Posted on

Whether the 11th Sarawak state general election will be the third time Sarawakians spearhead Malaysian political changes as happened in the 2006 and 2011 state polls?

Whether the 11th Sarawak state general election will be the third time Sarawakians spearhead Malaysian political changes as happened in the 2006 and 2011 state polls?

The question I want to pose tonight is whether the 11th Sarawak state general election, whether held this year or next, will be the third time Sarawakians spearhead political changes in Malaysia.

In the ninth Sarawak state general election in 2006, DAP made history in Sarawak winning from one to six state assembly seats, spearheading the “308 political tsunami” of the 2008 Malaysian general election where the Umno/BN coalition was ousted from power as the government in five States and lost for the first time its two-thirds parliamentary majority.

The 2011 Sarawak State General Election made further history when Pakatan Rakyat won 15 State Assembly seats, with DAP winning 12 and PKR three. The major electoral shifts in the 2011 Sarawak state general election spearheaded the “Ubah” political awakening in the 13th Federal general elections, where Datuk Seri Najib Razak became the first minority Prime Minister in the nation’s history and still without two-thirds parliamentary majority – as UMNO/BN won 48% of electoral support although he won the majority of the 222 parliamentary seats because undemocratic constituency redelineations.

What is in store for the 11th Sarawak state general election which must be held by next August? Continue reading “Whether the 11th Sarawak state general election will be the third time Sarawakians spearhead Malaysian political changes as happened in the 2006 and 2011 state polls?”

Posted on

Ministers have suddenly become prolific letter writers but why is there no detailed rebuttal to serious WSJ allegations of corruption and gross abuses of power about 1MDB billions of ringgit bankrolled for 13GE?

Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Cabinet Ministers have suddenly become prolific letter writers to international publications but why is there no detailed rebuttal to serious Wall Street Journal allegations of corruption and gross abuses of power four days ago about 1MDB billions of ringgit bankrolled for the 13th General Election campaigning two years ago?

Two weeks ago, the Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Anifah Aman wrote an Open Letter to New York Times protesting against the interview by former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir who touched on the 1MDB scandal, UMNO and accusations against Najib and expressing regret at Mahathir’s action “to undermine his own country through the international media as part of a personal political vendetta”.

In one fell swoop, the nation’s elder statesman and the longest-serving Prime Minister in the nation’s history has been reduced to an anti-national digit on the same level as other critics of the government-of-the-day who are accused of ignoble and even disloyal motives for bad-mouthing the government and the country.

It is the irony of ironies that Mahathir himself had himself made such allegations against his critics when he was Prime Minister for 22 years. Continue reading “Ministers have suddenly become prolific letter writers but why is there no detailed rebuttal to serious WSJ allegations of corruption and gross abuses of power about 1MDB billions of ringgit bankrolled for 13GE?”

Posted on

An open letter to Bloomberg

— Idris Jala
The Malay Mail Online
June 20, 2015

JUNE 20 — When I read William Pesek’s latest commentary on Bloomberg View, I barely recognised the country he was writing about. He starts by referring to Malaysia’s “underlying economic distress” and “prolonged slow growth”, which he says are caused by “race-based policies that strangle innovation, feed cronyism and repel multinational companies.”
‎
The facts, however, are these:

1. Between 2009 and 2014, Malaysian Gross National Income grew by 47.7 per cent.

2. Growth last year was six per cent, and over the next four years the OECD predicts Malaysia will enjoy annual growth of 5.6 per cent. It would be perverse to characterise this as “slow”. By contrast, the Economist reported last month that “The European Commission is forecasting growth in 2015 of 1.5 per cent, which would be the euro area’s best outcome since 2011.” A growth rate nearly four times that of some of the most advanced economies in the world hardly suggests “distress”.

3. Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak launched Malaysia’s ‘Economic Transformation Programme’ in 2010. Let me highlight some key achievements: Continue reading “An open letter to Bloomberg”

Posted on

Malaysia Gets a Dose of Real Talk

By William Pesek
Bloomberg
Jun 18, 2015

Asia-based journalists have missed Mahathir Mohamad since he left office in 2003. The former Malaysian prime minister’s mercurial governing style and fiery rhetoric made for great copy. I was in a Hong Kong ballroom in 1997 when Mahathir — the man credited with turning the agricultural backwater Kuala Lumpur, which literally means “muddy river,” into one of Asia’s most impressive skylines — responded to his country’s crashing economy by castigating hedge fund managers. He singled out George Soros as a “moron.”

