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Malaysia’s Ruling Party Gets Desperate

by Azeem Ibrahim
The Huffington Post

Malaysia has in reality been a one party state for over 55 years with the ruling UMNO party winning a string of elections without much opposition. However, with the stellar rise of Anwar Ibrahim, the ruling party is facing its most tightly contested election in its history. In the final days of campaigning in an election which many pollsters now believe the government will lose, it seems to be pulling a number of desperate stunts.

Firstly is the amount of money the prime minister’s office is spending on advertising. Industry experts have identified over 50 million USD in advertising buys by the prime minister’s office alone. Sources say that the amount of money being spent on advertisements exceeds one million, a virtual buy out of all ad space on Microsoft networks (which include Skype and Bing) for the last 10 days of the campaign. On Facebook the PMO’s office, again according to sources, is spending upwards of $200,000. Continue reading “Malaysia’s Ruling Party Gets Desperate”

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6-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day: Masanya sudah tiba untuk rakyat Malaysia menamatkan riwayat politik perkauman

Masanya sudah tiba untuk rakyat Malaysia menamatkan riwayat politik perkauman yang selama ini telah menyebabkan kita hidup dengan penuh rasa takut, gelisah dan cemas.

Perubahan akan bermula apabila rakyat Malaysia menolak politik benci dan politik suka menakutkan rakyat yang dibawa oleh UMNO-BN. Perubahan akan bermula apabila pengundi Malaysia menerima politik bersih, amanah dan bebas rasuah yang dibawa oleh Pakatan Rakyat. Perubahan akan bermula apabila kita semua menolak politik perkauman.

Saya menyeru pengundi Malaysia supaya menamatkan riwayat politik perkauman yang menjadi amalan UMNO-BN kerana ia bukan sahaja bahaya untuk perpaduan kaum, ia juga telah digunakan untuk melindungi kezaliman dan salahguna kuasa.

  1. Isu lembu dan kondo NFC bukanlah isu ekonomi Bumiputera; ia sebenarnya isu salah guna kuasa dan penyelewengan pemimpin BN dan keluarga mereka;
  2. Isu penswastaan dan kerugian syarikat penerbangan MAS bukanlah isu ekuiti saham Bumiputera; ia soal salah guna kuasa kerajaan dan kegagalan pentadbiran kroni;

    3. Continue reading “6-Day Countdown to 13GE Polling Day: Masanya sudah tiba untuk rakyat Malaysia menamatkan riwayat politik perkauman”

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May 5: Ubah! Ubah! Ubah!

by Allan CF Goh

Come the sun-bright, or the cold, cold rain,
Despite those small inconvenient pain,
Come Election Day, we must all vote,
For our rights, and our principled code.
This day, we can create and claim our dreams,
Willing a meaningful life to stream.
Let us safeguard our children’s future
Within a most just, social structure.
Ensure them the best education,
(Not denied by deprivation),
Premised on the world’s greatest knowledge,
And real, solid values acknowledged.
Vote for a real, better way of life,
Where folks can thrive, without harmful strife,
Without the dark threats of racism,
Or the bane of damned cronyism.
Let’s vote in realistic hope and change,
And throw out the policies deranged.
Change the government for the better,
Free of those unfair, unjust fetter.
Let’s vote for a bright Malaysian sun,
That shines equally for all its sons
And daughters, without being reduced
By any laws, racially induced.
Malaysia must be a one-nation,
One-real-people without exception.
There should be no lesser Malaysians,
Be they Muslims, Hindus, or Christians
Malaysia is ours to love and keep,
Never to be betrayed on the cheap,
Not to be pawned, sold to corruption,
Nor pandered to those depravation.
Citizens, come out, do your duty.
Vote us back our rights, our dignity.
Vote in candidates of good conscience,
Who will avow right with their presence.
Choose right people who will be our voice,
Respecting always the people’s choice.
Select a regime of righteousness,
Not one full of condemned thoughtlessness.
Ubah for a better tomorrow!
Ubah the Malaysia faked, hollow!

