Sunday, 2 December 2012
Debate on corruption - public and private aspects
BRUSSELS: On 03.12.12, the Special Committee will focus on corruption issues based on four thematic papers prepared by the MEPs Mariya GABRIEL (EPP, BG), Barbara WEILER (S&D, DE), Theodoros SKYLAKAKIS (ALDE, GR) and Cornelis DE JONG (GUE/NGL, NL). Each of these documents deals with a specific aspect of public or private corruption and include relevant suggestions on the fight against corruption.
Malaysia PM uses Romney defeat to warn divided party
| KUALA LUMPUR: When Malaysia's ruling party gathered for a tub-thumping pre-election rally last week, Prime Minister Najib Razak delivered a stern behind-the-scenes warning: don't repeat the mistake of Mitt Romney. Just as the U.S. Republican presidential candidate's over-reliance on older, white voters lost him last month's election, so could the dependence of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) on rural, ethnic Malay voters, Najib told delegates at the assembly, according to a senior party insider. It was Najib's latest effort to nudge his reluctant party towards embracing the country's growing middle class and youth, who are increasingly turned off by the race-based politics that have dominated UMNO's half-century rule. Najib has until April to call the election, which is expected to be the closest in the former British colony's history. Conservative, Malay supremacist voices were muted at the UMNO general assembly in Kuala Lumpur, which ended on Saturday, as the party put on a show of unity four years after the ruling coalition it leads suffered its worst setback at the polls. But warnings by some party leaders of street violence if the opposition loses and social chaos if it wins were a reminder of tensions between moderate and conservative forces within UMNO that could cost Najib at the polls. "I think he (Najib) is learning from the mistakes of Mitt Romney," said Saifuddin Abdullah, a member of parliament and leading UMNO reformist. "He was saying that our long record of service is not enough. We must look at the demographics," he added, referring to a surge in the number of young voters who have no memory of race riots in 1969 that traumatised the multi-ethnic nation. A majority in the ethnic Malay party still don't understand or accept the new reality that has led Najib to push reforms, said Saifuddin. The ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, anchored by UMNO, suffered the worst setback in its 55-year rule in 2008 when it lost its two-thirds parliamentary majority along with five state governments. Many urban voters and minority ethnic Chinese have deserted the BN, giving the opposition hope, albeit slim, of winning power. Najib, who took power in 2009, has responded by appealing to Malaysia's growing middle class, rolling back colonial-era security laws, loosening media rules, and taking limited steps to end pro-Malay policies that have been a bedrock of UMNO rule. In an interview with Reuters on Thursday, former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, still an influential figure within UMNO and a leading conservative voice, reaffirmed his opposition to Najib's replacement of the draconian Internal Security Act. "I think where the party has failed is in explaining why in the first place there were such laws and why we need such laws in this country," the 87-year-old, who ruled from 1981 to 2003, said at his office high in Kuala Lumpur's Petronas Towers. ECONOMY - UMNO'S BEST HOPE Mahathir said the current government was weak and "subject to pressure" because of its poor 2008 performance. "Now of course the Malays have come back partly (to UMNO) but the Chinese have discovered that they could actually be a very strong factor in the election," he said. "With the Malays divided, their votes will be the decisive votes." Najib has made efforts to attract Chinese voters, who make up more than a quarter of Malaysians and dominate the economy, but polls show them still drifting away from the coalition. The coalition's best hopes of winning the election may be Malaysia's robust economy and the relatively high approval rating of Najib, the 59-year-old son of a former prime minister. In his opening assembly speech, Najib told cheering delegates that opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim had a "forked tongue" and would jeopardize the economy by running up debt and turning it into an Asian version of Greece within three years. "At such a time, the economic management of our country will no longer be in the hands of the elected government but passed on to the hands of international institutions. Is this what we want?" he said. But he faced appeals to sharply increase the share of wealth held by Malays, who form about 55 percent of the population. Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, the head of UMNO's womens' wing, called on the government to "ensure that Malays control half of the country's wealth," compared to about 23 percent equity ownership now. She also drew controversy for saying that UMNO losing power could cause a repeat of the bloody 1969 riots. Despite a hefty financial advantage over the opposition and the power of incumbency, the BN has been unable to erode support for the opposition alliance, said Ooi Kee Beng, deputy director at Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. Najib's apparent indecisiveness over the election date has now lost the element of surprise for his coalition. "It's a huge advantage and he hasn't been able to play it; now it's so late the advantage has gone," said Ooi. Mahathir was widely seen as helping to push out Najib's predecessor after the 2008 election, and could again play a crucial behind-the-scenes role if the prime minister fails to improve on that result. He told Reuters that an improvement on the BN's 2008 seat tally was a minimum requirement for Najib. "Of course he has to perform better than the previous government, and I think he will do," said Mahathir. AGENCIES |
Indian reforms face test with parliament vote
NEW DELHI: India's stuttering economic reform programme faces a key parliamentary test this week on whether to let foreign supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart Stores set up shop, in a vote that could pave the way for further measures to revive the economy.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's minority government bowed to opposition pressure last week in agreeing to a vote, ending days of deadlock in parliament and cheering investors who saw it as a sign of a renewed policy momentum to come.
