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Formation of Pakatan Harapan important milestone for moderates and patriots to reclaim and save Malaysia from the racists, bigots, extremists and the corrupt in the country

The formation of Pakatan Harapan yesterday is an important milestone for moderates and patriots to reclaim and save Malaysia from the racists, bigots, extremists and the corrupt in the country.

Never before has race relations in Malaysia become so fragile and brittle. Every day, racial epithets, slurs, intimidation and even explicit threat of “bloodbath” are uttered with immunity and impunity.

The latest is the threat of a racial riot in Kuala Lumpur Chinatown, something which had never happened before in the past 58 years since Merdeka in 1957.

Where is the twitter-happy Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar? Continue reading “Formation of Pakatan Harapan important milestone for moderates and patriots to reclaim and save Malaysia from the racists, bigots, extremists and the corrupt in the country”

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Has Malaysia got a kleptocrat as a Prime Minister?

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, has established a special niche for himself in the Guinness Book of Records and of course the Malaysian Book of Records as the Prime Minister who has broken all the records of previous Malaysian Prime Ministers by achieving the most “firsts”.

This despite Najib’s short premiership of less than six-and-a-half years which cannot compare in length to the more than 22 years as PM of Tun Dr.Mahathir Mohamad or the more than 13 years of the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman – but unfortunately, mostly for the wrong reasons establishing bad records.

For instance, Najib is the first Malaysian Prime Minister to be investigated for alleged money laundering and corruption in four foreign countries, namely United Kingdom, Switzerland, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Now he has added to this roll of dubious honour by being the first Malaysian and ASEAN leader to be investigated by a federal grand jury in the United States in connection with corruption and money-laundering. Continue reading “Has Malaysia got a kleptocrat as a Prime Minister?”

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The FBI Has Its Eyes On Malaysia’s Embattled Prime Minister

By Shannon Hayden
VICE News
September 22, 2015

Malaysia’s prime minister is elbows-deep in a mess of trouble, and it looks like it’s only going to get worse. The fallout from $700 million that somehow found its way into Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s personal bank account continued over the weekend, with the arrest of a prominent critic of Razak’s while he attempted to leave the country, reports of further missing payments, and news that the FBI is now on the case.

The once-domestic issue now involves unusually “generous” unnamed Middle Eastern donors, frozen accounts in Switzerland and Singapore, and nationwide demonstrations calling for Najib’s resignation. Najib’s attempts to delay further investigation have partially succeeded, but his remaining time in office is uncertain. Continue reading “The FBI Has Its Eyes On Malaysia’s Embattled Prime Minister”

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Malaysia’s Leader, Najib Razak, Faces U.S. Corruption Inquiry

by Louise Story
New York Times
SEPT. 21, 2015

The embattled prime minister of Malaysia, facing mounting political turmoil and a parade of inquiries at home and abroad into a sovereign wealth fund that he oversees, is now coming under the scrutiny of American investigators as well.

A federal grand jury is examining allegations of corruption involving the prime minister, Najib Razak, and people close to him, according to two people with knowledge of the investigation.

The inquiry, being run by a unit of the Justice Department that investigates international corruption, is focused on properties in the United States that were purchased in recent years by shell companies that belong to the prime minister’s stepson as well as other real estate connected to a close family friend, said the people knowledgeable about the case, who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it. Investigators are also looking at a $681 million payment made to what is believed to be Mr. Najib’s personal bank account. Continue reading “Malaysia’s Leader, Najib Razak, Faces U.S. Corruption Inquiry”

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Red Shirts do not represent the Muslims

By Tajuddin Rosli
Free Malaysia Today
September 23, 2015

After Bersih participants were filled with pride. After the Red Shirts rally most are filled with shame

COMMENT

Incidents that took place on 16 September coinciding with Malaysia Day have shamed the majority of Malays throughout the country. For the first time ever, I went to work with my face down, feeling ashamed to be called a Malay. I could sense my non-Malay colleagues looking at me and laughing in their heads to what my people have become. I had to put on a brave smile and pretend nothing ever happened.

But the reality is Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu has shown the world how low some Malays in the country have sunk to.

Please don’t get me wrong. The hooligans who gathered for the rally in no way represent the silent majority of Malays in the country who are civilized. Unfortunately, just as Bersih 4.0 was called a Chinese gathering because the majority who turned out were Chinese, Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu was a dark day for the Malays in Malaysia. Those in attendance did not look like they belong in today’s world. They seemed to look like a bunch from the Period of Jahiliyyah who travelled through time to get here. Continue reading “Red Shirts do not represent the Muslims”

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Call for an overall review of Federal-State relations in Malaysia to effect greater decentralisation and confer greater autonomy from Putrajaya to all state governments, not just Sarawak and Sabah

September 16, Malaysia Day, was marred by the Red Shirts Malay rally organised by UMNO, although it did not officially showed its hand at the time and which, among other things, desecrated the meaing and importance of Malaysia Day as the foremost national public holiday in the country.

