Day: February 19, 2013

Walaupun Ketua Polis Pulau Pinang, Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi menunjukkan SMS daripada pengurus bintang K-Pop Korea Selatan Psy kepada pihak polis berkenaan ancaman bunuh terhadap bintang itu, beliau masih lagi tidak memperjelaskan kemelut “yee sang” Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib di Rumah Terbuka Tahun Baru Cina Barisan Nasional Pulau Pinang pada hari kedua Tahun Baru Cina lapan hari lalu.

Semalam, Rahim menunjukkan kepada wartawan SMS yang dihantar oleh pengurus Psy kepada polis pada Feb 10 pada 8.30PM yang menyebut: “Kami menerima ancaman bunuh yang serius yang mengatakan mereka akan menghentikan Psy apa cara sekalipun di lapangan terbang dan hotel di Pulau Pinang.”

Ketua Polis Pulau Pinang berkata polis telah mengetatkan kawalan keselamatan dengan menghantar 11 orang pegawai untuk memastikan bintang Korea itu selamat sewaktu ketibaannya pada pagi 11 Febuari.

Bagaimanapun, mengapa Perdana Menteri, mantan Perdana Menteri Tun Abdullah dan Menteri Kabinet perlu melalui kejadian memalukan dan penghinaan kerana perlu menunggu di atas pentas selama lima minit untuk Psy menyertai mereka di dalam upcara “menggaul yee sang”, kemudiannya terpaksa malu-malu turun daripada pentas apabila upacara “menggaul yee sang” tidak disempurnakan – yang dianggap petanda buruk bagi ramai orang? Continue reading “BN terpaksa membuat ribuan pembohongan untuk menutup penipuan asal berkenaan kemelut “yee sang” Najib di Rumah Terbuka Tahun Baru Cina BN Pulau Pinang yang menampilkan Psy”

Although the Penang police chief, Datuk Abdul Rahim Hanafi produced the SMS to the police on the death threat to South Korean K-Pop superstar Psy by his manager, he really did not explain the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib’s “yee san” fiasco at the Penang Barisan Nasional Chinese New Year Open House on the second day of the CNY eight days ago.

Yesterday, Rahim showed reporters the SMS which Psy’s manager sent to the police on Feb 10 at 8.30 pm which said: “We have received some serious death threats that have said they will stop PSY at all costs in airport and hotel in Penang.”

The Penang police chief said the police tightened security by assigning 11 officers to ensure the Korean superstar’s safety on his arrival the next morning on Feb. 11.

However, why had the Prime Minister, former Prime Minister Tun Abdullah and Cabinet Ministers have to undergo the public embarrassment and indignity of having to wait forlornly at the stage for over five minutes for Psy to join them in the “toss yee san” ceremony, only to sheepishly leave the stage when the “toss yee san” ceremony had not been completed – which is regarded as a bad omen by many? Continue reading “BN will have to tell a thousand lies to cover up the one lie about Najib’s “yee san” fiasco at the Penang BN CNY Open House featuring Psy”

by Mat Zain Ibrahim
Malaysiakini
Feb 18, 2013

COMMENT

‘The Sulu Sultanate invasion of Lahad Datu.’ This is the term I consider most appropriate to define the standoff between some 100 heavily armed intruders from the now defunct Sultanate of Sulu and the Malaysian security forces in Kampung Tanduo in Lahad Datu.

The intruders have made clear that they are there to stay for as long as necessary and more of their kind will be joining them to claim a piece of Sabah that they perceive to belong to their ancestors.

They have also made it clear they are not going to budge, even when threatened with deportation.

If the first batch of 100 or more can infiltrate into our territories without being detected by our security forces, then their back-up forces can row their boats across easily, without any resistance as well.

There was, without any doubt, a security lapse in Sabah waters.

There wouldn’t have been an intrusion of such magnitude otherwise. Continue reading “Full weight of law must fall on Lahad Datu intruders”

Tayangan eksklusif filem berat sebelah dan tidaj jujur berkenaan 13 Mei, Tanda Putra, kepada peneroka Felda di Pusat Dagangan Dunia Putra semalam selepas Najib meminta wartawan meninggalkan tempat itu merupakan pengakuan terakhir Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak bahawa beliau dalam keadaan terdesak berdepan dengan Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 yang tidak dapat dielakkan lagi dan kegagalan semua usahanya setakat ini untuk memenangi semula sokongan pengundi Malaysia – termasuklah kemusnahan besar inisiatif membelanjakan RM3.5 juta untuk menjemput bintang K-Pop Korea Psy ke Rumah Terbuka Tahun Baru Cina Barisan Nasional Pulau Pinang yang meninggalkan kenangan peristiwa “3 Ya untuk Psy, 3 Tidak untik BN”.

