Month: November 2013

Tahniah diucapkan kepada pimpinan dan perwakilan PAS atas kejayaan melaksanakan Muktamar ke-59 di peringkat kebangsaan, pemuda, dan wanita dengan lancar sehingga menggagalkan usaha para penyusun konspirasi Umno yang telah bekerja lebih masa menerusi media sosial di ruang siber untuk mewujudkan perseteruan dan perpecahan dalam PAS dan untuk menghancurkan kesatuan matlamat Pakatan Rakyat. Muktamar yang baru berlangsung itu memberi harapan kepada majoriti rakyat Malaysia yang percaya bahawa politik dua pakatan di Malaysia masih hidup dan bertenaga.

Timbalan Presiden PAS Mohamad Sabu menyedarkan semua orang apabila beliau menyebut dalam ucapan penggulungannya bagi Muktamar ke-59 itu bahawa PAS tidak akan berkembang ke luar pantai timur semenanjung jika parti itu tidak menyertai Pakatan Rakyat bersama PKR dan DAP.

Kata Sabu:

“Kalau PAS berjuang secara sendirian, sudah tentunya jajahan kita tidak lebih daripada Rantau Panjang (utara Kelantan) sehingga Kemaman (Terengganu).

“Di bawah Pakatan Rakyat, jajahan kita melebar sehingga ke Selangor dan Insya Allah sampai ke Johor.”

Pada tahun 1999, PAS mendapat faedah besar daripada kemarahan orang terhadap BN berikutan krisis politik dan ekonomi 1998 sehingga ia memenangi 27 kerusi parlimen dan 98 kerusi DUN, menjadikannya parti pembangkang terbesar.
Continue reading “Keutamaan bagi Pakatan Rakyat ialah untuk membentuk majlis strategik peringkat tertinggi untuk menyusun rancangan menawan Putrajaya dalam pilihanraya akan datang”

Congratulations are in order to PAS leaders and delegates for a very successful 59th Muktamar at national, youth and wanita levels, causing great disappointments to UMNO plotters and conspirators who had worked overtime through their printed or social media in cyberspace to sow dissension and distrust within PAS ranks and to sabotage the unity of purpose of Pakatan Rakyat and giving hope to enlightened Malaysians who comprise the majority of the electorate that two-coalition politics in Malaysia is here to stay as it is very much alive and kicking.

PAS Deputy President Mohamad Sabu struck the nail on the head when he pointed out in his winding-up speech at the 59th Muktamar that PAS would only be a regional party confined to the east coast of the peninsula if it had not entered into a pact with PKR and DAP in Pakatan Rakyat.

As Sabu succinctly said:

“Without Pakatan, our area of dominance would only stretch from Rantau Panjang (in northern Kelantan) to Kemaman (southern Terengganu).

“But with Pakatan, we conquered Selangor and, God willing, it will be Johor next.”

In 1999, when PAS benefitted most from the backlash against BN because of the 1998 political and economic crisis, it won 27 parliament and 98 state seats making it the largest opposition party.
Continue reading “Top priority for Pakatan Rakyat is to set up a high-level PR 14GE strategic council to plan for the capture of federal government in Putrajaya in next general elections”

By Dr. Lim Teck Ghee | Monday, 25 November 2013 00:43
CPI

The case of prominent Utusan Malaysia columnist, Ridhuan Tee Abdullah, who has been accused of plagiarism should be of public concern for several reasons.

Firstly, within academia, there are few worst sins than plagiarism. The term “sin” may appear to be too strong but Ridhuan Tee who, regularly from his Utusan Malaysia pulpit, dishes out his pseudo-intellectual views on developments in the country from a supposedly Islamic perspective probably will understand better the use of this term in the context of the wrongdoing he is alleged to have committed. Or then again, perhaps he does not.

Generally, university students enrolled in any university in the world – whether reputable or not – are taught right from the start that they cannot simply lift or copy the work of others without acknowledging and citing the source. This is cardinal rule number 1 – the need to differentiate between one’s own work and that of others.

