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Parlimen Malaysia terpalit noda – semuanya kerana Ahli Parlimen BN

Dua kejadian di Dewan Rakyat pada hari Khamis, 14 November 2013, yang lalu membuatkan Parlimen Malaysia terpalit noda – semuanya kerana Ahli Parlimen Barisan Nasional.

Kejadian pertama berlaku dalam sesi pagi apabila Barisan Nasional dengan tidak mempedulikan Peraturan Mesyuarat dan kelaziman telah menggunakan kelebihan kerusinya di Parlimen untuk meluluskan usul luar biasa, tidak wajar, dan “haram” untuk menggantung Ahli Parlimen Padang Serai N. Surendran selama enam bulan kerana memperjuangkan kuil Sri Muneswarar Kaliyamman di Kuala Lumpur yang telah berusia 101 tahun.

Usul untuk menggantung Surendran itu melanggar Peraturan Mesyuarat dan kelaziman Parlimen sekurang-kurangnya menurut empat asas.

Peraturan Mesyuarat 27 (3) menyebut: “Kecuali sebagaimana yang disyaratkan dalam Peraturan Mesyuarat 43 dan perenggan (5) dalam Peraturan Mesyuarat 86 dan 26(1), apa-apa usul hendaklah dikeluarkan pemberitahu tidak kurang daripada empat belas hari terlebih dahulu tetapi jika usul itu dengan nama Menteri, maka memadailah dengan dikeluarkan pemberitahu tujuh hari sahaja terlebih dahulu, dan pula jika Tuan Yang di-Pertua puas hati setelah diterangkan kepadanya oleh seseorang Menteri iaitu bagi faedah orang ramai sesuatu usul itu mustahak dibahaskan dengan seberapa segeranya maka memadailah dikeluarkan pemberitahu itu satu hari sahaja terlebih dahulu.”
Continue reading “Parlimen Malaysia terpalit noda – semuanya kerana Ahli Parlimen BN”

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Najib perlu memberi kenyataan kementerian di Parlimen pada hari Isnin ini tentang kelonggaran kawalan keselamatan Esscom sehingga menyebabkan seorang pelancong dari Taiwan ditembak mati dan isterinya diculik oleh kumpulan yang disyaki sebagai pengganas Abu Sayyaf di pulau Pom Pom berhampiran Semporna

Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak perlu memberi kenyataan kementerian di Parlimen pada hari Isnin ini tentang kelonggaran kawalan keselamatan Esscom sehingga menyebabkan seorang pelancong Cina ditembak mati dan isterinya diculik oleh kumpulan yang disyaki sebagai pengganas Abu Sayyaf di pulau Pom Pom berhampiran Semporna awal pagi ini.

Najib perlu memaklumkan kepada Parlimen tindakan apa yang akan diambil oleh Esscom untuk mengetatkan kawalan keselamatan supaya kejadian pembunuhan dan penculikan oleh para pengganas Filipina tidak akan berulang lagi di Sabah.

Laporan awal menyatakan bahawa sekumpulan lelaki lengkap bersenjata telah tiba di pusat peranginan Mandur Pom Pom dan menyerbu restoran di pusat peranginan tersebut yang ketika itu hanya dilanggani oleh pasangan dari Taiwan terbabit dan lalu melepaskan beberapa tembakan.

Mangsa tembakan Lim Min Hsu, 57, telah ditembak dua kali pada bahagian dada dan rusuk. Beliau meninggal di tempat kejadian. Isterinya, Lim Min Hsu, 57, dilarikan oleh kumpulan bersenjata tersebut dengan sebuah bot kecil ke arah Filipina selatan.
Continue reading “Najib perlu memberi kenyataan kementerian di Parlimen pada hari Isnin ini tentang kelonggaran kawalan keselamatan Esscom sehingga menyebabkan seorang pelancong dari Taiwan ditembak mati dan isterinya diculik oleh kumpulan yang disyaki sebagai pengganas Abu Sayyaf di pulau Pom Pom berhampiran Semporna”

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Pihak berkuasa berkenaan di JB tidak sepatutnya berdiam diri tetapi sebaliknya perlu memanfaatkan kontroversi mural “jenayah Tinggi Zachas untuk melancarkan inisiatif baru bagi menghapuskan reputasi JB sebagai pusat jenayah negara

Sesuatu yang menyedihkan dan tragis apabila “kreativiti luar biasa” digunakan untuk menghilangkan sengat mural “jenayah tinggi” yang dibuat oleh seniman jalanan kelahiran Lithuania Ernest Zacharevic di Johor Bahru sedangkan tiada tanda-tanda pihak berkuasa berkenaan – Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru, Polis dan Kerajaan Negeri Johor – mula mengambil langkah untuk memanfaatkan peningkatan kesedaran orang awam sejak seminggu lalu tentang kadar jenayah yang amat tinggi di JB bagi melancarkan inisiatif baru untuk menghapuskan reputasi bandar itu sebagai pusat jenayah negara.

