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Losing in Victory

By Hussein Hamid

When will UMNO starts its journey of renewal? Take on the path of morality and decency to ensure that the resurrection of UMNO will meet the aspirations of the Malays and the people of our country? This is not hard to do because there are still amongst them people who are decent, upright and committed to uphold the cause of the Malays and of our country. Let these good people speak their mind. Listen to them and do what they ask you to do so that UMNO will rid itself of the ignorance and narrow mindedness of its current leaders.

They will tell you that at the General Elections of 2004 UMNO could have secured its right to govern the country for fifty more years. UMNO could have right many wrongs, do justice for all and serve the people of this country as UMNO leaders had promised they will do. They could have enhanced the values that they then hold and focused the purpose of our nation into more tangible directions – towards a truly Malaysian Malaysia where all its people having their place in society because if the reality of one Malaysia if not attained it would mean that UMNO would have failed the people, failed the nation.

But they did not do this.
Continue reading “Losing in Victory”

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Is Chan Kong Choy innocent or implicated in the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal?

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat today rebutted in the Chinese media the Singapore Straits Times report on Tuesday that former Transport Minister Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy had been implicated in the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal as one of those identified as having committed serious breaches by the PKFZ Task Force headed by lawyer Vinayak Pradhan as chairman.

Ong has his theories as to how such a Singapore Straits Times report came about but Malaysians are only interested in whether as the Transport Minister who had unlawfully issued three of the four Letters of Support for the issue of multi-billion ringgit bonds by the PKFZ turnkey contractor, Kuala Dimensi Sdn. Bhd (KDSB), resulting in the Malaysian government and taxpayers being burdened with the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal, is Chan Kong Choy innocent or implicated in the PKFZ scandal.

As I had said when I unsuccessfully moved a motion of censure against Kong Choy as Transport Minister during the budget debate on 27th November 2007 when I proposed a RM10 salary cut against him, it is completely unacceptable for Kong Choy to say that he did not know that he did not have the power as Transport Minister to issue such Letters of Support, especially as Kong Choy was Deputy Finance Minister for close to four years from Dec. 1999 to June 2003.
Continue reading “Is Chan Kong Choy innocent or implicated in the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal?”

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Do unto others….

by Hussein Hamid

Over the years we have time and time again witness the public unraveling of UMNO not by its detractors but by its own. Dato’ Onn Jaafar. Tunku Abdul Rahman. Tun Hussein. Tun Mahathir. Tun Musa Hitam. Tan Sri Tengku Razaleigh. A veritable list of Malays who have made history – who are our history. I am the same age as UMNO. Sixty-Three years old this year. What does the future holds for UMNO?

In March this year the outgoing Prime Minister and President of UMNO made this comment of UMNO in his last speech as UMNO’s President.

“Longevity in power has led to complacency and a number of Umno leaders are increasingly out of touch with the ordinary people who have been the source of Umno’s strength for so long.
Continue reading “Do unto others….”

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A Clever, Conveniently Contradictory and Convoluted Judgment

by Martin Jalleh

The perversion of justice in Bolehland continues to persist with the judiciary playing politics to please and pander to the will of the powers that be. The Perak constitutional crisis has revealed a judiciary, the chief guardian of the Constitution, willing to compromise justice by ignoring the Federal Constitution and interfering in the proceedings of a state assembly.

The judiciary descends into abysmal depths as it blatantly disregards constitutional provisions and treats the doctrine of separation of powers with deference,. It continues to deliver, in cases related to the Perak constitutional crisis, what former and retired Court of Appeal judge N H Chan describes as “bad” and “perverse” judgments.

Even when the judiciary chooses to interpret the Federal Constitution correctly, it does so when it is politically expedient and best suits the BN (also read as Umno). There is no better example of this “selective application” than the recent Ipoh High Court ruling that it had no jurisdiction to hear the proceedings of the Perak legislative assembly.
Continue reading “A Clever, Conveniently Contradictory and Convoluted Judgment”

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Injecting Reason Back Into Indonesia-Malaysia Relations

By Farish A. Noor

It would appear as if Reason and Rationality have gone on holiday in Southeast Asia recently: In Malaysia a group of angry residents who wished to protest against the construction of a Hindu temple in their neighborhood decided to demonstrate their anger by marching to the government offices in Selangor with a severed cow’s head, a gesture that was guaranteed to offend the sensibility of pious Hindus who regard the cow as a sacred animal. In Indonesia a misunderstanding over a tourism ad commissioned from a non-Malaysian company has angered scores of Indonesians, simply because it mistakenly featured a scene from a Balinese pendet dance which the Indonesians regard as being exclusively theirs: The net result being a new round of anti-Malaysian protests leading to local vigilante groups harrassing tourists in Jakarta and going out into the streets to ‘sweep’ the country of Malaysians.