Mahathir now has a new target — Najib Razak, Malaysia’s current prime minister. The daily squabbling between Najib and his predecessor has unsettled Malaysian markets, with the ringgit falling to its lowest value in a decade. But Najib has nobody to blame but himself for the attacks, given the country’s underlying economic distress. Malaysia’s prolonged slow growth, which has Fitch now threatening a downgrade of the country’s credit ratings, traces back to Najib’s refusal, or inability, to make good on his pledges to dismantle race-based policies that strangle innovation, feed cronyism and repel multinational companies.

You don’t have to take Mahathir’s word for it — Malaysia’s most successful entrepreneurs say the same thing. Just ask Tony Fernandes of AirAsia. Continue reading “Malaysia Gets a Dose of Real Talk”

Posted on

‘Ultra Malay racist’ BTN undermining multicultural Malaysia, says G25 rep

By Zurairi AR
Malay Mail Online
June 17, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 ― The National Civics Bureau (BTN) is undermining Putrajaya’s effort to promote inclusiveness among races, former ambassador Datuk Noor Farida Ariffin said yesterday after the agency’s slides critical of several groups were leaked online.

Noor Farida also slammed BTN for toeing the line of religious authorities by demonising liberalism and pluralism without explaining why, when such concepts are reflected in the Quran, the Federal Constitution, as well as the Rukunegara.

“There seems to be very little doubt that BTN is an ultra Malay racist agency. How the government can establish an organisation like this and use civil servants and public funds boggles the mind,” said Noor Farida, the spokesman of G25, a group of former Malay high-ranking civil servants.

“Instead of promoting national unity, the BTN is undermining it. Notions like Ketuanan Melayu (Malay Supremacy) appears to be it’s main agenda. Whatever happened to the Ministry of National Unity? It has now been relegated to nothing.” Continue reading “‘Ultra Malay racist’ BTN undermining multicultural Malaysia, says G25 rep”

Posted on

Why the BTN must be shut down

Azrul Mohd Khalib
The Malay Mail Online
June 19, 2015

JUNE 19 ― Ask anyone who has ever done their undergraduate degree in Malaysian public universities and quite a few of them will tell you how they were forced to attend and endure the Biro Tatanegara courses.

Each year, hundreds of students join civil servants from various departments, ministries and institutions to be indoctrinated or brainwashed into becoming unthinking, obedient and compliant drones whose allegiance is arguably not towards God, King and Country but more likely leaning towards Umno, Melayu and of course, Umno.

What they often produce instead each year are groups of people who are often embarrassed, cynical and frustrated listening to a bumbling group of individuals who have no business being instructors of anything other than potty training.

Many former attendees admit to being shocked and mortified at the content of these courses which are often unashamedly racist, bigoted, and ignorant and Malay Muslim supremacist in nature. The thing is the attendees are often multi-ethnic and reflect the rich diversity of Malaysian society.

Instead of fulfilling its stated aims which are to nurture the spirit of patriotism and commitment to excellence and good values among Malaysians, and to train leaders and future leaders to support the nation’s development efforts, this government agency which exists under the Prime Minister’s Department has for decades promoted racial and religious discrimination and divisiveness. Continue reading “Why the BTN must be shut down”

Posted on

DAP ideology suits rapper Edry just fine

By Geraldine Tong
Malaysiakini
Jun 21, 2015

MALAYSIANS KINI Edry Faizal Yusof is a Malay who speaks near-perfect Chinese. But suggest it as a reason for his joining DAP, a Chinese-majority political party, and he noticeably bristled at the thought.

“People always say ‘oh you speak Chinese, no wonder you joined DAP’. But that has nothing to do with anything,” Edry insisted.

For Edry, now a coordinator for DAP mouthpiece Roketkini, it has never been a race thing, but more of an ideology thing.

“When I first started considering getting involved in politics, I did my research and found that DAP and its ideals suited me best. That’s why I joined them,” he explained simply.

But he has not always been interested in politics, he admitted. Continue reading “DAP ideology suits rapper Edry just fine”

Posted on

BTN is a tool for Umno’s propaganda

– Iskandar Fareez
The Malaysian Insider
21 June 2015

I am appalled to read the recent statement made by the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Razali Ibrahim in defence of the National Civic Bureau (BTN).

Perhaps the leaking of presentation slides are not enough and Razali needs more testimonials from participants before he admits that BTN was and will continue to be a tool for Umno’s political propaganda.

From my personal experience going through training at BTN during my secondary school days, the modules were designed with the purpose of indoctrinating participants with a Malay supremacist agenda under the guise of nation building.

Being only in my teen years, we were called on to defend Malaysia’s current leadership to avoid any split of Malay political dominance.

We were cautioned that any hints of discord among the Malay community will be used by the opportunist non-Malays to take over the country. Continue reading “BTN is a tool for Umno’s propaganda”