Month: February 2014

P. Waythamoorthy is set to resign as Deputy Minister and senator tomorrow because the Najib administration has “committed a historic act of betrayal to the Indian community by not honouring the MOU” with Hindraf to resolve the chronic socio-economic problems afflicting the Indian community.

It would appear that Waythamoorthy and the Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia (PHM) are the only ones in the country who do not know that Najib does not have the political will nor the courage to deliver on the promises in the MOU.

The question now is when Datuk Paul Low will follow in the footsteps of Waythamoorthy and resign as Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department as it is crystal clear except to Paul Low that Najib does not have the political will to fight grand corruption and gross abuses of power. Continue reading “When will Paul Low follow Wathamoorthy and resign as Minister in Prime Minister’s Department as the Najib administration has evinced no political will to fight grand corruption and gross abuses of powerful”

I fully agree with the founding president of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), Tunku Zain Al-Abidin Muhriz that failure to teach history properly has enabled others to invent a past that threatens national unity in Malaysia today.

Speaking at the opening of a forum organised by IDEAS yesterday to commemorate the 111 birthday of Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Zain said there were too few references to Malaysia’s own history in charting the vision for the future of the country.

“Which is why I keep saying they should be made compulsory reading in schools, instead of the lamentable textbooks that I have seen,” he said, adding that the biggest ignorance of all was that of our own history. Continue reading “Sabah students ignorant of the three most historic events in Sabah in 50 year history in Malaysia as they are not in the school history textbooks”

I am most surprised by the furore over DAP National Vice Chairman and MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok’s “Onederful Malaysia CNY 2014” video which has highlighted the political desperation of some quarters and the rank political opportunism of others.

We can agree or disagree as to whether Teresa’s video was good, bad or even atrocious; most appropriate in giving vent to the people’s heart-felt grievances about the price hikes, low educational standards, worries about security because of rising crime and rampant corruption in the country or whether it is in poor taste and not befitting the work of a Member of Parliament; but what is completely unacceptable is resort to lies and falsehoods to accuse Teresa’s video as anti-Malay and anti-Islam.

I have seen Teresa’s video a few times because of the allegations that it is anti-Malay and anti-Islam, and although I have gone through the video with great care and attention, I cannot find any part of the video – a stinging critique on the failures of the Najib government to resolve the many pressing problems in the country – which could be regarded as anti-Malay or anti-Islam.

I will ask Teresa to withdraw and apologise for the “Onederful Malaysia” video if anyone can can show there is any part which is anti-Malay and anti-Islam.

This is because the DAP is a Malaysian-centred party serving the interests of all Malaysians, regardless of race or religion, and we will not condone any action which is anti-Malay, anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Kadazan or anti-Iban or anti any religion because to be anti-Malay, anti-Chinese, anti-Indian, anti-Kadazan or anti-Iban is to do the greatest disservice to the cause of Malaysia and the fulfilment of the Malaysian Dream. Continue reading “I will ask Teresa to withdraw and apologise for the “Onderful Malaysia” video if anyone can show that there is any part which is anti-Malay or anti-Islam”

Overnight, Malaysians are asking whether the law of the jungle have replaced the rule of law in the country on our way to a fully developed nation status in six years’ time in 2020.

This follows the shocking statement by the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who dismissed calls to investigate the organisers of Thursday’s chicken slaughter protest against DAP MP Teresa Kok, and who dismissed the RM1,200 reward offered by the self-styled “Council of Islamic NGOs” who slaps Teresa saying “there is nothing to investigate as it is not a threat”.

He said: “Why do we need to investigate that?

“Slapping is not a threat. If they say murder, then it is a threat.”

Is Zahid seriously suggesting that it is perfectly lawful and permissible to organise public demonstrations to offer RM1,200 to anyone to slap the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister or the Home Minister?

Is the Home Minister advocating the law of the jungle instead of the rule of law? Then we are not heading towards a fully developed nation in 2020 but down the abyss to a failed state by the end of the decade!
Continue reading “Is Zahid seriously suggesting that it is perfectly lawful and permissible to organise public demonstrations to offer RM1,200 to anyone to slap the PM, DPM or Home Minister?”

Koon Yew Yin
8th February 2014

When Theresa Kok’s video clip for the Chinese New Year first appeared, I saw it as a cleverly done piece of political satire. It was funny, original and thought provoking. I thought the references to various personalities and public issues of concern captured some of our recent political controversies in a refreshingly irreverent and comical way. The clip brought back to me memories of that hugely popular and successful British television series, “Yes Minister” which first ran in the 1980’s and has been recently revived.

