Day: January 14, 2013

by Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Jan 14, 2013

Oh, to be a fly-on-the-wall in the home of former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad when he witnessed the outpouring of support for the KL112 rally – dubbed the People’s Uprising Rally, last Saturday.

Did his purse his lips, clench his fists and tighten his resolve to remove the weaklings in Umno? His greatest fear is that the truth will emerge, his legacy is exposed as a sham and his dynasty is castrated.

Last Saturday, about 35km away from the Merdeka Stadium, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak attended a meet-the-people rally organised by the Malaysian Indian Progressive Front (IPF), and Bernama said he was “impressed by the strong support of the IPF”. Around 15,000 people had assembled in the sleepy town of Semenyih to welcome Najib.

The PM should have known that the IPF event would have been overshadowed by KL112 and that no amount of negative spin by the mainstream English and Malay newspapers would detract from the implications of KL112.

Was this a deliberate ploy by people in Najib’s camp to undermine him? Is Najib being prepared for the big push? Continue reading “Mahathir, Muhyiddin and mob-rule”

Stanley Koh | January 13, 2013
Free Malaysia Today

Dr Chua Soi Lek’s failure to unite his party may prove to be his downfall.

COMMENT

However much you may hate Dr Chua Soi Lek, you have to admire his ability to survive in the harsh and sordid world of Malaysian politics. His victory in the 2010 MCA presidential election will remain as one of the great comeback stories in our political history.

That victory came barely two years after he had confessed to a sexual indiscretion and resigned all party and government posts. It was no mean victory. His rivals were formidable; one was the incumbent president and the other a former president.

However, according to some pundits inside his own party, Chua may have used up all the dirty tricks in his survival kit and is facing his end days in politics.

They say his failure to fulfil a promise to unite the various factions in MCA and to regain voter support for the party will prove to be his final undoing. Continue reading “End days for the Great Survivor?”

by Goh Keat Peng
January 14, 2013

With so much counting activity going on in Malaysia these days, it sets me thinking of … NUMBERS. Of the first counting most normal human beings began with. We would have started with our fingers, one, two, three, four five, before we realised there were five more fingers on the other hand, making it ten! Then we discovered that our counting can even be extended with our toes, which took us to twenty, doubling our counting capacity! Then came the apparatus of rows of beads mounted on a stand which helped us to count way beyond our initial ten fingers and ten toes. Then much later on came the electronic calculator presenting us with any imaginable total at our finger tips. Only for us to discover when we know better that with the ancient abacus – with neither battery nor electronic circuitry – we could count to almost any number!

These days of course our nation is embroiled in a frenzied counting exercise. How many human beings can an old historic sports stadium contain?

The powers that be have their own inimitable way of crunching numbers. They saw the crowd and thought 80,000 but declared it to the world as 45,000. (Just as it used to be done when a returning citizen’s luggage was actually, physically checked by custom officers: “Berapa harga itu, pak?” And the traveller keeping as straight a face as he (or more likely she) could manage, replied, “Oh itu! Sikit sahaja, tuan. Beli di pasar murah!”)

The authorities do have a certain history about counting things their way. A sleight of hand performed on the calculator or more likely on their own inventive minds. It takes a David Copperfield to fathom what only a David Copperfield can do. Magic which defies the comprehension of ordinary minds.

Welcome to psychological counting! For which the figure could be anywhere up to 500,000 in the mind of the wistful organising committee who dream of future possibilities (in the fashion of Don Quixote) all the way down to 45,000 thousand according to wistful authorities desperate to bring the figures to a manageable, psychological size to facilitate their much-needed sleep and provide relief to their worried minds and hearts. Continue reading “A brief history of counting”

— Alfian Zohri
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 14, 2013

JAN 14 — I was too young to remember the 1998 reformasi demonstration in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. There was no Facebook or Twitter or any social media tools for live updates and the only mobile phones available were those huge solid ones, resembling a piece of brick! However, I do remember reading about the event on Utusan Malaysia. Yes, I used to read Utusan Malaysia. Anyhow, I was too callow to understand the politics and reasons behind those events.

