Month: April 2012

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 25, 2012

25 APRIL — Masih ada saki baki penulis di dalam maya ini yang mengkritik keras tindakan saya menyertai DAP. Bermacam-macam tuduhan dilemparkan terhadap diri saya dan beberapa orang bekas ahli Umno yang bertindak menyertai parti ini, kononnya kami telah menjual bangsa dan agama kami. Saya ulangi saya tidak mengurangkan Melayu saya dan tidak mengurangkan kepercayaan saya terhadap agama saya.

Saya hairan kenapa mereka ini menggunakan isu agama dan bangsa sebagai isu terhadap diri saya, sedangkan salah satu sebab saya keluar daripada Umno itu ialah kerana parti itu menggunakan isu agama secara keterlaluan dan sebaliknya apa yang dilakukan oleh pemimpin parti itu semuanya bertentangan dengan agama dan bangsa. Bagi mereka agama itu menjadi tempelan sahaja sedangkan Islam itu sepatutnya menjadi cara hidup mereka (ad-din).

Bercakap tentang isu agama di sana sini tetapi entah apa yang dilakukan terhadap agama mereka pun kita tidak tahu dan payah untuk difahami. Islam kata orang, Islam kata mereka. Tetapi dalam bercakap pasal Islam dan membaca ayat-ayat suci dalam perhimpunan agong Pemuda, parti itu hanyalah sebagai tempelan sahaja kerana apa yang mereka lakukan hampir kesemuanya bertentangan dengan kehendak Islam. Rasuah tidak terkawal dan hampir kesemua di antara pemimpin parti itu sedang kemaruk dan penagih rasuah yang tegar.

Semuanya itu bertentangan dengan Islam. Entah siapa guru dan pendidik mereka dalam agama ini saya tidak tahu. Kalau Umno serius tentang agama dan akidah, saya berharap Umno memanggil seramai mana sadiqiah Islam dan membuat perbincangan dan tunjukkan kepada kami semua nas-nas dalam Al-Quran dan kitab-kitab tulisan ulamak-ulamak muktabar yang menyatakan bahawa menyertai DAP itu adalah haram. Kita juga mahukan mereka menunjukkan dalil-dalil serta nas-nas yang jelas yang orang Islam diwajibkan menyertai Umno untuk selamat dunia dan akhirat. Kalau ada terjumpa bukti-bukti ini beritahu kami yang telah menyertai DAP ini. Jika boleh berikan ketetapan, apa hukumnya menyokong dan mendukung pemimpin yang rasuah yang memerah harta rakyat tanpa batas ini. Continue reading “Adakah berdosa besar jika tidak bersama Umno?”

The April 28 Bersih 3.0 peaceful “Duduk Bantah” rally at Dataran Merdeka for clean, free and fair elections is an acid test of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s “political transformation” to make Malaysia, in his own words, “the best democracy in the world”.

In the past seven months, the Najib government had been trying to undo the damage caused by the disastrous government mishandling of the 709 Bersih 2.0 peaceful rally for free and fair elections, which saw an arrogant, ham-fisted, high-handed and mindless repression and clampdown such as the government ban on Bersih, unjustified PSM arrests under Emergency Ordinance, arbitrary arrests for wearing Bersih 2.0 T-shirts or just wearing yellow.

In his Malaysia Day message on Sept. 16 last year, Najib promised a “political transformation” with a slew of reform of undemocratic and draconian laws like the repeal of the Internal Security Act and the revocation of the four Emergency Proclamations.

At that time, I had specifically asked: “Will the replacements for the repeal or removal of repressive laws and measures result in the reincarnation of these very same draconian features in a new format, e.g. repeal of ISA but enactment of new law which could be described as ISA2?”