At the same time that I appreciated the black humour and wit in the “ONEderful Malaysia!” video, I was concerned that it would be viewed the opposite way by the Government and UMNO’s political supporters and would become ammunition for them to hit back not only against her, but also the DAP and the opposition parties as a whole.

Clearly the video was intended to draw attention to issues of public concern. It was also meant to draw attention to Theresa Kok as a politician and to enhance her public image. But what if the Government or its supporters twisted it around and concocted elements of racial or religious discord to smear the DAP and Pakatan coalition? I was especially concerned that the targeting of the video to a Chinese audience and timed for the Chinese New Year period was strategically unwise and could backfire.

My worse fears have now proven correct. Continue reading “Advice to All Politicians: Keep Calm, Cool and Collected”

Today is the 111th birth anniversary of Bapa Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman.

Sadly, there is nothing much to celebrate to mark the greater realization of Tunku’s Malaysia Dream – to make Malaysia a haven of peace, harmony and happiness – as 44 years after Tunku stepped down as the founding Prime Minister of Malaysia, the country has never been more polarized racially and religiously as today.

Nobody can now claim that Malaysia is a haven of peace, harmony and happiness?

In fact, Malaysia suffered the ignominy ten days ago when a Pakistani website gloated go that “Malaysia no longer land of peace and tolerance” after the latest outrages against racial and religious harmony in Malaysia – the Molotov cocktail attack on a church in Penang a day after the provocative banner, “Allah is Great. Jesus is the son of Allah” was hung outside five churches in Penang without the knowledge of church authorities and the vandalism of eight gravestones in a Christian cemetery in Kuantan.

Two days ago, some 30 members of six NGOs styling themselves the Council of Islamic NGOs staged a protest in Kuala Lumpur and conducted a pagan ritual where they slaughtered chicken and smeared their blood on a banner featuring Pakatan Rakyat leaders and offered RM1,200 to anyone who would slap DAP woman MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok and provide photographic evidence of their action.

Their actions were not only anti-women but anti-Islam as it is totally against Islam as the religion of peace and compassion. Continue reading “Call on IGP to form a special team to investigate the incessant incitement of racial and religious hatred, conflict and tension to create another May 13 riots in the past few months and to nip the nefarious and treacherous plot in the bud”

Tunku Abidin Muhriz
The Malay Mail Online
February 7, 2014

FEB 7 — Normally, I return to Negri Sembilan on Fridays, but sometimes I will stay in Kuala Lumpur and perform my prayers at the mosque named after the second of the Rightly Guided Caliphs in Damansara Heights, where there are familiar faces from the homes and offices nearby. On occasions, I go to the National Mosque (where the Heroes’ Mausoleum is located) or the Federal Territory Mosque.

Many mosques in our country and the world have been memorable, but if I had to choose my top three (apart from the Masjid Al-Haram in Makkah and the Masjid Al-Nabawi in Madinah which I went to during umrah in 1997), they would be Masjid Tengku Tengah Zaharah near Kuala Terengganu, the Gallipolli Mosque outside Sydney and the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, each for different reasons. Special mention must be made of the Mezquita in Cordoba and the Hagia Sofia in Istanbul: both former places of worship embody more history and culture than most cities on the planet. Perhaps more tangibly through buildings such as these, rather than through books and lectures, does the historical diversity and complexity in Muslim civilisations really impress.

Still, within the small geographical area of the Luak Tanah Mengandung around Seri Menanti in Negri Sembilan, each prayer experience is different. Even though the Friday khutbah might be standardised statewide, as a worshipper your thoughts are affected by the location, decor and assiduousness of upkeep of the mosque, the melodies used by the bilals and imams in their recitations, and interactions with others in the congregation. Continue reading “Seeking thought and civilisation”

Zurairi AR
The Malay Mail Online
February 7, 2014

FEB 7 — As it is often with the government, the left hand rarely — if ever — knows what the right hand is doing.

How else do you explain that in the same week Prime Minister Najib Razak urged Malaysians to listen to the “voice of reason”, another government agency urged Muslims to do exactly the opposite?

In its Friday sermon last week — which came barely a day after the prime minister’s Chinese New Year address — the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) had brazenly singled out Christians and Jews as the so-called “enemies of Islam.”

