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With three-month suspension of The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily, Malaysia in free fall to become a failed state

Three days ago, I warned: “A darkness is descending on Malaysia.”

Two days ago, DAP MP for Petaling Jaya Utara Tony Pua was barred from leaving the country to fly to Yogyakarta, Indonesia and may be investigated under the new-fangled offence of “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy” which could send him to jail up to 20 years.

Today, the Home Ministry suspended the publishing permit of The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily for three months from July 27, for reporting on the RM42 billion 1MDB scandal which were regarded by the Najib premiership as “prejudicial or likely to be prejudicial to public order, security or likely to alarm public opinion or is likely to be prejudicial to public and national interest”.

Darkness is swiftly descending in Malaysia.

Malaysia has become a topsy-turvy world. Continue reading “With three-month suspension of The Edge Weekly and The Edge Financial Daily, Malaysia in free fall to become a failed state”

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The least Abdul Rahman should do as BN strategic communications director is to get Najib to declare at the PM’s birthday bash tonight where the RM2.6 billion in his personal bank accounts in AmBank in March 2013 came from and to whom and where they have gone to

Minister for Urban Well-being, Housing and Local Government, Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan will be guilty of the greatest national disservice if the sole agenda of his appointment as Barisan Nasional Strategic Communications Director is to distract attention from Wall Street Journal’s (WSJ) July 2 report that Malaysian government investigators have found US$700 million (RM2.6 billion) deposited into the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s personal accounts in AmBank in 2013 just before the 13th General Election instead of helping to establish the facts of the Prime Minister’s alleged RM2.6 billion personal accounts.

Since his sudden appearance as BN Strategic Communications Director the previous Wednesday, Rahman had got so much eggs on his face, and on a daily basis, that it is virtually impossible to find a centimeter on his face which is not egg-splattered – whether because of Rahman’s “God-send” Lester Melyani; Lester’s utterly discredited video confession even before all the parts had been aired publicly; the crazy and counter-productive notion for Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to block access to Sarawak Report (forcing Malaysians to undergo an instant education of how to circumvent official Internet blocks) or the hyping of patriotic and valiant efforts to pry open the RM42 billion 1MDB financial scandal whether by journalists in the Edge or by MPs like Tony Pua and Rafizi Ramli as offences like “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”, sabotage, “toppling the elected government” or even treason! Continue reading “The least Abdul Rahman should do as BN strategic communications director is to get Najib to declare at the PM’s birthday bash tonight where the RM2.6 billion in his personal bank accounts in AmBank in March 2013 came from and to whom and where they have gone to”

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Hadi is the single cause of the death of Pakatan Rakyat not only for violating the PR Common Policy Framework and the PR consensus operational principle but trying to be “master” of PR

(Scroll down for English text)

Hadi adalah punca utama kematian Pakatan Rakyat bukan saja kerana mencabul Dasar Bersama dan prinsip muafakat Pakatan Rakyat tetapi juga kerana cuba untuk menjadi “tuan” Pakatan Rakyat

Berat hati saya untuk menyatakan rasa kesal saya yang bersangatan melihat Presiden PAS Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang terus mengulang-ulang propaganda UMNO bahawa DAP mahu menjadi “tuan” ke atas parti lain bagi menyelindungkan pendirian politik baru beliau untuk menjadi pembela terkuat Datuk Seri Najib Razak dalam keadaan para pemimpin dan ahli UMNO sendiri sedang mencari arah baru untuk negara ini.

Sebagai contoh, ketua UMNO Cheras Syed Ali Alhabshee kelmarin menyifatkan pakatan baru pembangkang tidak mampu menggugat UMNO sambil terus menyebarkan pembohongan bahawa gabungan baru berkenaan akan dikuasai oleh DAP seperti mana kononnya DAP dulu menguasai Pakatan Rakyat yang telah berkubur.

Dakwaan yang hampir sama diulang oleh Hadi kelmarin dengan menyebut bahawa golongan yang menghargai perjuangan Islam tidak akan menjadikan DAP sebagai ‘wali’, mengulangi tuduhan UMNO bahawa DAP mahu menjadi “tuan” dalam hubungan “tuan dan hamba” dengan parti-parti politik lain.

