Month: November 2013

Sambil 27,222 pengundi dalam Dewan Undangan Negeri Sungai Limau di Kedah mengundi hari ini untuk menentukan siapa akan menjadi Ahli Dewan Undangan Negeri mereka, sama ada calon PAS/Pakatan Rakyat Mohd Azam Abdul Samat atau calon Umno/Barisan Nasional Ahmad Sohaimi Lazim, satu persoalan sepatutnya difikirkan oleh semua parti politik dan pemimpin, iaitu mengapa politik Malaysia terjerumus ke tahap paling hina dengan pembohongan berterusan?

Kempen Umno/BN dalam pilihanraya kecil Sungai Limau bermula dengan pembohongan tentang DAP yang kononnya mahu membentuk negara Kristian, menghapuskan sistem Raja Berperlembagaan, anti-Melayu dan anti-Islam.

MCA turut tumpang berbohong dengan mendakwa bahawa walaupun lebih 50% dari 1,842 pengundi Cina di Sungai Limau adalah ahli MCA, hanya 10% pengundi Cina di sana mengundi Barisan Nasional dalam pilihanraya umum pada 5 Mei 2013 lalu.

Seperti yang saya sebutkan sewaktu berkempen di Sungai Limau Dalam dua hari lalu, sekitar 1,400 dari 1,842 pengundi Cina keluar mengundi dalam pilihanraya umum lalu dan daripada jumlah itu PAS/PR mendapat sekitar 800 undi dan BN meraih sekitar 600 undi – iaitu sekitar 55% mengundi PAS/PR dan 45% mengundi Umno/BN.

Dengan mendakwa PAS/PR mampu mendapat 90% daripada undi Cina di kawasan luar bandar seperti Sungai Limau, tidakkah dengan itu MCA seolah-olah mengatakan bahawa PR telah mencapai sesuatu yang mustahil, iaitu dengan mendapatkan 150% undi Cina di kawasan bandar?

1842 orang pengundi Cina di Sungai Limau tertumpu di lima pusat pengundian:
Simpang Tiga (26% Cina), Sungai Limau (19% Cina), Kabu Sepuloh (10.2% Cina), Batu Enam Belas (12.1% Cina) dan Kampung Titi Batu (13.4%).
Analisis DAP ke atas trend pengundian pengundi Cina di Sungai Limau yang telah saya terima seperti berikut:
Continue reading “Mengapa politik Malaysia terjerumus ke tahap paling hina dengan pembohongan berterusan?”

Pilihanraya kecil Sungai Limau esok akan menjawab persoalan: Apakah Mahathir dan Mahathirisme akan menghadapi kegagalan ketiga atau terakhir sejak enam bulan lalu?

Minggu lalu, bekas Perdana Menteri Tun Mahathir berkata kumpulan pelampau sedang menguasai Malaysia pada ketika Barisan Nasional sedang bergelut untuk menangani masalah kemerosotan sokongan orang ramai terhadap pakatan parti pemerintah itu walaupun ia masih menguasai kerajaan.

Benar dakwaan Mahathir bahawa kerajaan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak lemah dan ia merasa perlu untuk melayan “tuntutan-tuntutan tidak munasabah” daripada puak pelampau untuk mengekalkan sokongan orang ramai. Tetapi beliau melakukan kesilapan dengan mendakwa puak pelampau itu terdiri daripada anggota Pakatan Rakyat.

Hakikatnya, Mahathir sendiri boleh dianggap mewakili puak pelampau berkenaan yang menjadikan “kumpulan majoriti yang moderat” sebagai tebusan dengan segala pembohongan mereka sehingga menjejaskan usaha pembinaan dan pembangunan negara serta penyatuan warga.