The rule is rigorously enforced not only to encourage the student to engage in fresh and original work that stems from his own thought processes but also to protect the intellectual property rights of others whose works, ideas or words have been borrowed.

In the case of the allegation made against Ridhuan, apparently he has copied not only entire paragraphs but also the grammatical errors which appeared in the original blog article.
Continue reading “Plagiarism: Much more than storm in Tee cup”

A speech by Y.B.M. Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah
The Perak Academy, Perak Lectures in Ipoh: 15th Series 2nd Talk
Saturday, 23rd November, 2013, at 8.00 p.m.

Chairman,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

I would like to thank the Academy for inviting me a second time to give a talk on the current state of the economy. After the presentation of Budget 2014 in Parliament last month and the ongoing debate in the august house, the state of the economy is indeed a relevant question to ask. Economic reality however may not be what it is made out to be when one engages in political debate in respect of the Budget: often it is the unstated issues in the Budget and its underlying strategies and proposals that should be of great concern to thinking Malaysians.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

2. The Budget 2014 projects that GDP growth rate next year will likely be around 4.5 to 5% and 5.5% in 2015. These figures had remained in that range for the past budgets since 2000, reflecting some kind of paralysis of policy given the global economic situation and our own model of growth that depends so much on our external markets and the optimism of foreign interests in our economy. But, these figures conceal some forewarnings that are not highlighted.

3. Take for instance, the budget deficits, which had remained in negative territory for over twenty years; now the Najib government has promised to bring the budget into balance by 2020. The federal deficit has been sustained by borrowings that are now reaching close to the statutory debt ceiling of 55% of GDP. In fact the federal debt levels in absolute terms doubled since Dato’ Seri Najib took over as Prime Minister. Coupled with private debt currently at 83% of GDP (an issue I will come back to later), the total debt exposure which will have to be carried over into the next generation will now approach 140% of GDP at current prices by the end of the year. Continue reading “The Economic Reality of Malaysia Today”

Oleh Mohd Farhan Darwis
The Malaysian Insider
November 24, 2013

PKR menerima penurunan tertinggi sokongan masyarakat Melayu.PKR menerima penurunan tertinggi sokongan masyarakat Melayu.Sokongan masyarakat Melayu kepada DAP ketika Pilihan Raya Umum 2013 (PRU13) meningkat, namun sokongan etnik berkenaan terhadap rakan komponen Pakatan Rakyat (PR) yang lain mengalami penurunan, kata Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

Ahli Jawatankuasa Kerja (AJK) PAS Pusat itu ketika membentangkan dapatan itu di Muktamar Tahunan PAS ke-59 PAS berkata, PKR menerima penurunan tertinggi sokongan masyarakat Melayu, iaitu sebanyak 7%, dan sokongan Melayu terhadap PAS turut menurun 2%.

DAP bagaimanapun menerima peningkatan sokongan sebanyak 2%.

“Bagaimanapun, sokongan masyarakat Melayu terhadap PAS meningkat di Terengganu dan Johor,” kata bekas ahli Parlimen Kuala Selangor itu di Stadium Malawati, Shah Alam hari ini. Continue reading “Dr Dzul: Sokongan Melayu kepada DAP meningkat, PKR, PAS menurun”

THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
November 24, 2013

PAS members show that they are firmly in charge of the party’s destination at this year’s muktamar. – The Malaysian Insider pic, November 24, 2013.PAS members show that they are firmly in charge of the party’s destination at this year’s muktamar. – The Malaysian Insider pic, November 24, 2013.One of the most fiercely contested PAS muktamar in recent history is over and once again PAS delegates have shown that they are masters of their party’s destination.

No amount of campaigning from well-meaning Umno leaders or its mouthpiece, “Utusan Malaysia”, could sway the votes at the 59th PAS Muktamar.

