Day: December 3, 2011

The Malaysian Insider
Dec 03, 2011

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — In a few hours, the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) will be empty of the thousands of delegates, observers and supporters attending the annual Umno general assembly. The five-day meeting saw a slew of speeches that touched on the issues facing the dominant party in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Here are the winners and losers.

WINNERS: Hardliners in Umno because the speeches and tone from this year’s assembly suggest that the party has moved further away from the centre. Umno used to be a broad church of opinions from the farmers, religious scholars to the teachers and businessmen and pure political animals concerned about social justice, economy, religion and race.

Today, race is the dominant theme and the supremacy of the Malay race is being used to bulldoze and shut out other voices in the party. The DAP was singled out as the main cause impeding unity talks between the Malay parties. Ironically, PAS was formed by the Umno religious wing in 1951 and both parties only worked together in 1973 to 1977 in the aftermath of the May 13 race riots.

But the DAP gets the blame for the lack of Malay unity and the race riots. Continue reading “Winners and losers at Umno assembly 2011”

Nigel Aw | Dec 3, 2011
Malaysiakini

Despite what appeared to be attempts by the KLCC management to cause inconveniences, some 200 people converged at its park off Jalan Ampang in a carnival-like gathering to oppose the Peaceful Assembly Bill.

Instead of being met by police batons and water cannons on its second Saturday afternoon protest, the group of about 200, clad in yellow, were met with water sprinklers.

The group moved close to some trees in the park after the KLCC management, again, cordoned off its compound for a cleaning operation, including the area the protesters used last week.

There, they stood around national laureate A Samad Said, who is popularly known as Pak Samad, as he recited his poems. Then, the complex management turned on water sprinklers on the ground where they stood.

Undaunted, those who were caught in the sprays shielded themselves with umbrellas and continued to listen to Pak Samad, who recited his latest poem in tribute to the occupy movement, Merindu Ruang (Missing Space) after reciting his Bersih poem, ‘Unggun Bersih’. Continue reading “200 brave water sprinklers to protest Assembly Bill”