Month: May 2013

— Yasmin Rasyid
The Malaysian Insider
May 19, 2013

MAY 19 — I am sitting here on a fine Sunday, reflecting on the front page news in the Star (May 19th 2013), “Hills in Cameron Highlands ‘raped’ at an alarming rate”, and I was compelled to write this to the editors of all papers, with the aim of expressing my continued disappointment on how this country, rich in natural resources and heritage, is slowly wiping itself out of the surface of this planet.

Now that the political drama in the country has somewhat simmered down, I hope that this is the right time to help build a progressive and forward thinking nation, especially when it comes to ensuring that Malaysia is managed sustainably for the future generations.

In Pahang, we have seen what the media has called the “rape” of the century. For the last two decades, and in my experiences in local environmental issues, Cameron Highlands has gone from bad to worse. Property developers are rushing in to build so called eco or highland resorts. There are a few dams scheduled to be built on the same highland. Meanwhile, land clearing for agriculture is rampant, and landslides aren’t something new. Indigenous communities, meanwhile, and as usual, are side lined. Their voices almost deafened by other so-called urgent agenda. Don’t believe this? Google Tasik Chini.

On top of that, it is also known amongst the public and those savvy with green issues that gold mining in Pahang still uses cyanide. Whether cyanide still pervades the communities of Bukit Koman or not, only the strong probes of the sophisticated machines used by the Department of Environment are able to tell us the truth. What is perplexing is this – whether cyanide is pervasively used or not in Pahang, and whatever is it that comes out from the mouths of the politicians, what is stopping academicians or chemists in this country (private or government) to go down to the ground and be a CSI and measure and tell the truth. It’s bad enough that the media only reports what certain individuals or politicians say, so come on Malaysians, where are the chemistry experts in this country? Can’t you the least help us verify the content of the air, soil and water in Pahang? (Referring to: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2013/5/18/southneast/13124846). While you’re at it, work on a comprehensive study to measure the entire health of the country from water and air quality, to the presence of toxic chemicals in food and so forth. I believe the public wants to know all this. Continue reading “On a sustainable Malaysia”

— conspiracytheor1st
The Malaysian Insider
May 19, 2013

MAY 19 — You will never read from anywhere that brand Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King as racists.

Abraham Lincoln pawned his life to fight against the enslavement of the African Americans, Nelson Mandela traded decades of his freedom to free South Africa from the shackles of the Apartheid policy and Martin Luther King paid for his life for the equal rights of Americans. Their detractors could call them any vile names they wished but never as a racist.

Only in Malaysia, the very people who do not condone racism and voted against it are labeled as racists. Over the decades, Umnno, led by Dr. Mahathir and his armada of mass media had been accusing DAP with its vision of “Malaysian Malaysia” as a bigoted political party, hell-bent to destroy the Malay.

The rakyat particularly the IT savvy urban-dwellers who ironically voted for the multiracial parties from Pakatan Rakyat in GE13 were branded as racists because they rejected the race-based political system where every race fights endlessly to defend their respective rights.

To put things into perspective, could anyone imagine any American being branded as racist if they do not endorse Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist organization? Continue reading “You are racist if you are not racist”

Mariam Mokhtar| May 19, 2013
Free Malaysia Today

Najib is impotent when tackling corruption, or defusing racial and religious tensions. His weakness as a leader is reflected in the Cabinet line-up

COMMENT

Najib Tun Razak’s defence of the Malay daily Utusan Malaysia which displayed a provocative headline, “What more do the Chinese want?” does nothing for national reconciliation, something which Najib promised to address, after GE-13.

Trying his best to placate an increasingly cynical public, Najib vowed to be a prime minister for all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, state or political views.

He said, “I love my country …… We will also continue to promote moderation among multiracial Malaysians and place great importance on racial harmony and national unity.”

Despite the sweet talk, he refused to censure Utusan, but said, “You blame Utusan but you don’t ask about the Chinese papers.”

