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A million May 13s

By Farish A. Noor

AND so once again, we are on the cusp of the fateful day of 13 May. Tomorrow, we will be joined together in a state of national mourning over the passing of what many have described as Malaysia’s golden years.

Year in, year out, Malaysians are reminded of the tragic events of 13 May 1969, and made to repent for the sins of our forefathers and foremothers. Like a restless ghost, we cannot get past this date without a sense of foreboding and the fear that one day, the past will revisit the present in no uncertain terms.

To add to our fear, the country’s leaders (though they tend to be those on one side of the political fence) are wont to resurrect May 1969 whenever it suits them most, and to frame the event in a decidedly jaundiced aspect. We are told time and again that to demand political freedom, the right to speak, the right to believe, the right to love, will lead us down the path that ends in the impasse of communal bloodshed and violence.

But does it and will it?
Continue reading “A million May 13s”

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Can Malaysians expect justice in cases involving top Umno leaders when there is an Umno Chief Justice, Tan Sri Zaki Azmi?

The question bugging Malaysians in the past 20 months have finally come to the very fore – whether Malaysians can expect justice in cases involving top Umno leaders when the Chief Justice, Tan Sri Zaki Azmi had been a long-time Umno lawyer and stalwart?

When Zaki was appointed directly as Federal Court judge in September 2007, it is open secret that he was headed for what turned out to be a quintuple jump as Chief Justice in a matter of 13 months.

Both inside and outside Parliament, the propriety of Zaki’s appointment as Chief Justice and how it could help in restoring national and international confidence in the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary was raised – with no attempt by the Prime Minister of-the-day to give proper and acceptable answers.
Continue reading “Can Malaysians expect justice in cases involving top Umno leaders when there is an Umno Chief Justice, Tan Sri Zaki Azmi?”

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Zambry (self-claimed 3-in-1 Mandela, Gandhi, King) returns to SUK as a doubly illegitimate Perak MB

Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir (self-claimed 3-in-1 Mandela, Gandhi, King) returns to the Mentri Besar’s office in SUK (State Secretariat) Perak this morning as a doubly illegitimate Perak Mentri Besar.

When Zambry first entered the Perak Mentri Besar’s office on Feb. 6, 2009, he was just illegitimate Mentri Besar as it was the result of an unethical, undemocratic, illegal and unconstitutional power grab based on three “political frogs” who have since disappeared from public view and dared not return to their constituency to meet their voters.

When Zambry re-entered the SUK today, he had become doubly illegitimate Mentri Besar as a result of the landmark Kuala Lumpur High Court judgment that there was never a vacancy for him to become a lawful and legitimate MB.

Zambry knew that since Monday, he had become doubly illegitimate as pretender Mentri Besar after the judgment by Justice Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim declaring Datuk Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin as the lawful Mentri Besar.
Continue reading “Zambry (self-claimed 3-in-1 Mandela, Gandhi, King) returns to SUK as a doubly illegitimate Perak MB”

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Asian public intellectuals condemn Wong Chin Huat’s detention

Joint statement issued by a group of concerned public intellectuals. The people who endorsed the statement are either past or current recipients of the Asian Public Intellectual Fellowship, given by the Nippon Foundation in Tokyo, Japan.

We, the Asian Public Intellectual (API) fellows, view with grave alarm and concern the recent arrest of a fellow intellectual, Mr. Wong Chin Huat under Section 4(1) of the Sedition Act. We believe his detention was related to his call, on behalf of the Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih), to all Malaysians to wear black on Thursday the 7 May 2009, as a mark of protest against the illegal and unconstitutional usurpation of power by the Barisan Nasional (BN) in Perak.

This action by the authorities, in our opinion, was totally unwarranted and unjust. Chin Huat had done nothing wrong, beyond exercising his right as a citizen to engage in a social movement that is committed to the conduct of clean, free and fair elections. His arrest and detention are an attack by the Government against the fundamental and inalienable right of a citizen, as enshrined in the Federal Constitution. The recent ruling by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur simply proves and confirms that Chin Huat was taking a constitutionally right decision and action.
Continue reading “Asian public intellectuals condemn Wong Chin Huat’s detention”

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Kit Siang Tweets

Kit Siang Tweets
He uses the Internet tool to update on Perak’s political turmoil
By JOSEPH KAOS JR | Malay Mail | 13 May 2009
[email protected]

TECHNOLOGY has made it possible for hundreds of people to experience the Perak political turmoil through the lenses of Lim Kit Siang.