Sarawak and Sabah cannot but feel slighted that on Malaysia Day, UMNO had chosen to devalue Malaysia Day by sponsoring a Red Shirts Malay rally in Kuala Lumpur which not only stole the national and international spotlight from the 52nd anniversary of Malaysia’s formation, the federation of Malaysia was at best a second-thought after the primacy of Ketuanan Melayu of UMNO leaders.

However, Malaysia Day this year was a bit different from Malaysia Day of the past five decades, primarily because it is beginning to sink in among the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and UMNO leaders and they owe their continued political rule of the country to the support and loyalty of the Members of Parliament in Sarawak and Sabah, as without the support of the 48 Barisan Nasional MPs in Sabah and Sarawak, Najib will not be Prime Minister of Malaysia today nor could UNMO continue as “Big Brother” in the Federal Government in Putrajaya.

With the approaching Sarawak State Government Elections in a matter of months and the 14th General Elections in the next 24 to 32 months, Sarawak and Sabah would expect a New Deal from Putrajaya to continue to be the fixed deposit states of the UMNO/BN coalition government in Putrajaya and this is the reason for all the talk about granting greater autonomy to Sarawak and Sabah in recent days. Continue reading “Call for an overall review of Federal-State relations in Malaysia to effect greater decentralisation and confer greater autonomy from Putrajaya to all state governments, not just Sarawak and Sabah”

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Malaysia does not want to be a battleground of “yellow T-shirts” versus “red T-shirts” as we want all Malaysians united behind the Malaysian Dream for an united, harmonious, democratic, just, prosperous and progressive nation

Last week, Malaysia saw a 4-hour Red Shirts Rally in Kuala Lumpur as a counter to a 34-hour Yellow T-Shirts Bersih 4 overnight rally on August 29/30.

There can be no greater differences between the Red Shirts Rally and the Yellow T-Shirts Rally.

Firstly, the Yellow T-Shirts Bersih 4 Rally transcended race and was participated by hundreds of thousands of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, gender, age or politics, who came together with one common national purpose – good governance and clean, free and fair elections.

Those who participated in the two-day Bersih 4 Rally never thought there could be any racial clash or confrontation, for that was furthest from their mind as they gathered not for or against any race but for the sake of a better Malaysia for all races.

The Bersih 4 participants were worried that there might be trouble, but not of any racial nature – for their only worry was that the Police might not be independent and professional enough and might wantonly and arbitrarily fire tear gas and shoot water cannons into a peaceful and defenceless crowds. That was why some of the Bersih 4 participants armed themselves with “goggles” and “smelling salts” not as weapons of offence but to protect themselves.

The Red Shirts Rally on the other invoked fear of racial incidents right from the beginning of the announcement of the event immediately after the Bersih 4 overnight rally, and for a fortnight, the country was inundated with highly-charged images of racial slurs, confrontation and even bloodbath, and the objective of the Red Shirts Rally veered from “Kebangkitan Maruah Melayu” to “counter Chinese Bersih 4”, “Teach Chinese DAP a lesson”, “Defend Najib Razak as Prime Minister” among others. Continue reading “Malaysia does not want to be a battleground of “yellow T-shirts” versus “red T-shirts” as we want all Malaysians united behind the Malaysian Dream for an united, harmonious, democratic, just, prosperous and progressive nation”

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Ali Rustam and the prolonged May 13 trauma

Aidila Razak
Malaysiakini
21st Sept 2015

COMMENT National Silat Federation (Pesaka) chief Mohd Ali Rustam seems to be suffering from prolonged trauma.

The symptoms were striking in his interview with Mingguan Malaysia yesterday on the achievements of Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu on Sept 16.

Asked what the rally, meant to ‘reclaim Malay dignity’ had achieved, Ali turned Dr Who to travel close to five decades into time to the race riots of 1969.

“They (Bersih 4 organisers and participants) try to show that Kuala Lumpur belongs to Bersih and the DAP gang, and Malays should balik kampung (go back to the villages). But now the villagers are coming to Kuala Lumpur.

“They think we have lost our self-worth and that Kuala Lumpur does not belong to various races. They think Malays don’t belong to Kuala Lumpur, and it is only for DAP and Bersih.

“They try to show they are brave and that Malays are not. They held rallies four times, and yet no Malays were brave enough to fight back,” he said.

Note the mention of taunts of ‘balik kampung’. Continue reading “Ali Rustam and the prolonged May 13 trauma”

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Umno’s red terror gambit

by Dennis Ignatius
Malaysiakini
21st Sept 2015

COMMENT When illiberal regimes lose their legitimacy, when they run out of excuses, when they feel their power slipping away, they almost always resort to scaremongering and scapegoating.