In both Malaysia and Indonesia, tempers seem to be rising out of control and for all the wrong reasons. Making matters worse is the fact that in both countries these mob actions are neither accidental nor unavoidable. Mobs do not form themselves and move into the streets for no reason; vigilante groups do not miraculously form themselves out of this air without funding and political support.
Continue reading “Injecting Reason Back Into Indonesia-Malaysia Relations”

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Umno has failed!

By Hussein Hamid

I am an individual.

The state of affairs now seen on our country leaves us with no other conclusion then that UMNO has failed. It has failed in its effort to justify their demand that we Malaysian should allow them to continue for another fifty years with their tinkering of our democratic values and principals as a trade off to the ongoing development of our country and the yet to be achieved uplifting of the Malay race to be a developed ethnic community. Two remarkable and truly laudable goals — economic development and the rise and rise of the Malays – but arguments that are fundamentally flawed.

The Government insists that the particularity of Malaysian Politics, its multi ethnic divides and its religious enclaves make a need for the ISA to be enforced arbitrarily over its people. It continues to dominate over its people who live defenseless under its shadows. And in all this there is no political accountability in what they do.

I say that the Politics of Barisan Nasional is no longer appropriate for our people, for our country. I say that a multi ethnic, multi party democracy is what we need. We no longer want a trade-off between democracy and development. Between freedoms to demonstrate responsibly as against what the Government perceives as our inability to do so without causing riot and chaos in the streets.
Continue reading “Umno has failed!”

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MACC applied to expunge torture testimony from TBH Inquest at PJ High Court

@limkitsiang

01:16 PM
Stay of execution not granted parties instructed 2proceed

01:14 PM
Lawyers argue whether lawful 4stay of execution in revisionary applns gobind objects n says Thai pathologist Porntip testifying Monday

01:11 PM
High ct judge upheld Coroner’s ruling as there is nothing erroneus. MACC lawyer applied 4stay of decision

12:53 PM
Gobind-My client TBH is dead He is not here 2give me instructions We want 2produce testimony 2submit that MACC witnesses cannot be believed

12:45 PM
in any physical assault of persons in MACCHqrs 14th floor
Continue reading “MACC applied to expunge torture testimony from TBH Inquest at PJ High Court”

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Will Najib’s super task force on PKFZ scandal be a super “cover-up” task force to try to “get the cat back into the bag”?

I am taken aback by the announcement by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak of the Cabinet decision yesterday to set up a super task force, headed by Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan, to investigate the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

Why didn’t the Cabinet establish a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal to ensure a full inquiry and public accounting of the mother of all scandals – as the Gerakan President and KPI Minister, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon had belatedly given his support?

Unless convinced otherwise, I see the establishment of the so-called “super task force” into the PKFZ scandal as a major step backwards in public accountability and good governance, as it smacks of being a super “cover up” task force to get “the cat back into the bag” with specific reference to the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal.

What is the purpose of a super task force into the PKFZ scandal, which is to include the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail, the Treasury secretary-general Tan Sri Wan Abdul Aziz and representatives from Finance and Transport Ministries, after the the PKFZ scandal had ballooned from RM1.08 billion in 2002 to RM4.6 billion in 2006 and now set to become RM12.5 billion through three Transport Ministers and three Prime Ministers?
Continue reading “Will Najib’s super task force on PKFZ scandal be a super “cover-up” task force to try to “get the cat back into the bag”?”

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Mysterious Witness took stand at TBH inquest

02:46 PM
Inquest adjourns 4tmr Malik asking 4date 4thai pathologist pontip 2testify

02:43 PM
After that complained 2 deputy minister murugiah n public complaints bureau as far as he knows only bpa investigated

02:39 PM
He made 1st complaint 2Suaram then made police report n 3rd complaint 2suhakam

02:37 PM
Was treated 4injuries on head kidney private part n bloodclots He went 2studio 2have pictures of injuries taken Siva produced torn underwear

02:33 PM
Ashraf hit him on private part with cane He was asked 2wear back same underwear which was torn becos of torture
Continue reading “Mysterious Witness took stand at TBH inquest”

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Another RM2 billion loss?