Using the increasingly popular Internet tool Twitter, the veteran politician has been feeding his “followers” with minute-by-minute updates on the Perak crisis.

Although the latest happenings can be gathered from online news websites, many turn to Twitter instead as Lim’s updates are posted as soon as it happens. This is possible with the help of the handphone web services.

“Entering the Menteri Besar’s office now,” said one of his Twitter updates, or Tweets. “MB’s office empty except some stationery,” revealed another.

Considering that all sorts of changes occur in Perak before anyone can say Jack Robinson, people will be eager to have the information as soon as possible.

The 68-year-old Lim defies the stereotype that most older people are rather clueless about embracing technology. Besides being among the first few politicians to set up a blog site, Lim also has a Facebook account.

To date, Lim has 505 Twitter followers.
Continue reading “Kit Siang Tweets”

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Return of Mahathirism – footage of Perak Speaker dragged out of Assembly on May 7 Day of Infamy banned from being aired on television stations

Malaysiakini today reported that footage of Perak Speaker V. Sivakumar being bodily dragged out, in Speaker robes and Speaker chair, from the Perak State Assembly by police officers and goons on May 7 Day of Infamy has been banned from being aired on television stations.

Malaysiakini reported that a TV station has video footage of the “enduring image” of the May 7 Day of Infamy – the dramatic moment when the Perak Speaker, in his robes and chair, was physically removed from the Assembly – but Malaysians did not get to see it on the orders of its owner, Media Prima.

Malaysiakini reported:

Media Prima, which is believed to be linked to ruling party Umno, controls the country’s four free-to-air private TV stations – TV3, NTV7, TV8 and TV9.

According to a source who requested anonymity, the staff were given ‘directives’ from senior managers on the evening of May 7 not to screen the controversial footage despite one of its stations had captured the whole incident on tape. Continue reading “Return of Mahathirism – footage of Perak Speaker dragged out of Assembly on May 7 Day of Infamy banned from being aired on television stations”

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The Texture Of Justice

By Malik Imtiaz

MAY 12 – It was to be expected. As news of the decision of the High Court in the matter of Nizar v Zambry filtered out, many were quick to give thanks and express encouragement for what they perceived as a courageous judgment.

Some even expressed the hope that the judiciary was recovering its independence.

The judgment did, after all, run counter to the entrenched positions of the Prime Minister, who was the Perak Umno liaison chief at the time power was seized in the state, the Barisan Nasional leadership and the Federal Government they have constituted, and His Royal Highness the Sultan of Perak.

As has been the case when other seemingly “courageous” or “independent” judgments were handed down by the courts had led to such expressions of encouragement, there were those who made the point that the judiciary was praised only when it gave decisions against Umno or the Barisan, and the governments they constitute.

They ask why it is the courts are “kangaroo courts” when they decide in favour of the Barisan but not when they hand down judgments against it.

In so asking, they suggest that criticism against the Judiciary and the Federal Government in this regard is unfair and self-serving as the judicial process is capable of producing judgments that run either way. To them, the good must be taken with the bad.
Continue reading “The Texture Of Justice”

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Perak in limbo with no Mentri Besar – PR lawyers to set aside Court of Appeal single-judge “stay” decision

Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir has likened himself to Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, causing all-round derision, outrage and revulsion.

If Zambry dreams of being a Gandhi, he would not want to be an illegitimate and unlawlful Mentri Besar even for a second.

He would not lay claim to be the Perak Mentri Besar as after the Nizar vs Zambry judgment of Justice Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim yesterday, he is doubly illegitimate as the Perak Mentri Besar.

Zambry went against everything Gandhi stood for in announcing that he would again “gate-crash” the Perak State Secretariat building tomorrow to illegitimately re-occupy the office of Mentri Besar!

Zambry was defaming the memory of Gandhi in suggesting that the great Indian moralist would have approved Zambry for being a doubly illegitimate MB.

The most astounding single-judge Court of Appeal decision to grant stay of the Abdul Aziz declaration does not in any way salvage Zambry’s position as a doubly illegitimate MB.

Abdul Aziz declared Zambry as an unlawful and illegitimate MB and Nizar the lawful and legitimate MB.
Continue reading “Perak in limbo with no Mentri Besar – PR lawyers to set aside Court of Appeal single-judge “stay” decision”

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Perak has no one who can legitimately occupy the MB’s office

The incipient hope of start of restoration of public confidence in the independence of the judiciary sparked by the courageous and landmark judgment by Justice Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim in the Nizar vs Zambry case was cruelly crushed in less than 24 hours.