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Side Views A vote for stability or a vote for growth and change?

by Jackson Clu
The Malaysian Insider
April 28, 2013

APRIL 28 — The Reality

A vote for stability or a vote for growth and change? Personally, this general election has made me think very deeply as to what I actually want for myself and for our country. No doubt, everyone wants a stable and easy life but think deeper and ask yourself is that enough? I am no judge but I believe our votes this time round reflect our livelihood. Either we have been poisoned to the core to believe that stability is all we can have OR we are awakened by the truth making us hungry for growth and change, which in turn, brings true stability. Continue reading “Side Views A vote for stability or a vote for growth and change?”

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BN, please stop sending me SMS-es!

by Alwyn Lau
The Malaysian Insider
April 28, 2013

APRIL 28 – Here are six reasons why:

1. I get too many messages already; every week greedy corporations try to sell me stuff I don’t need, using cheesy messages which insult even my stupidity. Next to your corruption, KL traffic jams and our football team, corporate SMS-es will be the death of Malaysia. So stop polluting my mobile Messages and instead try a nice 1-Malaysia brochure taped to two free return tickets to Paris – this might arouse my curiosity if not my attention (but no I still won’t vote for you).

2. I can’t stand reading superficial declarations of great things to come from a party which has, for the past fifty years, been promising oceans but delivering droplets. Like that quote in Top Gun, Barisan’s mouth keeps writing cheques your body can’t cash. Worse, BN has been handing out free money to friends and cousins for half a century; but now you’ve got fewer friends because many people’s cousins are suffering from the holes you’ve been covering up with acronyms (NEP, NDP, 1M, IM4U, etc.) Continue reading “BN, please stop sending me SMS-es!”

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Janji ditepikan

by Tota
ALIRAN

Najib’s ‘janji ditepati’ is a big lie: it has fallen flat like capati, writes Tota.

Najib and the other BN leaders have been going round the country crowing about the so-called ‘janji ditepati’.

This BN slogan is a great lie, confirming that we have a BN government that has inexplicably survived through misinformation, outright lies and shameless deceit. This has been made possible by the BN-owned newspapers like Utusan Malaysia, Berita Harian, NST, The Star and the vernacular papers which spin pro-BN stories on a daily basis. The government-controlled RTM is nothing but a tool for BN religious and political propaganda.

If one examines BN’s track record over their long spell of 56 years as the government, it will be obvious the track is littered with a long catalogue of broken promises. Below is an analysis of the broken promises by the Alliance/BN government. Continue reading “Janji ditepikan”

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If you are afraid to vote Pakatan, what can you do?

by P Ramakrishnan
ALIRAN

P Ramakrishnan advises pensioners what they should do if they are worried that their votes won’t be secret.

There are civil servants and pensioners who are fearful of voting for Pakatan. They would very much like to do so but they are afraid.

The civil servants are scared that if they are found out for supporting the opposition their promotion prospects may be affected. They think they may even be dismissed from service.

The pensioners are apprehensive that their pension may be stopped if they do not support the BN. They believe that it is the BN that is giving them their pension. Continue reading “If you are afraid to vote Pakatan, what can you do?”

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The Malaysian Trojan Horse

by Thomas Fann

In Virgil’s epic poem Aeneid, he told the tale of how the Greeks overcame the fortress city of Troy after laying siege to it for ten years. The Greeks built a giant wooden horse and hid a select team of warriors in it to deceive the Trojans that they have abandoned their battle and presented the city of Troy with a gift – the wooden horse.

Elated with the gift, the Trojans brought the wooden horse into the city to celebrate their victory. That night itself, while the city slept, the Greek warriors came out of the horse, opened the city gate for the Greek army who had returned and they overran the city of Troy. What they failed to achieve through military might in 10 years, they did it in one night through trickery. Continue reading “The Malaysian Trojan Horse”

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Deciding Who To Vote For In the Next Election

by M. Bakri Musa

Downstream Analysis: Hung Parliament Not Necessarily Bad
(Last of Four Parts)

Many fear a hung parliament as they think that would lead to chaos and uncertainty. Yes, there may be both but neither is inevitable. On the contrary I see many potentially redeeming aspects that could benefit citizens, the permanent establishment, and yes, even those politicians.

