Posted on

Call on Home Minister and IGP to take strong action against anyone trying provoke or foment racial strife in plural Malaysian like the so-called September 16 Incident

The Bersih 4 overnight rally on August 29 and 30 was a credit to both the organisers and participants on the one hand and the police on tother, for it showed to the world that peaceful assemblies numbering some 500,000 people in three venues, Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu for two days could be held peacefully in exercise of the democratic and constitutional rights of Malaysians.

But it is shocking and outrageous that after Bersih 4, there are irresponsible people who are distorting a non-racial Bersih 4 rally into a Chinese rally and challenge to Malay political power and are calling for a “Malay rally to counter the purported “Chinese Bersih demonstration” in Kualal Lumpur on Sept. 16. Continue reading “Call on Home Minister and IGP to take strong action against anyone trying provoke or foment racial strife in plural Malaysian like the so-called September 16 Incident”

Posted on

Soal AS$700 juta masih jadi tanda tanya

OLEH SHERIDAN MAHAVERA
The Malaysian Insider
5 September 2015

Minggu lepas, kira-kira 500,000 rakyat Malaysia turun ke jalanan menuntut Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Najib Razak menjelaskan derma sebanyak AS$700 juta (RM2.6 bilion) yang diterimanya.

Minggu ini pula, beberapa badan dunia yang terlibat dalam membanteras rasuah melakukan perkara yang sama, bukan di jalanan tetapi pada Persidangan Antarabangsa Pencegahan Rasuah (IACC) ke-16 di Putrajaya, tidak jauh dari pejabat Najib.

Najib bagaimanapun tidak menghadiri IACC itu, atas nasihat Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Senator Datuk Paul Low, kerana bimbang perdana menteri mungkin berdepan dengan reaksi negatif. Continue reading “Soal AS$700 juta masih jadi tanda tanya”

Posted on

Three days of global PR disaster for Malaysia in the 16th IACC warrants Emergency Parliament in next fortnight to find answers to the corruption crisis in Malaysia

The three-day 16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Putrajaya were three days of global public relations (PR) disaster for Malaysia, a shameful 72-hour torment on the pride, honour and dignity of Malaysia never experienced by Malaysians in nearly six decades of nationhood.

It started with the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s last-minute, panicky and ill-advised pull-out from the opening ceremony of the IACC (in fear of hard questions, “personal issues” and “a possible hostile reception”), replaced by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Paul Low, who started his speech with the cryptic remark: “I am not here to defend the PM. I am here fighting for my job.”

Right from the very beginning of the opening ceremony, Malaysia’s corruption crisis, in particular the “two elephants in the room”, the RM50 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion “donation” financial scandals, took centre-stage and remained the most obsessive issue throughout the three-day conference, up to the closing ceremony. Continue reading “Three days of global PR disaster for Malaysia in the 16th IACC warrants Emergency Parliament in next fortnight to find answers to the corruption crisis in Malaysia”

Posted on

Low, your problems start when you start talking

TK Chua
Malaysiakini
Sep 3rd, 2015

Minister Paul Low, if you have just sat quietly with your head buried under the sand, I think many would have perfectly understood and tolerated you. After all, we have not expected much from you. You were not even elected and no one for sure knew what you stood for except from during your short tenure in Transparency International- Malaysia.

Your problems start when you start talking. When you try to defend the indefensible, explain the unexplainable, justify the unjustifiable, and rationalise the most bizarre, that is when many are annoyed.

No one is asking you to be a ‘loose cannon’, much less to make accusations without evidence or proof. So it is not necessary for you to defend yourself in that regard. But as the minister in charge of integrity, we expect you to protect the honour and robustness of any investigation. Have you been able to do that?

Can you show us evidence that you have diligently, dutifully and fearlessly defended the investigation process regardless of the target of investigation? Please, we want an honest answer from you, no more and no less. Continue reading “Low, your problems start when you start talking”

Posted on

‘Malaysian’ in tourism posters, ‘Chinese’ in rallies

by RK Anand
Malaysiakini
Sep 3rd, 2015

COMMENT He dropped the bombshell midway through dinner. The reasons, he argued, were better opportunities and having grown tired of racism in Malaysia.

But racism exists everywhere, I protested, hoping it would dissuade him from emigrating but it was greeted with laughter instead.

“I do not mind being called an immigrant elsewhere. But it hurts when I am told that I am a ‘pendatang’ in the land where my father and I were born. I do not want my children to endure this as well.”

With that, I knew nothing more could be said or done except to bid him farewell. Continue reading “‘Malaysian’ in tourism posters, ‘Chinese’ in rallies”