As time has progressed, everything has changed. From September 11, 2001 to the recent Arab Spring (Arab Awakening as put by Robert Fisk) a new chapter of human struggle has been created. If in the 60s, Americans were protesting against the Vietnam War, today not just the Americans but the whole world is protesting against war, any war. We have anti ‘gitmo’ demonstration in New York or London; and we also have anti Internal Security Act (ISA) demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur. Anti nuclear power in Japan for instance, also happened in Australia, France, Germany and elsewhere in Europe. Public rallies or street protests, civil disobedience or whatever you want to call it, are a manifestation of the rejection of an unpopular regime in a particular country. It can be a single-man protest, a hundred, one thousand or a million it doesn’t matter. When you are oppressed, you stand up and fight for your rights. As simple as that.

Not too long ago, we witnessed a classic of domino effect in the Arab world. From one country to another, each one of those ruthless regimes responsible for numerous atrocities and human rights abuses collapsed due to the people’s uprising. But does it solve the problem? No! Does it create more problems? Yes! The problem is yet to be solved and as a matter of fact the problems only get worsen. Arbitrary killings, executions, violence against women, minorities and children and in fact a humanitarian crisis ensued at a rather alarming rate. Civil conflicts become our daily feed. Still the question remains: why is discontent met with further violence? Continue reading “Why do we participate in rallies?”

Bukan sahaja ironi malah sukar dipercayai bahawa pada malam KL112, Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak menjadi tuan rumah Malam Penghargaan Media Perhimpunan Agung Umno 2012 dan bercakap tentang kepentingan media kepada UMNO.

Rakyat Malaysia yang berfikiran rasional dan bebas, termasuklah empat juta pengundi pertengahan yang akan menentukan sama ada Barisan Nasional atau Pakatan Rakyat akan membentuk kerajaan persekutuan di Putrajaya dalam pilihan raya umum 13, tentu akan tertanya adakah Najib betul-betul berpijak di bumi nyata atau sedang hidup dalam dunianya sendiri.

Apa yang Najib katakan tentang media beberapajam selepas KL112, yang menjadi titik penting demokrasi yang sedang matang, di luar alam nyata.

Bagaimana Najib dengan selamba meminta media memainkan peranan orang tengah yang menyampaikan kehendak dan perasaan orang ramai kepada kerajaan dan melaporkan rungutan dan kritikan terhadap kerajaan untuk membolehkan penambahbaikan dijalankan sedangkan media perdana Barisan Nasional, sama ada media cetak, radio, televisyen atau atas talian, bersalah melakukan sesuatu yang sebaliknya, benar-benar tanpa sesal mereka-reka pembohongan tentang Pakatan Rakyat?

Selama berminggu-minggu, media perdana Barisan Nasional telah melakukan “Pembohongan Besar” berkenaan KL112 dan mereka masih lagi menyempurnakan “Pembohongan Besar” selepas KL112, walaupun “Pembohongan Besar” itu telah dihancurkan dengan lumat sebagai tiada asas dan tidak benar!

Tidak diragukan lagi bahawa salah satu pihak yang kalah teruk kerana KL112 dijalankan dengan berjaya dan aman adalah media perdana Barisan Nasional (MSM), sebab itulah Malaysiakini di dalam “KL112: Winners and losers” menyenaraikan media perdana sebagai salah satu daripada tiga yang “tewas” selepas Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak dan UMNO/Barisan Nasional manakala The Malaysian Insider menerbitkan rencana editorial yang bertajuk: “Mainstream media’s epic fail”. Continue reading “Pengiraan Detik 87 Hari ke PRU13 – Media perdana BN berterusan tidak jujur, tidak profesional dan berbohong terbukti merupakan kemusnahan terakhir Najib sebagai Perdana Menteri dan penyingkiran UMNO/BN dari Putrajaya dalam PRU13”

Keamanan dan kejayaan Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat di Stadium Merdeka (KL112) semalam menjadi titik bagi demokrasi yang sedang matang di Malaysia.