I say “brazen” because the sermon-writer in Jakim finally found the guts either by purpose or by mistake, to finally name the usually unnamed “enemies.” Continue reading “When places of worship are turned into hatred factories”

Azly Rahman
Malaysiakini
Feb 7, 2014

Blatant racism, religious bigotry, school culture degenerating, public display of hatred, urging this or that kind of jihad at times for reasons unknown, the vigilantes taking over when law and order seem to be at a critical breaking point, mass feeding of the public with stories that hath no educational value and even devoid of moral sensitivity, frequent public protests plagued with character assassinations rather that the focusing on issues to be collectively addressed as a nation, parang-wielding robberies in broad daylight on an almost weekly basis, rising number of cases of children missing, political moves crafted and executed in desperation that weaken due process in democratic culture sorely in need of sane progression, politicians producing statements in arrogance on pressing devoid of intellectual depths, the intensification of effort by fascist groups to incite violence progressively in hope that the bloody riots of May 13, 1969 is to be re-enacted on a larger scale perhaps.

The media as a technology of consciousness shaper both at the level of Grand and Subaltern Narratives have been successful in playing the role of creator of peace and destroyer of it, as if there is no difference between good and evil in the way we use the materials to build this nation. Continue reading “Needed – Kajang Declaration on Sanity”

by Elizabeth Zachariah
The Malaysian Insider
February 07, 2014

More than 24 hours after members of Muslim NGOs staged a protest in Kuala Lumpur at which they slaughtered chickens and offered RM1,200 to anyone who would slap Seputeh MP Teresa Kok, police have yet to pick up any suspects because reports were only lodged this morning.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Mohmad Salleh said investigations into the case would begin today after Kok, along with her supporters, lodged a total of seven reports at the Tun H.S. Lee police station.

When asked why no action had been taken earlier despite the presence of police at the protest, Mohmad stressed that a report had to be lodged before police could begin a probe.

“This is our standard operations. There is nothing biased about it. Our actions are the same no matter who lodges a report and we will look into this,” he told The Malaysian Insider, declining to comment further.

However, lawyers said the police should not wait for someone to lodge a police report before investigating the incident. Continue reading “24 hours later, still no police action over ‘chicken and slap protest’”

– Izmil Amri
Roketkini
February 7, 2014

NABI Muhammad S.A.W mendidik umatnya supaya menyantuni wanita. Antara hadis baginda yang termasyhur, mafhumnya; yang terbaik daripada kalangan kami adalah yang melakukan yang terbaik untuk wanitanya. Justeru Islam, sebagai agama keamanan dan mendidik akhlak, jelas sekali melarang lelaki daripada bertindak kasar terhadap wanita.

Lelaki yang mengasari wanita, bahkan yang mengancam untuk menggunakan kekasaran ke atas wanita adalah lelaki yang bacul. Ini semua orang tahu. Sesiapa pun yang mengasari perempuan pastinya akan dilihat seolah-olah syaitan bertopengkan manusia. Tidak kira apa alasan sekalipun, perempuan tidak wajar dikasari. Baik dengan tutur kata atau kerja buat serta perlakuan fizikal.

Tuhan mencipta perempuan supaya disantuni. Bukan untuk dikasari, diherdik atau dicaci maki. Tanpa perlu dipertimbangkan apa jua latar belakang keturunan, agama, pendidikan, perempuan tetap perempuan. Dia mungkin isteri seseorang atau adik, kakak dan ibu kepada seseorang.

Maka perempuan tidak boleh dikasari. Ini asas yang jelas nyata. Tidak ada lelaki yang waras akalnya suka melihat titis air mata wanita. Lelaki yang sentiasa dahaga dan giat memakan air mata wanita itu ialah lelaki yang dayus, pengecut dan punya kebarangkalian besar tidak mempunyai organ kejantanan yang mencukupi. Continue reading “Jangan mengasari wanita”

The Malay Mail Online
February 7, 2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 — Scorching temperatures of the current lunar new year are no match for the heated tempers surrounding a seemingly innocuous Chinese New Year by DAP’s Seputeh MP, Teresa Kok.

But while the video itself was veiled in sly innuendo for the sake of plausible deniability, the responses that it triggered have laid bare three things:

1. Malaysians have lost their humour

The video is satire, that much is undeniable. Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, for one, noted that the real crime was that it was not humorous at all.

While the jury may be out on the quality of the comedy, even non-native speakers of the Mandarin and Cantonese used within will see that all it does is caricaturise personalities and events it claims not to.

Of course there is the sting to the ego if you were to find yourself the subject of ridicule, but that is life. Sometimes the world laughs with you; other times, it laughs at you. Continue reading “Three things we learned from: The Teresa Kok video”

Mariam Mokhtar | February 7, 2014
Free Malaysia Today

The behaviour of the protesters yesterday reminds us of religious fanatics in Afghanistan or deepest Pakistan.