If Najib was adamant that both the Malay and Chinese newspapers were stoking racial hatred, the right thing would have been to punish both papers.

Najib is impotent when tackling corruption, or defusing racial and religious tensions. His weakness as a leader is reflected in the Cabinet line-up. Continue reading “Najib’s feckless and uninspiring cabinet”

By AMIR EFRATI and GEOFFREY A. FOWLER
Wall Street Journal
May 17, 2013

TECHNOLOGY

As Congress frets about the privacy implications of Google Glass, one thing is clear: The technology that can redefine what is “public” and link the digital and physical worlds is here.

Now the question is what will anyone do about it?

Questions of appearance and privacy arrive for Google Glass wearers.

Owners of wearable Internet-connected devices already face choices about where or when it is appropriate to wear them—while legal experts say there aren’t many protections for people whose activities the technology records. Continue reading “Google Glass Is Watching – Now What? .”

In his two-hour address to the first meeting of the new Cabinet of 30 Ministers and 27 deputy ministers at Putra Perdana on Thursday after their swearing-in before the Yang di Pertuan Agong at Istana Negara, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak invoked the spirit of exemplary service to the ministers by giving their best to the people and the country.

Najib said cabinet members must “add value” to their services by engaging the public in public forums, face-to-face sessions and even social or traditional media.

Unfortunately, Najib’s post-13GE Cabinet, which is already the most “unimpressive” of all six Prime Ministers in the nation’s 56-year history, started off with great egregious disservice to the people and nation as the oath-taking of two Deputy Ministers and three Deputy Ministers were of unlawful, null and void.

Najib also failed to “walk the talk” to engage the public by observing thunderous silence in the past three days dodging my expose on Friday that two Ministers, Datuk Paul Low and Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar (both Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department) and three deputy ministers, Waytha Moorthy (PM’s Office) , Dr. J. Loga Bala Mohan (Federal Territories) and Datuk Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah (Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism) have illegally been sworn in when they could not be appointed whether to the post of Minister or Deputy Minister for the simple reason that they are not qualified to hold any Cabinet office without first being sworn in as Senators. Continue reading “Najib should disclose who must bear responsibility and take the rap for the constitutional farce and embarrassment to the YDPA with oath-taking of two Ministers and three Deputy Ministers on Thursday unlawful, null and void”

The new Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar and the new Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi should stop playing politics to please their political masters and return to their first duty to the people – to make Malaysians, tourists and investors safe from crime and the fear of crime.

Both should realize that they are being paid by the taxpayers to carry out their primary duty to reduce crime, to protect the safety of Malaysians, tourists and investors and to abolish the fear of crime which is haunting Malaysians in many criminal black spots in the country, instead of abdicating from their duties by playing politics with their positions.

If Khalid and Zahid have too much free time on their hands, why don’t they do something more useful and directly related to their primary responsibilities – such as giving themselves a one-year challenge to remove the infamy of Johor Baru as the capital of crime in the country by ensuring that 12 months from now, the people of Johor Baru can feel safe and free from both crime and the fear of crime when moving around the Johor capital?
Continue reading “New IGP Khalid Abu Bakar and new Home Minister Zahid Hamidi should stop playing politics to please their political masters and return to their first duty – to make Malaysians, tourists and investors safe from crime and the fear of crime”

by Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi

Although many things remain uncertain after the GE13 result, one thing is unarguably clear…Malaysia is in trouble.

Who is in trouble? Not Pakatan, not BN to my mind…we are. We…the Rakyat. Our Children is in trouble and ..yes, theirs too in the distant future if we do not stop this juggernaut called…racism.

I would like to outline my basic blueprint for rebuilding this country with the special focus of eliminating racism as its main objective.

My program may be ‘shocking’ or ‘unsusual’ but it has the virtue of never been thought of or tried.

