sarah Lawrence College, Northwestern University
Religion Jewish
Rahm Israel Emanuel (born November 29, 1959) is an American politician who has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing Illinois's 5th congressional district, which covers much of the north side of Chicago and parts of suburban Cook County. Emanuel was chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the 2006 elections. After the Democratic Party regained control of the House, he was elected as the next chairman of the Democratic Caucus. He is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, behind Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Leader Steny Hoyer and Whip Jim Clyburn.[1]

On November 6, 2008, Emanuel accepted an offer from President-elect Barack Obama to become the White House Chief of Staff in Obama's administration, which begins on January 20, 2009.[2][3][4][5]

Emanuel is an influential member of the New Democrat Coalition, and a prominent proponent of economic liberalization. He is noted for his combative style and his political fundraising abilities.[6]

Contents [hide]
1 Early and personal life
2 Career as political staffer
3 Career in finance
4 Congressional career
4.1 Election in 2002
4.2 DCCC chairman
4.3 2008 Contributions
4.4 House leadership
4.5 Committee assignments
4.6 Political views
4.7 Electoral history
5 White House Chief of Staff
6 Works
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links



[edit] Early and personal life
Rahm Israel Emanuel (Hebrew: רם ישראל עמנואל‎) was born in Chicago, Illinois.[7] His first name, Rahm, means "high" or "lofty" in Hebrew,[8] while his last name, Emanuel, means "God is with us." According to his father, his son is the namesake of Rahamim, a Lehi paramilitary group combatant who was killed.[9] Rahm’s surname was adopted by his family in 1933, after Rahm’s paternal uncle, Emanuel Auerbach, was killed in a skirmish with Arabs in Jerusalem.[10]

Emanuel's father, Benjamin M. Emanuel, is a pediatrician who was born in Jerusalem and was a member of the Irgun, a Jewish militia which operated from 1931 to 1948 during the British Mandate of Palestine. His mother, Martha Smulevitz, worked as an X-ray technician and was the daughter of a local union organizer.[6] She became a civil rights activist; she was also once the owner of a Chicago-area rock and roll club.[10] The two met in Chicago in the 1950s.[11] Emanuel's older brother, Ezekiel, is an oncologist and bioethicist, and his brother Ari is a talent agent in Los Angeles who inspired Jeremy Piven's character Ari Gold on the HBO series Entourage.[6] Emanuel himself is the inspiration for the character Josh Lyman on The West Wing[12]. Emanuel is a first cousin of Howard Stern Show writer Benjy Bronk. [6] Emanuel also has a younger adopted sister named Shoshanna, 14 years his junior.[6][10]

When his family lived in Chicago, he attended Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, a Jewish day school. After his family moved to Wilmette, he attended public school: Romona School, Wilmette Junior High School, and New Trier West High School.[11][13] He and his brothers attended summer camp in Israel.[10] At some point during his high school years, while working at an Arby's restaurant, Emanuel severely cut his right middle finger. He sought medical attention only after suffering severe infection as a result of the wound, resulting in the partial amputation of the finger. [14]. The story of this event has changed over time - it was once rumored that he lost it in combat for the Israeli army, when it was blown off by a Syrian tank.[15]

He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1981, and went on to receive a master's degree in Speech and Communication from Northwestern University in 1985. While still an undergraduate, he joined the congressional campaign of David Robinson of Chicago.[16]

Emanuel was a civilian volunteer in the Israel Defense Forces during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, repairing truck brakes in one of Israel's northern bases.[17][18]

Emanuel's wife, Amy Rule, converted to Judaism shortly before her wedding.[17] They are members of Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel, a Modern Orthodox congregation in Chicago.[19] They have three children, son Zachariah and daughters Ilana and Leah.

Emanuel is a close friend of fellow Chicagoan David Axelrod, Chief Strategist for the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign. Axelrod signed the ketuba, a Jewish marriage contract, at Emanuel's wedding, an honor that goes to a family friend or distant relative.[20]

Rabbi Asher Lopatin of Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation is quoted as saying: "It's a very involved Jewish family"; "Amy was one of the teachers for a class for children during the High Holidays two years ago."[19] Emanuel has said of his Judaism: "I am proud of my heritage and treasure the values it has taught me."[19] Emanuel's family lives on the North Side of Chicago, in the North Center neighborhood.[8]

Emanuel trains for and participates in triathlons.[13]


[edit] Career as political staffer
Clinton's most serious primary rival, Paul Tsongas (the New Hampshire Democratic primary winner in 1992), later withdrew, citing a lack of campaign funds. Richard Mintz, a Washington public relations consultant who worked with Emanuel on the campaign, spoke about the soundness of the idea: "It was that [extra] million dollars that really allowed the campaign to withstand the storm we had to ride out in New Hampshire [over Clinton's relationship with Gennifer Flowers and the controversy over his draft status during the Vietnam War ]."[19] Emanuel's knowledge of the top donors in the country, and his rapport with potential donors within the Jewish community helped Clinton amass a then-unheard-of sum of $72 million.[19]

Following the campaign, Emanuel became a senior advisor to Clinton at the White House from 1993 to 1998. In the White House, Emanuel was initially Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy. He was a leading strategist in the unsuccessful White House efforts to institute universal healthcare and many other Clinton initiatives.[21]

One of his proudest moments during the Clinton administration "was an event that touched his political sensibilities and his personal ties to Israel: the 1993 Rose Garden signing ceremony after the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization ("PLO"). Emanuel directed the details of the ceremony, down to the choreography of the famous handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat."[19]

Emanuel is said to have "mailed a rotten fish to a former coworker after the two parted ways."[19] On the night after the 1996 election, "Emanuel was so angry at the president's enemies that he stood up at a celebratory dinner with colleagues from the campaign, grabbed a steak knife and began rattling off a list of betrayers, shouting 'Dead! ... Dead! ... Dead!' and plunging the knife into the table after every name."[6] His "take-no-prisoners attitude" earned him the nickname "Rahm-bo".[19] People who worked with Emanuel at that time "insist the once hard-charging staffer has mellowed out."[19]


[edit] Career in finance
After serving as an advisor to Bill Clinton, in 1998 Emanuel left the White House to become an investment banker at Wasserstein Perella, (now Dresdner Kleinwort), where he worked until 2002.[22] In 1999, he became a managing director at the firm’s Chicago office. Emanuel made $16.2 million in his two-and-a-half-year stint as a banker, according to Congressional disclosures.[22][23] At Wasserstein Perella, he worked on eight deals, including the acquisition by Commonwealth Edison of Peco Energy and the purchase by GTCR Golder Rauner of the SecurityLink home security unit from SBC Communications.[22]

Emanuel was named to the Board of Directors for the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac") by then President Bill Clinton in 2000. His position paid him $31,060 in 2000 and $231,655 in 2001.[24] During the time Emanuel spent on the board, Freddie Mac was plagued with scandals involving campaign contributions and accounting irregularities.[25] The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) later accused the board of having "failed in its duty to follow up on matters brought to its attention." Emanuel resigned from the board in 2001 when he ran for congress.[26]


[edit] Congressional career

[edit] Election in 2002

Rep. John Dingell and Rep. Emanuel sharing pączkiAfter working in investment banking, in 2002 Emanuel pursued the U.S. House seat in the 5th District of Illinois previously held by Rod Blagojevich, who chose not to run for re-election, but instead successfully ran for Governor of Illinois.[citation needed]

His strongest opponent of the seven other candidates in the 2002 Democratic primary — the real contest in this heavily Democratic district — was former Illinois State Representative Nancy Kaszak, who had unsuccessfully opposed Blagojevich in the 1996 primary. The most controversial moment of the primary election came when Edward Moskal, president of the Polish American Congress, a political action committee endorsing Kaszak, called Emanuel a "millionaire carpetbagger who knows nothing" about "our heritage". Moskal also charged that Emanuel had dual citizenship with Israel and had served in the Israeli Army.[27] Rahm was a civilian volunteer in the Israel Defense Forces during the 1991 Gulf War and was born an Israeli citizen due to his father's (dual) Israeli-U.S. citizenship, but relinquished his Israeli citizenship when he turned 18.[17][18][not in citation given]

Emanuel brought together a coalition of Chicago clergy to denounce the incident. He recalled, "One of the proudest moments of my life was seeing people of my district from all backgrounds demonstrate our common values by coming together in response to this obvious attempt to divide them."[19] Moskal's comments were denounced as anti-Semitic by many, including Kaszak.[27] Emanuel won the primary and easily defeated Republican candidate Mark Augusti in the general election. Emanuel supported the October 2002 joint Congressional resolution authorizing the Iraq War, differentiating himself from all nine other Democratic members of the Illinois Congressional delegation (Sen. Richard Durbin, Reps. Bobby Rush, Jesse Jackson, Jr., Bill Lipinski, Luis Gutiérrez, Danny K. Davis, Jan Schakowsky, Jerry Costello and Lane Evans) elected in 2002.[28] In his first term, Rahm Emanuel was a founding member and the Co-Chair of the Congressional Serbian Caucus.[29]

In 2006 Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass reported he had a newsroom confrontation with Emanuel over Kass’s continued speculation Emanuel only won his 2002 election because convicted former Chicago water department boss Don Tomczak sent in his employees to work for Emanuel. He also speculated that Mayor Richard Daley’s “underlings” who were sentenced to federal prison for organizing “patronage armies” also helped Emanuel.[25]


[edit] DCCC chairman
Emanuel was known to have had disagreements over Democratic election strategy with Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. Dean favored a "50 state strategy", building support for the Democratic Party over the long term, while Emanuel believed a more tactical approach, focusing attention on key districts, was necessary to ensure victory.[30]

Ultimately the Democratic Party enjoyed considerable success in the 2006 elections, gaining 30 seats in the House. Emanuel has received considerable praise for his stewardship of the DCCC during this election cycle, even from Illinois Republican Rep. Ray LaHood who said "He legitimately can be called the golden boy of the Democratic Party today. He recruited the right candidates, found the money and funded them, and provided issues for them. Rahm did what no one else could do in seven cycles."[31]

Emanuel still is close to Bill Clinton, and talked strategy with him at least once a month as chairman of the DCCC.[13] He declared in April 2006 that he would support Hillary Rodham Clinton should she pursue the presidency in 2008. However, Emanuel's loyalties came into conflict when his home-state senator Barack Obama expressed interest in the race; asked in January 2007 about his stance on the Democratic presidential nomination, he said: "I'm hiding under the desk. I'm very far under the desk, and I'm bringing my paper and my phone."[32]


[edit] 2008 Contributions
Open Secrets reports that Rahm Emanuel "was the top House recipient in the 2008 election cycle of contributions from hedge funds, private equity firms and the larger securities/investment industry".[33]


[edit] House leadership
After his role in helping the Democrats to win the 2006 elections, Emanuel was believed to be a leading candidate for the position of Majority Whip. Nancy Pelosi, who became the next Speaker of the House, persuaded him not to challenge Jim Clyburn, but instead to succeed Clyburn in the role of Democratic Caucus Chairman. In return, Pelosi agreed to assign the caucus chair more responsibilities, including "aspects of strategy and messaging, incumbent retention, policy development and rapid-response communications". Caucus vice-chair John Larson remained in this role instead of running for the chairman position.[34]

After U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney asserted that he did not fall within the bounds of orders set for the executive branch, Emanuel called for cutting off the $4.8 million the Executive Branch provides for the Vice President's office. [35]


[edit] Committee assignments
Committee on Ways and Means
Subcommittee on Health
Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures

[edit] Political views
During his original 2002 campaign, Emanuel "indicated his support of President Bush's position on Iraq, but said he believed the president needed to better articulate his position to the American people".[19] One of the major goals he spoke of during the race was "to help make health care affordable and available for all Americans".[19]

Emanuel has maintained a 100 percent pro-choice voting record and is generally liberal on social issues[citation needed]. He has aligned himself with the centrist wing of the Democratic Party, the Democratic Leadership Council.[citation needed]

According to The Nation, Emanuel is "seen as a strong Israel partisan.”[36] In June 2007, Emanuel condemned an outbreak of Palestinian violence in the Gaza Strip and criticized Arab countries for not applying the same kind of pressure on the Palestinians as they have on Israel. At a 2003 pro-Israel rally in Chicago, Emanuel told the marchers Israel was ready for peace but would not get there until Palestinians "turn away from the path of terror".[37]

In his book, Emanuel advocated a three-month compulsory universal service program for Americans between the ages of 18 and 25. [38]

Emanuel is an ally of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.[39] He called Illinois state legislator John C. D'Amico in 2008 in support of Blagojevich's Illinois capital bill, but withdrew his encouragement when he discovered Daley opposed the bill.[39]


[edit] Electoral history
U.S. House, 5th District of Illinois (General Election)
Year Winning candidate Party Pct Opponent Party Pct Opponent Party Pct
2002 Rahm Emanuel Democratic 67% Mark Augusti Republican 29% Frank Gonzalez Libertarian 4%
2004 Rahm Emanuel (inc.) Democratic 76% Bruce Best Republican 24%
2006 Rahm Emanuel (inc.) Democratic 78% Kevin White Republican 22%
2008 Rahm Emanuel (inc.) Democratic 74% Tom Hanson Republican 22%


[edit] White House Chief of Staff
On November 6, 2008, Emanuel accepted the position of White House Chief of Staff for Barack Obama. Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio criticized Emanuel's fierce partisanship stating: "This is an ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil and govern from the center."[5][40] Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant issued a statement saying "Barack Obama's first decision as president-elect undermines his promise to 'heal the divides'." However, Senator Lindsay Graham, Republican of South Carolina disagreed, saying: "This is a wise choice by President-elect Obama. He's tough but fair -- honest, direct and candid."[41] Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, said "It's just another indication that despite the attempts to imply that Obama would somehow appoint the wrong person or listen to the wrong people when it comes to the U.S.-Israel relationship ... that was never true."[37] Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic opined that Rahm would be good for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process because if Israeli leaders make excuses to President Obama for not dismantling settlements, "Rahm will call out such nonsense, and it will be very hard for right-wing Israelis to come back and accuse him of being a self-hating Jew."[42]

Many Arabs and Palestinians were angry over Obama’s appointment of Emanuel, especially after his father Benjamin Emanuel was interviewed by the Hebrew daily Maariv in an article entitled “Our Man in the White House.” He stated: "Obviously, he will influence the President to be pro-Israel. Why shouldn't he do it? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floor of the White House."[43][44][45] Palestinian American Ali Abunimah of Electronic Intifada speaking on Democracy Now! said Obama’s appointment of Emanuel sent the signal he would not be taking “more balanced, more objective, more realistic advice that could change the course from the disastrous Palestine-Israel policies of the Bush and Clinton administrations.”[46] John V. Whitbeck, an international lawyer who has advised Palestinian negotiators in talks with Israel, wrote that Obama’s appointment of Emanuel sends a “contemptuous message" to Muslims who have a “profound loathing and hatred” of the United States because of America's "unconditional support for injustices inflicted and still being inflicted on Palestinians."[47]


[edit] Works
Rahm Emanuel and Bruce Reed, The Plan: Big Ideas for America, PublicAffairs Books of Perseus Books Group, August 2006, ISBN 1586484125. Information from publisher.

[edit] References
^ Baker, Peter and Zeleny, Jeff. "For Obama, No Time to Bask in Victory As He Starts to Build a Transition Team", New York Times. Retrieved on November 6, 2008.
^ "Clinton crony Rahm Emanuel chief of staff; Chicago pal gets top job", Associated Press, Boston Herald (November 5, 2008). Retrieved on November 6, 2008.
^ "Obama Building His Team", Star Tribune (November 5, 2008). Retrieved on November 6, 2008.
^ Bohan, Caren (November 5, 2008). "Obama asks Rep. Emanuel to lead White House staff", Reuters.
^ a b O'Connor, Patrick and Mike Allen (November 6, 2008). "Exclusive: Emanuel accepts White House job", politico.com.
^ a b c d e f Green, Joshua (October 20, 2005). "The Enforcer". Rolling Stone, http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/8091986/the_enforcer/.
^ "Emanuel, Rham". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. United States Congress.
^ a b Kuttler, Hillel (July 1, 1997). "original The view from the top", Jerusalem Post.
^ Pfeffer, Anshel and Shlomo Shamir (November 6, 2006). "Obama's first pick: Israeli Rahm Emanuel as chief of staff", Haaretz. Retrieved on November 6, 2008.
^ a b c d Bumiller, Elisabeth (June 15, 1997). "The Brothers Emanuel", New York Times. Retrieved on November 6, 2008.
^ a b Hendrix, Steve (October 22, 2006). "Fighting for The Spoils", The Washington Post.
^ "Economic rescue plan main priority as new chief of staff named", The Guardian (November 7, 2008). Retrieved on November 7, 2008. "Like the president-elect, Emanuel is a Chicago native with a strong connection to the city's political elite. Both have inspired characters on the television series The West Wing, with Emanuel providing the model for wunderkind aide Josh Lyman."
^ a b c Easton, Nina (October 2, 2006). "Rahm Emanuel: Rejuvenating the hopes of House Democrats". Fortune Magazine, http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/02/8387515/index.htm. Retrieved on 6 November 2008.
^ Stephey, M.J. and Kate Pickertjournal=Time Magazine; Stephey, M.J.; Pickert, Kate (November 6, 2008). Rahm Emanuel, http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1856965,00.html. Retrieved on 7 November 2008.
^ name=The Enforcer Rolling StoneJoshua Green journal=Rolling Stone. The Enforcer, http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/8091986/the_enforcer/2. Retrieved on 20 October 2005.
^ "Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s pick for Chief of Staff, is tough, direct and wedded to his Jewish roots". Jewish Journal. Retrieved on November 6, 2008.
^ a b c Azoulay, Orly (November 2, 2008). "Obama's Israeli adviser: Next White House chief of staff?", Ynet.
^ a b Simon, Roger (February 3, 1997). "The man who would be George: Rahm Emanuel, centrist of the universe". The New Republic 216 (5): 17, http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19054588.html.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Kintisch, Eli. "Newest Jewish U.S. Representative Makes Instant Impact", JTA. Retrieved on June 2, 2007.
^ [Come, O Come, Emanuel, Newsweek, April 14, 2008.
^ "Profile:Rahm Emanuel — Former ballet dancer turned political fixer", The Guardian (November 10, 2006), p. 18. Retrieved on November 11, 2006.
^ a b c Cyrus Sanati and Andrew Ross Sorkin (2008-11-07). "Rahm Emanuel, Former Investment Banker", New York Times. Retrieved on 8 November 2008.
^ Easton, Nina (September 25, 2006). "Rahm Emanuel, Pitbull politician". Fortune, http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/17/magazines/fortune/politics.fortune/index.htm.
^ Jeff Poor (November 6, 2008). "Obama's Chief of Staff Pick a Freddie Mac Alum". Business & Media Institute. Retrieved on November 8, 2008.
^ a b Sweet, Lynn (January 3, 2002). "Too much money a bad thing? 5th District House candidate Rahm Emanuel tested voter reaction to $6 million salary", The Chicago Sun Times.
^ Ross, Brian and Rhonda Schwartz (November 7, 2008). "Emanuel Was Director Of Freddie Mac During Scandal", ABC News. Retrieved on November 7, 2008.
^ a b Wilgoren, Jodi (March 6, 2002). "Ethnic Comments Rattle Race for Congress", New York Times.
^ Long, Karen (October 30, 2002). "Issues important in 5th District" (paid archive), Franklin Park Herald-Journal, p. 5.
^ U.S. House of Representatives (September 28, 2004). "Emanuel to Co-Chair Congressional Serbian Caucus]". Press release.
^ Allen, Mike and Perry Bacon Jr. (June 4, 2006). "Whose Party Is It Anyway?". Time, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1200740,00.html.
^ Haygood, Wil (November 9, 2006). "Democratic 'Golden Boy' Rahm Emanuel, Basking In the Glow of Victory", Washington Post, p. C05. Retrieved on January 3, 2007.
^ Dorning, Mike (January 19, 2007). "Rahm Emanuel's Great Loyalty Test", Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on January 21, 2007.
^ Mayer, Lindsay Renick (November 5, 2008). "Obama's Pick for Chief of Staff Tops Recipients of Wall Street Money", Open Secrets. Retrieved on November 6, 2008.
^ Babington, Charles and Jonathan Weisman (November 10, 2006). "Reid, Pelosi Expected to Keep Tight Rein in Both Chambers", Washington Post, p. A12.
^ Allen, Mike (June 27, 2007). "Dems force Cheney to flip-flop on secret doc", Politico.com.
^ Robert Dreyfuss, Obama's National Security Team Emerging, The Nation, November 6, 2008
^ a b Ninan, Reena and Judson Berger. "With Emanuel, Obama Could Be Sending Signal to Israel", Fox News. Retrieved on November 6, 2008.
^ http://www.examiner.com/x-536-Civil-Liberties-Examiner~y2008m11d6-Obamas-chief-of-staff-choice-favors-compulsory-universal-service
^ a b Miller, Rich (2008-08-08). "Once again, Blagojevich proves why he can't be trusted", Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on 9 November 2008.
^ Anderson, Scott J (November 6, 2008). "Emanuel expected to bring 'tough-minded' approach to White House", CNN. Retrieved on November 6, 2008.
^ Margaret Talev and Steven Thomma, /879220.html Obama names chief of staff, plans news conference as transition pace picks up, McClatchy Newspapers, November 7, 2008.
^ Jeffrey Goldberg, Rahm Emanuel and Israel, The Atlantic, November 6, 2008.
^ Matthew Kalman, Obama chief of staff Rahm Emanuel is no pal of ours, Israel's foes say, New York Daily News, November 6, 2008.
^ Robert Fisk, Obama has to pay for eight years of Bush's delusions, The Independent, November 8, 2008.
^ Mideast press awaits Obama's axis of upheaval, Agence France-Presse, November 6, 2008.
^ President-Elect Obama and the Future of US Foreign Policy: A Roundtable Discussion, Democracy Now, November 06, 2008.
^ John V. Whitbeck, The Promised Land? Obama, Emanuel and Israel, Counterpunch, November 7 / 9, 2008.

[edit] Further reading
Biography
Bendavid, Naftali The Thumpin': How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution, Doubleday (May 8, 2007), ISBN 978-0385523288
Articles
Hendrix, Steve Fighting for The Spoils The Washington Post, October 22, 2006
Profile: Rahm Emanuel The Guardian, November 10, 2006
Bendavid, Naftali The House that Rahm Built Chicago Tribune, November 12, 2006
Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel NPR Fresh Air from WHYY, January 11, 2007, 20-minute interview
Profile: Rahm Emanuel from BBC News

[edit] External links
U. S. Congressman Rahm Emanuel official House site
Friends of Rahm Emanuel official campaign site
Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com
Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
Rahm Emanuel at the Open Directory Project
A discussion about healthcare with Ezekiel, Ari, and Rahm Emanuel An interview with Rahm Emanuel and his brothers from the Charlie Rose website
Political offices
Preceded by
Joshua Bolten White House Chief of Staff
(Designate)
Served Under: Barack Obama
January 20, 2009 Incumbent
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Rod R. Blagojevich Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 5th congressional district
2003–Present Succeeded by
Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by
Robert Matsui
California
Chairman of Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
2005–2007 Succeeded by
Chris Van Hollen
Maryland

Preceded by
Jim Clyburn
South Carolina
Chairman of House Democratic Caucus
2007–Present Succeeded by
Incumbent
[show]v • d • eIllinois's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators Dick Durbin (D), Barack Obama (D)

Representative(s) Bobby Rush (D), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D), Dan Lipinski (D), Luis Gutiérrez (D), Rahm Emanuel (D), Peter Roskam (R), Danny Davis (D), Melissa Bean (D), Jan Schakowsky (D), Mark Kirk (R), Jerry Weller (R), Jerry Costello (D), Judy Biggert (R), Bill Foster (D), Tim Johnson (R), Donald Manzullo (R), Phil Hare (D), Ray LaHood (R), John Shimkus (R)

State delegations Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming

Non-voting delegations American Samoa • District of Columbia • Guam • Puerto Rico • U.S. Virgin Islands

[show]v • d • eCurrent leadership of the United States House of Representatives

Presiding officer Nancy Pelosi (D-Speaker)

Majority (Democratic) Minority (Republican)

Steny Hoyer (Leader)
Jim Clyburn (Whip)
John Lewis (Senior Chief Deputy Majority Whip)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz, G. K. Butterfield, Joseph Crowley, Diana DeGette, Ed Pastor, Jan Schakowsky, John S. Tanner, Maxine Waters (Chief Deputy Whips)
Rahm Emanuel (Caucus Chairman)
John Larson (Caucus Vice-Chairman)
Chris Van Hollen (Campaign Committee Chairman)
Rosa DeLauro, George Miller (Steering/Policy Committee Co-Chairs)
John Boehner (Leader)
Roy Blunt (Whip)
Eric Cantor (Chief Deputy Whip)
Adam Putnam (Conference Chair)
Thad McCotter (Policy Committee Chairman)
Kay Granger (Conference Vice-Chair)
John Carter (Conference Secretary)
Tom Cole (Campaign Committee Chairman)





[show]v • d • eWhite House Chiefs of Staff

Steelman • Adams • Persons • M Watson • Haldeman • Haig • Rumsfeld • Cheney • Jordan • J Watson • J Baker • Regan • H Baker • Duberstein • Sununu • Skinner • J Baker • McLarty • Panetta • Bowles • Podesta • Card • Bolten • Emanuel (designate)

[show]v • d • eCabinet of President-elect Barack Obama (from 2009 onwards)

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008, Chicago, Illinois: Text of President-elect Barack Obama's victory speech in Chicago

Text of Obama's victory speech
Wednesday, 05 November 2008 01:25pm
Tuesday, November 4th, 2008, Chicago, Illinois: Text of President-elect Barack Obama's victory speech in Chicago on Tuesday, as released by his campaign:

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It's the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and he's fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nation's next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the White House. And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics - you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.



It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.

I know you didn't do this just to win an election and I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage, or pay their doctor's bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way it's been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, "We are not enemies, but friends...though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection." And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.




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God Blessed America ! Will He Bless Malaysia?
written by Nicole Tan Lee Koon, Wednesday, November 05 2008 01:54 pm

A great day for America. A great day for the minorities. A great day for humanity. Let us, Malaysians work towards that goal. Let us break the racial and religious barriers. God did not create religious or dietary laws to segregate us but to protect us. Let us break out from our misconceived mindsets; bigotry; discrimination; etc in order to achieve a better world. Make Malaysia a proud nation.

Nicole Tan Lee Koon

A TALE OF TWO CITIES?
written by Stephen Tan Ban Cheng, Wednesday, November 05 2008 02:49 pm

A nation can only scale the height of greatness when its collective mind harbours such dreams of greatness. The collective mind cannot be stunted by nightmares of racial supremacy, religious bigotry and discriminatory tendencies.

Barack Obama spoke of "the enduring power of [American] ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope."

Fifty-one years after our Independence, where is our faith, where is our hope and where is our charity?

Indeed, we are beginning to be a tale of two cities: the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer. Where has our dream of being an egalitarian nation gone to?

Stephen Tan Ban Cheng

Martin Luther King is Smiling
written by Sharmini Suloch (by email), Wednesday, November 05 2008 03:18 pm

Today the struggles of a minority have been put right and the very thought that a man of colour will sit in the White House is no longer a Dream, it is a Reality!

This new dawn brings hope to the many minorities in many countries on this earth. I hope my country, Malaysia is watching, I hope my fellow Malaysians have fathomed the enormity of this moment and it is my greatest hope that Malaysia will follow in the footsteps of America.

I know for a fact that Martin Luther King is smiling from heaven, his life was not in vain and his dream of such a day as today has arrived.

My congratulations to Mr Obama for throughout his campaign he remained calm and composed and weathered many a storm with dignity. The best man is President and Americans agree that Obama is the best man. I wish America and the Obama administration every success in the tough times ahead. I am certain his administration will lead the way to a better future for America.

Sharmini Suloch

Truly Inspiring!
written by Syamsuriatina Binti Ishak, Wednesday, November 05 2008 05:38 pm

US President Elect Barack Obama's maiden speech was truly inspiring due to his apparent humility and maturity, despite being criticized for his lack of experience.

Just like in Malaysia's GE08 earlier this year, there was an overwhelming voter turnout, significantly involving many new and first-time voters, who essentially conducted a decision loud and clear in their 'referendum' of the current administration. Obama's win shows us all that a democratic change was and is possible, particularly in the emergingly politically aware electorate.

So, for me, it's a pat on the back for the democratic voice.

Let the Obama administration be aware that now, though the American people and the world at large I'm sure would be willing to be patient and supportive, that every eye shall be looking to him to effect the change he promises.

Syamsuriatina Binti Ishak








Obama becomes first African-American elected President
Wednesday, 05 November 2008 12:12pm
by VOA News

The United States has elected its first African-American president with the victory of Barack Obama in Tuesday's balloting.

