Day: July 15, 2015

(Scroll down for English text)

Politik Malaysia sudah pun kotor dan tercemar tanpa perlu Mustafa Ali melompat masuk ke dalam lubuk politik ini dengan pembohongan dan fitnah untuk memburukkan serta membunuh wibawa Progresif PAS yang masih lagi bersamanya sebagai rakan seperjuangan PAS

Dua hari lalu, saya terkejut apabila Presiden PAS, Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang, telah meniru suara propagandis dan tentera maya UMNO dengan menuduh DAP sebagai “cauvinis” semata-mata kerana DAP menuntut dihidupkan kembali pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan, yang sememangnya terkandung dalam Manifesto Pakatan Rakyat Nasional dan Manifesto Pakatan Rakyat Selangor dalam pilihanraya umum ke-13 yang lalu.

Hadi seolah-olah tidak tahu bahawa pilihanraya kerajaan tempatan wujud di Indonesia, Turki dan Iran. Tak kanlah Hadi nak menuduh Presiden Jokowi dari Indonesia, Presiden Erdogan (Turki) dan bekas Presiden Ahmadinejad (Iran) adalah “komunis” dan “cauvinis” kerana mereka melaksanakan pilihanraya tempatan?

Hari ini saya terkejut apabila seorang lagi pemimpin kanan PAS, bekas Setiausaha Agungnya Datuk Mustafa Ali yang turut meniru suara propagandis dan tentera maya UMNO kononnya parti baru yang akan ditubuhkan oleh kumpulan progresif PAS bakal menghadapi masalah kerana ia adalah proksi DAP, dan dengan itu, orang Melayu tidak akan percaya kepada parti itu.

Sedangkan Mustafa sendiri telah mengakui bahawa label “proksi DAP” ini telah digunakan terhadap PAS apabila PAS bekerjasama dengan DAP dalam Pakatan Rakyat.

Adakah PAS pernah menjadi proksi DAP? Adakah ia menjadi sebab mengapa PAS sukar mendapat sokongan orang Melayu? Continue reading “Malaysian politics are dirty and polluted enough without Mustafa having to leap into the swamp with lies and falsehoods to demonise and character-assassinate PAS progressives”

This is the fourth day of the Low Yat Mob Incident on Sunday, July 12, 2015 and situation is returning to normal.

The term of “Low Yat Incident” which is the official terminology for the rioting on Sunday, reminds me of May 13 Incident, the race riots which took place in Kuala Lumpur after the 1969 general election where official figures put the casualties as less than 200 although different unofficial figures were much higher, even as high as suggesting four-figure numbers.

In my first speech in Parliament in February 1971 when Parliament reconvened after a 20-month suspension, I had called for a Commission of Inquiry into the causes of the May 13 racial riots and to propose a blueprint to reconcile the different races and build a united Malaysian nation.

But this proposal was rejected and up to today, there had been conflicting, divergent and even fictitious accounts about the causes of the May 13 riots 46 years ago.

This “sweeping under the carpet” mentality is still at work, for after the refusal to have a Commission of Inquiry into the May 13, 1969 race riots, there was also no inquiry into the causes and the events of the race riots in Taman Medan 14 years ago in 2001.

This is most unsatisfactory and unacceptable. Continue reading “Call for Royal Commission of Truth and Reconciliation on Low Yat Mob Incident headed by Rafidah Aziz to ensure that there will be no recurrence of race riots because of petty crimes”

Never before has Malaysia been in such a mess.

What is devastating is that there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

Malaysia’s spirit cannot soar and reach for the skies, to seek and attain an ever-higher level of national achievement and human excellence.

Instead, we are daily bogged down by the mundane and sordid details of one scandal after another, as if we need constant reminders as to how far Malaysia has fallen from grace from the era of Tunku Abdul Rahman, Razak and Hussein Onn.

Dominating the landscape of scandals is the 1MDB “mother and mother of all financial scandals”, a hydra-headed monster capable of unending combinations and permutations to unveil the gravity of the collapse of an ethical government and the principles of accountability, transparency and good governance in the country. Continue reading “Malaysia is going through “the worst of times”. Are there enough Malaysians to make it “the best of times”?”