Dua seniman tempatan telah berhempas-pulas sepanjang malam untuk menambah imej seorang pegawai polis Lego yang memegang sepasang gari ke atas mural kontroversial itu – menampilkan seorang lelaki Lego memakai topeng sambil memegang pisau, menunggu untuk merompak seorang wanita Lego yang sedang menjinjit beg “Chanel”. Zacharevic menafikan dirinya mempunyai kaitan dengan penambahan tersebut apabila beliau mengulas menerusi Facebook tentang penambahan tersebut sebagai “vandalisme sebenar”.

Urutan keutamaan pihak berkuasa sama sekali salah apabila ia menyalurkan tenaga mencari jalan untuk menghilangkan “sengat” mural “jenayah tinggi” Zachas di JB dengan pelbagai idea kreatif bagi membolehkan mural yang “menghina” itu terus boleh dilihat di JB, sedangkan yang paling kita harapkan ialah agar pihak berkuasa mengambil tindakan yang bermakna dan berkesan untuk memastikan JB menjadi bandaraya rendah kadar jenayah dan selamat untuk penduduknya, pelawat dan pelabur.
Continue reading “Pihak berkuasa berkenaan di JB tidak sepatutnya berdiam diri tetapi sebaliknya perlu memanfaatkan kontroversi mural “jenayah Tinggi Zachas untuk melancarkan inisiatif baru bagi menghapuskan reputasi JB sebagai pusat jenayah negara”

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Mural “jenayah tinggi” Zachas patut dikekalkan sebagai cabaran untuk pihak berkuasa menjadikan JB bandar rendah jenayah dan sebagai testimoni bahawa kadar jenayah yang tinggi di JB “hanya tinggal dalam lipatan sejarah”

Sejak beberapa hari lalu, pihak berkuasa di Johor Bahru, termasuk Majlis Bandaraya Johor Bahru, Polis, dan kerajaan negeri Johor terganggu dengan salah satu dari tiga mural yang dibuat oleh seniman jalanan bertaraf antarabangsa kelahiran Ernest Zacharevic yang menonjolkan isu kadar jenayah yang tinggi dalam bandaraya tersebut.

Bandaraya Johor Bahru dan penduduknya akan meraih faedah lebih besar jika tenaga yang mereka gunakan untuk berdebat tentang apa yang perlu dilakukan terhadap mural jenayah tinggi di JB disalurkan ke arah mengurangkan kadar jenayah dalam ibu bandar Johor itu.

Mural “jenayah tinggi” Zachas tidak perlu dihapuskan, sebaliknya ia patut dikekalkan sebagai cabaran untuk pihak berkuasa menjadikan JB bandar rendah jenayah dan sebagai testimoni bahawa kadar jenayah yang tinggi di JB “hanya tinggal dalam lipatan sejarah”.

Satu-satunya cara untuk menghilangkan ‘sengatan’ mural jenayah tinggi Zachas itu ialah dengan menghapuskan reputasi JB sebagai pusat jenayah negara sehingga mural Zachas itu boleh dianggap sebagai tanda kejayaan transformasi Johor Bahru menjadi sebuah bandaraya selamat.

Gambaran yang terdapat pada mural Zachas tidak akan menyengat jika kadar jenayah di bandaraya itu tidak tinggi.
Continue reading “Mural “jenayah tinggi” Zachas patut dikekalkan sebagai cabaran untuk pihak berkuasa menjadikan JB bandar rendah jenayah dan sebagai testimoni bahawa kadar jenayah yang tinggi di JB “hanya tinggal dalam lipatan sejarah””

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Registration Department staff from Putrajaya nabbed in police bust on IC syndicate in Miri

by Desmond Davidson
The Malaysian Insider
November 18, 2013

A National Registration Department (NRD) assistant officer was among dozens arrested by police in Miri as authorities smashed the state’s biggest syndicate behind the falsifying of MyKads and birth certificates.