COMMENT

The deviants who claim to be Muslims and who wish to preserve the dignity of Malays by offering a reward to anyone who slaps Seputeh MP Teresa Kok are deranged.

They should know that there are no winners in the escalating tensions within the country. The latest act of bloody provocation has tarnished Islam and brought further disrepute to the Muslim community.

These deviants have also insulted the memory of Bapa Malaysia Tunku Abdul Rahman who was born on Feb 8, 111 years ago. If he was alive today, he would have shed tears to see the country which he led to Merdeka being destroyed by men who are not worthy to be called leaders.

The men who claim to represent the Council of Islamic NGOs slaughtered four chickens and then daubed blood on the faces of opposition representatives, portrayed on a banner. They were upset by Teresa’s satirical video.

Did they feel good making that spectacle? Judging from the news reports, they acted like crazed men. Their behaviour reminds us of religious fanatics in Afghanistan or deepest Pakistan, who have just beheaded a man, and in their euphoria, celebrate by shooting their AK-47s into the air.

If these deviants are not censured, how long will it be before we descend to the point of no return and these loopy individuals bathe themselves in blood, whilst shouting “God is Great”? Continue reading “Deviant sect gives M’sia two tight slaps”

The Star
February 7, 2014

PETALING JAYA: With Penang cuisine capturing the interest of the world earlier this week through international accolades, netizens have come out in force to sing praises of their favourite places to dine in the state.

And from the feedback on Facebook, it would seem that half the island is cooking for the other half to eat – from char kuey teow and pasembor from Gurney Drive to laksa at Air Itam, said Jenanee Jai and Soo Lin Ong.

Jeffrey Woo recommended the Anjung Gurney hawker centre and hawkers around the Pulau Tikus area, while Abu Bakar said his places of choice were Tajudin Restaurant in Queen Street and Ramzan Restaurant in Ah Quee Street. Continue reading “Netizens: Good food to be had all over Penang”

Dato’ Mohd.Ariff Sabri bin Hj. Abdul Aziz
DAP MP for Raub
Friday, 7 February 2014

Is this country descending into a state of lawlessness? The chief executive is acting irresponsibly by allowing mobs to place posters making offers to people at large to collect reward money if they can assault Teresa Kok, a member of parliament. What if there were posters offering reward money to people if they can spit upon Najib or Rosmah? I am sure the police will come down swooping to arrest and jail whomsoever is responsible.

The police must act responsibly by going after the authors of the various reward posters offering money to assault Tersesa Kok. Surely these are invitations to the public at large to commit physical harm on someone else.

Causing physical harm or the threat of making one isn’t the same as making a parody of the country’s leadership and its management of the country. What if RM1200 is not enough and posters are put up to invite people to do more than slap?

The people of Kajang should take note of this. The unrestrained behaviour of the mobs acting under the cloak of Muslim NGO should be condemned vehemently. They should take this as indicator of the moral health of the BN government led by an incapacitate leader. Mob action and lawlessness appear to be popular medium of expression for UMNO supporters. This can only be taken as indicative of UMNO’s depraved religious, nationalist and racial sentiments. Continue reading “Are we Turning into a State of Lawlessness?”

Feb 07, 2014 | HARAKAHDAILY

KUALA LUMPUR: PAS kesal dengan tindakan provokasi perkauman melampau akhir-akhir ini.

“Tindakan melampau ini bukan sahaja boleh mencetuskan suasana tidak harmoni dalam negara bahkan ia akan mengundang pelbagai reaksi negatif terhadap Islam,” tegas Naib Presiden PAS, Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.

Katanya, tindakan menyembelih ayam untuk upacara yang bertentangan dengan akidah Islam tidak seharusnya dibiarkan, seolah-olah ianya selaras dengan kehendak syarak.

Beliau berkata, PAS mengesahkan agar semua pihak bertindak mengikut lunas perundangan dan membawa sebarang isu yang dianggap melampau kepada pihak berkuasa.

Lebih sedih, ujar beliau apabila tindakan menggalakkan orang menampar dengan habuan wang itu disasarkan terhadap seorang wanita. Continue reading “Teresa Kok: PAS kecam provokasi melampau”

– Ravinder Singh
The Malaysian Insider
February 07, 2014

As one who went to school with Malay children, then worked and lived with and among Malays, and am still living among Malays and very much in close contact with so many of them in my daily activities, I feel ashamed of the actions of the group calling itself “Council of Islamic NGOs”.

