Day: December 2, 2011

David Martin
The Malaysian Insider
Dec 02, 2011

DEC 2 — With the 13th General Elections a day closer with each sunrise, Malaysians are served with a nauseating fare of daily news by major electronic and print media agencies.

It seems that these days, Malaysian lives revolve around that annual gathering of rabid humans in Putra World Trade Centre whose antics would put even simians to shame.

It’s a place where foul language is cheered upon. A place where religious bashing is commonplace. A place where pots and kettles gather to call others black.

It’s a place where one race reigns supreme, not unlike Hitler’s mantra. A place where seeds of hatred are sown, nurtured and watered. A place that reeks of corruption and hypocrisy. Continue reading “A gathering of the National Organisation of Uncouth Morons”

by Azmi Sharom
Wednesday, 30 November 2011

The scene is a small terrace house, somewhere in Kelana Jaya. Ten year old Mary and her younger brother Timothy approach their father who is sitting in the living room flossing his teeth after a large meal.

“Papa, Timmy and I would like to tell you something”

“Oh, really, both of you want to gather together and say something?”

“Yes, we think it is a very important issue and we would like to express ourselves to the whole family”.

“I see, so you want to assemble peacefully. You are not going to get violent are you?”

“Of course not Papa!” Continue reading “An Assembly Tale”

— Ali Kadir
The Malaysian Insider
Dec 02, 2011

DEC 2 — You can only carry pretence so far, eventually your true self will emerge. This fact is true for individuals like you and me and for organisations or political parties.

And so it is for the United Malays National Organisation. Outwardly, its president Najib Razak talks about the party representing all Malaysians and in the run-up to the general assembly, he even urged his party members not to hurt the feelings of non-Malays during debate time.

But this posturing gave way almost immediately after the start of the assembly. Bent on staying in power, Umno politicians have used every opportunity to make the Malays view the Chinese as a threat to their political party. Continue reading “The great pretenders”

Mohd Ariff Sabri Aziz | December 2, 2011
Free Malaysia Today

Where are the Umno screamers and banshees when government-linked businesses are slowly dismembered to enrich a few people?

COMMENT

Umno information chief Ahmad Maslan is grossly and perilously misreading the ground swell.

Today, Malays attach blame to Umno for allowing the pillage and plunder of the country. Malays attach blame to Umno for the lot the Malays are now in.

We would like to ask Ahmad: when Shahrizat (Abdul Jalil) facilitated the giving of the government grant of only RM250 million to Dr Salleh (Ismail), did she and her husband think of all those downtrodden Malays? They didn’t, right?

Even after that, they didn’t think it was necessary to create other cattle breeders.

After almost a month, the issue finally blew up in her face, and she suddenly recovered from the mad cow disease to disavow any connections to the National Feedlot Corpoartion (NFC) scandal.

Similarly, when we paid an excess of RM6 billion for the purchase of the armoured personnel carriers (APCs), was the RM6 billion meant for the ordinary Malays?

Where are the Umno screamers and banshees when MAS was slowly dismembered to enrich a few people? And when we were caught out, what did we do?

We screamed this is a conspiracy by opposition politicians! It’s never us – always others. Continue reading “Umno is never wrong, others are”

by Hafiz Noor Shams
The Malaysian Insider
Dec 02, 2011

DEC 2 — I had listened to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Malaysia Day address with scepticism. Part of the scepticism came after noticing all the qualifications made by the prime minister in the same speech. The so-called Political Transformation Programme does not look so bold if one reads the fine print.

As we have learned in recent days, the actual reform does not meet the high expectations set by the prime minister himself. The manner at which the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 was rushed through did little to alleviate the scepticism.

In these days of scepticism, only actions command confidence. The nearly six years of the Abdullah administration justifies that attitude. The bravado of Parti Keadilan Rakyat only adds to the justification of scepticism. Indeed, political scepticism against all sides is a sign of maturity of ordinary voters.

While the scent of scepticism was strong, not all shared it. Not all ordinary voters are seasoned political observers after all. Continue reading “Why the rush?”