In architectural design training, the best design ideas are usually the ‘shockers’! I have been trained to understand the box but never to stay long in it and to always leave it on the front porch…well, most of the time. Continue reading “Racism and a Blueprint for Rebuilding Malaysia”

刘嘉銘
2013年5月18日 晚上9点26分

凌晨1点50分更新

尽管内政部长阿末扎希促不满选举制度者移民，但继峇都加湾体育馆的黑色集会后，逾6万人今晚再度涌入旧关仔角草场，抗议选举舞弊及要求落实一人一票的公平选举原则。

截至晚上11点，可容纳6万人草场已近乎爆满。槟首长林冠英演讲时也宣布，出席者突破6万人。

群众于较早的晚上9点左右在大会司仪带领下，高喊“国阵肮脏”与“选委会是骗子”口号。

为了省略申请准证程序，此场原本由行动党主办及名为“一人一票，拯救民主”的感谢人民大集会，临时改名为介绍槟州民联政府新阵容讲座会，并转由州政府名义举行。

槟行政议员罗兴强之前披露，警方答应批准集会准证，唯须移师至槟岛市政局体育场。

但考虑到槟岛市政局体育馆场地太小，民联决定在原地举行，但改用州政府名义，因为州政府的活动只需事先通知，不必获得警方批准。
Continue reading “槟六万人再集会反选举舞弊 高喊国阵肮脏选委会是骗子”

I have described Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Cabinet announced three days ago as the most unimpressive Cabinet of six Prime Ministers in the nation’s 56-year history.

I maintain this judgment despite the surprise appointment of the Transparency International-Malaysia President Datuk Pau Low as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Deparment, whose portfolio should be on Integrity and fighting corruption in Malaysia.

This is because Low has not been able to give any assurance that his appointment marks a tectonic shift in the Najib government’s commitment to make anti-corruption top priority, and not just “more-of-the-same salesmanship and gamesmanship” under the tutelage of Idris Jala’s sloganeering National Transformation Programme in the past four years – which saw Malaysia’s international standing on the anti-corruption front plunging to new lows.

To convince Malaysians that Paul Low’s appointment is not going to be another repeat of Idris Jala appointment of “more of the same” of the past four years, there are five things which Paul Low should immediately address in the first week as Minister, viz:

1. Full report and assessment whether the Prime Minister, BN Ministers and candidates have complied with the TI-M Election Integrity Pledge which Najib had signed on behalf of all BN leaders and candidates in Low’s presence on Feb. 20.

   This will be one of my first parliamentary questions to him when the 13th Parliament convenes next month, and he should immediately commission a full investigation so that he could give full, detained and satisfactory answer to this query when Parliament meets.

2. Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on National Reconciliation after the 13GE, as announced by Najib after his mistaken and ill-advised comment about the 13GE results as a “Chinese tsunami” when it is a Malaysian and urban tsunami. Continue reading “Five things for Paul Low to do as Minister of Integrity in Najib Cabinet”

The two weeks of Malaysia since the 13GE on May 5 is best described by Charles Dickens in the opening paragraph of his historic fiction of the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities (a book written 154 years ago and which has sold over 200 million copies):

“IT WAS the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…”

It was “the best of times” for Malaysia, when Malaysians, transcending race, religion, region, class, gender and age, were united in the hope of change of government and policies; but it was “the worst of times” when such hopes were crushed by the dirtiest general election in the nation’s 56 year history.

It was “the spring of hope” when Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, class, gender and age dare to dream the Malaysian Dream where there is an end to the politics of race, corruption, cronyism, abuses of power and all forms of injustices; but it was “the winter of despair” with one post-13GE drivel after another from those re-established in power about “Chinese tsunami”, “Chinese taken for a ride”, “Apa Lagi Cina Mahu” and the latest challenge to patriotic Malaysians to “Migrate elsewhere” if they are not satisfied with the country’s electoral system, demonstrating that the evil tentacles of the old politics of race, lies and fear are still very much alive and powerful.

