Month: December 2013

RK Anand
Malaysiakini
Dec 7, 2013

“I remain just one thing, and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.” – Charlie Chaplin

COMMENT Whenever the Klan holds its annual congregation, it will revive the hitherto dormant coulrophobia in me. And when I confided in a colleague hoping that she will lend a sympathetic ear, she asked, much to my dismay, if it meant that I despised cauliflowers.

The condition has nothing to do with cauliflowers, I retorted. Or any other vegetable for that matter. Coulrophobia refers to the fear of clowns.

And where else can one find an army of clowns assembling under a single roof other than in the Putra World Trade Centre where Umno members from far and wide crawl out of the woodwork for their annual pilgrimage to the capital.

When this dreaded circus takes place, I cower with trepidation under the blanket and observe from a safe distance the numerous mind-numbing and incendiary antics that unravel.

While any self-respecting racist bigot will be proud of what is served, for the rest of us, it leaves a bitter aftertaste in the mouth.

Every year, Umno delegates, without fail, will trek the extra mile to drive home the point that Malaysia is still trapped in a Jurassic political era. Continue reading “Fear of clowns revisited in Umno circus”

– SM Mohamed Idris
The Malaysian Insider
December 07, 2013

Kami dukacita di atas cadangan oleh Timbalan Presiden Umno Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yang mahu meminda Perlembagaan Persekutuan untuk menjamin ajaran Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah sebagai kepercayaan umat Islam di Malaysia dan merayu supaya mempertimbangkan semula perkara itu kerana ia mempunyai implikasi serius ke atas perpaduan umat Islam dan komitmen antarabangsa Malaysia.

Kami percaya cadangan yang dibuat itu adalah respons kepada kempen anti Syiah pada masa ini yang sedang dijalankan oleh kumpulan tertentu yang dipengaruhi dan disokong oleh ulama Salafi yang bersikap melampau.

Islam itu satu dan tiada Islam Sunni atau Islam Syiah. Terdapat perbezaan mazhab dan orang Islam bebas untuk mengikuti mana-mana mazhab. Sebarang cubaan untuk menafikan hak sesuatu mazhab akan hanya membawa kepada perpecahan dan konflik dalam kalangan umat Islam dan melemahkan usaha yang sedang diusahakan untuk menyatupadukan umat Islam bagi menghadapi cabaran dari kuasa hegemoni, diktator dan pemerintah autokratik.

Pada Julai 2005, berdasarkan fatwa yang dikeluarkan oleh 24 ulama paling kanan dalam agama Islam termasuk Ulama Sunni, Sheikh Al Azhar Dr Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi, Sheikh Dr. Yusuf Abdullah Al-Qaradawi, Mufti Pakistan Muhammad Taqi Uthmani dan Ulama Syiah Ayatollah Al-Sayyid Ali Khameni dan Ayatollah Al-Sayyid Ali Al-Sistani, Raja Abdullah II dari Jordan telah menganjurkan satu persidangan Islam antarabangsa yang dihadiri oleh 200 sarjana Islam terkemuka dunia dari 50 negara yang telah menerima fatwa tersebut, iaitu: Continue reading “Pupuk perpaduan sesama Islam”

– Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud
The Malaysian Insider
December 07, 2013

Pada November lalu, bekas Naib Canselor Universiti Malaya, Tan Sri Dr Ghauth Jasmon telah berkata di Persidangan Asia Barat dan Afrika di Kuala Lumpur bahawa isu perkauman digunakan oleh sesetengah ahli politik di Malaysia bagi melindungi kegiatan rasuah yang dilakukan pemimpin terbabit.

Beliau juga berkata isu perkauman dimainkan bagi melindungi salah laku selain mengelak mereka yang terlibat daripada dituduh atas aktiviti tidak bermoral itu.

Saya tertarik dengan kata-kata beliau memandangkan di Malaysia terdapat satu gabungan parti politik yang masih mengamalkan politk perkauman dan gabungan ini berada di posisi di mana rasuah boleh berlaku secara berleluasa.

