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Hishammuddin should apologise for his unbecoming and deplorable “No safety guarantee” stance or is he going to apologise only after the next general election like his keris-wielding as UMNO Youth Leader?

The Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein has made many outrageous statements and done many outrageous things in his political career, like

• his infamous keris-wielding as Youth Leader for three consecutive years since 2005 until he had to apologise for them when MCA, Gerakan and even UMNO leaders blamed him as one of the causes of “political tsunami” in the March 2008 general election;

• his defence and justification of the insensitive and sacrilegious cowhead demonstration in Shah Alam in September 2009;

• his xanthophobia (fear of the colour yellow) in the run-up to the Bersih 2.0 rally on July 9, 2011 when he declared the yellow Bersih T-shirt illegal and a police arrestable offence to wear them and his illogical, unreasonable and unlawful ban on Bersih 2.0.

• his wild, reckless and deplorable allegation that “some parties” wanted serious injuries and deaths at the Bersih 3.0 rally at Dataran Merdeka on April 28, 2012 in support of the Prime Minister’s equally wild, reckless and deplorable allegation that the Bersih 3.0 rally was an attempted coup d’etat to topple the government when the hundreds of thousands, regardless of race, religion, age and gender, who came out were peaceful, armed at most with salt and mineral water to protect themselves from police tear-gas and chemically-lacked water cannons, wanted only to send the message of clean, free and fair elections to the government.

However, Hishammuddin has put all his previous outrageous statements and acts in the shade with the “mother of all outrages” when he made it clear yesterday that there will be no guarantee of security for PKR’s nationwide Merdeka Rakyat tour. Continue reading “Hishammuddin should apologise for his unbecoming and deplorable “No safety guarantee” stance or is he going to apologise only after the next general election like his keris-wielding as UMNO Youth Leader?”

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Is there a home minister in the house?

— The Malaysian Insider
Sep 15, 2012

SEPT 15 — Considering the public perception of crime and a number of attacks on opposition politicians, one has to ask the question, is there a home minister in the country?

Is there someone responsible in the current government to ensure that each and every citizen can feel safe and secure in the country?

Is there someone responsible in the government to see to it that politicians of all stripes and hues and from any side of the aisle can move freely and campaign unhindered and unmolested?

Is there someone in the government who can rise above partisan politics to provide internal security for the country and not condone political hooliganism of any sort?

Is there someone in Putrajaya who will make sure that the international trade and industry minister and the foreign minister don’t have to make excuses to foreign investors and diplomats about the state of crime and political violence in Malaysia?

Why? Continue reading “Is there a home minister in the house?”

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Growth without private investment

— Jayant Menon
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 12, 2012

SEPT 12 — It was not long ago that the Malaysian development story was hailed as a model of FDI-driven, export-led industrialisation worthy of emulation by aspirants in the developing world.

Malaysia remains an outstanding model of how openness to trade and FDI can transform a poor, agrarian economy into a thriving, manufacturing-based, middle-income one in a generation. During this time, Malaysia also successfully preserved social harmony in its multiracial society, relying on economic openness to sustain growth under an expensive affirmative action programme that skewed incentives, the New Economic Policy (NEP). In this sense, the NEP performed an important signalling role and played its part in delivering the peace and stability that enabled Malaysia to sustain high growth. This growth, combined with revenues from large oil reserves, facilitated a massive tax-transfer scheme that favoured the majority, without significantly eroding macroeconomic stability.

But all that changed after the Asian financial crisis. FDI flows fell sharply and continued to remain low even after recovery. While foreigners continue to shun Malaysia, even domestic investors seem to have fled, with Malaysia becoming a net exporter of capital since 2005. Malaysia continues to grow, but without private investment it is unlikely to break out of the middle-income trap. Indeed, these days Malaysia is often discussed as a classic case of the middle-income trap. Growth without private investment is also unsustainable and Malaysia risks sliding back. Continue reading “Growth without private investment”

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Rakyat asing-BN vs rakyat berdaulat Selangor-Pakatan Rakyat

— Aspan Alias
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 14, 2012

14 SEPT — Selangor tidak akan membubarkan Dewan Undangan Negerinya jika pilihanraya di adakan pada bulan November atau sebelumnya. Kerajaan Pakatan Rakyat Selangor tidak akan bersama dengan negeri-negeri lain dengan membubarkan DUN jika Najib mengumumkan pembubaran Parlimen seperti yang lazim di lakukan oleh mana-mana negeri di masa-masa yang lalu.