The 57-year-old officer, attached to the NRD office in Putrajaya, is one of the key players in the syndicate, said Sarawak police commissioner Datuk Wira Mohammad Sabtu Osman.

Mohammad said there could be more arrests as police investigation widens.

“We will be hunting members of the syndicate that have escaped arrests,” Mohammad told a press conference today.

Mohammad said police made the arrests on November 16 after a week of surveillance at a residential estate in Desa Pujut in the Kuala Baram district. Continue reading “Registration Department staff from Putrajaya nabbed in police bust on IC syndicate in Miri”

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‘Something rotten in Najib’s best democracy’

Malaysiakini
Nov 19, 2013

The state of the media in Malaysia indicates that the nation is not as democratic as it is made out to be, said a university-based researcher.

This is because most of the “mainstream Malaysian news media… is actually more akin to a BN party organ”, Nottingham University Media and Communications associate professor Tessa Houghton said.

“When the only media functioning as anything like professional news journalism organisations are in Mandarin or are online, it’s safe to say that something is seriously rotten in what aspires to be the best democracy in the world,” she said.

Houghton was responding to arguments against her media monitoring findings conducted in the lead-up to and during the 13th general election. Continue reading “‘Something rotten in Najib’s best democracy’”

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Johor MB Khaled should advise MBJB to end its “wild goose chase” and stop harassing tenants and landowners over cut-outs of Zacharevic wall graffiti which gives “vandalism” a good name

Johore Mentri Besar Datuk Mohamed Khaled Nordin said on Sunday that things might have turned out differently about street artist Lithuanian-born Ernest Zacharevic’s “high crime” street mural in Johor Baru if he had been asked the question by the press earlier, but the issue had become academic as the mural had been wiped out by the Johor Baru local authority.

This is a most extraordinary statement, considering that Zacharevic’s street mural had dominated not only Johor but national headlines for almost a week, and even hitting international coverage, before it was “white-washed” by JB city council workers.

Khaled must be the only potentate in Johor State blissfully unaware of the boiling controversy over Zacharevic’s “high crime” street mural in Johor Baru in the week before it was white-washed by JB council workers.

Could this be true, when DAP State Assemblywoman for Johor Jaya, Liow Cai Tong had even spoken on the subject in the Johor State Assembly during her debate on the 2014 Johor state budget and even tried to move an emergency debate on Zacha’s wall graffiti before it was “white-washed” by the JB council workers?
Continue reading “Johor MB Khaled should advise MBJB to end its “wild goose chase” and stop harassing tenants and landowners over cut-outs of Zacharevic wall graffiti which gives “vandalism” a good name”

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Kit Siang questions how Ambank guard got MyKad

Hemananthani Sivanandam
The Sun Daily
18 November 2013

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 18, 2013): Gelang Patah DAP MP Lim Kit Siang today questioned how the security guard in the AmBank officer murder case received a MyKad which enabled him to work in the bank.

Lim said it is rather disturbing on how the suspect, who is a Sulawesi native, managed to circumvent the country’s security system in securing a MyKad.

“How can this person get a MyKad, and even if the MyKad is fake, how can he be allowed to open up a bank account, receive monthly salary and in fact be given a firearm license by the Home Ministry?

“Did this person also vote in the 13th General Election? Is it because the owner of the security firm is a crony of the ruling party?

“How many foreigners have enjoyed these privileges?” he questioned during his speech at the committee stage of the Budget 2014 debate in Parliament today.

The DAP stalwart also said such system has caused states such as Sabah and Sarawak to lose its sovereignty as it seems so easy for foreigners to obtain a MyKad and take over the economy.

“This directly effects the stability and the nation’s security. This also infringes the rights of the people of Sabah who live in such a rich state but are still poor,” said Lim. Continue reading “Kit Siang questions how Ambank guard got MyKad”

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After the Good Start, Let’s Do it Right

By Kee Thuan Chye
Penang Monthly (November)

Two months ago, I wrote in this column about the issue of English and asked whether our government would give the language the importance it deserves and get our students to learn it wholeheartedly. Since then, we’ve heard the good news that the Government has decided to make English a must-pass subject at the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations from 2016.

