by Koon Yew Yin
As the election date draws nearer, it is important that all politicians wishing to take part should make known to the public what they stand for.
Among our political leaders, there are few that have earned the respect of Malaysians in the same way that Tengku Razaleigh has. Through his actions he has struck many as a man of honour, decency, good sense and ability. These qualities – not superhuman virtues – are the ones needed at the helm of the nation to guide us through this difficult time of racial and religious extremism, and unquenched opportunism and power craze.
On what Tengku Razaleigh stands for, there is little or no doubt. However, given his marginalization in the mainstream media, many Malaysians may not be aware of his political philosophy. This philosophy which I heard him elaborate on in Ipoh in 2012 could serve as the template for the nation’s political development. It has served as the template for my book, Malaysia: Road Map for Achieving Vision 2020.
I call on all election candidates – as well as parties – across the political divide to read and endorse Tungku Razaleigh’s 10 principles contained in his speech to the Perak Academy event. These ‘10 Golden Political Principles’ are necessary to ensure Malaysia’s political future, irrespective of whichever coalition party wins the elections.
Ku LI’s Ten Golden Political Principles
1. All political parties are required to include in their constitutional objectives the equality of citizenship as provided for in the Federal Constitution.
2. An economic and political policy that political parties propagate must not discriminate against any citizen.
3. All parties shall include and uphold constitutional democracy and the separation of powers as a fundamental principle.
4. It shall be the duty of all political parties to adhere to the objectives of public service and refrain from involvement in business, and ensure the separation of business from political parties.
5. It shall be the duty of all political parties to ensure and respect the independence of the judiciary and the judicial process.
6. All parties shall ensure that the party election system will adhere to the highest standards of conduct, and also ensure that the elections are free of corrupt practices. Legislation should be considered to provide funding of political parties.
7. It shall be the duty of all parties to ensure that all political dialogues and statements will not create racial or religious animosity.
8. All parties undertake not to use racial and communal agitation as political policies.
9. To remove and eradicate all barriers that hinder national unity and Malaysian identity.
10. To uphold the Federal and State Constitutions and its democratic intent and spirit, the Rule of Law, the fundamental liberties as enshrined in Part II of the Malaysian Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Taking a Stand on Party of Choice Based on Principle
If adhered to by the winning coalition, these principles – not what are in the Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat elections manifestos – can provide an important foundation for rebuilding our Malaysian unity which has been undermined by the likes of Ibrahim Ali, Perkasa and sadly too, the former Prime Minister, Dr. Mahathir.
Whilst Tengku Razaleigh does not need to publicly restate his political philosophy, there is an urgent need for him to decide whether he should stand as an UMNO candidate or on some other platform and to announce this decision to the public as soon as possible. Now is the correct time for put his principles into practice.
Should Tengku Razaleigh decide to stand as a candidate of UMNO – a party lacking in the political integrity and ethical standards that he has espoused – I and many other Malaysians who have the deepest respect for him – will feel badly disappointed and let down.
We are sure he is aware of the saying, “It is better to die with honour, than to live without.”
Now u want Tunku R replace bro Anwar do u
Anwar will be the PM after GE13, and he will be the best PM since independence, admit it, come on Chengho. And this is why Madey is so nervous nowadays. And this is why you are doing your work here.
There are just too many BeEnd leaders want to help PR to topple BeEnd in this GE13, you don’t know a, quick go ask your boss la.
Yes make a stand Tengku.
Kit Siang, Anwar and many others have made a stand. Why not you?
Tell us what you really stand for.
Kit Siang, Anwar and many others have made a stand. Why not you?
Tell us what you really stand for.
Knowing whats right and having courageous doing whats right are two seperate entities. You like tunku’s talk but not his walk. His walk can’t follow his talk, then he must be an umno leader.
Tunku Razaleigh is a very selfish calculated smart man….calculating what benefits he can get…doing anything.
Look at him holding hands with his arch enemy…Mahathir..thinking Mahathir is so powerful and can convince all Umno b kingpins…to vote him in as PM.
Do not forget his past actions.
He is plain selfish person.
My impression of TR is one of mixed feelings. He has all along been saying all the right things but failed to do the one right thing. This is the part that is confusing about this man.
“he has struck many as a man of honour, decency, good sense and ability” — WHAT!?
PLEASE lah, d above description certainly DOES NOT apply 2 TR, a man of NO PRINCIPLE, period
Najib still the best PM at the moment, bite the bullet guy ,
Anwar just your bogeyman , rather than Anwar better still Kit
There are MANY people better than Anwar for PM, BUT THEY ARE ALL ON PAKATAN RAKYAT SIDE, so that is why Anwar is next PM..
Jibby is making your children and grandchildren paying for more debts. Beware chengho.