The Court of Appeal’s super-fastracking of the appeal by the usurper and illegitimate Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Zambry Abdul Kadir for a stay of the declaration by Justice Abdul Aziz, with the stay granted by a single judge, has created a firestorm of outrage and disillusionment that justice and fair play can be expected from the present judiciary.

This is one email which I received immediately after the extraordinary speed with which Zambry’s application for stay was granted by the Court of Appeal through a single judge:

“I only wish that the courts act like this in all cases, super fast and super efficient. I am intrigued why in some case, it takes months or even years, when, in the above situation and case, it only took several hours for a panel to be set up.

“Why the double standards?

“The man who steals a loaf of bread has to rot in jail for months before his case is even heard. The rationale behind this and the usual excuse is that there is backlog of cases.”

Continue reading “Perak has no one who can legitimately occupy the MB’s office”

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Najib – cut losses and hold Perak state elections or he will fail his “important quest” to regain public trust

Twitter Flash : 12/05/09 13:40
The Court of Appeal fast-tracked Zambry’s case originally fixed to start at 2.30 p.m. – decision delivered at about 1.20 pm granting stay.

12/05/09 13:28
Court of Appeal (single judge Justice Ramly Ali) grants stay to Zambry. Does this mean Nizar moves out and Zambry moves in to SUK?
—-

In his keynote address at the 13th Malaysian Banking Summit, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that he was now on the “important quest” of “regaining public trust”.

If Najib is serious about his “important quest” to regain public trust, he should not prolong the Perak political impasse; be bold enough to “cut losses” and stop all appeals against the judgment by Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge, Justice Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim yesterday in the Nizar vs Zambry case declaring that Datuk Seri Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin is the valid Perak Mentri Besar; and agree to the dissolution of Perak Assembly to hold new state elections for Perakians to elect the government they want.

Najib should pay heed to Tengku Razaleigh’s call to the Sultan of Perak to dissolve the State Assembly to end the Perak crisis.
Continue reading “Najib – cut losses and hold Perak state elections or he will fail his “important quest” to regain public trust”

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Hishammuddin – revoke all the ISA conditions imposed on Manoharan and 4 Hindraf leaders

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein should revoke all the conditions imposed on DAP Selangor State Assemblyman Kota Alam Shah and the other four Hindraf leaders, P. Uthayakumar, K. Vasanthakumar, Ganapathi Rao and R. Kenghadharan as Hishammuddin said yesterday that they were no more a threat to the country.

Hishammuddin said the government had tried to be fair by releasing them as they were no more a threat to the country, and that they should be fair in their actions in future.

If Manoharan, Uthayakumar, Vasanthakumar, Ganapathi Rao and Kenghadharan are “no more a threat to the country” in the eyes of the Home Minister, then why have restrictive, unjust, undemocratic and draconian conditions been imposed on the five, disenfranchising them as free and equal Malaysian citizens in barring them from speaking freely in public, taking part in political and NGO activities, and restricting both space and time as barring them from leaving their restricted locality, to be at home every night and requiring them to report regularly to the police?

The two cousins, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Hishammuddin should realise that they are nullifying all positive benefits to the government with the release of the five Hindraf leaders with such unacceptable conditions.
Continue reading “Hishammuddin – revoke all the ISA conditions imposed on Manoharan and 4 Hindraf leaders”

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2nd twittering morning – Nizar and Excos return to office after judgment

http://twitter.com/limkitsiang : Nizar and Excos return to office after judgment

12/05/09 11:49
(The below are from the PC by Ngeh at the SUK)

12/05/09 11:47
“Sukan Perak this year cancelled – allocation chanelled towards districts sports level. We’ll redeem the 3 month wasted during Perak crisis.

12/05/09 11:46
“Industries in Perak given a boost with Invest Perak to be more active in attracting investments.

12/05/09 11:45
“Parking fees to be reduced to 30 sen ASAP. Premier University to launch in July ’09 with groudbreaking ceremony – intake of 2K students.

12/05/09 11:43
“Ipoh Central Bus project to proceed as planned. Sultan Azland Shah Airport to resume flights ASAP. Airasia keen to fly from Ipoh Airport.

12/05/09 11:42
“Also 817 village chiefs have been issued letters to carry out their duties. Land Office also instructed to issue freehold titles.

12/05/09 11:42
“All Exco has started working w’out wasting time. 14 local councils to swear in councillors latest by tmr in order to function properly.

