Democracy only works when people claim it as their own

People first, democracy now!

By P Ramakrishnan

In a democracy worth its name, it’s the people who come first. The government exists for them and not the other way around as is happening now. We are made to believe that the people are there to do the government’s bidding. The government actually tells you that.

You vote for my man on Sunday, you will get a cheque on Monday. That’s what they told the voters in Ulu Selangor. In Sibu they told the voters, “You elect my man, I will pay for the flood mitigation project” – otherwise you can drown in the flood for all I care!

In other words, you will be rewarded if you serve the ruler; otherwise you will be punished. They don’t govern the country any more – they rule over you; they lord over you.

Is this what democracy is all about? Continue reading “Democracy only works when people claim it as their own”

The MCA number game backfires

by Thomas Lee
My Sinchew
23.9.2010

The revelation that the senior private secretary of ex-Transport Minister Datuk Seri Ong Tee Keat has asked for the vehicle registration numbers MCA 1 to MCA 9999 in Malacca be reserved for MCA members is clearly a reflection of the high-handed manner a small-time political administrator in the Barisan Nasional abused his little derived authority.

Current Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha has confirmed that such a request was contained in a memorandum dated 17 Feruary 2010 and addressed to Road Transport Department (RTD) director-general Datuk Solah Mat Hassan.

Tee Keat has denied that he had endorsed the memorandum written to the RTD director-general by his private secretary, saying that “I still remember, among the things that came to my attention which I rejected included this memorandum, although I had returned to duty in March after some health problems.”

Kong, meanwhile, said that the instruction would be rescinded.

“Nobody can reserve any number for the MCA. It is part of the sequence of the way that the RTD issues the registration number and according to the state,” he said.

This ignominious and scandalous incident is certainly more serious and shameful than that of the so-called Support Letters Scandal in Selangor, in which swift and harsh action was taken against the errant municipal councillor by the state government and the DAP. Continue reading “The MCA number game backfires”

Call on political parties from both sides of divide – BN and PR – and civil society to come forward to defend Hatta Wahari and NUJ to uphold professional ethics and integrity of Malaysian journalists

Congratulations to Hatta Wahari the newly elected President of National Union of Journalists (NUJ) for bringing in fresh air with the courage of conviction to uphold journalistic professionalism and ethics.

Although Hatta is from Utusan Malaysia, he has drawn the line in the sand to uphold, defend and promote journalistic ethics and professionalism when he blamed Utusan Malaysia’s editors for the daily’s frequent run-ins with politicians.

Hatta, who is a senior journalist at Utusan, said the conflicts were between the daily’s chief editor Aziz Ishak, backed by senior editors, against the politicians from both BN and Pakatan Rakyat.

He said: “NUJ sees that it is unfair to fault Utusan Malaysia which includes journalists, photographers, graphic artists and other staff who don’t share the agenda (of the editors).

“They also do not have the authority to criticise the chief editor and the senior editors.

“NUJ is also of the opinion that the chief editor and senior editors of Utusan were not advocating media freedom but instead merely fulfilling the needs of their ‘political masters’.”

I am sure all the suffering journalists in the mainstream media, who have not been able to fully practise the ethics and professionalism of their craft, fully endorse the intrepid stand taken by Hatta, who deserves the support of political parties from both sides of the divide – Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat – as well as the civil society. Continue reading “Call on political parties from both sides of divide – BN and PR – and civil society to come forward to defend Hatta Wahari and NUJ to uphold professional ethics and integrity of Malaysian journalists”

When is Najib going to provide leadership and take a stand against Malaysians “whose heads are not right” who have caused unprecedented inter-racial and inter-religious strain?

Speaking at the Interfaith Relations Working Committee luncheon yesterday, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the world contained individuals whose heads were “not right”.

He was referring specifically to the recent threat by an American pastor to burn the Quran and the Sept 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre by terrorists who “hijacked Islam” and said such conflicts were caused by ignorance.

He said: “Without understanding and knowledge, there can never be goodwill and understanding. We need to know the beauty found in every religion.”

What Najib said yesterday is very correct but Malaysians are entitled to ask why he had not provided leadership to take a stand against those in Malaysia “whose heads are not right” in the past 18 months of his premiership resulting in the escalation of the rhetoric of racial bigotry and religious extremism despite his proclamation of “1Malaysia. People First. Performance Now” policy? Continue reading “When is Najib going to provide leadership and take a stand against Malaysians “whose heads are not right” who have caused unprecedented inter-racial and inter-religious strain?”

