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Kit Siang labels Najib, Hisham ‘instant jokes’ over Economist black-out

By Debra Chong
The Malaysian Insider
Jul 20, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 – Putrajaya’s decision to black-out portions of international magazine The Economist’s latest issue has backfired on the prime minister and home minister who both are now the target of jokes worldwide, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang said today.

The veteran opposition lawmaker recommended that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also overhaul the home ministry led by the latter’s cousin Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and appoint as officers in charge those who were more tech-savvy and up-to-date on current affairs.

Lim poked fun at the Najib administration for blotting out large segments of the weekly magazine’s July 16 edition that covered the Bersih 2.0 rally earlier this month, despite the article being also available online . Continue reading “Kit Siang labels Najib, Hisham ‘instant jokes’ over Economist black-out”

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Why Daddy chose to stand with the crowd

Da Huang Daddy | Jul 20, 11
Malaysiakini

EYEWITNESS

My dear daughter, Daddy told you this morning that I was travelling to work; in fact, I was travelling to Kuala Lumpur to participate with the so-called “bad” people, as the TV had labelled them.

Early in the morning, after giving you a kiss while you were sleeping, Mummy took Daddy to the airport. Why didn’t I drive? Because I heard that the police uncles had surrounded Kuala Lumpur, and as such, I might not be able to arrive there by driving.

Mummy: “What if you are caught?”

Daddy: “That is why you must stay – to bail me out.” Continue reading “Why Daddy chose to stand with the crowd”

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The political impact of Bersih 2.0

By Johan Saravanamuttu
Free Malaysia Today
July 20, 2011

The BN is still haemorrhaging from the Sarawak state election of April 16, where it lost the urban vote. Bersih 2.0 shows a continuing slide.

COMMENT

The repercussions of Bersih 2.0 will no doubt be profound. It has already been dubbed as Malaysia’s “Hibiscus Revolution”. The question that is now uppermost in the public imagination is whether the current government will also suffer a severe blow for its inept handling of the event.

Bersih started out in 2006 as a movement of civil society forces and political parties calling for clean and fair elections. Its demands for cleaning up the electoral rolls, reviewing postal votes, including allowing for voting from abroad, fair access to the media, the elimination of corrupt practices are nothing radical or revolutionary and yet the government’s resistance to it has allowed the opposition parties and those not in support of the present government to easily latch on to a ready-made platform for galvanising support.

Bersih’s first political rally on Nov 10, 2007 saw some 40,000 Malaysian streaming into the heart of Kuala Lumpur, setting a benchmark for peaceful political protest in Malaysia. Continue reading “The political impact of Bersih 2.0”

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Scorpene subs: The French edge closer to Najib

John Berthelsen
Malaysiakini
Jul 20, 11

The noose could be tightening on one of Malaysia’s greatest military procurement scandals, the US$1 billion purchase of French-built Scorpene submarines, commissioned by then-Defence Minister Najib Abdul Razak in 2002.

The latest developments come at a time when Najib, as prime minister, toured Europe, meeting with Queen Elizabeth and Pope Benedict XVI in an effort to repair an image battered by an ugly crackdown on July 9 against tens of thousands of protesters asking for reforms of Malaysia’s electoral system, which is regarded as rigged to keep the ruling national coalition in power.

The scandal allegedly involves French politicians, the giant state-owned defence contractor DCNS and politicians and military procurement units across the world.

The scandal netted a company owned by Najib’s close friend, Abdul Razak Baginda, €114 million in “commissions”, according to testimony in Malaysia’s Parliament. Some of the money is rumoured to have been kicked back to French and Malaysian politicians. Continue reading “Scorpene subs: The French edge closer to Najib”

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Najib, the Queen and the Pope

By Luke Hunt
The Diplomat
July 19, 2011

Marrying the demands of international diplomacy with the political realities of home is a tough ask for most countries and their foreign ministries. The two can be a difficult fit, as Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has found out all too well.

Some back home seem determined to provide an unwanted backdrop for his whistle-stop European tour designed to shore-up his country’s vastly improving relations with the West and bring in some much needed foreign investment.