Dalam majlis pengumuman calon Pakatan Rakyat di Sungai Limau 21 Oktober lalu, saya telah menyatakan harapan agar pilihanraya kecil itu menjadi model bagi politik bersi, jujur, dan bermaruah dengan memastikan pembohongan dan kepalsuan tidak disebarkan dan taktik serangan peribadi atau politik wang tidak digunakan.
Continue reading “Apakah Mahathir dan Mahathirisme akan menghadapi kegagalan ketiga atau terakhir sejak enam bulan lalu dalam pilihanraya kecil esok?”

Selamat Hari Deepavali kepada kaum India di Malaysia secara khusus dan semua warga Malaysia secara umum.

Deepavali membawa mesej kemenangan cahaya ke atas kegelapan serta kemenangan kebenaran, kebebasan, dan keadilan mengatasi korupsi, diskriminasi dan eksploitasi. Semua ini cukup relevan untuk kehidupan bernegara di Malaysia selepas pilihanraya umum ke-13.

Semoga mesej Deepavali merangsang dan menyatukan semua warga Malaysia bagi memastikan kemenangan cahaya ke atas kegelapan dalam semua sudut kehidupan bernegara dan semoga ia membolehkan kesederhanaan dan toleransi mengatasi sikap ekstrem dan tidak bertolak ansur dalam negara Malaysia yang berbilang kaum, berbilang agama dan berbilang budaya.

Rakyat Malaysia perlu sentiasa berusaha untuk mengukuhkan sikap sederhana dan toleransi dalam masyarakat majmuk serta tidak menyerah kalah kepada segelintir pihak yang bersikap ekstrem dan tidak bertolak ansur, terutama ketika pihak tersebut cuba untuk menampilkan diri sebagai suara baru dan pendukung kesederhanaan dalam negara ini.

Dalam pilihanraya kecil Sungai Limau, Timbalan Perdana Menteri merangkap Menteri Pendidikan Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin mengumumkan peruntukan sebanyak RM1 juta untuk SRJK(C) Aik Min, RM1 million untuk SRJK(C) Yuk Meng di Sungai Limau dan RM50,000 untuk SRJK (C) Pek Hwa.

SRJK(C) Aik Min mempunyai 15 murid dalam lima kelas, iaitu:

Darjah 1 – 2 murid
Darjah 2 – 2 murid
Darjah 3 – 5 murid
Darjah 4 – 3 murid
Darjah 5 – tiada murid
Darjah 6 – 3 murid
Jumlah – 15 murid

SRJK(C) Yuk Meng di Sungai Limau mempunyai 41 orang murid dalam enam kelas, iaitu:

Darjah 1 – 1 pupil
Darjah 2 – 5 murid
Darjah 3 – 10 murid
Darjah 4 – 4 murid
Darjah 5 – 12 murid
Darjah 6 – 9 murid
Jumlah – 41 murid

Sewaktu mengumumkan peruntukan berkenaan dalam pilihanraya kecil Sungai Limau, Muhyiddin menyebut bahawa kerajaan Barisan Nasional akan terus membantu sekolah Cina dan Tamil selagi ada matahari dan bulan.
Continue reading “Apakah Muhyiddin akan memperuntukkan RM480 juta kepada dua SRJK(C) Kuo Kuang 1 dan 2 di Gelang Patah berasaskan janjinya dalam pilihanraya kecil Sg Limau?”

by K Siladass

On the eve of Deepavali (1st November 2013), Member of Parliament for Kluang, Liew Chin Tong; State Assemblyman for Mengkibol, Tan Hong Pin and I, along with several others decided to take a stroll along Jalan Station, Kluang to see the stalls set up to peddle Deepavali wares.

At the entrance of the row of stalls, a group of men holding out to be MIC officials stopped Chin Tong and Hong Pin from entering on the ground that they had organised the stalls and that they, as the purported organisers, were not given notice of Chin Tong and Hong Pin arriving there.