Apabila seorang cendiakawan memberi komen sedemikian, kita pasti tertanya-tanya apakah yang beliau tahu, dan ingin mengetahui secara lanjut apa yang dimaksudkan oleh Tan Sri Ghauth Jasmon? Sejauh manakah dan apakah contoh-contoh sifat perkauman dan kegiatan rasuah berkait di negara ini. Continue reading “Berselindung di sebalik isu perkauman”

by Sheridan Mahavera
The Malaysian Insider
December 07, 2013

The preamble to the resolution on economics at this year’s Umno general assembly stated that it would be different from the previous years.

Yet after former second finance minister Datuk Seri Awang Adek Hussein finished his speech, the journalists who’ve covered past assemblies rolled their eyes, as they tried to dig out what was new.

Much of Awang Adek’s seven-point speech was about demands for quotas, loans and openings in the government machinery and government-linked companies (GLCs) for Bumiputeras. That is, Malay entrepreneurs’ demands that are always expressed whenever the Umno grassroots meet to talk about the future of the Malay economy.

The main difference this time was that all of them seized on the new statistic provided by their president – Bumiputeras made up 67% of the population – to press their case for even more aid to reach that ideal target of 30% Bumiputera ownership of wealth in the country.

It’s a familiar ritual: Umno tells the government that more loans need to be given and more contracts are needed to develop Malay small and medium enterprises.

Failure to do so would make the Malays “slaves in their own lands” to “foreign races” which is a code word for non-Bumiputera Chinese (and sometimes Indians). Continue reading “Same old, same old when Umno talks about “ekonomi Melayu””

NEWS ANALYSIS BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
December 07, 2013

When Umno started out in 1946, it united many Malay groups and organisations in the pursuit of Merdeka, an independent Malaya which later formed Malaysia with Sabah and Sarawak.

It fought for the race, religion and rulers. And it ruled Malaysia with its allies, MCA and MIC, and later expanded that to Barisan Nasional in the aftermath of the May 1969 race riots.

Its mission never changed and every annual gathering was focused on race and religion. But now, that is being used to profit the few rather than the many.

This year’s assembly is no different, especially at a time of rising costs and shrinking surplus in the country. Malaysians are told to tighten their belts as assessment rates and electricity tariffs go up. Soon, toll rates will be raised while a consumption tax comes into effect in April 2015.

But over at the Putra World Trade Centre where Umno has its annual general assembly, it appears to be more like a gathering of Ali Baba and the 40 thieves as delegate after delegate speak about the economy and the need to reward only those who supported BN and Umno in the 13th General Election. Continue reading “Plundering in the guise of protecting the Malays”

The Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin cannot continue to be dumbstruck by the 2012 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) results five days ago but must speak up on the responses by the Education Ministry.

Malaysia should at least learn from England which has swung into immediate action, announcing the creation of 30 elite maths centres across the country after the 2012 PISA results which find that UK schoolchildren are up to three years behind their peers in the top-performing countries in Asia.

Under the new UK plan, secondary school teachers will provide expert tuition to primary pupils as part of government reforms designed to address serious failing in maths. Continue reading “Muhyiddin cannot continue to be dumbstruck by 2012 PISA results five days ago but must speak up on responses by Education Ministry”

Liew Chin Tong
Malaysiakini
Dec 6, 2013

MP SPEAKS

The spate of new taxes and price hikes, the latest being the electricity tariff hike, have caused me to doubt whether the government under Najib Abdul Razak has any idea about the macroeconomic risks that Malaysia faces.

Against the backdrop of an uncertain global economy and the likeliness of the quantitative easing tapering, domestic demand is crucial in sustaining the Malaysian economy. Yet the spate of new taxes and price hikes will produce an opposite result: the further decline of domestic demand.

Will the electricity tariff increase become the last straw on the camel’s back that will see the Malaysian economy collapsing due to the confluence of several domestic and global factors?

The electricity tariff will be increased by an average of about 14.89 percent for Peninsular Malaysia, and by about 17 percent for Sabah and Labuan from next year.

The average electricity tariff in Peninsular Malaysia will be up 4.99 sen per kWh or 14.89 percent from the current average rate of 33.54 sen/kWh to 38.53 sen/kWh.

For Sabah and Labuan, the average tariff will be up 5 sen per kWh or 16.9 percent from current average rate of 29.52 sen per kWh to 34.52 sen per kWh. Continue reading “Power tariff – the last straw that broke the camel’s back?”

