Dr. Khir Toyo: The case when a layman got confuse

Dr. Mohamad Khir Toyo was the Menteri Besar of Selangor and a dentist by profession. He was the last Menteri Besar of BN in Selangor before BN was defeated in the 2008 election. In the latest 2013 election he was not chosen to defend his seat in Sungai Burung because of the impending court case.

At the moment Dr. Khir has been charged by the High Court with “obtaining a piece of property below its actual market value”. An appeal was filed at the Court of Appeal, but the result did not change anything as all the judges decided to keep the ruling. According to his website, Dr. Khir will file an appeal to the Federal Court, although he is not convinced that justice will be served to him.

The charged put on Dr. Khir came from a very confusing judgment from a layman point of view. The charged seems to indicate that Dr. Khir had misused his power to obtain a property below its actual market value.

The property in question is a piece of land with a bungalow. Previously purchased by a contractor at RM6.5 mill, but then sold to Dr. Khir at RM3.5 mill. If this fact is considered than it is true that Dr. Khir had obtained it below its market or original value. However, there is another fact seems to be ignored by the court. Dr. Khir did not pluck the RM3.5 mill value out of the thin air. It came from an independent property assessor appointed by HSBC bank. The reason why the property was devalued because the bungalow was incompletely renovated and a lot of things need to be done before it can be declared as habitable.

The learned judges are the people that we put our trust in order to find justice. Usually, the findings will be made clear as if why this or that fact is considered or rejected, what it leads to and the final conclusion. For example, Dato’ Seri Anwar homosexual case with Saiful Bukhari was rejected on the ground that the handling procedure of processing DNA sample from Dato’ Seri Anwar was weak and may lead to mishandling. However the case of Dr. Khir Toyo is very confusing as to why a certain fact is not considered. My prayer is with Dr. Khir, hoping that Federal Court will reconsider all the facts presented. I was once told that the court will not charge anyone unless that fact is very clear and without prejudice. But then again I am a layman.

No UMNO election this year .... what the hell

The PRU 13 election was over. Now all the new MPs are waiting for a call to take oath and proceed with the first session of the new term. By the end of this year, UMNO must have a party election. This could be in November or December. There has been some quarters calling for 'no contest' for the top posts. This has become a debate among UMNO supporters.

The spirit of revising UMNO election is to allow contest for the top posts. Previously, it was made to be tough, but the newly revised procedure allowed anyone to contest, and candidates are chosen directly by 100000++ members rather than by a representative of 2500+ members. This is a good spirit in order to keep reinventing UMNO to be relevant in any period of time. But it is only good on paper, if not being practiced, or not allowed to be practiced.    

The outcome of PRU-13 has shown that Chinese voters are no longer interested with BN. Most Malays have seen this as a betrayal. Why? Because the Chinese have demanded so many things from PM Najib, from vernacular school to University College, scholarships, position in the government and so on. Although the demands are non compliance to our Constitution, but PM Najib has granted so many. However he was betrayed on the election day when it turned out that 97% of Chinese put their vote to the PKR-DAP-PAS coalition.

Most Malays reflected this result by coming up with "Buy Chinese Last" and "Boycott Chinese Product" campaign. There is no guarantee that this will be a success, but the intention is good that it will push consumer demand towards Bumiputra's products and eventually freeing us from the Chinese capitalist. However, never expect this campaign to bear fruits in a short time, one should expect to see the success of this five years from now, if the issue is played and reminded consistently. After all "Melayu Mudah Lupa"

The next UMNO election will reflect on the aftermath of PRU13. With the grassroots fiery on Chinese betrayal and the perception whether PM Najib is seen as pro-Chinese or pro-Malays. The ball is actually on Najib's foot. If within this few months PM Najib is seen as pro-Chinese with his pro-Chinese policies, then the grassroots are ready to choose a new UMNO President. It may not even be Muhyiddin Yassin.