This is what have come to pass in the past seven months. Continue reading ““428” Bersih 3.0 acid test of Najib’s “political transformation” to make Malaysia “best democracy in the world” – start with immediate revocation of government ban on Bersih”

By Ong Kian Ming | Apr 24, 2012
Malaysiakini

COMMENT In two previous articles, I highlighted 10 problems associated with the electoral roll as part of the preliminary findings of the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (Merap), a research effort to identify and understand problems with the existing electoral roll.

In this article, I want to highlight further problems involving far more voters than those identified in the previous two articles. [see Part 1 I Part 2]

Firstly, approximately 3.1 million voters were identified as potential non-resident voters by the National Registration Department (NRD) in 2002. This data was given by NRD to the Election Commission (EC) but no action was taken by the EC to assess the magnitude of this problem and to identify ways to rectify it.

Secondly, using the EC’s own data which lists the nationality or ‘bangsa’ of each voter, approximately 65,000 voters were identified as having foreign nationalities. Of these, close to 90 percent or 58,000 had IC numbers which indicate that they were born in Malaysia.

In addition, approximately 49,000 of these voters came from one state alone – Sabah – which has a well-documented history where ICs were given to illegal immigrants in order to allow them to register as voters.
Continue reading “Electoral roll: What else is the EC hiding?”

By Ong Kian Ming | Apr 8, 2012
Malaysiakini

ANALYSIS In the first part of this article, I highlighted five problems with the electoral roll which were not addressed in the report by the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Electoral Reform.

In this second part, I will highlight five additional problems with the electoral roll, all of which concern the highly problematic area of postal voting among army and police personnel.

5. Postal voters who are registered using their regular ICs

Army personnel, who are postal voters, have IC addresses beginning with T. Police personnel, who are postal voters, have IC addressing beginning with R, G and I.

If any of these army or police voters were previously registered as voters using their civilian IC numbers, their civilian registration entries should be deleted from the electoral roll.
Continue reading “‘Dubious’ voters may decide GE13”

By Ong Kian Ming | Apr 7, 2012
Malaysiakini

ANALYSIS The Parliamentary Select Committee on Electoral Reform report, which was released earlier this week, highlights 22 recommendations on how to improve the electoral process.

I will not go through each and every recommendation or discuss the overall quality of these recommendations since others including the Bar Council chairperson and the Bersih steering committee have already done so.

bersih announcing 3rd rally 040412 ong kian mingWhat I will focus on in this two-part article is the many problems which are to be found in the electoral roll. To summarise, the report fails to acknowledge significant problems that have to do with the electoral roll, many of which are already well known, and seems to limit the scope of checking the accuracy of the electoral roll to a few not very useful parameters.
Continue reading “10 major problems in EC’s electoral roll”

— Thomas Fann
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 24, 2012

APRIL 24 — As I write this, we are just four days away from April 28, 2012. It is the day which the Bersih 2.0 steering committee has chosen to have Bersih 3.0, a sit-down protest called by its BM name Duduk Bantah. It is late at night and I am sleepless. As I lay awake, I reminisced about Bersih 2.0 held last year on July 9.

However, this time round, Bersih 3.0 is no longer an option for me for I found myself roped into the committee organising it simultaneously with the KL event, in my city. The band of us was crazy enough, probably foolish as well, to even consider doing it. Probably the experiences of July 9, 2011 have hardened our resolve to push for change and we didn’t want our beloved city to miss out on it.

But I am realising that it is one thing to risk your own life and another to be in a position where you may also be risking the lives of others. It is a fear that is multiplied by the number of those who will be coming out to sit down and protest.

Wait a minute! We are just talking about we, the citizens, wanting to say that we think the present electoral system and roll needs to be improved and cleaned up. All we are asking is two hours to sit down in a public space to voice our concerns. Why should we be afraid? Yet, we are. Continue reading “Bersih 3.0, the fear factor”

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 24, 2012

24 APRIL — Memang sudah menjadi adat dan cara hidup semua bangsa dan agama mengenang jasa dan budi orang itu memang menjadi tuntutan. Hidup tidak mengenang budi “ibarat kacang lupakan kulit”. Itulah perbilangan Melayu yang semua orang tahu. Dan sememangnya orang Melayu mengenang jasa.