Perhimpunan itu mencipta pelbagai sejarah pertama kali di Malaysia, termasuklah:

• Perhimpunan aman 100,000 rakyat Malaysia yang patriotik dan berpandangan jauh daripada pelbagai kaum, agama dan tempat, tidak kira usia atau jantina, hadir bersama dengan harapan, perasaan muhibah dan perpaduan untuk Malaysia yang mana terdapat kebebasan dan keadilan untuk semua rakyat Malaysia dan generasi akan datang;
• Tiada langsung di dalam mana-mana ucapan baik daripada pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat atau wakil lembaga swadaya masyarakat yang memainkan isu kaum dan agama, mengapi-apikan hal kaum dan agama untuk memprovokasi kebenci dan konflik.

Politik pembohongan dan penipuan, termasuklah memainkan isu kaum dan agama untuk menakut-nakutkan, menimbulkan konflik serta memecahbelahkan rakyat Malaysia yang telah mencemar politik Malaysia sepanjang bertahun-tahun lamanya telah gagal menghalang momentum bagi perubahan yang aman dan demokratik seperti yang disimbolkan oleh KL112 yang aman dan berjaya.

Langkah seterusnya bagi mematangkan demokrasi di Malaysia adalah dengan menginstitusikan sistem dua perikatan dengan mewujudkan perubahan kuasa dan kerajaan dengan aman melalui peti undi. Continue reading “Pengiraan Detik 88 Hari ke PRU13 – KL112 menjadi titik bagi demokrasi yang sedang matang di Malaysia”

Petang semalam, Bank Islam Malaysia menjarakkan diri daripada ramalan ketua penganalisis ekonominya di dalam sebuah forum di Singapura bahawa Pakatan Rakyat (PR) boleh menang dengan majoriti kecil pada Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13.

Pengarah urusan Bank Islam Datuk Seri Zukri Samat berkata di dalam kenyataannya bahawa Bank Islam bukanlah pihak di dalam Regional Outlook Forum pada hari Khamis, dan “tidak terlibat dan tidak berkaitan dalam forum tersebut,” dan pandangan yang diberikan penganalisis ekonominya Azrul Azwar Ahmad Tajudin adalah “pandangan peribadi beliau dan tidak patut dikaitkan dengan Bank Islam,”

Di dalam Singapore Regional Outlook Forum, Azrul telah meramalkan bahawa Barisan Nasional berkemungkinan untuk menang cuma di antara 97 dan 107 kerusi parlimen – membentuk kerajaan persekutuan Pakatan Rakyat dengan majoriti parlimen antara lapan hingga 28 kerusi.

Tidak mengapa sama ada unjuran Azrul adalah anggaran rasmi atau tidak rasmi Bank Islam, hakikatnya pemimpin UMNO/Barisan Nasional juga telah turut sampai kepada keputusan yang sama berdasarkan maklumbalas dan pengiraan – menunjukkan bahawa PRU13 akan menjadi perkara penentu sama ada Pakatan Rakyat atau Barisan Nasioal yang akan memenangi perlumbaan ke Putrajaya.

Menteri Besar Johor Datuk Abdul Ghani Osman memberikan senario hampir sama dengan Azrul ketika bercakap kepada pertubuhan Cina Kulai pada hari Selasa, menyatakan Pakatan Rakyat boleh menawan Putrajaya di dalam PRU13, walaupun beliau memberi amaran bahawa paling banyak Pakatan Rakyat cuma boleh menang dengan majoriti tipis 5% kepada 10% kerusi parlimen. Continue reading “Pengiraan Detik 89 Hari ke PRU13 – Apakah MB Johor Ghani Othmas akan disuruh menarik balik ramalannya bahawa PR boleh menang PRU13 dengan majoriti 5% atau 10% ataupun majoriti 12-22 kerusi?”