The Democratic Party candidate captured well over the 270 electoral votes he needed with projected victories in several West Coast states. Senator Obama has a total of 297 electoral votes to 138 for his Republican opponent, Senator John McCain.

Hundreds of thousands of Obama supporters in his hometown of Chicago broke into screams of joy as soon as U.S. television networks declared him the winner.

McCain's bid for the White House fell short when he lost several hotly-contested states, including Pennsylvania, Florida, Ohio, and Virginia. No Republican had lost Virginia since 1964.

Obama's victory ends eight years of Republican control of the White House under President George Bush.

He becomes the first black president in the United States' 232-year history. He will be sworn in on January 20, 2009.

Obama, not even a national figure just a few short years ago, overtook a host of Democratic presidential hopefuls, including Senator Hillary Clinton, to clinch the Democratic Party's nomination for the 2008 presidential election.

The son of a white American woman and a black Kenyan man, the 47-year-old Obama burst into the national spotlight after delivering the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Four years later, he became the party nominee and the first African-American to win the nomination of a major U.S. political party.

Obama, who was born in Hawaii, spent his youth on the Pacific Island U.S. state, as well as in Indonesia.

Obama attended Columbia University in New York and set his sights on public service after graduation, becoming a community organizer in Chicago. He later attended Harvard Law School and served in the Illinois State Senate.

He won his U.S. Senate seat by a landslide in 2004.

He has campaigned on a message of hope and unity, stressing the need to overcome long-standing political and social divisions. He has also emphasized his call for change after eight years of Republican control of the White House under President George Bush.

Obama's wife Michelle is a fellow Harvard Law School graduate. They have two young girls.


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Congratulations to democracy.
written by Karamjit Singh a/l Harbhajan Singh, Wednesday, November 05 2008 01:14 pm

Well it shows that a good leader does not depend on ones ethnic background. Americans has always been labeled as a ‘racist’ country. Well they have proven us wrong in the instance of choosing a leader.

Perhaps one day ‘other’ Countries can look beyond ethnicity in choosing a leader of their respective Countries and maybe even chairpersons of Private/ Government linked Companies as well as state owned investment arm.

Karamjit Singh a/l Harbhajan Singh

A Bangsa Ketuanan among all its own citizens??????
written by Tan Peek Guat, Wednesday, November 05 2008 01:27 pm

This election result further strengthen my belief on America - that it is a humane country with better equality and more 'rights enjoyed by the citizens' than in other countries which condemn it.

The result is a testimony that the people of America are treated equally; and that they want their best brains to lead their country.

If not for the above, the American who are whites would never have allowed an African to to be president of America.

They would have established a "Ketuanan Bangsa America" to have prevented that; but they had not!

Tan Peek Guat

KEY ASPECT OF OBAMA WIN
written by Stephen Tan Ban Cheng, Wednesday, November 05 2008 02:57 pm

One key aspect of Barack Obama's victory is his ability to also ensure that his Democratic Party win majorities in both the Senate and the House of Congress. Even the contests for state governorships blew the way of the Democrats.

Properly used, such a result may well mean a very strong presidency indeed unless he "badawies" this advantage.

Stephen Tan Ban Cheng







Obama Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls
Damon Winter/The New York Times
Senator Barack Obama with his wife, Michelle, and Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. with his wife, Jill, in Chicago on Tuesday night.

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By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: November 4, 2008
Barack Hussein Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, sweeping away the last racial barrier in American politics with ease as the country chose him as its first black chief executive.

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The Promise: For Many Abroad, an Ideal Renewed (November 5, 2008)
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The Challenge: For Obama, No Time for Laurels; Now the Hard Part (November 5, 2008)
News Analysis: Now, Promises to Keep, and Divides to Be Bridged (November 5, 2008)

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The election of Mr. Obama amounted to a national catharsis — a repudiation of a historically unpopular Republican president and his economic and foreign policies, and an embrace of Mr. Obama’s call for a change in the direction and the tone of the country.

But it was just as much a strikingly symbolic moment in the evolution of the nation’s fraught racial history, a breakthrough that would have seemed unthinkable just two years ago.

Mr. Obama, 47, a first-term senator from Illinois, defeated Senator John McCain of Arizona, 72, a former prisoner of war who was making his second bid for the presidency.

To the very end, Mr. McCain’s campaign was eclipsed by an opponent who was nothing short of a phenomenon, drawing huge crowds epitomized by the tens of thousands of people who turned out to hear Mr. Obama’s victory speech in Grant Park in Chicago.

Mr. McCain also fought the headwinds of a relentlessly hostile political environment, weighted down with the baggage left to him by President Bush and an economic collapse that took place in the middle of the general election campaign.

“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer,” said Mr. Obama, standing before a huge wooden lectern with a row of American flags at his back, casting his eyes to a crowd that stretched far into the Chicago night.

“It’s been a long time coming,” the president-elect added, “but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment, change has come to America.”

Mr. McCain delivered his concession speech under clear skies on the lush lawn of the Arizona Biltmore, in Phoenix, where he and his wife had held their wedding reception. The crowd reacted with scattered boos as he offered his congratulations to Mr. Obama and saluted the historical significance of the moment.

“This is a historic election, and I recognize the significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight,” Mr. McCain said, adding, “We both realize that we have come a long way from the injustices that once stained our nation’s reputation.”

Not only did Mr. Obama capture the presidency, but he led his party to sharp gains in Congress. This puts Democrats in control of the House, the Senate and the White House for the first time since 1995, when Bill Clinton was in office.

The day shimmered with history as voters began lining up before dawn, hours before polls opened, to take part in the culmination of a campaign that over the course of two years commanded an extraordinary amount of attention from the American public.

As the returns became known, and Mr. Obama passed milestone after milestone —Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Iowa and New Mexico — people rolled spontaneously into the streets to celebrate what many described, with perhaps overstated if understandable exhilaration, a new era in a country where just 143 years ago, Mr. Obama, as a black man, could have been owned as a slave.

For Republicans, especially the conservatives who have dominated the party for nearly three decades, the night represented a bitter setback and left them contemplating where they now stand in American politics.

Mr. Obama and his expanded Democratic majority on Capitol Hill now face the task of governing the country through a difficult period: the likelihood of a deep and prolonged recession, and two wars. He took note of those circumstances in a speech that was notable for its sobriety and its absence of the triumphalism that he might understandably have displayed on a night when he won an Electoral College landslide.

“The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep,” said Mr. Obama, his audience hushed and attentive, with some, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, wiping tears from their eyes. “We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there.” The roster of defeated Republicans included some notable party moderates, like Senator John E. Sununu of New Hampshire and Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut, and signaled that the Republican conference convening early next year in Washington will be not only smaller but more conservative.

Mr. Obama will come into office after an election in which he laid out a number of clear promises: to cut taxes for most Americans, to get the United States out of Iraq in a fast and orderly fashion, and to expand health care.

In a recognition of the difficult transition he faces, given the economic crisis, Mr. Obama is expected to begin filling White House jobs as early as this week.

Mr. Obama defeated Mr. McCain in Ohio, a central battleground in American politics, despite a huge effort that brought Mr. McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, back there repeatedly. Mr. Obama had lost the state decisively to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York in the Democratic primary.

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Elisabeth Bumiller contributed reporting from Phoenix, Marjorie Connelly from New York and Jeff Zeleny from Chicago.









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Obama elected nation's 44th president
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Barack Obama celebrates daughters Sasha and Malia and wife Michelle during an election night victory rally at Chicago's Grant Park.



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John McCain stands with his wife Cindy as he delivers his concession speech in Phoenix after Barack Obama won the presidential election.




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Democrat Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States on Tuesday, becoming the first African American to win the post and completing a stunningly rapid rise from state senator to the White House.
A win in California put Obama over the top, giving him 55 electoral votes — enough to surpass the 270 needed to defeat Republican John McCain and claim the presidency. The Illinois senator won key state after key state Tuesday, with victories in the battlegrounds of Ohio, Virginia, Florida and Pennsylvania being harbingers of the outcome.


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By early Wednesday, the AP projected Obama had 349 electoral votes. McCain had 144.

The popular vote was significantly closer than the electoral vote. With 83% of precincts reporting, Obama led McCain nationally, 51.7% to 47.1%.

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"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of the founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer," Obama told thousands of cheering supporters at an enormous rally in Chicago's Grant Park.

"I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you."

He was gracious to McCain, saying his opponent "fought long and hard in this campaign. He has fought even harder and longer for the country that he loves."

Obama, 47, called for a renewal of the American spirit and spoke directly to McCain supporters.

"I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices," Obama said. "I need your help and I will be your president, too."

Only four years ago on election night, Obama was a newly minted U.S. senator-elect after serving for eight years in the Illinois legislature. Now he holds the title of president-elect.

"My friends, we have come to the end of a long journey," McCain told his supporters in Phoenix. He congratulated Obama for the victory, saying he admired Obama's ability to unite diverse groups.

"Senator Obama and I have had — and argued — our differences, and he has prevailed," McCain said. He pledged to help Obama "lead us through the many challenges we face."

"I wish godspeed to the man who was my former opponent, and will be my president," McCain said.

President State Results
Select a stateAlabamaAlaskaArizonaArkansasCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutDistrict of ColumbiaDelawareFloridaGeorgiaHawaiiIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOregonPennsylvaniaRhode IslandSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyoming National Map

Obama won California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, Washington state and the District of Columbia. McCain claimed Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming.

A handful of states remained in play early Wednesday. Obama had a narrow lead in North Carolina; McCain was ahead in Georgia, Missouri and Montana.

Turnout was high in many parts of the nation. Lines of voters formed at polling places as early as 4 a.m. in some states, and the AP reported that turnout in Ohio — one of the key states in this election — might approach 80% of registered voters

Early surveys of voters, conducted by a consortium of news organizations, indicated 60% listed the economy as their most important issue, with no other issue — including the war on Iraq and terrorism — getting more than 10%.

More than 80% of voters said they were very worried the current economic crisis will harm their family's finances over the next year, but 47% also said they felt the economy will improve in the next year. Two-thirds said they were worried about obtaining health care.

Only 28% of those polled said they approved of President Bush's job performance — an issue Obama hammered on throughout the campaign as he tried to tie McCain to Bush.

Many votes had been cast for days. Though the overall number of early votes was unknown, there were more than 29 million ballots cast in 30 states, suggesting an advantage for Obama.

Obama's victory triggered celebrations in the U.S. and around the world.

In Washington, residents poured into the streets. Hundreds of people gathered on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House, dancing and cheering. At historically black Howard University, students hugged and chanted "Yes, we did."

"We're so happy. We want to be part of history. You cannot let it just pass," said Eskinder Zeluel, an Ethiopia native who joined the celebration outside of the White House. "You can tell your kids you can be anything you want to be in this country."

In New York's Harlem, thousands of people poured into the streets. Near the historic Apollo Theater, men played conga drums and revelers blew noisemakers.

."I never thought tonight was possible," said Robert Lewis Jackson, 43. "Not in my lifetime."

Australians filled a hotel ballroom in Sydney. Brazilians partied in Rio de Janeiro. In the town of Obama in Japan, dancers cheered in delight when their namesake's victory was declared.

Obama's win"shows that America truly is a diverse, multicultural society where the color of your skin really does not matter," said Jason Ge, an international relations student at Peking University in China.

In Germany, where more than 200,000 people flocked to see Obama this summer as he burnished his foreign policy credentials during a trip to the Middle East and Europe, the election dominated television ticker crawls, newspaper headlines and websites.

House, Senate races

The presidency was far from the only office at stake Tuesday. In House and Senate elections, Democrats extended their hold on Congress.

Democrats ousted Republican Sens. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and John Sununu of New Hampshire. They also captured seats held by retiring GOP senators in Virginia and New Mexico.

With 25 of 35 Senate races called, Democrats were guaranteed at least a 54-46 majority, including two holdover independents who vote with Democrats. But they were hoping for even greater gains.

North Carolina state Sen. Kay Hagan, little known politically before her run, defeated Dole — a former Cabinet member in two Republican administrations and 2000 presidential hopeful. Dole had tried to tie Hagan, a former Presbyterian Sunday school teacher, to atheists in an ad that appeared to backfire.

In New Hampshire, former Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen defeated Sununu in a rematch of their 2002 contest.

The Democratic goal was to reach a 60-seat, filibuster-proof Senate majority. Leaders in both parties said that was a long shot, but Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., head of the party's senatorial campaign committee, acknowledged that "Democrats are poised to pick up some seats."

His Democratic counterpart, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., predicted "a whole lot of seats" for Democrats, but he said reaching a 60-vote majority was unlikely.

In the House, Democrats unseated incumbents in Florida and Connecticut and jumped to early leads over Republicans in more than a dozen other contests as they pressed to increase their majority.

Republicans encountered early trouble in Florida, where Rep. Tom Feeney — under fire for ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff — was the first to fall at the hands of former state Rep. Suzanne Kosmas. Rep. Ric Keller of Florida lost to his Democratic challenger, attorney Alan Grayson.

And Republicans surrendered their last House seat in New England when Democrat Jim Himes, a Greenwich businessman, defeated 22-year veteran Rep. Chris Shays in a wealthy southwestern Connecticut district that heavily favored Obama.

If the Democrats increase their majorities, it would be the first time in more than 75 years that the party received larger congressional margins in back-to-back elections.

Governors

With 10 of 11 gubernatorial race results reported, incumbents were the victors.

Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia re-elected sitting governors. Jay Nixon, a Democrat, won a seat in the Missouri's open race that was previously held by a Republican. Jack Markell won Delaware's open race, keeping the position in the hands of Democrats. In North Carolina, Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue won an open race against Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory.

In Washington state, Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire and GOP challenger Dino Rossi, a former state senator, restaged their 2004 contest that Gregoire won by 133 votes after two recounts and a lawsuit.

Ballot measures

Voters in California, Florida and Arizona appeared to be favoring constitutional amendments banning gay marriage, although the races were close. All three amendments were leading just an hour after the last poll closed in California.

In Florida, the constitutional amendment needed 60% approval to pass. With 86.3% of precincts reporting, the amendment was winning 62.1% to 37.9%.

In Arizona with 73.7% of precincts reporting, it was leading 56.2% to 43.8%. In California, where both sides raised some $73 million in a markedly divisive campaign, the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage was leading 54.4% to 45.6% with 8.3% of precincts reporting.

In Arkansas, voters approved a ban on unmarried couples adopting or being foster parents.

Massachusetts voters approved decriminalizing possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana. Under the new law, taking effect in 30 days, those caught must give up the marijuana and pay a $100 fine but won't face criminal penalties. Eleven other states have similar laws.

Michigan became the 13th state to allow residents — with a doctor's approval — to use marijuana to treat pain caused by cancer and other diseases.

Gambling, which gives states revenue without directly increasing taxes, was on the ballot in eight states. Maryland voters approved a measure that legalizes slot machines, dedicating half the revenue from up to 15,000 machines to public schools. Ohioans approved a state lottery to fund college scholarships.

Ohio voters, however, also rejected a measure approving a new casino. And in Massachusetts, citizens approved a ban on commercial dog racing.

Despite a weak economy, voters didn't necessarily embrace lower taxes. In Massachusetts, they rejected a measure to repeal the personal income tax, which supplies 40% of the state's budget. Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick warned it would force deep cuts in services statewide.

In South Dakota, voters considered a ban on abortion, except in cases of rape, incest of when the woman's health was at risk.

California voters considered whether to require parental notification for a minor to get an abortion, and a first-of-its-kind abortion measure in Colorado would define human life as starting "from the moment of fertilization." Proponents, including the Colorado Right to Life, and opponents, including NARAL Pro-Choice America, agreed it would criminalize abortion and halt embryonic stem-cell research.

In Michigan, a ballot asked voters whether they would amend the state's constitution to repeal its existing ban on research involving embryos.

Voters considered varying measures that affect immigrants, including one that Arizona rejected that would have revoked the business licenses of employers who knowingly hired illegal immigrants. Missouri voted to make English the state's official language. In Oregon, voters considered whether to limit the teaching of bilingual education to two years or less.

Contributing: Peter Eisler, in Raleigh, N.C.; Larry Copeland in Tampa; Marisol Bello in Detroit; Dennis Cauchon in Columbus, Ohio; Janet Kornblum in San Francisco; Mike Carney in Washington; Wendy Koch in McLean, Va.; the Associated Press







Obama victory sparks cheers worldwide
TOKYO, Nov 5 - In concert halls and ballrooms, in plazas and at beach parties, people across the globe hailed Barack Obama's election as a stroke for racial equality and voiced hopes his presidency would herald a balanced, less confrontational America.

Throngs crowded before TVs or listened to blaring radios for the latest updates. In Sydney, Australians filled a hotel ballroom; in Rio, Brazilians partied on the beach. In the town of Obama in Japan, dancers cheered in delight when their namesake's victory was declared.

Observers - many in countries where the idea of a minority being elected leader is unthinkable - expressed amazement and satisfaction that the United States could overcome centuries of racial strife an elect an African-American as president.

Many who live in countries where the idea of a minority being elected leader is unthinkable expressed amazement and satisfaction that the United States could overcome centuries of racial strife and elect an African-American – and one with Hussein as a middle name – as president.

“What an inspiration. He is the first truly global US president the world has ever had,” said Pracha Kanjananont, a 29-year-old Thai sitting at a Starbuck’s in Bangkok. “He had an Asian childhood, African parentage and has a Middle Eastern name. He is a truly global president.”

In an interconnected world where people in its farthest reaches could monitor the presidential race blow-by-blow, many observers echoed Obama’s own campaign mantra as they struggled to put into words their sense that his election marked an important turning point.

“I really think this is going to change the world,” gushed Akihiko Mukohama, 34, the lead singer of a band that traveled to Obama, Japan, to perform at a promotional event for the president-elect. He wore an “I Love Obama” T-shirt.

The magnitude and emotion of the world reaction illustrated the international character of the US presidency. Many look to Washington as the place where the global issues of war and peace, prosperity or crisis, are decided.

“This is an enormous outcome for all of us,” said John Wood, the former New Zealand ambassador to the US. “We have to hope and pray that President Obama can move forward in ways which are constructive and beneficial to all of us.”

Hopes were also high among those critical of President Bush’s policies that an Obama victory would bring in a more inclusive, internationally cooperative U.S. approach. Many cited the Iraq war as the type of blunder Obama was unlikely to repeat.

At a party in Rio de Janeiro where Brazilians and Americans watched results come in, 33-year-old music producer Zanna said an Obama win would show that “Americans have learned something from the bad experiences of the Bush administration and that they choose well – that they choose Obama.”

Indeed, even as they raised expectations, many US-watchers were quick to point out that Obama would have to confront enormous problems once in office: wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, tenacious difficulties in the Middle East and North Korea, a world economy in turmoil.

Europe, where Obama is overwhelmingly popular, is one region that looked eagerly to an Obama administration for a revival in warm relations after the Bush government’s chilly rift with the continent over the Iraq war.

“At a time when we have to confront immense challenges together, your election raises great hopes in France, in Europe and in the rest of the world,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a congratulations letter to Obama.

Skepticism, however, was high in the Muslim world. The Bush administration alienated those in the Middle East by mistreating prisoners at its detention centre for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and inmates at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison – human rights violations also condemned worldwide.

Some Iraqis, who have suffered through five years of a war ignited by the United States and its allies, said they would believe positive change when they saw it.

“Obama’s victory will do nothing for the Iraqi issue nor for the Palestinian issue,” said Muneer Jamal, a Baghdad resident. “I think all the promises Obama made during the campaign will remain mere promises.”

In Pakistan, a country vital to the US-led war on the al-Qaeda terrorist network and neighbour to Afghanistan, many hoped Obama would bring some respite from rising militant violence that many blame on Bush.

Still, Mohammed Arshad, a 28-year-old schoolteacher in the capital, Islamabad, doubted Obama’s ability to change US foreign policy dramatically.

“It is true that Bush gave America a very bad name. He has become a symbol of hate. But I don’t think the change of face will suddenly make any big difference,” he said.

Many expressed hopes that Obama would restore the American economic leadership they said was needed for the world to reverse a punishing financial meltdown. Some in Asia, a region heavily dependent on exports to the US market, worried the Democrat would try to protect American producers at their expense.

“The one thing that I don’t approve of Obama is that he is an economic protectionist. He’s in favour of protected economies, instead of free markets,” said university student Yu Fangjing, 20, in Hong Kong. “It’s not good for the world.”

Still, many around the world found Obama’s international roots – his father was Kenyan, and he lived four years in Indonesia as a child – compelling and attractive.

Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki declared a public holiday on Thursday in honour of Obama’s election victory, and people across Africa stayed up all night or woke before dawn Wednesday to watch the U.S. election results roll in.

“He’s in!” said Rachel Ndimu, 23, a business student who joined hundreds of others at the residence of the US ambassador in Nairobi. “I think this is awesome, and the whole world is backing him.”

In Jakarta, hundreds of students at his former elementary school gathered around a television set to watch as results came in, erupting in cheers when he was declared winner and then pouring into the courtyard where they hugged each other and danced in the rain.

“We’re so proud!” Alsya Nadin, a spunky 10-year-old in pink-framed glasses, said as her classmates chanted “Obama! Obama!”

- AP








Stunning victory a big moment in history
Obama gives his acceptance speech at Grant Park in Chicago today. — AP pic
WASHINGTON, Nov 5 - Democrat Barack Obama wrote his name indelibly into the pages of American history Tuesday, engineering a social and political upheaval to become the country’s first black president-elect in a runaway victory over Republican John McCain.

The 72-year-old Arizona senator quickly called his opponent to concede defeat and congratulate his rival in the longest and most costly presidential campaign in American history.

McCain spoke graciously at an outdoor rally in Arizona, commending Obama on his victory and emphasising that he understood its special importance to African-Americans.

“The American people have spoken, and spoken clearly,” McCain told disappointed supporters in Arizona, many who booed and growled as he called for the nation to unify behind the victor and his running mate, Joe Biden.

The 47-year-old Illinois senator, son of a white mother from Kansas and an African father from Kenya, mined a deep vein of national discontent, promising Americans hope and change throughout a nearly flawless 21-month campaign for the White House.

Obama (left) kisses his wife Michelle after addressing supporters at the election night rally in Chicago today. — AP pic
Obama stepped through a door opened 145 years ago when Abraham Lincoln, a fellow Illinois politician, issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed African-Americans from enslavement in the rebellious South in the midst of a wrenching civil war.

The powerful orator lays claim to the White House on Jan 20, only 43 years after the country enacted a law that banned the disenfranchisement of blacks in many Southern states where poll taxes and literacy tests were common at the time.

With victories in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and other battleground states, Obama built a commanding lead over McCain after surging in the polls in the midst of a national financial crisis. He and his fellow Democrats sought to link McCain to the unpopular George W. Bush.

Obama soared into the national spotlight with his electrifying speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, when he was making his first run for the Senate and polishing his message of unity in a country that was mired in partisan anger.

Democrats also were expanding their majorities in both chambers of Congress.

Cheering, screaming and waving flags, an estimated 50,000-plus Obama supporters welcomed his election in a delirious victory celebration in the senator’s hometown.

They crammed into Grant Park to be a part of something that would be remembered for generations.

The downtown Chicago park, where police fought anti-war protesters during the turbulent 1968 Democratic convention, was transformed on an unseasonably balmy night by white tents and a stage lined with American flags and hung with red, white and blue bunting.

Lighted windows in the skyscrapers lining the park added to the festive atmosphere, spelling out “USA” and “Vote 2008.”

Watching the results on a jumbo TV screen, the crowd erupted in cheers each time Obama put yet another state in his victory column. - AP








Greater Expectations1 of 11 Adek Berry / AFP / Getty1. Malaysia
Article ToolsPrintEmailSphereAddThisRSSYahoo! Buzz
What seemed audacious and improbable before is now a reality. In Obama's victory are sown the seeds of great expectations that a truly new chapter will be written in the history of the world.

Muslim nations will have cause to celebrate this triumph; it offers prospects for genuine dialogue and engagement and should witness the politics of diplomacy supplant the politics of war and the theology of terror. Other nations traditionally at loggerheads with America may find reason to reciprocate to a more balanced approach.

—By Anwar Ibrahim
Former Deputy Prime Minister





















The People’s Parliament
We are here, not because we are law-breakers; we are here in our efforts to become law-makers - Emmeline Pankhurst

44th US President : The son of a black Kenyan father and white mother from Kansas
November 5, 2008


Obama stepped through a door opened 145 years ago when Abraham Lincoln, a fellow Illinois politician, issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed African-Americans from enslavement in the rebellious South in the midst of a wrenching civil war.

The powerful orator lays claim to the White House on Jan 20, only 43 years after the country enacted a law that banned the disenfranchisement of blacks in many Southern states where poll taxes and literacy tests were common at the time. - Malaysianinsider

The quote in Malaysianinsider from vanquished McCain, in reference to Obama’s historical win, got me thinking about how, in the matter of some months, this country of ours may be cursed with a leader whose appointment appointment to the highest political office we, the people, have had no say in. This cannot be right.

“The American people have spoken, and spoken clearly”

I leave you with two quotations by Obama from the days when he was still trying to achieve the seemingly impossible, in the hope that we may draw inspiration from the same in the days to come.

‘Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek’.

‘It took a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get to where we are today, but we have just begun. Today we begin in earnest the work of making sure that the world we leave our children is just a little bit better than the one we inhabit today’.













The Unthinkable Happened: America Elects a Black President
Wednesday, November 05, 2008



We ask:

Will Malaysians ever see in their life time a Chinese/Indian/Iban/ Dayak Malaysian Prime Minister or even a Deputy Prime Minister?

Unlikely, as long as we choose to continue to elect UMNO to win government.
- Malaysian Unplug








If Obama is elected president, he will be, at 47, among the youngest presidents in history. His Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., would be the oldest presidential candidate to win a first term in office at age 72.

Obama became the fifth African-American senator in U.S. history.

He was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.

Background

Born to a white, American mother and a black, Kenyan father, Obama has spoken openly of his struggle to find acceptance in the black community.

Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961, to Barack Obama, Sr. (born in Nyanza Province, Kenya) and Ann Dunham (born in Wichita, Kansas).

His parents met while both were attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was enrolled as a foreign student. Barack Obama’s birthname is Barack Hussein Obama. She married Barack Obama Sr. three months after she becomes pregnant with his child. They were both students at the time. He was a dynamic, captivating, mesmerizing intellectual and the first black student at the University of Hawaii. He left Hawaii and his family when Barack was one year old and went to Harvard to further his education.

Barack Obama, Sr.was born in 1936 in Nyangoma-Kogelo, Siaya District (now in Bondo District), Kenya. His father, Hussein Onyango Obama (c. 1895-1979),[1] belonged to the Luo tribe. Barack Obama Sr. died age 46, from injuries received in an automobile accident.









Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Lesson from Barack Obama's victory

History has been created. A black man will now sit in the White House. It's surely a lesson for the world. The majority of Americans, especially the new and younger voters, believed that he is the man who could do the job. The fact is that the face of America has changed. The minorities, put together, have become the majority. But more than that - people want a change. They are just fed up of the old politics. They are fed up of the same political rhetorics and stupidity of some established politicians.

What's the lesson for Malaysia? The March 8 election results was just the beginning. Eight months later, we should have learn from the implications of the results but unfortunately some of us have not done so. While steps have been taken to face the financial turmoil ahead, some of our politicians and activists seemed more concerned with some road signs in Penang. It had to take someone from Pahang to file a legal action in Penang. Doesn't that speak volumes of what it means? Some of us quarrel over whether a non-Malay should be the acting general manager of PKNS, which is hardly the most powerful position in the state. Deputy Barisan Nasional Youth chairman? It was shot down outright by some. It is time for our politicians to grow up because the majority of Malaysians have grown up. Race politics is yesterday's politics.









Obama has won.
Now it's time to heal global economy.
CHANGE WE CAN, Obama said throughout his campaign.

America, in their lifetime, responded well and put in the first non-White president into the White House -- significantly after trolling for 232 gruelling years since Independence.


Frontpage November 5, 2008, The Bakersfield Californian
It has been a long, gruel race to the White House. Crisis helped Obama. Can Obama help solve crisis?

Having survived eight years of Bushism, are we now seeing a new president, but the same problems?

I hope the euphoria will die down soon.

More than half the world is financing the US economy, and in a way, life-supporting the greenback as countries use the US$ for their forex benchmark and national reserves. Structurally, in finance and economy, this is dicey business of a global scale.

Obama must now manage US economy well so that all US$-reliant economies which are owed trillions in off-balanced trade will not be made the contagion victims of domestic economic turmoil in his homeland.

For Malaysia which eulogises "anyone from a minority group can be a nation’s leader", let's make sure it starts from home.

America has changed. Can we, Malaysia -- even in 232 years?


Posted by Jeff Ooi on November 6, 2008 02:08 PM | Permalink
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Change?

Yes, we can. Maybe next election? But for now we need to keep counting it to make sure we don't get short-changed.

Posted by: LC Teh | November 6, 2008 02:58 PM

Change and short-changed?

