Day: March 30, 2013

by Koh Jun Lin
Malaysiakini
Mar 30, 2013

Pakatan Rakyat would review all contracts signed by the federal government after March 8 and possibly cancel them if they are found to be unfair or involved abuse of power, if the coalition takes over Putrajaya, said DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang.

He said in his speech at Seputeh today that the government has no business signing these deals five years after the last general election; they should be considered interim agreements subject to confirmation by the succeeding government.

Highlighting the RM4.2 billion arms deal signed in Langkawi two days ago, he said: “We will not be bound by these agreements because these are done after March 8, when the prime minister has lost legitimacy and credibility, and is only an ‘expired’ prime minister.

“He cannot sign these agreements,” he said, adding that the federal government should declare every deal it inked since that date because it should not have endorsed them.

Lim was speaking at the official launching of DAP’s Seputeh election operations centre, which occupies a shoplot that local MP Teresa Kok said was let out to the party for free by a supporter. Continue reading “Arms deals inked by ‘expired PM’ may not be valid”

By Kee Thuan Chye

I stand corrected for predicting that Prime Minister Najib Razak would dissolve Parliament on March 26 to allow for the 13th general election to be held in mid-April. I had thought he would be man enough to do it.

It is unclear now when he will make the much-awaited move to face the people’s decision as to whether they want to retain his Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition as the government or consign it to the Opposition benches. He could also wait for Parliament to automatically dissolve on April 28.

In fact, the Negeri Sembilan State Assembly has already been automatically dissolved – as its five-year term ended on March 27. The next state assembly to follow suit is the Pahang one on April 7.

Najib’s delay does not look good for him as it shows a lack of confidence. Already, many are calling him “coward” on social media. In contrast to the Opposition’s push forward by first unveiling its manifesto way ahead and DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang’s daring declaration of standing in the Gelang Patah parliamentary constituency in Johor, the bastion of BN, followed by DAP MP Liew Chin Tong being moved from Penang to a yet-unnamed seat also in Johor, Najib’s inaction is a sign of weakness.
Continue reading “Najib’s Afraid of Losing His Job”

by Pak Sako
CPI Asia

This is the third part of a three-part CPI series on Malaysian debt. The first part, entitled, ‘Investigate Malaysia’s debts now‘ , surveyed the overall debt situation. The second part, entitled, ‘Malaysian government debt to approach RM1 trillion by 2020‘, looked at the trend in government debt.

This part critiques the debt-to-GDP ratio and questions Malaysia’s official debt figures.

An over-optimistic and misleading impression of debt results when the government puts its faith in one number, the debt-to-GDP ratio.

The current government-debt-to-GDP ratio for Malaysia of 53% is assumed as being within safe limits, below the 55% ceiling set by Malaysian policy.

Here it is argued that judging the nation’s debt condition primarily on account of this one indicator is wrong. A critical look at debt is required to understand the real situation and health of the economy. Continue reading “Malaysia’s debt: the misleading debt-to-GDP ratio”

I feel very sorry for the Gerakan President and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Tan Sri Dr.Koh Tsu Koon but he has only himself to blame for the avalanche of public odium heaped on him in the last 48 hours when he did the indefensible – defending the private screenings of the May 13 riots film, Tanda Putera.

Tsu Koon claimed that the private screening of the controversial Tanda Putera are allowed because the Cabinet decision to postpone its screening is restricted to public screenings only.

What sycophancy, hypocrisy and sophistry!

No wonder Cabinet Ministers are not the most highly regarded and respected people in Malaysia – and the Najib Cabinet makes history as the Cabinet which beats all previous Cabinets in having the most useless “deadwood”.

Even the former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir and former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin in their recent interviews took turns to scalp the Ministerial “deadwood” in the Najib Cabinet.

Mahathir fully endorsed Daim’s condemnation of the Najib Cabinet as “carrying too much deadwood” with “most are already past their use-by date”, saying caustically: “I agree entirely. Lots of deadwood should be chopped down and thrown away and new trees grown.”
Continue reading “Tsu Koon can redeem himself if he is prepared to take a honest and honourable stand on Wednesday’s Cabinet to demand the total suspension of the May 13 film Tanda Putra or to submit his resignation as Cabinet Minister”

Our Hope
By Allan CF Goh

The dark clouds may threaten,
Seemingly for eternity.
But after the rain,
The rainbow will appear,
Radiant with colours,
Alive with hope.