Saya terkejut apabila seorang Perdana Menteri yang telah mewujudkan “1Malaysia” sebagai dasar pengenalannya kini mengingkari Program Transformasi Nasionalnya dan mencemarkan semua anjurannya terhadap kesederhanaan dan etika sewaktu forum dalam dan luar negara dengan merestui secara rasmi kepada sebuah filem yang berniat jahat memaparkan saya sebagai orang yang bertanggungjawab terhadap rusuhan 13 Mei 1969.

Saya tidak pernah diberi peluang menonton filem itu tetapi apa yang pernah dilakukan bagi publisiti filem itu sudah pun diketahui umum. Continue reading “Pengiraan Detik 51 Hari ke PRU13: Pengakuan terdesak terakhir Najib dalam memainkan “kad 513” dengan menayangkan filem 13 Mei yang tidak jujur dan berat sebelah kepada peneroka Felda selepas meminta wartawan pergi”

Adakah parlimen akan dibubarkan bulan untuk untuk membolehkan Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 diadakan bulan depan?

Dijamin jawapannya tentu positif, bersiap untuk pembubaran parlimen paling lama ditangguhkan di dalam sejarah negara daripada seorang Perdana Menteri tidak diundi paling lama dan berkemungkinan menjadi pilihan raya umum paling kotor dan mahal Malaysia!

Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, sedang pusing satu negara berkempen untuk jangka hayat politiknya, tetapi terdapat seorang insan di dalam UMNO/Barisan Nasional yang sedang mengatasi kempen Najib – dan beliau adalah mantan serta Perdana Menteri paling lama berkhidmat, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.

Pilihan Raya Umum ke-13 amat penting dan kritikal buat Najib – tetapi lebih penting dan kritikal lagi buat Mahathir, memandangkan ia bukan saja pungutan suara terhadap empat tahun “tanpa transformasi” Najib tetapi juga 22 tahun dasar authoritarian dan korup Mahathir.

Sebenarnya, untuk Mahathir, masa depannya turut dipertaruhkan dalam PRU13 – memandangkan PRU13 akan menentukan sama ada beliau dapat terus menjadi dalang politik untuk politik UMNO/BN, yang kini secara sendirian membuat keputusan dalam UMNO/BN selepas beliau Berjaya memaksa perletakan jawatan Tun Abdullah sebagai Perdana Menteri sesudah “tsunami politik” pilihan raya umum 2008.

Kuasa dan pengaruh Mahathir kini lebih besar daripada Najib yang merupakan Perdana Menteri.

Malaysia mempunyai enam Perdana Menteri sepanjang tempoh 56 tahun tetapi tidak ada sesiapa di dalam UMNO/BN berani untuk beritahu mana-mana Perdana Menteri supaya meletakkan jawatan sekiranya gagal memperoleh mandat yang lebih besar berbanding pilihan raya sebelumnya – seperti yang dilakukan secara terbuka oleh Mahathir di Malaysia Strategic Outlook Conference ke-15 pada 31 Januari yang mana beliau mengatakan Najib sepatutnya memberi laluan kepada Timbalan Presiden UMNO Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin sekiranya BN hanya memperoleh kemenangan tipis di dalam pilihan raya. Continue reading “Pengiraan Detik 52 Hari ke PRU13: PRU13 bukan saja pungutan suara terhadap empat tahun “tanpa transformasi” Najib tetapi juga 22 tahun dasar korup Mahathir”

The exclusive screening of the dishonest and unbalanced May 13 film, Tanda Putera, to Felda settlers at the Putra World Trade Centre yesterday after asking journalists to leave is a final admission by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak that he is in desperate straits in facing the unavoidable 13th General Elections and the failures of all his efforts so far to win back support from Malaysian voters – including the spectacularly disastrous initiative spending RM3.5 million to invite Korean K-Pop superstar Psy to the Penang Barisan Nasional Chinese New Yew Open House leaving behind the unforgettable “3 Yes for Psy, 3 Noes for BN” episode.

I am shocked that a Prime Minister who has made “1Malaysia” his signature policy has now repudiated his National Transformation Programme and discredited all his preaching of moderation and ethics at national and international forums by giving official blessings to a film which mischievously and maliciously tried to portray me as responsible for the May 13 riots in 1969.

I have not been given an opportunity to see the film but the history of its publicity is on public record. Continue reading “51-Day Countdown to 13GE: Najib’s final admission of desperation in reaching for the “513 card” by screening the dishonest and unbalanced May 13 film exclusively to Felda settlers after asking journalists to leave”

The Sun Daily
Posted on 18 February 2013 – 09:08pm

MANILA (Feb 18, 2013): Followers of a Philippine sultan who crossed to Sabah this month will not leave and are reclaiming the area as their ancestral territory amid a tense standoff, the sultan said.

Sultan Jamalul Kiram said his followers – some 400 people including 20 gunmen – were resolute in staying despite being cornered by security forces, with the Malaysian government insisting the group return to the Philippines.

“Why should we leave our own home? In fact, they (the Malaysians) are paying rent (to us),” he told reporters in Manila.

“Our followers will stay in (the Sabah town of) Lahad Datu. Nobody will be sent to the Philippines. Sabah is our home,” he said.

