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A new dawn?

— May Chee
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 31, 2012

AUG 31 — Woke up around 7am today, after about five hours of sleep. By the way, “Selamat Hari Merdeka” folks!

My husband and I went for the Janji Demokrasi Merdeka Countdown at the clock tower in Malacca last night. Again, it was another heartwarming experience. Syabas to all those who gathered there and elsewhere for the Janji Demokrasi!

This time around, no untoward incidents, I hear. That’s good, really good. See, if we have everyone’s good intentions in mind, all would be swell.

We left our house at 9pm. There was ample parking around the designated area. As we walked towards the clock tower, we could see cops and Rela personnel already in position. Since we were early, we walked towards Jonker, hoping to join some people at the stage. Along the way, we met some friends, so we headed for the stage together. Some yellow shirts were walking in the opposite direction. They were heading towards the clock tower. All youths. Good, I thought!

At the stage, there was a handful of yellow shirts and a group of around 15 members from the Unit Amal PAS. By 9.30pm the group had swelled to quite a huge number. After taking a group photograph at the foot of the stage, our Unit Amal youngsters led us to the clock tower. Before that, we were told to be at our best behaviour, not to provoke nor hamper the traffic. We walked on the pavement and at all times, the Unit Amal boys made sure traffic for the public was smooth. Though the folks along Jonker were burning incense and some other stuff (Ghost Month?), the Unit Amal boys admirably braved the ashes (some flying into their faces) to guide us. Continue reading “A new dawn?”

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So, has crime rate gone up or down?

― Soo Lim Chee
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 31, 2012

AUG 31 ―I refer to the former and incumbent IGP’s differing opinions over PDRM’s crime statistics.

So, who is to say crime rate has gone up or come down ?

A decreasing number of police reports does not indicate a lower crime rate. A large number of crimes committed went unreported. Therefore any compilation of statistics is unreliable.

Statistics are useful but to attach a great deal of meaning to them is to bark up the wrong tree.

What may be important and should be of concern is encapsulated in the IGP ‘s statement to the media.

“I am aware that people are afraid and there are crimes everywhere. We are working on it and if the people do not believe in statistics then stop looking at them. Let’s work together to reduce crime.”

Yes, we are afraid. Yes, we know there are crimes everywhere. Yes, let’s work together to reduce them. Continue reading “So, has crime rate gone up or down?”

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PAS dan Umno, hudud dan perlaksanaan: Realiti semasa

— Pak Sako
CPI
Aug 31, 2012

Mahathir Mohamad telah mempelawa PAS untuk melaksanakan hukum hudud di bawah payung Barisan Nasional (BN).

Nyata bahawa pelawaan ini cuma sebuah taktik politik yang kecil.

Namun begitu, satu pertimbangan yang ringkas boleh dilakukan mengenai kemungkinan PAS bersekutu dengan Umno, sama ada untuk tujuan melaksanakan hukum hudud atau untuk sebarang sebab yang lain.

Kesimpulannya perpaduan atau kerjasama seperti itu tidak realistik dan ditakdirkan gagal kerana tiga faktor yang fundamental. Continue reading “PAS dan Umno, hudud dan perlaksanaan: Realiti semasa”

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With the approach of 13GE, BN mainstream media are throwing journalistic ethics to the winds and resorting to more lies and falsehoods in their attacks on Pakatan Rakyat leaders

With the approach of 13th General Election, which Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in Kedah yesterday would determine UMNO and Barisan Nasional’s survival (or to be more exact, Najib’s own political survival), the UMNO/Barisan Nasional mainstream media are throwing journalistic ethics to the winds and resorting to more lies and falsehoods in their attacks on Pakatan Rakyat leaders.

It is a measure of the increasing desperation felt by UMNO/BN leaders that the next general elections could result in a change of federal government in Putrajaya that the next polls in shaping up to the dirtiest elections in the nation’s 55-year history – with blatant and flagrant lies and falsehoods recklessly spread by UMNO/BN cybertroopers about individual Pakatan Rakyat leaders like the accusation that I had urinated at the flagpole in the Kuala Lumpur residence of the former Selangor Mentri Besar, Datuk Harun Idris sparking off the May 13 riots in 1969, when I was never in Kuala Lumpur on May 10, 11, 12 or 13, 1969 or the ludicrous allegation that the Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng had provoked the May 13 riots in his capacity as DAP Youth leader when Guan Eng was only eight years old at the time!

The latest lie and falsehood by UMNO mainstream media is today’s New Straits Times report entitled “’Anti-hopping law unfair and impractical’” on Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng’s call to introduce a law against party-hopping, which among other things, said:

“The critics pointed out that Lim’s father, DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang, had even praised members of parliament Datuk Seri Wilfred Mojilip Bumburing of Tuaran and Datuk Seri Lajim Ukin of Beaufort when the duo left Barisan Nasional to support the opposition coalition.”

This is pure concoction for up to now, I have not said anything about the actions of Wilfred Bumburing and Lajim Ukiin in leaving Barisan Nasional to support the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. Continue reading “With the approach of 13GE, BN mainstream media are throwing journalistic ethics to the winds and resorting to more lies and falsehoods in their attacks on Pakatan Rakyat leaders”

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Regime change looms in Malaysia

— Liew Chin Tong
The Malaysian Insider
Aug 30, 2012

AUG 30 — A very young demographic profile, a high urbanisation rate, ever increasing access to the Internet and extreme longevity in power, among other factors, will be working against the ruling coalition in Malaysia’s coming election.

There are many reasons for the international community to be deeply cognisant of this fact, and to prepare for a regime change in that country for the first time since it gained independence in 1957.

Soon after the government suffered severe setbacks in elections held on March 8, 2008, the country went into a permanent campaign mode, and has remained that way ever since.

A general election have to be called soon, since the Malaysian Constitution requires that Parliament be dissolved by 28th April 2013 upon the completion of its five-year mandate. Continue reading “Regime change looms in Malaysia”

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Merdeka!

by Allan Goh

Merdeka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

The voices that reverberated,

Rousted the birth of a new Nation,

Unshackled, no more subjugated.

It was a new dawn, a new era,

For people’s hope and aspiration,

To build a shared common destiny,

With one soul and one inspiration.

Mereka! Merdeka! Merdeka!

That call united all the races,

In the pursuit of independence,

Free from the forced colonial braces.

People wanted to live their own lives,

And form their own common destiny.

They eschewed any exploitations,

Hoped for a nation of harmony.

Continue reading “Merdeka!”