Teoh Beng Hock, Did You Commit Suicide?

by Richard Loh

I am truly sorry, Sdr. Teoh Beng Hock, that I have to ask you this question, Did You Commit Suicide? Everyone knows that this is really a stupid question to ask but am I wrong? No, I am not wrong because this is the way how our government, macc, pdrm and the judiciary taught us, to be stupid.

When your family met up with the prime minister, he made a promise that your mysterious death will be fully investigated and ensured that no stone will be left unturned. With this promise, the prime minister should called for a royal commission of inquiry which your family and the public had wanted, instead, he called for an inquest. Why did he reject the RCI, simply because the chances of getting the truth of your mysterious death is very high. For an inquest, they have the upper hand to protect the guilty (if any), manipulate and fabricate, anyway, anyhow they wanted.

On the onset, the government, PDRM, MACC and the judiciary had already made up their mind to see that your mysterious death be concluded as committing suicide, that is, you took your own life. I came to this conclusion by judging the way they presented the case, the investigation by PdRM, the judiciary allowing the DPP to ridicule witness and articulation of imaginary theories. Continue reading “Teoh Beng Hock, Did You Commit Suicide?”

Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #33

Chapter 5: Understanding Globalization

Earlier Forms Of Globalization

Globalization is not a new concept. There have been other globalizing trends in the past. Imperialism was one form, based essentially on the “White Man’s burden” to enlighten the dark world. The ensuing economic bounty to the colonizers is not to be dismissed. The world of the 19th and 20th Centuries was carved according to imperial dictates.

The legacy of colonialism is such that today Malays in Malaysia, having been under British rule, know more about Britain than about their kindred across the strait in Sumatra. Malays in Sumatra in turn, being under the Dutch, know more about Amsterdam than Kuala Lumpur even though imperial forces have long left the region. Colonialism was able to break longstanding cultural and ethnic ties. Another ready example is Hong Kong where its residents, though ethnically and culturally Chinese, feel more at home in Britain than Mainland China. Quite apart from their choices of names, there is a gulf separating Hong Kong’s Christina Chin with her affected British accent from Beijing’s Jeng Zoumin. They each view the world very differently; one ignores such differences at one’s own peril.

The difference between today’s globalization and the colonialism of yore is that with the latter, there was no choice. Colonialism was imposed; the colonized had no say on the matter. It was premised on the supremacy of the colonialists over the natives, or more crudely, the White man over the colored. Colonialism’s globalizing trends were restricted to within territories controlled by that particular power. There was freedom of trade and movement of people only within the colonial empire but not beyond. British colonies were integrated only with Britain.

Like colonialism, today’s globalization is also broad and transcends race and geography. But unlike colonization where there was no choice on the part of the colonized, in today’s globalized world no nation is forced to join in. It is completely voluntary. Continue reading “Malaysia in the Era of Globalization #33”

Syabas, Hatta, for standing up for press freedom

by Thomas Lee
My.Sinchew
22nd Sept. 2010

I wish to commend and congratulate the newly-elected National Union of Journalists (NUJ) president Hatta Wahari for making a bold and brave stand in defence of press freedom. It has been a long time since any leader of the NUJ has stuck his or her neck out to speak out against the abuse and exploitation of the media, especially in the mainstream newspapers.

In an interview with Malaysiakini, Hatta blamed the top editors of Utusan Malaysia for the daily’s frequent confrontation with politicians.

According to the senior journalist at Utusan, the conflicts are between Utusan chief editor Aziz Ishak, supported by the senior editors, against the politicians from both the Barisan Nasional and the Pakatan Rakyat.

Hatta said it is unfair to fault the newspaper company per se with the alleged manipulation of its paper’s content by the editors with vested political interest.

He said there are many Utusan journalists, photographers, graphic artists and other staff members who do not agree with the agenda of the editors, but are powerless to do anything.

Obviously these lower-ranking journalists and staff members do not have any say in the decision-making process of the newspaper, let alone criticize or challenge the chief editor and senior editors on their political slant.

Hatta said the NUJ feels that the Utusan chief editor and senior editors do not advocate or practise press freedom, but merely take care of the interest of their political masters. Continue reading “Syabas, Hatta, for standing up for press freedom”

If it’s a problem, don’t recognise it

by Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysiakini
Sept 22, 2010

COMMENT

Idris Jala is a good speaker. If you listen to him and you don’t watch it, he will sell you an idea.

That’s what he did – or tried to do – when he gave the keynote address at the “We Are Malaysia” event hosted by UCSI University on Malaysia Day.