This is a good start. At the very least, it sends out the message to students to take the language seriously when at present many of them don’t. The official sanction should also get things rolling and prompt education planners to prepare for the 2016 target. It may be only three years away, but a short deadline can sometimes be as effective as a longer one, if not more so. It’s all about having the will to do it. And speaking of will, students are more likely to find the will to improve their English when they are pushed to do it than when they are led to believe that English is irrelevant to their daily lives or even harmful to their own culture and identity.

Even so, supporters of English are sceptical, and understandably so. Continue reading “After the Good Start, Let’s Do it Right”

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Masanya sudah tiba untuk kita berusaha bersama demi merealisasikan Impian Malaysia, dan menyelamatkan rakyat daripada ‘Mimpi Ngeri Malaysia’ yang panjang ini

Masanya sudah tiba untuk kita berusaha bersama demi merealisasikan Impian Malaysia, dan menyelamatkan rakyat daripada ‘Mimpi Ngeri Malaysia’ yang panjang ini

Saya bangun untuk mengambil bahagian dalam perbahasan peringkat Jawatankuasa Bajet 2014 mengenai Jabatan Perdana Menteri dan Jabatan-jabatan yang lain termasuk Majlis Keselamatan Negera (MKN), Jabatan Perpaduan Negara dan Integrasi Nasional (JPNIN), Biro Tatanegara, Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia (SPRM), Jabatan Peguam Negara, Pejabat-pejabat Setiausaha Persekutuan, Sabah dan Sarawak.

Pertama sekali, saya ingin merakamkan ucapan takziah kepada keluarga Allahyarham Mohd Raffli Abdul Malik yang mati ditembak di Kuantan, Pahang; keluarga Allahyarham Norazita Abu Talib, yang menjadi mangsa rompakan Ambank tempoh hari; serta Allahyarham Hussain Ahmad Najadi, yang turut menjadi mangsa tembakan beberapa lama dahulu.

Kesemua mangsa jenayah ini adalah korban-korban tidak berdosa akibat daripada kelalaian dan kerakusan pihak yang berkenaaan mengejar kuasa dan jawatan, sehingga mengabaikan persoalan integriti, tanggungjawab kepada negara dan impian besar rakyat Malaysia.

Saya juga ingin merakamkan ucapan takziah kepada keluarga mangsa warga Taiwan dalam tragedi pembunuhan dan penculikan di Pulau Pum-Pum beberapa hari sudah. Ternyata Eastern Sabah Security Command (Esscom) tidaklah efektif dalam menjaga keselamatan negara sungguhpun ia ditubuhkan sebagai tindakbalas terhadap peristiwa pencerobohan di Lahad Datu. Walaupun Ketua Polis Negara dan Menteri Dalam Negeri menyifatkan ini sebagai kejadian terpencil, nyawa yang hilang pasti tidak dapat diganti. Keyakinan rakyat terhadap kesungguhan pihak berkuasa dalam melaksanakan tugas menjaga keselamatan negara dan rakyat jelata sekali lagi berkecai.
Continue reading “Masanya sudah tiba untuk kita berusaha bersama demi merealisasikan Impian Malaysia, dan menyelamatkan rakyat daripada ‘Mimpi Ngeri Malaysia’ yang panjang ini”

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Racism and inequality

Sakmongkol AK47 | NOVEMBER 17, 2013
The Malaysian Insider

Government leaders preach inclusiveness and togetherness. At the very least they pretend to want that. The idea of togetherness and inclusiveness can be summed up in the powerful idea of unity.

Something of that nature cannot be sold like an advertising product and commoditised- it must be secured by living out that experience. It must be practised as an everyday life experience.

Something of that nature too must be formed on the basis of earning and giving trust. The government has neither earned our trust and they have never trusted the people.

PM Najib paid a lot of money to consulting firms to come up with slogans to reflect the idea. He has actually paid RM7.2 billion to a number of consultants since 2009. Over a 5 year period, the fee is like RM3.945 million a day.

We won’t know how much PM Najib paid consultants who came out with slogans and follow through plans of 1Malaysia and now Endless Possibilities. What seems truly endless is the rapacious appetite to gobble up taxpayers’ money.
Continue reading “Racism and inequality”

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DAP ready to work with Sabah and Sarawak leaders to fight for rights

The Malaysian Insider
November 17, 2013

DAP today said it was willing to work together and cooperate with state government leaders in Sabah and Sarawak to ensure that they retained their equal status in the Federation of Malaysia.