Petang semalam, sewaktu dalam perjalanan ke Pontian untuk melancarkan pusat operasi PRU12 DAP Tanjong Piai, saya twit perkara berikut:

“PR to give full co-operation. Call on all Malaysians to make 112 historic day http://m.malaysiakini.com/news/218605 Police aim for ‘zero casualties’ at weekend rally Mkini”

Saya menyatakannya selepas saya membaca laporan bahawa Ketua Komunikasi Korporat PDRM, ACP Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf telah mengisytiharkan pada taklimat media di Bukit Aman bahawa meskipun terdapat kecelakaan yang berlaku di dalam perhimpunan dan protes sebelumnya, pihak polis mensasarkan “kecelakaan sifar” pada perhimpunan esok.

Ramli menekankan bahawa keselamatan adalah keutamaan polis, polis memandang serius berkenaan keselamatan semua orang dan perkara ini turut telah dibincangkan semasa mesyuarat di antara ketua polis negara dan pihak penganjur beberapa hari lalu.

Ketika mesyuarat Selasa lepas, Ketua Polis Negara, Tan Sri Ismail Omar memberitahu pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat bahawa beliau mahu perhimpunan 12 Januari menjadi “peristiwa bersejarah di mana mereka belajar dari peristiwa lepas” dan memberikan jaminan bahawa pihak polis akan hanya memainkan peranan menguruskan ketika perhimpunan yang dijangka berlangsung di Stadium Merdeka.

Maka amat mengejutkan apabila kemudiannya pada sebelah petang, terdapatnya laporan bahawa polis melakukan “pusingan” apabila Ketua Polis Kuala Lumpur Datuk Mohamed Salleh mengeluarkan kenyataan akhbar, menginginkan Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat diadakan di Stadium National Bukit Jalil bukannya Stadium Merdeka. Continue reading “Pengiraan Detik 90 Hari PRU13 – Biar Najib buktikan keikhlasannya mahukan Malaysia memulakan langkah menjadi “demokrasi terbaik negara” dengan memastikan pengurusan yang aman dan bersejarah Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat at Stadium Merdeka 112 esok.”

Tiba-tiba, pemimpin UMNO/Barisan Nasional menggambarkan Malaysia sebagai “syurga dunia” meskipun kegagalan terang-terang Dasar 1Malaysia dan pelbagai Program Transformasi, kerana pemimpin UMNO/BN sedar bahawa mereka boleh kehilangan Putrajaya dalam Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 yang berkemungkinan diadakah penghujung Mac.

Dengan sengaja perkara yang diabaikan adalah:

• Polarisasi kaum dan agama paling teruk di dalam sejarah negara;
• Politik kebencian, konflik, penipuan dan pembohongan paling tidak bertanggungjawab dilakukan oleh perikatan pemerintah dan media perdana (MSM) mereka sejak Merdeka pada 1957;
• Indeks-Indeks Persepsi Rasuah Transparency International yang menunjukkan rasuah di bawah empat tahun pemerintahan Najib lebih teruk berbanding semua mantan-mantan Perdana Menteri;
• Laporan Global Finance Integrity terkini yang menunjukkan Malaysia berasaskan per kapita adalah No.1 di dunia dalam pengaliran keluar wang haram dan rasuah (sama ada duit gelap yang dibawa keluar dari negara untuk 2010 sebanyak RM196.8 bilion atau RM871 bilion untuk 2000-2010); atau
• TIMSS (Kajian Aliran Dalam Sains dan Matematik Antarabangsa) 2011 terhadap dua subjek kritikal matematik dan sains yang menunjukkan bahawa Malaysia memberikan sistem pendidikan yang lemah sama ada dibandingkan dengan negara lain atau hasil kajian masa lalu negara ini.