Over here, the reunification of Umno seems to be the key message to the voters.

But money politics has gotten in the way. The campaigners will therefore, as has happened in elections before, be beholden to their funders, and if elected, cuffed to express gratitude by future contracts.

Pump-priming contracts are small, and open tenders for them already decided by how the tenderers are classified.

It's the other contracts above those which will remain a question mark.

Therefore, how can the rakyat discern what is changed and what is not changed when everything is not made transparent, open and accountable for integrity to entrench itself so that future generations of politicians can be guided by its principle to defend the interests of this nation?

Yet, to unite the hoi-polloi by circling the wagon, fear is again struck by tarring imagined threats seen and unseen.

Even so, a Malay blogger has already asked - if there's a contract, why the need to assert supremacy, and for that matter, if there is already inborn supremacy, why the need for a contract? These are hard questions to answer.

So at the end of the road, it is the need for some to ascend to power using fear as the instrument to galvanize the masses over the matters of contract and supremacy, neither of which seem to advantage anyone in this open world where even an ex-kenyan can be president of the USA, one of whose states being already helmed by an ex-austrian (aka Terminator).

Is it in the weather or food of the US that is so different from that here? Or, maybe some special traits here not found there?

If you want a good marriage, say for the sake of the lady 'may the best man win.'

Otherwise, weak offsprings and indifferent futures for all.








Thursday, October 23, 2008
185] Obama for Putrajaya
Obama for Putrajaya
Azly Rahman
http://azlyrahman-illuminations.blogspot.com



"…Haji Ramli Street was a dirt lane where Obama used to while away the hours kicking a soccer ball. In the long rainy season, it turned to thick, mucky soup; Obama and his friends wore plastic bags over their shoes to walk though it," said Adi, who at 46 is the same age as Obama….


MCPX

"Neighborhood Muslims worshiped in a nearby house, which has since been replaced by a larger mosque. Sometimes, when the muezzin sounded the call to prayer, Lolo and Barry would walk to the makeshift mosque together.

… "His mother often went to the church, but Barry was Muslim. He went to the mosque. I remember him wearing a sarong," said Adi.

- reported by Paul Watson in The Baltimore Sun, March 16, 2007

"… given the increasing diversity of America's population, the dangers of sectarianism have never been greater. Whatever we once were, we are no longer just a Christian nation; we are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, a Buddhist nation, a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers. …

And even if we did have only Christians in our midst, if we expelled every non-Christian from the United States of America, whose Christianity would we teach in the schools?

Would we go with James Dobson's, or Al Sharpton's? Which passages of Scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is ok and that eating shellfish is abomination?

How about Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith? Or should we just stick to the Sermon on the Mount - a passage that is so radical that it's doubtful that our own Defence Department would survive its application?"
- Barack Obama Call to renewal: keynote address June 28, 2006

Barack Hussein Obama for prime minister of Malaysia?

Of course this is a silly proposition, unless Malaysia is USA's 52nd state! We would like to see Malaysia evolve into a country in which race nor religion matter in the appointment of prime ministers.

What matter one's moral righteousness, intellectual depth, uncompromising multiculturalist outlook, undying championing of the Constitution, prioritising of needs versus wants, and commitment to a two-term (eight year) prime ministership.

Obama's America votes

With less than two weeks before the most exciting US Presidential election, Americans are again, as in the tradition of its democracy, getting an education of what it takes to be a president and what it means to be a voter.

Will the United States see her first "most hybridised", "hypertextualised", "heteroglossic" president in Barack Obama? And how can Malaysia learn from yet another interesting episode in American history?

No, I am not campaigning for Obama, McCain, Bidden, or Palin. Being a permanent resident, I cannot vote for America's president anyway - not yet. Nor have I campaigned for any prime ministerial candidate of Malaysia - not yet, as I am still waiting for a leader Malaysia deserves.

At this moment, I am more interested in analysing phenomena and to write about what is dear to my heart: the possibility of a republic of virtue that begins with a republic of the self.

Barack is a phenomena America is coming to terms with. He is an embodiment of America the absurd – of a white America wishing to move away from "whiteness" and dropping the "knapsack of white privilege".

Barack means 'barkath' or 'blessings' perhaps this country needs to escape from a military-industrial complex it created.

Barack is a product of two of America' best Ivy League traditions; a Columbia University graduate in Politics and International Relations and a Harvard graduate in Law.

He is "hybridised," with a Kansas-born white mother and a Kenyan father and an Indonesian stepfather. He is also said to be a distant cousin of Vice President Dick Cheney whose ancestors are said to be great monarchs of Europe.

Barack has lived in Hawaii, Indonesia, New York, and Illinois. His Indonesian childhood experience as Barry Soetoro, son of Lolo Soetoro, has brought him fond memories of growing up Javanese and mingling with Muslims children in a secular school mistaken as 'radical madrasah' by right-wing Republican Islamophobic media spinmasters.

Hey, but what if Barack is a Muslim and proud of it - should Middle America freak out? Such is testament of how racialised this country is and how uncultured and ignorant Middle America can be. But that experience makes Barack Hussein Obama a deeply kaleidoscopic, hybridised, and cosmopolitan America citizen of the world, I presume.

Barack, Harlem, and the Bronx

Barack's New York years at West 116th Street, at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) put him in touch with the reality of the "Harlem-ness and the Bronx-ness" of America.

A few more blocks down West 120th Amsterdam and Broadway, one sees a different reality of a Third World America.

America of the 'projects' against the backdrop of graffiti, ever-new dance forms, and gangsta rap, hip hop, and reggaeton

Barack's education at Columbia must have accorded him with the nurturing of empathy especially for the multicultural poor. His Harvard years must have trained his mind in the cognitive tradition of John F. Kennedy.

He is an articulate man whose oratorical skills can even surpass that of the accomplished African-American actor Denzel Washington's. Barack can even appear cameo in Denzel's next movie perhaps called Abraham Lincoln Resurrected; the story of Barack Obama.

Barack represents the emergence of America the radical multicultural; a breakdown of grand narrative and hopefully a shift from America the warmonger to America the diplomat and peacemaker.

John McCain, a former prisoner of war, represents what America must evolve out of, replaced by a young and sensible man of all seasons and all reasons: Barack Obama.

United States of America must now be called United Socialist America, with the disappearance of Wall Street and the nationalisation of the US "central" bank.

A demise of the financial system that has propped up the Evil Empire in its crusade for global reach through gunboat diplomacy and democracy for the few.

Casino capitalism which has gambled away the lives of many locally and nationally is making way for a form of capitalism we do not yet know its name.

The American Century Project is cut short by 95 years.

What Malaysia deserves

Malaysia need a new Barack Obama as prime minister.

Well not necessarily a Columbia and Harvard graduate but someone with a good education and a good heart and a good set of analytical skills.

Most importantly Malaysia needs a prime minister for all Malaysians, not only for this or that race.

In Malaysia's Barack will lie a man or woman who can dismantle all race-base policies.

Malaysia do not need a John McCain as prime minister.

In the Malaysia of John McCain, we will have a system of control akin to militarism, in which secret patronage politics, authoritarianism, and regimentation of a synthesis of Oriental Despotism and modern corporate crony capitalism reigns.

In McCain's Malaysia, we have the institutionalisation of the war system, in which the regime is at war with its people and institutions and ideologues have been taken as prisoners of war.

Especially in this difficult times of "transition" of power that is giving Malaysians a cruel choice of a hegemonic flow.

If we are to have an Obamanised Malaysia, we will have longer campaigns that makes the prime-ministerial race more intelligent.

Creating more respect for our democratic institutions more respect for the rule of law, more informed citizenry whom will not tolerate civil rights violation and more articulated promise for radical educational reform.

Most importantly a prime minister committed to dismantling any form of race-base political parties - politics that will always be the root of Malaysia's postmodern/hypermodern ethic and religious conflicts.

Of course Barack Obama will never become a prime minister of Malaysia. It is a silly proposition.

But may Malaysia be blessed with a leader it deserves at a time when the old regime, with its own "Bush-ism and Reaganomics as twin ideology, is rudely demanding for its rights to continue to rule a restless and radicalised multicultural nation.

Of course Obama would not want to belong in any of Malaysia's race-based party - something that'll painfully remind him of Jim Crow, Montgomery and Selma, Alabama.




Posted by DR. AZLY RAHMAN at 8:40 PM

















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Barack Obama
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Barack Obama



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

President-elect of the United States
Taking office
January 20, 2009
Vice President Joe Biden (elect)
Succeeding George W. Bush

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Junior Senator
from Illinois
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 4, 2005
Serving with Dick Durbin
Preceded by Peter Fitzgerald
Succeeded by TBA

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Member of the Illinois Senate
from the 13th district
In office
January 8, 1997 – November 4, 2004
Preceded by Alice Palmer
Succeeded by Kwame Raoul

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Born August 4, 1961 (1961-08-04) (age 47)
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.
Birth name Barack Hussein Obama II
Political party Democratic Party
Spouse Michelle Obama (m. 1992)
Children Malia Ann (b. 1998)
Sasha (b. 2001)
Residence Kenwood, Chicago, Illinois
Alma mater Occidental College
Columbia University
Harvard Law School
Profession Attorney
Politician
Religion United Church of Christ
Signature
Website Barack Obama - U.S. Senator for Illinois
More detailed articles about Barack Obama
————————————
Early life and career · (Family · Memoir)
Illinois Senate career
U.S. Senate career
Presidential primaries · Obama–Biden 2008
Policy positions · Public image

Barack Hussein Obama II (pronounced /bəˈrɑːk hʊˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the Junior United States Senator from Illinois, and the President-elect[1][2] of the United States of America.[3] He will take office as the forty-fourth President of the United States on January 20, 2009. Obama is the first African American to be elected President of the United States,[4][5][6] and was the first to be nominated for President by Democratic - a major U.S. political party.[7] Obama is also the first candidate born in Hawaii to have been nominated and subsequently elected president. [8]

A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, he became the first African American to serve as president of the Harvard Law Review. Obama worked as a community organizer and practiced as a civil rights attorney before serving three terms in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004. He taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. Following an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, he announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate in January 2003. After a primary victory in March 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He was elected to the Senate in November 2004 with 70 percent of the vote.

As a member of the Democratic minority in the 109th Congress, he helped create legislation to control conventional weapons and to promote greater public accountability in the use of federal funds. He also made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. During the 110th Congress, he helped create legislation regarding lobbying and electoral fraud, climate change, nuclear terrorism, and care for returned U.S. military personnel. Obama announced his presidential campaign in February 2007, and was formally nominated at the 2008 Democratic National Convention with Delaware senator Joe Biden as his running mate. In the November 4, 2008 United States Presidential election he won 53% of the popular vote, and 349 electoral votes to rival John McCain's 46% of the popular vote and 173 electoral votes (with 15 electoral votes belonging to North Carolina as yet unclaimed), winning the election and setting him to become President of the United States when inaugurated on January 20, 2009.[9]

Contents [hide]
1 Early life and career
2 State legislator, 1997–2004
3 2004 U.S. Senate campaign
4 U.S. Senator, from 2005
4.1 Legislation
4.2 Committees
5 2008 presidential campaign
6 Political positions
7 Family and personal life
8 Cultural and political image
9 Written works
10 Notes
11 References
12 Further reading
13 External links



Early life and career
Main article: Early life and career of Barack Obama

A young Obama pictured with his mother, Ann Dunham, who raised him.Barack Obama was born at the Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children in Honolulu, Hawaii,[10] to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a Luo from Nyang’oma Kogelo, Nyanza Province, Kenya, and Ann Dunham, a white American from Wichita, Kansas[11] of mainly English, Scottish and Irish descent.[12][13][14] His parents met in 1960 while attending the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where his father was a foreign student.[15][16] The couple married February 2, 1961;[17] they separated when Obama was two years old and subsequently divorced in 1964.[16] Obama's father returned to Kenya and saw his son only once more before dying in an automobile accident in 1982.[18]

After her divorce, Dunham married Lolo Soetoro, and the family moved to Soetoro's home country of Indonesia in 1967, where Obama attended local schools, such as Asisi, in Jakarta until he was ten years old. He then returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents while attending Punahou School from the fifth grade in 1971 until his graduation from high school in 1979.[19] Obama's mother returned to Hawaii in 1972 for several years, and then in 1977 went back to Indonesia, where she worked as an anthropological field worker. She stayed there most of the rest of her life, returning to Hawaii in 1994. She died of ovarian cancer in 1995.[20]

As an adult Obama admitted that during high school he used marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol, which he described at the 2008 Civil Forum on the Presidency as his greatest moral failure.[21][22]

Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles, where he studied at Occidental College for two years.[23] He then transferred to Columbia College in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialization in international relations.[24] Obama graduated with a B.A. from Columbia in 1983, then at the start of the following year worked for a year at the Business International Corporation[25][26] and then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.[27][28]

After four years in New York City, Obama moved to Chicago, where he was hired as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Greater Roseland (Roseland, West Pullman, and Riverdale) on Chicago's far South Side, and worked there for three years from June 1985 to May 1988.[27][29] During his three years as the DCP's director, its staff grew from one to thirteen and its annual budget grew from $70,000 to $400,000, with accomplishments including helping set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens.[30] Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute.[31] In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time to Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his Kenyan relatives for the first time.[32]

Obama entered Harvard Law School in late 1988. At the end of his first year, he was selected, based on his grades and a writing competition, as an editor of the Harvard Law Review.[33] In February 1990, in his second year, he was elected president of the Law Review, a full-time volunteer position functioning as editor-in-chief and supervising the Law Review's staff of eighty editors.[34] Obama's election as the first black president of the Law Review was widely reported and followed by several long, detailed profiles.[34] During his summers, he returned to Chicago where he worked as a summer associate at the law firms of Sidley & Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990.[35] After graduating with a Juris Doctor (J.D.) magna cum laude[36][37] from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago.[33]

The publicity from his election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations.[38] In an effort to recruit him to their faculty, the University of Chicago Law School provided Obama with a fellowship and an office to work on his book.[38] He originally planned to finish the book in one year, but it took much longer as the book evolved into a personal memoir. In order to work without interruptions, Obama and his wife, Michelle, traveled to Bali where he wrote for several months. The manuscript was finally published in mid-1995 as Dreams from My Father.[38]

Obama directed Illinois' Project Vote from April to October 1992, a voter registration drive with a staff of ten and seven hundred volunteers; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African-Americans in the state, and led to Crain's Chicago Business naming Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be.[39][40]


Right-to-left: Barack Obama and half-sister Maya Soetoro, with their mother Ann Dunham and grandfather Stanley Dunham, in Hawaii (early 1970s).Beginning in 1992, Obama taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years, being first classified as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and then as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004.[41]

He also, in 1993, joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a twelve-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004, with his law license becoming inactive in 2002.[27][42][43]

Obama was a founding member of the board of directors of Public Allies in 1992, resigning before his wife, Michelle, became the founding executive director of Public Allies Chicago in early 1993.[27][44] He served from 1994 to 2002 on the board of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project, and also from 1994 to 2002 on the board of directors of The Joyce Foundation.[27] Obama served on the board of directors of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge from 1995 to 2002, as founding president and chairman of the board of directors from 1995 to 1999.[27] He also served on the board of directors of the Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Center for Neighborhood Technology, and the Lugenia Burns Hope Center.[27]


State legislator, 1997–2004
Main article: Illinois Senate career of Barack Obama
Obama was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1996, succeeding State Senator Alice Palmer as Senator from Illinois' 13th District, which then spanned Chicago South Side neighborhoods from Hyde Park-Kenwood south to South Shore and west to Chicago Lawn.[45] Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws.[46] He sponsored a law increasing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare.[47] In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures.[48]

Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, and again in 2002.[49] In 2000, he lost a Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one.[50][51]

In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority.[52] He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations.[47][53] During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms.[54] Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the US Senate.[55]


2004 U.S. Senate campaign
See also: United States Senate election in Illinois, 2004
In mid-2002, Obama began considering a run for the U.S. Senate; he enlisted political strategist David Axelrod that fall and formally announced his candidacy in January 2003.[56] Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald and his Democratic predecessor Carol Moseley Braun not to contest the race launched wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving fifteen candidates.[57] Obama's candidacy was boosted by Axelrod's advertising campaign featuring images of the late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington and an endorsement by the daughter of the late Paul Simon, former U.S. Senator for Illinois.[58] He received over 52% of the vote in the March 2004 primary, emerging 29% ahead of his nearest Democratic rival.[59]

Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004.[60]

In July 2004, Obama wrote and delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston, Massachusetts.[61] After describing his maternal grandfather's experiences as a World War II veteran and a beneficiary of the New Deal's FHA and G.I. Bill programs, Obama spoke about changing the U.S. government's economic and social priorities. He questioned the Bush administration's management of the Iraq War and highlighted America's obligations to its soldiers. Drawing examples from U.S. history, he criticized heavily partisan views of the electorate and asked Americans to find unity in diversity, saying, "There is not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America."[62] Broadcasts of the speech by major news organizations launched Obama's status as a national political figure and boosted his campaign for U.S. Senate.[63]

In August 2004, two months after Ryan's withdrawal and less than three months before Election Day, Alan Keyes accepted the Illinois Republican Party's nomination to replace Ryan.[64] A long-time resident of Maryland, Keyes established legal residency in Illinois with the nomination.[65] In the November 2004 general election, Obama received 70% of the vote to Keyes's 27%, the largest victory margin for a statewide race in Illinois history.[66]


U.S. Senator, from 2005
Main article: United States Senate career of Barack Obama
Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 4, 2005.[67] Obama was the fifth African American Senator in U.S. history, and the third to have been popularly elected.[68] He is the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus.[69] CQ Weekly, a nonpartisan publication, characterized him as a "loyal Democrat" based on analysis of all Senate votes in 2005–2007, and the National Journal ranked him as the "most liberal" senator based on an assessment of selected votes during 2007. In 2005 he was ranked sixteenth, and in 2006 he was ranked tenth.[70][71] In 2008, he was ranked by Congress.org as the eleventh most powerful Senator.[72]


Legislation
See also: List of bills sponsored by Barack Obama in the United States Senate

Senate bill sponsors Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Obama discussing the Coburn–Obama Transparency Act.[73]Obama voted in favor of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act.[74] In September 2006, Obama supported a related bill, the Secure Fence Act.[75] Obama introduced two initiatives bearing his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons,[76] and the Coburn–Obama Transparency Act, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending.[77] On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama, along with Senators Thomas R. Carper, Tom Coburn, and John McCain, introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008.[78]

Obama sponsored legislation that would have required nuclear plant owners to notify state and local authorities of radioactive leaks, but the bill failed to pass in the full Senate after being heavily modified in committee.[79] In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor.[80] In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007.[81] Obama also introduced Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections[82] and the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007,[83] neither of which have been signed into law.


Obama and Richard Lugar visit a Russian mobile launch missile dismantling facility.[84]Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act adding safeguards for personality disorder military discharges.[85] This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008.[86] He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which has not passed committee, and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism.[87][88] Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries.[89]


Committees
Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works and Veterans' Affairs through December 2006.[90] In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments with Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.[91] He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs.[92] As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. He met with Mahmoud Abbas before he became President of Palestine, and gave a speech at the University of Nairobi condemning corruption in the Kenyan government.[93][94][95][96]


2008 presidential campaign
Main articles: Barack Obama presidential primary campaign, 2008 and Barack Obama presidential campaign, 2008
Wikinews has related news:
Barack Obama elected 44th President of the United StatesOn February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois.[97][98] The choice of the announcement site was symbolic because it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic "House Divided" speech in 1858.[99] Throughout the campaign, Obama has emphasized the issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health care, at one point identifying these as his top three priorities.[100]


Obama on stage with his wife and two daughters just before announcing his presidential campaign in Springfield, Illinois.Obama's campaign raised $58 million during the first half of 2007, of which donations of less than $200, classified as "small donations" by campaign laws, accounted for $16.4 million. The $58 million set the record for fundraising by a presidential campaign in the first six months of the calendar year before the election.[101] The magnitude of the small donation portion was outstanding from both the absolute and relative perspectives.[102] In January 2008, his campaign set another fundraising record with $36.8 million, the most ever raised in one month by a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries.[103]

Among the January 2008 DNC-sanctioned state contests, Obama tied with Hillary Clinton for delegates in the New Hampshire primary and won more delegates than Clinton in the Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina elections and caucuses. On Super Tuesday, he emerged with 20 more delegates than Clinton.[104] He again broke fundraising records in the first two months of 2008, raising over $90 million for his primary to Clinton's $45 million.[105] After Super Tuesday, Obama won the eleven remaining February primaries and caucuses.[106] Obama and Clinton split delegates and states nearly equally in the March 4 contests of Vermont, Texas, Ohio, and Rhode Island; Obama closed the month by winning Wyoming and Mississippi.[107]

In March 2008, a controversy broke out concerning Obama's former pastor of twenty years, Jeremiah Wright,[108] after ABC News broadcast clips of his racially and politically charged sermons.[108][109] Initially, Obama responded by defending Wright's wider role in Chicago's African American community,[110] but condemned his remarks and ended Wright's relationship with the campaign.[111] During the controversy, Obama delivered a speech entitled "A More Perfect Union"[112] that addressed issues of race. Obama subsequently resigned from Trinity United Church of Christ "to avoid the impression that he endorsed the entire range of opinions expressed at that church."[113][114][115]


General David Petraeus gives an aerial tour of Baghdad to Barack Obama and Chuck Hagel.During April, May, and June, Obama won the North Carolina, Oregon, and Montana primaries and remained ahead in the count of pledged delegates, while Clinton won the Pennsylvania, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, Puerto Rico, and South Dakota primaries. During the period, Obama received endorsements from more superdelegates than did Clinton.[116] On May 31, the Democratic National Committee agreed to seat all of the Michigan and Florida delegates at the national convention, each with a half-vote, narrowing Obama's delegate lead while increasing the delegate count needed to win.[117] On June 3, with all states counted, Obama passed the threshold to become the presumptive nominee.[118][119] On that day, he gave a victory speech in St. Paul, Minnesota. Clinton suspended her campaign and endorsed him on June 7.[120] From that point on, he campaigned for the general election race against Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee.

On June 19, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976, reversing his earlier intention to accept it.[121]

On August 23, 2008, Obama selected Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate.[122] At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, Obama's former rival Hillary Clinton gave a speech strongly supporting Obama's candidacy and later called for Obama to be nominated by acclamation as the Democratic presidential candidate.[123][124] Then, on August 28, Obama delivered a speech to the 84,000 supporters in Denver. During the speech, which was viewed by over 38 million people worldwide, he accepted his party's nomination and presented his policy goals.[125][126]


Obama delivering his victory speech at Grant ParkAfter McCain was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate, polls indicated that he had closed the gap with Obama. There were three presidential debates between Obama and McCain in September and October 2008.[127][128]

After the debates, Obama pulled ahead in national polls. On November 2, 2008, Obama's grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, died from cancer at the age of 86. Obama learned of his grandmother's death on November 3, one day before his election as the 44th President of the United States.[129][130]

On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama defeated John McCain and became the first African American to be elected President of the United States.[131] In his victory speech, delivered before a crowd of hundreds of thousands of his supporters in Chicago, Obama proclaimed that "change has come to America."[132]

For futher information, see Presidential transition of Barack Obama.

Political positions
Main article: Political positions of Barack Obama

Obama campaigning in Pennsylvania, October 2008.Obama was an early opponent of the Bush administration's policies on Iraq.[133] On October 2, 2002, the day President George W. Bush and Congress agreed on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War,[134] Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally in Federal Plaza,[135] speaking out against the war.[136][137] On March 16, 2003, the day President Bush issued his 48-hour ultimatum to Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq before the U.S. invasion of Iraq,[138] Obama addressed the largest Chicago anti-Iraq War rally to date in Daley Plaza and told the crowd that "it's not too late" to stop the war.[139]

Obama stated that if elected he would enact budget cuts in the range of tens of billions of dollars, stop investing in "unproven" missile defense systems, not "weaponize" space, "slow development of Future Combat Systems," and work towards eliminating all nuclear weapons. Obama favors ending development of new nuclear weapons, reducing the current U.S. nuclear stockpile, enacting a global ban on production of fissile material, and seeking negotiations with Russia in order to take ICBMs off high alert status.[140]

In November 2006, Obama called for a "phased redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq" and an opening of diplomatic dialogue with Syria and Iran.[141] In a March 2007 speech to AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby, he said that the primary way to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons is through talks and diplomacy, although he did not rule out military action.[142] Obama has indicated that he would engage in "direct presidential diplomacy" with Iran without preconditions.[143][144][145] Detailing his strategy for fighting global terrorism in August 2007, Obama said "it was a terrible mistake to fail to act" against a 2005 meeting of al-Qaeda leaders that U.S. intelligence had confirmed to be taking place in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas. He said that as president he would not miss a similar opportunity, even without the support of the Pakistani government.[146]

In a December 2005, Washington Post opinion column, and at the Save Darfur rally in April 2006, Obama called for more assertive action to oppose genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.[147] He has divested $180,000 in personal holdings of Sudan-related stock, and has urged divestment from companies doing business in Iran.[148] In the July–August 2007 issue of Foreign Affairs, Obama called for an outward looking post-Iraq War foreign policy and the renewal of American military, diplomatic, and moral leadership in the world. Saying "we can neither retreat from the world nor try to bully it into submission," he called on Americans to "lead the world, by deed and by example."[149]

In economic affairs, in April 2005, he defended the New Deal social welfare policies of Franklin D. Roosevelt and opposed Republican proposals to establish private accounts for Social Security.[150] In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Obama spoke out against government indifference to growing economic class divisions, calling on both political parties to take action to restore the social safety net for the poor.[151] Shortly before announcing his presidential campaign, Obama said he supports universal healthcare in the United States.[152] Obama proposes to reward teachers for performance from traditional merit pay systems, assuring unions that changes would be pursued through the collective bargaining process.[153]


Obama speaking at a rally in Conway, South Carolina.[154]In September 2007, he blamed special interests for distorting the U.S. tax code.[155] His plan would eliminate taxes for senior citizens with incomes of less than $50,000 a year, repeal income tax cuts for those making over $250,000 as well as the capital gains and dividends tax cut,[156] close corporate tax loopholes, lift the income cap on Social Security taxes, restrict offshore tax havens, and simplify filing of income tax returns by pre-filling wage and bank information already collected by the IRS.[157] Announcing his presidential campaign's energy plan in October 2007, Obama proposed a cap and trade auction system to restrict carbon emissions and a ten year program of investments in new energy sources to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil.[158] Obama proposed that all pollution credits must be auctioned, with no grandfathering of credits for oil and gas companies, and the spending of the revenue obtained on energy development and economic transition costs.[159]

Obama has encouraged Democrats to reach out to evangelicals and other religious groups.[160] In December 2006, he joined Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) at the "Global Summit on AIDS and the Church" organized by church leaders Kay and Rick Warren.[161] Together with Warren and Brownback, Obama took an HIV test, as he had done in Kenya less than four months earlier.[162] He encouraged "others in public life to do the same" and not be ashamed of it.[163] Addressing over 8,000 United Church of Christ members in June 2007, Obama challenged "so-called leaders of the Christian Right" for being "all too eager to exploit what divides us."[164]

A method that some political scientists use for gauging ideology is to compare the annual ratings by the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) with the ratings by the American Conservative Union (ACU).[165] Based on his years in Congress, Obama has a lifetime average conservative rating of 7.67% from the ACU,[166] and a lifetime average liberal rating of 90 percent from the ADA.[167]


Family and personal life
Main article: Family of Barack Obama

Barack Obama and his wife Michelle Obama.Obama was known as "Barry" in his youth, but asked to be addressed with his given name during his college years.[168]

Obama met his wife, Michelle Robinson, in June 1989 when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin.[169] Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial offers to date.[170] They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992.[171] The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born in 1998,[172] followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), in 2001.[173]

Applying the proceeds of a book deal,[174] in 2005 the family moved from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to their current $1.6 million house in neighboring Kenwood.[175] The purchase of an adjacent lot and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer and friend Tony Rezko attracted media attention because of Rezko's indictment and subsequent conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.[176][177]

In December 2007, Money magazine estimated the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million.[178] Their 2007 tax return showed a household income of $4.2 million—up from about $1 million in 2006 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books.[179]


Obama playing basketball with U.S. military in Djibouti in 2006.[180]In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family. "Michelle will tell you that when we get together for Christmas or Thanksgiving, it's like a little mini-United Nations," he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher."[181] Obama has seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family, six of them living, and a half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband.[182] Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham[183] until her death on November 2, 2008, just before the presidential election.[184] In Dreams from My Father, Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, president of the southern Confederacy during the American Civil War.[185]

Obama plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team.[186] Before announcing his presidential candidacy, he began a well-publicized effort to quit smoking.[187]

Obama is a Christian whose religious views have evolved in his adult life. In The Audacity of Hope, Obama writes that he "was not raised in a religious household." He describes his mother, raised by non-religious parents (whom Obama has specified elsewhere as "non-practicing Methodists and Baptists") to be detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known." He describes his father as "raised a Muslim", but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful." In the book, Obama explains how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change."[188][189] He was baptized at Trinity United Church of Christ in 1988.[190][191]


Cultural and political image
Main article: Public image of Barack Obama
With his Kenyan father and white American mother, his upbringing in Honolulu and Jakarta, and his Ivy League education, Obama's early life experiences differ markedly from those of African American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement.[192] Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is "black enough," Obama told an August 2007 meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists that the debate is not about his physical appearance or his record on issues of concern to black voters. Obama said that "we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong."[193]

Echoing the inaugural address of John F. Kennedy, Obama acknowledged his youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: "I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation."[194]

Many commentators mentioned Obama's international appeal as a defining factor for his public image.[195] Not only did several polls show strong support for him in other countries,[196] but Obama also established close relationships with prominent foreign politicians and elected officials even before his presidential candidacy, notably with then current British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whom he met in London in 2005,[197] with Italy's Democratic Party leader Walter Veltroni, who visited Obama's Senate office in 2005,[198] and with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who also visited him in Washington in 2006.[199]


Written works
Obama, Barack (1995). Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0307383415. Audio Book Grammy Award Winner: Spoken word[200]
Obama, Barack (October 17, 2006). The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. Crown Publishing Group / Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0307237699. Audio Book Grammy Award Winner: Spoken word[201][202]
Obama, Barack (March 27, 2007). Barack Obama in His Own Words. PublicAffairs. ISBN 0786720573.
National Urban League (April 17, 2007). The State of Black America 2007: Portrait of the Black Male, Foreword by Barack Obama, Beckham Publications Group. ISBN 0931761859.
Obama, Barack (July-August 2007). "Renewing American Leadership". Foreign Affairs 86 (4). Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
Obama, Barack (March 1, 2008). Barack Obama: What He Believes In – From His Own Works. Arc Manor. ISBN 1604501170.
Obama, Barack; McCain, John (June 13, 2008). Barack Obama vs. John McCain – Side by Side Senate Voting Record for Easy Comparison. Arc Manor. ISBN 1604502495.
Obama, Barack (September 9, 2008). Change We Can Believe In: Barack Obama's Plan to Renew America's Promise, Foreword by Barack Obama, Three Rivers Press. ISBN 0307460452.