However, echoes of the Bersih movement and their demands for electoral reform have dogged Najib and his entourage from London to Rome, while the prime minister’s own supporters have provided the nastiest thorn in his political side with wild and unsubstantiated claims of unwanted foreign meddling in domestic affairs. Continue reading “Najib, the Queen and the Pope”

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Bersih rally was 1Malaysia in action

Yin Ee Kiong | Jul 20, 11
Malaysiakini

EYEWITNESS

There’s light at the end of the tunnel and it is not from an on-coming train.

Malaysians are slowly but surely emerging from the dark hole that we have been in for well over 40 years. I am once again confident of our country’s future; recent events have convinced me of this.

I would be the first to admit that I have often doubted the resolve of Malaysians in the face of repression and abuse of power by its authorities. I look at Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines, even Myanmar, and wonder at the courage of their citizens who fight for change against almost insurmountable odds.

Then I look at ourselves and wonder why we seem so useless. Or perhaps we are not really useless – perhaps we are just a little more patient. However, 40 years of abuse of power will wear away even the patience of a saint. On July 9, that patience evaporated. Continue reading “Bersih rally was 1Malaysia in action”

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Utusan hitting the streets with blacked-ou​t headlines, blotches of black and full pages in black if it gets “Economist​” treatment from Home Ministry

The UMNO official organ, Utusan Malaysia, will be hitting the newsstands every day with blacked-out headlines in front or inside pages, blotches of black or even full pages in black if it is given the Economist treatment by Home Ministry “censoring incorrect and misleading information”.

And what a sight it would be!

This is because no other mainstream media in Malaysia could compete with Utusan for the tonnage of garbage, lies and falsehoods it purveys everyday!

It would undoubtedly make Utusan Malaysia the only one newspaper of its kind in the world as to justify to get into both the Guinness and Malaysia Books of Records! Continue reading “Utusan hitting the streets with blacked-ou​t headlines, blotches of black and full pages in black if it gets “Economist​” treatment from Home Ministry”

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Najib, ministers to distribute flags for Merdeka month

Malaysiakini | Jul 20, 11

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak, his deputy Muhyiddin Yassin and cabinet ministers will distribute Jalur Gemilang to the public in conjunction with the upcoming independence month celebration.

Information Communication and Culture Minister Rais Yatim said the flag distribution would be carried out at KL Sentral after the weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

“The prime minister and cabinet ministers will take a ride on the ERL from here to KL Sentral,” he told reporters in Putrajaya.

Earlier, Rais accompanied Muhyiddin who were shown the batik shirt to be worn by cabinet ministers at the launch of the flag-raising campaign.
Continue reading “Najib, ministers to distribute flags for Merdeka month”

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Auntie Bersih spooked by Facebook attention

Kow Gah Chie | Jul 20, 11
Malaysiakini

Eleven days after inspiring netizens for her heroic role in the Bersih 2.0 rally, Auntie Anne Ooi has gone into hiding.

Ooi, 65, said she is stunned by the attention she has received on the Facebook page set up for her, which has gained more than 40,000 ‘likes’ to date.

She has been praised as the ‘Malaysian Lady of Liberty’ and held up as an icon of the Bersih 2.0 cause for clean and fair elections.

For a retired teacher who has led a simple life and who has no knowledge of social media, the intense attention has come as a culture shock.
Continue reading “Auntie Bersih spooked by Facebook attention”

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Putrajaya, the days of censorship are over

Malaysiakini Your Say | Jul 20, 11

‘Is this where our indelible ink from March 2008 went, to black out a report on clean elections rally? Shameful and pathetic.’

Economist report on Bersih rally ‘censored’

Lynn: Other than the obvious stupidity of blatant censoring, this also shows how bloated the civil service is – to have people on payroll sitting around manually blacking out thousands of copies of The Economist. What a waste of time and typical of the inefficiencies of our government today.

