Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
If you want to vote for the corrupt.......................
Saturday, April 06, 2013
Politicians among 1,500 who own offshore companies by Malaysiakini Team EXCLUSIVE Top Malaysian politicians,
their family members and well-heeled associates are among those owning
secretive offshore companies in Singapore and the British Virgin
Islands, according to an explosive cache of leaked documents. They
include former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's son Mirzan, Federal
Territories and Urban Well-being Minister Raja Nong Chik Zainal Abidin
and Michael Chia, the alleged ‘bagman' for Sabah Chief Minister Musa
Aman. The files, which were obtained by Washington-based
International Confederation of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and
examined by Malaysiakini,show more than 1,500
Malaysians owning offshore companies in Singapore - dubbed as the new
Switzerland - as well as the British Virgin Islands (BVI), an
international tax haven. The
ICIJ list comprises a curious mix of Forbes-listed tycoons,
parliamentarians, retired politicians, civil servants and their spouses,
members of royal families, famous and infamous businesspeople,
underworld kingpins and even former beauty queens.
While some of
the offshore companies carry out legitimate transactions, others are
likely to be part of the RM871.4 billion estimated by Washington-based
financial watchdog Global Financial Integrity (GFI) to have been lost
through illicit outflows over a 10-year period.
In 2010 alone, GFI reported
that close to RM200 billion of dirty money was siphoned out of
Malaysia, putting the country second only to Asian economic powerhouse
China in global capital flight.
The leaked ICIJ files provide secret records of offshore holdings of people and companies in more than 170 countries and territories. "The hoard of documents represents the biggest stockpile of inside
information about the offshore system ever obtained by a media
organisation. The total size of the files, measured in gigabytes, is
more than 160 times larger than the leak of US State Department
documents by Wikileaks in 2010," says ICIJ. However,
despite the extensive data, this is not the complete list of all
off-shore companies around the world. Indeed, it is only the tip of the
iceberg. Nevertheless, it allows members of the public, for the very
first time, to sneak a peak into the secretive world of anonymous
wealth.
Raja Nong Chik
According to the leaked documents, Raja Nong Chik, who is Lembah Pantai
Umno chief, is a prominent shareholder and director of RZA
International Corporation, a British Virgin Islands entity incorporated
on Aug 21, 2007, through Singapore. The company is a mirror of
Malaysian entity Kumpulan RZA Sdn Bhd, a 1997-founded company dealing in
real estate and equities investment. Raja
Nong Chik set up the offshore entity with his father, Raja Zainal
Abidin Raja Tachik, a number of his sisters and brothers as well as
other family members. Most of them are also shareholders and directors
of Kumpulan RZA Sdn Bhd.
Prior to his senatorship, Raja Nong Chik was a corporate figure who founded and managed an engineering firm for 20 years.
Contacted by Malaysiakini,
the minister confirmed that RZA International was set up by his father,
who will turn 96 this year, "for the purpose of holding legitimate
offshore investments for the family".
However, the minister did
not elaborate on the offshore investments made by his family through the
company. He added that RZA International was de-registered in 2009. "The company was not used to obscure activities of Kumpulan RZA Sdn
Bhd, and neither was it used to circumvent taxes or hide transactions
overseas," Raja Nong Chik said in an email to Malaysiakini. Mirzan Mahathir
Mirzan
Mahathir, the eldest son of Mahathir, is also among those the ICIJ list
as director and shareholder of three off-shore companies. Mirzan's major commercial vehicle in Malaysia is Crescent Capital Sdn
Bhd, an investment holding and independent strategic and financial
advisory firm. He is the company's chairperson and chief executive
officer. A
Forbes-listed entrepreneur, Mirzan holds a non-executive director
position in Philippines-based San Miguel group, which has raised
eyebrows in Muslim-majority Malaysia, as beer brewery is a core
businesses of San Miguel.
One of Mirzan's offshore entities is
called Crescent Energy Ltd, a Labuan offshore company incorporated on
Dec 16, 2003, originally named Mainline Ltd and with an authorised share
capital of US$12,000 (RM37,000).