The “Light” in the epoch of “Darkness”, when there is so much disappointment, outrage and anger in the country at the 13GE results that Datuk Seri Najib Razak could be sworn in as Prime Minister with 47% of popular vote while Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is denied the highest office in the land with 51% of the popular vote, is the accelerated political awakening of Malaysians, particularly the young generation of Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region and class, coming out in their tens and hundreds of thousands to demonstrate their commitment to bring about peaceful and democratic change in the country. Continue reading “Malaysia in “best of times, worst of times” – call on Malaysians to keep faith and hope in moment of despair and to press on until victory is achieved for change of government and policies”

Letter
By Gunslinger
The People’s Parliament
Posted on April 26, 2013

My first exposure to politics was when , as a little girl of 5 or 6 in Ipoh, I ran out of my house to wave at the charismatic Mr.Patto of DAP, campaigning through loudspeakers on his moving open-truck. He was fiery and I thought he was so brave and clever, standing up there and speaking without any fear. My father told me that Mr. Patto urged Malaysians not to fear change, and said that every citizen should call himself a Malaysian first and foremost, and not a Malay, Chinese or Indian. I never forgot that. Ever.

I remember thinking back then that even if I had even a quarter of his courage, I would be a lucky girl indeed. Years later, as a young adult, when I read that he had passed away, I was very saddened. Not because he had died, because I knew he must have lived a full, exciting life – lived more than most would have done in their lifetimes of subservient kneeling to whomever could throw them a few scraps. I was sad because he never got a chance to make a difference to more Malaysians by being a part of the ruling party. I felt his tough resilience, his strong character and his courage of convictions would define character for a lot of young Malaysians.

My father encouraged me to read the newspapers, which I found extremely boring. For even then I thought the reporting was pretty lop-sided, with mud-slinging and name calling by BN politicians to opposition party members, reported in what I felt was salacious glee. I eventually started following the adventures of one very inspiring man who stood out again and again as a lion of courage and strength amongst most other men – Mr. Karpal Singh. He took no nonsense from silly politicians, he fought with courage against corruption, he admonished newspapermen who got their facts wrong, hell, he even took on the King. Man, did he rock my world!

I was shocked when he was sent to prison for merely voicing his opinions, under the ISA, which was meant for communists. Opposition seemed a bad word back then, but I never got it. Why was being in the Opposition negative? Even as a child of eight, I could see the logic and absolute necessity of a strong opposition, which unfortunately most adults could not and would not see. I guess the lull of complacency, of the ‘let’s not rock the boat, we are fine now, what’ was at its greatest heights then. But I was not convinced.

So, in a dark lost world, Mr.Karpal Singh became my knight in shining armour. Continue reading “The Men Who Made Me”

by Zaid Ibrahim
May 14, 2013

I have never seen as many vile and seditious statements invading the public sphere as I have in this past week. We’ve had Utusan Malaysia provoking the Chinese for rejecting the Barisan Nasional and UMNO leaders labeling non-UMNO Malays as greedy and easily misled. An academic suggested the abolishment of vernacular schools to encourage unity among the races and an old “historian” said that the Chinese are not actually keen on unity. To cap it off, a retired Court of Appeal judge practically made a call for “restoring” Malay rights and dignity by whatever means.

I never realised that retired judges are also involved in part-time politics, although I believe this case to be a serious aberration. In the meantime, have we heard anything from the Prime Minister expressing regret for these statements? Perhaps a promise to take some action to stop this dangerous game of provocation? None whatsoever; in fact, he defended Utusan by saying Chinese newspapers are playing the same game.

Is this the kind of Prime Minister we want? Certainly not. I have been very patient with him, as have so many Malaysians. We have always given him extra room to breathe because we thought he was surrounded by the worse ultras in UMNO. We allowed him to dabble in “double speak” because we thought it was necessary for him to maintain his equilibrium as UMNO President. But enough is enough. This man has to go. He is afraid to do the right thing for the country. His 1Malaysia is a sham. I blame him for allowing this mad, racist frenzy to pander to UMNO delegates so he can retain power at the party elections at the end of the year.