Jaguh: These cowardly acts indicate shallow thinking. Whoever suggested it has no brains. There is the Internet. This really reflects on the whole cabinet (they all should be in a ‘cabinet’) and frankly, compared to other countries, they have no class, no standards and no morals. A change is imminent.
Continue reading “Putrajaya, the days of censorship are over”

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Bersih rally sounds death knell of tyranny

It seems to me the recent Bersih rally could have sounded the death knell of tyranny and overnight Ambiga has become the people’s iconic hero for electoral reform

By N H Chan

The picture on the front page of the Sunday Star, 10 July 2011 spoke louder than words. It showed the huge crowd of peaceful but bold Bersih supporters flying in the face of the cowardly might of the police who were decked out in full riot paraphernalia. They must be daunted by the sea of placid, mostly young, people facing them.

Those in the front rows were seated on the road and those at the back were standing. All were unarmed and none were menacing the police. They were all peaceful demonstrators who were trying to put across to the imbeciles in power the people’s right to peaceful assembly and to show that they were united in their call for a clean and incorrupt general election. Continue reading “Bersih rally sounds death knell of tyranny”

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Najib/Hisham – have you lost all power over Utusan spin-doctors?

UMNO’s spin doctors in Utusan Malaysia are scraping the bottom of the barrel bringing out of the woodwork discredited personalities to weave lies which positively damage Malaysia’s national interests and international image.

The latest incident is the surfacing of the discredited Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Rahim Noor who gave an interview with Mingguan Malaysia on Sunday alleging the Bersih 2.0 rally could open the door to Jews and Israel to infiltrate Malaysia as there were parties who wanted countries like Malaysia that was against Jews and Israel to be toppled. Continue reading “Najib/Hisham – have you lost all power over Utusan spin-doctors?”

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5,000 private doctors call for Jeyakumar’s release

Malaysiakini | Jul 19, 11

The Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations, which represents some 5,000 private doctors nationwide, has joined hands with others in the medical profession in calling for the release of Sungai Siput MP Dr D Jeyakumar.

“We are extremely concerned at the continued detention of our colleague, Dr Jeyakumar Devaraj, whom we all recognise and acknowledge as a law-abiding, competent, kind and diligent doctor.

“His public service record is exemplary and, to the very best of our knowledge, he is certainly not a threat to our society,” the federation said in a media statement today.
Continue reading “5,000 private doctors call for Jeyakumar’s release”

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Kit Siang to Hisham: How about NST, Berita Harian?

Malaysiakini | Jul 19, 11

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang has urged Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein to act fairly and equally against all publications instead of indulging in selective persecution over the coverage of the Bersih 2.0 rally of July 9.

Reacting to the disclosure by a PAS volunteer that he had been falsely accused of holding a knife and rock-throwing during the Saturday demonstrations, Lim asked whether New Straits Times (NST) and sister-publication Berita Minggu would be hauled up by the home ministry to answer claims their reports had distorted the events of that day.

Lim also cited the ministry’s summoning of three Chinese-language dailies last week over claims they had reported favourably on what the authorities had branded were “illegal assemblies”.
Continue reading “Kit Siang to Hisham: How about NST, Berita Harian?”

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‘Economist’ report on Bersih rally ‘censored’

Hazlan Zakaria & Wong Teck Chi | Jul 19, 11
Malaysiakini

Opposition parliamentarians have claimed that the July 16 edition of The Economist has been defaced by the Home Ministry in an apparent attempt to censor a report on the Bersih 2.0 rally for electoral reform.

“The Economist July16 issue has been censored/black inked on Bersih story by Home Ministry,” reads a tweet by Ipoh Barat MP M Kulasegaran.

In photos distributed via micro-blog site Twitter, the report headlines ‘Political affray in Malaysia: Taken to the cleaners’ shows lines blacked out by what seems to be a permanent marker pen.
Continue reading “‘Economist’ report on Bersih rally ‘censored’”

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Where do PSM 6 fit into the ‘larger’ picture?