Did you watch Jibby’s announcement to dissolve the Parliament a chengho, your boss said he was:
1 timbalan perdana menteri
2 parliament dissolved in 3rd April. 2012.
Are you sure he is still ok a chengho?
At the very least Tengku Razaleigh should CALL FOR NAJIB TO DEBATE ANWAR on live nationalized TV.
If he is truly interested in overall betterment and not simply pretending to be non-partisan because his party would not give him what he wans, then a debate is good for EVERYONE including his own party..
Don’t waste your time. The old man is not gonna change. Why should he?? In the next Cabinet he will be suitably rewarded.
“D world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it” Albert Einstein
TR is a person who made M’sia in greater peril, cos he tolerates or encourages evil by sleeping with d devils
Contrast him with PR folks, baru tahu lor
Take a bold stand??
Don’t Malaysians know his ploy?
Such people wants the best of both worlds!
It’s high time for the PR to ignore him.
And get on with the business of winning GE13.
Nothing in this world is more important than that.
Perhaps, folks like him will join the PR AFTER it has taken over Putrajaya!!!!
But then, who wants such people????
Who are opportunistic to the core!!!!
Chengho said kit is a better pm candidate than anwar. Better in what sense? There is a time dimension to this judgment. I would nevertheless venture on to say that chengho may very well be correct. If only the political environment in malaysia is such that LKS could be PM … So there you are. Given the reality now existing within our shores, anwar is the obvious choice – the best choice. Ku Li may replace anwar as an alternative. Personally I hv no trouble with that. But Ku Li must make his stand clear and he must do so now. He cannot continue to speak what seemingly are pakatan language and ideals inside umno.
Don’t waste your breath or your time on Tengku Razaleigh. He has baggage from his days as Finance Minister regarding the Carrian saga. It is probably the main thing that UMNO has against this man that prevents him from doing the right thing.
The other reason for Ku Li not wanting to opt out of UMNO is that he is hoping for an implosion within UMNO that will give him the opportunity to stand up and say that he will save UMNO. In this respect he is no different from Ong Tee Keat. Ong is hoping for an implosion within the MCA so that he can become the white knight. These people think that they are better off with such possibilities than tinkering with Pakatan ideals.
the past few years has shown KuLi to be all talk, talk,talk, talk,talk, talk,talk, talk,talk, talk,talk, talk,talk, talk,talk, talk,talk, talk,talk, talk,talk, talk,talk, talk,talk, talk,talk, talk,talk.
When it comes down to it, he has no spine. Sorry, I thought he was one of our brightest hope too. But truth be told, I’d rather have Anwar, warts and all, but with a spine that keeps him standing than this sotong called KuLi.
When Tunku Razaleigh formed Semangat 46 he swore several times in several ceramahs NEVER ever to join UMNO Baru – even if he were to die and be reborn _ (or words to that effect).
He said he only wanted the original UMNO. Then suddenly he dissolved his party and rejoined UMNO Baru. Some of his closest friends like Othman Saat and Kahar Ahmad (both of Johor) felt betrayed and refused to have anything to do with Razaleigh.
Now you dare trust this man.
He still thinks UMNO wants him.
He is a smart guy and wait for the 2 fighter (A & N) to kill themselve first. if not, what is the motive to critisize and stay behind Umn…..
He will come to rescue and emerge as a winner when weak mamak /or Muh…….want to be a PM in Umn….
He has a planned to take over from behind if Um…win a small majority and muhi….. is not geting the majority support.
A principle man or a person with a good intergrity and willing to help the rakyat will not stay in Umn…..
This show that he is one of the double head snake that trying to camouflage and hope for unexpected event to happen.
Rather, he is taking the easy way out and a spectator to see how matters turn out at the end.
Maybe, an unexpected windfall comes it way like Bodowi (never he would dream to be PM, well thanks to smartalec, MaMak ).
Tengku Razaleigh cannot be the PM candidate for Pakatan Rakyat, and he knows it. UMNO is certain to lose Putrajaya, and so there will be vacancy at UMNO Presidency. Muhyiddin knows only to be Malay 1st and Malay 2nd till the nth. With that qualification UMNO will continue to be in the opposition if Muhyiddin takes over from Najib. UMNOputras are no fool, and they want UMNO to regain power, and Razaleigh hopes to be called.
Actually it is quite easy to create a fighting chance for UMNO; it needs only to change the M for Malay to M for Malaysian in UMNO, and close MCA and MIC. Would Razaleigh rise to it?
///After Parliament was dissolved, the EC’s website crashed, preventing Malaysians living abroad from registering as postal voters.///–Malayiskini
We don’t know whether it is intentional. But the Inland Revenue Board/Department web site is always busy for days on end.
If I could recall correctly, Ling Leong Sik once complained that Ku Li kept borrowing money to sustain the country when he was the finance minister.