There were five important lessons that could be deduced from this muktamar:

1. Beware the enemy’s support

For the second time, party leaders, especially those running for the deputy president’s position found that endorsement from “Utusan Malaysia” is not going to get you anywhere. Support from Utusan Malaysia, Umno leaders and former discredited party leaders for ulama, particulary Datuk Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah, did not land them the coveted deputy president’s post. Continue reading “5 lessons from PAS’s muktamar”

NEWS ANALYSIS BY SHERIDAN MAHAVERA
The Malaysian Insider
NOVEMBER 24, 2013

PAS does not believe in hype. That was one thing that a PAS grassroots leader said was what members have described as the most vicious (by its standards) party elections.

The second thing is, the grassroots reward hardworking, articulate, outward-looking leaders who do not just preach to the converted.

Party members with whom The Malaysian Insider spoke believe these were among the considerations they used to choose the people who will lead the party into its quest for federal power in the next three years.

The 18-member central working committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, which emerged last night was almost a carbon copy of the previous one that had steered the party into the 13th General Election. Continue reading “PAS’s new old Putrajaya team”

– Ahmad Mustakim
The Malaysian Insider
November 23, 2013

The issue of sectarian differences in Malaysia has been ongoing for months. Muslims have been quarrelling (some countries end up committing genocide over it) over the differences in doctrines of Islam. Have Muslims ever wondered to what end this quarrelling will bring us?

After Prophet Muhammad’s death, his companions and the next generations differed on religious matters, parallel to the growing empire and the number of people converting to Islam. It was from the political end, not religious, that the ummah was divided.

According to the Amman Message, all eight mazhab (school of thoughts), including Sunni, Shia, salafi, ibadhi, asharism and Sufism are considered Muslims and, therefore, it is forbidden to declare Muslims in the mazhab as kaffir (takifiri).

It is sad to see how the clerics and ulama could not cooperate wisely with their differences in ideology. Such a situation leaves the Muslim public in confusion over theology. You see, the great scholars of many sects did not make it compulsory to follow their teachings. Continue reading “Stop the sectarian divide”

Keratan gambar grafiti “jenayah tinggi” oleh seniman jalanan kelahiran Lithuania Ernest Zacharevic kini bukan saja boleh dilihat di Johor Baru malah juga di beberapa tempat lain dalam negara ini.

Menurut laporan, keratan berkenaan mula muncul di Kuala Lumpur dan Rawang dan tidak lama lagi ia tentu boleh dilihat di seluruh negara.

Ini pengajaran buat semua pihak berkuasa – semakin besar tekanan diberikan oleh pihak berkuasa tanpa sebab yang munasabah, semakin panas reaksi orang ramai.

Zacharevic boleh berterimakasih kepada beberapa pihak berkuasa, khususnya Majlis Bandaraya Johor Baru dan Kerajaan Negeri Johor kerana berkat tindakan mereka ke atas mural “jenayah tinggi” beliau di JB, namanya masyhur bukan hanya di JB, Johor, dan Malaysia, malah juga di peringkat dunia dalam zaman maklumat yang memungkinkan sesuatu berita disebarkan dengan cepat dalam dunia tanpa batas.
Continue reading “Pengajaran daripada kes Zacharevic untuk pihak berkuasa – semakin besar tekanan diberikan oleh pihak berkuasa tanpa sebab yang munasabah, semakin panas reaksi orang ramai”

Koon Yew Yin
21st Nov. 2013

The Perak Academy has invited Tengku Razaleigh to give a talk in Ipoh on the 23rd Nov. 2013 and he wishes to talk about ‘The economic reality in Malaysia today’. Many of you will remember that Tengku was here about a year ago to launch my book ‘Malaysia: A Road Map For Achieving Vision 2020’. Previous to this occasion, the Perak Academy also invited him and he talked about his 10 golden political principles on which I wrote and published an article.

Although I am not a politician, I have long been an admirer of Tengku Razaleigh. In the last two years I have tried to draw the attention of the public on several occasions to his stand in Malaysian politics which I believe contains values and principles that are superior to the manifestos and principles of other leading politicians in the country.

