Day: March 28, 2013

RK Anand| March 28, 2013
Free Malaysia Today

The Bersih chief dismisses the four reasons given by the Star’s group editor-in-chief for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s delay in dissolving Parliament.

KUALA LUMPUR: In a comment piece published on the front-page of the Star today, the MCA-owned daily’s group editor-in-chief Wong Chun Wai stated four reasons for Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s feet-dragging on the dissolution of Parliament.

However, Bersih co-chairperson S Ambiga is not convinced with the four “good” reasons, which were:

*A caretaker government cannot enter into agreements at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (Lima).

*Finishing touches to some projects and programmes.

*Barisan Nasional’s candidates’ list not finalised.

*Impossible at the moment for politicians to campaign freely in Lahad Datu.

Commenting on the first reason cited, Ambiga told FMT that it is not a licence to dig into the public coffers to embark on a spending spree.

“Lima contracts were all foreseeable. If this was an aim, then why lead the public on a merry ride and threaten to dissolve Parliament for more than a year?” she asked.
Continue reading “Ambiga: Four ‘good’ reasons, my foot!”

by Martin Jalleh

Since March 18, 2013, when Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced at the forty-seventh DAP anniversary celebrations in Johore Baru that I will be contesting in the Gelang Patah parliamentary constituency in line with the Pakatan Rakyat decision to make Johor the front-line state in the 13th General Elections, Gelang Patah and Johore have catapulted to national attention and captured the imagination of Malaysians about the challenges of the coming general elections.

There have been diverse reactions covering the entire spectrum, from one end regarding this a foolhardy decision to the other end hailing the decision as a most exciting and challenging test in the 13GE.

Those of the former view are concerned whether I could survive in Gelang Patah, as I will be leaving Ipoh Timor where I won in 2008 general election with a majority of over 21,000 votes to go to a constituency which has always been regarded as a “fort’ of MCA and Barisan Nasional.

In the 2008 general election, MCA/BN won Gelang Patah with a majority of over 8,000 votes while in the 2004 general election, the majority is an awesome one of 31,666 votes!

Is it possible to reverse such humongous majorities for the MCA/BN in Gelang Patah as to win the seat for DAP/Pakatan Rakyat in the 13GE? Continue reading “First objective of Battle of Gelang Patah is to target the six Parliamentary and 13 State Assembly seats in south Johore to pave the way for Pakatan Rakyat to Putrajaya in 13GE”

by Martin Jalleh

By LIM SUE GOAN
Sin Chew Daily
2013-03-28

13th general election
Opinion

As wisdom comes with age, DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang is having the best political view among Pakatan Rakyat leaders.

Why is Lim Kit Siang leading DAP leaders to attack Johor? He revealed his campaign layout during an interview with the Sin Chew Daily.

He believes that the 308 political tsunami has not reached its peak and the wind of anti-ruling stopped at Negeri Sembilan. The purpose of attacking the southern peninsula this time is to make the tsunami which has not completed its task five years ago to reach its peak and hit the south-central peninsula, shaking the bastions of Umno and the MCA.

Although the responses of Chinese voters in Johor have given the DAP confidence that the tsunami this time would start from southern peninsula and spread its impacts to the northern part, Johor, after all, is the BN’s bastion and thus, there is a certain level of risk for Lim Kit Siang to take such a move this time, particularly when Johor Malay voters still tend to support the BN.

Despite the risk, Lim Kit Siang, who has engaged in politics for 47 years, knows that the fleeting opportunity will be gone if they do not grab it. Continue reading “Lim Kit Siang’s wisdom”

by Martin Jalleh

Another dubious record by Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia – Malaysian history’s first “automatic” dissolution of a State Assembly at midnight last night not because of a conscious and deliberate decision by the Negri Sembilan Menteri Besar but because of a “kiasu” and “kiasi” Prime Minister embroiled in a Hamlet agony unable to decide when to dissolve Parliament for fear of becoming the last Umno/BN Prime Minister.

The automatic dissolution of the Negri Sembilan State Assembly last night, with Negri Sembilan now without a single elected State Assembly members in the sixty days until May 26 – the last date for the election of the new Negri Sembilan State Assembly – is a major blow to healthy Federal-state relations, as it is a classic case where a State Government has been deprived of its constitutional right to seek a new mandate from the electorate solely because of extraneous and even unconstitutional considerations – the indecisiveness of the Prime Minister!

This is not the Federal-state relations which the country’s forefathers and the founders of the country’s Constitution had ever envisaged or desired more than half a century ago – for the autonomy, independence and prerogatives of each state government in the federation of Malaysia is to be jealously protected and honoured.

I am sure if Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Tan Cheng Lock or Tun Sambanthan had been asked 56 years ago whether under the 1957 Merdeka Federal Constitution a state government would be deprived of the power and have to surrender its prerogative to dissolve the State Assembly to seek a new mandate at the end of its five-year term to the Prime Minister until he could decide when to dissolve Parliament, the answer from all the fathers of Merdeka would be a loud, clear-cut and categorical “No! No! No!” Continue reading “14-Day Countdown to 13GE: Unhealthy Federal-State relations where Negri Sembilan State Assembly automatically dissolved midnight last night because of a “kiasu” and “kiasi” Prime Minister”

by Clara Chooi
The Malaysian Insider
March 27, 2013

The Financial Times reported that the prime minister declined to address the expose by Global Witness directly during the interview. — Reuters picKUALA LUMPUR, March 27 — Barisan Nasional (BN) is “equally as concerned about corruption” as its critics but the problem cannot go away overnight, Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in a Financial Times (FT) interview carried today, in the wake of a damning expose on Sarawak’s timber scandals.

The international financial daily reported that the prime minister declined to address the expose by Global Witness (GW) directly during the interview, pointing out that Malaysian graftbusters were already investigating the allegations against Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.

“Prostitution and corruption are two things that mankind has had to live with for so long. But we are determined to tackle it. It is a scourge. But it is something that will not go away overnight,” he was quoted saying.

In the article describing the likely heated contest that Najib will face in Election 2013, FT noted that Umno is vulnerable on the topic of corruption, which the federal opposition will use as its key weapon on the campaign trail. Continue reading “Najib leaves Taib video expose to MACC probe”