Chin Tong politely pointed out that it was a public road and he could walk. The men refused to yield and spoke aggressively whilst claiming that it was an MIC organised event. Continue reading “Happy Deepavali? DAP MP and SA prevented by MIC from entering Deepavali bazaar”

While the 27,222 voters of in Sungai Limau state assembly seat in Kedah are casting their votes today to decide whether the PAS/Pakatan Rakyat candidate Mohd Azam Abdul Samat or the Umno/Barisan Nasional candidate Ahmad Sohaimi Lazim will be their State Assemblyman, one question that should worry all political parties and leaders is why Malaysian politics have descended to the lowest level of “lies, lies, lies”!

The UMNO/BN campaign in the Sungai Limau by-election started off with the lies that the DAP wants to form a Christian state, abolish the system of constitutional monarchy and that the DAP is anti-Malay and anti-Islam.

The MCA also contributed its lies when it claims that although more than 50% of the 1,842 Chinese voters are MCA members, only 10% of the Chinese electorate in the Sungai Limau constituency voted for the Barisan Nasional in the 13th general elections on May 5, 2013.

As I pointed out when I campaigned in Sungai Limau Dalam two days ago, about 1,400 out of 1,842 Chinese voters turned out to vote in the last general elections, of which PAS/PR secured some 800 votes and BN managed to obtain about 600 votes – i.e. some 55% to PAS/PR and 45% to UMNO/BN.

If PAS/PR could secure 90% of Chinese votes in a rural constituency like Sungai Limau, is MCA suggesting that the PR achieved the impossible of securing the support of some 150% of Chinese votes in the urban areas? Continue reading “Why have Malaysian politics descended to the lowest level of “lies, lies, lies”?”

The Sungai Limau by-election tomorrow will answer the question: Will Mahathir and Mahathirism suffer a third and probably final set-back in six months?

Last week, former Prime Minister Tun Mahathir said that the “lunatic fringe” have taken a hold of Malaysia as the ruling Barisan Nasional struggles to deal with diminished public support despite retaining its hold on government.

Mahathir is right when he claimed that the administration of current Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is weak and feels it needs to entertain “unreasonable demands” from extremist groups to remain relevant to the public but wrong when he identified such extremist groups as coming from Pakatan Rakyat.

In fact, Mahathir has himself become the very personification of the extremist “lunatic fringe” holding the “moderate majority” to ransom with their “lunatic” lies and falsehoods, undermining and even sabotaging the country’s nation-building, national unity and national development. Continue reading “Will Mahathir and Mahathirism suffer a third and probably final set-back in six months in the Sungai Limau by-election tomorrow?”

BY OPALYN MOK | NOVEMBER 2, 2013
The Malay Mail Online

Fluffy roti canai at Transfer Road. ― Pictures by KE Ooi

GEORGE TOWN, Nov 2 ― Penang has been labelled a “hawker’s paradise” because of the sheer variety of hawker or street food available.

But we decided to take it up one notch; test and see if this little island up north is really the only place in Malaysia where you can find food of every imaginable taste and flavour… at every hour of the day!

By the roadside, in airy coffee shops and yes, even in dark secluded corners where the flames of the cooking fire and aroma of cooked food are the only indications that food can be found there.

We tried them all.
Continue reading “Eat Penang: A 24-hour street food experience”

by Md Izwan and Musliza Mustafa
The Malaysian Insider
November 03, 2013

PAS roped in its Pakatan Rakyat (PR) partners to organise a dinner last night to meet Chinese voters in the Sungai Limau constituency, which goes to the ballot tomorrow.

Called Super Saturday, the event was attended by top DAP leaders including Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, Zairil Khir Johari, as well as PAS’s Datuk Mahfuz Omar, Mohamad Sabu, Dr Hatta Ramli and its candidate Mohd Azam Abdul Samat.

Kit Siang in his speech urged the 1,000 Chinese voters who attended the function to help the Islamic party win with a bigger majority,

“This time, let us create history by securing the seat with a bigger majority through our candidate from PAS Ustaz Azam,“ he said.