Hanya sekarang politik tidak dapat membezakan diantara siapa yang patut mengenang jasa dan siapa yang telah memakan jasa. Itulah sekarang menjadi tuntutan Najib apabila beliau melawat P. Pinang dua hari yang lepas. Najib seperti pemimpin Umno yang lain sentiasa menuntut orang Melayu dan rakyat untuk mengenangkan jasa Umno dan pemimpin-pemimpin besarnya yang telah lalu dan yang sedang berkuasa pada hari ini.

Katanya kita mesti ingat kepada jasa Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Dr Mahathir Mohamad serta Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Mereka ini semuanya berjasa kepada orang Melayu dan negara, kata Najib. Kata-kata Najib itu ada benarnya tetapi mengenang jasa itu biarlah bertempat dan kena pada orangnya serta tepat kepada sasaran dimana jasa itu dikenang. Kita tidak boleh mengenangkan jasa kepada mereka yang tidak berjasa seperti mereka yang telah membinasakan perjuangan dan tamaddun bangsa kita sendiri.

Saya berpendapat Dr Mahatnir sepatutnya mengenang budi parti yang telah mengangkat beliau ke mercu kekuasaan, tetapi Mahathir menggunakan kuasa hasil dari mengenang jasa orang Melayu dengan membinasakan parti itu pada suatu ketika dahulu. Jasa parti itu besar kepada beliau tetapi beliau tidak mengenangnya kerana beliau merasakan ahli-ahli Umno tidak lagi mahu lagi mengenang jasanya.

Beliau tidak mahu menerima yang ahli-ahli Umno sudah keberatan untuk memberikan jasa lagi kepada beliau kerana sebab-sebab yang kita dengar semasa ramai dari ahli-ahli Umno mahukan beliau dibersarakan setelah memberikan jasa yang begitu besar kepada beliau. Justru beliau telah membiarkan Umno itu mati walaupun kuasa yang diberikan rakyat kepada beliau boleh menyelamatkan parti itu dari terkubur. Continue reading “Begitu kata Mahathir …”

— May Chee Chook Ying
The Malaysian Insider
April 24, 2012

APRIL 24 — What do you pray for when you pray, as when you speak to God? I was educated in a convent. So, from young I was “exposed” to the Catholic faith. So, I learnt how to pray, at least I think I know how to pray. Apart from the set prayers, I learnt how to talk to God.

My first and only gift I’ve asked from God since my primary years has been this — a conscience. A heavy conscience can be so inconvenient but that was what I asked for and that was what I got. I asked for it, so to speak!

So, what’s a conscience? The Oxford dictionary defines a conscience as a moral sense of right and wrong. I guess it means that when you have a conscience, simply put, you do know when you are doing right or wrong. When it’s right, you feel good and liberated. When it’s wrong, you feel lousy and imprisoned by guilt, fear, doubts, etc.

Please bear with me when I speak of conscience from the viewpoint of a Catholic. The size of the world depends on your conscience. Conscience can make the world bigger or smaller. It was the Lord Himself who said this: Two men can look at the “lily in the field” and the one sees more than the other. The first sees the stem and the petals of the flower. The second sees this and something beyond: the Providence of the Father who clothes it more magnificently than “Solomon in all his regalia”.

For the second man, his conscience is something more than a “still, small voice” at the back of his head. His world is bigger and he is too big a person to be crippled by the chilling fear of punishment when he does wrong or a feeling of guilt when he dares to be unconventional. Such a man can see the whole stage and not just part of the scenery. His conscience is what we, Catholics, call “the Vision of the Whole”. Continue reading “How do you discern?”

— Stephen Ng
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 24, 2012

APRIL 24 — It was on November 1, 1997 when the National Higher Education Loan (PTPTN) scheme started giving out loans. At that point in time, private colleges were starting to bloom, and foreign universities such as Monash University and Nottingham University were also invited to set up their campuses in Malaysia.

