Day: June 27, 2013

by Kee Thuan Chye
24th June 2013

Post-GE13 (13th general election), the MCA is looking more lost than ever before. It is like the partygoer who is all dressed up with nowhere to go. Except that in its case, its dress is somewhat tattered and its face rather bruised after the beating it took at the polls. From the 15 parliamentary seats it held prior to GE13, it now has only seven – and for this poor showing, it has had to heed the call of its president, Chua Soi Lek, to refrain from taking positions in government, including the Cabinet.

Way before GE13, Chua had taken the ill-advised stand that if the MCA did not get enough voter support, it would play no part in government. He had expected then that the Chinese community the party claims to represent would largely abandon it, and in order to win them back sought to make them fear that a government without MCA representation would be disastrous.

Too bad for him and the party, the strategy didn’t work. Simply because fear-mongering and threats don’t go down well with Malaysian voters any more, especially if they can think for themselves and opt to do the right thing. Besides, the Chinese already knew that MCA participation in the government was little more than endorsing whatever big brother Umno decided, rather than fighting for the community. So they dealt the MCA its biggest blow.

Now, because of Chua’s hubris, all and sundry among the MCA leaders have to abide by his foolish stand. And, naturally, this is bound to cause disgruntlement among its ranks. And likely mutiny. Continue reading “MCA with Nowhere to Go”

By Hazlan Zakaria | 1:37PM Jun 27, 2013
Malaysiakini

PARLIAMENT DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang today accused “vested interests” in Umno of creating the Red Bean Army story as a ploy to seek funding, supposedly for its own cyberwarriors.

More likely, he said, the funds would be destined for private pockets.

“With regard to the Red Bean Army allegations that the DAP employs thousands of cybertroopers, they are all not true.

“DAP has never spent a single sen nor funded any Red Bean Army,” Lim (right) reiterated while debating the royal address in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He claimed there are reports that some in Umno were asking for RM250 million to fight the Red Bean Army.

“Now I know why the rumour was started by those who spread the slander as a vested interest. It is not to fight the Red Bean Army, but to enrich themselves,” Lim said.
Continue reading “DAP: Umno interests milking ‘Red Bean Army’ for profit”

All right-thinking Malaysians find it very distressing that there was not only the most irresponsible and reckless appeals to race and religion during the general elections campaign, racism took on even worse forms after the 13th general elections results.

Even my contesting in Gelang Patah was turned into a racist issue with the former Prime Minsister Tun Dr. Mahathir who led the charge in spewing racist lines and falsehoods, alleging that I was contesting in Gelang Patah because I want:

• the Chinese in Gelang Patah and Johor to “reject working together and sharing with the Malays”;

• the Chinese in Johor “to dislike and hate the Malays” to create “conflict and antagonism between the races”;

• create “an unhealthy racial confrontation” between the Malays and Chinese in Johor, which will be “disruptive and will not be conducive to the development of Malaysia”.

Recently, in his blog on “Racial Polarisation”, Mahathir continued with his inflammatory, incendiary, seditious statements to pit one race against another, based on lies and falsehoods. Continue reading “Call on Malaysians to be united by a Malaysian Dream regardless of race, religion or region, in a common national vision and destiny to build a more united, democratic, free, just, competitive and prosperous nation for all Malaysian citizens”

Shortly after the results of the 13th general election were announced, Prime Minister Najib promised to undertake a national reconciliation program. While the intention of that announcement may have been good, the actions and words of Prime Minister Najib and some of his cabinet ministers and Barisan Nasional leaders have been anything by reconciliatory. In fact, what we saw and what we continue to see are troubling signs that the desire is not to have national reconciliation but to have national retaliation.

This comes from a misguided and mistaken view that it was the ‘Chinese Tsunami’ that caused the BN to lose an additional 7 parliament seats and to fail to win back Selangor and Penang while in fact it was a ‘Malaysian tsunami’ that saw the opposition representation strengthened at the federal and state levels. Without this realisation, without a firm commitment towards non-retaliation and to undertake extensive reforms, Prime Minister Najib’s national reconciliation plan has died before it has even taken off.

It was not a ‘Chinese Tsunami’ that allowed Kelantan to be retained by Pakatan Rakyat. It was not a ‘Chinese Tsunami’ that almost saw Pakatan take over the state government of Terengganu where 96% of all voters are Malay. It was not a ‘Chinese Tsunami’ that allowed Pakatan to capture the 88% Malay seat of Kuala Terengganu, the 98% Malay seat of Kuala Nerus, the 96% Malay seat of Dungun, the 64% Malay seat of Temerloh, the 61% Malay seat of Alor Setar, the 57% Malay seat of Sepang and the 66% Sabah Bumiputera seat of Penampang. It was not a ‘Chinese Tsunami’ that saw PAS increase its state seats in Selangor from 8 to 17, all of them in Malay majority areas.

It was a ‘Malaysian Tsunami’ which saw all three Pakatan parties increase their share of vote in Peninsular Malaysia. It was a ‘Malaysian Tsunami’ which allowed Pakatan to win 713,000 more votes than Barisan Nasional in Peninsular Malaysia. It was a ‘Malaysian Tsunami’ which allowed Pakatan Rakyat to win 51% of popular vote in Malaysia thereby making the BN a minority supported government. It was a ‘Malaysian Tsunami’ which saw BN’s vote share in Perlis – a 85% Malay state – fall by almost 5%. It was a ‘Malaysian Tsunami’ which saw BN’s vote share in Pahang – a 70% Malay state – fall by 4.3%. It was a ‘Malaysian tsunami’ which saw BN’s vote share in Sabah – a 80% Sabah Bumiputera state – fall by almost 7%. It was a ‘Malaysian tsunami’ which saw BN’s vote share in Johor – a 53% Malay, 39% Chinese and 7% Indian state – fall by more than 10%. Continue reading “National Reconciliation Requires Realisation, Non-Retaliation and Reforms”

– The Malaysian Insider
Jun 27, 2013

If Malaysians are to have respect for the country’s institutions, they must have respect for the men and women who staff these institutions. The minute we harbour doubts about the character and integrity of an individual leading an organisation, it only stands to reason that our view of that organisation will be down in the dumps as well.

This premise holds true for the police and the Election Commission.

Yesterday the standing of Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar’s took a big hit. He was accused by Justice Datuk VT Singham of malfeasance in the death in police custody of A. Kugan.

He was the Selangor Chief Police when there was a cover-up to hide the fact that police personnel beat the suspect to death. It is no wonder that there are calls for his resignation.

We should expect nothing less than integrity, honesty and a great respect for the rule of law from any policeman. These are minimum standards. How much more should we expect from the IGP? Continue reading “How do we proceed from here?”