By Bloomberg editors
10th July 2015

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak may very well be, as he insists, innocent of charges that nearly US$700 million (RM2.65 billion) in government-linked funds ended up in his personal accounts. But his handling of the scandal thus far has only underscored weaknesses in the Malaysian political system.

The accusations against Najib revolve around the finances of 1MDB – a debt-ridden state investment company whose advisory board he chairs. In early July, the Wall Street Journal reported that hundreds of millions of dollars may have moved through agencies linked to 1MDB and landed in accounts controlled by the prime minister.

Najib has alleged a political conspiracy to undermine him and vowed not to resign. He’s threatened to sue the Journal, while Malaysian police have launched a probe into how reporters obtained the evidence for its story. The Journal has said it stands by its reporting.

Whatever the facts of the case, Najib inhabits a system that has long suffered from allegations of cronyism. His United Malays National Organisation (Umno) has dominated the government since independence in 1957, in part through gerrymandering and affirmative-action policies that favor the Malay majority. Continue reading “Overcoming the legacy of patronage politics”

The Malaysian Insider
14 July 2015

Knowing the facts and the problems but not telling the truth is not an option, Malaysia’s longest-serving lawmaker Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said in his Hari Raya Aidilfitri message tonight.

The Gua Musang MP and Barisan Nasional backbencher said those in the know about the country’s problems should stand by their principles and help in resolving them.

“We earnestly hope that there is still honour left in our beloved country and that there are honourable men who have the relevant facts to put the matter to rest,” he said, in a veiled remark aimed at authorities looking into various controversies plaguing the country including, debt laden 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

“They should stand fast by their principles and take the moral high ground to assist in the resolution of the problem.

“If this was the case, surely there is no necessity for us to waste time instituting inquiries and investigations.

“Knowing the facts and the problem but not telling the truth is not an option,” he said. Continue reading “Not telling the truth is not an option, Ku Li tells those in the know of Malaysia’s problems”

By Ramon Navaratnam
Malaysiakini
Jul 13, 2015

I refer to the thoughtful letter written by my former colleague Sheriff Kassim recent letter in The Star (July 7) and also in the NST (July 8) on ‘Moderation?’ Sheriff rightly concludes that “the growth of the economy and the happiness of the people depend on the country taking the moderate path, in line with the principles enshrined in the constitution and our obligations as a member of the international community”.

Sheriff indicated that there are many ‘sacred cows’ like the resistance to change, the New Economic Policy (NEP), the university entry qualifications, the Education Policy and inter alia , government procurement policies. I believe that these sacred cows have to be managed better and removed for Malaysia to progress.

I fully agree with Sheriff that the return to the moderate path in our national policies and practices will enable Malaysia to succeed and prosper and rise as a united nation in the longer term, or fall.

However, I have to confess that I fear that Malaysia will gradually decline, decay and fal, if our beloved country continues to veer from the path of moderation. Indeed Malaysia could slowly slide like Greece has if we adopt more extremist and parochial policies and tolerate narrow and polluted practices. Continue reading “Our rise or fall depends on moderate path ahead”

Malay Mail Online
July 14, 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, July 14 — Malaysia has everything to lose if it ever sees a repeat of the deadly May 13 race riots, Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz said following the unrest at Low Yat Plaza here on the weekend.

Urging the younger generation to resist dismantling the efforts to heal the nation following the 1969 riots, the former minister said all Malaysians must learn from the “dark period” of the country’s history and free their minds of prejudice, bias, and parochial tendencies.

Expressing sadness over the “mob violence” that left five people injured and three more arrested, Rafidah also questioned the need to make race the focus of an issue that began over an alleged shoplifting incident.

“I have gone through that sad dark period in our nation’s socio-economic history… triggered by the May 13 1969 riots… it is NOT something to be proud of… it is something from which we need to learn valuable lessons.

“My generation of Malaysian leaders, and Malaysians, have put in much effort to heal the pain of the May 13, 1969 tragedy… to narrow the chasms that had been created, and to rebuild a strong and resilient Malaysia, forged upon the strength of unity in diversity.

“The generations ensuing must refrain from undoing what has been tirelessly forged,” she wrote on Facebook. Continue reading “No pride in May 13, Rafidah Aziz tells young Malaysians after Low Yat fracas”