The PTPTN was created to be a rolling fund to provide loans to students who could not afford tertiary education, because very few banks in those days were willing to provide the loans. Even banks were charging higher interest fees for students who opted for the loans compared to the PTPTN.

Besides, the cost of private education is higher than that offered by the public sector. This is understandable, because they are linked with international universities and were catering to a generation of students who would have otherwise opted to go overseas. There was also no government funding to make available teaching equipment in these private universities.

I remember former Health Minister Dr Chua Soi Lek visiting a medical faculty in a private college. He made such a big fuss, complaining that the facilities for the newly set up medical faculty were not on par with the public universities. In my heart, I asked: “In the first place, how much has the government provided in soft loans to these private colleges?” Dr Chua, of course, never helped to fight for government funding to boost private education sector.

As I see it now, with the exception of certain colleges, the private education sector has in fact met the aspirations of the young people of Malaysia. Because of the PTPTN, many students have been able to pursue their education. Otherwise, they would not have been able to continue their education overseas, or even locally in the public universities due to the quota system.

My question therefore is why is the PTPTN now the subject of ridicule? Continue reading “PTPTN loan is good, but …”

by Dr Lim Teck Ghee
CPI
Tuesday, 24 April 2012

With the general election imminent, one key question remains yet unanswered: Will the Barisan Nasional respect the outcome of the polls and ensure a peaceful transition of power?

This is the sixty four thousand dollar sensitive question – unasked in our repressed mass media, largely unexplored by political analysts, never-to-be-publicly wondered but lurking in the mind of many concerned Malaysians.

One exception to the unwritten rule of never posing such a politically incorrect question took place in a private lunch talk organized by the Royal Selangor Club (RSC) for its members early this year. The January 12 event featuring Prime Minister Najib Razak as speaker had attracted an audience of more than 200.

An RSC member (who identified himself as the son of a former long-serving staff of Najib’s father, the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein) asked the following towards the end of the talk:

“Mr Prime Minister, would you make the transition of the government for Pakatan a smooth one if the opposition wins the next general election?”

According to some of those present, after some hesitation the prime minister responded: “I do not have to answer that question” or words to that effect; following which he abruptly left, ostensibly for another function. Continue reading “Peaceful transition of power: Open letter to all political parties”

– Yolanda Augustin
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 24, 2012

APRIL 24 – My name is Yolanda Augustin and I left Malaysia 14 years ago to study in the UK, where I now live and work as a doctor. I’m writing to explain what inspired me to get involved in the Bersih movement and global solidarity work for Malaysia.

For many years, I felt a sense of helplessness and frustration as I followed Malaysian current affairs and saw the country I grew up in stuck in a downward spiral of poor governance and deteriorating civil liberties and human rights. What really got to me was the complete waste of potential – Malaysia was and remains a beautiful country – rich in natural resources, great weather, fantastic cuisine and diverse culture. It has a small population of 28 million people that could enjoy a world class healthcare and education system if the money spent on hapless vanity projects and siphoned off to fund the multimillionaire lifestyles of government ministers was spent on improving the lives of the rakyat.

I was also struck by the vast number of Malaysians I met living overseas – many of them doing interesting and inspiring things – writers, scientists, entrepreneurs, doctors, chefs, bankers, lecturers, lawyers, nurses, town planners, engineers, actors, the list goes on. Many of them still with strong roots and a sense of connection to their place of birth. Many of them wanting to contribute something good and positive towards Malaysia but not knowing what, where or how. Continue reading “Why Malaysians 0verseas are joining Global Bersih 3.0”

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 23, 2012

APRIL 22 — Some of my readers will recognise that my previous article borrowed its title from Fukuyama’s hugely popular book. I am sceptical, however, that someone who writes of Najib Razak as being the prime minister of this blessing land instead of this blessed land has read Fukuyama’s book.

