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NUJ chief: Shut down Utusan Malaysia

Susan Loone | May 22, 11
Malaysiakini

National Union of Journalists chief and sacked Utusan Malaysia reporter Hata Wahari has called for his former employer to be shut down and its editors left to suffer for publishing a religiously charged article earlier this month.

Hata, who was in Penang for a forum on press freedom organised by the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ), said this was the only way to make its editors and reporters take responsibility for the unsubtantiated front page article on May 7, and the following ruckus across the nation that ensued.

He added that there were existing laws like the Sedition Act and the Printing Presses and Publication Act, which could be wielded on Utusan.

This would show that the government was not practising ‘double standards’ when dealing with an errant newspaper, he added. Continue reading “NUJ chief: Shut down Utusan Malaysia”

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Freedom of speech for all?

Sharmini Darshni
May 22, 2011

MAY 22 — I should not have done it. Should have left it alone. Should have continued my hiatus from the humdrum of life. Should have continued to embrace the peace that comes from purposeful ignorance.

But no, just knowing there was a single computer with Internet access, I gave in to the temptation and checked the e-mails — and unfortunately — read the news.

Regrets! I said goodbye to the zen stupor I had been in for five days as I read the latest buzzword in Malaysian politics: Crusade. Continue reading “Freedom of speech for all?”

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M’sia needs nothing short of complete makeover

Malaysiakini
May 22, 11

‘For short-term political expediency, the politicians are willing to sacrifice the long-term interests of the country.’

Competitiveness ranking drop shocks Pemudah

Ferdtan: Pemudah’s Chua Tia Guan, to say that you were surprised by the worsening result of the global competitiveness ranking for the country shows that Pemudah and Pemandu are as much clueless as the BN government.

Minister Idris Jala, who is in charge of Pemandu, had been spending obscene amount of taxpayers’ money organising public seminars with plenty of colourful charts, placing expensive advertorials in the mass media and giving out ‘feel-good’ statements that Malaysia is on the right track.

All were mere rhetoric that are self-delusory. Finally, you are now caught by the very mechanism of measurement of performance that you have adopted – the KPI thing that you had been so gleefully used. The KPIs of Pemudah and Pemandu have shown that they have failed miserably. Continue reading “M’sia needs nothing short of complete makeover”

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10 Days in May (26) – Tweet exchange on Sarbani, 2nd MACC death

The “10 Days in May (23)” tweets yesterday resulted in a tweet exchange (reproduced below) with BN MP for Kota Belud Abdul Rahman Dahlan on assistant customs director Ahmad Sarbani Mohamed, the second case of MACC death:

mpkotabelud Abdul Rahman Dahlan
What abt it? u wanna politicise it just like u did to TBH? RT @limkitsiang: MACC…What abt Sarbani’s death?
21 May

limkitsiang Lim Kit Siang
Y now MACC spokesman 2defame Sarbani? Met Sarbani’s family? @mpkotabelud Sarbini came on his own to MACC office that morning. Uninvited. .
23 hours ago

mpkotabelud Abdul Rahman Dahlan
Who said he jumped? There is a plausible 3rd version circumstance. U don’t speculate! RT @limkitsiang: U believe Sarbani jumped?
23 hours ago

mpkotabelud Abdul Rahman Dahlan Defame?
R u still on drips? 3rd plausible circumstance. R we to take ur words hook, line &sinker? RT@limkitsiang: 2defame Sarbani?
23 hours ago

limkitsiang Lim Kit Siang
@mpkotabelud YB Don’t be MACC stooge. Read – http://bit.ly/kCXkJs Sarbaini did not kill himself, says family (TMI)
23 hours ago Continue reading “10 Days in May (26) – Tweet exchange on Sarbani, 2nd MACC death”

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Change a byword for Kedah Chinese, but to whom?

By Sheridan Mahavera
The Malaysian Insider
May 22, 2011

ALOR SETAR, May 22 — About a month after he was put in charge of Kedah Barisan Nasional (BN), Datuk Paduka Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah declared the state’s Chinese community was returning to the national coalition.

Ahmad Bashah, who made this claim after a Chinese New Year dinner in February, was confident this was happening because of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1 Malaysia concept.

He is not far from the truth. The Malaysian Insider conducted a straw poll of Kedah Chinese residents and found that a significant number of respondents wanted to change the Pakatan Rakyat state government.

However, this did not mean they liked BN either. In fact, the poll showed that only 12 per cent of all Chinese respondents found the 1 Malaysia concept exciting or attractive. The rest were lukewarm, totally uninterested or unclear about it.