Pasty secretary-general Lim Guan Eng attacked Umno’s arrogance in assuming that they were the masters and everyone else had to submit to them.

He slammed Umno’s racist and extremist ideologies, saying it had warped and twisted the minds of the party’s young leaders and left them with the wrong perception.

Lim said Umno’s young leaders had been influenced by the party’s policies to the extent that they assumed the party were the masters and others had to be subservient. Continue reading “DAP ready to work with Sabah and Sarawak leaders to fight for rights”

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‘Fat Leonard’ fallout: Officers talk growing bribery scandal and ‘epic parties’

Navy Times
By Sam Fellman
Nov. 15, 2013|

The aircraft carrier John C. Stennis made the record books in September 2012 when it became the first U.S. flattop to pull into Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, a bustling port that borders the strategically important South China Sea.

While a milestone for the U.S. Navy and the ship’s crew, it was a windfall for a deep-pocketed Malaysian “fixer” who now stands accused of bribing and manipulating active-duty officers to steer the carrier there — and to make millions overcharging the service. The $2.7 million port call cost more than double the average for carrier stops at other Malaysian ports.

Federal prosecutors allege that Leonard Glenn Francis, the head of the Navy’s primary husbanding company in Asia, regularly enticed naval officers to direct warships to more lucrative ports for his business by offering bribes including junkets, prostitutes, cash — even “Lion King” tickets.

Francis was privy to classified ship movements and, in cases like the Stennis, even clandestinely orchestrated the ship’s port calls to suit his bottom line, according to the allegations. Continue reading “‘Fat Leonard’ fallout: Officers talk growing bribery scandal and ‘epic parties’”

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How did I suddenly become a communist in the past four years when in the previous 43 years, I was not a communist?

Recently, there has been an escalation of the campaign of lies and falsehoods against Pakatan Rakyat leaders, not only in cyberspace, but even in Parliament and the various State Assemblies.

The latest instance is in the Johore State Assembly, where the DAP State Assemblyman for Pekan Nenas, Yeo Tung Siong was accused of being a “communist” by the Umno State Assemblyman for Kukup Suhaimi bin Salleh for his speech in the State Assembly.

What was Tung Siong’s crime? What did Tung Siong say? Did Tung Siong glorify communism?

I asked Tung Siong and he sent me his speech in the Johore State Assemby early this week where he did not make any mention of communism. Continue reading “How did I suddenly become a communist in the past four years when in the previous 43 years, I was not a communist?”

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Just as 13GE ended Johore as BN “fixed deposit” state, PR must end Sabah and Sarawak as “fixed deposit” states to reach Putrajaya in 14GE

One of the highlights of the 13th General Elections was to transform Johore, one of the three “fixed deposit” states of Barisan Nasional with Sabah and Sarawak, into a Pakatan Rakyat front-line state.

During the last general elections, former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir not only led the campaign to ask the people of Johore to ensure that Gelang Patah become my “kubur”, Barisan Nasional leaders talking about making Johore into an “zero-opposition” state.

In the event, Johore achieved the greatest political breakthrough for Pakatan Rakyat in the 13GE, increasing from one parliamentary to five parliamentary seats (500% increase) and six State Assembly seats to 18 State Assembly seats (300% increase). In popular votes, Pakatan Rakyat achieved the biggest increase of 10.3% from 34.7% in the 12GE in 2008 to 45% in the 13GE – transforming Johore from a BN “fixed deposit” state into a PR “front-line” state. Continue reading “Just as 13GE ended Johore as BN “fixed deposit” state, PR must end Sabah and Sarawak as “fixed deposit” states to reach Putrajaya in 14GE”

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Keep faith with the Malaysian Dream – the ration d’etre of the DAP for 47 years

Nearly half a century ago, a band of Malaysians came together and despite considerable difficulties and obstacles, succeeded on March 18, 1966 to register the Democratic Action Party (DAP) as a new political party to rally and mobilise Malaysians behind our call for a Malaysian Malaysia.

Transcending ethnic, religious and socio-economic differences, this band of idealistic Malaysians, regardless of whether Malays, Chinese or Indians, shared a common vision and Malaysian Dream – a Malaysia for all Malaysians regardless of race, religion, class or region where democracy, good governance and socio-economic justice could flourish to allow every Malaysian to achieve his or her fullest potential for the collective good and greatness of the nation.