Tuduhan itu bukan saja tidak berasas sama sekali, malah ia pembohongan paling keji daripada seorang bekas pemimpin Pakatan Rakyat. Continue reading “Hadi is the single cause of the death of Pakatan Rakyat not only for violating the PR Common Policy Framework and the PR consensus operational principle but trying to be “master” of PR”

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Useless watchdogs, Tinju Dunia and 1MDB

Rama Ramanathan
The Malaysian Insider
23 July 2015

“It would appear… [that] Cerberus, the mythological three-headed hound guarding the gates of Hell, virtually guided and controlled the destinies of the Bank and held its fortunes in [the hands of the 3 accused]. The analogy is perhaps not inappropriate in view of the canine element injected into these proceedings, what with references to watchdogs, toothless, barkless, spineless, chained and all, Government or otherwise, and not forgetting the Press hounds.”

That quote is from Justice Abdoolcader’s 1976 judgment (upheld on appeal in 1978) at the conclusion of the 2 months long trial of Datuk Haji Harun bin Haji Idris & 2 others.

Abdoolcader explicated various aspects of the law. And, in ripe words, he caricatured the so-called watchdogs: toothless, barkless, spineless, chained. Continue reading “Useless watchdogs, Tinju Dunia and 1MDB”

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Ku Li moots truth and reconciliation initiative to save Malaysia from leadership crisis

The Malaysiann Insider
23 July 2015

As Malaysia grapples with a national leadership crisis, Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah today said he plans to start a new reconciliation initiative involving Malay and non-Malay non-governmental leaders as well as civil society groups.

The Gua Musang MP, popularly known as Ku Li, said the worsening situation that was caused by allegations of financial impropriety against the country’s leadership, now called for efforts to reconcile and find solutions for the country’s future.

He said he would a start a “Truth, Reconciliation and Healing initiative” to seek solution to the current leadership crisis.

“Since the current leadership crisis involves mainly the Malay community, which is deeply divided, I would like to start and focus my consultative process with Malay leaders and relevant Malay organisations.

“But the fallout of the crisis also affects the non-Malays and in fact, the entire country, so I would also like to engage with non-Malay politicians and relevant civil society NGOs,” he said in a statement.

Ku Li said the initiative was needed to prevent the country from sliding into further “self destruction”.

“Something must be done quickly to prevent the country from descending further into civil chaos and conflict.” Continue reading “Ku Li moots truth and reconciliation initiative to save Malaysia from leadership crisis”

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A post-PR, post-BN future for Malaysia?

— Zairil Khir Johari
Malay Mail Online
July 23, 2015

JULY 23 —Many Malaysians are understandably dismayed by the recent break-up of the Pakatan Rakyat (PR), a seven-year-old coalition that had been cobbled together by force of necessity following the unprecedented results of the 12th General Election in 2008.

In the aftermath of the landmark polls, which saw the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition losing its customary two-thirds Parliamentary majority for the very first time, and in the process also relinquishing control over five out of 13 state governments, the three main opposition parties of DAP, PKR and Pas suddenly found themselves in the awkward position of having won enough seats to form five state governments – together. Thus, as entrenched differences were set aside for the sake of pragmatism, a tripartite coalition pact was forged.

For the most part, the arrangement functioned. By the next General Election in 2013, despite visible hairline cracks, the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition was able to present itself as a viable alternative to the decades-long domination of the BN. This premise was confirmed by the results of the 13th General Election (GE13), which saw the three-party coalition picking up 52 per cent of the popular vote – but unfortunately denied the right to form the Federal Government, thanks to creative gerrymandering and malapportionment of seats.

Alas, that was to be the pinnacle of the PR story. Everything began to slide downhill after that. Aggressive goading by the dominant, Umno-controlled Malay media, quickly saw the Malay-Muslim ethno-religious nationalist agenda gaining traction. Coupled by factional infighting within Pas, this led to the resurgence of highly divisive issues such as the shariah criminal code, or hudud law.

In the end, amidst broken promises and much mudslinging between and within the PR component parties, Pas capitulated by ushering in a new slate of right-wing hawks as leaders, and by means of a motion to cut ties with the DAP during its general assembly, the fate of the coalition was sealed. Continue reading “A post-PR, post-BN future for Malaysia?”