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Why Najib hightails it to New York and such…

The Malaysian Insider
September 29, 2013

Najib addresses the 68th United Nations General Assembly in New York yesterday. – Reuters pic, September 29, 2013.Najib addresses the 68th United Nations General Assembly in New York yesterday. – Reuters pic, September 29, 2013.Here is one reason why Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak enjoys being outside the country so much: it is only in the rarefied air of the United Nations assembly or in meeting rooms at the swanky Waldorf Astoria in New York that an audience still buys his talk about Malaysia being a model of moderate Islam.

Back home, here in Malaysia, with the right wing very much in ascendancy in Umno and with religious and racial intolerance at red flag levels, any mention of the word “moderation” is met with cynicism. Or worse yet, disdain.

It was revealed in Parliament that the Prime Minister spent a staggering RM44 million on travel abroad between March 2008 and May 2013.

It is a fact that has raised eyebrows even among Umno politicians. Some of them wonder why attending the UN assembly or opening the Khazanah Nasional office in San Francisco is so important, or why it was necessary to go to Thailand for his second break after the May 5 general election.

Actually, there is a simple explanation why he enjoys being outside the country so much. He needs a diversion from the daily mess that is Malaysia, a mess compounded by his willingness to allow shrill, fringe voices to dictate the tone of this country. And his inability to tackle the laundry list of issues from endemic corruption to the breakdown in law and order.

A laundry list that also includes: an increasingly right-wing Umno; an inept Cabinet; a combative opposition; fractured and irrelevant BN component parties; a widening budget deficit and the insatiable appetite of businessmen and cronies; and, not least, the hulking presence of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Continue reading “Why Najib hightails it to New York and such…”

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Making Corruption History – Cakap Kosong Je ‘Jib!

M. Bakri Musa
30th Sept 2013

In San Francisco recently, Prime Minister Najib confidently declared “to make corruption part of Malaysia’s past, not its future.” The man’s delusion never ceases to amaze me. The reality is of course far different; corruption defines the Najib Administration.

Nonetheless if Najib is serious, then he should heed Tengku Razaleigh’s call for Najib to declare his assets. Otherwise it would be, to put it bluntly in the vernacular, “Cakap kosong je ‘Jib!” (Empty talk only!)

Tengku Razaleigh’s suggestion, if implemented, would do far more good than all of Najib’s lofty declarations of “changing organizational as well as business cultures” or creating “a new governance and integrity minister” and “elevating the anti-corruption agency.” Malaysians have heard all those ad nauseum, not only from Najib but also his predecessors. Continue reading “Making Corruption History – Cakap Kosong Je ‘Jib!”

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EC must call for GE13 re-election

– Richard Loh
The Malaysian Insider
September 30, 2013

Which is more important and critical in a democratic nation, a general election or a political party election?

From what we observed in this nation, political party like Umno and its component Barisan Nasional parties have been postponing their party elections due to an impending general election hovering between last quarter of 2011 to 2013. This indicates that the general election is more important and critical that overrides any matters in a political party.

The overwhelming perception is that the laws of this nation can be manipulated, misrepresented and realigned to suit those in power. As they are only perceptions, we will not take them as face value and assume that no one is above the law and those in power are acting accordingly and abide by the law.

“RoS acted on the complaints of several disgruntled members who claimed the December election was not properly conducted after the party announced that a tabulation glitch had resulted in the wrong candidate being elected to the central executive committee.” reported by The Malaysian Insider

Accordingly, the Registrar of Societies (RoS) must have investigated the matter and came to the conclusion that DAP must hold a re-election. Their conclusion is not transparent without providing what exactly DAP has done wrong to insist that they hold a re-election but just base on complaints from a handful of members and an unverified anonymous handbook. Continue reading “EC must call for GE13 re-election”

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DAP elections: Status quo for top leaders, more votes for Zairil

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid
The Malay Mail Online
September 29, 2013

PETALING JAYA, Sept 29 — DAP delegates sent a clear message to the Registrar of Societies (RoS) by re-electing the same 20 people as the ones chosen in the ‘illegal’ party council polls held last year.

Compelled to re-hold elections by the regulatory body, the opposition party’s grassroots voted in the same central executive committee (CEC) lineup that made the cut in the party’s December polls, which the RoS later declared illegal.

Many more of the 2,000-plus delegates who qualified to vote also chose to cast their ballot for the sole Malay representative on the committee, Zairil Khir Johari, pushing his ranking from the bottom rung in December to 12th spot this time around.

The young politician garnered 1,132 votes or 329 more than the 803 votes in the December 15 party leadership election last year.

“I’d like to congratulate those elected and those who cast their votes because they endorsed the decision made by last year’s congress and they elected the same lineup,” party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng told a press conference after holding a brief meeting with the newly elected lineup here. Continue reading “DAP elections: Status quo for top leaders, more votes for Zairil”

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Post-polls, an air of vindication in DAP

by Nigel Aw and Koh Jun Lin
Malaysiakini
Sep 29, 2013

As DAP retained the exact 20-member central executive committee (CEC) line-up from the last election, it was apparent that delegates were determined to send a signal to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) that had created a host of problems for the party.

There was a sense of vindication among DAP delegates after the election results were announced this evening – that there was absolutely no manipulation of its CEC election held last December.

“Basically, it is a slap in the face of the ROS,” a delegate from Selangor told Malaysiakini.

The drama over the CEC election began in January after DAP admitted that there was a tabulation error resulting in Zairil Khir Johari being wrongfully excluded from the CEC. Continue reading “Post-polls, an air of vindication in DAP”