I haven’t got the time to enter into useless polemic with this fellow as it would only serve to dignify his blog, which isn’t widely read anyway.

One admission. My blog nowadays does not pretend to be a forum for unbiased debate. Since I joined the DAP, while I try to present an objective viewpoint, I am functioning increasingly as a pamphleteer with a specific political objective. I don’t have to explain myself as many know what I am inferring of.

Back to Fukyuma’s “End of History”. It tells the end of totalitarian and undemocratic rules all over the world. Whether it has brought about the emergence of liberal democracy in exact terms as described by Fukuyama remains to be seen.

What is happening all over the world is this: ALL totalitarian and undemocratic rules in the world have had to adjust to the new realities brought about by the empowerment of people. This is what is happening in our country too.

As a result, despite the shamefaced claim of the rise of the PM’s popularity, of promises of development that they have failed to deliver for so many years, there is an unmistakable sense of nervousness in the ruling government that this time; it’s not going to be business as usual. Continue reading “Umno’s looming end (Part 2)”

by M. Bakri Musa
(Fifth of Six Parts)

In the previous four essays I reviewed the particular challenges facing students in rural and residential schools. This essay delves into the six-month period in which our university-bound and other students find themselves in academic limbo following their Sijil Persekutuan Malaysia (SPM) examination.

In reviewing the recent SPM results, Education Minister Muhyiddin did not once pause to ponder what those nearly half a million 17-year-old Malaysians were doing since they sat for their test last November. These are the youngsters infesting our shopping malls, roaring around on their motorcycles, or otherwise getting into mischief. For over six months they are unable to plan for their future. They cannot even enjoy their break as their future is uncertain. The government’s myriad post-SPM programs like Sixth Form, matrikulasi, polytechnic institutes, and teachers’ colleges depend on the SPM scores, and therefore do not begin until the middle of the year.

This long period of uncertainty and inactivity during a critical period in a teenager’s development is unhealthy. The expression “an idle mind is a devil’s workshop” is never more true than for teenagers. Even if they could ward off the devil’s machination, with the long hiatus would come considerable attrition of knowledge and good study habits. This is particularly critical for those aspiring to go to good universities. Continue reading “Reforming Education: Post-Form Five Options”

— Faizal Tajuddin
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 23, 2012

APRIL 23 — Step One: Pretend you’re reforming and making changes. For the better, of course. And make sure people notice it, and to make doubly sure they don’t forget, don’t make the changes too early. Do it late. Very late. A month or two before General Election late. Then you can appear on mass media and go “See? See? It was a struggle and a sacrifice and it was tough but we did it for you. For the people!”

Step Two: Real reform can be dangerous. Especially if one is too comfortable holding on to power. The power is practically a permanent mandate now. An entitlement. And real changes might mean you’d lose that power. So don’t really change anything, appear to change something. A little bit of window dressing or a new coat of paint, something along the lines of: Telling people you’re going to scrap the ISA, but then replace it with something just as nasty. Or tell people they can protest peacefully now, no need for permits, freedom of assembly is upheld etc, blah blah blah, but then designate practically everywhere as non-assembly zones.

Step Three: Really change something. Only this time, something of benefit for powers that be and not for people, then slip in that tiny, innocuous real game-changer along with the big pronouncements and make the necessary amendments at the parliament. Rush all those bills in one day, get it all done and announce it to the media. With any luck, everybody would concentrate on the big public relations “reforms” and ignore that one tiny innocuous nothingness that really changes a whole lot.

Step Four: Celebrate. You just won the election again. Continue reading “How to steal an election”

— May Chee Chook Ying
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 23, 2012

APRIL 23 — Let’s forget about trying to break into the Guinness Book of World Records and stuff. Let’s just get back to basics. Let’s just go back to square one; what it means to be a democracy, what it means to uphold the constitution. Let’s remember the pledge of the Rukunegara, first mooted in 1970. For those who have forgotten about it and for those who do not know anything about it, it goes like this:

“Our Nation, Malaysia, is dedicated to: Achieving a greater unity for all her people; maintaining a democratic way of life; creating a just society in which the wealth of the nation shall be equitably distributed; ensuring a liberal approach to her rich and diverse cultural tradition, and building a progressive society which shall be oriented to modern science and technology.