News that the government agreed to a non-binding vote helped Indian shares climb to their highest in nearly 19 months and bolstered the rupee. But defeat for the ruling Congress party could see the currency tumble to 56 to the dollar from about 54, said Abhishek Goenka, chief executive at India Forex Advisors.
The government opened its doors to foreign retailers in September as part of a package of measures to stave off a looming credit rating downgrade, cut a swelling fiscal deficit and revive the country's investment climate.
While it doesn't need parliament's approval, defeat would be embarrassing and the government would come under pressure to roll back a policy that critics say would squeeze existing retailers and cost jobs.
LEGISLATIVE AGILITY
Whether or not the policy survives the vote will be a measure of the minority government's agility in pushing its legislative agenda in the time it has left before a general election due in just over a year.
If Singh loses, it could also put at risk other reforms pending in parliament, including measures to inject foreign cash into the struggling pension and insurance industries. If he wins, it could hasten their passage and embolden the government to move ahead with plans including simplifying the tax system.
These are seen as key for reviving investment and slashing the fiscal deficit, one of the widest among major emerging economies. At 5.9 percent of GDP last year, India's deficit earned it a warning from global ratings agencies that it could lose an investment grade rating for its sovereign debt.
"Reforms stalled in the legislative circuit are vital for the country to avoid a ratings downgrade," said an editorial in the Hindustan Times newspaper. "Stuck in the pipe are laws allowing more foreign investment in insurance and pension funds.
The hope now is that some of the opposition sting will ebb once the vote on foreign direct investment in retail chains is out of the way."
DEEPER REFORMS WANTED
Singh's government has battled to free up an economy that was largely run through state-controlled permits and quotas until the 1990s. But reforms have progressed in fits and starts in the teeth of fierce political opposition.
The symbolic vote is likely to be held on Wednesday. Singh's Congress party is expected to muster enough support to win in the lower house, but could face defeat in the upper chamber.
The government could also face a separate vote on amending India's foreign exchange rules, which it needs to win in order to be able to implement policies including retail reform.
Asia's third-largest economy looks set for its worst performance in a decade, with low growth and uncomfortably high inflation. Investors are urging the government to accelerate deeper reforms including simplifying a convoluted tax system and speeding up clearances for big-ticket infrastructure projects.
"Sadly, India's reform needs are greater than its political system's capacity to deliver at the moment, and policy implementation uncertainty remains a key risk," said Jyoti Narasimhan, senior principal economist at IHS Global Insight. AGENCIES
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's minority government bowed to opposition pressure last week in agreeing to a vote, ending days of deadlock in parliament and cheering investors who saw it as a sign of a renewed policy momentum to come.
News that the government agreed to a non-binding vote helped Indian shares climb to their highest in nearly 19 months and bolstered the rupee. But defeat for the ruling Congress party could see the currency tumble to 56 to the dollar from about 54, said Abhishek Goenka, chief executive at India Forex Advisors.
The government opened its doors to foreign retailers in September as part of a package of measures to stave off a looming credit rating downgrade, cut a swelling fiscal deficit and revive the country's investment climate.
While it doesn't need parliament's approval, defeat would be embarrassing and the government would come under pressure to roll back a policy that critics say would squeeze existing retailers and cost jobs.
LEGISLATIVE AGILITY
Whether or not the policy survives the vote will be a measure of the minority government's agility in pushing its legislative agenda in the time it has left before a general election due in just over a year.
If Singh loses, it could also put at risk other reforms pending in parliament, including measures to inject foreign cash into the struggling pension and insurance industries. If he wins, it could hasten their passage and embolden the government to move ahead with plans including simplifying the tax system.
These are seen as key for reviving investment and slashing the fiscal deficit, one of the widest among major emerging economies. At 5.9 percent of GDP last year, India's deficit earned it a warning from global ratings agencies that it could lose an investment grade rating for its sovereign debt.
"Reforms stalled in the legislative circuit are vital for the country to avoid a ratings downgrade," said an editorial in the Hindustan Times newspaper. "Stuck in the pipe are laws allowing more foreign investment in insurance and pension funds.
The hope now is that some of the opposition sting will ebb once the vote on foreign direct investment in retail chains is out of the way."
DEEPER REFORMS WANTED
Singh's government has battled to free up an economy that was largely run through state-controlled permits and quotas until the 1990s. But reforms have progressed in fits and starts in the teeth of fierce political opposition.
