Day: February 13, 2013

by Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Feb 12, 2013

He was a Machiavellian ruler who is alleged to have corrupted his way to the top, and became Malaysia’s longest serving prime minister, but will the historians have to revise Malaysian history?

Some argue that former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who ruled Malaysia with an iron fist for 22 years, should be remembered as a visionary leader and a tireless administrator. Others disagree and call him a ruthless dictator who silenced his critics and allowed corruption, cronyism and nepotism to flourish.

Today, Mahathir is as divisive as ever and despite being retired, has managed to upstage the current Prime Minister, Najib Abdul Razak, many times during the latter’s tenure.

Najib could have ordered an investigation based on Mahathir’s own admission about the influx of illegal immigrants being given citizenship provided they voted for the ruling party; but Najib is more scared of Mahathir. If Najib had not been weighted down by so much baggage, he could have silenced Mahathir once and for all. Continue reading “Twins of evil”

I was piqued. I confess that I had not seen Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Chinese New Year advertisement as lion dance troupe drummer although it has been put up for five days.

It was after reading Kee Thuan Chye’s Malaysiakini article “The PM is Demeaning Himself” that I searched YouTube to see for myself whether Kee’s caustic comments were justified, and I must say, Kee hit the bull’s eye.

I particularly checked on the veracity of the criticism about the erroneous writing of the Chinese word “吉”, (as Najib has adopted Ah Jib Gor as his Chinese name) with the upper horizontal line being shorter than the bottom one which connotes bad luck for Ah Jib Gor.

Kee is absolutely right.

Clearly, Najib is not well-served by the best political strategists and public relations advisers that money can buy, although money is the least of his problems, considering the money Najib and UMNO/Barisan Nasional are pouring like water all over the country in the past months, including the millions of ringgit just to organise the Psy’s Gangnam Style extravaganza in Penang on the second day of the CNY.

But money clearly cannot buy everything. Continue reading “57-Day Countdown to 13 GE – two lessons for Najib from the RM3.5 million farce of the Penang performance of Psy’s Gangnam Style”

By Kee Thuan Chye
Malaysiakini
Feb 12, 2013

It looks like Prime Minister and Barisan Nasional (BN) chief Najib Razak has outdone himself at self-debasement. His appearance in the now much-talked-about Chinese New Year advertisement has not only shown his desperation to win Chinese votes in the soon-to-be-held general election; it has also elicited responses from viewers full of derision and contempt.

I showed it to someone who is non-partisan, sensible, well-educated and who exercises good judgment, and these were her reactions as she watched it:

“Hak sei ngor! (Shocking)” … “Unheard of” … “Eeyer! Geli! (Makes my skin crawl)” … “Trying too hard”.

Her remarks are uncannily similar to those that have been expressed on Facebook by many other Malaysians. Continue reading “The PM is Demeaning Himself”

— Clive Kessler
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 11, 2013

FEB 11 — Disputation in Malaysia over the kalimah Allah, the name of God, has not abated.

On the contrary, it continues to become ever more acrimonious and worrying.

These days we now even have some enthusiastic “idealists” who give advance notice of their readiness for a virtually premeditated amok — or to excuse others who might resort to that kind of intimidatory violence — in order, paradoxically, to uphold their notions of moderation, mutual acceptance and tolerance in interfaith relations. Continue reading “For God’s sake?”