He spoke of 1Malaysia and its aims, and how national unity can be achieved. One of the central aims of 1Malaysia is upgrading the diverse population’s attitude towards one another from tolerance to acceptance and, eventually, the celebration of diversity. And one of the central strategies of achieving that is the recognition that, in Idris’ own words, “in life, there are only two types of issues”.

Sounds rather pat, as if coming from a self-enrichment guru. But as I said, Idris Jala (left) is a seller of ideas.

What are these two types of issues?

Problems and polarities. A problem, expounded Idris, is something that can be solved. A polarity is something that cannot be solved but must be managed. The examples of polarities he gave are old and young, urban and rural, good and evil, rich and poor. Like the North and South Poles, they cannot be removed; therefore a balance must be struck between them. Continue reading “If it’s a problem, don’t recognise it”

MCA Ministers should explain why MCA so deadset against my parliamentary question on police inaction on previous five-year police reports vis-a-vis Sosilawathi mass murders suspects

The four MCA Ministers should explain why the MCA is so deadest against my parliamentary question on police inaction on previous five-year police reports against the brother lawyers suspected of the heinous and gruesome Sosilawati mass murders that the MCA cybertrooper launched a concerted attack against me on twitter last night.

The cause of this MCA cybertrooper attack was my parliamentary question for the first day of the 34-sitting 2011 budget meeting of Parliament beginning on Oct. 11 which is addressed to the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, asking him “to list the date/nature of police reports lodged against the lawyer brothers in Banting suspected responsible for the Sosilawati mass murders, reasons for police inaction which have gravely undermined public confidence in police professionalism and latest actions on these police reports”.

Today, we read of another heart-rending story of a housewife, Samson Nahar Mohd Dali, 35, from Sungai Petani, whose husband Shafik Abdullah disappeared in April, being told by the police that there was a high probability that her missing husband had been murdered and was related to the Sosilawati mass murder suspects.

Shafik is among three people still listed as missing by police investigating the Sosilawai mass murders. The other two missing men have been identified as Indian businessman A. Muthuraja 34 and another businessman, identified as Thevaraj Shanmugam, 28, from Taiping.

Another case which police are working on is the murder of housewife T. Selvi, 44, who was slashed to death by two men outside her home in Banting in April last year. Continue reading “MCA Ministers should explain why MCA so deadset against my parliamentary question on police inaction on previous five-year police reports vis-a-vis Sosilawathi mass murders suspects”

How real is the Economic Transformation Programme?

The Economic Transformation Programme (ETP), the latest pronouncement by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala, follows upon a number of other pronouncements that have become the hallmark of Dato Seri Najib’s administration.

Like the previous pronouncements of 1Malaysia People First Performance Now, the Government Transformation Programme, the 10th Malaysia Five Year Plan, the ETP is rich in rhetoric.

The sloganeering and spin that is common to all of these exercises provides a clear indication that the Government led by Najib is wholly at sea in tackling the enormous challenges that the country faces.

These challenges have accumulated over the wasted three decades characterized by mismanagement, corruption and abuse of power that has benefited a small coterie.

A common feature of the series of announcements is that they contain unrealistic assumptions about economic growth prospects; they use clichés that are taken from business school texts that have been spun in order to create a false impression of a rethinking of policies.

The various announcements of “policies” and “strategies” are littered with a slew of abbreviations such as KPIs, NKRAs, MKRAs, NKEAs, EPPs and BIZ Ops are freely bandied about. Continue reading “How real is the Economic Transformation Programme?”

‘1Malaysia’ – the enemy within

Christopher Barnabas | Sep 20, 10
Malaysiakini

As the nation celebrated the 47th anniversary of the formation of Malaysia, it is crucial to note that we are a nation divided at unprecedented levels in the history of the country. While political ideologies may differ from both sides of the divide, it is the treacherous levels of racism and extremism that are most disturbing to the common people today.

It was timely that during his Malaysia Day message entitled ‘Our Fight against Extremism’, Najib Abdul Razak took upon himself to warn against the rise of extremism in the country, articulating his sadness that by rejecting the diverse way of life, they are rejecting his ‘1Malaysia’ vision.

Going through some government websites, I came across the ‘1Malaysia’ concept paper, with one key point that stood out particularly clearly: ‘Malaysians, regardless of race or religion need to think and act as one race, that is the Malaysian race, that thinks and acts towards a common goal to build a world that is prosperous, progressive, peaceful, and safe thus enabling it to compete with the other communities in the world’.

