Posted on

Fraud, voter intimidation mar Burma vote

By South-East Asia correspondent Zoe Daniel, wires–
ABC/Reuters

Updated 2 hours 34 minutes ago

Allegations of fraud and voter intimidation are overshadowing Burma’s first election in 20 years.

The allegations are not unexpected. Burma’s military leaders may have resigned to become civilians ahead of the poll but the lead up to the election has been rife with manipulation to make sure the junta’s party wins.

Election laws have banned the key opposition, ruled out some ethnic groups and quarantined a quarter of the parliament for the military.

Now there are allegations that voters have been threatened with job losses or even loss of citizenship if they do not vote for the ruling party. Continue reading “Fraud, voter intimidation mar Burma vote”

Posted on

A momentum yes, monumental shift not yet

by Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
November 07, 2010

We need to distinguish between a crass propagandist and a sober politician. Ahmad Maslan fits into the former category it seems.

Ahmad Maslan, the Umno information chief cited 4 reasons for the victory in Galas. The acceptance by the people, of the national leadership of Najib and Muhyidin. The influence of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and Mustapha Mohamad, the acceptance of the people of the various initiatives thought of by our great leader which will be implemented by the ruling government and so on. He was referring to such initiatives like 1 Malaysia, ETP and so forth. Finally, and here is the earth shattering observation- people are fed up of the politics of the opposition to the ruling BN. It’s a triumph of moderation over extremism. One writer puts as the alarm bell for the 13th GE.

For whom does the bells toll?

People in Gua Musang and Galas in particular must be the most intelligent people in Malaysia. There must be something in the pristine air and the physical terrain of the area. Or maybe something in the diet of Gua Musangians. The nasi kerabu and berlauk at Restoren Kak Zah or the stalls near Fully Inn?

They understood the concept of 1 Malaysia when the same concept baffled Tun Mahathir and misunderstood by other Malaysians. The people eating at Restoren Kak Zah in Bandar Lama Gua Musang talking politics and cock understand and embrace the various initiatives by the national government. The people in Sungai Terah and Batu Papan are waiting for their ETP, GTP and whatever P’s we can think of. Continue reading “A momentum yes, monumental shift not yet”

Posted on

Welcome to the feast of fools

by Hafidz Baharom
The Malaysian Insider
November 07, 2010

So the United Malay Nationalists met up the other day for what seemed to be a dressed-up annual general assembly that brought nothing new since they re-formed in 1988 supposedly as the new Umno.

Yet another rebranding procedure then, no doubt. But then again so is 1 Malaysia, right?

Meanwhile, all of us Malaysian nationalists looked on at hour upon hour of nothing more than a repeat of their best hits and misses. The usual same old, same old was all there; don’t mess with Malay rights, don’t question the Malay privileges in the Constitution and, of course, ban all sanitary pad commercials from television for promoting perverted thoughts.

That was, of course, from the firebrand bimbo wing. Permit me to say this; this was the dumbest strategy to win back the female Malay Muslim votes. Even Muslimah PAS were rolling their eyes under their burqas.

Meanwhile, the Umno chairman decided that it was necessary to tell off the Malaysian Chinese Association leader for questioning Malay rights. Is it just me, or does the term Malay rights mean the Malay race are superhuman, or something, in comparison to us other human beings?

In addition to this, there was even a call from the Perlis Umno delegate to create an ulama wing within Umno. Because there’s nothing really bad about politicising religion, right? What could happen? Continue reading “Welcome to the feast of fools”

Posted on

The thing about viewpoints

Letters
by Goh Keat Peng

As I read a sports commentary on England vs NZ All-Blacks, it becomes quite clear how the view from an onlooker looking down from his seat in the terraces of Twickenham Stadium and that of a player on the field is really very different.

“…a fast flat pass left from Youngs then put Mike Tindall in space on the Kiwi 22, the old battering-ram hesitated, dawdled inside and then threw a change-of-heart pass behind Lewis Moody on the outside. Chances made, chances lost,” writes Tom Fordyce, the famous sports commentator featured on the BBC website.

This to me sums up quite well the difference in viewpoints within the same arena. Both commentator and player were in the same stadium at the same time engrossed in the same game. But one was up there on the terrace able to see at once the entire field and all the 30 men plus three match officials; the other was on the field where the match is in ongoing progress. The two men literally have two very different points of view, not just in terms of sight but also insight. Understandably so.

