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Malaysia lost a patriot with death of Fan Yew Teng in Bangkok yesterday

All who know Sdr. Fan Yew Teng grieve at his passing in Bangkok yesterday, losing his personal battle to cancer.

As I alluded this morning when Parliament observed one-minute’s silence as respect to Fan and condolence to the bereaved family, his wife Dr. Noeleen Heyzer and his twin daughters, Malaysia has lost a patriot as Fan had fought many important battles for justice, freedom, democracy, human rights and good governance for the country and people in his life.

Fan was Acting DAP Secretary-General for a year from October 1969 when I was detained for the first time under the Internal Security Act at the Muar Detention Centre, and had held various important positions in the party, including National Organising Secretary and Editor of the party organ, the Rocket.

In 1969, Fan was elected MP for Kampar and under the cloud of a prolonged sedition trial, he was elected MP for Menglembu in Perak and Selangor State Assemblyman for Petaling Jaya in 1974.
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‘Anti-national’: Right word, wrong coalition

By Kee Thuan Chye

What Prime Minister Najib Razak said at the opening of the BN convention last Sunday reflects a mind of the lowest common denominator. It is not the kind of mind one expects of a prime minister.

He stooped really low in taking swipes at the two-family dominance of the DAP (Lim Kit Siang’s and Karpal Singh’s) and “nepotism” in PKR, forgetting that he too is the son of a former prime minister, and that Dr Mahathir Mohamad also has a son who is a deputy minister with ambitions of becoming bigger.

Instead of taking on the opposition on ideological grounds and maintaining prime ministerial decorum and dignity, he resorted to name-calling. He called Pakatan Rakyat “anti-national” and “very dangerous”. He said their activities were “despicable”. Some media organisations reported it as “evil”.
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NEM 2 a big disappointment to the people

By Dr Chen Man Hin, DAP life adviser
NEM 2 unlikely to attract investors to help create a high income economy for Malaysia

When NEM 1 was presented to the people, it showed promise, and there was hope that this time, there is a chance to have an high economy that is dynamic and booming. The report talked about liberalisation of the economy and that it would be inclusive, meaning that NEM would cater to the interest of all the the people whether Malays, Chinese, Indians and the natives of Sarawak and Sabah. So people waited expectantly for announcement of NEM 2.

Unfortunately, there were rumblings of dissatisfaction from a group of extremists – Perkasa. They vehemently opposed the proposal to dump the NEP (New Economic Policy) with its bumi equity quota. PM Najib attended a meeting with Perkasa, and because of their objections, Najib agreed to rescind the proposal to drop NEP.

Against this background, analysts and economists waited for the announcement of NEM 2, hoping for the best but fearing for the worst.
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The Illegitimate Use Of Violence

By Zairil Khir Johari

In Weberian philosophy, a nation-state is defined by, inter alia, its monopoly on the legitimate use of violence. This is to say that the state retains all rights to the use of force through its legitimised instruments, i.e. the police and military. At the same time, the state, especially a democratic one, is also entrusted to to exercise this right in a manner that upholds the spirit of justice and human liberty.

However, because philosophy has no place in our national education, and perhaps because any Malay translation of Max Weber’s writings would probably have been acquired from Google Translate (as was the case with the translation of Teoh Beng Hock’s ‘suicide note’), it is understandable that those running our country today would fail to understand the intended implications of his seminal thesis.

As comprehensive as the online translator may be, the term ‘legitimate’ has appeared to have escaped the notice of the authorities, resulting in a situation in which state-sponsored violence is meted out in arbitrary fashion, with no regard whatsoever to the principles of justice.
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