Now having read that, let us examine several unsettling incidences since its inception which have resulted to an absolute failure of this vision thus far:

1. The Mahathir factor: The longest-serving former Umno president/PM of Malaysia has been labeled the ‘father of all racism’ by an Umno cabinet minister last year. Not surprising therefore that he appears unconvinced publicly about the ‘1Malaysia’ vision. Recently, he went as far as to conclude that even the newly proposed NEM which supports ‘merit-based’ policies are clouded with a racist agenda, prompting Zaid Ibrahim to diagnose him as having a psychological disorder. Continue reading “‘1Malaysia’ – the enemy within”

Question for first day of Parliament on Oct. 11 – why police inaction over spate of police reports for past five years against lawyer brothers suspected of killers in mass murders of Sosilawati and three others

My first question for the first day of the 34-sitting 2011 budget meeting of Parliament beginning on Oct. 11 will be in connection with the gruesome and heinous mass murders of cosmetic millionaire Datuk Sosilawati Lawiya and three others in Banting on National Day.

The question directed at the Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein is asking for the list of the “dates/nature of police reports lodged against the lawyer brothers in Banting suspected responsible for the Sosilawati mass murders, reasons for police inaction which have gravely undermined public confidence in police professionalism and latest actions on these police reports”.

The new Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar has publicly admitted that Sosilawati’s case could have been prevented if fast action, including proper investigation, had been conducted over earlier reports of missing persons.

He said a task force had been formed to investigate all missing persons reports linked to the lawyer brothers, adding:

“There should be no more slacking. Those caught slacking or ignoring missing persons reports will be severely reprimanded.”
Continue reading “Question for first day of Parliament on Oct. 11 – why police inaction over spate of police reports for past five years against lawyer brothers suspected of killers in mass murders of Sosilawati and three others”

Who is the second UMNO/BN Minister who dare to publicly declare that he/she is Malaysian first and race second in keeping with Najib’s 1Malaysia policy?

I am surprised that in the past 24 hours, the other Ministers have not rallied behind the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz who had courageously declared that he is Malaysian first and Malay second.

Who is the second UMNO/Barisan Nasional Minister who dare to publicly declare that he/she is Malaysian first and race second in keeping with Najib’s 1Malaysia policy?

It has taken Nazri more than six months to respond to my challenge in Parliament in March this year to all Cabinet Ministers to declare that they are Malaysian first and race second.
Surely, Malaysians do not have to wait for another six months before another Minister plucks up sufficient courage to follow Nazri to declare that he/she is Malaysian first and race second.

I have given notice to ask the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak a specific question on the commitment and loyalty of Ministers and top civil servants to his 1Malaysia concept when Parliament reconvenes for the 2011 Budget meeting beginning on Oct. 11.

My question to Najib in the first week of the Parliamentary meeting next month read:
Continue reading “Who is the second UMNO/BN Minister who dare to publicly declare that he/she is Malaysian first and race second in keeping with Najib’s 1Malaysia policy?”

An open-and-shut case

Mariam Mokhtar | Sep 20, 10
Malaysiakini

During the Raya celebrations at his home in Pekan, the Prime Minister, Najib Abdul Razak, encouraged us to hold open houses and receive guests irrespective of race and religion to foster national unity based on ‘1Malaysia’. He said that an open house would be more meaningful if “we also open our hearts to our guests”.

The PM should also include an open mind. A willingness to listen to other people’s opinions should promote greater understanding and harmony.

If only Najib was aware of the level of intolerance some Malays have for non-Malays and non-Muslims. I don’t expect him to know what happens at the ground level and I doubt if his advisers and close associates tell him the truth.

Fewer Malays visit non-Malay open houses for the various festivals. The issue is not just with food. Some object to visiting places where there is a shrine. A few refuse to eat off crockery and cutlery that has ‘touched’ pork. Others worry about the content of the soap with which to wash their hands. Many Malays are oblivious to how their non-Malay colleagues go out of their way to accommodate Malay sensitivities. Sometimes, even the best efforts are in vain.

When it comes to pot-luck or giving food as presents, non-Malays express frustration that their contributions are refused, even if the non-Malay took great pains to ensure the use of halal ingredients. Rejection of their unappreciated and wasted efforts, is hard to accept.