His conduct is inexcusable. Continue reading “Why, Prime Minister?”

By M.M. Pereira | MAY 18, 2013
The Malaysian Insider

MAY 18 — A few days before the historic 505, the then caretaker Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said: “The victor or loser of this 13th general election will not be BN or PR. It will be Malaysia, its people and our children.” Immediately after the official results were announced, he blamed the loss of BN seats on a “Chinese tsunami”.

In my view, these statements not only reflect Najib’s arrogance but also his shallow understanding of the democratic process and how disconnected he is with what is happening at the grassroots. And he continues to insult our intelligence!

Today we see Malaysians from diverse ethnic backgrounds manifesting their unity of purpose with so much pride, confidence and optimism, taking ownership of their country and their destiny. They are ready to take risks to secure the future they desire.
Continue reading “GE13: We are already the winners!”

DAP will lodge an official complaint to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) of violation of Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Guarantee of “No Internet Censorship” since dissolution of the last Parliament last month, causing blockade to several DAP sites.

It is clear that for this period, Malaysian internet users, particularly visitors to Pakatan Rakyat websites and others deemed unfriendly to Barisan Nasional have been put under surveillance, censorship, filtering and blockade without their knowledge – which is a gross violation of the MSC Guarantee of “No Internet Censorship”.

The recent Internet censorship and filtering on Malaysian Internet users are both unprecedented and sinister, as they are designed to filter specific websites, facebook accounts, youtube videos and live video streaming.

The filtering of the specific content and websites are designed to sabotage and cause annoyances to Malaysian Internet users by preventing the sites from loading immediately. And more seriously it denies Malaysians a source of information when the censored site/video could not load.

Independent in-depth technical study of the effects of filtering and censorship, such as that posted on a popular Malaysia’s Internet forum by rizvanrp on May 1 (https://forum.lowyat.net/topic/2794929) have been verified by separate independent tests carried out by the DAP IT Manager, Goh Kheng Teong, viz: the MSC guarantee of “No Internet Censorship” had been violated since the dissolution of the previous Parliament in early April.
Continue reading “DAP will lodge official complaint to MCMC of violation of MSC Guarantee of “No Internet Censorship” since dissolution of last Parliament last month, causing blockade to several DAP sites”

by Aliran on 15 May 2013

Life under the coconut shell is no longer sustainable. It is time to open our minds and challenge our preconceived notions, says Tota.

The general election is over. A allegedly fraudulent electoral system and a highly tainted electoral roll has once again ensured a BN victory, albeit a hollow one with less than 48 per cent of the popular vote.

Over a long period of 56 years, Umno has played havoc with the Malay mind through crippling political and religious propaganda. In this election, the educated, intelligent and well-informed Malay in the urban and semi-urban areas have toppled the proverbial coconut shell that Umno kept them trapped under and come out to realise that there is a wondrous political world outside!

As predicted by well-known surgeon and writer Dr M Bakri Musa in his book “Liberating the Malay mind”, Umno needs a scapegoat. The “hantu” pendatang, the Chinese bogeyman, has been resurrected once again to serve their purpose. No one has analysed the Malay dilemma more clearly and expressed it more succinctly than Dr M Bakri Musa. I quote below a few excepts from his book about what Umno has done to the Malay mind: Continue reading “Umno’s unpardonable sins against the Malay rakyat”

Malaysia NOWORNEVER
Letters

Ironically, Ahmad Zahid’s irresponsible statement, personal or otherwise, is only helping to distance more Malaysians from Umno-led Barisan Nasional, and enhance support for Pakatan Rakyat.

His statement reminds one of fall-out from the ‘keris’ remark prior to GE08, and the ‘Chinese tsunami’ so-called reason for dwindling support for Umno-led BN in GE13.