We, the people of Malaysia, pledge our united efforts to attain these ends, guided by these principles:

Belief in God

Loyalty to King and Country

Upholding the Constitution

Sovereignty of the Law and

Good Behaviour and Morality”

Seen or felt any of the above lately? Am I the only one sorely missing the spirit of the Rukunegara? Can we drown out the din, please, and get back to living with dignity, the way decent human beings deserve to? Continue reading “Let’s just get back to basics”

By Shannon Teoh
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 23, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 — Bersih accused the Election Commission (EC) today of failing to investigate 3.1 million voters whose identity card (IC) addresses differ from that in the electoral roll despite having the information since 2002.

Speaking at a press conference called by the electoral reform movement, independent polls analyst Ong Kian Ming said the EC was given this information for all states in the peninsula and also Kuala Lumpur in 2002 and the figure made up 37 per cent of the 8.3 million voters registered then.

The project director for the Malaysian Electoral Roll Analysis Project (MERAP) said he has had the information given by the National Registration Department (NRD) to the EC before the implementation of the new registration system where all voters have to be registered according to the constituency indicated by their IC addresses.

“The EC has failed to act on this… to clean up the electoral roll even though the presence of these non-resident voters contravenes Article 119 1(b) of the Federal Constitution which says a voter must be a resident in the constituency he is voting in,” he said. Continue reading “3.1m dubious voters on list for a decade, says Bersih”

by Malik Imtiaz Sarwar

Though the Government has said much about the repeal of the infamous Internal Security Act, little has been said to explain how its so-called replacement, the Security Offences (Special Measures) Bill (SOA), will impact on our lives. Even less has been said about the bill tabled to amend the Penal Code that went hand in hand with the SOA. I think there was a reason for this.

To say that the two bills are draconian would be a gross understatement. They brutally curtail the constitutional freedom of Malaysians to dissent. It seems that we have been made the victims of a sleight of hand. While we were being distracted by the song and dance that attended the termination of the ISA, Parliament was being harnessed to diabolical purpose. The passing of the two bills has sounded the death knell of civil liberties.

I am not given to hyperbole. The facts speak for themselves. Continue reading “The death of civil liberties”

—Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 23, 2012

23 APRIL — Semalam PM Najib di Pulau Pinang, negeri yang telah begitu maju dan telah pun menjadi negeri yang mendahului negeri-negeri lain dalam pelaburan pembuatan tahun lepas. Pulau Pinang diikuti rapat oleh Selangor dalam sektor yang sama dan kedua-duanya adalah negeri yang ditadbir oleh Pakatan Rakyat. Najib kali ini menjanjikan bulan dan bintang kepada negeri P. Pinang jika BN kembali memerintah negeri itu.

Janji pemimpin BN itu adalah janji dari parti yang telah jatuh ke dalam gaung dan kali ini ia memberikan janji kepada orang-orang yang telah mencampakkan BN ke dalam gaung itu. Lawatan ini adalah lawatan dalam siri kempen pilihanraya ke13 nanti dan Najib masih melagukan lagu-lagu lama yang sudah tidak masuk “carta lagu popular mingguan” lagi.

Lagunya yang dinyanyikan di Pulau Pinang semalam bertajuk “Ingat kepada jasa lama” dan “Jangan tinggal daku” yang telah dinyanyikan oleh pemimpin Umno setiap kali pilihanraya sampai. Lagu ini serupa seperti lagu “Selamat Hari Raya” nyanyian biduawanita negara Saloma. Lagu “Selamat Hari Raya” hanya berkumandang semasa kita menghampiri Hari Raya Puasa. Lagu-lagu ini datangnya bermusim. Bila habis Hari Raya hilanglah lagu selamat Hari Raya. Begitu jugalah lagu nyanyian Najib.

