Day: July 31, 2013

Two days ago, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin expressed concern over racial polarisation in the country “as the trend now is as if the people are getting more hypersensitive”.

Muhyiddin is right except that he has himself been the problem instead of being the solution to the problem of racial polarisation.

This is best illustrated by Muhyiddin’s strong reaction yesterday deploring “the callousness of some towards Islam and Muslim sensitivities” which he said could spark unrest and create discord among the people.

He said he was perplexed as to why some quarters were out to undermine Islam and Muslims.

He said: “Is this a manifestation of the assumption of some quarters that we (Muslims) are weak and that they could walk all over us? Or that we are afraid to react when others insult the sanctity of Islam?

“Could they be simply ignorant and not understand the values of faith?

“No Muslim has made fun of other faiths.” (New Straits Times p.6 31/7/13)
Continue reading “Muhyiddin should apologise for jumping the gun in falsely blaming non-Muslim “callousness towards Islam and Muslim sensitivities” for the latest controversial 1.44 minute video”

by Jennifer Gomez
The Malaysian Insider
July 31, 2013

Datuk Mohd Ariff Sabri Abdul Aziz does an admirable job of selling the DAP.

He marvels at the way 38 of his party men won their parliamentary seats with sparse resources; he calls his colleagues the most well-prepared team in the House; he says that he feels nothing but comfort with this group who fight for good government and good governance.

“They are committed and dedicated, and I never feel infringed or overwhelmed by the Chinese nature of DAP. I feel very comfortable being in their environment and they have never stopped me from speaking out about Malay issues,” Mohd Ariff told The Malaysian Insider in an interview.

Now comes the hard part for the former Umno state assemblyman who contested and won the Raub parliamentary seat in the white of DAP: help the party officials convince more Malays across the country that the party of Lim Kit Siang, Karpal Singh, Lim Guan Eng are not the ogres or threat to their political power as sketched by Umno leaders, most recently former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“We have to destroy the myth that DAP is bad for the Malays. We are not out to grab political power despite what Mahathir is asserting.

“Even if all the Chinese were to unite under one banner, it is mathematically impossible, they would only form 24 percent, and Mahathir knows this,” said the ardent blogger who goes with the nom de guerre Sakmongkol AK47. Continue reading “For Sakmongkol AK47, Malaysia’s future lies beyond just Umno”

The Malaysian Insider
July 31, 2013

Global ratings agency Fitch Ratings has revised Malaysia’s sovereign credit rating outlook from stable to negative as the possibility of addressing public finance weaknesses has deteriorated after Election 2013.

The news comes as the Malaysian ringgit slid to three-year lows against the US dollar and 15-year lows against the Singapore dollar, making imports more expensive while exports would be cheaper although exports have slipped.

But it affirmed the country’s long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings at A- and A, respectively.

“Malaysia’s public finances are its key rating weakness. Federal government debt rose to 53.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) at end-2012, up from 51.6 percent at end-2011 and 39.8 percent at end-2008.

“The general government budget deficit (Fitch basis) widened to 4.7 percent of GDP in 2012 from 3.8 percent in 2011, led by a 19 percent rise in spending on public wages in a pre-election year,” it said.

But Fitch believed that it would be difficult for Putrajaya to achieve its interim 3 percent federal government deficit target for 2015 without additional consolidation measures. Continue reading “Fitch pushes Malaysia’s credit rating outlook to negative”