Such are the stuff that DAP and PR will do well to document for future use to win support from all true Malaysians regardless of race or religious beliefs. Continue reading “Ahmad Zahid’s irresponsi​ble statement helps to distance more Malaysians from Umno-led Barisan Nasional”

by Allan CF Goh

Are Chinese “entitled to equality”?

Is voting against the ruling party a “betrayal”?

The logic and argument of non-entitlement of equality of non-Malay citizens are groundless. As usual, when discussion of this nature begins, the race bogey is raised. May 13 is resurrected. Emotions replace reasons. Everything becomes racist.

An increasing number of educated, thinking Malaysians, cutting across the racial lines, do not accept this tunnel-vision.

The ‘Chinese’ whom some wanted to be deprived of equality are born in Malaysia, raised here, and most likely will die here. This is our country, and our home, too. Let us never doubt that. Most of the Malaysian Chinese families were here long before Malaya’s merdeka. The same applies to Sabah and Sarawak. Many families have history stretching nearly a hundred years. How many instant ‘Malays’ can honestly make that claim? Continue reading “Equality & Betrayal”

by Lee Kok Hwee
Letters

I read with great disappointment and utter disgust that our government ministers can say such things.

Are they suppose to Malaysian Ministers or just umno ministers?

Just because they are appointed by virtue of our current parliamentary system as Home minister does not give him any right to tell us where we live etc.

Unless he is thinking along the lines of a totalitarian society which incidentally has bitten the dust! Continue reading “Malaysian ministers – 52 % to migrate?”

I call on the Singapore authorities to give Malaysians who have violated the Singapore laws for activities in the island republic in connection with the Malaysian 13GE a second chance like they have given to former Johor Mentri Besar, Datuk Ghani Othman.

It has been reported that the Singapore authorities have initiated the revocation of the work pass of one of the 21 Malaysians involved in the May 8 and 11 illegal gatherings at Merlion Park in Singapore and that the authorities had also cancelle3d the visit passes of another two of them.

As for the remaining 18 persons, a Singapore Police Force (SPF) statement said their work passes would be reviewed upon completion of further investigations.

The Singapore authorities have also said that Datuk Seri Ghani Othman had not campaigned and had therefore committed no offence when visiting Singapore in the final days of the 13GE campaign period.

I commend the Singapore authorities for bending backwards to accommodate Ghani, saying that the former Johor Mentri Besar was not campaigning in Singapore although it was obvious to all that the very objective of Ghani’s visit to Singapore was to canvass for votes from Malaysians either working or staying in Singapore – believed to number some 400,000.
Continue reading “Call on Singapore authorities to give Malaysians who have violated the Singapore laws a second chance like former Johor Mentri Besar Ghani Othman”

The Battle of Gelang Patah was the opening shot of the Battle of the Malaysian Dream to unite Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region in a common national vision and destiny to build a great, democratic, free, safe, green competitive and prosperous nation for all Malaysian citizens.

In my 47 years in politics, I have always regarded myself as a Malaysian first and last. I have never regarded myself purely as a Chinese, but as a Malaysian of Chinese ethnic descent whose loyalty is unswervingly to the Malaysian nation, having common cause with all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region to build a better Malaysia for all Malaysians.

I am therefore utterly shocked to hear former Court of Appeal judge, Mohd Noor Abdullah, delivering what I have described as the most racist and seditious speech in 44 years at the forum titled “GE13 post-mortem Muslim leadership and survival” on Sunday castigating Chinese for being “Chinese first” and overriding their Malaysian identity.

Mohd Noor cannot be more wrong in taking the cue of the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who claimed that the outcome of the 13GE was a “Chinese tsunami” when in fact it was a Malaysian and urban tsunami.
Continue reading “Let 526 DAP Gelang Patah victory thanksgiving dinner be a historic “first step in thousand-miles journey” to realize Malaysian Dream by creating a Malaysian Dream Movement for all Malaysians”