Day: June 18, 2014

With 74 days to go to celebrate the 57th Merdeka Day Anniversary and 90 days to celebrate the 51st Malaysia Day Anniversary, the nation’s greatest strengths – our ethnic, religious and cultural diversities – seemed to have become our greatest weaknesses.

Voices of intolerance, hatred, conflict and extremism filled the public spaces and are trying to drown out the voices of tolerance, peace, harmony and moderation, finding surprise ally in the authorities who have abdicated their responsibilities to uphold the law and keep the peace in the country.

Suddenly, Malaysia has become an even more abnormal country – symbolized by the continuing mystery of the 102-day missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH 370 tragedy/disaster with 239 passengers/crew on board and the 13-month disappearance of the Malaysian Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak from major national issues after the 13th General Elections in May last year.

There are so many laws in the country, but Malaysia has never been more lawless in recent weeks.

The Inspector-General of Police should be the Chief Custodian of Law in the country but he has become the No. 1 Law-breaker in refusing to enforce the supreme law of land – the Malaysian Constitution.

There is even a quiet coup d’etat in the Cabinet, with the hitherto third-tier Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Islamic affairs usurping the powers of second-tier and even first-tier Ministers in the Cabinet when the Minister concerned, Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom shunted aside both the Prime Minister and the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of law and the constitution, Nancy Shukri to give the unilateral, arbitrary and unconstitutional statement in Parliament that Malaysia is not a secular state.

This is the first time in the nation’s 57-year history that a Minister said in Parliament that Malaysia is not a secular state – in total contradiction to the statement by Bapa Malaysia and the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman who said in Parliament more than half a century ago on May 1. 1958: “I will like to make it clear that this country is not an Islamic state as it is generally understood; we merely provided that Islam shall be the official religion of the state”. Continue reading “UMNO Selangor motion on hudud implementation withdrawn as Selangor PR State Assembly members from DAP, PKR and PAS fully united and had decided to vote against UMNO motion in keeping with the PR Common Policy Framework that justice, freedom and good governance and not hudud are the common PR agenda priorities”

BY JENNIFER GOMEZ
Published: 18 June 2014 | Updated: 18 June 2014 10:39 AM
The Malaysian Insider

After more than 100 days since the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, it is time for Putrajaya to be held accountable for the tragedy, a forum was told last night.

Veteran DAP leader Lim Kit Siang accused Putrajaya of dragging its feet in launching an inquiry to find out what actually caused the plane’s disappearance, adding that “heads should roll”.

“It’s been 101 days and time to demand accountability, heads should roll.

“And we must make it very clear that we cannot accept there will be no investigation until the plane is found,” he said at a forum to commemorate the plane’s disappearance after 100 days.
Continue reading “MH370: Time for accountability, heads must roll, forum told”

COMMENTARY BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
18 June 2014

Although the country is imploding, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his advisers believe that all is well. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, June 18, 2014.Although the country is imploding, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his advisers believe that all is well. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, June 18, 2014.In Seri Perdana, sits an increasingly happy and contented man.

Never mind that the country is witnessing early signs of anarchy. Never mind that Islamic religious authorities seem to be setting the agenda for this multiracial and secular country, threatening to do what Boko Haram is doing in Nigeria: destroying Bibles. Never mind that Malaysia is veering so far off course that even its most ardent defenders have lost faith… in everything.

In the serene enclave in Seri Perdana, all is well, according to those who have spoken to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak recently and some of his advisers. He does not wear the post-GE13 dead man walking look, the look of someone destined for the political scrap heap through a combination of his own ineptitude and the prodding of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, instigator-in-chief. Continue reading “A happy PM, but a sad nation”