By Stuart Grudgings
10:42 p.m. CST, December 5, 2013
Chicago Tribune

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6 (Reuters) – Malaysia’s ruling party, stung by an election setback in May, is burnishing its Islamic credentials, aiming to gain ground among majority ethnic Malay voters in a move that could heighten concern over growing religious intolerance in the multi-racial Southeast Asian country.

The coalition led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) suffered its worst election result, hurt by the desertion of ethnic Chinese voters and many urban dwellers, including Muslim Malays, its traditional bedrock of support.

Ahead of the party’s annual general assembly this week, Prime Minister Najib Razak shored up his support by making concessions to the party’s conservative wing, rolling back his previous liberal social reforms, boosting steps to favour ethnic Malays economically and stressing UMNO’s role as a protector of the Islamic faith.

That has enabled him to push forward with unpopular economic steps to tackle the country’s chronic fiscal deficit, most recently the announcement of a 15 percent rise in electricity tariffs from January.
Continue reading “Malaysia ruling party tightens embrace of Islam to gain support”

If only Malaysia had made slight progress in all the three subjects of mathematics, science and reading in the 2012 PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) as compared to the previous PISA test in 2010, the Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin would have highlighted the issue in his speech when opening the annual general meetings of Umno Youth, Wanita and Puteri on Tuesday night (the PISA results were released earlier the same day) as evidence that Malaysia was progressing towards a world-class education system under his leadership.

But the 2012 PISA results were more grounds for despondency rather than celebration, and this is why Muhyiddin was conspicuously silent about the PISA results – unlike his Singapore counterpart, Education Minister Heng Swee Keat who said on the same day the PISA results were released that he was “very happy that Singapore’s 15-year-olds had done “very, very well” in 2012 PISA, as the Singapore students ranked second in mathematics and third in science and reading in the global assessment taken by about 510,000 15-year-old students in 65 countries and regions.

The Thai Education Minister, Chaturon Chaisang was upbeat with the results of the Thai students scoring 441 in reading, 427 in mathematics and 444 in science (beating Malaysia in all three subjects), saying that the Thai ranking demonstrated the country’s potential and could attract investment.

Malaysia has more than enough reasons to rue the 2012 PISA, as the country has proclaimed that it aspired to be in the top third of the countries in the world in terms of performance in international assessments, as measured by outcomes in the PISA or Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) by 2021. Continue reading “Triple woes for Malaysia in the 2012 PISA international student assessment for mathematics, science and reading”

Tweets on UMNO General Assembly:

1. Najib to Malays: Where would you be without Umno? – Ram Anand (Mkini) http://goo.gl/xTrPu4

2. At Umno assembly, calls for ‘1 Melayu’ to replace ‘1 Malaysia’ – by Syed Jaymal Zahiid (MMO) http://goo.gl/bCeiE2

3. Don’t worry if people call us racists, says Umno youth member – by Muzliza Mustafa (TMI) http://goo.gl/lJ4rZM Continue reading “Tweets on UMNO General Assembly”

– Arnold Puyok
The Malaysian Insider
December 04, 2013

In 1963, Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsular Malaya formed what is now called Malaysia. But the forming of Malaysia was not without challenges. In terms of population demography, Sabah and Sarawak were more culturally heterogeneous than Peninsular Malaya.

Sabah and Sarawak were also economically under-developed. Due to Sabah and Sarawak’s distinctive characters, they were allowed to make specific demands as part of a deal before their incorporation into Malaysia.

These demands were known as the 20-point memorandum for Sabah and 18-point memorandum for Sarawak. Both memorandums were later used as a guide by the Cobbold Commission to ascertain the views of Sabahans and Sarawakians about Malaysia.

The demands were later discussed in the Inter-Governmental Committee before their incorporation into the Federal Constitution. At the London talks in July 1963, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Federation of Malaya, North Borneo (Sabah), Sarawak and Singapore agreed to sign the Malaysia Agreement.

The signing of the agreement was significant because it paved the way for the enactment of the Malaysia Act (Act No. 26 of 1963) which sealed the formation of Malaysia. With the enactment of the Malaysia Act, the Federal Constitution took over from the Malayan Constitution as a new “document of destiny” for Malaysia. The rights and privileges for Sabah and Sarawak are clearly stated in the Federal Constitution (Articles 161, 161A, 161B, 161E). Continue reading “The “non-fulfillment” of the Malaysian agreement: Who is to blame?”

by Joseph Tan
(Letter to DAP MP for Segambut, Lim Lip Eng)

I am one of your constituents in TTDI

I like to bring to your attention some facts to dispute the lies perpetrated by the Minister and Mayor regarding above subject.