Kita sudah mendengar pendirian dari Kelantan yang berpendapat tidak mempunyai masalah untuk membubarkan DUNnya mengikut tarikh yang akan di umumkan oleh Najib. Kita masih lagi menunggu respon P. Pinang dalam hal ini.

Sesungguhnya Selangor adalah salah sebuah negeri berdaulat yang berada di dalam Persekutuan Malaysia dan negeri itu berhak untuk membubarkan atau tidak Dewan Legislatifnya. Tidak ada pihak lain berhak untuk menentukan tarikh pilihanraya bagi negeri yang berdaulat itu.

Pendirian negeri Selangor iru bersebab dan bukannya membuat keputusan itu semata-mata kerana hendak berlainan dari negeri-negeri lain. Selangor telah menjadi medan pihak yang inginkan kembali berkuasa dengan melakukan berbagai-bagai tektik kotor yang tidak pernah dilihat sebelum ini. Pihak BN telah menambah lebih dari empat ratus ribu pengundi yang dipersoalkan “legitimacy”nya sebagai pengundi. Continue reading “Rakyat asing-BN vs rakyat berdaulat Selangor-Pakatan Rakyat”

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Instead of high watermark for women’s rights, Najib’s hijacking of women portfolio proves to be an even lower point for women agenda

The launching of Pakatan Rakyat’s Women’s Agenda tonight is a historic event, as gender equality and empowerment of women to improve their social, educational, economic and political status must be accepted by everyone as part of human rights which must involve the commitment and challenge to everyone in the country.

Recently, women’s rights should have witnessed a highwater mark in Malaysia when the Women’s Minister is also the Prime Minister, but unfortunately, the opposite is the case – with women agenda reaching an even lower point with the hijacking of the Women Minister’s portfolio by a male – as if there are no eligible and qualified Malaysian woman for the post!

“Janji Ditepati” has recently been Najib’s favourite subject, but with Najib as Women’s Minister for the past six months, are women in Malaysia satisfied with “Promises Fulfilled” with regard to women issues and causes? Continue reading “Instead of high watermark for women’s rights, Najib’s hijacking of women portfolio proves to be an even lower point for women agenda”

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Emulate patriotic and public-spirited Ahmad Habib to come forward to save Malaysia and debunk dangerous and despicable lies

Ahmad Habib, the “RealSoldier”

On 4th August last month, I had issued the first of my categorical denial of the preposterous claim which had appeared on the official Facebook page of the May 13 movie, Tanda Putra, that I had urinated on the flagpole in front of the then Selangor Mentri Besar’s residence provoking the May 13 riots in 1969.

The facebook had carried a photo portraying me being manhandled, with the caption:

“Lim Kit Siang telah kencing di bawah tiang bendera Selangor yang terpacak di rumah menteri besar Selangor ketika itu, Harun Idris, (Lim Kit Siang had urinated at the foot of the flagpole bearing the Selangor flag at the then Selangor MB’s Harun Idris’ house)”

The photo was posted in the album in the Facebook titled ‘Peristiwa-peristiwa yang dimuatkan di dalam filem ini’ (Events depicted in this movie).

Although the photo and caption have since been removed from the movie’s official page, I have a screenshot of the earlier posting. Continue reading “Emulate patriotic and public-spirited Ahmad Habib to come forward to save Malaysia and debunk dangerous and despicable lies”

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Suggestions for the new education blueprint

— Justin Santiago
Sep 13, 2012

SEPT 13 — Forget about trying to pretend to have an education blueprint that only seems to take baby steps to improve the level of education in the country.

Here are some sure-fire steps to improve the quality of education in the country by leaps and bounds without needing any blueprint.

Make it mandatory for all children of MPs, state assemblymen, Cabinet ministers all the way up to the prime minister to attend primary, secondary and tertiary education institutions in the country. This is a sure-fire way to improve the quality of education throughout the country.

If the politicians and government who are talking big about how high the standard of education in the country is, then their own children should benefit by it. Much like how government officials were forced to use Proton Perdanas, now is the time to force quality education down everyone’s throat

In a single swoop throughout the country standards will improve when the children of government officials participate as part of the transformation process. Those wanting their children to study at “prestigious universities” overseas will be forced to resign. Continue reading “Suggestions for the new education blueprint”

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New National Education Blueprint 2013-2025 leaves many crucial policy questions unanswered

The Preliminary Report of the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 was launched with much fanfare on Tuesday. This document, written by expensive consultants at taxpayers’ expense, although seemingly comprehensive, in actual fact still leaves many crucial policy questions unanswered.

