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Perkasa, have your demo before or after 9 July — not on the same day!

Aliran Online
June 19, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

JUNE 19 — The scheduled Walk for Democracy organised by Bersih 2.0 — the election watch dog comprising 62 NGOs — on 9 July 2011 is in keeping with the democratic tradition to highlight issues of concern. This democratic process is intended to draw the attention of the government to grievances that greatly bother the citizens of a country so that their grievances can be addressed. Their call is to conduct free and fair elections, which will legitimise election results and make them acceptable to all contestants.

Bersih had organised a similar gathering on 10 November 2007, which attracted close to 50000 participants in a peaceful attempt to demand ‘free and fair’ elections. One cannot help but be impressed by the disciplined and responsible conduct of the protesters then. They even cleared and cleaned the streets of all rubbish that littered the streets. They had traffic marshals to manage the crowd. They were that responsible. Continue reading “Perkasa, have your demo before or after 9 July — not on the same day!”

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“Smoking Gun” proof of Muhyiddin-Utusan conspiracy to subvert 1Malaysia concept

There is now the “smoking gun” proof of the conspiracy or complicity of Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and the Umno official organ, Utusan Malaysia, to subvert the 1Malaysia concept and destabilise Malaysia to justify a Operation Lalang2 crackdown on civil liberties with mass ISA arrests to prolong Umno hegemony.

Yesterday, Muhyiddin made the preposterous claim in Sabah when opening the Beaufort UMNO general meeting that Pakatan Rakyat is hiding behind the planned Bersih 2.0 rally with a plot to topple the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) Goverment.

He alleged that the opposition’s agenda was to create a momentum among the people to hate the government by raising various issues beyond the call for clean and fair elections. Continue reading ““Smoking Gun” proof of Muhyiddin-Utusan conspiracy to subvert 1Malaysia concept”

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Majlis pelancaran Misi Palestin: Mat Sabu tidak dibenar berpidato

By Fazy Sahir
June 19, 2011 | Free Malaysia Today

KUALA LUMPUR: Timbalan Presiden PAS Mohamad Sabu mendakwa pentadbiran Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak bertindak mengambil alih misi kemanusiaan rakyat Palestin dalam majlis yang dilancarkan malam tadi.

Ini berikutan beliau dan beberapa badan bukan kerajaan (NGO) Pakatan Rakyat digugurkan dari menyertai majlis Pelancaran Pasukan Lifeline4Gaza (LL4G) Malaysia itu.

Mat Sabu yang dijadualkan menyampaikan pidato dalam majlis pelancaran itu malam tadi di Stadium Badminton Kuala Lumpur, Cheras telah digugurkan daripada berbuat demikian.

Beliau hanya diberitahu oleh pihak penganjur bahawa ucapannya dibatalkan awal pagi semalam dan membuat keputusan untuk tidak hadir dalam majlis tersebut. Continue reading “Majlis pelancaran Misi Palestin: Mat Sabu tidak dibenar berpidato”

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Why reject my questions, Chong asks S’wak speaker

BY Ang Ngan Toh
Jun 19, 11 | MalaysiaKini

Kota Sentosa state assemblyperson Chong Chieng Jen has criticized state legislative speaker Awang Asfia Awang Nasar for rejecting two of his questions for the question and answer session of next week’s assembly meeting.

Chong, who is also the Bandar Kuching member of parliament, said the speaker rejected the two questions because they breached the august house’s Standing Order 20(1) (a), (c) and (l).

The first question was to the chief minister to state: Continue reading “Why reject my questions, Chong asks S’wak speaker”

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Utusan: Bersih is Pakatan’s bid to spark Middle East-style protests

By Yow Hong Chieh
June 19, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — The opposition will use next month’s Bersih 2.0 rally to trigger an uprising similar to the popular protests which toppled Egypt’s Mubarak regime and now threatens governments in Libya, Syria and Yemen, Utusan Malaysia said in its Sunday edition today

Its Mingguan Malaysia weekend edition said those who intend to mass in the capital on July 9 to demand electoral reform have lost faith in democracy after realising they cannot win federal power through the ballot box.

“Peace is no longer important to them. They want only to seize power and install their leader as Malaysia’s prime minister using whatever means possible,” the Umno-owned daily said in its Maulana Arrif column.

“The enemies of Islam, both humans and syaitan-syaitan (devils), are working to aid them,” it added. Continue reading “Utusan: Bersih is Pakatan’s bid to spark Middle East-style protests”

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What creativity?’ Kit Siang asks Soi Lek

By Shannon Teoh
June 19, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — Lim Kit Siang mocked today Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek’s defence of the “unquantifiable creativity” behind the tourism ministry’s RM1.8 million Facebook project.

The Ipoh Timur MP pointed out that a Facebook page protesting the project has already garnered three times the support of the Tourism Malaysia ~ Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia page.

“Chua is defending the indefensible. What creativity is Chua talking about?” said DAP’s parliamentary leader of the MCA president’s statement yesterday defending Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen.