Notes
^ FACTBOX: Barack Obama, Democratic President-elect (Reuters, November 5, 2008); World leaders hail Obama triumph (BBC News, November 5, 2008); Obama's victory caps struggles of previous generations (CNN, November 5, 2008)
^ The President-elect can be yielded on election day, but the official Electoral College vote is not until early December."Backgrounder: U.S. presidential elections", Xinhua News Agency (November 5, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-11-06.
^ "Barack Obama wins presidential election", CNN. Retrieved on 2008-11-05.
^ "Obama Elected President as Racial Barrier Falls", The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-11-05.
^ 55% of White Americans classify Obama as biracial when they are told that he has a white mother, while 66% of African Americans consider him black.("Williams/Zogby Poll: Americans' Attitudes Changing Towards Multiracial Candidates", BBSNews.com (2006-12-22). Retrieved on 2007-09-23. ) Obama describes himself as "black" or "African American", using both terms interchangeably ("Transcript excerpt: Senator Barack Obama on Sixty Minutes", CBS News (2007-02-11). Retrieved on 2008-01-29. )
^ CNN (2008). "Obama: 'This is your victory'". CNN. Retrieved on November 5, 2008.
^ "First African American Nominated as Presidential Candidate of US Major Party". Voice of America (2008-08-28). Retrieved on 2008-09-18.
^ "Aloha, Mr. President! Hawaii son Barack Obama wins". Hawaii Magazine (2008-05-11).
^ BBC News US Election Results Map, as of 6 November 2008.
^ Maraniss, David (2008-08-22). "Though Obama Had to Leave to Find Himself, It Is Hawaii That Made His Rise Possible", The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-10-27.
^ "Born in the U.S.A.". FactCheck (August 21, 2008). Retrieved on October 24, 2008.
^ FOXNews.com - Report: Obama's Irish Roots Unearthed - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum
^ Barack Obama's Irish Heritage - John A. Farrell (usnews.com)
^ Tiny Irish Village Is Latest Place to Claim Obama as Its Own - washingtonpost.com
^ Obama (1995), pp. 9–10. For book excerpts, see "Barack Obama: Creation of Tales", East African (2004-11-01). Retrieved on 2008-04-13. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27.
^ a b Tim Jones (2007-03-27). "Obama's mom: Not just a girl from Kansas: Strong personalities shaped a future senator", Chicago Tribune, reprinted in Baltimore Sun. Retrieved on 2008-10-27.
^ Ripley, Amanda (2008-04-09). "The Story of Barack Obama's Mother", Time. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
^ Merida, Kevin (2007-12-14). "The Ghost of a Father", Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-06-24. See also: Ochieng, Philip (2004-11-01). "From Home Squared to the US Senate: How Barack Obama Was Lost and Found", East African. Retrieved on 2008-06-24. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. In August 2006, Obama flew his wife and two daughters from Chicago to join him in a visit to his father's birthplace, a village near Kisumu in rural western Kenya. Gnecchi, Nico (2006-02-27). "Obama Receives Hero's Welcome at His Family's Ancestral Village in Kenya", Voice of America. Retrieved on 2008-06-24.
^ Serafin, Peter (2004-03-21). "Punahou Grad Stirs Up Illinois Politics", Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Retrieved on 2008-04-13. See also: Obama (1995), Chapters 3 and 4.
^ Ripley, Amanda (2008-04-09). "The Story of Barack Obama's Mother", Time. Retrieved on 2008-06-24. See also: Suryakusuma, Julia (2006-11-29). "Obama for President... of Indonesia", Jakarta Post. Retrieved on 2008-06-24.
^ "Obama, McCain talk issues at pastor's forum - CNN.com". cnn.com (2008-08-17). Retrieved on 2008-08-29.
^ "Barack Obama, asked about drug history, admits he inhaled". International Herald Tribune (2006-10-25). Retrieved on 2008-08-31.
^ "Oxy Remembers "Barry" Obama '83". Occidental College (2007-01-29). Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
^ Boss-Bicak, Shira (January 2005). "Barack Obama '83", Columbia College Today. Retrieved on 2008-06-09.
^ "Curriculum Vitae". The University of Chicago Law School. Archived from the original on 2001-05-09. Retrieved on 2008-11-03.
^ Issenberg, Sasha (2008-08-06). "Obama shows hints of his year in global finance: Tied markets to social aid", Boston Globe. Retrieved on 2008-04-13.
^ a b c d e f g Chassie, Karen (ed.) (2007). Who's Who in America, 2008. New Providence, NJ: Marquis Who's Who, p. 3468. ISBN 9780837970110. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.
^ Scott, Janny (2007-10-30). "Obama's Account of New York Years Often Differs from What Others Say", The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-04-13. Obama (1995), pp. 133–140; Mendell (2007), pp. 62–63.
^ Secter, Bob; McCormick, John (2007-03-30). "Portrait of a pragmatist", Chicago Tribune, p. 1. Retrieved on 2008-06-06. Archived from the original on 2008-02-09. Lizza, Ryan (2007-03-19). "The Agitator: Barack Obama's Unlikely Political Education" (alternate link), New Republic. Retrieved on 2008-04-13. Obama (1995), pp. 140–295; Mendell (2007), pp. 63–83.
^ Matchan, Linda (1990-02-15). "A Law Review breakthrough" (paid archive), The Boston Globe, p. 29. Retrieved on 2008-06-06. Corr, John (1990-02-27). "From mean streets to hallowed halls" (paid archive), The Philadelphia Inquirer, p. C01. Retrieved on 2008-06-06.
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^ Zeleny, Jeff (2007-10-09). "Obama Proposes Capping Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Making Polluters Pay", The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
^ Barack Obama. "The Blueprint for Change: Barack Obama's plan for America" (PDF). Obama for America. Retrieved on 2008-04-20.
^ Lerner, Michael (2006-07-03). "U.S. Senator Barack Obama Critiques Democrats' Religiophobia", Tikkun Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-01-14. "Sen. Barack Obama: Call to Renewal Keynote Address". Beliefnet (2006-06-28). Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
^ Gibson, Manda (2006-06-28). "At Global AIDS Summit, Churches Challenged to Take the Lead", PurposeDriven.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
^ "Screaming Crowds Welcome U.S. Senator 'Home'", CNN (2006-08-27). Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
^ Obama, Barack (2006-12-01). "Race Against Time—World AIDS Day Speech", Obama U.S. Senate Office. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
^ "Barack Obama: Faith Has Been 'Hijacked'", Associated Press via CBS News (2007-06-24). Retrieved on 2008-01-14. See also: Brody, David (2007-07-30). "Obama to CBN News: We're No Longer Just a Christian Nation", Christian Broadcasting Network. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
^ Mayer, William (2004-03-28). "Kerry's Record Rings a Bell", Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-06-07. "The question of how to measure a senator's or representative's ideology is one that political scientists regularly need to answer. For more than 30 years, the standard method for gauging ideology has been to use the annual ratings of lawmakers' votes by various interest groups, notably the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) and the American Conservative Union (ACU)."
^ "2005 U.S. Senate Votes". American Conservative Union. Retrieved on 2008-09-20.; "2006 U.S. Senate Votes". American Conservative Union. Retrieved on 2008-09-20.; "2007 U.S. Senate Votes". American Conservative Union. Retrieved on 2008-09-20.
^ "ADA's 2005 Congressional Voting Record". Americans for Democratic Action. Retrieved on 2008-09-20.; "ADA's 2006 Congressional Voting Record". Americans for Democratic Action. Retrieved on 2008-09-20.; "ADA's 2007 Congressional Voting Record". Americans for Democratic Action. Retrieved on 2008-09-20.
^ "When Barry Became Barack", Newsweek (2008-03-31). Retrieved on 2008-11-06.
^ Obama (2006), pp. 327–332. See also: Brown, Sarah (2005-12-07). "Obama '85 Masters Balancing Act", Daily Princetonian. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. Tucker, Eric (2007-03-01). "Family Ties: Brown Coach, Barack Obama", Associated Press, ABC News. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
^ Obama (2006), p. 329.
^ Fornek, Scott (2007-10-03). "Michelle Obama: 'He Swept Me Off My Feet'", Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
^ Martin, Jonathan (2008-07-04). "Born on the 4th of July". The Politico. Retrieved on 2008-07-10.
^ Obama (1995), p. 440, and Obama (2006), pp. 339–340. See also: "Election 2008 Information Center: Barack Obama". Gannett News Service. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
^ "Obama: I trusted Rezko" (2008-03-15).
^ Zeleny, Jeff (2005-12-24). "The First Time Around: Sen. Obama's Freshman Year", Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
^ "Rezko found guilty in corruption case", The Associated Press, MSNBC.com (2008-06-04). Retrieved on 2008-06-24.
^ Slevin, Peter (2006-12-17). "Obama Says He Regrets Land Deal With Fundraiser", The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-06-10.
^ "Obama's Money", CNNMoney.com (2007-12-07). Retrieved on 2008-04-28. See also: Goldfarb, Zachary A (2007-03-24). "Measuring Wealth of the '08 Candidates", The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
^ Zeleny, Jeff (2008-04-17). "Book Sales Lifted Obamas' Income in 2007 to a Total of $4.2 Million", The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
^ "Senator Barack Obama Visit to CJTF-HOA and Camp Lemonier: August 31—September 1, 2006" (video), Combined Joint Task Force—Horn of Africa, YouTube (2007-02-06). Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
^ "Keeping Hope Alive: Barack Obama Puts Family First". The Oprah Winfrey Show (2006-10-18). Retrieved on 2008-06-24.
^ Fornek, Scott (2007-09-09). "Half Siblings: 'A Complicated Family'", Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on 2008-06-24. See also: "Interactive Family Tree". Chicago Sun-Times (2007-09-09). Retrieved on 2008-06-24.
^ Fornek, Scott (2007-09-09). "Madelyn Payne Dunham: 'A Trailblazer'", Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved on 2008-06-24.
^ "Obama's grandmother dies after battle with cancer", CNN (2008-11-03). Retrieved on 2008-11-04.
^ Obama (1995), p. 13. For reports on Obama's maternal genealogy, including slave owners, Irish connections, and common ancestors with George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Harry Truman, see: Nitkin, David; Harry Merritt (2007-03-02). "A New Twist to an Intriguing Family History", Baltimore Sun. Retrieved on 2008-06-24. Jordan, Mary (2007-05-13). "Tiny Irish Village Is Latest Place to Claim Obama as Its Own", The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-06-24. "Obama's Family Tree Has a Few Surprises", Associated Press, CBS 2 (Chicago) (2007-09-08). Retrieved on 2008-06-24.
^ Kantor, Jodi (2007-06-01). "One Place Where Obama Goes Elbow to Elbow", The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. See also: "The Love of the Game" (video), HBO: Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, YouTube (BarackObama.com) (2008-04-15). Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
^ Parsons, Christi (2007-02-06). "Obama Launches an '07 Campaign—To Quit Smoking", Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on 2008-04-28. Archived from the original on 2008-02-16.
^ Obama (2006), pp. 202–208. Portions excerpted in: Obama, Barack (2006-10-23). "My Spiritual Journey", Time. Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
^ Obama, Barack (2006-06-28). "'Call to Renewal' Keynote Address". Barack Obama: U.S. Senator for Illinois (website). Retrieved on 2008-06-16.
^ Jodi Kantor (April 30, 2007). "Barack Obama's search for faith", International Herald Tribune. April 30, 2007
^ Barack Obama (Oct 16, 2006). "My Spiritual Journey", Time magazine.
^ Wallace-Wells, Benjamin (November 2004). "The Great Black Hope: What's Riding on Barack Obama?", Washington Monthly. Retrieved on 2008-04-07. See also: Scott, Janny (2007-12-28). "A Member of a New Generation, Obama Walks a Fine Line", International Herald Tribune. Retrieved on 2008-04-07.
^ Payne, Les (2007-08-19). "In One Country, a Dual Audience" (paid archive), Newsday. Retrieved on 2008-04-07.
^ Dorning, Mike (2007-10-04). "Obama Reaches Across Decades to JFK" (paid archive), Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on 2008-04-07. See also: Harnden, Toby (2007-10-15). "Barack Obama is JFK Heir, Says Kennedy Aide", Daily Telegraph. Retrieved on 2008-04-07.
^ The Root; USA Today
^ World wants Obama as president: poll
^ "Obama to visit nuclear, biological weapons destruction facilities in former Soviet Union" - Senate.gov
^ Quel giorno di tre anni fa a Washington Barack mi raccontò la sua speranzaRome Mayor's Leadership Bid May Lead to Early Italian Elections; VELTRONI A NEW YORK - Il politico prevale sull' amministratore; Libreria Rizzoli Galleria
^ "Sarkozy, Obama and McCain" - The Economist
^ Morris, Chris (2006-09-06). "U2 goes 5-for-5 at Grammys", The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved on 2008-09-20.
^ Associated Press (2008-02-10). "Obama beats ex-presidents for audiobook Grammy", Toronto Star. Retrieved on 2008-02-10.
^ Goodman, Dead (2008-02-10). "Obama or Clinton? Grammys go for Obama", Reuters. Retrieved on 2008-11-05. "Obama on Sunday won the spoken word Grammy for the audiobook version of his blockbuster tome The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. It marked his second statuette, following a win in 2006 for Dreams From My Father."

References
Obama, Barack (1998) Public policy in the 21st century. Loyola University of Chicago. Center for Instructional Design.; VHS Video
Obama, Barack (2004). Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance. Times Books. ISBN 1-4000-8277-3.
Obama, Barack (2005) EBONY'S 60th Anniversary - The Political Movement In Black America. Chicago, Johnson Pub. Co., etc., Ebony. 61, no. 1, (2005): 116
Obama, Barack (2005) Bound to the Word - Guardians of truth and knowledge, librarians must be thanked for their role as champions of privacy, literacy, independent thinking, and, most of all, reading. American libraries. 36, no. 7, (2005): 48, Chicago, American Library Association.
Obama, Barack (2006). The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream. Crown Publishing Group. ISBN 0-307-23769-9.
Obama, Barack (2006) It takes a nation : how strangers became family in the wake of Hurricane Katrina : the story of MoveOn.org Civic Action's HurricaneHousing.org by Laura Dawn; Barack Obama; San Rafael, CA : Earth Aware, ISBN: 1932771867 9781932771862
Obama, Barack (2006) Lobbying reform : congressional ethics in the wake of scandal : does the Legislative Transparency and Accountability Act provide for sufficient reforms? by Trent Lott; Barack Obama; Congressional Digest Corporation.; et al, Bethesda, MD : Congressional Digest Corp., OCLC: 84912539
Obama, Barack (2007) Barack Obama in his own words Ed. Lisa Rogak, New York : Carroll & Graf, 2007. ISBN: 9780786720576 0786720573
Obama, Barack (2008, contr.) in Health care by David M Haugen; Detroit : Greenhaven Press/Gale; ISBN: 9780737740066; 073774006X; 9780737740073; 0737740078
Obama, Barack (2008) Affordable Health Care for All Americans: The Obama-Biden Plan 13. Affordable Health Care for All Americans: The Obama-Biden Plan JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association. 300, no. 16, (2008): 1927, Chicago : American Medical Association, 1960-
Obama, Barack (2008) An American story : the speeches of Barack Obama : a primer by Barack Obama and David Olive; Toronto: ECW Press, ISBN: 9781550228649; 1550228641
Obama, Barack (2008) Change we can believe in : Barack Obama's plan to renew America's promise, New York : Three Rivers Press, ISBN: 9780307460455 : 0307460452 : 9780739383223 0739383221
Obama, Barack (2008) Barack Obama's speech on race : "A more perfect union". BN Publishing, ISBN: 9650060448 9789650060442
Obama, Barack (2008) An analysis of the Obama health care proposal by John Holahan; Linda Blumberg; Barack Obama; Health Policy Center (Urban Institute, Washington), D.C. : Urban Institute Health Policy Center, OCLC: 262633852
Obama, Barack (2008) Renewing American leadership Foreign Affairs, New York/N.Y.(0015-7120), 86 (Juli-August 2007) 4 S. 2-16 Ill.
Mendell, David (2007). Obama: From Promise to Power. Amistad/HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-085820-6.

Further reading
Barack Obama v • d • e
Early life and career · (Family · Memoir)
Illinois Senate career
U.S. Senate career
Presidential primaries
Obama–Biden 2008
Presidential transition
Policy positions · Public image
Listen to this article (info/dl)

This audio file was created from a revision dated 2008-09-03, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. (Audio help)
More spoken articlesCurry, Jessica. "Barack Obama: Under the Lights", Chicago Life, Fall 2004. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
Graff, Garrett. "The Legend of Barack Obama", Washingtonian, November 1, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
Lizza, Ryan. "Above the Fray", GQ, September 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
Koltun, Dave (2005) "The 2004 Illinois Senate Race: Obama Wins Open Seat and Becomes National Political “Star”" in "The Road to Congress 2004" Editors: Sunil Ahuja (Youngstown State University) and Robert Dewhirst (Northeast Missouri State University), Nova Science Publishers, Haupauge, New York, Binding: Hardcover Pub. Date: 2005, ISBN: 1-59454-360-7
MacFarquhar, Larissa. "The Conciliator: Where is Barack Obama Coming From?", New Yorker, May 7, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
Mundy, Liza. "A Series of Fortunate Events", The Washington Post Magazine, August 12, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
Wallace-Wells, Ben. "Destiny's Child", Rolling Stone, February 7, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.
Zutter, Hank De. "What Makes Obama Run?", Chicago Reader, December 8, 1995. Retrieved on 2008-01-14.

External links
Find more information on Barack Obama in Wikipedia's sister projects
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Official sites
2008 U.S. presidential campaign site
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Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com
Congressional profile at GovTrack.us
Site directory
Barack Obama at the Open Directory Project
Works by or about Barack Obama in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
News media
US election results map from BBC News
In pictures: Election result reaction from BBC News
In quotes: US election reaction from BBC News
FACTBOX: Barack Obama, Democratic President-elect (Reuters, November 5, 2008)
Illinois Senate
Preceded by
Alice Palmer Illinois State Senator from 13th district
1997 – 2004 Succeeded by
Kwame Raoul
United States Senate
Preceded by
Peter Fitzgerald United States Senator (Class 3) from Illinois
2005 – 2009
Served alongside: Dick Durbin Succeeded by
TBA
Political offices
Preceded by
George F. Allen
R-Virginia Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on European Affairs
2007 – present Succeeded by
TBA
Preceded by
Harold Ford, Jr. Keynote Speaker of the Democratic National Convention
2004 Succeeded by
Mark Warner
Preceded by
Carol Moseley Braun Democratic Party nominee for Senator from Illinois
(Class 3)
2004 Most recent
Preceded by
John Kerry Democratic Party presidential nominee
2008 Most recent
Order of precedence in the United States of America
Preceded by
Mel Martinez
R-Florida United States Senators by seniority
86th Succeeded by
Ken Salazar
D-Colorado
[show]v • d • ePresidents of the United States

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[show]v • d • eUnited States presidential election, 2008

United States elections, 2008 · Candidates (Comparison) · Debates · Congressional support · Fundraising · Ballot access · Timeline · Super Tuesday · Potomac primary · Super Tuesday II · Straw polls · General polls · Statewide general polls

Democratic Party
Convention · Straw polls · Primary polls ·
General polls · Debates · Primaries ·
Primary results · Superdelegates Nominee: Barack Obama (campaign · positions)
VP nominee: Joe Biden (positions)
Former candidates: Evan Bayh · Joe Biden (campaign) · Hillary Rodham Clinton (campaign) · Chris Dodd (campaign) · John Edwards (campaign) · Mike Gravel (campaign) · Dennis Kucinich (campaign) · Dal LaMagna · Bill Richardson (campaign) · Tom Vilsack (campaign)

Republican Party
Convention · Straw polls · Primary polls ·
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Convention Nominee: Bob Barr (campaign · positions)/Wayne Allyn Root
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Independent John Taylor Bowles · Ralph Nader (campaign)/Matt Gonzalez · Jonathon Sharkey

Draft movements Democratic Party: Al Gore · Mark Warner (movement) · Republican Party: Newt Gingrich · Condoleezza Rice (movement) · Independent: Michael Bloomberg (movement)

Those listed following the "/" are the party's vice-presidential nominee
Other 2008 elections: House · Senate · Gubernatorial

[show]v • d • eUnited States Democratic Party Presidential Nominees

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[show]v • d • eBarack Obama

Political activities 2004 Democratic National Convention · Illinois Senate career · U.S. Senate election in Illinois, 2004 · U.S. Senate career · Presidential primary campaign, 2008 · Obama–Biden 2008 · Electoral history · Political positions · Presidential transition

Books authored Dreams from My Father · The Audacity of Hope

Life Early life and career · Public image

Family Family tree · Michelle Obama · Barack Obama, Sr. · Ann Dunham (mother) · Lolo Soetoro (stepdad) · Maya Soetoro-Ng (sister) ·
Madelyn and Stanley Dunham (grandparents)

Speeches The Audacity of Hope · A More Perfect Union · This is Your Victory

[show]v • d • eIllinois's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators Dick Durbin (D), Barack Obama (D)

Representative(s) Bobby Rush (D), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D), Dan Lipinski (D), Luis Gutiérrez (D), Rahm Emanuel (D), Peter Roskam (R), Danny Davis (D), Melissa Bean (D), Jan Schakowsky (D), Mark Kirk (R), Jerry Weller (R), Jerry Costello (D), Judy Biggert (R), Bill Foster (D), Tim Johnson (R), Donald Manzullo (R), Phil Hare (D), Ray LaHood (R), John Shimkus (R)

State delegations Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming

Non-voting delegations American Samoa • District of Columbia • Guam • Puerto Rico • U.S. Virgin Islands

[show]v • d • eCurrent members of the United States Senate

AL: Shelby (R), Sessions (R)
AK: Stevens (R), Murkowski (R)
AZ: McCain (R), Kyl (R)
AR: Lincoln (D), Pryor (D)
CA: Feinstein (D), Boxer (D)
CO: Allard (R), Salazar (D)
CT: Dodd (D), Lieberman (I)
DE: Biden (D), Carper (D)
FL: Nelson (D), Martinez (R)
GA: Chambliss (R), Isakson (R)
HI: Inouye (D), Akaka (D)
ID: Craig (R), Crapo (R)
IL: Durbin (D), Obama (D)

IN: Lugar (R), Bayh (D)
IA: Grassley (R), Harkin (D)
KS: Brownback (R), Roberts (R)
KY: McConnell (R), Bunning (R)
LA: Landrieu (D), Vitter (R)
ME: Snowe (R), Collins (R)
MD: Mikulski (D), Cardin (D)
MA: Kennedy (D), Kerry (D)
MI: Levin (D), Stabenow (D)
MN: Coleman (R), Klobuchar (D)
MS: Cochran (R), Wicker (R)
MO: Bond (R), McCaskill (D)
MT: Baucus (D), Tester (D)
NE: Hagel (R), Nelson (D)
NV: Reid (D), Ensign (R)
NH: Gregg (R), Sununu (R)
NJ: Lautenberg (D), Menendez (D)
NM: Domenici (R), Bingaman (D)
NY: Schumer (D), Clinton (D)
NC: Dole (R), Burr (R)
ND: Conrad (D), Dorgan (D)
OH: Voinovich (R), Brown (D)
OK: Inhofe (R), Coburn (R)
OR: Wyden (D), Smith (R)
PA: Specter (R), Casey (D)
RI: Reed (D), Whitehouse (D)
SC: Graham (R), DeMint (R)
SD: Johnson (D), Thune (R)
TN: Alexander (R), Corker (R)
TX: Hutchison (R), Cornyn (R)
UT: Hatch (R), Bennett (R)
VT: Leahy (D), Sanders (I)
VA: Warner (R), Webb (D)
WA: Murray (D), Cantwell (D)
WV: Byrd (D), Rockefeller (D)
WI: Kohl (D), Feingold (D)
WY: Enzi (R), Barrasso (R)



Republican (49) • Democratic (49) • Independent (2)

[show]v • d • eUnited States Senators from Illinois

Class 2: Thomas • McLean • Baker • Robinson • McRoberts • Semple • S. Douglas • Browning • Richardson • Yates • Logan • Davis • Cullom • Lewis • McCormick • Deneen • Lewis • Slattery • Brooks • P. Douglas • Percy • Simon • Durbin
Class 3: Edwards • McLean • Kane • Ewing • Young • Breese • Shields • Trumbull • Oglesby • Logan • Farwell • Palmer • Mason • Hopkins • Lorimer • Sherman • McKinley • Glenn • Dieterich • Lucas • Dirksen • Smith • Stevenson III • Dixon • Moseley Braun • Fitzgerald • Obama

[show]v • d • eCurrent elected statewide political officials of Illinois

U.S. Senators Dick Durbin · Barack Obama

State government Rod Blagojevich, Governor · Pat Quinn, Lieutenant Governor · Lisa Madigan, Attorney General · Jesse White, Secretary of State · Daniel Hynes, Comptroller · Alexi Giannoulias, Treasurer

Senate Emil Jones, President · Debbie Halvorson, Majority Leader · Frank Watson, Minority Leader

House Michael Madigan, Speaker · Barbara Flynn Currie, Majority Leader · Tom Cross, Minority Leader

Supreme Court Thomas R. Fitzgerald, Chief Justice · Charles E. Freeman · Robert R. Thomas · Thomas L. Kilbride · Rita B. Garman · Lloyd A. Karmeier · Anne McGlone Burke

[show]v • d • eCabinet of President-elect Barack Obama (2009 – )

The Selangor State Government

Y.A.B. TAN SRI DATO` ABD KHALID BIN IBRAHIM
Jawatan:
Dato` Menteri Besar Selangor
Pejabat:
Pejabat Menteri Besar Selangor Tingkat 21,
Bangunan Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah,
40503 Shah Alam

Tel: 03-55141119/55447013 Fax: 55190032
E-mel : khalid@selangor.gov.my


Kediaman Rasmi:
Kediaman Rasmi Menteri Besar Selangor,
Jalan Permata 7/1,
Seksyen 7,
40000 Shah Alam





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



BIODATA
Y.A.B. TAN SRI DATO` ABD KHALID BIN IBRAHIM

Y.A.B. Tan Sri Dato` Abd Khalid Bin Ibrahim, P.S.M., D.P.M.S., D.S.A.P., lahir pada 1946 di Jeram, Selangor.

Memperoleh Sarjana Muda Sastera (Kepujian) Ekonomi dari Universiti Malaya dan Sarjana Pentadbiran Perniagaan dari Universiti Queensland, Australia pada 1975.

Ahli Jawatankuasa Eksekutif Unit Investment Fund.

Ahli “Financial Engineering Advisory Forum” Bank Pembangunan Islam, Jeddah.