Key amongst what are Tengku’s “Ten Golden Political Principles” to ensure the survival and progress of the nation in the difficult years ahead is the need for all political parties to include in their constitutional objectives the equality of citizenship as provided for in the Federal Constitution. He has also emphasized that political parties must not propagate economic or political policies that discriminate against any citizen and called on all parties to include and uphold constitutional democracy and the separation of powers as a fundamental principle.

He has also insisted that it shall be the duty of all political parties to adhere to the objective of public service and to refrain from involvement in business, and to ensure the separation of business from political parties. Continue reading “How Tengku Razaleigh saved the construction industry: Practicing the 10 Golden Political Principles”

By Kee Thuan Chye
Yahoo! News
22nd Nov 2013

I wanted to write something positive about the Federal Government. But I could think of only two good things that it has done in the last few months.

One of them – making English a must-pass subject at the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations starting in 2016 – I had written about at length before. The other is the introduction of financial education in the school curriculum starting next year with Primary 3 students and in 2017 for secondary schools.

This is a welcome move by the Education Ministry, although it is being done with the collaboration of Bank Negara, which seems to have initiated the idea. I wish we had this when I was in school; it would have helped me understand money and what to do with it. This is something important to learn from young, and I’m happy for our young that they will soon be getting that benefit.

If I had learned how to save, invest, manage my finances and plan for the future, I might not have squandered the money I earned in my youth. I could be owning numerous units of property now or earning substantial revenue from investing in businesses. Today, I wouldn’t still have to slog to eke out a living.

So much for that. But for my project, I figured that if I wrote only about this good thing being done for our young, I might manage just one-quarter the length of an article. That would be too short. But I did want to write something positive. So what could I do? Continue reading “What Good Things Has the Govt Done for Malaysians?”

Terence Netto
Malaysiakini
Nov 21, 2013

COMMENT Predictions as to which side – the ulama or the professionals – will triumph in tomorrow’s party elections in PAS do sometimes miss the point that lasting victory for either side is dependent on how that side fares in managing the political realities that occur on their watch.

The PAS elector has over the years been known to be a pretty empirical sort who is not afraid to relegate or promote within the party hierarchy candidates who respectively are seen to flounder or flourish amid the challenges they face.

The PAS elector is a meritocrat and so is apt to vote up or down candidates who from their standpoint have done well or not done so well for the party.

This rule does not translate easily in application such that using it one can predict that the twice-defeated parliamentary candidate Mohamad Sabu (left), the incumbent deputy president, won’t fare well against challenger, Nik Amar Nik Abdullah, the newly elevated deputy menteri besar of Kelantan, in the contest for the No 2 position in PAS.

The contest is said to be the prime one in determining whether the ulama or the professionals are in control of the Islamic party but even that would be too sweeping a conclusion.

If one has to hazard a guess as to the preferences of the general PAS elector, it would be that he would want as people to lead the party candidates who can make the opposition coalition, Pakatan Rakyat, succeed enough to convince the Malaysian electorate that they should given the keys to Putrajaya. Continue reading “Ulama vs Erdogans frame does not capture all of it”

– Ramon Navaratnam
The Malaysian Insider
November 21, 2013

After the earlier cautious Fitch Rating Report on Malaysia’s sovereign credit outlook, the Moody’s Investors Service’s upgrading of our credit outlook from “stable to positive”, uplifts our mood on our country’s economic prospects.

Yes Moody’s has given us a good mood on our economic prospects. But unfortunately the question lingers as to whether this feel good mood, about our sovereign credit and economic outlook, can be sustained and for how long?

The upgrading had been due to the positive and bold promises made in Budget 2014 Speech by Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak. His speech has obviously made an impact on Moody’s. Continue reading “Moody’s has given us a good mood… but is it sustainable?”

by Richard Loh
22nd November 2013

Since Pakatan Rakyat rules Penang many are comparing the Island with Singapore or Hong Kong but do not realised that both Singapore and Hong Kong are governments by itself with no hindrance/control by a Federal or central government. Though Hong Kong may now be influenced by China one way or another after 1997.

