Day: May 19, 2010

I read Mariam Mokhtar’s article “‘Deal or no deal’ falls flat” in Malaysiakini this morning dismembering Prime Minister Najib Razak’s RM5million-for-offer speech at Rejang Park, Sibu in the final hours of the Sibu by-election campaign Polling Eve on Saturday.

I knew about Najib’s dishonourable RM5 million offer to the people of Rejang Park to mitigate their flood problems – a drop in the ocean as Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had admitted that it would cost at least RM1 billion to resolve Sibu’s long-neglected floods problem – in return for BN candidate Robert Lau elected as MP for Sibu.

But I had not seen the video of Najib’s infamous speech and I did not fully believe what Mariam wrote – as I just could not imagine the Prime Minister of the country saying, doing and behaving the way she has written.

This is why I started on the hunt for the video on the Internet. It was not difficult to find. The Malaysiakini video had been put up on many sites, including other electronic websites.

I was just astounded that Mariam was 100% right and Najib did say, act and behave as she has described and rightly castigated him.

It is indeed “Seeing is Believing”.

Mariam’s was a Must Read article. This is a Must View video!
Continue reading “Najib’s infamous Sibu campaign speech – Seeing is Believing”

The Information, Unity, Culture and Arts Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Rais Yatim should intervene to lift all RTM restrictions on producer Chou Z Lam’s television documentary on the Bakun Dam.

There had been unacceptable political interference in RTM’s TV2 resulting in Chou’s documentary on the Bakun Dam being taken off the air because of Barisan Nasional concerns over it chances in the Sibu by-election during the campaign period.

The documentary was taken off the air under the direct instruction of RTM’s chief broadcast executive Ibrahim Yahya.

RTM’s newsroom chief executive Jumat Engson had said the documentary was taken off the air because it had sensitive elements that could be harmful for BN in the ongoing Sibu by-election.

Now that the Barisan Nasional had lost the Sibu by-election even without the Bakun Dam television documentary, this rigmarole of political interference with media freedom should be stopped immediately.

Diplomatic claims by the authorities that the documentary would be postponed to ‘a more appropriate time’ is not acceptable.
Continue reading “Call on Rais Yatim to lift all RTM restrictions on Chou Z Lam’s Bakun Dam documentary and ensure that the remaining episodes of the television documentary is aired”

The Chairman of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Corruption, former Home Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad is doing the nation a grave disservice in downplaying the crisis of confidence facing the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

Radzi said in Parlimanet after the meeting of the Special Committee on Corruption that MACC’s image has suffered after Teoh Beng Hock’s death and loss of several court cases.

MACC’s image was already on the nosedive before Teoh Beng Hock’s tragic death at the MACC headquarters in Shah Alam on July 16 – as the MACC did not act as an independent, professional and fearless fighter against corruption but conducted itself as a shameless catspaw of Umno/Barisan Nasional to further their ulterior political agenda against the Pakatan Rakyat – but Teoh Beng Hock’s death sent MACC into a tailspin into the abyss of infamy from which it had not yet been able to redeem itself.

This was why nobody shed any tears when the first MACC Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Ahmad Said Hamdan retired early under a cloud for MACC under him had ended its first year with lower public confidence and esteem than when it started – actually fulfilling the worst fears of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
Continue reading “Radzi doing the nation a grave disservice in down-playing the public crisis of confidence facing MACC”

The Election Commission’s professionalism, credibility and integrity plunged to its lowest point in its 53-year history in the Sibu by-election unless it could satisfactorily explain the two-and-a-half hour delay in announcing the results on polling night and the 9.37% or 5,172-voter mistake in voter turnout.

Counting for postal ballot ended at around 8.30 pm on polling day and almost instantaneously, Barisan Nasional and SUPP leaders left the Counting Centre at the Civics Centre – a sign to all that they knew at that time that the BN had lost the by-election.

The mystery remains three days after the by-election as to why the Election Commission delayed for two-and-a-half hours before announcing the results.

DAP leaders did not “storm” the Sanyan Building where the postal ballots were counted, but we went over there from the DAP Sibu Ops Centre to find out what was happening.

When I arrived there with DAP Secretary-General and Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, as well as a battery of DAP MPs and State Assembly representatives from all over the country at about 9.30 pm, counting of postal ballots had already been completed for an hour but there was a “standoff” as there was no Election Commission official to issue Form 15 to certify the final tally for the postal ballots counted.
Continue reading “Election Commission’s professionalism, credibility and integrity plunged to its lowest point”

By Mariam Mokhtar

As they say, politicians are like nappies – they should be changed often and for the same reasons. Yesterday, the people of Sibu made history when they elected DAP and rejected BN.

Days earlier, at Rejang Park, the prime minister convinced me that BN does not have the interests of the people of Sibu at heart.

1. He said: “I don’t have to come here…..to Rejang Park……This is not the place for a prime minister to come.”

2. He insulted the intelligence of the people by making deals in exchange for public service.

3. He lowered the tone of his speech by saying “Bull Shine”. Is vulgar slang accepted speech by a prime minister?

Without the involvement of money politics, DAP’s majority could easily have been in the thousands rather than just 398 votes.
Continue reading “‘Deal or no deal’ falls flat”

By Ong Kian Ming

COMMENT Last Sunday was an eventful day for me personally. I took part in my first 15km pacesetters run which took me through the rolling hills and grand mansions of Bukit Tunku. I dropped by a friend’s church in a refurbished part of Petaling Jaya which looked very different compared to three years ago.

I played basketball in the evening at a friend’s apartment just off Jalan Ipoh complete with its own private park. I then had dinner at a newly-opened restaurant in nearby Kepong with a few newfound friends. Finally, I returned home, fired up my computer and checked the Sibu by-election results.

It turned out that it was also an eventful day for the voters in Sibu. For the first time since the 1982 general election, the parliamentary seat of Sibu fell into the hands of the opposition, by a narrow margin of 398 votes.

Someone asked me if I was surprised by the result and I answered in the negative. After all, I had predicted that the DAP would win this seat by a margin of 500 votes.
Continue reading “Iban vote remains elusive for Pakatan”