If these gaping holes are not addressed, this blueprint will suffer the same fate as all the other education blueprints that have been launched by previous Prime Ministers and Education Ministers.

Firstly, this blueprint does not contain any indication that the Ministry of Education has learnt from mistakes in the past.

Many of the initiatives announced under this new Blueprint are recycled ideas and past unfulfilled promises. For example, the Education Development Master Plan (Pelan Induk Pembangunan Pendidikan) 2006 to 2010 promised that any existing education gaps would be closed by continuing to provide necessary basic infrastructure necessities on a continuous basis.
Continue reading “New National Education Blueprint 2013-2025 leaves many crucial policy questions unanswered”

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Whither the voice of reason?

By Henry Loh | September 13, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

SEPT 13 — Of late we only need to scan news sites and local dailies and we are likely to come across news items that highlight that “men have lost their reason”. To express unhappiness over the organisation of Bersih 3.0, we had grown men (ex-army veterans) performing “butt exercises” outside the front gate of Bersih co-chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan’s residence. Their crude and unbecoming behaviour only serves to highlight their level of maturity (or lack of) and remains but a sad reflection of their character.

We have also read about individuals going to the residence of the chief minister of Penang to conduct “funeral rites” while placing a garlanded framed photograph of the CM on the gate of his house. Other examples of such behaviour — the sending of a faeces-shaped “chocolate cake” and the disruption of ceramahs (the throwing of stones and water bottles) — all point towards this unwelcome and alarming increase in irrational, violent and unreasonable behaviour.
Continue reading “Whither the voice of reason?”

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Shortcomings of the 2013-2025 National Education Blueprint

— Hussaini Abdul Karim
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 12, 2012

SEPT 12 — I laud both the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Razak and the Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin who is also the Minister for Education for their motivation, tireless efforts and initiatives to come up with a better education policy to replace the current very much attacked policy which is construed as being a weak one and also the people in MOE who have been working very hard since April this year firstly, to organise the National Education Dialogue that took the team led by former Education Director General Tan Sri Datuk Dr Wan Mohd Zahid bin Wan Mohd Noordin, the National Education Dialogue Panel Chairman to 16 locations throughout the country including Sabah and Sarawak to conduct the Townhall Series of the National Education Dialogue and to prepare the impressive and attractive Preliminary Report – Malaysia Education Blueprint 2103- 2025 in both Bahasa Malaysia and in English which we all, who were present at the launch, were presented a copy each.

The first impression I get of the launch of the Malaysia National Education Blueprint 2013 – 2025 is the seriousness given by the government to education due to the fact that both the PM and the DPM were present at the event and the ‘off-the-cuff’ statement made by the former who is also the Minister of Finance is that he expects the expenditure for education in this country given the new plans, policies, syllabus and systems to be put in place and implemented as stated in the blueprint will be much higher than previous years and as the minister in charge, he will approve it.

This was followed immediately by a loud applause from all present. The PM also made another ‘off-the-cuff’ statement commenting on his pet subject, English literature, which will be introduced from next year and given the situation now, he said, “If you can’t teach them Shakespeare, the full version, try the abridged version first and if that is also too difficult then, start with the books by Enid Blyton”. This was also followed by a loud applause from the audience.

It is most pleasing to note the emphasis the Prime Minister placed on English language knowing that this is the right way for our people to progress. He had earlier reminded the people, in no uncertain terms, to always use and uphold Bahasa Malaysia as this is our national language.

There are many aspects in the blueprint which are commendable but nothing is new, it is more like something old that are sent back to the people in new package. Continue reading “Shortcomings of the 2013-2025 National Education Blueprint”

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National Education Blueprint needs more work

— Ramon Navaratnam
The Malaysian Insider
Sep 12, 2012

SEPT 12 — The ASLI-Centre for Public Policy Studies (CPPS) welcomes the release of the Preliminary Report, Malaysian Education Blueprint (2013-2025) as timely and necessary for preparing the future intellectual and social and human capital of Malaysia, in a globalised world.

We recognise that there has been lot of hard work and effort in drawing public opinion and in the compilation of this report. We therefore congratulate this participatory effort especially through the town hall meetings for feedback as well as the academic and professional evaluative work.

