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Bersih T-shirts illegal, declares Hisham

By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 29, 2011

PUTRAJAYA, June 29 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today T-shirts with messages in support of Bersih have been outlawed because they were related to an illegal assembly.

“The Bersih T-shirt is related to an illegal assembly, then whatever they are wearing is illegal,” he told reporters.

Police officers have been arresting activists and opposition members wearing Bersih T-shirts ahead of next weekend’s rally and counter rallies organised by Umno Youth and Perkasa, all of which the government has said will not be given police permits. Continue reading “Bersih T-shirts illegal, declares Hisham”

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Freedom, imagined

By Adrian Chew
June 29, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

JUNE 29 — Imagine this.

Tens of thousands of us came from all over to exercise our fundamental rights. In our midst were foreign elements; their presence threatening and encouraging at the same time.

The organisers of the event gave us clear instructions: Wear shirts of a certain colour. Be at the designated staging sites at the appointed time.

Alternative routes were suggested in case the authorities decided to block access to the sites. Many arrived hours ahead and camped inside their vehicles, counting down the hours to the event we’d all anticipated for so long. Continue reading “Freedom, imagined”

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Waging war? The charge simply doesn’t stick!

Aliran Executive Committee
28 June 2011

The way the PSM members were arrested and accused reminds us of the proverb, “Give a dog a bad name and hang him.”

That’s what the police have done. They resurrected the communist bogey and concocted the myth of waging war against the king and hoped that these ludicrous accusations will stick. Unfortunately, the accusations are far-fetched and come across as scandalous and out-right lies.

The PSM is a grass-roots party dedicated to socialism and to the peaceful attainment of goals that would bring benefits to the marginalized and helpless members of the Malaysian community. Their concern for the welfare of the Orang Asli, their struggle for the urban poor, their solidarity with the homeless, their unwavering support for the evicted, their demand for decent basic wages for the largely exploited labour class, all this speaks eloquently to justify their existence in the political area.
Continue reading “Waging war? The charge simply doesn’t stick!”

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But wait, Bersih didn’t threaten to torch Umno HQ

Malaysiakini Your Say | Jun 29, 11

‘Bersih leaders were the first to receive death threats, yet there were no Bersih supporters outside PWTC threatening to burn down Umno’s HQ.’

Umno Youth ‘threatened’ to torch PKR HQ

Swipenter: We are all sick of the threats of violence verbalised by Perkasa and Umno supporters every time when things are disagreeable to them.

This is reminiscent of the threats issued by Umno Youth to burn down the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (SCAH) over the issue of vernacular education.
Continue reading “But wait, Bersih didn’t threaten to torch Umno HQ”

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Coming soon: Bersih a front for extraterrestrials?

Malaysiakini Your Say | Jun 29, 11

‘First, Utusan claims Bersih is sponsored by foreign Christians organisations. Then, it’s by communist elements, together with a US pro-democracy NGOs.’

Utusan overdrives on Bersih ‘communist’ plot

Ignis Sacra: It is all the doing of the resentful ghost of that arch crusader, former chancellor Joseph Konrad Adenauer.

Unhappy with current chancellor Angela Merkel, the tortured ghost is now seeking his evil consolation from the idea that every last Malay must be condemned and crucified.
Continue reading “Coming soon: Bersih a front for extraterrestrials?”

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Deciphering Najib

byj Jacob Sinnathamby
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 28, 2011

JUNE 28 — Malaysia is in the mess it is because we don’t have leaders of spine, integrity and consistency in our midst.

I am astounded on a daily basis by statements made by Datuk Seri Najib Razak. I don’t care about Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin or Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein or even Datuk Ibrahim Ali — you expect the racism and rubbish spewing from these characters because this is what they are about.

But Najib didn’t sound like that in the beginning of his term as the prime minister. He promised changes, said he would be inclusive and heal the wounds that have been tearing this country apart. He promised 1 Malaysia and other stuff. Continue reading “Deciphering Najib”

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Kit Siang: Cops violated parliamentary privileges

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 28, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, June 28 — DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang today accused the police of violating parliamentary privileges when they appeared in the House this morning to record statements from two opposition MPs on the Bersih rally.
The senior parliamentarian said he had never before witnessed such an incident since he became an MP in 1969.

“I am shocked and outraged that the police have shown up in Parliament today to record statements from Pakatan Rakyat (PR) parliamentarians – Azmin Ali (PKR – Gombak) and Mohd Firdaus Jaafar (PAS – Jerai).