Dr Hatta, who is PAS election director, described the event as one of friendship between the PR component parties. Continue reading “DAP bigwigs come together in bid to help PAS retain seat”

by Muzliza Mustafa
The Malaysian Insider
November 02, 2013

DAP senior leader Lim Kit Siang today told MCA not to “spin” on the percentage of votes obtained from Sungai Limau’s Chinese community during the last general election.

He said the Barisan Nasional party component lied when they said only 10% of the Chinese voted for Barisan Nasional (BN).

“According to the DAP analysis, BN received 45% of Chinese votes and PAS received 55%,” he said, adding that out of 1,842 Chinese voters, 1,400 turned up to cast their ballots.

“MCA is trying to mislead the public about the Chinese community’s support for the party. Continue reading “Don’t lie on number of Sungai Limau’s Chinese votes, Kit Siang tells MCA”

By Kee Thuan Chye
1.11.2013

All Malaysiakini asked for was publish a daily newspaper in English of 40,000 copies to be sold only in the Klang Valley. But this was not acceptable to the Home Ministry, which rejected its application in August 2010. Why? What was the Government afraid of?

Sure, as an online news website, Malaysiakini had distinguished itself as a provider of news that the mainstream media often hid from the public for fear of offending the Government, and it had won tremendous support from truth-starved Malaysians who wanted to get “the other side of the story”, the side that exposed the Government’s shenanigans and deceptions. But the number of copies it was asking for its print version was relatively low, and with its distribution restricted to the Klang Valley, where there is a concentration of supporters of the Opposition, the newspaper would be mostly preaching to the converted anyway.

Besides, it was entering a market in which English-language newspapers owned by ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties, like The Star and New Straits Times, were already long entrenched and wielding considerable influence on their readers.

In any case, the Home Ministry did not give any grounds for rejecting Malaysiakini’s application. But when Malaysiakini brought the case to the High Court for a judicial review, the Minister had to state his reasons in an affidavit.

The case was heard in October 2012. The Government’s lawyer submitted that the granting of a publication permit was a privilege, not a right. But the judge disagreed. Continue reading “It is a Right, Not a Privilege, So What Now?”

Deepavali Message

Happy Deepavali to Malaysian Indians in particular and Malaysians in general.

The Deepavali message of light over darkness and the triumph of truth, freedom and justice over all forms of corruption, discrimination and exploitation have never been so relevant and pertinent in Malaysian national life than in post-13th general elections.

Let all Malaysians be inspired and united by the Deepavali message to ensure the triumph of light over darkness in all spheres of national life and the victory of moderation and tolerance over extremism and intolerance in multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural Malaysia. Continue reading “Let all Malaysians be inspired and united by the Deepavali message to ensure triumph of light over darkness and the victory of moderation and tolerance over extremism and intolerance”

In the Sungai Limau by-election, Deputy Prime Minister-cum-Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced allocation of RM1 million for SRJK © Aik Min, RM1 million for SRJK© Yuk Meng in Sungai Limau and RM50,000 for SRJK (C) Pek Hwa.

SRJK © Aik Min has 15 students in five classes, i.e:

Std. 1 – 2 pupils
Std. 2 – 2 pupils
Std. 3 – 5 pupils
Std. 4 – 3 pupils
Std. 5 – no pupils
Std. 6 – 3 pupils
Total – 15 pupils

SRJK © Yuk Meng in Sungai Limau has 41 students in six classes, viz:

Std. 1 – 1 pupil
Std. 2 – 5 pupils
Std. 3 – 10 pupils
Std. 4 – 4 pupils
Std. 5 – 12 pupils
Std. 6 – 9 pupils
Total – 41 pupils Continue reading “Will Muhyiddin allocate RM480 million to the two SRJK© Kuo Kuang1 and 2 in Gelang Patah based on his promise in Sg Limau by-election?”