We also recognise that the five system aspirations (page E-9) and the 11 shifts (page E 10) to transform the educational system are necessary and strategic.

However, we note that there are also major and serious gaps in the report and therefore urge the Ministry of Education to undertake further consultative processes to review the findings and plans and to actually incorporate public views that are now overlooked. Continue reading “National Education Blueprint needs more work”

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Past 13 years, three Education Ministers have each produced Education Blueprint but Malaysian education standards have gone from bad to worse

When launching the Malaysia Education Blueprint 2013-2025 yesterday, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the government is not in denial over Malaysian students’ poor ratings in international assessments and vowed to move our students from the bottom one-third to the top one-third of the world.

Najib doth protest too much as his claim that the government is not in denial can easily rebutted, and I will give two instances:

Firstly, the ludicrous claim by the Deputy Prime Minister cum Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin early this year that the Malaysian education system is one of the best in the world and that Malaysian youngsters are receiving better education than children in the United States, Britain and Germany.

Secondly, the government’s refusal and denial for almost four years to admit Malaysia’s disastrous showing in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007, the four-yearly international comparative assessment of the achievements and attitudes towards mathematics and science of Year 4 and Year 8 secondary students, and ascertain the causes to immediately arrest and reverse such decline. Continue reading “Past 13 years, three Education Ministers have each produced Education Blueprint but Malaysian education standards have gone from bad to worse”

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Rahsia Umno dalam tangan Dr M

By Sakmongkol AK47 | September 12, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

12 SEPT — Dr Mahathir Mohamad kata kalau Pakatan Rakyat memerintah, dia orang akan perintah selamanya. Mengikut Dr Mahathir dia tahu beberapa rahsia. Rahsia yang Dr Mahathir maksudkan itu mesti yang buruk dan yang tidak baik.

Kerana apabila PR memerintah, orang akan tahu rahsia buruk Umno- rasuah, rompakan, lanun, manipulasi jentera kerajaan, komisyen kepada menteri, KSU yang korap, pegawai kerajaan yang korap, rasuah dalam syarikat milik kerajaan,skendel pembinaan lebuh raya, pelabuhan, jambatan bengkok, skendel IPP. Semua rahsia ini menyebabkan rakyat tidak mahu lagu memilih Umno.

Umno akan jadi 4 huruf yang melambangkan segala yang mungkar kepada orang melayu yang Bergama Islam. Sebagai orang Islam , semua orang Melayu tahu bertaqwa bererti jangan buat mungkar dan menyeru kepada makruf. Umno mewakili kuasa yang mungkar dan kerana itu, orang Melayu akan menolaknya. Prinsip ini amat mudah difahami.
Continue reading “Rahsia Umno dalam tangan Dr M”

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Events of past fortnight building up a scenario befitting the Greek saying: “Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad”

The events of the past fortnight reminded me of the Greek saying: “Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad”.

There have been a series of events which are quite inexplicable as they defy logic, common sense and reason.

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak today spoke up against “mooning” by a youth on August 30 describing its “un-Malaysian”.

I agree with him that “dropping one’s pants in public” or stomping on pictures of national leaders are “nothing to be proud of” and should be deplored and discouraged.

But what is most saddening and disappointing to Malaysians as a whole is the double standards of the Prime Minister, the Barisan Nasional leadership and the enforcement authorities, who could not see anything wrong in similar deplorable conduct against Pakatan Rakyat leaders like Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, and PAS Mentri Besar Datuk Nik Mat Nik Aziz and civil society leaders like Bersih Co-Chairman Datuk S. Ambiga whether perpetrated by UMNO or UMNO-sponsored activists.

Why didn’t Najib speak up and insist that “the law must run its course” when the pictures of Pakatan Rakyat leaders were stomped upon, urinated at and even funeral rites performed? Continue reading “Events of past fortnight building up a scenario befitting the Greek saying: “Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad””

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Tsunami over FELDA

By Sakmongkol AK47 | September 11, 2012
The Malaysian Insider

SEPT 11 — If my friend, Pirates of Putrajaya had been a little bit more patient, he will find his views on the FGV vindicated. Probably he underestimated the will of the government to use GLCs under its control to shore up the FGV price.

Nevertheless, his views will be vindicated soon and I and millions of others hope he will come back into blogosphere to share with us, his rapier sharp analyses.