The sultan did not directly threaten violence but said, “there will be no turning back for us”. Continue reading “Lahad Datu 400 stay put”

Eric Loo
Malaysiakini
Feb 15, 2013

It’s been years since I last bought and read the mainstream papers. I thought I’d give it a go during my week’s stay in Penang for Chinese New Year.

Besides the usual sycophantic reporting of ludicrous comments by BN politicians, the mainstream papers have, again, failed in fairly representing the public sentiment.

NONEFor instance, the prime minister’s eager attempt to engage with the Penang crowd at BN’s Chinese New Year open day at Han Chiang College on Feb 11.

‘Najib wins over crowd in Penang,’ says the NST headline. ‘A tight slap in Najib’s face,’ says Malaysiakini. Same event, different takes.

You have to be in Penang to know which take is closer to actuality, although journalists’ perceptions are not immune to ideological sway, thus the selective coverage.

What I heard and saw was not what I read in the mainstream papers.

Waxing nostalgic with relatives and friends, we bantered on how many more seats BN would lose this time round, the Penangites’ angst for BN, the public relations disaster for Najib and the ‘million dollars’ wasted on a four-minute pointless act by a one-hit wonder to woo the Chinese votes.

Shortly after Psy’s prancing with his all white-clad Gangnam troupe, I received an email alert to a YouTube clip of Najib’s attempt to muster the youngish crowd. Continue reading “Journalism for the people”

by Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Feb 18, 2013

Like a coin, Malaysia has two sides; the tourist experiences a tropical idyll, a shopping paradise and gastronomic delights, but the man in the street sees the obverse.

azlanIn the markets, housewives moan about the increasing prices of everyday food items, but at any Malaysian Airlines check-in counter in London, New York, Dubai or Sydney, one can see Malaysian officials and their spouses deposit box after box of shopping. It is alleged that they seldom pay excess baggage charges.

To say that Malaysia is a nation in chaos is an understatement. Minister after minister shows levels of incompetency that any half-decent company would never permit. Who runs the country? Who is in charge? Is Malaysia like an air plane cruising on auto-pilot until it crashes when it runs out of fuel?

While ministers are busy playing politics, the country is going to ruin. In Sabah, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s ‘Project M’, made illegal immigrants instant citizens of Malaysia. Last week, more than 100 armed foreigners breezed in and occupied a village, without any resistance.

Elsewhere in Malaysia, people of distinction, whose only weapons are truth and the tenets of justice and democracy, are harassed and discouraged from entering Malaysia, or are deported. These people include a French lawyer acting on behalf of Suaram, a British lawyer acting on behalf of Hindraf, Thai pathologist Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand and Australian Senator Nick Xenophon. Continue reading “The two faces of Malaysia”

— Aziff Azuddin
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 18, 2013

FEB 18 — It’s hard to know what’s the truth and what’s not these days. To say newspapers report far from the truth would be an exaggeration. What they report is the truth, if only a specific part of it. But then, that’s what newspapers are meant to do. They’re meant to cater to a specific audience that accepts and reads this sort of news, nodding their heads in agreement. Even in the United States, such media slanting exists; New York Times reports analytical news leaning towards the Democrats while Fox News is endlessly seen leaning away. Much can be said for the audience it caters to.

Malaysia’s media industry, however, has turned into a mess. It’s no secret that the mainstream media is owned largely by the establishment’s strings as try as they may, reports anti-sentiment or intended to shed a negative light are quickly quelled and do not see the light of day. The only final bastion of freedom the citizens of Malaysia has is the limitless fringes of the Internet and social media; and even that laws like section 114A are creeping to tighten its noose on the only freedom we have left.

The Malaysian establishment, it seems of late, has been rather fond of making a fool of itself on the public front. Psy’s RM2 million concert in Penang was no less controversial before the South Korean pop star’s performance and even during the event itself; the “Psy, Yes! BN, No!” debacle and Psy’s public refusal to toss yee sang went viral on the Internet. While the Internet community was abuzz with the news, what went reported on the mainstream media? Nothing. Only of how successful the concert was and how it was another establishment achievement in fulfilling their promise to the people. Continue reading “Selective facts in the media”

— Lucius Goon
The Malaysian Insider
Feb 18, 2013

FEB 18 — Forget about Nick Xenophon, or any support from the United States, Australia, Human Rights Watch. Our neighbours and those that pretend to be in our neighbourhood (Australia) have their own calculations on who they would like to see govern Malaysia.

The needs or wants of Malaysians don’t factor in their calculations.

After all, wasn’t it Rudd the Dud who praised Malaysia as a robust democracy some time ago and now some columnist in the Australian calls Malaysia one of the top democracies in the region. (Aussies must be breathing some strange air.)

This election is about you and me. What aspirations do we have for Malaysia, the country where we and our children were born? It is about going to vote in numbers so that any attempt to subvert the electoral process will be defeated. Continue reading “Stand up and be counted, Malaysians”