Also, though there were more Chinese respondents who wanted to change the state government, this was not reflected in their feelings about the PR administration. More than half of respondents felt satisfied with how PR was running things. Continue reading “Change a byword for Kedah Chinese, but to whom?”

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10 Days in May (25)

Tweets @limkitsiang:-

TBH RCI-Open apology 4twin death TeohBengHck Sarbani prerequsite 4MACC 2regain public confidence in its indpndence integrity professionalism

This also serves as response @mpkotabelud Msia needs politics of engagement not guerilla. Let’s work together 2make SPRM more effective!

Support politics of engagement 2make Msia better country everybody proud 2call home. Thats Y I had given full support 2MACC replacing ACA

MACC got more staff budget powers than ACA. But what did it do? Became BN catspaw 2serve BN agenda declaring war agnst PR caused TBH’s death

Let MACC declare what is its brief 2Shafie @TBH RCI? 2assist RCI 2findout truth of TBH death or 2protect MACC w red herrings/MACC cover-ups?

Will Shafie support TBH RCI re-open inquiry 2findout MACC officer behind “black blog” 2accuse DAP of murder of TBH 2distract attn from MACC? Continue reading “10 Days in May (25)”

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Slash graft before cutting subsidies

Malaysiakini
May 22, 11

‘This illegal leakage is costing the nation to bleed, thus the reason behind the need to cut subsidies for the rakyat.’

Idris presses his case on cutting subsidies

Patriot: Subsidy cuts could be kept to a minimum so as to not burden the poor people struggling hard to earn a living to take care of their numerous domestic and external expenditures if there is proper and prudent governance and the elimination of servicing the cronies’ insatiable monetary wants.

What is being very prominently reported is the increase in government expenses on subsidies would be insurmountable based on current global trends and escalations.

However, the government never informs us how much could be saved if funds are properly utilised that could be ultimately channeled into covering some of the increases in the prices of commodities and foodstuff in order not to burden the poor. Continue reading “Slash graft before cutting subsidies”

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10 Days in May (24)

Tweets @limkitsiang:-

Identity yrselves – UMNO/BN Ministers who secretly support Utusan’s “Christian Msia” bogey http://bit.ly/lX7f5r Totally agnst Najib’s GMoM!

Umno/BN Ministers shld not b closet extremists while outwardly claim 2b moderates secretly assuring Utusan support 4its Christian Msia bogey

If Najib is serious about GMoM he shd draw line in the sand n ask every Minister 2declare whether 4 or agnst Utusan’s Christian Msia bogey

How many Umno/BN Cabinet Ministers qualify as genuine moderates – x extremists or opportunists – 2join MMoM, 1st national bldg block 4 GMoM?

Will Najib dare 2patronise MMoM- 1st object 2rally moderates of all races religions 2censure Utusan “Christian Msia” bogey n abjure bigotry?

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Fleeing Syrians say too late for reforms, Assad must go

Reuters
By Yara Bayoumy
BOQAYA, Lebanon | Sat May 21, 2011

(Reuters) – Syrians who fled for their lives from a security crackdown in the border town of Tel Kelakh say violence has hardened attitudes toward President Bashar al-Assad and unrest will not end until he steps down.

Assad had lost credibility and it was too late to implement reforms since security forces laid siege to the town, raiding homes and arresting and killing dozens, they said.

“The first words my year-old son will learn to say are: ‘We don’t want Bashar’,” said Ahmed, who fled from Tel Kelakh, where security forces, the army and irregular Assad loyalists known as shabbiha had cracked down on earlier this week.

“Are these his reforms? To oppress people? Until when will we be downtrodden?” he said. Like other refugees interviewed by Reuters in the Lebanese border village of Boqaya, he asked that his surname not be used to protect his family still in Syria. Continue reading “Fleeing Syrians say too late for reforms, Assad must go”

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S’pore gains from M’sia’s brain drain

Patrick Lee | May 21, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

Malaysia’s brain drain is both heavily Chinese and concentrated just below the border, says a report by the World Bank.

PETALING JAYA: A large portion of the best and the brightest Malaysia has to offer have taken root in Singapore.

According to a 2011 World Bank report entitled “Malaysia Economic Monitor: Brain Drain”, 121, 662 highly-skilled Malaysians migrated to the island nation by 2010.

This accounted for nearly half of the 276, 558 Malaysians registered as “brain drain” individuals by 2010.

