Posted on

Parliamentary barricade against the press – WhoDun’It?

This is a Parliamentary WhoDun’It?

Who gave the directive to put up the barricade in Parliament on Tuesday to bar the reporters and photographers, leading to the 24-hour downing of tools and cameras by some 100 journalists boycotting all media conferences and events outside the debate in the parliamentary chamber?

The Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin said its not him. The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Nazri Aziz also said its not him. I believe both. Who then gave such a directive?

While this Parliamentary WhoDun’It awaits resolution, a parliamentary sideshow is being enacted.

The Malaysian Insider carried the following story, “Nazri dares backbenchers to get him sacked”, which was picked up by the print media, deepening the mystery as to who actually gave the directive to impose the barricades in Parliament treating journalists like “wild and dangerous beasts” who have to be caged and cabined! Continue reading “Parliamentary barricade against the press – WhoDun’It?”

Posted on

9MP Midterm Review – Tsu Koon’s “beggar politics”

(Speech by DAP MP for Ipoh Timor Lim Kit Siang at the opening of the DAP Tebing Tinggi service centre, Ipoh on Saturday, 28th June 2008)

One result of the March 8 “political tsunami” which saw the end of the Barisan Nasional’s unbroken two-thirds parliamentary majority and its loss of five state governments, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan, is a bout of public soul searching by some Barisan Nasional leaders.

One such public heart-baring was by the Gerakan Adviser Datuk Seri Lim Keng Yaik who confessed that as Umno did not give the other component parties equal standing, Gerakan, MCA and MIC were reduced to the status of “beggars” in the ruling coalition – resulting in their massive rejection by the electorate in the March 8 “political tsunami”.

Gerakan Acting President Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon has proven his predecessor right about the “beggar politics” and “beggar mentality” of Gerakan vis-à-vis Umno in Barisan Nasional in his response to the RM3.5 billion Ninth Malaysia Plan Mid-Term Review deferring of the PORR and Monorail projects in Penang. Continue reading “9MP Midterm Review – Tsu Koon’s “beggar politics””