Timbalan Perdana Menteri Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, yang menjauhi dasar 1Malaysia Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak dengan mengisytiharkan dirinya “Melayu dahulu, Malaysia kemudian”, berada di barisan hadapan memuji-muji Malaysia – mendakwa Malaysia kini menjadi negara “kegemaran pelabur” kerana pelbagai Program Transformasi. Continue reading “Pengiraan Detik 91 Hari ke PRU13 – Pemimpin BN tiba-tiba menggambarkan Malaysia sebagai “syurga dunia” kerana pemimpin UMNO/BN sedar mereka boleh kehilangan Putrahaya dalam PRU13, yang kemungkinan diadakan pada penghujung Mac”

Berikut adalah apa yang ditulis di blog oleh seorang pegawai editorial media perdana (BN MSM) terpenting Barisan Nasional semalam:

“Mengapa semua penjenayah ini masih merompak dan mencederakan orang ramai di lampu isyarat, di rumah mereka dan di mana-mana pun?

“Mengapa mereka begitu berani?

“Biar saya beritahu mengapa – kerana MEREKA DAPAT MELEPASKAN DIRI dan TIADA SIAPA MENGHENTIKAN ATAU MAMPU MENGHENTIKAN MEREKA…atau MAHU MENGHENTIKAN MEREKA.

“Sejujurnya – saya hidup di dalam ketakutan. Keluar saya hidup dalam ketakutan dan bukan kami sahaja merasakan begitu.

“Bukan hanya penduduk kawasan perumahan takut diserang pada bila-bila masa.

“Orang…orang yang memandu di dalam kereta mereka…orang yang berjalan kaki…

“Anda takut apabila tiba di depan pintu rumah anda – kalau-kalau ada yang mengekori anda atau menunggu untuk bertindak.

“Anda penuh dengan ketakutan.

“Di Seksyen 16 PJ di mana adik perempuan saya dan keluarganya tinggal, penduduk hampir semua rumah sepanjang jalan sekelilingnya, pernah diserang dengan pelbagai keadaan.

“Laporan polis telah dibuat…akan tetapi…serangan itu tidak berkurangan.

“Saya mahu bertanya polis – apakah yang dilakukan oleh pegawai polis untuk mencegah/menghalang penjenayah-penjenayah ini daripada kejahatan-kejahatan mereka?

“Maksud saya, benar-benar serius menghalang mereka…

“Ya ya ya…mereka telah membeli lebih banyak motosikal untuk anggota polis meronda di atas jalan…keterlihatan tidak membantu mengurangkan jenayah.

“Tetapi, serangan jahat ini berterusan dan ia terjadi ketika anggota polis tiada di sekitar.

“Biar saya tanya – berapa ramai penjenaya-penjenayah ini pernah dicekup?

“Anda rasakan ancaman serangan berhampiran atau di rumah anda, anda rasa tidak selamat di luar rumah anda. Anda rasa tidak selamat di mana-mana jua. Tiada tempat yang selamat…

“Keluar cuma dengan kereta tidak lagi selamat. Anda bimbang ketika anda sampai ke lampu isyarat. Anda bimbang ketika anda menyeberang jalan.”

Pegawai editorial BN MSM menulis di dalam blog sebagai respon kepada jenayah kejam yang dilaporkan New Straits Times (ms 13) semalam “Attacked and robbed on busy street – Traumatic: Woman in car punched and left unconscious but no one came to couple’s aid” berkenaan bekas juruterbang Air Asia, Kapten Gurcharan Singh Sidhu dan isteri beliau Datin Arunee Dee yang diserang di dalam kereta mereka di sebuah lampi isyarat di jalan P. Ramlee di Kuala Lumpur pada petang Ahad dan dirompak oleh dia orang lelaki menaiki motosikal. Continue reading “Pengiraan Detik 92 Hari ke PRU13 – Tiada maknanya Malaysia sebagai “negara paling selamat di Asia Tenggara” apabila rakyat Malaysia hidup dalam kebimbangan dengan jenayah yang semakin menjadi-jadi”

It is not only ironic but simply unbelievable that on the night of KL112, the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak could host the Umno general assembly 2012 Media Appreciation Night and speak about the importance of the media to UMNO.