What Najib is doing right now is just putting out fires. He forgot that it all needed but a single spark to light up the prairie fire.

He has given an advance of RM15,000 each to Felda family. I hear, full payment hasn’t been given out yet. Perhaps Felda will use its gain of RM5.99 billion to pay the balance of what has been promised by Najib. Felda pays unto itself using its own money.
Continue reading “Tsunami over FELDA”

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Umno’s unscrupulous vendetta against Suaram

by John Berthelsen
Asia Sentinel
Monday 10 September 2012

Media Monitor

CPI foreword

During the past few months, Umno and its hatchet organizations and supporters have launched a concerted series of attacks on Suaram, the human rights organization. The latest of these attacks have involved the despicable use of what should be politically neutral state authorities such as the Companies Commission, social security agency Perkeso and the Department of Inland Revenue to investigate allegations of irregularities in the management of the organization.

Clearly these allegations have been concocted by politically partisan parties but are given legitimacy by the use of state bodies to pursue selective and unwarranted prosecution of targeted individuals and organizations. This modus operandi of state-sanctioned prosecution has been repeatedly used by Umno and is one main reasons for the ruling party’s stranglehold on power over the past 50-odd years.

In the case of Suaram, the objective of such attacks is to discredit and ultimately destroy this leading NGO which has been pushing for truth and transparency in the multi-billion ringgit procurement of materiel, specifically Malaysia’s purchase of two Scorpene submarines.

Suaram’s probe are connected with the massive bribes and kickbacks allegedly paid by the French naval defence company DCNS.
Only the Umno version of the case against Suaram has so far been permitted to appear in our national and other mainstream media. It is a version that needs to be dissected and subjected to public scrutiny to uncover its odious political agenda. Not to do so is to fail in our civic duty.

In the article below, we are linking a recent article in the Asia Sentinel which traces the roots of the covert ‘war’ against Suaram and explains why Umno is so determined and anxious to take the NGO down.
Umno’s underhanded vendetta against Suaram must be challenged, resisted and not allowed to succeed.

The Centre for Policy Initiatives calls on Malaysians of conscience to voice their concern and opposition to this Umno attempt to kill off a patriotic Malaysian NGO that has consistently fought for justice, democracy and human rights in the country. Continue reading “Umno’s unscrupulous vendetta against Suaram”

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Two conventions, two Americas. Seldom has the divide been greater

Michael Cohen
The Observer
Sunday 9 September 2012

Witnessing both conferences is to see anger from the Republicans and abiding hope from the Democrats

Over the past two weeks, both major American political parties held their nominating conventions – and that’s pretty much where the similarities end. After interminable speeches, cloying videos and occasional moments of rhetorical eloquence, the philosophical and tonal divide between them has never felt broader. Quite simply, Democrats and Republicans operate in two completely distinct realms, one that is defined by an attachment to reality and one that is increasingly detached from it.

If their three-day convention in Tampa is any indication, Republicans reside in a fantasy world where government plays no role but that of malevolence, where the free market is the salvation to all that ails this nation and where the country is locked in a Manichaean struggle between the forces of freedom and a failed, socialist interloper named Barack Obama.

It was a point driven home to me in Tampa when I overheard a Republican delegate declare in a sweet voice, reflecting more pity than anger: “There’s a communist living in the White House.”

For four decades, Republicans have relied on an undercurrent of white resentment toward social and economic change to maintain their pre-eminence in national politics. But with an African-American president and the country moving closer to “minority-majority” status, that dominance is slipping away and it feeds the sense of anger and desperation they tried to keep hidden in Tampa, but that all too often crept to the surface. Indeed, the entire Republican “you didn’t build that” attack against Obama (a line taken brazenly and dishonestly out of context) is reminiscent of decades of Republican talking points that sought to cast their party as the defender of hard-working Americans and the Democrats as the defender of dependency, particularly for poor minorities. Continue reading “Two conventions, two Americas. Seldom has the divide been greater”

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Patriotism

by Allan CF Goh
(A poem)

Patriotism is the lifelong love,
For one’s country and nation.
It expects the very best of us,
For its greatest progression.
It values a country’s achievements,
With a sincere devotion.

Patriotism will support the best
Efforts to build the nation.
It culls good values from all cultures,
Nurtures wisdom to fruition.
Policies that need the adjustments,
Are done with best attentions. Continue reading “Patriotism”