12/05/09 11:40
PC starts with senior Exco Ngeh Koo Ham announcing that MB is still at the Istana. Exco will meet tomorrow at 10am.

12/05/09 11:19
Finally, MB press conference is going to begin any moment after the press are allowed in.

12/05/09 11:18
The letters of suspension State Secretary/State Legal Adviser now posted on all notice boards in and around SUK building

12/05/09 11:12
In Ipoh SUK, press barred from entering to attend the MB press conference.

12/05/09 10:59
From Thomas – Zambry’s application for stay is fixed for today.
Continue reading “2nd twittering morning – Nizar and Excos return to office after judgment”

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Back to the People

by Farish A. Noor

With the High Court deciding that Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin was and is, after all, the rightful Chief Minister of Perak we seem to have returned to square one all over again. Obviously it is too soon to tell whether the imbroglio in Perak will now wind down to a stagnant non-issue, or whether the Barisan Nasional will not allow the matter to rest and take the issue to the Federal Court next. Perakians – like most Malaysians – are a trifle tired of the ongoing drama but at the same time no-one can afford to relent at this stage due to the stakes in the contest.

To underscore this fact, one simply has to take a peek at the video clips that are on the internet at the moment and witness the unseemly spectacle of Speaker Sivakumar being unceremoniously manhandled and dragged out of the State Assembly. No, my friends, this was not a scene from ‘The Last King of Scotland’, the film about the brutal dictatorship of Idi Amin Dada that brought Uganda to the level of primordial violent madness. This was closer to home, happening right here in Malaysia, ‘Truly Asia’… Continue reading “Back to the People”

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From May 13 to 1Malaysia – The Future of Malaysian Nation Building

Sticky Post – Scroll down for latest posts.

Live webcast @ http://tv.dapmalaysia.org

Watch live video from DAP Malaysia on Justin.tv

Public forum: “From May 13 to 1Malaysia – The Future of Malaysian Nation Building”

Date : 13 May 2009
Time : 8.00 pm
Venue Civic Hall, MBPJ, Petaling Jaya, Selangor (MAP)
Enquiries: 016-323 1563/ 016-291 3453

Opening by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim
Speakers:

  • Lim Kit Siang, DAP Parliamentary Leader, Ipoh Timur MP
  • YAB Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin, Menteri Besar Perak, Bukit Gantang MP
  • Tunku Abdul Aziz, DAP National Vice Chairman/Penang Senator-designate
  • Khalid Abd. Samad, Shah Alam MP
  • K. Ragunath, President of Bar Council Malaysia
  • N.H.Chan, Retired Court of Appeal Judge
  • Prof. Azmi bin Sharom, Law Professor
  • Tricia Yeoh, Research Officer to Selangor MB
  • Tan Sri Abdullah Ahmad aka (Dollah Kok Lanas); Former NST Group Editor-in-Chief
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My first twittering day

This is the twitter updates from KL High Court in Nizar vs Zambry case. From 3 – 4pm

# great judgment nizar will seek audience with sultan for dissolution

# judge rejects stay appln

# zambry counsel applying for stay of declaration

# judge declares nizar lawful mb

# judge – mb can only be dismissed by no confidence motion in assembly

# judge – assembly never had no confidence motion, material

# judge – mb can request dissolution without having lost majoritya

# judge upholds stephen ningkan judgment

# judge rejects ag’s ‘deeming’ argument – no ambiguity in constitution

# judge says perak constitution does not contemplate mb dismissal by sultan

# judge says once mb appointed by sultan, mb is answerable to assembly

# kl high court judge delivering judgment so far so good keep fingers crossed

# Will try to tweet the High Court decision later using my handphone. (1pm)

5.30 pm – Deborah Loh of TheNutGraph has given the following report of the historic High Court judgment by Justice Datuk Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim: – Continue reading “My first twittering day”

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Najib’s “open mind” to resolve Perak constitutional/political crisis with PR leaders “refreshing”

At a media conference in Alor Setar on Saturday, I said that the time had come for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to meet with Pakatan Rakyat leaders to resolve the three-month-long Perak constitutional and political impasse so that Malaysians in Perak and the country can focus single-mindedly on tiding the nation through the world’s worst economic crisis in a century.

This had become imperative after the May 7 Day of Infamy which brought unprecedented international shame to Malaysia as a modern and developed country not only by the trampling of human rights and the rule of law in the gross abuse of police powers in the completely unjustifiable lock-down of Ipoh but also in the flagrant violation of the doctrine of separation of powers highlighted by the photographs and video clips flashed around the world of the Perak Speaker, V. Sivakumar in Speaker robes and in Speaker Chair being bodily dragged out of the Legislative Assembly.