Rational and independent-minded Malaysians, including the four million middle-ground voters who will decide whether it is Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat which will form the federal government in Putrajaya in the 13th general elections, must be asking whether Najib is rooted firmly to the ground in reality or is living in a make-believe world of his own.

What Najib said about the media a few hours after the KL112, which marked an important turning point in a maturing democracy, is simply surreal.

How could Najib with a straight face urge the media to play the role of an intermediary that delivers the feelings and aspirations of the people to the government and which report the grievances and criticisms leveled at the government to enable improvements to be carried out when the Barisan Nasional mainstream media, whether print, radio, television or online, have been most guilty of the very opposite, completely unrepentant in fabricating and purveying lies after lies about the Pakatan Rakyat?

For weeks, the Barisan Nasional mainstream media had told a “Big Lie” about KL112 and they are still purveying the “Big Lie” after KL112, although the “Big Lie” had been completely pulverized and demolished as baseless and untrue! Continue reading “87-Day Countdown to 13GE – Persistently dishonest, unprofessional and lying BN mainstream media may prove to be the final undoing of Najib as Prime Minister and ousting of UMNO/BN from Putrajaya in 13GE”

— Christine SK Lai
The Malaysian Insider
Jan 13, 2013

JAN 13 — How do you describe the feeling of being part of a historic moment in time? You can’t, you just have to be there. You can ooh and ahh over all the Instantgram and Utube downloads, but nothing absolutely nothing beats being there in person, to be counted as one of the thousands upon thousands who turned up for KL 112 Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat rally.

By the time my gang of 3 not-so-young aunties alighted from the LRT station at Pasar Seni at about 11 plus, the streets were already packed with people of all races and ages clad mostly in yellow and green, with bright splashes of some in orange and red. To their credit, police personnel stood around unobstrusively though watchfully. Kudos also to the Unit Amal folks who managed crowd control as best they could. As we finished lunch, the crowd had swelled noticeably, all moving steadily towards Stadium Merdeka. Mercifully the sky was overcast with clouds, offering some welcome shade from the heat of the afternoon sun. It even drizzled a little but the heavens held up as people streamed into the open-air stadium.

I thought we were early but by the time we got in, the stands were already 3/4 full with a huge crowd gathered on the centre field itself. The whole thing was like some mammoth family carnival, with colourful teams waving flags, banners and placards; the atmosphere noisy with the loud intermittent blaring of vuvuzelas ….And the crowd simply grew and grew and grew. It was an amazing sight from where we were seated on the stands — a vast colourful ocean of people as far and beyond what the eye could see. Apparently there was another sea of people milling about outside the stadium grounds. Doesn’t matter what’s the final count — even that one picture on a main-line newspaper’s front-page said it all… Continue reading “This is it”

by KSD
Malaysiakini
Jan 13, 2013

I want to be completely honest. I did not expect a large crowd at the Himpunan Kebangkitan Rakyat (HKR).

I wasn’t pessimistic because I thought that sentiment had changed; my worries stemmed from the fact that the police and the government had surprising agreed to let the rally proceed without obstacles.

It is the nature of people to push back when pushed and I thought that without roadblocks, physical and psychological; without the presence of policemen in riot uniforms and tear gas canisters and without the threats of the goons from Perkasa, the people who want change would stay home.

And so, because I did not want the rally organisers to face the ignominy of an empty stadium, I went to the rally.

Before I tell you about my HKR experience, let me tell you who I am so that you can understand how I felt yesterday. Continue reading “A rally for the mind and soul”