Ahli gantian Majlis Penasihat Perniagaan APEC (ABAC).

Menganggotai Lembaga Pusat Produktiviti Kebangsaan dan anggota Lembaga Amanah Institut Kaji Selidik Ekonomi Malaysia (MIER).

Merupakan Setiausaha Agung Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

Pernah berkhidmat sebagai guru, pensyarah, pegawai kredit, pegawai kewangan korporat di samping pelbagai jawatan pengurusan di Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) termasuk Ketua Eksekutif Kumpulan dan sehingga 2003 merupakan Ketua Eksekutif Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad.

Di samping itu, beliau turut menjadi Pengerusi Highlands and Lowlands dan Guthrie Ropel, yang merupakan syarikat-syarikat perladangan yang tersenarai di Bursa Saham Kuala Lumpur.

Telah menghadiri International Visitors Program Amerika Syarikat pada 1983 dan Feloship Pertukaran Einsenhower pada 1989.

Pada Disember 15, 1998, Tan Sri menerima anugerah CEO Tahunan Malaysia 1997 yang dianjurkan bersama oleh Business Times Sdn. Bhd. dan the American Express Corporate Services. Tan Sri turut mendapat pengiktirafan dari Universiti Queensland apabila menerima Anugerah Alumnus Antarabangsa yang pertama pada 2001.

Pada Julai 10, 2003, Tan Sri menerima anugerah “AAAB Captain of Industry Award 2002 (First Asian Academy of Applied Business)” dari Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu dan baru sahaja dianugerahkan Feloship Pelawat Kanan oleh Pusat Pengajian Islam Oxford, Universiti Oxford.

Dan kini Tan Sri berkhidmat sebagai Menteri Besar Selangor yang ke 14.











AHLI-AHLI MAJLIS MESYUARAT
KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR DARUL EHSAN

>> Muat turun gambar EXCO Kerajaan Negeri Selangor disini

Y.A.B. TAN SRI DATO` ABD KHALID BIN IBRAHIM
DATO` MENTERI BESAR SELANGOR

PORTFOLIO : PENGERUSI JAWATANKUASA TETAP PEMBANGUNAN TANAH, KEWANGAN, MAJLIS TINDAKAN EKONOMI NEGERI, BELIA DAN SUKAN

ALAMAT PEJABAT : PEJABAT DATO` MENTERI BESAR SELANGOR,
TINGKAT 21, BANGUNAN SSAAS, 40503 SHAH ALAM
TEL: 03-55141119 , 55447013
FAX: 55190032
E-MEL : KHALID@SELANGOR.GOV.MY

KEDIAMAN RASMI : KEDIAMAN RASMI MENTERI BESAR SELANGOR,
JALAM PERMATA 7/1, SEKSYEN 7, 40000 SHAH ALAM


Y.B. DATO` RAMLI BIN MAHMUD
Y.B. SETIAUSAHA KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR

ALAMAT PEJABAT : PEJABAT YB SETIAUSAHA KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR,
TINGKAT 19, BANGUNAN SSAAS, 40503 SHAH ALAM
TEL : 03-55447042
E-MEL : RAMLI@SELANGOR.GOV.MY

KEDIAMAN RASMI : KEDIAMAN RASMI SETIAUSAHA KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR, SERI INDERA, SEKSYEN 7, 40000 SHAH ALAM



Y.B. DATIN PADUKA ZAUYAH BE BINTI LOTH KHAN
PENASIHAT UNDANG-UNDANG NEGERI SELANGOR

ALAMAT PEJABAT : KAMAR PENASIHAT UNDANG-UNDANG NEGERI SELANGOR,
TINGKAT 4, BANGUNAN SSAAS, 40503 SHAH ALAM
TEL : 03-55447190 / 91 / 03-55105151
FAX : 03-55101775
E-MEL : ZAUYAH_BE@SELANGOR.GOV.MY

Y.B. DATO` MOHD. ARIF BIN ABD. RAHMAN
PEGAWAI KEWANGAN NEGERI SELANGOR

ALAMAT PEJABAT : PEJABAT PERBENDAHARAAN NEGERI SELANGOR,
TINGKAT 12, BANGUNAN SSAAS, 40503 SHAH ALAM
TEL : 03-55104431/ 03-55447201
FAX : 03-55106255
E-MEL : MOHD_ARIF@SELANGOR.GOV.MY

Y.B. TERESA KOK SUH SIM
ADUN N30 KAWASAN KINRARA

PORTFOLIO : PENGERUSI JAWATANKUASA TETAP PELABURAN, PERINDUSTRIAN DAN PERDAGANGAN

ALAMAT PEJABAT : PEJABAT AHLI MAJLIS MESYUARAT KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR, TINGKAT 3, BANGUNAN SSAAS, 40503 SHAH ALAM
Tel : 03-55447311
E-MEL : TERESAKOK@SELANGOR.GOV.MY

Y.B. DATO` DR HASSAN BIN MOHD ALI
ADUN N17 GOMBAK SETIA

PORTFOLIO : PENGERUSI JAWATANKUASA TETAP HAL EHWAL ISLAM, ADAT MELAYU, INFRASTRUKTUR DAN KEMUDAHAN AWAM

ALAMAT PEJABAT : PEJABAT AHLI MAJLIS MESYUARAT KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR, TINGKAT 2, BANGUNAN SSAAS, 40503 SHAH ALAM
TEL : 03-55447105
E-MEL : HASANALI@SELANGOR.GOV.MY


Y.B. TUAN YAAKOB BIN SAPARI
adun n40 kota anggerik

PORTFOLIO : PENGERUSI JAWATANKUASA TETAP PEMODENAN PERTANIAN, PENGURUSAN SUMBER ALAM DAN PEMBANGUNAN USAHAWAN

ALAMAT PEJABAT : PEJABAT AHLI MAJLIS MESYUARAT KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR, TINGKAT 14, BANGUNAN SSAAS, 40503 SHAH ALAM
TEL : 03-55447173
E-MEL : YAAKOB@SELANGOR.GOV.MY


Y.B. PUAN RODZIAH BINTI ISMAIL
ADUN N41 BATU TIGA

PORTFOLIO : PENGERUSI JAWATANKUASA TETAP KEBAJIKAN, HAL EHWAL WANITA, SAINS, TEKNOLOGI DAN INOVASI

ALAMAT PEJABAT : PEJABAT AHLI MAJLIS MESYUARAT KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR, TINGKAT 2, BANGUNAN SSAAS, 40503 SHAH ALAM
TEL : 03-55447622
E-MEL : RODZIAHISMAIL@SELANGOR.GOV.MY


y.b. TUAN DR. XAVIER JAYAKUMAR
ADUN N49 SERI ANDALAS

PORTFOLIO : PENGERUSI JAWATANKUASA TETAP KESIHATAN, PEKERJA LADANG, KEMISKINAN DAN KERAJAAN PRIHATIN

ALAMAT PEJABAT : PEJABAT AHLI MAJLIS MESYUARAT KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR, TINGKAT 5, BANGUNAN SSAAS, 40503 SHAH ALAM
TEL : 03-55447305
E-MEL : DRXAVIER@SELANGOR.GOV.MY


Y.B. DR. HALIMAH BINTI ALI
ADUN N45 SELAT KELANG

PORTFOLIO : PENGERUSI JAWATANKUASA TETAP PENDIDIKAN, PENDIDIKAN TINGGI DAN PEMBANGUNAN MODAL INSAN

ALAMAT PEJABAT : PEJABAT AHLI MAJLIS MESYUARAT KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR, TINGKAT 12, BANGUNAN SSAAS, 40503 SHAH ALAM
TEL : 03-55447216
E-MEL : DRHALIMAH@SELANGOR.GOV.MY


Y.B. TUAN IR. ISKANDAR BIN ABDUL SAMAD
ADUN N21 CEMPAKA

PORTFOLIO : PENGERUSI JAWATANKUASA TETAP PERUMAHAN, PENGURUSAN BANGUNAN DAN SETINGGAN

ALAMAT PEJABAT : PEJABAT AHLI MAJLIS MESYUARAT KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR, TINGKAT 5, BANGUNAN SSAAS, 40503 SHAH ALAM
TEL : 03-55447624
E-MEL : ISKANDAR@SELANGOR.GOV.MY


Y.B. TUAN RONNIE LIU TIAN KHIEW
ADUN N47 PANDAMARAN

PORTFOLIO : PENGERUSI JAWATANKUASA TETAP KERAJAAN TEMPATAN, KAJIAN DAN PENYELIDIKAN

ALAMAT PEJABAT : PEJABAT AHLI MAJLIS MESYUARAT KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR, TINGKAT 15, BANGUNAN SSAAS, 40503 SHAH ALAM
TEL : 03-55447150
E-MEL : RONNIELIU@SELANGOR.GOV.MY


Y.B. PUAN ELIZABETH WONG
ADUN n37 BUKIT LANJAN

portfolio : PENGERUSI JAWATANKUASA TETAP PELANCONGAN, HAL EHWAL PENGGUNA DAN ALAM SEKITAR

ALAMAT PEJABAT : PEJABAT AHLI MAJLIS MESYUARAT KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR, TINGKAT 2, BANGUNAN SSAAS, 40503 SHAH ALAM
TEL : 03-55447760
E-MEL : elizabethwong@SELANGOR.GOV.MY


Y.B. TUAN EAN YONG HIAN WAH
ADUN N28 SERI KEMBANGAN

PORTFOLIO : PENGERUSI JAWATANKUASA TETAP PEMBANGUNAN KAMPUNG BARU DAN PENYELESAIAN KILANG HARAM

ALAMAT PEJABAT : PEJABAT AHLI MAJLIS MESYUARAT KERAJAAN NEGERI SELANGOR, TINGKAT 16, BANGUNAN SSAAS, 40503 SHAH ALAM
TEL : 03-55447131
E-MEL : EANYONG@SELANGOR.GOV.MY













DULI YANG MAHA MULIA SULTAN SHARAFUDDIN IDRIS SHAH ALHAJ

IBNI ALMARHUM SULTAN SALAHUDDIN ABDUL AZIZ SHAH ALHAJ

D.K.,D.M.N.,D.K.(Terengganu).,D.K.(Kelantan).,D.K.(Perak).,

D.K.(Perlis)., D.K.(Negeri Sembilan)., D.K.(Kedah).,S.P.M.S.,S.S.I.S.,S.P.M.J.



Sultan dan Yang Dipertuan Negeri Selangor Darul Ehsan

Serta Segala Daerah Takluknya





Duli Yang Maha Mulia Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah Alhaj Ibni Almarhum Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Alhaj dimasyhurkan sebagai Sultan Selangor ke 9 pada 22 November 2001 bersamaan dengan 6 Ramadhan Tahun 1422 Hijrah. Pemasyhuran Baginda adalah berikutan kemangkatan Padukan Ayahanda Baginda Almarhum Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Alhaj pada 21 November 2001. Baginda kemudiannya ditabal dan dimahkotakan dengan penuh Adat Istiadat Diraja di Balairung Seri,Istana Alam Shah, Klang dalam Istiadat Pertabalan dan Kemahkotaan pada 8 Mac 2003 bersamaan dengan 5 Muharram 1424 Hijrah.



Baginda adalah putera sulong D.Y.M.M. Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Alhaj dan Y.M.M Paduka Bonda Raja Selangor, Raja Saidatul Ihsan binti Tengku Badar Shah. Baginda diputerakan di Istana Jemaah, Klang yang kini dikenali sebagai Kolej Islam Sultan Alam Shah, Klang pada 24 Disember 1945. Pada September 1960 ketika Baginda berusia 15 tahun, Baginda telah diisytiharkan sebagai Raja Muda Selangor. Istiadat Mengangkat Sumpah dan Menjunjung Duli sebagai Raja Muda ke 8 telah diadakan pada tahun 1970 di Istana Alam Shah.



Baginda telah dikurniakan dengan dua orang Puteri iaitu Y.A.M Tengku Zerafina dan Y.A.M Tengku Zatashah, dan seorang Putera, D.Y.T.M. Tengku Amir Shah, Raja Muda Selangor.



Baginda telah mendapat pendidikan awal di Sekolah Menengah Raja Muda, Kuala Lumpur dan St.John Institution, Kuala Lumpur dari tahun 1954 hingga 1959. Pada tahun 1960, Baginda melanjutkan pelajaran ke Perth, Australia hingga tahun 1964 dan meneruskan pelajaran Baginda di England hingga ke tahun 1968. Pada tahun yang sama Baginda kembali ke tanah air dan berkhidmat di dalam Pentadbiran Kerajaan di mana perkhidmatan pertama Baginda di Pejabat Setiausaha Kerajaan Negeri Selangor. Baginda juga pernah berkhidmat di Pejabat Daerah Kuala Lumpur dan Jabatan Polis Diraja, Kuala Lumpur yang membolehkan Baginda memperolehi pengalaman dan pengetahuan yang begitu kuas di dalam bidang pentadbiran.



Baginda telah dilantik buat pertama kalinya sebagai Pengerusi Jemaah Pemangku Raja pada 23 Februari hingga 20 September 1969 semasa Paduka Ayahanda Baginda berangkat ke England. Baginda telah beberapa kali dilantik sebagai Pemangku Raja Selangor dari masa ke semasa, dari tahun 1972 hingga tahun 1997. Pada 24 April 1999, Baginda telah dilantik sebagai Pemangku Raja Selangor sekali lagi apabila Paduka Ayahanda Baginda dilantik sebagai Yang di-Pertuan Agong yang ke-11.



Baginda telah membuat beberapa lawatan rasmi ke Daerah-daerah untuk melihat pembangunan dan juga masalah-masalah setempat yang dihadapi oleh rakyat Baginda dan beramah mesra dengan mereka. Baginda juga telah beberapa kali merasmikan Mesyuarat Pembukaan Persidangan Dewan Undangan Negeri Selangor pada tahun 1972, 1974, 1989, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 dan 2005.



Baginda telah dianugerahkan Darjah Kerabat (Yang Amat Dihormati) Selangor pada tahun 1973 dan Darjah Kebesaran Pertama, Seri Paduka Mahkota Johor (S.P.M.J.) pada tahun 1975. Baginda juga telah dianugerahkan Darjah-Darjah Kerabat dari Negeri Terengganu, Kelantan, Perak, Perlis, Negeri Sembilan dan Kedah.



Baginda adalah pemegang pertama Darjah Kebesaran Dato' Setia - Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah (S.S.I.S) yang Baginda zahirkan pada tahun 2002. Baginda telah dianugerahkan Darjah Kebesaran-Darjah Utama Seri Mahkota Negara (D.M.N.) oleh Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong semasa Pertabalan dan Kemahkotaan Duli Yang Maha Mulia sebagai Sultan Selangor ke 9 pada 8 Mac 2003.



Dalam bidang ketenteraan, Baginda telah ditauliahkan sebagai Mejar Kehormat Tentera Darat (Wataniah) Malaysia pada tahun 1974 dan Komander Kehormat Sukarelawan Pasukan Simpanan Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia pada tahun 1998. Pada tahun 2002, Baginda telah dilantik sebagai Kepten Yang Dipertua Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia.



Baginda amat berminat di dalam aktiviti sukan termasuk sukan lasak seperti mendaki gunung, memandu kereta antik jarak jauh dan belayar mengelilingi dunia dengan kapal S.Y.JUGRA. Baginda mendapat pengiktirafan sebagai Putera Inspirasi dan banyak lagi pengiktirafan yang dianugerahkan kepada Baginda berkaitan dengan "maritime". Baginda dilantik sebagai Penaung kepada Persatuan-Persatuan Sukan dan Seni.



Hobi Baginda adalah membaca, belayar, fotografi, mengumpul setem serta sampul surat Hari Pertama, mengumpul "vintage cars" dan mengumpul senjata tradisi orang-orang Melayu. Pada 9 November 1998, Baginda telah berjaya melancarkan buku pertama Baginda iaitu "Peking to Paris". Pada tahun 1976, Baginda telah dilantik sebagai "Honorary Member Of The Philatelic Society" di Malaysia. Yayasan Antarabangsa Rotary telah menganugerahkan "Paul Harris Fellow" kepada Baginda. Pada tahun 1998, Baginda telah menerima anugerah tertinggi dari Persatuan Pengakap Malaysia iaitu "Pingat Semangat Padi". Pada tahun 1989, Baginda telah dilantik sebagai "Honorary Life Commodore" oleh Pelayaran Diraja Selangor "Royal Selangor Yacht Club". Baginda berminat di dalam bidang seni dan telah mengumpul banyak lukisan-lukisan tempatan dan Baginda telah dilantik sebagai Pengerusi Galeri Shah Alam pada tahun 1991. Pada tahun yang sama juga Baginda telah dilantik sebagai Pengerusi Lembaga Amanah Yayasan Seni Selangor Darul Ehsan. Pada 11 Mei 2000, Baginda telah dilantik sebagai "Fellow of The Chartered Institute Of Transport". Pada 25 Mei 2000, Baginda telah dilantik sebagai "Pro Canselor" UiTM dan pada 31 Mac 2001, Baginda telah dianugerahkan Darjah Kehormat Doktor Pentadbiran Awam. Pada 1 April 2002 Baginda telah dilantik sebagai Canselor Universiti Putra Malaysia.



Pencapaian tertinggi di dalam kegiatan sukan lasak ialah apabila nama Baginda telah terukir di dalam "Malaysia Book of Records" sebagai "The First To Sail Around The World" dan "The First To Complete Peking-Paris Motor Challenge"pada tahun 1998.



Duli Yang Maha Mulia Sultan Selangor adalah seorang insan yang peka di dalam perkembangan semasa. Baginda selalu memberi idea yang bernas di dalam mengatasi masalah-masalah kemanusiaan. Di dalam bidang agama pula Baginda sering bertitah di masjid-masjid menasihatkan rakyat jelata agar benar-benar mengikut ajaran Islam dengan penuh keyakinan. Baginda adalah seorang Raja yang berjiwa rakyat dan menitikberatkan kemajuan rakyat Baginda dalam semua bidang termasuklah ekonomi, sosial dan alam sekitar.

Gerakan and Umno... the Opposition in Penang

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Thinking Allowed. Thinking Aloud.« Doing the numbers | Main

Gerakan and Umno... the Opposition in Penang
What could be wrong for the Chief Minister to double up as the Tourism & Investment Ambassador for Penang when he goes on trade and overseas missions to sell the state as the choice destination for the overseas markets -- and all expenses paid for by the host countries?

But our Barisan Nasional people just miss the point. Obviously, they are not so used to being in the Opposition.


Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng delivering a keynote address at the Asia Pacific Tourism Investment Conference (APTIC) and Exposition 2008 in Seoul, October 30, titled: "Sustainable Tourism Development in a Heritage Environment — the Penang Story"... LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

After having helmed the Penang state for 34 years as a coalition since 1974 till 2008, there is enough historical proof for me to believe that the Gerakan-led Barisan Nasional has been a lame force in generating ideas and future-looking policies and governance. They had good people around but devils rule because good men did nothing.

On the other hand, I had also thought that, by relegating them into the political minority in the state -- the whole bunch of them, Koh Tsu Koon's Gerakan included -- they will lick their GE2008 wounds and perform better as the been-there, done-that type of Opposition to do the larger good for Penangites.

But I was wrong, dead wrong. Old dogs could not learn new tricks. Some in the likes of the Umno's ball-carrying ex-MP, Huan Cheng Guan, are a polkitical scoundrel good at plainly anjing menyalak bukit.

Huan is symbolic of how the present Gerakan senior leadership the sucks up to Umno for life-support.

For the record, Huan is an esteemed Vice President of Gerakan elected by its national delegates and yet nowadays, at least officially, he lowers himself to earn his keeps as an office-boy for the BN Back-benchers Club under the title of executive secretary. Huan should have shown publicly that his livelihood is not hinged to the Umno gravy-train.

This time, he couldn't wait for the Penang state government investment-inducing trip to South Korea (October 28 - November 1, including two days of travelling to-and-fro) to complete its course and hastily he asked: “The Koreans are now busy rescuing their own companies; do you think they have time for us? (Chief Minister) Lim Guan Eng should take care of his own backyard and ensure that everything is in order before leaving the country.”

And Huan's masters in Umno joined in not a minute too late. Quote The Star on the day Huan went to Press:


Penang Umno liaison committee deputy chairman Datuk Seri Abdul Rashid Abdullah questioned the need for such a big delegation, saying the largest entourage the previous state administration had ever handled was only 25 people.

“The DAP criticised the previous Barisan Nasional administration for allegedly not doing anything right but now they are keeping quiet when spending taxpayers’ money.

“What has happened to their much talked about Competency, Accountability and Transparency (CAT) system? Has Guan Eng ever told the people that he travelled Business Class or First Class whenever he goes on official overseas trips?” he asked.


Verily, Umno leaders in Penang used to travel on quota basis with the former chief minister who is now persona non-grata to Penang Umno itself. The records in Penang state government must have expenses records to support this, you just need to search for the proof.

To these Umno goons, overseas travels means First Class cabin, and the R&R programmes. Kind of a (more) cuti (less) sambil belajar quota system and rewards by any standard and opportunity.

But not for us under the present government. We travelled on restricted category of economy class flights, which means the lowest fare possible, and we stayed in budget-class hotel with no shampoo and shower gel supplied. It cost about US$65 per room not when the going price around the metropolitan COEX region of Seoul is around US$400 per room night.

危机 (wei ji) -- Looking out for silver linings

I am not sure if Huan's MBA is studied for or was bought from a lousy busines school, but he showed his naivette when he uttered: "The Koreans are now busy rescuing their own companies; do you think they have time for us?"

Indeed, a South Korean minister expressed his surprise that Penang was bold in looking out for opportunities within crisis times. The Chinese phrase "wei ji" ( 危机）, which was inferred to by Korea's First Deputy Minister of Tourism, Sports and Culture, precisely denotes that there are ample opportunities in the midst of crisis.


Lim Guan Eng leading his Penang team to pay a courtesy call on Korea's Ministry of Tourism, Sports & Tourism... LensaPress by Jeff Ooi
There you are Huan, how much you understood the age-old Asian psyche and wisdom of modern management.

In Korea, we specifically looked for opportunities in selling MM2H tourism-related products, investments in technology sectors, seeding new openings in the hospitality and service industries, and executed several initiatives in media and trade relations.


US$100m INVESTMENT IN BATU KAWAN

History is the perfect chronicle of truth. While Huan was rotting away his opportunity as the former MP for Batu Kawan (2004 - 2008), this government delivers when he failed to get done during his time. On October 30, a MoU to develop an international-class golf course resort on a piece of 200-acre land in Batu Kawan was sealed between the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) and DK ENC of South Korea, which has been instrument in developing a 52-hole golf resort in Hanoi.

The development project worth an investment of US$100 million will be completed by 2011. We hope to attract Korean golfers and holiday-makers besides providing jobs and boosting local consumption in the Penang state's economy.




Guan Eng witnessing of the singing of the MoU between the PDC represented by its general manager Datuk Rosli Jaaffar, and Mr Jang Chin-Hyuk of DK ENC.

Guan Eng proposing a toast to fellow Korean investors for stronger business ties with Penang in the near future... LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi

Back in Malaysia, the local press recorded that the signing of the MoU for the RM350mil (US$100mil) golf course in Batu Kawan is testament of South Korean investors’ confidence in Penang’s future.

The MoU signing ceremony was attended by the chief executives of the two foremost TV stations in Korea, the MBC which produced the immensely successful costumed series Dae-chang-gum, and the SBC.


TECHNOLOGY SECTOR

High-end technology continues to be our key focus to replace the labour intensive LVO (Large Volume Output manufacturing industries that had been showing critical signs of lost lustre before we booted out the Tsu Koon administration in GE2008.

In between, we also took time off to visit two key technology entities while we were promoting Penang iin Korea. Apart from the courtesy calls, we made sure the Chief Minister has close-door frank talks with the head honchos -- a schedule purposefully drawn up months in advance.

However, due to competitive reasons, I am not in a position to disclose critical information about these visits.


The official visit to Samsung Electronics HQ in Suwon. On the right is Samsung Group Malaysia President, Datuk Lee Sang Bai

H.D. Lee (4th from right), president of B. Braun Asia Pacific, greets the Penang team at its Korean HQ... LensaPress photos by Jeff Ooi


MICE -- WORLD-CLASS CONVENTION CENTRE

There has been much press about Penang setting its eyes on a world-class facilities that can house modern-day meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) events. We visited the senior management of COEX, Korea's foremost convention and exposition managers, to collate input for our Penang plan.


The Penang team was warmly received by Mr Park Chong-Man, the senior executive vice president of COEX

MEDIA & TRADE RELATIONS A MUST FOR KOREAN MARKET

Our first visit to South Korea in May stunned us that visibility of Penang as a superb destination for tourism and investment was least understood by the Koreans. In fact South Koreans, especially the golfers and honeymooning newly-weds, are fondly closer to and more familiar with Kota Kinabalu as their choice destination compared to Penang. Look, how badly Penang has been marketed all these years!

Guan Eng took time to engage the local media in order to "sell" Penang to the Koreans.

Engaging the print media in Seoul
One more interesting news is that the Chinese community, predominantly comprising immigrants from the neighbouring Shandung province of People's Republic of China, has reached its second and third generations as neutralised residents in South Korea.

I know of one of them who was instrumental in creating the Seoul-Kota Kinabalu route for the tourism industry there, and he happens to be a vice president of the Korean Chinese Chamber of Commerce. A courtesy call and forging of networking is definitely a worthy investment.


A token of warm friendship in the form of "Penang in Snapshots", from Guan Eng to the KCCC... LensaPress photos by Jeff Ooi

MALAYSIA MY 2ND HOME (MM2H)

Having been involved in the planning and execution of the trade mission, I personally am convinced that a private sector working closely hand-in-hand with the state government in foreign trade missions will garner a lot of confidence among overseas investors who have heard of this CAT (Competency, Accountability, Transparency) government that differentiates from the corruption and cronyism-infested government of the past.

This is demonstrated by the active participation of enterprising private entities active in Penang, namely Property developers Eastern & Oriental Bhd and E&O Hotels, SP Setia Bhd, Hunza Properties Bhd, Ideal Property Intelligence Sdn Bhd and the Penang Health Association. They joined hands as integral components of the Penang Pavilion organised by InvestPenang.


Guan Eng playing the role of Penang's Tourism & Investment Ambassador at the InvestPenang pavilion at APTIC & Expo 2008

Penang's Tourism & Investment Ambassador at the E&O Booth at APTIC. Looking on from right are E&O Group Chief Executive Terry Tham and E&O Hotel General Manager Michael Saxon


Again, Guan Eng playing the role of Penang's Tourism & Investment Ambassador at the Hunza-Paragon Booth at APTIC. Looking on at the left is Daisy Ooi, executive director from Hunza Berhad... LensaPress photo by Jeff Ooi


Besides attracting investors from Korea, our key objective is to promote Penang as the choice location for Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme, a long-term effort initiated by Tourism Malaysia.

I hope Gerakan and Umno should stop insulting our private sector by accusing them of wasting taxpayers' money, because their combined 42-member delegation was paid for through their own pockets. Huan and Rashid indeed should apologise for accusing and insulting the private sector that had wanted to cooperate and collaborate with the new Penang state government.



On the finale evening in Seoul, we sat through with the head-honchos of these private corporations with joined us in the trip, and we came to a consensus that -- remember, Guan Eng and all of us are committed to kill any bribery attempts like those prevalent in the BN government -- we have no difficulties in working hand-in-hand in marketing Penang to the outside world as an ideal place for second home.

In this Korean trip, we booked a pavilion at the Asia Pacific Tourism Investment Conference (APTIC) and Expo 2008 in Seoul, whereas Guan Eng was put on a hectic schedule, including presenting a keynote address targetting property investors and the tourism-related service industries, entitled Sustainable Tourism Development in a Heritage Environment — the Penang Story.

Guan Eng appeared alongside representative speakers from France, Russia and Hong Kong-based Indonesian enterprise. To be CAT about it, his travel and accommodation expenses were paid for by the host, Korea Tourism Organisation (KTO).

Multi-pronged objectives in one go

In the Press, this trade mission to South Korea has been well-accounted for several days ago (please check The Edge Financial Daily and Bernama, both on October 28).

To put things in the right perspective, I gave an interview to The Star yesterday in my capacity as a member of the Board of Directors at InvestPenang, the one-stop investment promotion agency owned by the Penang state government.

I was also approached by Nanyang Siang Pau, the only Chinese business daily in Malaysia, for an exclusive interview to summarise the salient points for this multi-pronged trade mission. It will be published tomorrow, November 5, so please grab a copy.




Posted by Jeff Ooi on November 4, 2008 10:32 AM | Permalink

Is outcome of Munawar's appeal indicative of what we can expect from Zaki Azmi...new Boss of the Malaysian Judiciary

Thursday, October 30, 2008
Is outcome of Munawar's appeal indicative of what we can expect from Zaki Azmi...new Boss of the Malaysian Judiciary
Chief Justice Zaki Azmi beginning to throw his true colours...