By Hussein Hamid

Tell me who would be stupid enough to go and buy a bank in Indonesia? You tell me who would do that? Then if that was not enough you go and take a running jump into Pakistan and buy another bank there. But wait there is more! While they are doing that why not pick up a bank in Vietnam. In all they spent an incredible RM10.8 billion to acquire these three banks. Who would be stupid enough to do this when Maybank has been advise AGAINST making the purchase? Maybank belongs to the Government and so they will take instructions from the Government. Taking instructions from a Government run by idiots who thinks that Maybank is also Maybank. So in essence it is the Barisan Government that is stupid enough to go and buy three Banks in Indonesia, Pakistan and Vietnam for RM10.8 billion.

Now Malayan Banking has confirmed that it lost RM2 billion in this escapade. Now which UMNO guy made a few hundred million in commission from these purchases? Who are the usual suspects? Najib as the Minister of Finance has to be suspect number one – but if MACC does the questioning they will say that he is just ‘helping with inquires’. But Najib must beware that even helping with inquiries can be dangerous if Muhyiddin has anything to do about it.
Continue reading “Another RM2 billion loss?”

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From cow-headed to level-headed education

By Azly Rahman

How must we re-educate those who protested in such a style against the relocation of a Hindu temple? What gross deficiencies in our educational system contributed to the creation of beings that displayed such hatred?

What then must we do to reverse the evolution of hate groups sponsored by those who wish to sustain the dying ideology of ethnic politics?

These are the difficult questions Malaysian children will inherit. In the cow-head protest there were children involved; those tender young minds who will hopefully understand what respect for race, ethnicity, and religion means. Hopefully they will be strong enough to release themselves from the shackles of hatred, after 52 years of Malaysia’s independence.

We must blame the continuing survival of communal politics for the creation of hate-based groups. Because our Independence is an illusion and Malaysia is an imagined community that is thriving on rhetoric and slogans, we have a fragile system of in-breeding of hyper-modernised politics of hate.
Continue reading “From cow-headed to level-headed education”

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Can Tsu Koon do what Tee Keat has failed – getting Cabinet approval for a RCI into the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal?

I welcome the support given by the Gerakan President and Minister for KPI, Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the “mother” of all scandals – RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

This is the first time since the long sorry saga of the PKFZ scandal, which ballooned from a RM1.08 billion scandal in 2002 under Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik as Transport Minister to a RM4.6 billion scandal in 2006 under Tan Sri Chan Kong Choy as Transport Minister and is now set to mushroom to become a RM12.5 billion scandal under Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat as Transport Minister that a Federal Minister has acknowledged its gravity as to support the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry.

Can Tsu Koon do what Tee Keat has failed – getting Cabinet approval for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal to ensure that it will not go down in history as Barisan Nasional and the nation’s most “heinous crime without criminals”?

Or is Tsu Koon taking the easy way out from the mounting public pressure for “the whole truth and nothing but the truth” about the PKFZ scandal to be told, by publicly giving lip-service support to the establishment of a Royal Commission of Inquiry, without doing his utmost as KPI Minister to get the Cabinet to make the crucial decision to set it up?
Continue reading “Can Tsu Koon do what Tee Keat has failed – getting Cabinet approval for a RCI into the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal?”

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The Arrogance of Power

By Hussein Hamid

When you are in power for over fifty years, every now and then there is that temptation to bend the rules and sometimes even the truth to suit the political needs of the moment. You can be forgiven if this inclination does come up once in a blue moon – though the colour of the moon can be said to be blue every month if you are powerful enough to want it to be so. So here lies the problem. When this inclination becomes the norm where does that put good governance?

Almost daily now we are subject to the painful and most uncomfortable sensation of having our leaders take us for fools. They boldly stand in front of us through the medium of their Television Stations, their Media or even at times in person and proceed to tell us what they want us to know – not what we should know. Is there nobody amongst them that can tell them that what they are doing is like peeing into the wind?