The only justification offered by the authorities for this unreasonable increase is that the property values have not been revised since 21 years ago. Since I have records to cover the past 21 years, I will share the actual history for everyone’s awareness. This will demonstrate with facts, the blatant lies being told.

Here are my records since I moved into my property:- Continue reading “Property re-valuation – not done for 21 years?”

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and CEO of Performance Management Delivery Unit (Pemandu) Datuk Seri Idris Jala is ecstatic about Malaysia’s rise from 54 to 53 in Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perception Index (CPI) this year, declaring that Pemandu is aiming for the country to be in the top 30 by 2020.

Yes, Malaysia’s TI CPI ranking this year has improved by one step, placed 53 out of 177 countries compared to last year’s 54th ranking, while the TI CPI score has improved to 50/100 compared to last year’s 49/100.

However, the ineluctable fact is that for the fifth consecutive year, the Najib premiership (2009-2013) has registered a lower TI CPI ranking than under the two previous Prime Ministers, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah.

This is illustrated by the following chart on TI CPI 1995-2013:

Prime Minister	Best ranking	Best score	Worst ranking	Worst score
Mahathir	23(1995)	5.32/10 (1996)	37 (2003)	4.8/10 (2000)
Abdullah	39(2004)	5.1/10 (2005/7/8)	47 (2008)	5/10 (2004/6)
Najib	53 (2013)	50/100 (2013)	60 (2011)	4.3/10 (2011)

In a sense, the TI CPI 2013 is a vindication of Mahathir’s boast two days ago that corruption is worse now than during his 22 years as Prime Minister (although Abdullah can also make the same boast about his five-year premiership).
Continue reading “Instead of being in top 30 of TI CPI in 2020, Malaysia faces risk of being overtaken by China and even Indonesia in both TI CPI ranking and score”

Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
Dec 2, 2013

I am on the waiting-list for membership of the exclusive ‘Sedition Club Uniting Malaysians’, (SCUM) which has several distinguished members like Adam Adli, Haris Ibrahim, Tian Chua, Tamrin Ghafar, Safwan Anang and Zunar. I don’t think many people know the criteria which makes one eligible for membership.

Who would have realised that a well-meaning article ‘One Idealogy, Two Reactions’ about the need to be compassionate to Malaysians, regardless of their political leanings or social background, would have upset the inspector-general of police (IGP) Khalid Abu Bakar?

Does Khalid suffer from an inferiority complex or was he under extreme pressure to explain his involvement in the Lahad Datu debacle?

More importantly, he wanted to divert attention from the terrible handling of the Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab story, by the Malaysian government and himself. They probably thought they would capitalise on the story of Aishah’s enslavement. Continue reading “IGP’s Xmas hit – You better watch out”

By Kee Thuan Chye
news.malaysia.msn.com
2nd December 2013

I cannot see a fellow writer being threatened by someone in public authority for what she writes and not stand up for her. I’m therefore saying that the recent warning issued by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to political commentator Mariam Mokhtar against writing articles that could be deemed seditious is highly unwarranted and deserves to be censured.

Now, if the IGP was giving her friendly advice in saying she should not write articles that were seditious, he might have good cause to do so. Even if the articles she has written so far have not proven to be so. But that does not seem to be the tone and tenor of what he said a few days ago.

What makes his remark deserving of censure is what he added: “She had better watch out or we will go after her.” That comes across, undoubtedly, like a threat. And it’s inappropriate coming from someone like the IGP. Continue reading “IGP, What is Seditious in Mariam’s Article?”

Mariam Mokhtar | November 29, 2013
Free Malaysia Today

Malaysians must wonder why Aishah is considered safe but Chin Peng’s ashes are deemed a national threat

COMMENT

Two people with a shared ideology – communism. Both Malaysians, both radicals. Both have spent the past 30 years living outside Malaysia. Both were educated locally, one at the Methodist run Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) in Perak, the other at the Tengku Khursiah College in Negri Sembilan.

One became a leader albeit of a banned organisation and disappeared into the Malayan jungle, whilst the other disappeared into the back-streets of London into oblivion.