Official functions are also dominated by Malay intolerance. Recently, the Malay organisers of a parent-teacher association dinner at a school in Malacca arranged for a restaurant which had the ‘Halal’ accreditation, to cater the function. It would have been a halal Chinese dinner. Unfortunately, the arrangement was cancelled as a few of the Malay parents and teachers objected, because the restaurant owner and his staff were Chinese. Continue reading “An open-and-shut case”

National integration with constitutional integrity

Azzat Kamaludin (loyarburok.com)
Malaysian Insider
September 20, 2010

SEPT 20 — Our lives, attitude and outlook are formed by the encounters we experienced. I shall begin my discussion of this subject, by sharing with you two encounters that have so shaped me.

The first occurred after I passed out from the Royal Military College, then known as the Federation Military College. It was a college set up in 1953 by the then British High Commissioner to Malaya, Sir Gerald Templar. Its Charter was and is “Preparing young Malayans (now Malaysians) to take their places as officers in the Armed Forces, in the higher divisions of the Public Services and as leaders in the professional, commercial and industrial life of the country”. It was the second full boarding school to be established in the country.

The first full boarding school established on 2 January 1905 was the Malay College Kuala Kangsar, originally known as the Malay Residential School of Kuala Kangsar, it was conceived by the then Inspector of Schools for the Federated Malay States who in a letter to the Resident-General in February 1904 wrote about “establishing at a suitable locality in the Federated Malay States a residential school for the education of Malays of good family and for the training of Malay boys for admission to certain branches of Government service.”

I joined the Military College in Form 3, three years after Malaya became independent. After a few months of making friends I came to know Malays from Kota Baru, Besut and Kuala Lumpur; Chinese from Penang, Ipoh and Pontian; Indians, Sikhs and other races from Kuala Pilah, Seremban and Muar. Clearly the composition of students had been carefully constituted — there was not only geographical representation but also racial representation. I understood later that a racial quota was employed for admission to reflect the racial composition of the country then.

My two best friends when I left the College were a Chinese and a Sikh boy. As it happened, all three of us had decided to study law. We knew we could not pursue it without assistance from the State. I found that I had no problem whatsoever in obtaining a scholarship for my purpose. But it was not so for my two friends. Although there were scholarships for non-Malays, there was none for law. I tried to help them. Continue reading “National integration with constitutional integrity”

A nation of failed economic development plans

Malaysiakini
AB Sulaiman
Sep 20, 10
COMMENT

The world can be a nasty place especially in terms of planning, where your best and well intentioned plans can produce the worst unintended results. The country’s numerous development plans is a perfect example of this.

Since Independence we have always strived to be a country with strong social, economic and political credentials: a strong healthy and united people, public safety and security, great infrastructure, mature democracy, clean human rights record, good education system, governed under rule of law, and of course, a justice-minded judiciary.

To top them all off we are to enjoy a per capita income equal to the peoples in advanced economies. We wish to be an advanced country in our own right.

The current realities are anything but. The people are fragmented while some are migrating to friendlier lands, our infrastructure while adequate is wasteful, our democracy is an ugly disguise for authoritarianism, our education system produces non-thinking graduates, the rule of law has become the rule by law, and the judiciary is an international laughing stock. Continue reading “A nation of failed economic development plans”

Congrats Nazri for being the first in Cabinet to declare he is Malaysian first and race second – Ministers who refuse to make such declaration should be dropped from Cabinet

Congrats to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz for being the first in Cabinet to declare that he is Malaysian first Malay second in his open letter in reply to Awang Selamat of Utusan Malaysia (The Malaysian Insider).

Why it has taken more than six months since my challenge to Cabinet Ministers during the debate on the Royal Address in Parliament on March 18, 2010 to declare that they are Malaysian first and race second is really beyond me, as it demonstrates their total lack of support, commitment and political will to make Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia policy work and suceeed.

I had at the time posed three simple tests of 1Malaysia to determine whether all the Cabinet Minsiters were sincerely and seriously committed to Najib’s 1Malaysia, viz:

• Whether he or she agrees to the establishment of an Opposition-headed Parliamentary Select Committee on 1Malaysia;

• Is he or she prepared to declare that the basis of 1Malaysia is “ketuanan rakyat Malaysia” and not “ketuanan Melayu”; and

• Is he or she prepared to endorse the objective of 1Malaysia as defined by the 1Malaysia Government Transformation Programme (GTP) Roadmap to create a nation where every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first, and by race, religion or region second.

