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British role in the distortion of Malaysian history

— Centre for Policy Initiatives
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 20, 2012

APRIL 20 — We are reproducing excerpts from two recent articles in The Guardian exposing attempts by the departing British government to cover up records of embarrassing state crimes carried out during the final years of its empire, including in colonial Malaya.

The newspaper reports concern the discovery of sequestered records that have put the British colonial authorities in a scandalous and shameful light. These include records on the conduct of the war against the Malayan Communist Party (MCP), and the involvement of British troops and police in various atrocities and abuses, including the Batang Kali massacre.

More interestingly, these revealing records acknowledge the nationalist and anti-colonial nature of the insurgency carried out by the MCP. Meanwhile other damning records had been purposely scrubbed or destroyed so that it might appear as if Her Majesty’s government had scrupulously kept her hands clean and ethical standards unsullied during the days when Britannia ruled the seas.

The newly unearthed papers await the attention of a new generation of Malaysian scholars and researchers despite the shocking scale of the operation to purge the colonial files, and the extent of the British Foreign Office’s deliberate erasure of history. Continue reading “British role in the distortion of Malaysian history”

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Call for repeal of PPPA as amendments to draconian press law are “baby steps” if Najib is serious about wanting Malaysia to be world’s best democracy

We welcome the amendments to the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) to remove the annual licensing for newspapers as well as to provide for judicial review for the exercise of the Ministerial powers under the Act.

However, the manner in which the PPPA Amendment Bill is being rushed through Parliament, with very limited and inadequate debate in the early hours of the morning, the tabling of the Bill only on Wednesday and without any consultation with the concerned stakeholders, raise serious questions as how serious is the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in wanting to usher in a political transformation and make Malaysia the world’s “best democracy”.

The PPPA amendments are just “baby steps” if the Prime Minister is serious about Malaysia becoming the world’s “best democracy”. What we want is for the total repeal of the PPPA as there are adequate existing laws to deal with any press abuses.

Last month, the Prime Minister claimed that his three-year premiership had brought about more media freedom which has been acknowledged internationally. This is a most self-serving argument. Continue reading “Call for repeal of PPPA as amendments to draconian press law are “baby steps” if Najib is serious about wanting Malaysia to be world’s best democracy”

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Kota Belud MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan the worst racist and biggest liar in Parliament

An example of the draconian powers that remain in the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984 despite the present batch of amendments and which are open to grave abuses are the “offences” provisions in the parent Act, like Section 8A on “false news” under which the Penang Chief Minister and DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng was once a victim, being jailed for 18 months and deprived of his parliamentary status as well as his civil liberties.

How many cases of “false news” prosecutions have been instituted under the PPPA in the past 18 years?

All these years, the “false news” provisions have been used to victimise and oppress the critics of Barisan Nasional government, while Barisan Nasional leaders and publications enjoy immunity and impunity for all the lies and fasehoods they had perpetrated regardless of the adverse consequences to nation-building or national unity.

A good example is the UMNO organ, Utusan Malaysia which is the worst offender in concocting “false news”, for example in its lies about DAP wanting a Christian Prime Minister and a Christian Malaysia and the falsehoods that the DAP is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and anti-Malay Rulers.

An example of such “false news” is the Utusan Malaysia report today “Kit Siang tertekan digelar rasis”, which among other things, reported: Continue reading “Kota Belud MP Abdul Rahman Dahlan the worst racist and biggest liar in Parliament”

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Parti yang busuk sampai ke usus …

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 20, 2012

20 APRIL — Kadang-kadang saya rasa jurublog yang menyokong Umno ini terdiri dari orang tongong. Mungkin itu sebabnya, Dr Mahathir kata yang tinggal dalam Umno orang bingung dan half-past six. Adakah munasabah jika saya hendak menentang Umno dan BN, saya tidak di beri bercakap mengenai Datuk Najib dan Dr Mahathir atau mana mana pimpinan Umno? Bukankah mereka ini semua manusia, kalau kentot pun, busuk juga?