“This is the first time within my memory as an MP since 1969 of any policeman invading the parliamentary precincts to take statements from any MP,” he wrote in a statement today.

Lim called on Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia to tell Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar to stop his men from repeating the incident in the future. Continue reading “Kit Siang: Cops violated parliamentary privileges”

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A campaign of courage

By Stanley Koh | June 28, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

Why is the rally for electoral reforms such a political hot potato? Why this gush of threats and calls for the punishment of the Bersih rally organisers? Why is the Barisan Nasionl hegemony so fearful of electoral reforms? Why shouldn’t it support free, fair and clean elections?

Bertrand Russell once propounded the theory that bad leadership in a democracy is a logical impossibility. “The electorate always get the leaders they deserve. No matter how incompetent or venal the leaders are, the electorate must have been even worse to have elected them.”

But this cynical view cannot apply to Malaysia. The Malaysian experience has shown that it is possible for good citizens to get bad leaders.
Continue reading “A campaign of courage”

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Spectacle of Police invading Parliamentary precincts to take police statements from MPs a most deplorable precedent of violation of parliamentary privileges and must be condemned in strongest terms

I am shocked and outraged that the police have shown up in Parliament today to record statements from Pakatan Rakyat parliamentarians – Azmin Ali (PKR – Gombak) and Mohd Firdaus Jaafar (PAS – Jerai).

This is the first time within my memory as an MP since 1969 of any policeman invading the parliamentary precincts to take statements from any MP.

The spectacle of the police invading parliamentary precincts to take police statements from Members of Parliament is a most deplorable precedent, violating parliamentary privileges and must be condemned in the strongest possible terms by MPs regardless of party.

The Speaker, Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia must uphold the dignity and privileges of Parliament and tell the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Ismail Omar in no uncertain terms that the Police must not violate parliamentary privileges and precincts and insist that police carry out their duties such as taking statements from MPs outside parliamentary premises.
Continue reading “Spectacle of Police invading Parliamentary precincts to take police statements from MPs a most deplorable precedent of violation of parliamentary privileges and must be condemned in strongest terms”

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Najib GTP in past two years a depressing failure

I posed a supplementary query in Parliament to Question No. 5 to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Senator Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon who had boasted about the great success and achievements of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Government Transformation Programme to date.

Puncturing his balloon, I pointed out that the purpose of Najib’s GTP is to restore national and international confidence in the efficiency, independence, integrity and professionalism of key national institutions but the reality in the past two years had been the very opposite – with even greater plunge of public and international confidence in the efficiency, independence, integrity and professionalism of key national institutions like the police, judiciary, elections commission and the anti-corruption commission, the MACC.
Continue reading “Najib GTP in past two years a depressing failure”

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Rais, the desperadoes are those in Umno

Malaysiakini Your Say | Jun 28, 11

‘If PSM were waging war, the authority would have known a long time ago. Why is it only during the lead-up to Bersih that they discovered this?’

Rais: Communist ideology last resort of the ‘desperate’

Multi Racial: Information Minister Rais Yatim, you are getting senile. It was the authority who coined the communist threat and slapped it on the group which supports the peaceful demonstration for fair and clean elections.

It was Umno who was getting desperate, so don’t turn around saying others were getting desperate. If Umno is confident with the support they having, why not allow Bersih to go ahead with their peaceful demonstration?
Continue reading “Rais, the desperadoes are those in Umno”

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Dr Jeyakumar detained, Ibrahim Ali walks free

Malaysiakini Your Say | Jun 28, 11

‘Ibrahim will walk away with a small fine, but Pakatan Rakyat leaders will find themselves ineligible to contest elections.’

Ibrahim Ali hauled up for alleged sedition

DannyLoHH: The double standard of treatment is glaring. Sungai Siput MP Dr D Micheal Jeyakumar was arrested and remanded for seven days for having some T-shirts with him, whereas Ibrahim Ali, who had openly threatened bloodshed and violence, is “probed” for two hours and then let go.

Penang deputy police chief Abdul Rahim Jaafar, you are doing a really good job of portraying the image of the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP) as the running dogs of Umno.
Continue reading “Dr Jeyakumar detained, Ibrahim Ali walks free”

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National laureate probed over ‘seditious poem’

Joseph Sipalan
Malaysiakini
Jun 27, 11

National laureate A Samad Said today decried police investigations into his poem recital during a Bersih 2.0 event and said the authorities are now treating poetry as a weapon.