Continue reading “Congrats Nazri for being the first in Cabinet to declare he is Malaysian first and race second – Ministers who refuse to make such declaration should be dropped from Cabinet”

Fill half with Sabahans: DAP

Daily Express
Published on: Sunday, September 19, 2010

Kota Kinabalu: The Federal Government should seriously implement the 20-Point Agreement on Borneonisation by setting a target to fill at least half the 59 Federal departments in Sabah with Sabahans as heads before the next Malaysia Day celebration on September 16, 2011, said DAP Adviser Lim Kit Siang.

“(Prime Minister Datuk Seri) Najib should table this target at the Cabinet meeting next Wednesday to demonstrate that his administration is serious in wanting to address the 47-year grievances, frustrations and discontent of Sabahans and Sarawakians – making the first Malaysia Day as a national public holiday really worthwhile and meaningful,” he said.

He said Sabahans are disappointed that Najib came to Sabah completely empty-handed for the first Malaysia Day national public holiday in 47 years.

Speaking at the Malam Pakatan Rakyat gathering cum dinner held in Beaufort, Thursday, Lim further contended that if not for People’s Power as represented by the emergence of Pakatan Rakyat, Malaysia Day on September 16 would not have been declared a national public holiday by the Prime Minister even after 47 years.

He said that this was why the people of Sabah and Sarawak do not want to see the declaration of Malaysia Day as a national public holiday as a mere political ploy. Continue reading “Fill half with Sabahans: DAP”

Call for RCI into why no action had been taken on earlier police reports as far back as 2005 against the lawyer brothers linked to the mass murders of Sosilawati and 3 others

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon said yesterday that “All quarters should work together in making the 1 Malaysia concept and the Government Transformation Programme (GTP) a success instead of creating controversial issues which will not do any good to the country’s development”. (Malaysian Insider)

He said what was more important now was for all quarters to pay attention to improve the country’s economy and offer better service to the people, both in the urban and rural areas.

“If there are views or criticisms, the criticisms should be something constructive and positive and not something that could create disharmony among the parties.

As example he cited: “For example, a crime should not be linked to a racial issue because it will not do any good to anybody.”

The Umno newspaper, Utusan Malaysia has been most guilty of being negative, destructive and even downright irresponsible, mischievous and malicious in its campaign to undermine national unity and harmony in the country.

It is most deplorable that Utusan Malaysia had tried to politicise and racialise the heinous, gruesome and despicable mass murders of Datuk Sosilawai Lawiya and three others in Banting for its ignoble objectives, publishing the defamatory insinuation and double lies on Sept. 16 that DAP was siding with the mass murderers and had been silent on the mass murders either because the “Datuk” killer was DAP member or DAP “fights for the rights of a certain race only”.

In actual fact, DAP had come out with an unreserved condemnation of the mass murders of Datuk Sosilawati and three others when such terrible crimes came to light on Sept. 12, and in my first press conference in Kota Kinabalu on Sept. 15 on my return to Malaysia from the Shanghai World Expo, I had also denounced in the strongest possible terms the heinous, gruesome crimes of the mass murders of Sosilawati and three others.

What is the use of Tsu Koon preaching about 1Malaysia when he dared not denounce the gutter journalism practised by Utusan Malaysia? Continue reading “Call for RCI into why no action had been taken on earlier police reports as far back as 2005 against the lawyer brothers linked to the mass murders of Sosilawati and 3 others”

Najib’s failure to stand up and be counted to condemn extremism and extremists especially from his own camp will be the undoing of his 1Malaysia concept

Malaysians are witnessing the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, performing one of his biggest flip-flops in his 18 months at the helm of the country’s administration.

Najib’s attempt to distance or disentangle Umno from Perkasa did not last more than a week from the announcement of the Umno Secretary-General that Perkasa was eroding non-Malay support for Barisan Nasional to Najib’s Malaysia Day message expressing sadness at the rise of extremism in his 18 months as Prime Minister.

Most ironically, Najib chose the Yayasan 1Malaysia seminar themed “Living In a Multi-Ethnic Society” in Kuala Lumpur after the Malaysia Day celebrations in Sabah to perform the flip-flop – refusing to name Perkasa as the worst culprit responsible for the rise of extremism and scaring away foreign investors.

This is now followed by Tengku Adnan’s flip-flop today denying that the Barisan Nasional parties had agreed to keep a distance from Perkasa.

If Barisan Nasional parties had never agreed top keep a distance from Perkasa, are MCA and Gerakan national leaders to “eat their words” for publicly welcoming such a decision? Continue reading “Najib’s failure to stand up and be counted to condemn extremism and extremists especially from his own camp will be the undoing of his 1Malaysia concept”