For citizens, seeing these freshly-victorious politicians brazenly jockeying for positions would be both instructive and revealing. It would be quite a sight to watch them behave worse than hookers. At least hookers are consumed with satisfying their present customers first, and would solicit new ones only after they have done that. More importantly, they do both discreetly. Those politicians on the other hand would be openly and lustily auctioning themselves to the highest bidder without even a promise of satisfactory performance to their current customers – citizens who had only recently voted for them. Those politicians would whore themselves brazenly. What matters to them would only be the price their new customers would be willing to pay, regardless how filthy and disease-ridden they are. Damn the consequences, for them or the nation. Continue reading “Deciding Who To Vote For In the Next Election”

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Who’s the racist these days?

The Malaysian Insider
April 28, 2013

APRIL 28 – Going into Malaysia’s 56th year of independence, one would assume that racism would not rear its ugly head especially among its leaders – young or old.

There is Barisan Nasional (BN) and its predecessor Alliance that has always put cooperation as one of its pillars. And there is Pakatan Rakyat (PR), all three multi-racial parties that have eschewed racism.

Then, there is Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who once spoke of a Bangsa Malaysia when he was Malaysia’s prime minister but for some time now, has resorted to racism and accusing others of racism in his speeches and writings.

Today, the New Sunday Times had him accuse the DAP of racism in going for the Gelang Patah federal seat due to its sizeable Chinese majority.

“If DAP does not play on its Chinese-ness, it cannot win. That is why Kit Siang chose Gelang Patah where 53 per cent of the voters are Chinese,” the weekly quoted Dr Mahathir.

This isn’t the first time Dr Mahathir has gone on this tangent. Earlier this year, he blamed Tunku for granting citizenship to Indians and Chinese at the advent of independence. Continue reading “Who’s the racist these days?”

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A passionate call for every Malaysian to vote

– David Quek
The Malaysian Insider
April 28, 2013

APRIL 28 – Malaysians, friends and colleagues!

First, I want to state that I am not a politician, and do not belong to any political party, by choice. But this does not mean that I do not support a better choice for a better renewed Malaysia!

I am but a simple professional, a doctor, who has had to fortune to rise up in society, because of good school grades, good parents/family who’d worked multiple jobs, great dedicated teachers of the past, to get to where I am today, although I hail from a poor background. I worry that for the next generation however, the future may not be as rosy and challenges would be aplenty!

I am using this platform for addressing as many Malaysians as possible to rethink our common future, to become more involved and concerned, as many other concerned citizens have tried to do so too, recently. Yes, I admit that I have gained some traction, some gravitas, to head the Malaysian Medical Association, a few years back, as national president. So I might have some qualified voice to humbly share a little more.

Then even as of now, I have been vocal and ardent that as concerned citizens, we have the duty to clarify and comment on what ails society, and that everyone of us can help make our society, our nation, better. Often this means not being in agreement with the authorities that be, that we do not see eye-to-eye with them, nor their discretionary powers and dictates. The right to dissent and disagree is an internationally enshrined human right. Continue reading “A passionate call for every Malaysian to vote”

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BN has lost ‘nambikei’ for nominating Zul Noordin

by Ragesh Kumar Lingam
Malaysiakini
Apr 24, 2013

Malaysia is known as a multi-racial country and we have been promoting that ever since independence.

The current prime minister has long called for nambikei (trust) from the Indian community for BN.

My question is on BN’s decision to field Zulkifli Noordin as BN’s candidate for the Shah Alam Parliament seat.

Zulkifli is well known for his racist remarks towards Indians especially to the Hindus in Malaysia.

This has been proven and everyone is well aware of this. Although we understand he has apologised, what does it matter now. Continue reading “BN has lost ‘nambikei’ for nominating Zul Noordin”