Skepticism abounds over PM-Christian group meeting

Terence Netto | May 12, 11 7:35am
Malaysiakini

Today’s meeting between representatives of the Council of Churches of Malaysia and Prime Minister Najib Razak that was requested by the PM’s office to lower tensions arising from inflammatory reports in Utusan Malaysia is not likely to resolve anything.

This is the opinion of a frequent past attendee at meetings of Christian groups with Malaysian PMs who asked to remain anonymous.

“We have met him (Najib) and his predecessor and his predecessor’s predecessor often enough,” said the now retired past participant.

“There’s plenty of froth but little of substance achieved at these meetings. It’s good at promoting a ‘feel good’ atmosphere but after you have come away, the same difficulties recur,” he added. Continue reading “Skepticism abounds over PM-Christian group meeting”

Up and around, here and there

Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
May 11, 2011

MAY 11 — Umno and its mathematics.

I was “bad” at math when I said out of 10, 11 do not believe. I almost believe that I was terrible at math until I scanned the mainstreams papers screaming that DAP wants a Christian PM and Christianity to be made an official religion.

I know, the trappings of power have made some people soft. What I didn’t realise as quickly as I should have is they have made some people soft in the head.

We have 222 parliamentary seats for grabs. DAP contests, at most, 40. Assuming they win all the 40 parliamentary seats, perhaps Umno mathematicians can tell me how, with 40 seats, DAP or anyone else can form a national government? You have 82 seats and even you can’t form a national government.

Malays number 17-18 million. They form 60 over per cent of the population. Even if DAP marshals the entirety of the Chinese support, can 20 per cent of the population outnumber the 60 over per cent? Perhaps the Umno mathematicians can enlighten me.

Next we have the screamer who says “hidup Melayu”. There is no way we will allow DAP to take over the country. If that makes you happy, please scream some more. We can’t argue much against such emotions and illogic.

But PAS is also Malay. So “hidup Melayu” can also mean “hidup PAS” in as much as it can also mean Umno. Umno people have this self-conceited idea, borne from uncontested arrogance perhaps, that Umno is Malay and Malay is Umno. Continue reading “Up and around, here and there”

Najib not being fair

by Lucius Goon
The Malaysian Insider
May 11, 2011

MAY 11 — How much more humiliation and many more indignities should non-Muslims/non-Malays have to suffer at the hands of the government?

It seems there is no limit. Remember the cow head protests by Umno supporters in Shah Alam and how Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein placated and even sympathised with them?

Heck, he even blamed the Hindus and the Selangor state government for their temerity in wanting to build a temple near a mosque. Talk about consoling the inciters and lecturing the victims.

And now Najib Razak, the PM of all Malaysians is doing the same. Imagine he supposedly calmed down Muslim leaders in the wake of a false report by Muslim bloggers and a Malay newspaper.

The aggrieved party here are Christians and Malaysians who are sick and tired of the divide and rule by Umno and its sycophants.

And yet, here is the prime minister silent on the insidious role played by his party’s bloggers and Utusan Malaysia. Continue reading “Najib not being fair”

200 NGOs lodge report against Utusan

by Charles Ramendran, Himanshu Bhatt and Bernand Cheah
The Sun

KUALA LUMPUR (May 11, 2011): A coalition of more than 200 NGOs has criticised the editors of Utusan Malaysia for publishing an article taken from two weblogs alleging a group of Christian pastors were conspiring to make Christianity the official religion of the country.

A. Rajaretinam, who heads the coalition called angkatan Angkatan Warga Aman Malaysia (Aman), said the actions of the editors of Utusan were unethical and could trigger grave consequences among the races in the country.

Accompanied by a dozen members including Aman adviser Datuk Thasleem Mohamed Ibrahim and legal adviser A.Sivanesan who is also Sungkai assemblyman, Rajaretinam lodged a police report against the Bahasa Malaysia national daily at 2pm today urging the police and Home Ministry to take stern action.

“What they have done is irresponsible and goes against journalistic ethics. It is malicious and threatens national security. We urge the police to investigate this and the Home Minister to act by suspending the publication of Utusan immediatly pending an investigation.

“We have seen his ministry take action against other newspapers in the past for such mistakes and he should be fair by doing likewise in this case. Utusan has been doing this over and over again and gets away with it. We do not know what is their agenda but they must be punished.” he said. Continue reading “200 NGOs lodge report against Utusan”