Almost at once as I read Tom Fordyce’s insightful commentary on a rugby test match between two giant teams, I am brought back from faraway Twickenham to the present-day realities of Malaysian politics.

It becomes for me like a parable as to how we view the going-ons of the national political scene. Depending on which side we are rooting for, we are filled with a mixture of emotions- hope? foreboding? glee? despair? humour? disgust? Just like the team you support in the Premiership, or Super Bowl, or Tri-Nations. Real matches and games are being played out before us (on television) the outcomes of which may send us into ecstasy or embarassment or, as in politics, sedition charges! Continue reading “The thing about viewpoints”

Posted on

Hypocrisy of Ministers – appeal to rescind PPSMI policy

Letters
from Sheela R

I am a mother with three school going children. My children who have greatly benefited from the PPSMI (policy for teaching Science and Maths in English) are alarmed at the impending switch to Bahasa Malaysia.

They have been in school for some years now and the prospect of changing a language midstream is “nothing short of disastrous” to them. (I have quoted them verbatim).

There has been a great hue and cry on this issue but the government has continued to maintain a maddening silence. The reasons for continuing the PPSMI have been well elucidated in other websites and it is not my intention to reproduce them.

Instead, could you please highlight through your blogs or other means, the Ministers and politically connected persons’ children who are being educated at international schools and overseas, who have access to quality education in English? Continue reading “Hypocrisy of Ministers – appeal to rescind PPSMI policy”

Posted on

Support a UN Commission of Inquiry into international crimes in Myanmar not next weekend’s general election

OPEN LETTER TO ASEAN LEADERS

Your Excellencies,

The 17th ASEAN Summit has concluded, and, as elected representatives of the peoples of ASEAN, we are disappointed by its outcome and by your passivity in the face of this weekend’s election in Myanmar.

The election is about to be conducted under a new constitution, enacted in 2008, which was drafted by an assembly whose members were handpicked by the country’s current ruling military regime and conducted without open and inclusive input from the people of Myanmar. The constitution is designed to assure the continued dominance of the military regime under the guise of a democratically elected civilian government, notably reserving one-quarter of seats in parliament for the military.

Additionally, five electoral laws and four decrees promulgated earlier this year violate democratic principles by restricting current political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and other key leaders of the country’s democracy and ethnic movement, from participating in the polls.

In light of this, Myanmar’s general election can in no way be acknowledged as conforming to internationally accepted standards of freedom and fairness. They are a farce and a non-election for the country’s people. Your hopes that Myanmar will open up the process and create conditions conducive to free and fair elections less than a week before they are due to take place are therefore misguided. Continue reading “Support a UN Commission of Inquiry into international crimes in Myanmar not next weekend’s general election”

Posted on

Lim Kit Siang’s blog tops in number of hits

(Thanks to “Ewe Paik Leong, The Wordslinger ” for forwarding the following blog):

Thursday, November 4, 2010
Lim Kit Siang’s blog tops in number of hits

“Cubestat [cubestat.com] is a free and perfect tool for website value calculation, estimations and information. How does it work? You simply enter the domain url [in the box], our unique algorithm will calculate and estimate the website worth, daily pageviews and daily ads revenue of the present domain.”

Out of curiosity, one evening, I reckoned the number of hits for the blogs of our country’s more vocal politicians selected at random. Here are the results in descending order of pageviews:

No. 1
Name: Lim Kit Siang
Website Address: limkitsiang.com
Site age: 4 years
Website Worth: $44,472.33
Daily Pageviews: 20,307
Daily Ads Revenue: $60.92

No. 2
Name: Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad
Website Address: cedet.co.cc
Site Age: N/A
Website Worth: $26,028.15
Daily Pageviews: 11,885
Daily Ads Revenue: $35.66

No. 3
Name: Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahin
Website Address anwaribrahimblog.com
Site Age: 4 years
Website Worth: $25,699.65
Daily Pageviews: 11,735
Daily Ads Revenue: $35.21

No. 4
Name: Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib Tun Abdul Razak
Website Address: www.1malaysia.com.my
Site Age: N/A
Website Worth: $13,210.08
Daily Pageviews: 6,032
Daily Ads Revenue: $18.10 Continue reading “Lim Kit Siang’s blog tops in number of hits”