Additionally, the report said a total of 385, 979 Malaysians were residents of Singapore in 2010.

“Singapore alone absorbs 57% of the entire (Malaysian) diaspora, with most of the remainder residing in Australia, Brunei, United Kingdom and the United States,” the report added.

On top of that, it said that 88% of Malaysians residing in Singapore were ethnic Chinese, with Malays and Indians accounting for 6% and 5% respectively.

It has been estimated that there are more than one million Malaysians residing overseas. Continue reading “S’pore gains from M’sia’s brain drain”

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DAP mocks PSD over scholarship oversight

By Boo Su-Lyn
The Malaysian Insider
May 21, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — The DAP questioned how the government could make a “silly” mistake in not granting scholarships to top students despite spending billions on information technology.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin reportedly ordered the Public Service Department (PSD) yesterday to investigate complaints that some SPM top scorers were not offered scholarships.

“Isn’t spending billions of ringgit on computerisation a waste of public funds when the federal government cannot even correct the simple but silly mistake of not granting scholarships to top students?” DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said in a statement today.

Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, stressed that his ministry was not to blame as its list of scholarship candidates had already been forwarded. Continue reading “DAP mocks PSD over scholarship oversight”

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Remember the 2009 speech, Najib?

Teoh El Sen | May 21, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

During a speech that year, the PM stressed on fair and responsible reporting. But the current controversy surrounding Utusan sends a different signal.

PETALING JAYA: Three days after taking office as the nation’s sixth prime minister on April 3, 2009, Najib Tun Razak attended the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) awards night.

During his speech, Najib had stressed on the importance of the media’s role in nation-building, underscoring the need for responsible and fair reporting.

“We need world-class, fact-based reporting in Malaysia. The media must be fair and responsible in reporting. I believe we can move beyond those offering journalism of conspiracy theories and rumors,” he had said.

Najib had added that the media was powerful in lending credibility to stories and rumours that percolate up from the grassroots and the internet.

Two years on, the Umno president was now drawing flak for allowing his party-owned newspaper Utusan Malaysia to publish reports that critics claimed were not only seditious, but threatened national security. Continue reading “Remember the 2009 speech, Najib?”

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Umno wants Guan Eng

The Malaysian Insider
May 21, 2011

MAY 21 — Many people have ridiculed former Biro Tatanegara chief (BTN) Tan Sri Nordin Kardi for suggesting that the Democratic Action Party (DAP) is a good fit for Barisan Nasional (BN).

According to the one-time advisor to Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Lim Kit Siang and company should join BN because their aspirations for a “Malaysian Malaysia” can be achieved under the prime minister’s 1 Malaysia.

That is a mixture of hyperbole and rubbish by the man who, as head of BTN, nurtured the chauvinism we witness in Umno today.

On the face of it, DAP joining BN is like the US Democrats teaming up with the Tea Party or the new reformers in Egypt joining up with Hosni Mobarak’s gang — an idea best kept in the category of impossible dreams. Continue reading “Umno wants Guan Eng”

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Discovering the real Hussein Onn

Zainah Anwar
Malaysiakini
May 21, 11

These are excerpts from a speech by the writer at the launching of ‘Legacy of Honour’ – a pictorial biography of three Johor leaders.

COMMENT

When the Noah Foundation approached me to write about Ja’afar Onn, Onn Ja’afar and Hussein Onn (right), I jumped at the opportunity. I knew much about these three men, because my father, the late Anwar Malek, was a comrade of Onn from the 1920s when they were young government servants in Muar.

In 1946, my father, Onn who was then the district officer of Batu Pahat and Noah Omar, then a magistrate in Batu Pahat, and with three other friends spent 24 hours huddled together to discuss the formation of a United Malays Organisation, to fight against the Malayan Union.

Together they drafted the seminal letter sent to Utusan Melayu in Singapore, making a clarion call for all state-level Malay associations to come together under one umbrella to oppose the Malayan Union, which would have transferred the sovereignty of the Malay States to the king of England.

This book has been 16 long years in the making! It was a journey of blood, sweat and rewrite. But I thoroughly enjoyed the research, the interviews, the writing. Continue reading “Discovering the real Hussein Onn”

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Defend the truth, not Utusan Malaysia

Malaysiakini
May 21, 11

‘They must defend Utusan at all costs as it is an Umno launch pad to attack its opponents both in and outside the party.’

Protesters issue call: ‘Defend Utusan at all costs’

David Dass: Why the need for these fierce demonstrations? Why are these people behaving as if they are under siege? Who are they trying to intimidate?