Ini macam mengajak saya bergocoh tapi nak ikat tangan saya di belakang. Bolehlah kamu belasah orang yang tangan diikat di belakang. Geng dan gerombolan Umno ini apa yang tidak mereka kata kepada Nik Aziz, Haji Hadi, Guan Eng, Kit Siang dan Anwar Ibrahim? Saya rasa istilah dalam kamus perkataan jijik dan kotor pun sudah tidak ada. Kita kena buat kamus special untuk pendukong Umno. Continue reading “Parti yang busuk sampai ke usus …”

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Kuasa bukannya hak milik kekal, ia hanya TOL sahaja

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 20, 2012

20 APRIL — Negara kita semakin hari semakin bercelaru dengan berkembangnya budaya samseng dan semua samseng-samseng ini adalah mereka yang menyebelahi pihak berkuasa. Pihak yang berkuasa sedang dalam keadaann desperado untuk mempertahankan kuasa dan mereka sedang mabuk dengan kuasa itu. Tindakan sekumpulan samseng memukul dan membelasah mahasiswa-mahasiswa yang sedang menuntut keadilan untuk masa depan mereka di Dataran Merdeka semalam amat menyayat hati. Mungkin sekarang ramai yang tidak merasa apa-apa tetapi orang yang miskin seperti saya dan ramai yang lain amat memahami perasaan mereka.

Nampaknya tidak ada siapa yang boleh menuntut apa-apa yang mereka anggap hak mereka dalam negara kita lagi. Sesungguhnya inilah kesilapan orang Melayu khasnya dan rakyat Malaysia amnya yang selama ini terlalu memberi muka kepada BN untuk memerintah negara ini sejak merdeka. Sebagaimana yang saya sebut selalu pihak berkuasa seolah-olah tidak boleh dipersoalkan lagi kerana mereka menganggap negara ini adalah hak mereka sahaja untuk berkuasa maka siapa sahaja yang mempunyai pendapat yang berlainan akan dipukul dan dicederakan.

Apabila mereka merasakan kuasa akan hilang maka mereka bertindak bukan sahaja membiarkan samseng-samseng melakukan apa sahaja ke atas anak-anak muda yang sedang menuntut keadilan dan berjuang untuk masa depan mereka dalam negara mereka sendiri. Pemimpin-pemimpin yang tidak bertanggungjawab pula membuat kenyataan-kenyataan yang memihak kepada samseng-samseng ini dan mengutuk tindakan mahasiswa untuk melakukan apa yang mereka wajar lakukan. Continue reading “Kuasa bukannya hak milik kekal, ia hanya TOL sahaja”

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PPPA amendments get nod after much acrimony

S Pathmawathy and Hazlan Zakaria | 10:38AM Apr 20, 2012
Malaysiakini

Parliament adopted the amendments to the Printing, Presses and Publication Act (PPPA) at 2.15am today as BN and opposition MPs fired verbal barbs at each other in a heated atmosphere.

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Barat) questioned the gvernment’s intentions to “truly allow for freedom of the press” ,dismissing the amendments to the PPPA as “mere baby steps”.

The major amendments include provisions to do way with the annual renewal of printing licences and publication permits as well as remove the absolute discretion of the minister on deciding whether to approve new applications or revoke existing ones.

“The Bill is to be debated in such a short time shows that the government is not interested in political transformation and the amendments were done without consultation, all the talk of transformation is just political mimicry,” Lim charged.

“These are just baby steps to press freedom. The prime minister has said under his leadership there is more press freedom and it was internationally recognised.

“Malaysia’s press freedom index was at 122 in 2011 compared to 141 last year (2010), but the question is are the changes in the press index due to Najib’s leadership? Continue reading “PPPA amendments get nod after much acrimony”

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Media law amended amid opposition uproar for its repeal

By Clara Chooi

The Malaysian Insider
Apr 20, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 — Parliament approved in a harried fashion early this morning a critical legislative amendment governing media freedom, agreeing to strip Putrajaya of its absolute powers over publishing licences and scrapping the need for annual renewal of the permits.

The Printing Presses and Publications (Amendment) Bill 2012 was approved by the Lower House at 2.15am even after federal opposition lawmakers raged against the inconvenient hour and short time given to debate the law.

Lim Kit Siang (DAP-Ipoh Timor), who took the floor first to open the policy stage debate, thundered to the Dewan Rakyat that the amendments were merely “baby steps” towards greater media freedom.

The septuagenarian, speaking off-the-cuff with his hands locked behind his back, was in top form as he kicked off his speech by accusing the Barisan Nasional (BN) government of being insincere in its promises to reform crucial policies.

“The Bill, that it has to be debated in such a short time, shows that the government is not interested in political transformation. And it was done without consultation… all this talk of transformation is just political mimicry,” he said.

The experienced Lim, who has seen through the harsher days of Malaysia’s restrictive media laws, said that the PPPA amendments fell short of Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s pledges for media freedom.

“The PPPA in its entirety should be repealed! Abolish PPPA! And newspapers should be free to publish without a need for government permit. Continue reading “Media law amended amid opposition uproar for its repeal”