Tidak ada modal lain selain dari meminta rakyat dan orang Melayu khususnya untuk berterima kasih kepada BN dan mengenang jasa-jasa pemimpin-pemimpin terdahulu seperti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn, Dr Mahathir serta Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Najib menggunakan nama-nama pemimpin yang terdahulu sebagai “testimonial” untuk mendapatkan sokongan yang berterusan dari rakyat. Najib dan Umno pimpinannya sedang kepanasan kerana dalil-dalil yang jelas telah dilihat yang BN akan menghadapi pilihanraya yang paling getir dalam sejarah negara merdeka kita.

Tetapi Najib tidak pula nampak yang “testimonial” nama-nama pemimpin yang disebut beliau itu tidak boleh meyakinkan rakyat untuk menerimanya bulat-bulat. Setidak-tidaknya dua dari nama yang disebutnya itu tidak berada didalam Umno semasa mereka meninggal dunia. Tunku Abdul Rahman sehingga akhir hayat beliau tidak mahu menyertai Umno kerana parti itu tidak lagi mempunyai “attribute” sebagai parti yang mempunyai intregiriti untuk memerintah. Begitu juga Hussein Onn. Kedua-dua bekas pemimpin besar Umno ini tidak mahu menyertai Umno sama sekali. Continue reading “Testimonial siapa yang lebih baik? Tunku dan Hussein Onn atau yang lain-lain?”

— Sakmongkol AK47
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 22, 2012

APRIL 22 — It is already happening. The people in the mainstream media and “mainstream new media” do not have a clue about what is happening. They are seeing ghosts at every corner. Umno is in total disarray. In desperate times, Umno resorts to desperate measures.

Umno knows the Malay mindset. They know Malays have this addiction to horror stories, sex and other bizarre tales. That is why readership of the Mastika Magazine far outstrips that of Utusan Malaysia. In Utusan Malaysia, only two pieces of news are true; (1) the Islamic prayer times and (2) 4-digit numbers. Can it be that more Malays now patronise the gaming shops? Everything else in Utusan is deceit.

So, now, they concentrate on the horror of horrors — all else will die with the demise of Umno. The hard truth is, if Umno dies, the ones who will suffer most will be the parasitic leeches and the anointed rent-seekers, the licensed rajahs, the ones given licences to plunder, and the corrupt politicians. It’s the end of civilisation, but it’s the end of the plundering civilisation as Umno knows it.

Let me hasten to comfort Malays and Malaysians; nobody dies if Umno goes under. Especially not the Malays. The tide and ebb of Malays do not absolutely depend on Umno. We progress through education and through our efforts. Continue reading “Umno’s looming end”

By Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
Apr 23, 2012

KUALA LUMPUR, April 23 — The DAP today demanded all minutes of the Port Klang Authority (PKA) meetings in 2009 and 2010 be made public, while accusing its chairman Datuk Teh Kim Poh and Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha of misleading the public over the Port Klang Free Zone (PKFZ) bonds payment fiasco.

Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua said Teh was merely attempting to protect his boss Kong on Friday when the former denied allegations that the minister had been the one who had overturned PKA’s decision not to pay turnkey developer Kuala Dimensi Sdn Bhd (KDSB) bondholders.

“Teh must be either completely clueless about what had happened in 2009 and 2010 or he is just lying through his teeth to protect the boss Kong who appointed him to his current position,” Pua said in a statement here.

The DAP publicity secretary then cited a media report on July 28, 2010 that said it was Kong who had used his ministerial powers to override PKA’s decision to refuse to make the final RM222.58 million to the special purpose vehicle set up by KDSB to raise funds from the market. Continue reading “DAP wants ‘clueless’ PKA boss to disclose meeting minutes”