Have the educated, intelligent and rational generation of Malays all left UMNO leaving our nation without some of its best people in government even when we need them most? Najib is in a world of his own. He lacks the ability to make sense of what is happening around the country. Surviving day to day is hard enough for him. UMNO has sworn blood oaths that they will defend themselves from PAS, from DAP from Keadilan from everybody – no matter what. In desperation they have ventured into territory where they violate all democratic conventions almost on a daily basis. When we question the legality of their actions their answer is that ‘might is right’.
Continue reading “The Arrogance of Power”

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Cow-head protest sacrilege – Hishammuddin just does not get it

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein protests too much. He said he has evidence that the cow-head protesters involved both members of the Barisan Nasional (BN) and the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parties of PKR and PAS.

Hishammuddin just does not get it – that he is accused of double police standards illustrated by the instant police arrest of 16 persons for peaceful candlelight protest at Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday night while cow-head protestors are still scot-free 10 days after the Shah Alam sacrilege.

Hishammuddin’s latest claim that the cow-head protestors come from both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat parties, which is not proven, does not answer the charge that the Home Minister and the Police had failed their most elementary duty of being independent, impartial and professional in discharge policing duties which is not influenced by any personal, party or political bias.

Why is the Police still tip-toeing over the cow-head protest in Shah Alam on August 28, which not only put Malaysia in the dock of world opinion with adverse international media reports scaring off intending investors with the spectre that Malaysia is on the verge of greater racial and religious polarisation and intolerance, but spoilt the national mood for the 52nd National Day celebrations three days later.

Is this because of Hishammuddin’s earlier defence and justification for the cow-head protestors?
Continue reading “Cow-head protest sacrilege – Hishammuddin just does not get it”

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UMNO or Three Stooges? Who will u Vote?

By Hussein Hamid

Over the weekend I have been doing a bit of thinking after watching Malaysiakini video “Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein’s Press Conference 2nd Sept 2009” on youtube re the cow-head incident in Section 23. According to Din (let me just call Hishammuddin that -his name is to long to have to type out every time I need to refer to him – and anyway he is younger then me!). According to Din the organizer of that cow-head demo was sitting to his right and to his left. Now if that is not tacit support to what they have done – I do not know what is. You can even see one of the organizer sitting on Din’s left nodding in agreement to what Din was saying.

In a not too veiled a threat to Pakatan Rakyat, Din said that if he wanted to he could take advantage of the situation to create “huru hara” in Selangor. For those unfamiliar with that term – think Charles Manson and think “helter skelter”…and think UMNO..put them altogether and you have an idea what ‘huru hara’ means!

He also made a direct reference to me…well okaylah if you want to be technical – to all those using cyberspace and internet to comment on the situation. He said that the three stooges – he, Rais and Nazri have requested (can also mean instructed or ordered but here again let us not get too technical!) the IGP, AG and the Suruhan Jaya Multi Media “untuk membantu supaya bila kita ambil tindakan nanti ada bukti dan satu case yang kukuh supaya bila di bawa ka mahkamah dia (we blogers) takkan lepas dari gegamman kita”. Guys you better stay clear of those tentacles – once caught “Tiada maaf bagi mu”.
Continue reading “UMNO or Three Stooges? Who will u Vote?”

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Dream of a sincere merdeka

By Azly Rahman

Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains – Jean Jacques Rousseau

There is a natural aristocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and talents – Thomas Jefferson

Malaysia is approaching its 52nd birthday. But it is middle age characterised by bipolarism, schizophrenia and illusions of grandeur. How did we get to this stage? And how do we de-evolve?

In essence, we are a troubled nation, hyper-modernised by half-baked sense of democracy, paying lip service to the idea of a civilised society and insincere in our pledge to create equal opportunity for all.

Consider the latest problematic phrases we are living with: The Perak Fiasco, 1BlackMalaysia, One Too Many By-elections, 100 Arrests, and A Troubled Monarchy. Then there is also the mysterious death of Teoh Beng Hock, the caning of Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, and the Ramadan drama of the cow-head protesters.

These and many other issues are unresolved. The essence of these lies in the erosion of virtue. At all levels of governance, we have lost all sense of spiritual control; our institutions eroded by our addiction to corruption.
Continue reading “Dream of a sincere merdeka”

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Holy cow! Minister defends protestors!

