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RMK9 – Does It Benefit The Orang Asli?

This is my exchange in Parliament with the Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Tan Sri Muhamad Muhamad Taib on the plight of the Orang Asli in Malaysia 51 years after Merdeka during the 2009 Budget debate in early November.

The only way to end the decades-long neglect of the Orang Asli community in Malaysia is to mainstream the problems of Orang Asli and the following letter is a welcome beginning for such a mainstreaming process.
Continue reading “RMK9 – Does It Benefit The Orang Asli?”

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Mat Sabu’s return to Parliament – DAP to give full support

The news of the sudden death of Deputy Education Minister Datuk Razali Ismail just now is most shocking and I would like to convey to his family my deepest condolences for the loss of a sober-minded and even-handed Malaysian.

Razali had always impressed me with his rationality as he is a rare Umno MP who is not only well-read and very passionate about education and life-long learning but would have no truck with ultra sentiments and unparliamentary antics and outbursts.

There is going to be a major by-election with the vacancy arising from the death of Razali.

DAP will go all out to work for Mat Sabu’s return to Parliament, as the PAS National Vice President lost narrowly to Razali in the 2008 general election in the Kuala Terengganu parliamentary constituency by a razor-edge 628 votes.

Razali secured 32,562 votes, Sabu 31,934 votes while independent candidate Maimun Yusuf polled 685 votes.

(Speech2 at the DAP Penang 13,000-People Victory Dinner at Han Chiang School on Friday, 28th November 2008)

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RM 10-salary cut motion against IGP Musa Hassan

I find the complacent attitude of the Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan in his speech in Penang yesterday claiming that “Malaysia is still a safe place”, coming on the heels of the recent remark by the Deputy Home Minister Datuk Chor Chee Heung that the worsening crime in the country was a “misperception” of the people, most irresponsible, deplorable and unacceptable.

It makes a mockery of the Police Royal Commission set up five years ago by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to create an efficient, incorruptible, professional world-class police service to keep crime low.

I have just returned from Xiamen where “a safe city” was one of its best-selling assets. During my first night in Xiamen, I was struck by the confident assurance given by the local guide that visitors can go about the town at night as it is very safe from crime.

This selling point was again highlighted in my short visit to Gulang Islet, the scenic and alluring tourist isle with a small population of over 10,000 people but which attracts more than four million tourists a year. Visitors were assured that crime against tourists was virtually unheard-of on the island!

My disgust at the IGP’s complacent and irresponsible attitude about galloping crime in the country is all the more pronounced after my visit to Xiamen and Gulangyi. Continue reading “RM 10-salary cut motion against IGP Musa Hassan”