Will he be able to be INDEPENDENT of UMNO and his past friends, and be able to be concerned only with justice...

Will he be a progressive judge only concerned with JUSTICE - not fearful of developing the law so that justice be done...or will he just remain a tool of UMNO and his 'old friends'.

Also noted that Zaki Azmi was a businessman with involvement in a string of companies - and if so, he must recuse himself from any case involving those companies and/or related companies or even companies whereby his once fellow member of the Board of Directors or management is involved.



Hence, it is important to be open and transparent about these past liasons and relationship - and as such somewhere (possibly in the Judiciary Website or the Malaysian Bar Website), there must be information about all them different companies and persons he had such relationship, and other detailed background involvements not just of Zaki Azmi...but of all judges.

Was the throwing out of Munawar's appeal an indication of what we can expect of Zaki Azmi -- HOLD ON, let us wait and consider the reasons first before jumping into any conclusions..



The Federal Court today threw out an appeal by Munawar A Anees for his sodomy charge be remitted to the High Court so that he can argue his case.


Chief Justice Zaki Azmi, who sat with Federal Court judges Nik Hashim Nik Abdul Rahman and Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin, delivered an oral decision, stating that their written judgment would made known later. - Malaysiakini, 30/10/2008 - Court throws out Munawar's appeal




I was trying find some more information about the companies that Zaki Azmi owned or was involved in, and I came across Kim Quek's article in Asia Sentinel which was published sometime at the end of the 2007. It makes me wonder whether the removal of Zaki Azmi as Chief Justice may have become the most important judicial reform that we may need...

The PM may have wanted his as Chief Justice. The Conference of Rulers may have wanted him as the Chief Justice. But, for the sake of the Malaysian Judiciary, I would have expected any good independent person to have declined the appointment. Zaki Azmi did not and today is the Chief Justice of Malaya. So, do not come and say that he did not have a say in the matter...



As the scandal-ridden Ahmad Fairuz exits as Chief Justice, another dubious candidate is poised to take his place.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s sudden announcement of the appointment of Zaki Azmi to the second highest post in the judiciary — President of the Court of Appeal — must have jolted and dismayed many who have cherished hopes of judicial reforms following the reluctant retirement of Ahmad Fairuz Abdul Halim.

After all, Zaki Azmi, who had not spent a single day as a judge in the court of appeal or the high court, was parachuted to the nation’s highest court — the Federal Court — only three months ago. He has not even warmed his seat as a judge, and yet he now looks poised to succeed Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Mohamad five months from now when Hamid retires in April 2008 upon reaching 66 years of age. Both Zaki’s and Hamid’s appointments were simultaneously announced by the Prime Minister on Dec 5.

In fact, when Zaki was appointed a Federal Court judge in September, he was instantly recognized at home and abroad as the person planted to the highest court to succeed Fairuz, whose request for a six month extension of service beyond his mandatory retirement on Oct 31 was not accepted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. Such instant recognition of Zaki’s mission came from his deep involvement with UMNO as a key party player. He was chairman of the party’s election committee, deputy chairman of its disciplinary board of appeal, party legal adviser etc.

As UMNO’s legal man, he was involved with the party’s myriad scandalous financial misadventures that were bailed out by the government in the heydays of former Prime Minister Mahathir’s crony-capitalism during the last Asian financial crisis. One prominent example is the RM 3 billion loan scam in the disastrous acquisition of Philippines’ National Steel Corp. (NS) by UMNO’s financial proxy Halim Saad. When the shares of NS became scrap, four top Malaysian banks were made to stomach the entire RM 3 billion losses. And Zaki was then adirector of the investment vehicle — Hottick Investment Ltd of Hong Kong — which borrowed the RM 3 billion and embarked on the acquisition of NS.

Apart from acting as UMNO’s nominee, Zaki also has held directorship in scores of major companies including some of the most well known names such as Berjaya, Metacorp, Pan Global, SP Setia, Malaysia Airports,Hume, Matsushita Electric, Pharmaniaga etc. Zaki was reported by Bernama on 21 April 2007 to have said that his 58% owned Emrail SdnBhd, a railway specialist company, had only the government as employer, and that he was earnestly soliciting contracts in the northern and southern portions of the double-tracking project to turn the cash-strapped Emrail around.

Such apolitical and business background would already have made him a poor candidate for any judicial appointment, Zaki is battered by yet another serious handicap — the question of his moral integrity arising from his controversial marriage and divorce from his second wife Nor Hayati Yahaya, who was half his age.

Zaki married Nor Hayati in a ceremony conducted by a minister from Thailand in a textile shop in Perlis in March 2005. They separated three months later. In the messy divorce that ensued, it was revealed that Zaki burned the original marriage certificate to hide the marriage from his first wife. Further, the marriage was ruled by the Syarah court as illegal.

Following the revelation of Zaki’s marital trouble, he resigned as deputy chairman of UMNO’s disciplinary board, for which he told the press: “Considering that members of the disciplinary board are of the highest integrity, I have made this decision following reports in the media …”

The question we must ask now is: If Zaki is morally unfit to serve in UMNO’s disciplinary board, how could he be considered morally fit to be a federal court judge, not to mention his lightning elevation to the No.2 position, and anticipated imminent rise to the top job in the judiciary?

Is this country so poor in legal talent and integrity that we have no choice but to appoint some one so glaringly unsuited for such important judicial position arising from his multiple conflicts of interests and questionable integrity? If not, then why did the Prime Minister make such a move? If it is not to advance the Prime Minister’s and UMNO’s interests, then what motivated such an appointment?

We have already seen in the infamous Lingam video clip how the former Chief Justice betrayed his oath of allegiance to the country and the Constitution by crawling to serve the parochial interests of his political and business masters, thus confirming the common knowledge of the depth of degradation our judiciary has sunk. While the Prime Minister and his cabinet is still dilly-dallying over the appointment of a proper royal commission of inquiry to probe into the Lingam tape scandal almost three months after its public display, are we now made to swallow another UMNO atrocity – the instant elevation of an UMNO stalwart in the nation’s highest court?

However,in the midst of despair over UMNO’s latest move, we detect something amiss in the prime minister’s announcement of this dual appointment (Hamid and Zaki). While the PM claimed that upon his advice these appointments were assented to by the king after consultation with the Council of Rulers, no effective date had been decided for Zaki’s appointment, while Hamid’s was fixed on Nov 1 — the day he started duty as Acting Chief Justice. Neither had any date been decided for the handing over of the appointment letters. If these dates had not been decided, why was PM in such a hurry to make an incomplete announcement?

Knowing that the King and the Council of Rulers had previously declined to accept nominees deemed inappropriate fill the vacancies of the President of Court of Appeal and Chief Judge of Malaya respectively, as well as having turned down Fairuz’ request to continue as chief justice, the suddenness of PM’s claim of royal assent — particularly in reference to Zaki’s controversial promotion — came as a surprise to many people. Did the king also assent to Zaki’s appointment? If so, why couldn’t Zaki’s date of appointment be also decided alongside with Hamid’s? Or was there a problem of royal assent?

Whatever the case may be in regards to Zaki’s appointment, it is pertinent to take serious note of the view expressed by the Sultan of Perak, Raja Azlan Shah, on public perception of judicial impartiality in his opening address to the 14th Malaysian Law Conference on October 29.

Raja Azlan Shah, one of the most illustrious Lord Presidents of Malaysia, said that the judiciary loses its value and service to the community if there is no public confidence in its decision-making. And the principal quality in judiciary is “impartiality”, which exists in two senses — the reality of impartiality and the appearance of impartiality. Of these two, the appearance of impartiality is the more important, the sultan said.

Taking cue from this observation, Zaki’s appointment is an unmitigated disaster, as even if he has the superhuman capability to totally severe his umbilical cord to the ruling party and his commercial interests to eliminate conflict of interests, there is still the insurmountable problem of public perception. With Zaki’s questionable background, there is no way he can command complete public confidence, particularly when the interests of UMNO or his businesses are involved.

Coming at a time when Malaysia’s competitiveness is fast losing ground,which has been contributed in no small way by its worsening judiciary image, such a daring raid on the sanctimonious ground of neutrality as the judiciary through planting a party stalwart to take over its control is destined to bring ruinous consequences to this country. Not even in the height of Mahathir’s autocracy would such a reckless adventure be contemplated.

Knowing UMNO’s arrogance and supreme confidence over its political hegemony, we do not think that it is open to advice from the public. We therefore earnestly appeal to the king and the Rulers to exert their benevolent influence empowered by the Constitution to protect our judiciary from further injury, as they have so valiantly done in the recent past.

Kim Quek comments regularly on Malaysian affairs. - Asia Sentinel, 7/12/2007 Malaysia's Judiciary: Here We Go Again


Would the most important Judicial Reform that the country require be the removal of Zaki Azmi as the Head of the Judiciary?

For me, one of the biggest problem is the shortage of judges and courts in Malaysia - and that is one major problem that has to be addressed immediately...Extreme pressure to speed-up matters are now resulting in courts striking off cases for technical reasons, etc - justice is not being done. Numbers and statistics is what most judges and courts have become concerned about --- not Justice..

In my earlier posts, I have discussed the kind of reforms that our Judiciary needs...

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi gave the indication that he was for Judicial Reforms - but alas his choice of the new Head of Judiciary makes us question whether his 'reforms' is anything like the kind of reforms that we are talking about.



Federal Court chief registrar Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat (as reported in New Straits Times, 20/9/2006), disclosed that the number of judges in the country was low compared with other Commonwealth nations. He was quoted as saying that the Malaysian ratio is "2.4 judges to a million people - a far cry from the ratio in India (10.5), Australia (57.1), Britain (50.1) and Canada (75)."
This really is the problem for the backlog and the delays in our courts, and the only solution is to increase the number of judges and courts in the country. Our population has increased, and grown in consciousness about legal rights and human rights. The number of lawyers has also increased to more than 12,000 in Peninsular Malaysia, and so too has the number of new law graduates coming out every year. Alas, the number of courts and judges have not increased at the same rate, and that is where the real problem lies.

What we need is to have more courts and more judges.- Charles Hector Blog






Zaki vows to get tough on errant judges
Wednesday, 29 October 2008 06:08pm
• Incompetent judges should opt out - Chief Justice
• Chief Justice warns dishonest group

©The Star (Used by permission)
by Sim Leoi Leoi

PUTRAJAYA: Chief Justice Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi has vowed to get tough on errant judges, whom he accuses of besmirching the image and reputation of the judiciary.

Zaki, who replaced Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad as the country’s top judge, said such errant judges should consider leaving the judiciary.

“I will not hesitate to take tough and drastic action against this small group (of judges) if the occasion calls for it. And for those in the practice of toadying, I say ‘stop it’.

“This small group have failed to fulfil their responsibilities and have affected the image of our institution. If they are being dishonest, they are also being irresponsible,” he said in his first speech following his appointment at the Palace of Justice here yesterday.

At the same ceremony, Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff and Datuk Arifin Zakaria were also elevated to Court of Appeal President and Chief Judge of Malaya respectively.1


Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin handed over the instruments of appointment to the new Chief Justice of the Federal Court, Appeals Court president and Chief Judge of Malaya, at Istana Negara in Kuala LumpurQuoting from English judge Sir Robert Peel’s speech in a case in 1834, Zaki said “such gross and grievous neglect of duty would warrant a removal from the Bench.”

Zaki said judges should remind themselves that their salaries were derived from taxes and that if they ever felt they could not live up to giving the best service possible to the people, they had the choice to quit.

“We must remember that public interest is above all else. If we choose to remain within the institution, then we must give our best,” he said.

Zaki also vowed to reduce the backlog of court cases, adding that his “rough and direct” method in his previous tenure as the President of Court of Appeal had worked tremendously towards resolving similar problems there.

“The problems faced by the judiciary are huge. Besides the perception of corruption – even if there is any – the judges need to overcome the backlog of cases and delay. People are denied justice.

“I, together with the President of the Court of Appeal, the Chief Judge of Malaya and other Sabah and Sarawak judges are determined to overcome these problems and enhance the delivery system,” he said.

Zaki promised that those who were hardworking and carried out their duties devoutly, he would ensure that their work was recognised.

“Prove that you deserve to be rewarded and I will fight for you,” he said.

Bar Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said Zaki’s speech was positive and that the council would give him a chance to prove himself.

She said it was good to hear that Zaki had vowed tough action against errant judges.





Zaki shows he means business
Thursday, 30 October 2008 09:16am
©New Straits Times (Used by permission)
by Koh Lay Chin and David Yeow

• Top judge in a rare moment
• Bar Council lauds pledge against errant judges

PUTRAJAYA: The country's new chief justice got off to a no-nonsense start with tough talk and a steely warning to his fellow judges.

In his maiden speech after taking office as Malaysia's 12th chief justice, Tan Sri Zaki Azmi took 20 minutes to remind the judiciary about its responsibilities, the need for improvement, and to insist that errant judges had no place under his watch.

"I will not hesitate to take strict and drastic action against the errant few if the situation requires me to do so."

He also effectively showed the door to judges who were not up to the task, saying that they should quit as only those who chose to stay and give their best were welcome.

Speaking at his appointment ceremony at the Palace of Justice yesterday, he took to task a few who he said had tarnished the judiciary's reputation with their dishonesty and irresponsibility.

He threatened errant judges with stern action and swift removal if they continued in their ways.

Driving home his point, Zaki quoted Sir Robert Peel, the 19th-century British prime minister, who had said that "gross and grievous neglect of duty would warrant a removal from the bench".

The former Court of Appeal president's speech was punctuated with firm refrains, with reminders that he was "rough and direct" in his duties, that he was "vocal" and that judges who truly proved themselves would not see their efforts go to waste.

"Prove that you deserve to be rewarded, and I will fight for you," he said, adding that the practice of apple-polishing among judges must stop.

The former Umno legal adviser did not address concerns about his close ties with the party but his reaction to questions from reporters after the speech were pointed.

Asked about the delayed judicial review on the arrest of the "Hindraf Five" caused by a lack of written judgment by the Federal Court, he said he was "not a politician and don't make comments on things like that".

The ceremony also saw the swearing-in of the new president of the Court of Appeal, Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff, and new Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Ariffin Zakaria, witnessed by Court of Appeal judge Datuk Gopal Sri Ram and High Court judge Datuk T. Selventhiranathan respectively.

Also present at the event was Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum.

Earlier, Zaki started his speech by thanking his predecessor, former Chief Justice Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad.

He went on to talk about improvements that had taken place in the Court of Appeals when he was its head, urging his successor to continue improving the system.

"Besides the perception that the judiciary has been corrupted, even if that was the case, the bigger task that has to be faced is to clear the backlog of cases and the delays in resolving them.

"There is no justice for the people if their cases are delayed," he said, adding that he would endeavour to resolve this together with Alauddin, Ariffin and Richard.

The new chief justice also spoke of the judiciary as a machine, reminding its members that without the efficiency and function of its separate parts, the machine as a whole would fall apart.

He also urged his fellow judges to soldier on together for the good of the institution.


(From left) Former Chief Justice Tun Abdul Hamid Mohamad, Chief Justice Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi, Chief Judge of Malaya Datuk Ariffin Zakaria, former judge Tan Sri Haidar Mohamed Noor and President of the Court of Appeal Tan Sri Alauddin Mohd Sheriff sharing a light moment during the chief justice’s appointment ceremony at the Palace of Justice in Putrajaya yesterday.


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Top judge in a rare moment

PUTRAJAYA: He may be stern, resolute and serious about his role in the judiciary, but Tan Sri Zaki Azmi yesterday melted into affectionate words and smiles when talking about his family.

The new chief justice spent several minutes in his speech appreciating his family, especially his late father Tun Azmi Mohamed, who served in the same position (as Lord President) from 1966 to 1974.

"I wish my late father was still with us today. He would be extremely proud of me."

In one of the rare moments in his speech where he smiled and laughed, Zaki pointed out his son, Razif, in the crowd, who was present with his wife, Louise Needham. Both were visiting from London, where they are practising barristers, he said proudly.

At this juncture, he broke from his text and spoke in English for his daughter-in-law's benefit.

He also thanked his wife Nik Salina Mohd Zain and sons for their support, relating humorously that his two younger sons Azri Azmi and Azfar Azmi were not present because they were busy with their weekly football training.


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Bar Council lauds pledge against errant judges

PUTRAJAYA: Malaysian Bar Council president Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan was impressed by newly-appointed Chief Justice Tan Sri Zaki Azmi's maiden speech yesterday.

Speaking after Zaki's appointment ceremony at the Palace of Justice yesterday, Ambiga said his address promising stern and swift action against errant judges was "a no-nonsense and tough speech".

"I thought that it was a good speech. It was a tough speech about judges and how he (Zaki) would take action against errant judges. It was good to hear that."

In his speech, Zaki warned errant judges to either shape up or ship out, stating that he was known to be "rough and direct" as a Court of Appeal President and would continue to be the same as Chief Justice.

Zaki also pledged to reduce backlogged cases and improve the administrative efficiency.

Asked if it was acceptable for Zaki to have ties with a leading political party, Ambiga laughed and said that the public would just have to wait and see.

"I think we have to see what happens. We have to give him a chance first," she said,







Zaid says racialist social contract a 1980s Umno creation
Zaid says the racialist social contract was a product of Umno ideologues in the 1980s.
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 31 — If at all there was a social contract between the Malays and non-Malays before independence, it was the guarantee of equality and the promise of the rule of law, said former de facto Law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.

Offering his take on an issue that has been at the core of a roiling debate in the country, he said that the more racialist social contract — which places more emphasis on Malay primacy — was a product of Umno ideologues in the 1980s.

He believed that on the eve of independence, one of the elements which gave Alliance leaders and all Malayans confidence was the knowledge that "a constitutional arrangement that accorded full respect and dignity for each and every Malayan, entrenched the rule of law and established a democratic framework for government had been put in place.''

The Federal Constitution, he noted, was crafted by brilliant jurists who understood the hearts of minds of those who would call this nation their home and whose children would call it their motherland.

"Hundreds of hours of meetings with representatives of all quarters resulted in a unique written constitution that cemented a compact between nine sultanates and former crown territories, '' he said.

This compact honoured the Malay Rulers, Islam, the special status of the Malays, and created an environment for the harmonious and equal coexistence of all communities through the guarantee of freedoms, he noted in a speech at the Lawasia conference today.

This social contract was unilaterally restructured in the 1980s by "a certain segment of the BN leadership that allowed for developments that have resulted in our current state of affairs,'' said Zaid.

"The non-Malay BN component parties were perceived by Umno to be weak and in no position to exert influence. Bandied about by Umno ideologues, the social contract took on a different, more racialist tone. The essence of its reconstructed meaning was this: that Malaya is primarily the home of the Malays, and that the non-Malays should acknowledge that primacy by showing deference to the Malays and Malay issues. Also, Malay interest and consent must be allowed to set the terms for the definition and exercise of non-Malay citizenship and political rights. This marked the advent of Ketuanan Melayu or, in English, Malay Supremacy.

"Affirmative action and special status became a matter of privilege by reference to race rather than of need and questioning of this new status quo was not to be tolerated.

"The new political philosophy in which the primacy of Malay interests was for all purposes and intents the raison d'être of government naturally led to interference with key institutions, '' he said.

He urged the Barisan Nasional government to abandon the reworked concept of the social contract and embrace "a fresh perspective borne out of discussions and agreements made in good faith with all the communities in this country.''

In his speech, Zaid also touched on:

• Democracy, the rule of law and Umno

"Mukhriz Mahathir will probably be the new Umno Youth leader. In saying as he did recently that there is no need for law and judicial reforms as it will not benefit the Malays, he typifies what is perceived as the kind of Umno leader who appeals to the right wing of Malay polity.

"That he may be right is sad as it leads to the ossification of values that will only work against the interests of the party and the nation. This type of thinking may pave the way to a suggestion in the future that we may as well do away with general elections altogether as they may not be good for the Malays. We are a deeply divided nation, adrift for our having abandoned democratic traditions and the rule of law in favour of a political ideology that serves no one save those who rule.''

• The transition to democracy in Indonesia

"The majority of Indonesians have embraced democracy, religious tolerance, and religious pluralism. In addition, a vibrant civil society has initiated public discussions on the nature of democracy, the separation of religion and state, women's rights, and human rights more generally. These developments have contributed to a gradual improvement in conditions for human rights, including religious freedom, over the past few years. Since 2003, Indonesia has also overtaken Malaysia on the Reporters sans Fronteres Press Freedom Index, moving up from 110th place to 100th out of 169 countries covered. Malaysia on the other hand has dropped from 104th place to 124th place in the same period. I am not surprised. In 1999, Indonesia passed a new press law that, in repealing two previous Suharto administration laws, guaranteed free press through the introduction of crucial measures. Progress has not stopped there. On April 3 this year, Indonesia passed its Freedom of Information Act. This latest law allows Indonesia's bureaucracy to be open to public scrutiny and compels government bodies to disclose information.''

• Nation building

"We have failed miserably in dealing with complex issues of society by resorting to a political culture of promoting fear and division amongst the people. The Ketuanan Melayu model has failed. It has resulted in waste of crucial resources, energy and time and has distracted from the real issues confronting the country. The obsession with the Ketuanan Melayu doctrine has in fact destroyed something precious in us. It makes us lose our sense of balance and fairness.”

• Malays and modernity

"Dr Mahathir was right to ask that Malays embrace modernity. He fell short of what we needed by focusing on the physical aspects of modernity. He was mistaken to think all that was needed to change the Malay mindset was science and technology. He should have also promoted the values of freedom, human rights and the respect of the law.”

• The Judiciary

"The courts must act with courage to protect the constitutionally-guaranteed rights of all citizens, even if to do so were to invoke the wrath of the government of the day. In PP vs Koh Wah Kuan (2007), a majority bench of the Federal Court chose to discard the doctrine of separation of powers as underlying the Federal Constitution apparently because the doctrine is not expressly provided for in the Constitution. This conclusion is mystifying as surely the court recognises that power corrupts absolutely and can thus be abused. If the courts are not about to intervene against such excesses who is? Checks and balance are what the separation of powers is about. Surely the apex court is not saying that the courts do not play a vital role in that regard?

"The rule of law has no meaning if judges, especially apex court judges, are not prepared to enter the fray in the struggle for the preservation of human rights and the fundamental liberties. To all our judges I say discard your political leanings and philosophy. Stick to justice in accordance with the law.






Well Done, Zaid : I agree with you that UMNO’s “Ketuanan Melayu” is a failureComments:

Yes. Zaid, I agree with you “[T]he Malays…are not under seige.The institutions are such that the Malays are effectively represented, and there is no way the interest of the Malays can be taken away other than through their own weakness and folly”.

I wish to add that the Malays in general are not the problem. We are a proud and hardworking people. The concern today is that UMNO leadership is incompetent, corrupt and totally undemocratic. That leadership is now using draconian laws like the ISA to silence critics like Raja Petra Kamaruddin and others now held in Kamunting, Perak, and the Official Secrets Act and other statutes to deny the public access to information on the affairs of the country.

In order to rally the Malays back to their fold, UMNO leaders including Mukhriz Mahathir and his lot have been creating the impression that the Malays are under seige. Again, this is not true. UMNO is under seige because Ketuanan Melayu is a dismal failure.

Let us separate UMNO Malay leadership from the Malay leaders like Anwar Ibrahim and Ustaz Haji Abdul Hadi Awang and their colleagues in PKR and PAS who are an integral part of Pakatan Rakyat. They want change and have plans and programmes to make the Malays competitive and dynamic in a globalised world, while ensuring that Chinese and Indian rights under the constitution are protected. To that end, all forms of discrimination must be eliminated.

We the Malays cannot be the anchor of our nation if we are weak, incompetent and corrupt. To lead, we must be examplary in our conduct.So the Malays must realise now that UMNO is no longer relevant, that UMNO is an obstacle to Malay socio-economic development, and that as Malays we need new leadership with fresh ideas and programmes—UMNO wants more of the same failed policies— for Malays and others so that together we can be a united and proud country where there is freedom, democracy and justice.—Din Merican

Zaid: Ketuanan Melayu has failed

October 31, 2008
The ‘Ketuanan Melayu’ model has failed, declared former de facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim in an incisive speech at the LawAsia 2008 conference in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

MCPX“It has resulted in waste of crucial resources, energy and time and has distracted from the real issues confronting the country,” said Zaid, who criticised the race-based policy despite being a member of the ruling Umno party which was set up to safeguard Malay interests.

Zaid also noted that ‘deputy premier in waiting’ Muhyiddin Yassin had suggested the need for a closed-door forum for leaders of the Barisan Nasional (BN) to develop a common stand, a renewed national consensus grounded on the social contract.

“This is positive step but it should include all political leaders and be premised on the social contract that was the foundation of independence,” said the lawyer by training who was made senator and subsequently minister entrusted with the task of reforming the judiciary by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi following the March 8 general election.

He quit last month in protest against the arrest of three individuals under the Internal Security Act (ISA) which provides for detention without trial.

Zaid said March 8 was a clear indicator that the ruling BN coalition no longer exclusively speaks for the people.

He also underscored the importance of promoting discourse and dialogue so that Malaysians learn to talk and to listen to one another again.”Communication and trust amongst the people must be re-established,” he said.

The former minister called on the BN government to abandon its ‘reworked’ concept of the social contract and embrace a fresh perspective borne out of discussions and agreements made in good faith with all the communities.

“It is time for us all to practise a more transparent and egalitarian form of democracy and to recognise and respect the rights and dignity of all the citizens of this country.”

Mukhriz singled out for criticism

Singling out Mukhriz Mahathir for criticism, Zaid said the UMNO Youth chief aspirant typifies what is perceived as the kind of UMNO leader who appeals to the right-wing of Malay polity.

Zaid also referred to the recent remarks made by the son of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad that there was no need for law and judicial reforms as it would not benefit the Malays,

“That he may be right is sad as it leads to the ossification of values that will only work against the interests of the party and the nation,” Zaid lamented in his 16-page speech.

“This type of thinking may pave the way to a suggestion in the future that we may as well do away with general elections altogether as they may not be good for the Malays for, if the justice that a revitalised rule of law would allow for is not to the benefit of the Malays, what is? More inefficiency, more corruption and a more authoritarian style of government perhaps.

“We are a deeply divided nation, adrift for our having abandoned democratic traditions and the rule of law in favour of a political ideology that serves no one save those who rule.”

According to Zaid, the obsession with the Ketuanan Melayu doctrine has destroyed something precious in Malaysians.

“It makes us lose our sense of balance and fairness. When a certain Chinese lady was appointed head of a state development corporation, having served in that corporation for 33 years, there were protests from Malay groups because she is Chinese,” he said referring to the controversy involving the appointment of Low Siew Moi as acting head of the Selangor Development Cooperation (PKNS).

“A new economic vision is necessary, one that is more forward looking in outlook and guided by positive values that would serve to enhance cooperation amongst the races. This will encourage change for the better, to develop new forms of behaviour and shifts of attitudes, to believe that only economic growth will serve social equity, to aspire to a higher standard of living for all regardless of race.

“We need to meaningfully acknowledge that wealth is based on insight, sophisticated human capital and attitude change. A new dynamics focused on cooperation and competition will spur innovation and creativity.

“Some might say that this is a fantasy. I disagree. How do we go about transforming the culture and values of the bumiputeras so that their ability to create new economic wealth can be sustained?

“By changing our political and legal landscapes with freedom and democracy.”

On that note, Zaid said Mahathir was right to have asked the Malays to embrace modernity but the 82-year-old statesman fell short by only focusing on the physical aspects of modernity.

“He was mistaken to think all that was needed to change the Malay mindset was science and technology. He should have also promoted the values of freedom, human rights and the respect of the law.

“If affirmative action is truly benchmarked on the equitable sharing of wealth that is sustainable, then we must confront the truth and change our political paradigm, 40 years of discrimination and subsidy have not brought us closer. There is a huge economic dimension to the rule of law and democracy that this government must learn to appreciate.”

Conflicts of jurisdiction require resolution

Zaid conceded that relationship between Islam, the state, law and politics in Malaysia is complex.

“How do we manage legal pluralism in Malaysia? Can a cohesive united Bangsa Malaysia be built on a bifurcated foundation of Syariah and secular principles? Will non-Muslims have a say on the operation of Islamic law when it affects the general character and experience of the nation? This is a difficult challenge and the solution has to be found.”

He quoted leading Muslim legal scholar Abdullah Ahmad an-Na’im who believed that a distinction should be made between state and politics.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, he noted, believes that Islam can be the mediating instrument between state and politics through the principles and institutions of constitutionalism and the protection of equal human rights of all citizens.

“Whatever the formula, we can only devise a system that rejects absolutism and tyranny and allows for freedom and plurality if we are able to first agree that discourse and dialogue is vital. Democracy and respect for the rights and dignity of all Malaysians is the prerequisite to this approach.”

Zaid stressed that the conflicts of jurisdiction in Malaysia require resolution.