By Kee Thuan Chye

WHAT a farce the cow-head incident is turning out to be. The handling of the case so far demonstrates clearly that all that talk about 1Malaysia is mostly cow pie.

Firstly, the police have been slow to act. They concluded their investigations last Tuesday and handed them over to the Attorney-General. Now we have to wait further for the august A-G to decide whether action will be taken. In this regard, one can’t help but be reminded that nothing has yet come out of the V.K. Lingam case – so long after the Royal Commission of Inquiry ruled that there were grounds for the A-G to take action.

Secondly, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein goes out of his way to meet with the protestors, the very people who had committed what is apparently a seditious act by bringing a cow’s head to their protest and spitting at it and kicking it. All because they didn’t want a Hindu temple to be relocated in their area of residence in Shah Alam.

Would Hishammuddin have done the same if it had been Hindus protesting against the relocation of a mosque in their housing estate? Imagine what the reaction of the authorities would have been if that had been the case. Continue reading “Holy cow! Minister defends protestors!”

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RCI to conduct no-holds-barred probe into RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal to unearth all abuses of power and cbt even at Cabinet level

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the Cabinet will discuss the ramifications of the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal on Wednesday and decide on the next course of action on the PKFZ “mother of all scandals”.

Yesterday, Najib was briefed by the Transport Minister, Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat, the PKFZ Task Force headed by its chairman, lawyer Vinayak Pradhan and the police on the PKFZ scandal.

Firstly, why was the police at the briefing. Secondly, why wasn’t the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) involved in the briefing, although various reports of financial improprieties had been lodged as far back three years ago if the Najib administration is serious about wanting to uphold integrity and good governance?

Although there is now finally admission that the PKFZ scandal is not only a “can of worms” but a “swamp of crocodiles”, the whole story of the “mother of all scandals” have yet to be unearthed. Continue reading “RCI to conduct no-holds-barred probe into RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal to unearth all abuses of power and cbt even at Cabinet level”

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Arrest and prosecute Hishammuddin for his provocative press conference statement defending the cowhead sacrilege

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday reminded Muslims to avoid condemning or insulting other religions and the followers in their actions, but instead follow true Islamic teachings by respecting other religions.

Najib should first direct this advice and reminder to Umno Ministers and leaders at all levels as they have proved to be the greatest threats to inter-religious goodwill, harmony and understanding particularly in the five months of Najib’s premiership.

To set a good example that the Najib administration does not condone or countenance Umno Ministers or leaders setting the bad example of offending other religions and their followers, the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein should be arrested and prosecuted for his provocative press conference defending the cowhead sacrilege on 28th August which marred the 52nd National Day celebrations three days later.

The Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has directed independent news portal Malaysiakini to remove the video footages of Hishammuddin’s media conference defending and justifying the cow-head sacrilege for being “provocative” which contain “offensive contents with the intent to annoy any person especially Indians” and liable to offences under Section 211/233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998 with a penalty on conviction to a fine up to RM50,000 or a jail sentence.
Continue reading “Arrest and prosecute Hishammuddin for his provocative press conference statement defending the cowhead sacrilege”

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Cows galore!

by Art Harun
Sept 4

The contents of my stomach flew out of my mouth onto the floor after reading Minister Datuk Seri Hishamuddin Hussein’s apparent defense of the cow-head demonstrators yesterday. Before I had finished wiping it, I was hit by another nausea inducing curve ball in the form of Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir’s statement supporting Hishamuddin’s.

Apparently now an offence should not be prosecuted if such prosecution might cause “further unrest”. Yes folk. It is the fasting month. Quite obviously, to certain Muslims, when food and drink are not consumed, blood circulation would be affected thus preventing the supply of oxygen to the brain. The result is calamitous. And not to mention rambunctiously funny.

Mukhriz must remember that when his father, Tun Mahathir Mohamad charged Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for a cooked-up offence circa 1997-98, 100,000 people came out on the street. What do you call that? Peace and tranquillity?

People resting? Or was that “unrest”? So, please answer this. Since when has an offence not become prosecutable for fear of an unrest? No wonder that guy from Penang who called the Chinese and Indians “pendatang” was not charged. That would have caused unrest too, huh? I think I should speed up my invention of a talk cock eater. Continue reading “Cows galore!”