No one is demanding closure of the Utusan Malaysia. No one is questioning the rights of the Muslims. No one is questioning the place of Islam as the religion of the federation.

The complaint by many is that the editors of Utusan acted irresponsibly by publishing unsubstantiated allegations of a provocative and inflammatory nature, which if believed could cause tension between Muslims and Christians.

Is it wrong to complain when someone does something that is clearly wrong? Are these groups defending Utusan despite its wrongdoing?

Are the rights of non-Muslims going to be subject to the dictates of the mob? Are non-Muslims, as taxpaying citizens of this country, also not entitled to protection? Continue reading “Defend the truth, not Utusan Malaysia”

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Pua: Reform failure behind economic ranking slip

By Boo Su-Lyn
The Malaysian Insider
May 21, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — The Najib administration’s failure to implement economic reforms was to blame for Malaysia’s recent six-place drop on a global competitiveness scale, DAP’s Tony Pua said today.

The DAP publicity chief also disputed International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed’s claim that the results were largely due to the perception of the business community.

“Both the prime minister and minister of international trade and industry must recognise that it is the government’s failure to implement the necessary reforms as well as its repeated U-turns in policy-making which have caused the stark drop in global competitiveness rankings,” said Pua in a statement today.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP said the business community and the public had realised that “real change” was not forthcoming, despite hearing “transformation” rhetoric from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s administration for more than two years. Continue reading “Pua: Reform failure behind economic ranking slip”

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Ibrahim Ali a clear and present danger

Malaysiakini
May 21, 11

‘Ibrahim, you specifically used the term ‘perang salib’ in your speech, don’t deny it now. Anyway, we know that he and his mentor are immune to ISA.’

‘Don’t use ISA or sedition laws against Ibrahim Ali’

Atan-Toyol: Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali said that “Islam is being ridicule”. Give me one example, Ibrahim. If Islam is being ridiculed at all, it is you who is doing the ridiculing by your uncalled for calling for a crusade against Christians, when they have not even provoked you.

Ibrahim, you are just doing this so as to appear like a champion and hero to the rural Malays, and ‘protector’ of Islam. Islam does not need protection, Allah will protect his religion, as He says of the Quran also. So, start growing up, and be like a mature Malaysian. Continue reading “Ibrahim Ali a clear and present danger”

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Lynas says paid Putrajaya for toxic waste cover

By Debra Chong
The Malaysian Insider
May 21, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — Lynas Corp has revealed it deposited money with Putrajaya as an indemnity for potentially dangerous residue that may result from processing its radioactive rare earths in its Pahang plant, which is now under review.

However, Lynas did not elaborate on the deposit. It also did not disclose the sum paid to the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB) under the purview of the science, technology and innovation ministry in charge of approving and monitoring radioactive industries.

“Lynas has also agreed to place funds with the Malaysian government to ensure safe management of any remaining residues as required by the AELB,” the Australian miner told The Malaysian Insider in a statement.

But AELB’s director-general Datuk Raja Abdul Aziz Raja Adnan denied his agency had made the deposit a requirement. Continue reading “Lynas says paid Putrajaya for toxic waste cover”

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10 Days in May (23)

Tweets @limkitsiang:-

TBH RCI shld re-open public hearing 2probe MACC cover-up conspiracy on TeohBengHock’s death rt from beginning – inc MACC record inquest/RCI

Especially RCI shd probe whether MACC involved in “black blog” http://bit.ly/1b8mDc appeared 1wk after TBH death 2throw off attn to its role

Claiming 2b “Truth 4TeohBengHock”, “black blog” blamed DAP 4murder of TBH. “Black blog” mastermind admit TBH murdered. Who murdered TBH?

How cld documents only in MACC hands appear in “black blog” if MACC not implicated? Lies agnst DAP leaders in “black blog”. Y n what motive?

Major RCI omission if “black blog”/MACC’s role not publicly probed. TBH death destroyed Najib’s 1st 100 Days as PM. RCI credibility @ stake. Continue reading “10 Days in May (23)”

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M’sia needs more Paul Tans and Mat Zains

Malaysiakini
May 21, 11

‘Unfortunately it is the very existence of the Mat Zains that some see it as the source of disunity in the Malay community.’

Bishop hails ex-cop’s exoneration of Christians

Cala: Of course, there will be many amongst us who would like to see more of the type of former CID chief Mat Zain Ibrahim to speak the truth for the sake of national unity, peace and stability. Continue reading “M’sia needs more Paul Tans and Mat Zains”