The Curi-curi Wang Malaysia community page has raced to nearly 120,000 “likes” in just five days while the official Tourism Malaysia page is yet to hit 40,000 despite being set up in May. Continue reading “What creativity?’ Kit Siang asks Soi Lek”

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Power is duty, not a prize

By Razaleigh Hamzah
Jun 19, 11 | MalaysiaKini

Malaysia’s post-colonial history began with optimism and a grand hope in 1957. When Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first prime minister of Malaysia, proclaimed our Independence at the Merdeka Stadium in the unforgettable words that “Malaysia is a parliamentary democracy with an independent judiciary,” he had a vision of a happy people in spite of the formidable economic problems we needed to solve.

After that dawn of independence, there was a search of how we could achieve this happy society, fulfilling the needs and aspirations of all Malaysians which was to continue for the generations to come. He symbolised the concept and conviction of generational responsibility in his vision. Continue reading “Power is duty, not a prize”

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“Creativity cannot be quantified” – Malaysians must thank their lucky stars it only cost RM1.8m

R1.8 million six Facebook fiasco – Going by Chua Soi Lek’s logic, Malaysians must thank their lucky stars they had not been charged RM18 million or RM180 million as “creativity cannot be quantified”

Going by the logic of MCA President Datuk Seri Chua Soi Lek, Malaysians must thank their lucky stars that they had not been charged RM18 million or RM180 million for six Facebook pages to promote tourism to Malaysia although facebook pages are free as “creativity cannot be quantified”.

Chua’s logic is impeccable when he said it might cost nothing to start facebook but “maintenance had costs” particularly when he stressed that it is difficult to put a dollar figure to the creativity of the IT consultants used. Continue reading ““Creativity cannot be quantified” – Malaysians must thank their lucky stars it only cost RM1.8m”

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Growing into my father’s son

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal
June 19, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

JUNE 19 — A grunt, a shadow of a frown or dead silence. These things tell me whether or not Abah is upset with me.

All my life, I’ve known Abah to be a man of few words. A quiet, unassuming type, aunts and uncles call him, but a proud man nevertheless.

Take a walk into Abah’s study at home, or his office at work, and you’ll be greeted by an army of books, yellowed by time and dog-eared with overuse. Continue reading “Growing into my father’s son”

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Bank Negara’s conditions tripping Abu Dhabi’s RHB sale

By Jahabar Sadiq
Editor
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 19, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 — Several new Bank Negara conditions are threatening the RM5.9 billion sale of a 25 per cent stake in RHB Capital Bhd between two Abu Dhabi sister firms, including the requirement that the new shareholder must support a possible merger with another Malaysian bank.

Two other puzzling requirements by the central bank is the request for Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) and new RHB shareholder Abu Dhabi investment fund Aabar Investments to adjust the sale price if the merger price is lower than the RM10.80 per share price agreed by both companies and the merger must not deviate too far from the market price so as to weaken the merged entity.

The Malaysian Insider understands that after the deal was signed on Friday, Bank Negara sent a series of harsh emails to to ADCB telling them to state the conditions imposed by the central bank in their press releases, which some bankers say is an aggresive and unusual intervention for such a matter. Continue reading “Bank Negara’s conditions tripping Abu Dhabi’s RHB sale”

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Pemandu explains RM64 mil expenditure

Regina Lee | Jun 18, 11
Malaysiakini

The Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu), raising eyebrows with its RM63.9 million price tag, has pointed out that the expenditure pales in comparison to similar programmes undertaken by multi-national companies.

In a blog posting on the Economic Transformation Programme’s website yesterday, it said that out of the total amount covering communications and consultancy work, only RM27.5 million was expended on communications.

Out of which, RM15 million went to communications regarding the Government Transformation Programme while for the same purpose another RM12.5 million channelled to the Economic Transformation Programme.

But without providing a detailed breakdown, the statement said that they embraced “open days, exhibitions, speaker platforms and other targeted ground activities, media relations, advertising, digital campaigns, investor relations, production of videos, brochures and collaterals”. Continue reading “Pemandu explains RM64 mil expenditure”

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Soi Lek says Tourism Facebook pages incur more cost than personal ones

By Yow Hong Chieh
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 18, 2011

The Facebook pages operated by the Tourism Ministry are “complicated” and cost more to run than similar personal pages on the world’s most popular social networking site, Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek said tonight

The MCA president waded into the controversy surrounding the RM1.8 million paid for six Facebook pages by the ministry helmed by party vice president Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen, saying it might cost nothing to start such pages but maintenance had costs.

He added that it was difficult to put a dollar figure to the creativity of the IT consultants used, which he suggested was the largest variable in the bill.

“That creativity, I don’t know how much they will charge,” he told reporters after attending a fundraising dinner at SMJK Chong Hwa here. Continue reading “Soi Lek says Tourism Facebook pages incur more cost than personal ones”