The civil courts, he said, are “denuded of jurisdiction” to deal with matters that fall within the jurisdiction of the Syariah court.

“No court has been given the jurisdiction and power to resolve issues that may arise in both the Syariah courts and the civil courts. The present separation of jurisdictions presupposes that matters will fall nicely into one jurisdiction or the other.

However, human affairs are never that neat. What happens to the children of a marriage where one party converts to Islam and the other party seeks recourse in the civil court? Or when the Syariah Court pronounces that a deceased person was a Muslim despite his family contesting the conversion?

“Or where the receiver of a company is restrained from dealing with a property by a Syariah Court order arising out of a family dispute?

Where do the aggrieved parties go? I had suggested the establishment of the constitutional court, but that plea has fallen on deaf ears.”

Malays not under seige

The former minister had also touched on the use of draconian measures, which according to him have seen a marked increase in dealing with political and social tensions.

“Some people say that groups such as Hindraf (Hindu Rights Action Force) advocate violence and therefore this justifies the use of such measures. They may have overlooked the fact that violence begets violence.

“Was not the detention of Hindraf leaders under the ISA itself an act of aggression, especially to people who consider themselves marginalised and without recourse?

“It is time that the people running this country realise that we will not be able to resolve conflicts and differences peacefully if we ourselves do not value peaceful means in dealing with problems.”

Zaid argued that the situation had been aggravated by the absence of an even-handed approach in dealing with organisations such as Hindraf.

“While I applaud the prime minister for calling upon the Indian community to reject extremism, should not a similar call be made on the Malay community and (Malay daily) Utusan Malaysia?

I call on the prime minister, both the outgoing and the incoming, to deal with such issues fairly. Start by releasing the Hindraf leaders detained under the ISA. The release would create a window for constructive dialogue on underlying causes of resentment.

“I also appeal for the release of (Malaysia Today editor) Raja Petra (Kamarudin) from ISA detention. He is a champion of free speech. His writings, no matter how offensive they may be to some, cannot by any stretch of the imagination be seen as a threat to the national security of this country.”

The Malays, Zaid said, are now a clear majority in numbers and the fear of their being outnumbered is baseless.

“They are not under seige. The institutions of government are such that the Malays are effectively represented, and there is no way the interest of the Malays can be taken away other than through their own weakness and folly.”

www.malaysiakini.com



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Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)

Congrats, Zaid, You have acted In Good Faith: This is the beginning of the …
Posted in Democracy, Judiciary, Politics
« The Prime Minister and His Deputy must be made to face a Royal Commission of InquiryResponses
This speech of Zaid’s deserves to be heralded on every thinking person’s blog - it marks a watershed in the final unraveling of Umno because its only raison d’etre is “Ketuanan Melayu” - which actually serves only as a cover for corrupt & criminal misdeeds at all levels.





















Karpal claims he has audio recording of what CJ said


KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 18, 2008) : DAP chairman Karpal Singh (DAP-Bukit Gelugor) says he is in possesion of an audio recording of what what Chief Justice Tan Sri Zaki Azmi said in Kuching, and subsequently reported by the New Straits Times (NST) on Nov 8 under the heading "Stop it now, corrupt court staff warned".

The report quoted Zaki as saying :"It took me six months to be nice, to bribe each and every individual to get back into their good books before our files were being attended to".

Zaki subsequently denied what was reported and a clarification was carried in the NST on Nov 9.

Zaki’s clarification, published in NST on Nov 9, said: "Your reporter must have interpreted what I said, which is during that period, there was corruption in order to get things done at the court registry, as I myself having done it. I have never in my life bribed or received any bribe."


Karpal urged Zaki to step down from the judiciary's top post for making the statement in Kuching, Sarawak on Nov 7.

"Rest assured, there is an audio recording of what Zaki said," said Karpal.

Karpal gave Zaki seven days to step down, failing which he will move a motion against Zaki under Article 127 of the Federal Constitution for having misled the country with his clarification.

He said he was speaking in his capacity as chairman of the parliamentary caucus on the Integrity and Independence of the Judiciary and urged members of the Barisan Nasional backbenchers club to forward the names of those interested in joining the caucus to make it more representative.

The Honourable Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail

Attorney General's Profile







The Honourable Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail
Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail was appointed as the eighth Attorney General of Malaysia on 1 January 2002.
His illustrious career began on 15 April 1980 with his appointment as a Deputy Public Prosecutor in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
In 1985, he was appointed as the Senior Federal Counsel for Sabah and held this post until his appointment as the Head of the Prosecution Division of the Attorney General’s Chambers on 16 January 1994.
His next appointments were as the Head of the Advisory and International Division in 1995 and the Commissioner of Law Revision in 1997. He was then appointed to a second tour of duty as the Head of the Prosecution Division in 2000.
Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail graduated from University Malaya (LLB. Hons.) in 1979. He was born on 6 October 1955 and is married to Puan Sri Maimon bt. Datuk Hj. Ariff.





Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail


Awards Received Bodies and Committees
1. Conferred the Kesatria Mangku Negara (KMN) : 14 April 1993
2. Conferred the Dato’ Paduka Mahkota Perlis (DPMP) which carries the title Dato’
: 01 July 1995
3. Conferred the Panglima Gemilang Darjah Kinabalu (PGDK) which carries the title Dato’
: 16 September 2001
4. Conferred the Seri Panglima Darjah Kinabalu (SPDK) which carries the title Datuk Seri Panglima
: 16 September 2002
5. Conferred the Ahli Yang Pertama (Seri Paduka) bagi Darjah Kebesaran Jiwa Mahkota Kelantan Yang Amat Mulia (SJMK) which carries the title Dato’
: 30 March 2003
6. Conferred the Pingat Setia Mahkota (PSM) which carries the title Tan Sri : 07 June 2003
7. Conferred the Darjah Kebesaran Datuk Setia Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah (SSIS) which carries the title Datuk Setia : 13 December 2003
8. Conferred the Darjah Gemilang Seri Melaka (DGSM) which carries the title Datuk Seri : 09 October 2004
9. Conferred the Panglima Mangku Negara (PMN) which carries the title Tan Sri
: 04 June 2005
10. Conferred the Darjah Sri Sultan Ahmad Shah Pahang (SSAP) which carried the title Datuk Seri : 24 October 2005
Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail is the Chairman of Malaysian Kuwaiti Investment , Legal Profession Qualifying Board of Malaysian and the National Higher Education Council.
He is also a member of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission, Pardons Board of States in the Federation and the Federal Territories, Management Board of the Judicial and Legal Training Institute, Advisory Panel, Central Bank of Malaysia, Cabinet Committee of the Reorganisation of Mimos and a member of the Board of







Game’s Up, Gani, Time To Go!

Lady Justice haunts and hounds Bolehland’s Attorney-General (AG) Abdul Gani Patail over his hidden hand in Anwar Ibrahim’s trials 10 years ago. The skeletons in his cupboard hang out. He can no longer hide behind the skirt of the Executive. The naked truth has caught up with him.

The latest expose on the AG having abused his power to fabricate evidence in Anwar’s trials was made by Lim Kit Siang in Parliament yesterday (Malaysiakini, 15.10.08). The veteran politician likened Gani to a “criminal” and demanded that he “resign immediately”.

Quoting unnamed sources, Kit Siang said that he understands that solicitor-general Idrus Harun had carried out an investigation into the claims (in a police report filed by Anwar) in July and “has concluded that the AG had indeed abused his power to fabricate evidence” against Anwar.

Several days before Kit Siang’s revelation, the public got to hear the startling claims by Mat Zain Ibrahim, a retired senior police officer who probed the infamous “black eye” incident involving Anwar in 1998, on Gani having allegedly tampered with evidence in the case (Malaysiakini, 10.10.08).

In a set of court documents Mat Zain Ibrahim implied that the actions of Gani, then a senior deputy public prosecutor, had delayed the investigation process and concealed facts from the then AG, the late Mohtar Abdullah.

Mat Zain’s claims were first made public during Anwar’s current sodomy trial in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court . Anwar’s lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah had read out the document in court during submissions on why Gani should not be involved in any aspect of the sodomy case.

(So serious were Mat Zain’s allegations that Sessions judge SM Komathy Suppiah ruled that the details, which were read out in court, were admissible in the ongoing proceedings of Anwar’s sodomy trial. She also lifted an initial gag order that prevented the media from publishing the details.)

Clear & Consistent Allegations

The above allegations are very “consistent” with the serious allegations of prosecutorial impropriety and the obstruction of justice, made against Gani Patail in the past, particularly during Anwar’s corruption case and the related Zainur Zakaria contempt case.

Zainur was sentenced to three months’ jail by High Court judge Augustine Paul on 30 Nov. 1998 for contempt of court when he made an application on Anwar’s behalf to stop Gani and Azahar Mohamad (then senior prosecutors) from further prosecuting in Anwar’s corruption case.

Anwar’s application was based on a statutory declaration made by lawyer Manjeet Singh Dhillon and a letter he wrote to the then AG accusing Gani and Azahar of threatening his client, S. Nallakaruppan, and asking the latter to fabricate evidence against Anwar.

Manjit did not mince his words: “I was shocked that Dato Gani even had the gall to make such a suggestion to me. He obviously does not know me. I do not approve of such extraction of evidence against ANYONE, not even, or should I say least of all, a beggar picked up off the streets.

“A man’s life, or for that matter even his freedom, is not a tool for prosecution agencies to use as a bargaining chip. No jurisprudential system will condone such an act (my emphasis).

“It is blackmail and extortion of the highest culpability (my emphasis) and my greatest disappointment is that a once independent agency that I worked with some 25 years ago and of which I have such satisfying memories has descended to such levels in the creation and collection of evidence.

“To use the death threat as a means to the extortion of evidence that is otherwise not there (why else make such a demand?) It is unforgivable and surely must in itself be a crime, leave alone a sin, of the greatest magnitude (my emphasis). Whether his means justify the end that he seeks are matters that Dato Gani will have to wrestle with within his own conscience.”

The Federal Court that heard the Zainur Zakaria (contempt) case freed Zainur from the contempt of court conviction. Presiding Justice Steve Shim said Gani should have given his personal explanation on the allegation that he had threatened Nallakaruppan to fabricate evidence against Anwar.

(The Federal Court was appalled by Augustine Paul’s conduct. They said it “gave the picture that he was behaving as though he was acting as counsel for the two prosecutors in the motion”. A pall had then hung over the judiciary and country.)

There was also the serious allegation by Anwar in his police report in July 1999 that the late Mohtar Abdullah and Gani had “subverted the cause of justice and violated the law” by not prosecuting then Minister for International Trade and Industry (MITI) Rafidah Aziz for corruption.

Anwar had attached a document signed by Gani (which was handed to Anwar when he was the DPM by the then AG) stipulating that a prima facie case had been made against Rafidah Aziz on five counts of corruption under Section 2(2),Ordinance 22, 1970.

Gani’s gall & guts

In spite of the alleged “blackmailing and extortion of the highest culpability” and the alleged interference of justice in shielding Rafidah Aziz, Gani was rewarded for allowing himself to be used and his position to be abused.

Commenting on Gani’s promotion to AG in 2001, Steven Gan of Malaysiakini would write: “Abdul Gani Patail is today tapped as Malaysia ’s top legal officer. The legal fraternity, and the rest of the country, cannot but be flabbergasted by this astounding appointment.

“This is, after all, the man - who as chief prosecutor in former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim’s trials - was unable to get the dates of the alleged sodomy acts right, not once but twice. This is the man who was responsible for parading the infamous semen-stained mattress during the court hearings.

“More importantly, this is the man who the Federal Court said should provide ‘some answers to the allegations on the fabrication of evidence’ when it threw out the Zainur Zakaria’s contempt of court case.”

Karpal Singh had this to say then: “In the public’s interest, it is vital that the A-G, who is the highest legal officer in the country, be like ‘Caesar’s wife’, above suspicion” (Star, 19.12.91). Alas, no office has been viewed with more suspicion by the public than the AG’s Chambers!

De facto law minister Mohd Nazri Abdul Aziz has denied Kit Siang’s claims, stating that an investigation on the matter was still underway. He added that it was the Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) and not the solicitor general who was probing the matter (Malaysiakini, 15.10.08).

What the defective de facto law minister says no longer matters to most Malaysians. Public perception of the office of the AG continues to deteriorate from suspicion and skepticism to scorn. With each added glaring revelation and allegation, Gani gains more contempt from the court of public opinion.

The recent claim by ex-deputy president of Sabah Progressive Party (Sapp) Raymond Tan that he had been instrumental in stopping the PM from ordering the ACA’s arrest of party president Yong Teck Lee, makes Nazri’s implicit insistence that the ACA will be independent, very laughable and ludicrous!

Abdul Gani Patail can no longer be trusted to honour his oath of office. He should go. But in Bolehland only the courageous (like Zaid Ibrahim) who hold on to their principles are willing to let go of high position.

Will Gani have the guts to give up and to salvage whatever honour he has left? Highly improbable! Perhaps the PM, who, with the invaluable help of Umno recently, will be riding off into the sunset quite soon, could assist the Attorney General on to his high horse?

Martin Jalleh
(16 Oct. 2008)






Friday, October 10, 2008
How Gani Patail TAMPERED with Evidence

In Malaysiakini today - Ex-cop: How AG interfered in 'black eye' case


Beh Lih Yi Oct 10, 08 1:14pm
A retired senior police officer who probed the infamous ‘black eye’ incident involving Anwar Ibrahim in 1998 has made startling claims on how attorney-general (AG) Abdul Gani Patail allegedly tampered with evidence in the case.
In a set of court documents revealed this week, Mat Zain Ibrahim implied that the actions of Abdul Gani, then a senior deputy public prosecutor, delayed the investigation process and concealed facts from then AG, the late Mohtar Abdullah.

Some excerpts:-

Gani’s role explained
Abdul Gani’s alleged interference came into the picture when Mat Zain alleged in his court document that:
- A questionable medical report was prepared by one Dr Abdul Rahman Yusof, allegedly on Abdul Gani’s order.
Mat Zain stated that he found out there was an attempt to “insert irrelevant and suspicious statements” into the investigation report, especially in relation to “Abdul Rahman’s report which was done on the instructions of Abdul Gani” (right). Mat Zain said he was confident that Abdul Rahman has never examined Anwar physically.
- Mat Zain claimed he had obtained information that Abdul Gani was on the 30th floor of the federal police headquarters in Bukit Aman when Anwar was assaulted and he believed Abdul Gani knew of the incident either at the time or soon after.
- On Oct 30, 1998, Mat Zain personally handed over his second investigation paper and report to Abdul Gani, and briefed him on the details. Among the conclusions were that the Anwar’s injury was consistent with assault and not self-inflicted; and that Abdul Rahim was the person who caused the injury.
- Although two investigation reports had been given to Abdul Gani on Oct 26 and 30 respectively, Mohtar was quoted in the media on Nov 7 as saying that his chambers had not received any such report.
- It was only on Nov 20 that Mohtar reportedly said he had received the report. Mat Zain said he believed Mohtar’s statement was made after he (Mat Zain) had “pressured” Abdul Gani a day earlier to confirm the status of his two reports.
- On Nov 25, Musa informed Mat Zain that Mohtar wanted to meet him (Mat Zain) at Bukit Aman and to visit the lock-up where Anwar was held. Musa and Abdul Gani were present during the visit.
- Mat Zain later found out that Abdul Rahman’s second medical report had mentioned there was a visit to the lock-up (where Anwar was held) and a “reconstruction of the incidence”, where Mat Zain was named as the person who had accompanied Abdul Rahman to the lock-up. Mat Zain denied this had ever taken place.
- On Jan 6, 1999, Mohtar (left) had reportedly said Mat Zain’s investigations were incomplete and that the latter had yet to identify the perpetrator (despite the findings given to Abdul Gani on Oct 30, 1998).
- Mat Zain said he “believed Abdul Gani concealed important facts from Mohtar’s knowledge” and had personally appointed Abdul Rahman as the medical officer to prepare the report in October 1998. His conclusion was based on the fact that Mohtar had only appointed Abdul Rahman two months later.
- Mat Zain said Abdul Rahman later testified before the royal commission on the ‘black eye’ incident in March 1999 and gave conflicting statements with regard to his own findings. The proceedings came to an end when Abdul Rahim admitted that he had caused the injury to Anwar.

At the end of his court document, Mat Zain vehemently denied Anwar’s accusation that he had plotted any fabrication of evidence with Abdul Gani and Musa.

“The truth is I had acted to the best of my abilities to prevent any party from influencing me to do anything unlawful while investigating Anwar’s injury,” Mat Zain said.
Musa filed a defamation suit against Anwar on July 21 while Abdul Gani has threatened to do the same.





Friday, October 10, 2008
ABDUL GANI PATAIL GETS A BLACK EYE
Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail got a direct hit in the eye Wednesday when Mat Zain Ibrahim, a retired senior police officer, testified at Anwar's sodomy trial that it was Gani Patail - then senior deputy public prosecutor with the Attorney-General's Chambers - who tampered with evidence and interfered with internal investigations into a savage assault on sacked DPM Anwar Ibrahim.

According to Malaysiakini, Mat Zain’s claims were first made public on Wednesday, during Anwar’s sodomy trial in the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court. Anwar’s lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah had read out the document in court during submissions on why Abdul Gani should not be involved in any aspect of the sodomy case.

However, the media was told not to report the details pending the court’s decision on the admissibility of the evidence. The gag order was lifted yesterday.

According to Mat Zain's 18-page document, he was instructed on September 27, 1998, by then IGP Abdul Rahim Mohd Noor to head an investigation team, after Anwar lodged a report that day that he had been beaten up while in police custody, thereby sustaining injuries including a ‘black eye’.

Read the full report here.


GANI PATAIL IS PROBABLY BUSY SHREDDING DOCUMENTS AND PACKING A BIG SUITCASE.


SO WHERE YOU ARE OFF TO, AGP? TIERRA DEL FUEGO? BUENOS AIRES? OR SUNGAI BULOH?







TAN SRI ABDUL GANI PATAIL
Attorney General of Malaysia



The Honourable Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail was born on 6 October 1955. He received his legal education at the University of Malaya and graduated in the class of 1979. He began his illustrious career in the Judicial and Legal Service of Malaysia as a Deputy Public Prosecutor in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah on 15 April 1980. In 1985, he was appointed the Senior Federal Counsel for Sabah and held this post until his appointment as the Head of the Prosecution Division of the Attorney General’s Chambers on 16 January 1994. On 14 April 1993, he received the Civil Service of Malaysia Excellent Service Award. His next appointments were as the Head of the Advisory and International Division in 1995 and the Commissioner of Law Revision in 1997. He was then appointed to a second tour of duty as the Head of the Prosecution Division in 2000. He held the position until his appointment as the eighth Attorney General of Malaysia on 1 January 2002.

As the Attorney General of Malaysia, The Honourable Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail is also a member of the Pardons Boards of States in the Federation, including the Pardons Board for the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya. By law, the Attorney General is the Chairman of the Legal Profession Qualifying Board of Malaysian and the National Higher Education Council. In accordance with the Federal Constitution, the Attorney General is also a member of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission. Apart from these offices, the Attorney General is a member of the Management Board of the Judicial and Legal Training Institute, member of Advisory Panel, Central Bank of Malaysia, a member of the Cabinet Advisory Committee of the Reorganization of Mimos Bhd., the Chairman of the Malaysian Kuwaiti Investment Co. Sdn. Bhd. and a member of the Board of Directors, Institute Integrity Malaysia. He is also a member of the Institute of Language and Literature Malaysia, the Physical Planning Council, the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya Land Working Committee, the Motor Sports Commission Organizing Committee and Subang Golf Course Corporation.

On 22 July 2006, the Honourable Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail was conferred the Doctor of Law, honoris causa from the University of Nottingham.

The Honourable Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail has also appeared before international adjudication bodies. He had been one of the counsels and advocates who had appeared and submitted before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in September 2003, regarding the Case concerning Land Reclamation by Singapore in and around the Straits of Johor between Malaysia and Singapore (Request for provisional measures) in which ITLOS had delivered its Order on 8 October 2003. He had also appeared before a tribunal of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) regarding the case of Malaysia Historical Salvadors Sdn Bhd v. The Government of Malaysia in May 2006 wherein he had appeared on behalf of the Government of Malaysia; and in November 2007, he appeared and submitted before the International Court of Justice in The Hague regarding the Case Concerning Sovereignty over Pedra Branca/ Pulau Batu Puteh, Middle Rocks and South Ledge (Malaysia/Singapore).






Prime Minister should reconsider appointment of Gani Patail as new Attorney-General and introduce an open, transparent and consultative process of appointment as the King has not been advised yet under Article 145(1) of Constitution

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Media Statement
by Lim Kit Siang
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(Petaling Jaya, Wednesday): What is very clear from the Parliament Speaker’s rejection of the urgent motion of definite public importance of the DAP MP for Seputeh, Teresa Kok on Monday on the constitutionality and propriety of the appointment of Datuk Abdul Gani Patail as the new Attorney-General is that Article 145(1) of the Constitution for the appointment of the new Attorney-General has not yet been initiated and that the announcement about Gani’s appointment is only a statement of intent and not a statement of fact.
Article 145(1) of the Constitution reads:


“The Yang di Pertuan Agong shall, on the advice of the Prime Minister, appoint a person who is qualified to be a judge of the Federal Court to be the Attorney-General for the Federation.”

From the reasons given by the Speaker’s rejection, there has not only been no appointment of Gani as the new Attorney-General by the Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Prime Minister has not made the “advice” on the appointment to the King as required under Article 145(1).

Last Friday, Kok had given notice under Dewan Rakyat Standing Order 18(1) to adjourn Parliament on Monday to debate Gani Patail’s appointment as the new Attorney-General on a matter of urgent, definite public importance on two important grounds: the constitutionality of his appointment as well as it propriety, in view of two serious allegations against him for obstruction of justice - threatening Anwar Ibrahim’s former tennis partner Datuk S. Nallakaruppan to fabricate evidence against Anwar and shielding the Minister for International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Rafidah Aziz from prosecution on five charges of corruption - which would undermine public confidence in the system and cause of justice in Malaysia.

In rejecting Kok’s motion, refusing to allow her the customary parliamentary privilege of reading it out in Parliament, the Speaker, Tun Mohamad Zahir Ismail gave her a written reply which reads:


“Usul di bawah P.M. 18(1)
Usul Yang Berhormat bertarikh 23 November 2001 telah saya terima.

2. Kedudukan yang sebenar perkara ini adalah Y.Bhg. Datuk Seri Ainum meletakkan jawatannya sebagai Peguam Negara bermula pada 31.12.2001. Dalam masa itu Y.Bhg. Datuk Abdul Ghani akan membantu Datuk Seri Ainum menjalankan tugas-tugasnya sehingga 31.12.2001.

3. Y.Bhg Datuk Abdul Ghani akan dilantik mengambil alih jawatan itu pada 1.1.2002. Ini bermakna perlantikan rasmi Y.Bhg. Datuk Ghani belum lagi dibuat sehingga 1.1.2002 itu. Ini juga bermakna perletakan jawatan dan perlantikan tidak dibuat pada hari yang sama atau dalam tempoh satu hari seperti YB katakan. Proses memohon berkenan Seri Paduka Baginda Yang di-Pertuan Agong untuk perlantikan Peguam Negara baru sedang dibuat mengikut Perkara 145(1) Perlembagaan Persekutuan.

4. Berkenaan dengan tuduhan-tuduhan yang dibuat keatas Y.Bhg. Datuk Abdul Ghani itu adalah semata-mata tuduhan dan tidak boleh dibuat alasan untuk menimbangkan di bawah Peraturan 18.

5. Selain dari itu apa yang dikatakan dalam usul Yang Berhormat itu bukanlah satu perkara yang tertentu dan tidak perlu disegerakan. Oleh yang demikian saya menolak usul ini dalam kamar di bawah P.M. 18(7) dan tidak akan dikemukakan dalam Majlis Mesyuarat di bawah P.M. 18(8).”


Zahir’s rejection letter to Kok is an important source material for students of Malaysian constitutional development and history.

Leaving aside the various contentious implications of the Speaker’s arguments, two things are crystal clear - firstly, that Gani has not yet been appointed the new Attorney-General and secondly, that the Prime Minister has not yet invoked Article 145(1) of the Constitution to advise the King of the appointment of the new Attorney-General - as “sedang dibuat” is different from “telah dibuat”.

As the Prime Minister has not yet invoked Article 145(1) to advise the Yang di Pertuan Agong on Gani Patail’s appointment as the new Attorney-General, Mahathir should reconsider his intention to appoint Gani Patail as the new Attorney-General and introduce an open, transparent and consultative process of appointment for senior legal and judicial appointments in keeping with reforms in this field in other Commonwealth countries.

Mahathir should reconsider his intention to appoint Gani as the highest law officer of the land as never before in the nation’s history has the the proposed appointment of the new Attorney-General plunged the country into a new crisis of confidence in the system of justice in Malaysia - as happened in the past week.

In Malaysia’s history, there have been examples of an Attorney-General leaving office under a cloud, but never before had there been a single case of an Attorney-General assuming office under a cloud!

In these circumstances, the Prime Minister and all Cabinet Ministers should place public confidence in the administration of justice above all other considerations and decide whether justice and the national interests could be served in proceeding with the intention to appoint Gani as the new Attorney-General.

In such a review, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet should seek the widest consultation of views from all sectors of society, in particular the Judiciary, the Bar Council, Parliamentarians, political leaders and representatives of the civil society.

It is most regrettable that Mohamad Zahir had rejected Kok’s motion to debate the issue in Parliament on Monday, even disallowing her the customary right to personally make the application in the House.

Mohamad Zahir seems to have forgotten the proper role and limits of the powers of a Speaker, which is akin to that of an umpire to hold the ring to ensure that all the “players” keep to the rules, and not to get into the ring and be a “player” himself!

Mohamad Zahir had not only denied Kok the parliamentary right to raise urgent issues of public importance in Parliament, but also usurped the role of the executive to answer to Parliament by becoming the government “P.R.O”.

The arguments given by Mohamad Zahir in the rejection letter on the constitutionality and propriety of the government’s actions on the question of the appointment of Gani as the new Attorney-General are open to challenge on many grounds, but they should be made by a government Minister and not by the Speaker, doubling up as “Public Relations Officer” of the government!

If the unsound reasons in the Speaker’s rejection letter are given by a government Minister, they could be challenged and disputed in Parliament as well as by the public - which is now denied to Parliament because it would be tantamount to questoning the ruling of the Speaker which is impossible with the “blind and brute” two-third parliamentary majority of the Barisan Nasional!

(28/11/2001)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Lim Kit Siang - DAP National Chairman





Gani Patail's role in Anwar's prosecution comes into question
Wednesday, 10 September 2008 06:13pm
• Anwar's sodomy case postponed to Sept 24

©The Sun (Used by permission)

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 10, 2008): The role of Attorney General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail in Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy case came into question today when the Anwar's lawyers objected to a sudden application by the prosecution to transfer the case to the High Court.

In objecting to the transfer application, Anwar's lead lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah said Abdul Gani was involved in a police report filed by Anwar who accused him (Abdul Gani) and Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan of abuse of power in the sodomy charge against him in 1998.

"We were categorically informed that Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail would play absolutely no part in this prosecution," said Sulaiman who pointed out that the prosecution's application was signed by Abdul Gani.

(Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had on July 19 announced that Abdul Gani and Musa would be excluded from involvement in the case as Anwar had alleged that they had fabricated evidence against him in the infamous "black eye" incident in 1998. In 1998, during the investigation of Anwar’s sodomy charges, Musa was the senior investigating officer while Abdul Gani was the head of prosecution.)

"In order to sign this certificate, he (Abdul Gani) would have to apply his mind (to the case). He is not the chief clerk who just signs documents in front of him. ," Sulaiman said.

"He has to apply his mind to the circumstances, cases and consideration to be taken into account before deciding. He is the one who decides whether public interest is involved," Sulaiman added.

Anwar, claimed trial on Aug 7 to the charge of sodomising his 23-year old former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan at a luxury Damansara condominium between 3.01pm and 4.30pm on June 26 this year.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Datuk Yusuf Zainal Abiden had at the start of proceeding this morning, filed the application before Judge S.M. Komathy Suppiah in a courtroom packed with media and supporters, saying that the case was one of "significant public importance".

"We are asking for the case to be moved because of his (Anwar's) standing, and this case is of unusual importance... the law provides for this. The other reason is because of the public interest in the case. Everybody is interested in the case," said Yusuf.

This led Sulaiman to instantly object to the application signed by Abdul Gani.

"We see absolutely no need for this transfer. Your Honour has the experience, the ability and certainly the jurisdiction... 26 years, not as much perhaps as the learned DPP," quipped Sulaiman.

Komathy later postponed the case to Sept 24 to give time for Anwar's lawyers to prepare arguments against the prosecution's application to transfer the case to the High Court.

She said the two-week period is to let the defence do research on whether there is a need to move the case to the High Court, as the prosecution had argued that this was the procedure when dealing with a prominent person.