The image that the May 7 Day of Infamy projected to the world is that Perak and Malaysia are degenerating into failed states like Zimbabwe, Somalia and Congo in Africa rather than a nation aspiring to first-world developed-nation status.

This was why my first reaction to the scandalous spectacle not only of two Mentris Besar but also two Speakers and two Assemblies in Perak, and the physical removal of the Speaker – the most shameful episode in the history of parliamentary democracy, not only in Perak, Malaysia but also the world – was to point out that the biggest casualty of all was Najib’s “1Malaysia” slogan, which had been “shredded into smithereens” by the May 7 Day of Infamy.
Continue reading “Najib’s “open mind” to resolve Perak constitutional/political crisis with PR leaders “refreshing””

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RM12 billion PKFZ scandal – stop appointing MCA lackeys as PKA Chairman

Datuk Lee Hwa Beng should have been sacked instead of being re-appointed as Port Klang Authority (PKA) Chairman as he is not efficient, competent or professional about the release of the PricewaterhouseCooper report on the mega-billion ringgit Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

The Edge weekly (April 27 – May3, 2009) which carried the cover story of “Total PKFZ bill – RM8 billion?” published a letter from Datuk Lee Hwa Beng responding to the Edge expose, saying that the Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat had in early April made a statement that the release of the PKFZ report was “up to the PKA” but as his term as PKA Chairman “had technically expired on March 31 this year, I was not able to respond” to the Edge report.

This however did not prevent him from saying that he had read the PwC final report and saying that it “cannot be released while awaiting declassification by other government departments”. Continue reading “RM12 billion PKFZ scandal – stop appointing MCA lackeys as PKA Chairman”

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The Lesson From Perak

by M. Bakri Musa

The current political paralysis in Perak reflects the major failures of our key institutions. It is a total breakdown at the palace, the legislature, and the permanent establishment. It also exposes the glaring inadequacies of the judicial system which has yet to adjudicate this critical and urgent matter of state.

It is not however, the failure of the people, as some pundits have implied by quoting the old adage that we deserve the government we get. It is the voters’ prerogative whether to grant the incumbent party a stunning victory, humble it with an unstable slim majority, or even throw it into the ranks of the opposition. Canada and Italy have a long history of minority governments, and they have managed well.

A mark of a mature democracy, or any system for that matter, is the transfer of power from one entity to another smoothly and predictably. Perak is a spectacular failure; it is also a preview for Malaysia. Continue reading “The Lesson From Perak”

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A number 1BlackMalaysia day indeed

by Beth Yahp
Malaysiakini
May 7, 09

Yesterday I was hoping against hope that everything I know about the current political culture in Malaysia would today be proved wrong.

I’d hoped that democratic ‘due process’ would indeed take place in the Perak state assembly—and its environs—and that it would be upheld by lawmakers, police, civil servants, and the courts of justice who purportedly serve the Malaysian people who put them in office and, directly or indirectly, continue to pay their salaries.

Instead, what I’ve watched unfolding today is a scene directly from a police state: barbed wire cordoning off a democratic house of assembly; activists, lawmakers and ordinary rakyat being intimidated and arrested like criminals, because apparently it’s now a crime to wear black and have breakfast in the vicinity of the one place where your voice as a citizen is supposed to be heard. Fairly and freely. Continue reading “A number 1BlackMalaysia day indeed”

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Why Najib’s good Vesak Day message fell flat

I commend the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak for a great Vesak Day message, when he called on Malaysians not to focus on differences between one another, but to look for similarities and common ground,

Although Najib invoked the call “In the spirit of human progress, in the spirit of developing this great country, in the spirit of 1Malaysia”, it unfortunately fell flat because the actions of his government in his first month as Prime Minister failed to match his slogan of “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now.”

Despite his attendance at the Vesak celebrations at the Fo Guang Shan Dong Zen Buddhist Temple in Jenjarom yesterday, Najib had not been able to evoke the electrifying effect his predecessor, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi created in his first Christmas message as Prime Minister in his second month in office in December 2003, and when he was guest-of-honour at the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM)’s Christmas reception in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur six years ago.

Najib and his think-tank should give deep and serious study as to why his premiership has not been able to launch off successfully despite various goodies and promises of more to come. Continue reading “Why Najib’s good Vesak Day message fell flat”