Day: December 24, 2014

I fully endorse what the Selangor Mentri Besar and PKR Deputy President Azmin Ali said yesterday, that hudud is not a common policy of Pakatan Rakyat, hence PAS should bring the issue to the Pakatan Rakyat presidential council for discussion.

Azmin referred to the September 28, 2011 meeting of Pakatan Rakyat Presidential Council at the PAS Headquarters attended by over 30 top leaders of DAP, PKR and PAS, which was also attended the then DAP National Chairman, Karpal Singh, and Kelantan exco members, and the consensus was that hudud was not part of PR joint common policy framework until all parties agreed to it.

As Azmin said: “If there is any new opinion or suggestion, it has to be brought back to the original consensus which was agreed among Pakatan, meaning that it has to go back to Pakatan’s presidential council.”

But PAS has never brought this matter to Pakatan’s presidential council.

In fact, the headline of The Malaysian Insider report on the Sept. 28, 2011 PR Presidential Council meeting was: “Pakatan: Hudud only if all parties agree.” Continue reading “No point in my attending any future PR Presidential Council meetings if PAS pushes for implementation of hudud in December 29 Kelantan State Assembly special meeting”

The latest chapter in the host of merry-go-rounds created in the 40-year nightmare of illegal immigrants in Sabah is the establishment of the Working Committee on the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Illegal Immigrants in Sabah (RCIIIS) Report under the chairmanship of the Sabah Deputy Chief Minister and Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) President Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan to “peruse and study” the RCIIIS Report.

And true to form and substance as the latest merry-go-round, up to now, nearly 40 days after its first announcement by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in mid-November when he visited Sabah, nobody knows whether the RCIIIS Report Working Committee has started to operate, as nobody could say whether Joseph Pairin has accepted the appointment as Chairman of the Working Committee.

The last public statement by Joseph Pairin was on Dec. 3, the day the RCIIIS Report was made public in Kota Kinabalu by the Chief Secrertary Tan Sri Hamsa Ali and the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.

Joseph Pairin complained that he had yet to receive his appointment letter although it was nearly three weeks since Najib’s announcement of the Working Committee and his appointment.

Since then, the Home Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who together with the Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman, is co-chair of the Permanent Committee of the RCIIIIS Report, had visited Sabah in mid-December and announced the five terms of reference of the Working Committee. Continue reading “Ultimate political humiliation for Joseph Pairin to accept RCIIIS Report Working Committee Chairmanship unless he has the political will and courage to come up with a report that the weight evidence of 211 RCIIIS witnesses and memorandum show there was ‘Project I/C’ involving political masterminds”

Christmas 2014 Message

I had hoped that the police return of the 31 Christian hymnals meant for Orang Asli parishioners to Catholic priest Father Cyril Mannayagam in Tangkok, Johore on December 18 would start a virtuous cycle of inter-religious respect, tolerance and acceptance of Malaysia as a plural nation to end the rhetoric and politics of hate, extremism, intolerance and bigotry which had recently hounded, haunted and disgraced Malaysia.

But this was not to be, and there had been no surcease or let-up in the rhetoric and politics of extremism, intolerance and bigotry, as evidenced by the ISMA demand that Muslims should not wish “Merry Christmas” to Christians, the warning that Christmas celebrations were only a ploy by the Christian community to proselytize among the Muslims, and the tearing up by a Perkasa protestor of a DAP banner wishing “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” in front of the Perak DAP headquarters last Friday.

But Malaysian moderates of goodwill and reason must not despair by such setbacks but must persevere in their mission for harmony, tolerance and moderation in the country.

Let Malaysian Christians and all patriotic Malaysians reaffirm on Christmas 2014 to provide greater support to policies and politics of inclusion where all Malaysians, regardless of politics, race, religion, gender or age can stand as one to promote tolerance, harmony and unity.
Continue reading “Let Malaysian Christians and all patriotic Malaysians reaffirm on Christmas 2014 to provide greater support to policies and politics of inclusion where all Malaysians, regardless of politics, race, religion, gender or age can stand as one to promote tolerance, harmony and unity”