Malaysiakini Your Say | Jul 19, 11

‘Chandra, where’s the larger picture with the detention of Dr Michael D Jeyakumar under the Emergency Ordinance?’

July 9: Look at the bigger picture, says Chandra

Loyal Malaysian: Yes, Chandra Muzaffar, the rakyat is looking at the bigger picture. It is Umnoputras like yourself who have chosen to look at it through blinkered dark glasses.

A Samad Said, the conscience of our nation, has openly accused Umno of playing the racial card, and any impartial observer will conclude the same, guilty as charged. Where’s the larger picture in the detention of Dr Michael D Jeyakumar and the other PSM 6 under the Emergency Ordinance, Chandra?

Josephine: To thwart the efforts of Bersih 2.0, the BN government and its cohorts have spun a long list of red herrings, aimed at deflecting people’s objective appraisal of the eight demands for electoral reforms.
Continue reading “Where do PSM 6 fit into the ‘larger’ picture?”

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Khalid, the videos are all in YouTube

Malaysiakini Your Say | Jul 19, 11

‘How can the people trust the police with the video footage? They’ll probably use it as evidence to arrest more people.’

Police urge public to submit Bersih 2.0 rally videos

Joker: Deputy inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar, if you were sincere, just go to YouTube. You can find lots of videos there.

You can also call up some of the participants such as PAS’ Abdul Hadi Awang, Marina Mahathir, Anwar Ibrahim, Nurul Izzah, Khairy Jamaluddin, maybe even Information Minister Rais Yatim since he is investigating whether the people there were paid to rally.

You can also interview your own officers and take their statements first so you can later match it against other statements.
Continue reading “Khalid, the videos are all in YouTube”

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DAYAK AWAKENING: Accomplishing Big Dreams Together.

by Duwen Babat
(Preparerd for “Is it time for a Dayak Reawakening” forum in KL on 18.7.11)

1. Introduction.

1.1 This opinion of mine is to briefly address specific subjects that could give significant impact to the rural population especially the Dayak community in Sarawak. Thus, issues pertaining to urban areas and matters of national implication are not discussed in this paper.

1.2 I must acknowledge that there are many good developments that have been and being carried out and suggested by various parties such as financial support to the elderly and single mothers, treated water, electricity, tarred roads and bridges. As such, I would not dwell on this topic as I support it completely, and of the opinion that such programs are basic necessities that the government is obligated to provide to its citizens.

1.3 The rural electorates continue to play a very vital role in deciding the outcome of the parliamentary and state election in Malaysia. However, despite their importance the Dayak rural populations continue to be marginalized and remained among the poorest since the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963. Continue reading “DAYAK AWAKENING: Accomplishing Big Dreams Together.”

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Pak Samad: Umno playing race card on Bersih 2.0

By Nigel Aw
Jul 18, 11 | MalaysiaKini

Umno, the commanding political party in the BN, is using the threat of Malays losing their political power to shore up its support base in countering the electoral reform demanded by Bersih 2.0, says national laureate A Samad Said.

Any implementation of the eight demands by Bersih 2.0, which includes postal voting reform, a major source of votes for the ruling coalition, is expected to erode its stranglehold on power.

“This (racial politics) is often raised by Umno. Most recently (with Bersih 2.0), there were also suggestions that Malay (political) power was being eroded,” Samad said. Continue reading “Pak Samad: Umno playing race card on Bersih 2.0”

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DAP downplays Pakatan split rumours

By Clara Chooi
July 18, 2011 | The Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang today shrugged off talk that his party may split from Pakatan Rakyat (PR) due to recurring conflicts with PAS, saying the idea had “not seriously occurred” to party leaders.

The senior politician also rejected the notion that PAS had kowtowed to DAP when the former revoked the Kedah entertainment outlet ban yesterday, insisting instead that the state government had shown tolerance and their willingness to resolve conflicts through consultation.

“The issue has shown the preparedness of the Pakatan Rakyat leadership to discuss and resolve problems, a glaring contrast with Umno,” he told The Malaysian Insider today. Continue reading “DAP downplays Pakatan split rumours”