Mirzan became a director and main shareholder six days later and the company was renamed Crescent Energy on May 16, 2008. Another Labuan offshore company, Utara Capital Ltd, in which Mirzan is
named as sole shareholder and director, was incorporated on Aug 19,
1997, with an authorised share capital of US$15,000. The third
company, Al Sadd Investments Pte Ltd. was also a Labuan offshore
company. It was established on May 14, 2009, with an authorised share
capital of US$12,000. Mirzan is listed as the sole shareholder and
director of Al Sadd Investments. Malaysiakini has
approached Mirzan's office for his comments on these offshore companies,
but his aide said he was unable to respond on the matter as he was out
of town. Micheal Chia
Another prominent personality on the list is Chia Tien Foh, who is
better known as Michael Chia - the shadowy business tycoon allegedly
linked to Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman. Chia, too, has three
offshore companies in which he is listed as either as director or
shareholder. One of them was CTF International Ltd , with ‘CTF' seen as
the initials of Chia's full name. It was incorporated on April 18, 2007,
in the British Virgin Islands. CTF International gained notoriety when it was named by whistleblower website Sarawak Report of beinga conduit in channelling millions of ringgit to a Hong Kong account allegedly linked to Musa.
However, Musa (left), has denied any business ties with Chia (right).
CTF was de-registered in 2008. The other two offshore companies owned
by Chia are Ravenswood Development Ltd and Ark Capital Technologies Ltd.
In addition, Chia's wife Yap Loo Mien and another woman, who is alleged
to be his mistress, Yap Siaw Lin, also appear on the list as key
shareholders in three separate British Virgin Islands entities. Loo
Mien owned two companies - Perfect Minds Incorporated and StarWater
Corporation - while Siaw Lin owned Splendor Success Worldwide Ltd. Malaysiakini contacted Chia through the address stated in his company registration documents for comments, but there has been no response. Iron-clad secrecy
According to a former officer with of the Inland Revenue Board (IRB),
crooked Malaysians parked their money offshore to enjoy either
significantly lower or even no taxes, and where the income is illegal,
they are protected by a wall of secrecy. Such ploys, said the
officer who was a tax investigator, may not always succeed as Malaysia
has a double taxation agreement, with close to 80 countries, that
provides for the exchange of information on investigations involving the
prevention or detection of tax evasion or fraud. This includes Singapore, where some of the offshore companies are based. The island republic has been labelled by Sarawak corporate lawyer Alvin Chong (right) as the "new Switzerland" in a recent videoclandestinely filmed by London-based NGO Global Witness.
The
retired officer, who worked with the IRB for more than 20 years, added
that while the setting up of offshore companies was, in itself not
illegal, such companies could be used to evade taxes.
"For
example, a payment can be made for a seemingly legitimate service, like
consultancy for the procurement of submarines, but it is paid to a
company set up overseas, where the recipient pays a lower tax. "Singapore
and Hong Kong, with corporate tax rates of about 17 percent compared
with Malaysia's 25 percent, are popular parking lots," he said, speaking
on condition he not be named. Tax evasion
One of the methods of tax evasion was explainedby Chong in the Global Witness video - on how toavoid paying capital gains tax relating to Sarawak's doggy land deals. According to the former tax officer, offshore companies often include many layers of ownership through nominees to camouflage and "water down the link" to the original owner. As such, he said the act of setting up offshore companies in tax havens often raises red flags.
"Someone
can say that their company is set up at the British Virgin Islands, for
example, but the money they use to set up the BVI company, or more
importantly, the operations channeled through these tax havens could
raise suspicion as being not genuine and invite an IRB probe," he said.
"If
the MACC (Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission), IRB or the police want
information from their Singapore counterparts, for example, the latter
are obliged to give, at least under the Malaysia-Singapore DTA (double
taxation agreement)," he said. But most tax havens are not signatories to DTA agreements and they operate outside international law.
Moreover, it is also up to the Malaysian authorities to decide whether
to pursue the case and seek the necessary information from their
counterparts abroad. Malaysiakini Aidila Razak, Kuek Ser Kuang Keng, Wong Teck Chi and Steven Gan contributed to this report.
The
ICIJ list comprises a curious mix of Forbes-listed tycoons,
parliamentarians, retired politicians, civil servants and their spouses,
members of royal families, famous and infamous businesspeople,
underworld kingpins and even former beauty queens.
Raja
Nong Chik set up the offshore entity with his father, Raja Zainal
Abidin Raja Tachik, a number of his sisters and brothers as well as
other family members. Most of them are also shareholders and directors
of Kumpulan RZA Sdn Bhd.
A
Forbes-listed entrepreneur, Mirzan holds a non-executive director
position in Philippines-based San Miguel group, which has raised
eyebrows in Muslim-majority Malaysia, as beer brewery is a core
businesses of San Miguel.
However, Musa (left), has 
This includes Singapore, where some of the offshore companies are based. 
As such, he said the act of setting up offshore companies in tax havens often raises red flags.