The two people are a Chinese man, 88-year-old Chin Peng who died in Bangkok last September and a Malay woman 69-year-old Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab who with her two comrades staged a daring escape from her alleged captors on Oct 25.

Aishah and the other women had been kept as “slaves” in a collective by a couple – an Indian and a Tanzanian for the past 30 years.

Chin Peng rose up the ranks to become the leader of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) when he was only 23-years-old. Aishah was a very promising, intelligent woman who secured a Commonwealth scholarship to study at the London School of Economics (LSE) when she was 24-years-old. Continue reading “One ideology, two reactions”

by Sheridan Mahavera
The Malaysian Insider
December 02, 2013

Instead of handing out flyers, holding ceramah and spewing propaganda against the ruling Barisan Nasional, DAP is now trying a different tack to win the hearts and minds of voters in rural Sabah and Sarawak.

It is on a building spree. Not highways or electricity grids. But small water systems, (kindergartens and micro-hydro projects) that help improve the lives of remote villages somehow overlooked by BN.

The new venture, called Impian Sabah and Impian Sarawak respectively, aims to break the psychological hold BN has over rural Sabah and Sarawak folk. It is an approach to show that DAP or any opposition party is not the demon that it is made out to be.

By making a real difference in the lives of rural Sabahans and Sarawakians, said DAP assemblyperson for Kapayan Edwin @ Jack Bosi, the party hoped to convince them that it was a party of action and not rhetoric. Continue reading “DAP working the ground to realise Pakatan’s Sabah, Sarawak dreams”

by Ravinder Singh
The Malaysian Insider
December 2, 2013

DEC 2 — In his speech at the 26th convocation of Universiti Utara Malaysia His Royal Highness the Yang Di Pertuan Agung expressed his concern about people challenging the laws of the country, including the Federal Constitution. He is reported to have said “The people should always respect and uphold the law.”

In the light of the Agung’s advise, where does the admission or confession of the former Election Commission chief Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, that the three redelineation exercises he did were done in such a way to ensure Malays retained political power and that he did so “in a proper way, not illegally”, stand?

I don’t think the Agung means that anyone is above the law or exempted from the law. Abdul Rashid’s claim that he did the redelineation in a proper way is a lie. What he did was illegal as it breached the 13th schedule of the Constitution.

The three delineation exercises were carried out in 1984, 1994 and 2003. As these were carried out in violation of the direction of law as contained in schedule 13 of the Constitution, it follows that all the seven (7) General Elections since 1984, i.e. in 1986, 1990, 1995, 1999, 2004, 2008 and 2013 which were conducted based on the three unconstitutional delineation exercises, are also unlawful and as such void.

In other words, although the BN won all those elections, they were not won with clean hands and the governments were formed unconstitutionally. But do any of those who won by playing foul games, as the referee (the EC) had put obstacles, even great obstacles in the path of the opposing teams, feel shame? The obstacles were the huge disparities in the number of voters in the different constituencies where the value of a vote in an opposition supporting area was reduced to a mere 10 per cent or even less compared to a vote in a BN supporting area. A numbers game according to Abdul Rashid. Continue reading “Illegitimacy of elections since 1984”

The Malaysian Insider today reported a column in Utusan Malaysia by Tun Dr. Mahathir showing that the former Prime Minister is still up to his game of mischief to demonise Pakatan Rakyat parties and incite racial hatred and conflict in the country.

Mahathir said PAS will never lead Malaysia and even if Pakatan Rakyat captures Putrajaya it will be a junior partner and a DAP puppet.

Before the 13GE, DAP was accused of being a PAS puppet among the Chinese and non-Malay voters while PAS was accused of being a DAP puppet among Malay voters.

It would appear that UMNO/BN leaders and propagandists want Malaysian voters to believe that DAP is puppet to PAS, while PAS is puppet to DAP – thinking that Malaysians can be easily fooled into believing that DAP could be puppet to PAS and PAS puppet to DAP!

This is of course utter nonsense, for DAP is no puppet of PAS just as PAS is no puppet of DAP. Just because UMNO can make the other Barisan Nasional parties its puppet does not mean that this is the operating principle in Pakatan Rakyat as well.
Continue reading “Mahathir should end his game of mischief in trying to demonise Pakatan Rakyat parties and incite racial hatred and conflict”