Day: November 4, 2012

Malaysians have been waiting for the past two years for the 13th General Election but the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been dilly-dallying as he hunts for the best timing for the dissolution of Parliament not so much for UMNO and the Barisan Nasional, but to ensure that he could remain ensconced in Sri Perdana after the polls.

Whether Najib likes it or not, its countdown for the 13GE as the 12th Parliament which was elected in the political tsunami of 8th March 2008 has a life-span of less than six months before it is automatically dissolved followed by the “mother of all general elections” in Malaysia.

There is just four months left if we take into account the polling day on 8th March 2008.

However, as Article 55 (3) provides that “Parliament unless sooner dissolved shall continue for five years from the date of its first meeting and shall then stand dissolved”, the 12th Parliament’s tenure will only end on April 27, 2013 as its first meeting was held on 28th April 2008.

Najib has already created two “history” – firstly, being the longest Prime Minister without an elected mandate of his own, compared to any of his predecessors which would include his father, Tun Razak, as well as the ensuing three Prime Ministers Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah.

His second “history” is to be Prime Minister of the longest Parliament to be dissolved, now entering into the last six months of its tenure.

The question is whether Najib will achieve a “triple” in making Malaysian history – of being the last UMNO Prime Minister in Malaysia. Continue reading “Whether Najib likes it or not, its countdown for 13GE as Parliament has life-span of less than six months before it is automatically dissolved”

Since Datuk Seri Najib Razak became Prime Minister nearly 44 months ago, one of his constant themes is that “the era that the government knows best is over”.

This is however one of his most broken pledges and the most recent example of this violation is the Barisan Nasional government’s stubborn determination to implement the AES (Automatic Enforcement System) for traffic offences, despite the loud, unmistakable and growing demand by the Malaysian public for the suspension of the AES implementation until there is a proper study and the fullest public consultation and preparation, which is reinforced by the decision of the four Pakatan Rakyat state governments of Penang, Selangor, Kedah and Kelantan to suspend the AES implementation in their respective states.

There is however one AES which should be introduced and implemented immediately – and this is to fight and eradicate “grand corruption” by top political and government leaders by making unusual and extraordinary wealth an automatic corruption offence!

There can be no doubt that one of the biggest failures of the Najib premiership, whether his Government Transformation Programme (GTP) and National Key Result Areas (NKRAs), is the battle against corruption.

This is why Malaysia under Najib is even more corrupt than under previous Prime Ministers as reflected in Malaysia’s worst ranking and score in the 2011 Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) when compared to all the TI CPIs of the past 17 years. Continue reading “Call for AES (Automatic Enforcement System) to fight “grand corruption” in Malaysia by making unusual and extraordinary wealth an automatic corruption offence”

Kon Onn Sein
Malaysiakini
Nov 1, 2012

As parents who are concerned with playing our responsible role in nation-building and bridging the ethnic divide, we had consciously sent our children to national school despite the horror stories of sub-standard education.

We had intentionally encouraged our daughters to make friends with their Malay and Indian classmates, especially the poor.

My seven-year-old daughter has been enthusiastically following our encouragement.

Today, when I chatted with her about her friends in school, she related that she had wanted to join her Malay classmates in their play during recess.

However, one classmate said this to her: “Kamu bukan Islam, kamu tidak boleh main sini. Kamu Cina”.

(You are not a Muslim; you can’t play here.You are a Chinese.) Continue reading “Now, even children are split by race and religion”

— Ahmad Farouk Musa
The Malaysian Insider
Nov 03, 2012

NOV 3 — One of the most contentious issues in our country is the debate on Islamic State vis-à-vis Secular State. It should be highlighted at this initial point that the Islamic State concept was borne out only early in the 20th century after the demise of the Ottoman Caliphate. Irrespective of which divide we are on, one basic fact that we have to agree upon is that the terminology Dawlah Islamiyyah or Islamic State was never mentioned in the Qur’an.

However, Islamic State remains the main agenda of political Islam that defines Islam as ad-deen wa-dawlah or “religion and state”. It could be argued that since there is no single predominant interpretation of what an Islamic state is, a vicious contestation still exists among the Islamists about the concept of Islamic State. Continue reading “Revisiting the secular state debate”