Over the years, from my Malay friends and colleagues, and from reading of Islam, I learnt that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance. I still firmly hold to this belief.

I am therefore disillusioned and ashamed by the acts of a few bigots calling themselves the “Council of Islamic NGOs” who held a public demonstration where they slit the throats of two chicken, smeared the blood on poster of persons in the opposition camp, then stomped on the pictures of those persons. The poster had the words in bold “13 MEI 1969 DALAM IGAUAN” (igauan can mean talking in one’s sleep). I leave it to readers to interpret that.

Are these bigots not the real threat to Islam as they bring disgrace to the Islam preached by the Prophet? Were their actions not “syirik”?

Jakim must come out to tell peace-loving Malaysians whether the actions of this small group are in accordance with the teachings of the Prophet. If yes, then an explanation is in order as to how they are so. If not, then what action is Jakim going to take to rehabilitate this small group of bigots who only bring shame to the religion.? Continue reading “Ashamed of the un-Islamic acts of bigots”

Imagine what the Police would have done if there is a clutch of six NGOs which held a demonstration yesterday afternoon which offered RM1,200 reward to anyone who dared to slap the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and provide photographic evidence of their action, followed by the slaughter of two chicken and the smearing of their blood on a banner featuring photographs of UMNO Ministers including the Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin?

If there had been such a demonstration, the entire force of the Royal Malaysian Police led by the Inspector-General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar himself would have landed on the 30 odd demonstrators from the six NGOs like a ton of bricks and all the demonstrators would instantly be held under lock and key, subject to rigorous investigation and swift prosecution not only for violating the Peaceful Assembly Act in not giving police the minimum of 10-day notification of an assembly, but the more heinous crimes of causing ‘hurt’ to parliamentary democracy under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 [Sosma] and a battery of other charges under the Sedition Act, Penal Code, etc. which would probably keep them behind bars for the best part of their lives.

In actual fact, the clutch of six NGOs of some 30 people would not even be able to start slaughtering any innocent chicken, for they would have been packed into the “Black Marias” before they could gather, as the police would have got wind of their intentions well in advance.

The Malaysian Special Branch is undoubtedly one of the best of its kind in the world, thanks to the British colonial legacy and the primacy it has always enjoyed in the police hierarchy with collection of intelligence to protect the present regime as the top police priority when in a truly democratic society, the top police priority should be to promote and protect parliamentary democracy and human rights.

It would be completely inconceivable that media representatives from both printed and electronic media could be informed to give full coverage to the chicken-slaughtering and blood-smearing demonstration yesterday without the police having any inkling of the event before-hand – which could call for a complete shake-up of the Special Branch and even sacking of the Special Branch director. Continue reading “What Police would have done if a clutch of six NGOs had a demonstration which offered RM1,200 reward to anyone who dared to slap the Prime Minister and smeared the blood of slaughtered chicken on a banner featuring photographs of UMNO Ministers including the DPM?”

Mine! Mine! Umno Vice President and Minister for Rural and Regional Development Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal seems to make himself a bigger fool and is now digging a bigger hole for himself.

I feel enormous sadness that we have Cabinet Ministers who cannot be humble and admit that they have made mistakes.

Let me tell the UMNO Ministers that there is nothing wrong with them admitting that they have made mistakes, and that in this case, Apdal had wrongly accused DAP National Vice Chairman and MP for Seputeh Teresa Kok’s video “Onderful Malaysia CNY 2014” of lampooning the Malaysian security forces and the Lahad Datu intrusion tragedy.

After all, UMNO Ministers are mere mortals. Even Homer nods!

Apdal’s mistake is all the more understandable and excusable as he did not understand Mandarin or Cantonese, the languages used in the video dialogue, and he could only have heard a garbled, inaccurate, biased and tendentious version of the video from his colleagues in the Barisan Nasional, whether MCA, Gerakan or Liberal Democratic Party, who have political axes to grind. Continue reading “Mine! Mine! Shafie is now digging a bigger hole for himself!”

Will the forthcoming Kajang by-election in Selangor be the dirtiest or cleanest by-election in Malaysian history?

It has the capacity of being either depending on the role of the contending candidates, the two political coalitions of Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat, and the supervising bodies like the Election Commission, the police, etc.

The Kajang by-election promises to be a by-election of many surprises.

The very holding of the Kajang by-election is itself a surprise – the first surprise. Continue reading “Will Kajang by-election be the dirtiest or cleanest by-election in Malaysian history?”