The symbolic vote is likely to be held on Wednesday. Singh's Congress party is expected to muster enough support to win in the lower house, but could face defeat in the upper chamber.
The government could also face a separate vote on amending India's foreign exchange rules, which it needs to win in order to be able to implement policies including retail reform.
Asia's third-largest economy looks set for its worst performance in a decade, with low growth and uncomfortably high inflation. Investors are urging the government to accelerate deeper reforms including simplifying a convoluted tax system and speeding up clearances for big-ticket infrastructure projects.
"Sadly, India's reform needs are greater than its political system's capacity to deliver at the moment, and policy implementation uncertainty remains a key risk," said Jyoti Narasimhan, senior principal economist at IHS Global Insight. AGENCIES
Pakistan's Muhammad Asif clinches World Snooker Championship title
SOFIA: Pakistan’s cueist Muhammad Asif defeated Gary Wilson of England by 10-8 in the final to clinch the IBSF World Snooker Championship in Sofia, Bulgaria, on Sunday.
He became the second Pakistani player to win the snooker world cup after Muhammad Yousuf, who claimed the title in 1994. Besides, he is also the third Pakistani cueist to play the final of the championship.
It was Asif’s tenth consecutive win of the event. On Saturday, he beat Malta’s Alex Borg to qualify for the final.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif felicitated Asif for his outstanding feat.
Chief Minister Sharif announced a cash prize of Rs1 million for the world cup winner. SAMAA
He became the second Pakistani player to win the snooker world cup after Muhammad Yousuf, who claimed the title in 1994. Besides, he is also the third Pakistani cueist to play the final of the championship.
It was Asif’s tenth consecutive win of the event. On Saturday, he beat Malta’s Alex Borg to qualify for the final.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif felicitated Asif for his outstanding feat.
Chief Minister Sharif announced a cash prize of Rs1 million for the world cup winner. SAMAA
Kim Kardashian brings out fans, Islamists and police in Bahrain
MANAMA: U.S. television celebrity Kim Kardashian brought out screaming fans, angry Muslim hardliners and police throwing stun grenades on Saturday when she visited Bahrain to launch a milkshake franchise, witnesses said.
About 100 Sunni Salafists demonstrated with banners outside The Walk Bahrain, an upmarket mall in the capital Manama, after some MPs tried to block the visit over what they called her "bad reputation", according to a local newspaper.
Thousands of fans, who had paid up to 500 Bahraini dinars ($1,360) a ticket, broke into hysterical screams as the 32-year-old celebrity launched the Millions of Milkshakes franchise inside the mall.
Witnesses said police dispersed the demonstrators with stun grenades as the inauguration proceeded inside. There were no reports of casualties.
Kardashian stirred controversy even before she arrived in Bahrain from Kuwait, where she opened another store last week.
Hardline Sunni Muslim MPs presented a motion to parliament calling her "an actress with an extremely bad reputation", according to Bahrain's English language Gulf Daily News.
The assembly did not vote on the motion, the newspaper said.
Many Kardashian fans tweeted their displeasure, saying the "MPs should focus their time on solving key political, economic and social issues", the newspaper reported.
Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based, is trying to overcome nearly two years of unrest among its majority Shi'ite Muslims demanding political reforms and equality with the Sunni Muslims who rule the kingdom. AGENCIES
About 100 Sunni Salafists demonstrated with banners outside The Walk Bahrain, an upmarket mall in the capital Manama, after some MPs tried to block the visit over what they called her "bad reputation", according to a local newspaper.
Thousands of fans, who had paid up to 500 Bahraini dinars ($1,360) a ticket, broke into hysterical screams as the 32-year-old celebrity launched the Millions of Milkshakes franchise inside the mall.
Witnesses said police dispersed the demonstrators with stun grenades as the inauguration proceeded inside. There were no reports of casualties.
Kardashian stirred controversy even before she arrived in Bahrain from Kuwait, where she opened another store last week.
Hardline Sunni Muslim MPs presented a motion to parliament calling her "an actress with an extremely bad reputation", according to Bahrain's English language Gulf Daily News.
The assembly did not vote on the motion, the newspaper said.
Many Kardashian fans tweeted their displeasure, saying the "MPs should focus their time on solving key political, economic and social issues", the newspaper reported.
Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based, is trying to overcome nearly two years of unrest among its majority Shi'ite Muslims demanding political reforms and equality with the Sunni Muslims who rule the kingdom. AGENCIES
Flag-waving Palestinians cheer Abbas for U.N. recognition win
RAMALLAH: Crowds welcomed President Mahmoud Abbas back to the West Bank on Sunday and celebrated the United Nations General Assembly's de facto recognition of Palestinian statehood. "Abbas, onwards, we are with you until liberation," flag-waving Palestinian well-wishers chanted at their president, returning from the assembly which voted 138 to nine with 41 absentions on Thursday to implicitly recognise Palestine.
