Rustam Barred..Khairy Warned..Toyo Clean ?!

Just about a week before the UMNO party elections, the UMNO Disclipinary Committee released some surprising decisions. Datuk Ali Rustam was barred from contesting for the UMNO deputy president post due to three of his aides who were found guilty of vote-buying.

Okay, that's fine by me. However, the shocking parts were that Datuk Khairy Jamaluddin was given a "stern" warning letter & Datuk Khir Toyo was cleared of any wrongdoings !! Can you believe it ? Khir Toyo was declared innocent !! Do I even need to list down the allegations & controversies surrounding Khairy, & especially Khir Toyo ?

This looks like selective persecution to me because the decisions are a bit fishy. Here's a small analysis.

1. Rustam had a high chance of winning before he was banned.

2. Rustam is known to be a Badawi loyalist, not Najib's.

3. If Rustam is out, it will pave the way for Muhyiddin(Najib's loyalist) to win...and he did win.

4. The warning to Khairy shows that 'somebody' wants him to leave just like Badawi.

5. Khairy was declared "clean" to allow him to contest and prevent Mukhriz (Tun Mahathir's son) from winning...& Khiary did win. Najib & Tun M don't seem to be on good terms lately.

Doesn't all this seem to benefit Najib a lot ?

Another weird thing is that Rustam was just barred from contesting the deputy president post even though he was found guilty of corruption. Is that enough ? He's still fit to be Melaka's chief minister but not deputy president of UMNO ? Even his party membership wasn't suspended.

How come Khairy was just warned ? The reason given was because the committee could not find a link between Khairy and his so-called agent. I don't buy it. I believe he's either guilty or innocent. What's the point of a warning ? Will it stop him from practicing corruption ?

Why wasn't a report made to the MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commision) ? If Rustam is guilty, he should be reported to the MACC and charged in court. How come no UMNO member or anybody else file a report ? What's the use of being barred if you're not charged in court for your crime ? Now that the UMNO polls are over, Rustam can continue practicing corruption.

At the end of the day, the decision of the committee makes no difference. It shows that UMNO is still not serious on curbing rampant "money politics" a.k.a corruption in its party.

Just How Bad is the Global Economic Crisis ?

Let’s forget about Malaysia’s ping pong politics for now & take a look at how severe the global economic crisis is.

• Many economists say it’s the worst worldwide economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

• According to Forbes list of the world’s richest people 2009, Bill Gates lost USD 18 billion, but reclaimed the no. 1 spot.

• On the same list, Warren Buffet was no.2 but lost USD 25 billion due to a huge drop of his shares.

• Anil Ambani was hit the hardest as he lost 76% of his net worth. Anil lost USD 32 billion also due to a heavy fall on his shares (Forbes World’s Richest People 2009).

• USA jobless rate hits 8.1% in February 2009. 1 987,000 jobs lost from December 2008-February 2009. Currently 12.5 million people are unemployed in the USA.

• UK unemployment rate at 6.3% as of February 2009…1.97 million jobless.

• Singapore expects unemployment rate to rise to 4.2% in January 2009. So far, 34,000 have lost their jobs.

• Malaysian Human Resources Ministry expects 100,000 to be jobless by the end of 2009.

• 20 million migrant workers in China jobless as of February 2009.

• India’s economic growth is decelerating.

• Japan’s economy shrank by 3.2% in Q4 2008.

• Australia’s unemployment rate hits 5.2% (expected to increase), full-time jobs down 53,800 & part-time jobs up 55,600.

• South Korea’s economy shrank by 3.4% in Q4 2008 .

• U.S. economy shrank by 6.2% in Q4 2008.

• Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Ukraine was on the verge of bankruptcy (March 2009).

• Saudi Arabia’s economy is in recession after seven years of rapid growth (March 2009).

• Even Dubai, a filthy rich city of the United Arab Emirates, is now facing the biggest economic downturn in the country's history (March 2009).

• Iceland’s government collapses over protests by its people regarding the economic crisis.

• International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency, predicts job losses worldwide could hit 50 million by the end of 2009.

• Pioneer cuts 10,000 jobs worldwide.

• Siemens cuts 16,750 jobs worldwide.

• BMW cuts 8100 jobs worldwide.

• Volvo cuts 4000 jobs worldwide.

• Nissan cuts 20,000 jobs worldwide.

• Panasonic cuts 15,000 jobs.

• Samsung cuts 1600 jobs.

• Nokia cuts 2300 jobs worldwide.

• Almost all banks worldwide are cutting thousands of jobs.

• Sony Ericsson cuts 2000 jobs worldwide from its 11,900 workforce.

• Sony cuts 4% of its global workforce, 8000 jobs.

All these job cuts are just what many companies have cut so far. It is highly expected for more to be cut in the near future.

The list can go another mile long, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Worst of all, many economists say this is just the beginning and things will only get worse in the 2nd quarter of 2009.

All nations are trying to create new jobs for their people, but it’s difficult when 100 people lose jobs for every 10 new jobs a nation creates. It’s not an actual figure, but that’s the idea. Governments are finding it difficult to cope with soaring unemployment rates.

With people losing jobs, it’s getting harder for many to pay their bills, support their family, and put food on the table. Many are even losing their homes. Suicide rates are rising everywhere due to many unable to handle the effects of the crisis. Crime rates are also shooting up because it’s only natural for more people to resort to crime to survive after losing their jobs.

These are just a few effects of the global economic crisis which started from a recession, and now probably heading for a depression. To get an idea of what is a recession, you may see my earlier post here.