In the past 47 years, DAP had traversed a long political road, with many DAP leaders and stalwarts tested to the limits of their convictions undergoing many trials and tribulations.

While many had fallen by the wayside, the party had kept faith and stayed true of our founding principles of freedom, justice, solidarity, integrity and good governance. Continue reading “Keep faith with the Malaysian Dream – the ration d’etre of the DAP for 47 years”

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David Cameron says Sri Lanka need to go ‘further and faster’ in answering human rights concerns

The Telegraph
AFP
16 Nov 2013

David Cameron put Sri Lanka on notice on Saturday to address allegations of war crimes within months or else he would lead a push for action at the United Nations.

Speaking at a troubled Commonwealth summit in Colombo, the British Prime Minister warned his hosts that pressure over alleged abuses at the end of Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict was not about to go away.

He also told of how he had “frank” exchanges with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa after he returned from a historic visit to the war-torn Jaffna region. Continue reading “David Cameron says Sri Lanka need to go ‘further and faster’ in answering human rights concerns”

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JB mural clones spring up, even on T-shirts

Malaysiakini | 2:00PM Nov 16, 2013

The Johor Bahru City Council may have hastily removed the controversial mural depicting a lady about to be mugged, but it appears to have spawned at least 10 reincarnations of the increasingly popular artwork.

According to an anonymous local who spoke to Malaysiakini today, the lego character with the channel bag and the mugger around the corner have shown up on not just the city’s walls, but also on vans and even T-shirts.

He reported that people have put up stickers of the mural in Sutra Mall, Perling, Taman Molek and Bukit Indah among others.

Netizens have also posted their photos of the clones on Facebook, and one is even selling the T-shirts online.
Continue reading “JB mural clones spring up, even on T-shirts”

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A double blot of shame for Malaysian Parliament – all thanks to BN MPs

What happened in the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday, 14th November 2013 was a double blot of shame for the Malaysian Parliament – all thanks to Barisan Nasional MPs.

The first blot occurred in the morning session when in utter disregard of the Parliamentary Standing Orders and conventions, the Barisan Nasional used its majority in Parliament to bulldoze through an irregular, improper and “haram” motion to suspend the PKR/PR MP for Padang Serai, N. Surendran for six months for his championing of the 101-year old Sri Muneswarar Kaliyamman Temple in Kuala Lumpur.

The motion to suspend Surendran violated the Parliamentary Standing Orders and conventions on at least four grounds.

Standing Order 27 (3) reads: “Except as provided in Standing Order 43 and in paragraph (5) of the Standing Order 86 and 26(1), not less than fourteen days’ notice of any motion shall be given unless it is in the name of a Minister, in which case seven days’ notice or, if Tuan Yang di Pertua is satisfied upon representation to him by a Minister that the public interest requires that a motion should be debated as soon as possible, one day’s notice shall be sufficient”.

As the exceptions in the Standing Orders 43, 86 and 26 do not apply, the motion to suspend Surendran, which is in the name of a Minister, would require “seven days’ notice or, if Tuan Yang di Pertua is satisfied upon representation to him by a Minister that the public interest requires that a motion should be debated as soon as possible, one day’s notice shall be sufficient”. Continue reading “A double blot of shame for Malaysian Parliament – all thanks to BN MPs”

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Mural mural on the wall

— Thomas Fann
The Malay Mail Online
November 16, 2013

In the same week that Super Typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Philippines, a different kind of storm came upon the southern city of Johor Bahru. It was a most innocuous beginning, a series of wall murals by an internationally-recognised Lithuanian-born street artist known as Ernest Zacharevic or simply Zachas. When it was first unveiled in early November it created a buzz among the local community. Many have long admired Zachas’ works for Penang and was delighted that he has finally brought it to JB, a city not known for its appreciation of the arts.

With news spreading of the existence of four murals around Taman Molek and Johor Jaya area, people began seeking out these works of art and to have their photos taken with them. My family and I joined in the search and snap trail. It was most amusing to find people snapping away at these murals in dirty back lanes of non-descript shophouses and treating them like treasures. Perhaps to a city that is like an art desert, it was a breath of arty fresh air that has finally blown in. Continue reading “Mural mural on the wall”