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Target of Pakatan Rakyat in Sarawak in the forthcoming state general elections must be to form the next State Government or deny BN 2/3 majority

I feel great satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment at today’s opening of the RM800,000 Kuching DAP premises as it is the culmination of the blood, sweat and tears of DAP leaders, members and supporters in Sarawak in the past 32 years since 1978 when Sarawak DAP was first formed.

We pay tribute to the Chairman of the Building Committee Sdr. Chong Siew Chiang, the founding Sarawak DAP Chairman who had planted the DAP flag in Sarawak in 1978 with a handful of Sarawakian visionaries. Another such visionary, who is with us today, is Sdr. Ling Sie Ming, the “dragon slayer” in the 1982 general elections when Sarawak DAP made the parliamentary breakthrough winning two parliamentary seats.

But the DAP struggle in Sarawak was a very arduous and testing one, as we were unable to make a breakthrough in the Sarawak state general elections for 18 years until 1996 when we first sent the Rocket to the Sarawak state assembly with the election of three Sarawak DAP State Assemblymen.

The May 2006 Sarawak state general election saw another historic breakthrough when DAP Sarawak sent six representatives to the Sarawak state assembly out of a total of nine successful Opposition candidates – a prelude to the March 8 political tsunami of the 2008 general elections in Malaysia.
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Ong Tee Keat and RM12.5 billion scandal – leave with a bang and not in a whimper

In yesterday’s pathetic 56th MCA Annual General Meeting attended by only 25% of the eligible MCA delegates and boycotted by the majority of the MCA Ministers, Deputy Ministers, MPs and State Assembly members, MCA President Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat suggested his present troubles were caused by his investigation of the nation’s biggest financial scandal – the RM12.5 billion Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) scandal.

For several months, I had refrained from commenting on the PKFZ scandal after putting intense pressure on Ong to “tell all” about the scandal – at one stage, posing three-questions-a-day for 36 days without pause, totaling 108 questions, to force Ong to act on the PKFZ scandal.

I wanted to give Ong a completely free hand and not to feel to be under any pressure when there were signs that some action were at last being taken to ensure proper accountability for the PKFZ scandal.

However, up to now, only four not major personalities had been charged in court for corruption and abuses of power in the PKFZ scandal before the new year, with the promise by the Attorney-General, Tan Sri Abdul Gani Othman himself that “big fishes” in the PKFZ scandal were almost ready to be brought to book and prosecuted in court.

The whole nation waited in bated breath for the arrest and prosecution of the “sharks” of the RM12.5 billion PKFZ scandal, as nobody really believe that the four middling persons charged last December could be responsible wholly or even for majority part of the PKFZ scandal.
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Najib losing battle for 1Malaysia when a rational and level-headed Umno leader like Second Finance Minister Husni could make a racist remark when he is under influence of Penang UMNO

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is fighting a losing battle for his 1Malaysia slogan and concept when a rational and level-headed Umno leader like the Second Finance Minister Datuk Ahmad Husni Mohd Hanadzlah could make a racist remark when he is under the influence of Penang Umno.

DAP MP for Jelutong Jeff Ooi has asked Husni to apologise for making a racist remark at a dinner organized by the Penang Malay Chamber of Commerce on Friday, where he said: “Kalau orang Cina di Pulau Pinang buli kita, kita lawan balik orang Cina”.

Husni’s racist remark was reported in the evening edition of the Penang papers on Saturday night but it was taken out in the morning editions of the Sunday papers.

Although this racist Husni remark has been denied, it had been caught on tape.

I am very surprised as DAP MPs have always found Husni as a very rational, level-headed and reasonable Deputy Minister and since Najib’s elevation as Prime Minister last April, as Second Finance Minister, and we find it most shocking that he could have uttered such a racially-laden statement, which runs counter to what Najib’s 1Malaysia represents.

The question all Malaysians must ponder is why a usually rational, level-headed and reasonable Umno leader who is very moderate in his views could make such a racist remark completely of his character?
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Towards A Developed Malaysia – Part 5

By M. Bakri Musa

[Presented at the Third Annual Alif Ba Ta Forum, “1Malaysia Towards Vision 2020,” Rochester Institute of Technology, NY, December 5, 2009, organized by Kelab UMNO NY-NJ. The presentation can be viewed at www.youtube.com (search under “Bakri Musa RIT”) or through this link]

Part Five of Six: Q&A Con’td:

Q 4: How can we unite Malaysians when we have these separate school systems?

MBM: The underpinning of the national school policy, as articulated in the Razak Report of 1956, was that if young Malaysians were to learn the same language, read the same books, study the same history, then we would all idolize the same heroes and subscribe to the same values. With a common base and shared goals, national unity would be that more readily achievable.

It was not an unreasonable assumption. Tun Razak’s national schools were a definite improvement over the then existing vernacular schools. At least Malaysians now know more about Tunku Abdul Rahman than Nehru or Chiang Kai Shek, and can speak the national language, an achievement that should not be belittled.
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