The darkness may stretch
Endlessly into the night,
A tarry mass of fright.
But dawn will surely come,
Bringing along the sun-bright,
To dispel the shifting shadows.

So must any rotten regime,
Bloated with corruptions,
Inert with inefficiency,
Accepted decreasingly,
Must sink into oblivion,
Into history’s waste bin.
Continue reading “Our Hope”

In the last two days, I had discussed the first two objectives of the Battle of Gelang Patah:

Objective One: to target the six Parliamentary and 13 State Assembly seats in south Johore to pave the way for Pakatan Rakyat to Putrajaya in the 13th General Elections. The six Parliamentary seats are Johor Bahru, Pasir Gudang, Tebrau, Gelang Patah, Kulai and Pulai. The 13 State Assembly seats are: Stulang, Tanjong Puteri, Johore Jaya, Permas, Puteri Wangsa, Tiram, Skudai, Nusajaya, Pengkalan Rinting, Kempas, Senai, Bukit Batu and Bukit Permai.

Objective Two: to target a total of 19 Parliamentary seats and 30 State Assembly seats in the state of Johor, including the six Parliamentary and 13 State Assembly seats in South Johore which I had already mentioned. The additional 13 Parliamentary seats in the rest of Johore are Tanjong Piai, Kluang, Batu Pahat, Bakri, Labis, Segamat, Sekijang, Ledang, Muar, Ayer Hitam, Sri Gading, Simpang Rengam and Sembrong. The additional 17 State Assemby seats are Pekan Nenas, Mengkibol, Penggaram, Bentayam, Sungai Abong, Bekok, Jementah, Tangkak, Paloh, Yong Peng, Mahkota, Layang-Layang, Parit Yaani, Maharani, Gambir, Tenang and Pemanis.

I am not claiming that Pakatan Rakyat can score a bullseye and win all the 19 Parliamentary and 30 State Assembly seats in Johore mentioned. In fact, if Pakatan Rakyat can achieve 50 per cent of this target, it is already a “phenomenal political revolution” in Johor, bearing in mind the arrogant boasts of Barisan Nasional leaders just five years ago before the 2008 general elections that they would ensure that Johore would become a “zero Opposition” state!

I am of course expecting hitting a more than 50% success for the PR target of 19 Parliamentary and 30 State Assembly seats in Johore the 13GE. Continue reading “12-Day Countdown to 13GE: Third Objective of Battle of Gelang Patah – BN’s fixed deposit states of Johore, Sabah and Sarawak “Going, Going, Gone!” by targeting to win 33 out of the 83 Parliamentary seats in the three states”

JD Lovrenciear
Malaysiakini
Mar 27, 2013

As we gear towards an imminent dissolution of Parliament, the leaders and political party vanguards are really getting completely violently vile in thought, speech and deeds.

Are we the rakyat and nation-loving people to be left in the lurch and to stomach all this bullying then?

Why on earth is the prime minister of the nation – a leader for all Malaysians, himself also holding a gun to our heads?

BN leaders and party wigs are making all kinds of statements; are smilingly witnessing all kinds of abuse; and allowing all kinds of rubbish to be pumped out through all the mainstream media.

Are these not akin to holding a gun to the citizens’ heads? Continue reading “BN, no need for the politics of fear”

P Gunasegaram
Malaysiakini
Mar 29, 2013

QUESTION TIME On the eve of the general election, it is appropriate to take a moment to reflect on how independent are we really.

What a moment it must have been when Malaysia (then Malaya) achieved independence from the British on Aug 31, 1957 and the flag of the newly independent country was raised.

At five years old, I was too young to remember what it was like then but have vague memories of my brother getting lost on a family visit to Kuala Lumpur town during the celebrations and being taken care of by policemen, before he was reunited with our parents.

It must have held so much hope for Malayans of all races and religions who put aside their differences to work for the formation of a new nation.

Tunku Abdul Rahman declared himself the happiest prime minister in the world and was proud of the fact that independence was achieved via negotiation without a single drop of blood being shed.

To be sure there were differences and in the years before independence there was much debate and agonising over how a disparate country of Chinese and Indian immigrants, many of whom had nowhere else but Malaya to call home, were to be integrated with the majority Malay community.

But there was a plan and everyone stuck to it and the country became independent. The communist threat had been beaten back although it would take until the sixties before they were more or less completely vanquished.

We were independent but how free were we? And did not independence mean freedom as well? Continue reading “Are we really independent?”