Speaking to press outside the court after the court proceeding, Anwar who is Permatang Pauh MP and Parliamentary Opposition Leader slammed the prosecution for conducting the "trial by ambush", saying his lawyers were only notified of the application today.

Meanwhile, asked why his lawyers had asked for the next hearing to be held on Sept 24, Anwar quipped that it was "because I have to go to Taipei to get the MPs."

Asked if his aim of overthrowing the federal government on Sept 16 had been derailed, Anwar claimed it was still on schedule, and dismissed claims that it had been delayed or thwarted.

"No, we are still working on it. It is a technicality as to whether I have to go to Taipei to get them to come back, or whether they'll come back," said Anwar, who also commented on former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad's intended return to UMNO

"He's hastening the sinking ship," said Anwar, who was accompanied by his wife, Parti Keadilan Rakyat president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and his daughters, Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and Nurul Huda, as well as one of his lawyers, Sankara Nair.






Gani Patail intervention, DSAI will fight back!

Anwar Ibrahim’s sodomy case was today adjourned to Sept 24 following a dispute over an order signed by Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail to transfer the case to the High Court.

When the case was called up this morning at 9.58am before Sessions judge SM Komathy Suppiah, the prosecution submitted the order for the case to be transferred to the High Court.

However Anwar’s lawyers disputed the order as it was signed by Abdul Gani, whom they said should not have been involved in the case as he was a party to a complaint lodged by Anwar for evidence tampering in 1998.

They pointed out that even Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had said that Abdul Gani and Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan would not be directly involved in Anwar’s sodomy case.

Anwar had previously lodged a police report against the duo for tampering with evidence in his cases 10 years ago.

Justice Komathy then fixed Sept 24 for the parties to argue on the validity of the transfer order signed by Abdul Gani.

Bail issue not raised in court

Earlier Anwar arrived with his wife, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, at 9.30am and were greeted by about 100 opposition supporters outside the court complex.

They were accompanied by two of their daughters, Nurul Izzah and Nurul Nuha as well as lawyer Sankara Nair.

Both Anwar and Wan Azizah, who were surrounded by a large group of journalists and photographers, slowly made their way into the courtroom, where the hearing is due to begin at 10am.

Anwar was charged with sodomy on Aug 7, allegedly on his former aide 23-year-old Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan. He could face a 20-year jail term if found guilty.

The PKR leader pleaded not guilty to the charge and described the allegations as ‘malicious’ and a ’slander’. He also labelled the case against his as ‘trumped-up charges’.

Anwar is out on a RM20,000 personal bond.

There was also a fear among his supporters that his bail could be revoked today, resulting in Anwar being sent to prison while awaiting his trial which could take months.

However, the issue was not raised in court.

Anwar, recently elected overwhelmingly as the Permatang Pauh by-election, has said that he was on course to take over the government later this month with the aid of several defections from Barisan Nasional to his Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

Meanwhile the police had heightened the security at the Jalan Duta court complex. At least five Federal Reserve Unit trucks were seen to be on standby.

Journalists were asked to register at three places before being allowed into the courtroom where Anwar’s matter will be heard.








Lim Kit Siang says, “suspend deal until after parliamentary probe”
Posted by: dinobeano on: October 22, 2008

In: Governance No Comments
www.malaysiakini.com


October 22, 2008
The RM2.3 billion military helicopter deal with Franco-German company Eurocopter should be suspended until a bipartisan parliamentary committee has probed the purchase, urged an opposition leader.

MCPX“I call on the cabinet to take a definitive decision at its Friday meeting that the Letter of Intent awarded to Eurocopter is suspended until the outcome of the scrutiny of the PAC (Public Accounts Committee) on the helicopter deal,” said DAP leader Lim Kit Siang.

According to Lim, PAC has decided last Wednesday to scrutinise the three “mega-scandals” highlighted by the opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition in the 2009 budget debate.

the RM5 billion Maybank purchase of Bank International Indonesia at five times the book value
the RM2.3 billion defence deal for 12 Cougar EC725 helicopter
the awarding of the RM11.3 billion high-speed broadband contract to TM Bhd
Lim described Defence Ministry secretary-general Abu Bakar Abdullah’s statement last Friday claiming that the decision to procure the Eurocopters had followed proper procedure as “unsatisfactory”.

“No satisfactory answer had been given to queries as to why the full technical evaluation process had not followed standard international practices and lacked transparency,” said Lim in a statement today.

Lim, who is Ipoh Timor parliamentarian, said that “all information and data must be presented to the PAC for its scrutiny, including the outcome of the respective technical, offset and price evaluations for each tender bid”.

He said representives from each of the seven tender bidders should be invited to appear before the committee “as only they will know how the tender process had disadvantaged or sidelined their aircraft”.

PAC, which is tasked to scrutinise and monitor the utilisation of public funds, comprises 13 members from both sides of the House - five of whom are from Pakatan.

The committee is headed by former home minister Azmi Khalid (Umno-Padang Besar) with Dr Tan Seng Giaw (DAP-Kepong) as deputy chairperson.

“In its scrutiny, the PAC should have the benefit of independent expert advice and not be totally dependent on the Defence Ministry or Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF),” added Lim.

“Parliament should empower PAC to engage consultants who is knowledgeable in the aviation field especially the helicopter industry and profession.”

Why Brazil can get a better deal?

Lim said that the committee should also investigate the way the “tender team has carried out the selection and check the scoring system to ensure there is no partiality in the grading”.

“Of particular interest to the PAC is the price differential in the Eurocopter deal by Malaysia as compared to Brazil, which is acquiring 50 ‘Super Cougar’ units from Eurocopter at a price consideration of US$1.2 billion, of which the first unit will be delivered in 2010, giving an average unit price of RM84 million as compared to the average unit price of RM193 million for the RMAF’s 12 Cougar EC725 helicopters.”

The Eurocopter controversy was first highlighted in a letter dated October 7 addressed to former defence minister Najib Abdul Razak, who is also deputy prime minister and finance minister.

In the five-page letter, Mentari Services Sdn Bhd chairperson Capt (rtd) Zahar Hashim suggested that the tender process, initiated during Najib’s tenure, could have been a “gimmick” since the ministry appeared to favour one company.

Zahar also accused Najib of providing Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who took over the defence portfolio on September 17, with an “inaccurate” report pertaining to the contract.

He said the government could have purchased the same number of helicopters from Kelowna, the firm he represents, and save almost RM1.5 billion.


Message to Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi, Chief Justice of the Federal Court: Interpret the Law and administer Justice without fear or favour
Posted by: dinobeano on: October 22, 2008

In: Judiciary 21 Comments
October 22,2008


Comment: A petition from 25,000 Malaysians to DYMM Yang diPertuan Agong was ignored; a motion to debate the appointment of Tan Sri Zaki Tun Azmi as the Chief Justice of the Federal Court in Parliament was denied by the Speaker of Dewan Rakyat; and the Bar Council of Malaysia which represents the legal profession in this country congratulated Tan Sri Zaki on his appointment.

Our King has acted on the advice of the Prime Minister and we are left with no choice at this stage except to respect His Majesty’s decision which has the endorsement of Their Highnesses Raja-Raja Melayu. It is now a fait accompli and let us move forward, but we should not abandon all constitutional and political means to address the issue of the appointment and promotion of judges in our country. Judicial reform must continue with vigour as one of the ways to restore public trust in the judiciary and in our system of government.


As a young man in the mid-1960s, I have had the privilege of knowing and admiring the late Lord President Tun Azmi, a fellow Kedahan of my parents’ generation, who is Tan Sri Zaki’s father. I used to meet him at the Royal Selangor Club during lunch time or in the evening as I was in Wisma Putra (located in the nearby Secretariat Building). Tun Azmi and Tun Suffian Hashim and judges and jurists of that generation were a special breed of men and women. They were apolitical, independent and extremely competent in matters of the law and the administration of justice. They were also role models of judicial probity.

I hope, the new Chief Justice, Tan Sri Zaki, will learn from his late father, focus on the administration of justice, defend the Constitution, abandon all links with UMNO, and devote the remaining years of his life—he is now 63 years old— to the restoration of the Rule of Law and justice in our country.

Tan Sri Zaki, please ensure that all Malaysians will be protected and equal under the law. Your test will soon come and we Malaysians will observe with anxiety the way you and your brother judges will interpret the law. All the best in your service to Malaysia and the cause of justice. —-Din Merican

www.malaysiakini.com
Confirmed: King appoints Zaki as Chief Justice

October 21, 2008
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin has appointed Court of Appeal president Zaki Azmi as the Chief Justice of the Federal Court, said Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today.

MCPXHe also said the King has appointed Chief Judge of Malaya Alauddin Mohd Sheriff as Court of Appeal President and Federal Court judge Arifin Zakaria as the Chief Judge of Malaya. All the appointments are effective October 18, he said in a statement according to Bernama.

Abdullah said the King made the appointments acting on his advice and after consulting the Conference of Rulers.

He said the Federal Court was in contact with Istana Negara on setting the date for the presentation of the instruments of appointment and the swearing-in of the judges.

On October 16, Malaysiakini reported - based on sources - that the Conference of Rulers had decided to stick to convention and name Zaki as the new Chief Justice to replace Abdul Hamid Mohamad.

News of Zaki’s appointment had caused an uproar following his previous links with UMNO.

He was ‘parachuted’ into the Federal Court last September and two months later he was made Court of Appeal president - the second highest post in the judiciary.

The 63-year-old judge will be at the helm for at least three years unless his tenure is extended by the government.

Zaki needs to prove himself

Zaki was UMNO’s legal adviser and had served as chairperson of the party’s election committee as well as deputy chairperson of its disciplinary committee.

DAP leader Lim Kit Siang said Zaki would have to prove he could act independently.

He said that Zaki was a member of UMN0, which leads the ruling coalition, and had been an UMNO corporate lawyer who had headed the party’s disciplinary board.

“Bearing in mind the swirling doubts about the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary on his appointment as the Chief Justice, Zaki must now perform what to many is an impossible task of proving them wrong,” he told AFP.

Bar Council chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan has said that doubts have been raised over Zaki’s political affiliations and business connections.

“These concerns can only be dispelled by him through the conduct of his duties and by a demonstration of independence and impartiality at all times,” she said last week.

Ambiga said the lawyers’ group would defend the independence and integrity of the judiciary and “is ever vigilant that the doctrine of the separation of powers be upheld.”












The RM2.3 billion 12 Cougar EC725 helicopter deal should be suspended until the outcome of PAC scrutiny
When the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in Pekan on Sunday that the Cabinet had agreed that the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) scrutinise the acquisition of the Eurocopter EC725 helicopters to replace the aging Nuri helicopters, it raises the serious question whether the Prime Minister-in-waiting fully understands and respects the principle and practice of parliamentary democracy and the doctrine of separation of powers.

In a country truly founded on parliamentary democracy, where the Cabinet is answerable to Parliament and not vice versa, the question of the Cabinet approving a parliamentary scrutiny of an Executive decision would not have arisen – as this is the unquestioned right and prerogative of Parliament in the discharge of its tasks to exercise check-and-balance on executive power.

As the PAC has decided last Wednesday to scrutinise the three mega-scandals highlighted by Pakatan Rakyat in the 2009 budget debate, the RM5 billion Maybank purchase of Bank International Indonesia (BII) at five times the book value, the RM2.3 billion defense deal for 12 Cougar EC725 helicopters and the awarding of the RM11.3 billion high-speed broadband contract to TM Bhd, is Najib suggesting that the Cabinet would only agree to the PAC scrutiny of the Eurocopter deal but not the two other mega-scandals?

Furthermore, what does Najib mean when he said the Cabinet has agreed to the the PAC scrutiny of the Cougar EC725 helicopter deal?

Last Friday, the Defence Ministry secretary-general Datuk Abu Bakar Abdullah issued a totally unsatisfactory statement to claim that the decision to procure the Europcopters was done following proper procedure and was not influenced by any party, as no satisfactory answer had been given to queries as to why the full technical evaluation process had not followed standard international practices and lacked transparency.

Abu Bakar claims that the tender documents by seven bidders were evaluated in three parts – the technical evaluation committee, offset evaluation committee and price evaluation committee.

All information and data must be presented to the PAC for its scrutiny, including the outcome of the respective technical, offset and price evaluations for each tender bid – with representives from each of the tender bidders invited to appear before the PAC as only they will know how the tender process had disadvantaged or sidelined their aircraft.

In its scrutiny, the PAC should have the benefit of independent expert advice and not be totally dependent on the Defence Ministry or Royal Malaysian Air Force.

Parliament should empower PAC to engage consultants who is knowledgeable in the aviation field especially the helicopter industry and profession.

The PAC should also scrutinize the way the tender team has carried out he selection and check the scoring system to ensure there is no partiality in the grading.

Of particular interest to the PAC is the price differential in the Eurocopter deal by Malaysia as compared to Brazil, which is acquiring 50 ‘Super Cougar’ units from Eurocopter at a price consideration of US$1.2 billion of which the first unit will be delivered in 2010, giving an average unit price of RM84 million as compared to the average unit price of RM193 million for the RMAF’s 12 Cougar EC725 helicopters.

In this connection, I call on the Cabinet to take a definitive decision at its Friday meeting that the Letter of Intent awarded to Eurocopter is suspended until the outcome of the scrutiny of the PAC on the helicopter deal.

The PAC should have a greater sense of urgency and seriousness in its decision to scrutinize the Eurocopter deal as well as the other two mega-scandals, the Maybank BII and Telecom HSBB scandals. I understand the PAC has has not scheduled any meeting dates to begin its examination of the three scandals, which is most shocking, as the PAC should be prepared to work extra hard to scrutinize the three mega deals without any delay.

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12 Responses to “The RM2.3 billion 12 Cougar EC725 helicopter deal should be suspended until the outcome of PAC scrutiny”
pulau_sibu Says:

Today at 13: 50.58 (4 hours ago)
With such questionable records, should Abdullah allow him to take over? Abdullah should act to stop him. This will not be for political reason, but for the benefit of the citizens.

I think it is better to let Abdullah to stay on before Pakatan rakyat shall take over, instead of having a batch of hungry ghosts from UMNO to suck our blood.

Thinking Two Says:

Today at 14: 11.59 (4 hours ago)
They knew very well that they have nothing to show. So it is the time to push all out while still around!

Renaissance » Blog Archive » Najib Doesn’t Understand How Malaysia’s Democracy Works Says:

Today at 14: 21.59 (4 hours ago)
[…] Read more here. posted under Journal […]

wanderer Says:

Today at 14: 49.09 (3 hours ago)
How to wait YB, they are not prepare to forgo their fat commissions!
Less questions asked, the better is the outcome for their greedy plan.

OCSunny Says:

Today at 14: 49.31 (3 hours ago)
It is sad and frustrating to note that we will soon be having a PM whose integrity is in doubt.

Najib must quickly clear his name or else he will not last longer than Badawi as PM because by the next election BN will suffer more lost of confidence and this will translate into votes.

There is no point of having power and plenty of money if there is no peace and harmony in the country.

pakmang Says:

Today at 15: 08.55 (3 hours ago)
They thought the Raykat are still dumb dumb so that they can do whatever things they want to do…. now they will get the taste!!!

Good jobs from the Pakatan Rakyat.Keep it up!

Bobster Says:

Today at 15: 27.51 (3 hours ago)
Scandals after scandals which are worst of than Watergate and Whitewater Scandals combine and the administration of this country can brush aside the issues with no single criminal charged. Good job ‘Mr Clean’, our cleaners getting much more respect than you ‘Mr Clean’.

Now they can happily carrying on the scandals without fear in bright day light equivalent to day light robbery! What happen to Lingam, Atantuya, Submarine etc scandals now?! All buried and forgotten?!

Something seriously wrong with this country fellow Malaysians!

Haywire administration rules with rules of the jungle!

kanasai Says:

Today at 15: 46.19 (2 hours ago)
Wondered why UMNO is so dry in terms of potential leaders to fight the current old generation, outdated and tainted leaders. There is NO much competition neither for the UMNO presidency nor the vice presidency. Where are all the towering Malays? UMNO is indeed heading for doom.

helpless Says:

Today at 16: 31.30 (2 hours ago)
The entire camp is like “spill milk” which canot be corrected.

The culture of getting “lucrative commission”, a polite term for corruption is too attractive. Except those dare for a scrutiny from public, there is nothing else to say but to support YB Lim’s proposition for getting consent from taxpayer before the government carrying out mega project.

Steven Says:

Today at 17: 06.09 (1 hour ago)
Isn’t this supposed to be a golden handshake for the outgoing premier who has reluctantly agreed to the early transition of power? Otherwise why the rushed swap of portfolios?
These unmo goons have very little regard, if at all any, for the principle and practice of parliamentary democracy and the doctrine of separation of powers, as you have so aptly put it. This whole country is their little toy, to be played with the way they saw fit. You think they will give a damn even if you rant and kick for all you like….talk till your voice is course? Parliament is just for show since they have all the powers to play with all those little dirty games among themselves. They really believed that this country belongs to them only and therefore it is their god-given right to milk whatever they damn well pleased! It’s a big waste of time, for my money, to deal with greedy and murderous people like them. The only solution to all these is to wait for the next GE and the opposition parties unite to convincingly and unequivocally trounce them in the polls. We have to definitely get rid of this bunch of useless goons and restore true democracy to the country.

Hue Says:

Today at 17: 11.12 (1 hour ago)
It would seem the cabinet does not understand parliamentary procedures. On the other hand, they have been in power for so long that they are not used to be questioned by the Opposition. And the more they behave thus the more they make Malaysia a laughing stock!!

baoqingtian Says:

Today at 17: 37.14 (1 hour ago)
CHECKMATE! Their mistakes are not defendable. Whatever reasons they give will not be taken in by the people. But of course they will continue bullsh***ing all of us.

Since suspending the deal will only prove them more wrong, they will never do it. They will never admit their wrongs for the sake of their future and cronies.








Can Umno change for the better?
22 Oct 08 : 9.00AM
By Wong Chin Huat
editor@thenutgraph.com


Najib Razak (Public domain)DATUK Seri Najib Razak said it most aptly: the Barisan Nasional (BN) has to change, or it will be changed. Every component party in the coalition knows it only too well. Except for one.

Umno itself.

Umno does not need to overhaul its election machinery, media apparatus or selection of candidates. The target of reform should be the system itself — the electoral one-party state that Umno started building since 1955, and overhauled once after 1969.

The political system stands on two bases: authoritarianism and ethnic politics. In the past, these have reinforced each other: ethnic politics has been used to rationalise authoritarianism. Authoritarianism in turn forces Malaysians of all ethnicities and faiths to participate in the oligarchic game of ethnic power-sharing. Ethno-hegemony has almost been synonymous with political stability.

The BN system was such a smart design of equilibrium that it impressed even many foreign observers. Some genuinely saw Malaysia as a model of ethnic accommodation when many other third-world countries had failed. Apparently, the successes in the West's so-called multicultural democracies were not comparable with Malaysia's.

The reformist-Mahathirite spectrum

That the BN suffered disastrous losses on 8 March spoke volumes that "something has gone wrong" with the system. But what? This is the same question former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad asked in his once-banned book, The Malay Dilemma.

The most radical position, split into two strands, is that both authoritarianism and communalism are outdated. Both need to be replaced. The "external" and "radical" strand is represented by Umno's own ousted deputy president, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (1993-1998). He now leads a multiethnic opposition coalition vowing to end the BN's/Umno's rule.

The spokesperson for the "internal" and the "moderate" strand is none other than Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who led Umno dissidents in the late 1980s. Razaleigh himself once led another multiethnic opposition coalition to challenge Umno/BN's rule. He has called for Umno to be transformed into a multiethnic party, not unlike the futile call of the party's founding president, Datuk Onn Jaafar.

Sharing a similar position, but definitely not daring to associate with the Kelantanese prince, are Umno's junior partners, especially Gerakan.

The next position is that while authoritarianism is outdated, ethnic parties are still needed. So, there should be political reforms to usher in an independent judiciary, effective anti-graft institutions, reforms to the police force, and even a freer media. But Malay dominance must remain the sacred cow in Malaysian politics.

This is the position of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi, and also the likes of Datuk Shahrir Samad and Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek. This might be the reason why Abdullah has given the cold shoulder to Gerakan's suggestion to transform the BN into a single multiethnic party. Incidentally, all three men were once in Umno's Team B in the late 1980s, led by Razaleigh and Tun Musa Hitam.

On the other end of the spectrum are those who believe that the electoral one-party state was weakened only by Abdullah's own weak leadership. In other words, a crafty blend of authoritarianism and communalism would still do well.


Mahathir (Public domain) Judicial, anti-graft and police reforms would only erode Umno and Malay power. What Umno needs today is even more assertive use of power. The leader of this faction is, of course, none other than Mahathir himself. Many fear that his followers include Najib and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

Like Abdullah, who is fighting to leave a legacy, Mahathir's task is to ensure Umno embraces his legacy. Umno must not challenge his mega projects, Operasi Lalang, or his handling of the 1988 judicial crisis. He was Umno's second transformative leader after Tun Abdul Razak, who reinvented the umbrella party of Malay groups that Datuk Onn founded in 1946. In fact, Mahathir perfected the concentration of power within the electoral one-party state.

Anyone would inevitably have to dismantle Mahathir's political architecture to be Umno's third transformative leader. This explains why the former premier of 22 years had to eliminate Musa and Anwar and pick their weaker alternatives: Tun Ghafar Baba and Abdullah. If only Abdullah was weak and obedient enough, he might have survived well, like Singapore's Goh Chok Tong.

Abdullah's last chance

Which faction will prevail in Umno's party elections? The answer cannot be clearer, what with Muhyiddin's earlier call to bring back party elections to December, reneging on the conditions for Abdullah's voluntary retirement.

While Muhyiddin revises his position now, the prospect is not bright for Abdullah to have his three flagship reforms carried out before his retirement. These reforms are the setting-up of the Judicial Appointments Commission, the Malaysian Commission on Anti-Corruption, and the Independent Police Misconduct and Complaints Commission.


Muhyiddin (Source: jphpk.gov.my) Abdullah does not have until March 2009 to accomplish this. His deadline is actually 11 Dec, the day Parliament closes. This is because all three reforms will need the passage of parliamentary legislation, if not also constitutional amendments.

Rationally, there is no reason why Najib and Muhyiddin should allow Abdullah to fulfill his dream. It's not, as many have argued, that an independent judiciary and other political reforms will hurt Umno leaders, especially Najib. He is, of course, still being tainted by the case of Altantuya Shariibuu's murder.

By successfully ousting his fourth deputy, Abdullah, Mahathir can assert that he is the most powerful power-broker in Umno politics. And all this without even having rejoined the party yet. There is no reason for Najib and Muhyiddin to anger Mahathir by being kind to Abdullah.

Circling vultures

The fate of Abdullah's reforms is as dim as that of his followers, or those who did not back Najib or Muhyiddin early enough. Tan Sri Muhammad Muhammad Taib and Datuk Seri Ali Rustam are on the way out. They can't back down now to defend their vice-president positions, and the competition is already overcrowded. Khairy Jamaluddin will have a tough fight, too. Following the reemergence of the old emperor, the vultures in the party are now circling Abdullah's leaderless troops.

While an anti-reform Umno may appease party members who feel psychologically traumatised after 8 March, it will not appeal to the electorate at large. Those in Umno who criticise Abdullah now should remember that they could have suffered similar losses in 2004. Indeed, the BN won in those elections hugely because it was led by someone completely different from Mahathir.


Pak Lah (© Wan Leonard)In other words, Abdullah won in 2004 because he was an alternative to Anwar rather than a follower of Mahathir. He lost in 2008 because he was not an effective enough reformist. To win the next general election, Najib has to reinvent himself as a reformist. But there is no incentive for him to do so against Mahathir's wishes. That's the tragedy of Umno, unless Abdullah dares to attempt something bold for the first and last time.

The whole scenario would change if he covertly backs Razaleigh to win 30% of the nominations. The aged Razaleigh may not stand a better chance than Senator John McCain. But Najib — who is no Obama either — cannot afford to humiliate Abdullah further. He will also have to stop the annihilation of Abdullah's loyalists.

Both Abdullah's troops and his reforms will then have a better chance to survive. Thus can Umno successfully reform itself.

The question remains. Is Abdullah bold enough to deliver this blow, not to Najib, but effectively to Mahathir? Does he dare fight back?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A political scientist by training and a journalism lecturer by trade, Wong Chin Huat uses the Federal Constitution as his "bible" to fend off the increasingly intolerable evil called "state".









MCA's New Leaders: Will a reformed MCA Continue to be UMNO's Lap-Dog?Read here article "MCA opts for reformist team " by Carolyn Ong







MCA Youth Chief

Excerpts:

The 2000-plus MCA delegates picked as president, Transport Minister Ong Tee Keat, who has a reputation for being outspoken. He won with a credible 512-vote majority over Mr Chua Jui Meng, a former health minister, who also came with reformist credentials.

The newly-elected president Ong Tee Keat has strong reformist credentials.

Despite the stigma of a sex scandal, Malaysia's former health minister Chua Soi Lek made a surprising comeback when he won the deputy president's post in the Malaysian Chinese Association. He has no government post, he is not an MP, and he has the baggage of a sex scandal. He resigned early this year (as Health Minister) after a DVD of him having sex with a woman stunned the nation. Dr. Chua Soi Lek did not contest the March election, and was written off politically. (MCA grassroots) see him as having been a good minister, and an effective negotiator with Umno who can defend their interests. He managed a narrow 114-vote majority in party polls on Saturday over Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Chuan, the brother of outgoing president Ong Ka Ting.

Party insiders point out that the new leadership lineup is largely made up of fresh faces seen as reformist, an indication that the grassroots are well aware of the realities.

To the outside observer, however, it seemed the MCA's choice was out of touch with the ground. In the March general election, voters abandoned the MCA, rejecting a leadership seen as subservient to Umno.

Some of outgoing president Ong Ka Ting's critics have also hailed Dr Chua Soi Lek's victory as a rejection of dynastic politics as his brother Mr Ong Ka Chuan was voted out. There had been discontent in the party about the dominance of the Ong brothers (Ka Ting and Ka Chuan).

The new MCA lineup is also seen as a break with the past, and setting new directions for the party. All four vice-presidents are new.

Former Women's chief Dr Ng Yen Yen made it into the ranks, the first woman to do so. It also includes Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai, seen as a young professional.

Independent-minded Malacca grassroots leader Wong Nai Chee was elected into the central committee, while the well-regarded Dr Wee Ka Siong is the new Youth chief.

They are seen as leaders with little affiliation to the divisive teams of the past, and have spoken up strongly for the Chinese community's interests.

It now remains to be seen how the new president will manage his new team to remake MCA into a party with a multiracial outlook.

COMMENTARY

Chua Jui Meng: If Only He Had Won the MCA Presidency!

Read here article "Chua Jui Meng, MCA's Loss, Whose Gain?" on Din Merican's Blog

Excerpts

by Din Merican


".... It was indeed my distinct honour to be in the company of Dato’ Chua Jui Meng, Datin Chua and his close friends at dinner in Kuala Lumpur last night.

Although he did not win the MCA presidency, Jui Meng polled 4O per cent of the votes. It is indeed an achievement considering the fact that he no longer holds any party office since 2005.

Ong Tee Keat talks tough,(but) it is NOT likely that the new MCA President will “rock the Barisan national boat” and challenge the dominance of UMNO in the BN coalition.

So Jui Meng’s appeal, “March 8 was our wake up call; let MCA arise to a new dawn on October 18″, will fall on deaf ears.

As I engaged myself in intense conversation with him, I could not help but notice that Jui Meng was able to articulate his views clearly on major issues affecting both the MCA and our country.

His vision and ideas are reflected in his 2008 MCA Presidential Candidate manifesto titled “Rebuild The Party/Return to Relevance/Realise Vision 2020.” (click here to read) Bloggers and readers of this blog should visit http://www.chuajuimeng.com/ for the full manifesto.

I propose to highlight some key elements of the Jui Meng manifesto, hopefully to stimulate some discussion for the benefit of all of us who are concerned about our current national malaise and the future of our plural, culturally diverse, and resource rich country. A lawyer by profession, Jui Meng opens his mainfesto with the following statement:

“The results of the General Elections this year should serve as a wake up call to our Party.

MCA has been labelled irrelevant and out of touch with the aspirations of not only the Malaysian Chinese community but the nation as a whole.

...I now predict that unless MCA reforms and transforms within the next 3 years we will face an even worse defeat at the next General Election”.

I take Jui Meng’s call for reform to mean that if MCA adopts the UMNO culture of money politics, patronage, and cronyism, as it is inclined to do now, the oldest Chinese party of Tun Tan Cheng Lock and Tun Tan Siew Sin would be badly beaten in the 13th General Elections and rejected by Malaysian Chinese.

It is obvious to me that his call was listened and accepted by about 40 per cent of the delegates, the rest being happy to accept the status quo which the new President, Dato Ong Tee Keat,