Also since then various NGOs are openly voicing their opinions or objections to how the state government runs the state especially in developments and the infrastructures.

They are very much concerned with the hills, the seas and beaches and rivers, forests, park land and cultural aspects which they term as ‘The Commons’. The article in Anil Netto’s blog titled Corporate predators eyeing ‘the Commons’ prompted me to write and ask the pertinent question “Should Penang Island control its population growth?” Continue reading “Should Penang Island control its population growth?”

Bridget Welsh | 1:49PM Nov 20, 2013
Malaysiakini

COMMENT Malaysia’s Islamist party PAS heads to its 59th muktamar this week, electing its leadership once again as it does on a biannual basis.

The party’s elections have come under the microscope, with attention riveted on the heated contests between the ‘pro-ulama’ and ‘progressives’ or ‘Erdogan’ factions.

The decisions made at the muktamar this week will set the course for the opposition in the years ahead and determine whether the Islamist party will be able to bridge some of its internal divisions that played a major role in diminishing its electoral performance in the 13th general election (GE13), especially in Kedah, or continue on a path towards splintering itself and the hopes of a united national opposition.

To begin with, it is important to start with a caveat. PAS is the party in Malaysia that holds its party elections most frequently, for short two-year terms, and it has a record of reversing directions, with the pendulum swinging to both the more conservative and liberal directions.

This is to say that whatever happens in the muktamar is a reflection on ongoing trends and tensions within the party itself that are evolving and will evolve further, post-muktamar.
Continue reading “The battle inside PAS – the issues”

The cut-out figures of the graffiti by Lithuanian-born street artist Ernest Zacharevic on “high crime” are not just a feature in Johor Baru but are being plastered in other parts of the country.

It is reported that such cut-outs are appearing in Kuala Lumpur and Rawang and very soon, undoubtedly, will be sighted all over the country.

This is a Zacharevic lesson that all those in authority must learn – that the greater the unreasonable pressure by those in power, the greater the righteous reaction by the public.

Zacharevic has the various authorities, in particular the Johor Baru City Council (MBJB) and the Johore State Government to thank for the fame he has acquired for his “high crime in JB” mural, not only in JB, Johore and in Malaysia and even world-wide in this information age of instant communication in a borderless world.
Continue reading “The Zacharevic lesson all those in authority must learn – the greater the unreasonable pressure by those in power, the greater the righteous reaction by the public”

By Bridget Welsh | 12:40PM Nov 21, 2013
Malaysiakini

As party elections go, PAS’ are usually among the most civil. In Umno, the mode has been behind the scene attacks, reminiscent of traditional court politics.

In PKR, the style is direct attacks, as personality politics is brought into the open. In DAP it is the more of a cold war, with limited discussion of differences but they persist, nevertheless.

Over the last decade, PAS’ party politics have changed too. The elections are no longer an internal affair, as they are analysed, assessed and scrutinised.

And in this party electoral campaign, the entire nature of the campaigning and choices have transformed. In fact, rather than a contest, it has become war.

As we try to understand the results of the polls in the next few days, it is useful to assess how the nature of campaigning in PAS has shifted and why.

New three Ms – medium, messaging, mobilisation

The most obvious difference in this campaign is the use of the social media. When the campaign started – arguably even before GE13, after the party’s 2011 election where the Erdogans won key leadership positions – the medium of choice has been Facebook.
Continue reading “A new battlefield for PAS: The campaign”

BY TESSA HOUGHTON, GUEST CONTRIBUTOR – 17 NOVEMBER 2013
New Mandala

If people use the mass media to inform themselves about their society and about the performance of their politicians, and if they use this information to direct their political choices and participation, then inadequate or inaccurate information is liable to result in misconceived political acts. (Street, 2001: 257)