The septuagenarian was hauled up for about 90 minutes of questioning today at the Dang Wangi district police station on his poem recited during the June 19 ‘launch’ of the Bersih 2.0 rally.

(Refer to the poem Unggun Bersih below)

“Poetry has now become something extraordinary; it has now become a weapon,” he told a throng of journalists jostling to hear the soft-spoken man. Continue reading “National laureate probed over ‘seditious poem’”

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Umno Youth members protest Khairy death threat at PKR headquarters

By Shannon Teoh and Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
June 28, 2011

PETALING JAYA, June 28 — Hundreds of Umno Youth members on motorcycles circled the PKR headquarters here late last night in a threatening manner ahead of the July 9 Bersih rally, ostensibly to protest a death threat against their leader Khairy Jamaluddin.

They arrived at the office block in Tropicana, just a few doors away from the Tropicana police station, claiming that a death threat sent to Khairy recently came from the opposition party, which denied the allegation.

The group of Umno Youth members protesting outside the PKR headquarters last night.

Executive committee member Lokman Noor Adam claimed he led 600 Umno Youth members at 10.30 last night, blocking the street in front of the PKR headquarters as they chanted loudly in the night.
Continue reading “Umno Youth members protest Khairy death threat at PKR headquarters”

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Dear Brother Anas

by Art Harun
The Malaysian Insider
Jun 27, 2011

JUNE 27 — I am moved to comment on your “Open letter to Lim Guan Eng.”

First of all, I have no doubt of your centrist stance. Having known you for close to 27 years, I think I could state, with some level of authority, that your centrist stance is one which you have embraced all this while. Now you are just utilising that stance for what you think is for the good of the society. I respect that.

As unity is a subject which is really close to your heart, allow me to put my thought to that subject, especially in relation to what you had written in your said open letter. Continue reading “Dear Brother Anas”

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Mat Zain: Bala’s SD might save cops on death row

Malaysiakini
Jun 27, 11

Former Kuala Lumpur CID chief Mat Zain Ibrahim has urged Inspector-General of Police Ismail Omar to intervene in the decision of the Attorney-General’s (AG’s) Chambers not to charge private investigator P Balasubramaniam with falsifying a statutory declarations (SDs).

In an open letter to Ismail, Mat Zain said the contents of Balasubramaniam’s statutory declarations, if tested in court, may influence the outcome of the Altantuya Shaariibuu murder case.

Two young police personnel, Azilah Hadri, 33, and Sirul Azha Umar, 36, were both sentenced to death for Altantuya’s murder.

However, political and defence analyst Abdul Razak Baginda was acquitted of abetment without his defence being called. Prosecutors did not appeal the decision.

“If the judge had mistakenly freed Abdul Razak, that is inconsequential. Maybe that is his luck. But we cannot allow the judge to mistakenly sentence Azilah and Sirul to death. Continue reading “Mat Zain: Bala’s SD might save cops on death row”

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Gani Patail playing judge in Altantuya case, says Mat Zain

By Shannon Teoh | June 27, 2011
The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 — A retired senior policeman has accused Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail of superceding the courts by dismissing private investigator P. Balasubramaniam’s statutory declarations (SD) regarding the murder of Altantuya Shariibuu.

Datuk Mat Zain Ibrahim said in an open letter to Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Ismail Omar today that the Attorney-General was trying to ensure that the Mongolian’s murder case is not reopened.

The Shah Alam High Court ended a 159-day trial in April 2009, meting out death sentences to two police officers who are now appealing the judgment.
Continue reading “Gani Patail playing judge in Altantuya case, says Mat Zain”

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Unggun Bersih

By A. Samad Said
June 27, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

Semakin lara kita didera bara —

kita laungkan juga pesan merdeka:

Demokrasi sebenderang mentari

sehasrat hajat semurni harga diri.

Lama resah kita — demokrasi luka;

lama duka kita — demokrasi lara.

Demokrasi yang angkuh, kita cemuhi;

suara bebas yang utuh, kita idami!

Dua abad lalu Sam Adams berseru:

(di Boston dijirus teh ke laut biru):

Tak diperlu gempita sorak yang gebu,

diperlu hanya unggun api yang syahdu.

Kini menyalalah unggun sakti itu;

kini merebaklah nyala unggun itu.

* A. Samad Said adalah Sasterawan Negara Malaysia