Abbas's Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the territory Israel captured in a 1967 war, gave civil servants half the day off to attend celebrations at the presidential headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The festivities included a ceremonial release of balloons in the red, green, white and black colours of the Palestinian flag into the sky. Palestinian onlooker Mohammad Stayyeh said he was there "to thank the president for the historic achievement and dream that he achieved for us and our children".
Revelling in his most stunning diplomatic achievement in years, Abbas waved at the crowd and said, "the recognition of Palestine as a state changes a lot of facts, and aims to establish new ones."
IMPACT LIMITED
He suggested though that in the absence of a peace deal with Israel, the largely symbolic U.N. decision may have limited impact on the ground, at least for now.
"We have to recognise that our victory provoked the powers of settlement, war and occupation," Abbas said, alluding to an Israeli decision announced on Friday to build as many as 3,000 new settler homes on land Palestinians want for a state.
The United States joined Europe in denouncing the planned settlement expansion as counter-productive to Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy, frozen since 2010.
Israel, reeling from the U.N. vote it saw as a diplomatic blow, told the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank on Sunday it would withhold Palestinian tax revenues this month worth about $100 million, a step that would add to the cash-strapped authority's economic woes.
The authority largely depends on the tax money to pay the salaries of some 153,00 civil servants.
Israel has charged that merely by approaching the U.N. for recognition, the Palestinians violated past agreements it says bind both sides to avoid taking unilateral steps instead of seeking negotiated settlement.
Palestinian celebrations were also marred by a political split in their ranks, between Abbas, whose Western-backed Fatah movement holds sway in the West Bank, and Islamist rivals Hamas, who rule the Gaza Strip.
Hamas' leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, has told Reuters he plans an historic visit to Gaza next week in honour of Hamas' 25th anniversary. Hamas rejects Israel's right to exist, and unlike Abbas's Fatah refuses dialogue with the Jewish state.
In his speech, Abbas said "reviving our national unity" was one of his goals ahead, and the crowd chanted calls for "an end to division".
Meshaal, in his remarks to Reuters in Qatar on Friday, suggested Hamas's conflict with Israel last month, in which 170 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed, had enhanced the Palestinians' diplomatic position.
He challenged Abbas to make the U.N. step a "part of a national Palestinian strategy that includes (armed) resistance". AGENCIES
Abbas's Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the territory Israel captured in a 1967 war, gave civil servants half the day off to attend celebrations at the presidential headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
The festivities included a ceremonial release of balloons in the red, green, white and black colours of the Palestinian flag into the sky. Palestinian onlooker Mohammad Stayyeh said he was there "to thank the president for the historic achievement and dream that he achieved for us and our children".
Revelling in his most stunning diplomatic achievement in years, Abbas waved at the crowd and said, "the recognition of Palestine as a state changes a lot of facts, and aims to establish new ones."
IMPACT LIMITED
He suggested though that in the absence of a peace deal with Israel, the largely symbolic U.N. decision may have limited impact on the ground, at least for now.
"We have to recognise that our victory provoked the powers of settlement, war and occupation," Abbas said, alluding to an Israeli decision announced on Friday to build as many as 3,000 new settler homes on land Palestinians want for a state.
The United States joined Europe in denouncing the planned settlement expansion as counter-productive to Israeli-Palestinian diplomacy, frozen since 2010.
Israel, reeling from the U.N. vote it saw as a diplomatic blow, told the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank on Sunday it would withhold Palestinian tax revenues this month worth about $100 million, a step that would add to the cash-strapped authority's economic woes.
The authority largely depends on the tax money to pay the salaries of some 153,00 civil servants.
Israel has charged that merely by approaching the U.N. for recognition, the Palestinians violated past agreements it says bind both sides to avoid taking unilateral steps instead of seeking negotiated settlement.
Palestinian celebrations were also marred by a political split in their ranks, between Abbas, whose Western-backed Fatah movement holds sway in the West Bank, and Islamist rivals Hamas, who rule the Gaza Strip.
Hamas' leader in exile, Khaled Meshaal, has told Reuters he plans an historic visit to Gaza next week in honour of Hamas' 25th anniversary. Hamas rejects Israel's right to exist, and unlike Abbas's Fatah refuses dialogue with the Jewish state.
In his speech, Abbas said "reviving our national unity" was one of his goals ahead, and the crowd chanted calls for "an end to division".
Meshaal, in his remarks to Reuters in Qatar on Friday, suggested Hamas's conflict with Israel last month, in which 170 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed, had enhanced the Palestinians' diplomatic position.
He challenged Abbas to make the U.N. step a "part of a national Palestinian strategy that includes (armed) resistance". AGENCIES
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