Malaysia’s 13th General Election (GE13), held on the 5th of May 2013, was the continuation of a historical arc that begun at the 2008 general election (GE12), when the Barisan Nasional (BN), Malaysia’s ruling coalition for the past fifty-six years, lost the states of Penang and Selangor (and Perak temporarily) to the Opposition, as well as their coveted two-thirds Parliamentary majority. This was an unexpected shock to the system that immediately plunged Malaysia into an anticipatory political fervour. After 5 years of delays, civil unrest, and an increasingly unified opposition, with their term stretched to the far edge of expiration (and several state assemblies pushed beyond this point), BN failed to counter Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) message of ‘Ini Kali Lah!’, returning their worst result ever. The BN not only failed to recover a two-thirds majority in Parliament but lost the popular vote for the first time, with only 47.38% support compared to PR’s 50.87%.

The anticipation and tension leading up to and extending beyond GE13 (with widespread accusations of electoral fraud and BN retaining power through systemic gerrymandering and malapportionment), was apparent not just within civil society but also within academia, surely going down as not just the most anticipated but the most researched election in Malaysian history. Non-governmental organisations, too, were on high alert, with extensive scrutiny of electoral processes and authorities. One of the main areas of interest and contention in political, academic, activist, and civil society alike was that of media bias.
Continue reading “Malaysian media – watchdog or running dog?”

By Kee Thuan Chye
msn.com
20.11.13

Last Friday, the New Straits Times ate humble pie and apologised to four NGOs for having defamed them in a front-page report it published last year that carried no substance and offered no evidence whatsoever to support its accusation that they were involved in a plot to destabilise the Government.

The newspaper now acknowledges that the report, written by Farrah Naz Karim, was “groundless” and “false”, and that it “should not have been published”.

When it came out on September 21, 2012, I was appalled by its blatant disregard of journalistic ethics – in fact, of any kind of ethics. I thought it pathetic that the newspaper had sunk so low. This was the worst transgression the paper had committed perhaps since 1998, when it carried on its front page a couple of stories that were editorials rather than news reports aimed at assassinating the character of Anwar Ibrahim after he was sacked by then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad for accusing the latter of paranoia and resisting the need to weed out corruption and cronyism. Continue reading “For New Straits Times to Be Truly Repentant …”

Menteri Besar Johor Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin pada hari Ahad lalu menyebut bahawa jika wartawan bertanya lebih awal kepada beliau, nasib mural “jenayah tinggi” seniman kelahiran Lithuania Ernest Zacharevic di Johor Baru mungkin berbeza, kerana tiada guna bercakap tentang mural tersebut sekarang memandangkan ia telah dipadamkan oleh pihak berkuasa tempatan Johor Baru.

Kenyataan itu amat menghairankan, memandangkan mural jalanan Zacharevic telah menjadi bahan berita dalam negara selama hampir seminggu dan malah mendapat liputan media antarabangsa sebelum ia dipadamkan oleh para pekerja majlis bandaraya JB.

Khaled mungkin satu-satunya pegawai kerajaan dalam Johor yang tidak menyedari adanya kontroversi tentang mural jalanan “jenayah tinggi” Zacharevic di Johor Baru selama seminggu sebelum ia dipadamkan oleh para pekerja majlis bandaraya JB.

Apakah ini mungkin, memandangkan Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri DAP bagi Johor Jaya Lio Cai Tong telah menyentuh tentang isu mural tersebut dalam Dewan Undangan Negeri Johor sewaktu beliau membahaskan belanjawan negeri Johor 2014 dan beliau malah telah mengusulkan supaya perbahasan dibuat tentang grafiti Zacha itu sebelum ia dipadamkan oleh para pekerja majlis bandaraya JB?
Continue reading “MB Johor perlu menasihatkan MBJB untuk berhenti melakukan serkap jarang dan berhenti mengganggu para penyewa dan pemilik yang mempamerkan keratan gambar grafiti Zacharevic”