Suddenly, imaginary threats are everywhere. Everyone who does not toe the line becomes an enemy, an agent of dark unseen forces, part of some sinister conspiracy. All criticism, all dissent becomes seditious, unpatriotic, anti-national, a threat to national unity.

The ensuing tensions then provide the context and justification for further repression and for increased curtailment of fundamental liberties. What’s left of democratic space slowly vanishes.

Is the same thing now happening in Malaysia? Continue reading “Umno’s red terror gambit”

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If Cabinet on Wednesday will not apologise for shameful abdication of responsibility in giving “green light” for divisive and racist Sept. 16 Red Shirts rally, will the Ministers step forward to tender separate individual apologies?

A day immediately after the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay rally, I had asked the Prime Minister and the Cabinet to apologise to Malaysians for the most shameful abdication of responsibility in allowing Malaysia Day to be desecrated and racial harmony and social peace to be undermined by the divisive, racially-charged and provocative Red Shirts rally.

It does not appear that Najib will be ready to tender such an apology, as he had transformed his “silent blessing” before the Red Shirts rally to active endorsement after the rally, closing his eyes, ears and mind to the racist slurs, provocations and breaches of law committed by the participants of the Red Shirts rally.

If Cabinet on Wednesday are not prepared to apologise for its shameful abdication of responsibility in giving “green light” for the divisive and racist Sept. 16 Red Shirts rally, will the Ministers step forward to tender separate individual apologies?

I still hope that Najib can realise that he is Prime Minister for all Malaysians, and not just for Malays, UMNO or an UMNO faction. Continue reading “If Cabinet on Wednesday will not apologise for shameful abdication of responsibility in giving “green light” for divisive and racist Sept. 16 Red Shirts rally, will the Ministers step forward to tender separate individual apologies?”

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Deepening Malay Polarization More Dangerous Than Inter-Racial Divisions

Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com
21st Sept 2015

Over 46 years ago a largely Chinese group of demonstrators celebrating their party’s electoral victory triggered Malaysia’s worst race riot. Last Wednesday, September 16, 2015, an exclusively Malay rally in predominantly Chinese Petaling Street of Kuala Lumpur triggered only the riot police’s water cannons.

What flowed on Petaling Street last Wednesday was clear water, not red blood as in 1969. There was also minimal property damage (except for loss of business) and no loss of life. That is significant; that is progress.

Malaysia has come a long way since 1969, the current shrill race hysteria notwithstanding. However leaders, political and non-political, Malays as well as non-Malays, are still trapped in their time-warped racial mentality of the 1960s. They still view the nation’s race dynamics primarily as Malays versus non-Malays.

That is understandable as the horrific memories of that 1969 race tragedy, as well as the much earlier and more brutal Bintang Tiga reign of terror, had been seared into the collective Malaysian consciousness, permanently warping our national perception.

The challenge today is less the risk of inter-racial conflagration of the 1969 variety, more a Malay civil war similar to what is now happening in the Arab world and what has happened on the Korean Peninsula. Last Wednesday’s red-shirt rally illustrates this point. Continue reading “Deepening Malay Polarization More Dangerous Than Inter-Racial Divisions”

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Bersih: A racist rally?

– Nur Adilah
The Malaysian Insider
20 September 2015

At the mention of “bersih”, the thing that comes to mind is all that is good. And that is according to how it is literally understood.

Putting “bersih” in the Malaysian context, however, will get us to a different meaning with various connotations.

On one hand, Bersih is held in high regard, while at the other spectrum, Bersih is shown in a bad light.

I say that Bersih is not just about wearing yellow; it carries a strong message to the government in power – to change or to be changed.

The reason the Bersih 4 rally was made illegal was, perhaps, because of the call for our prime minister to leave office. The call was said to be unconstitutional, thus the banning of what appeared to be a peaceful demonstration.

The demand to remove the prime minister from the Cabinet probably stood out from the rest; if all the manifestos are compiled in a book, the said demand would be highlighted in neon yellow. Continue reading “Bersih: A racist rally?”

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Of Umno Malays and Cina DAP

– Anas Zubedy
The Malaysian Insider
20 September 2015

Ten things to ponder about the terms Umno Malays and Cina DAP.

1. Both terms, Umno Malays and Cina DAP, when used in a malicious way are racist remarks.

2. I know many from both Umno and DAP sides who are not racist and are multi-racial in their outlook.

3. Just because we put Umno in front of the word Malays and DAP before the word Cina, it does not mean we are not being racist when we make nasty racial remarks about them.

4. Many closet racists are those who pretend to only target Umno Malays or Cina DAP when they want to make racist remarks. Continue reading “Of Umno Malays and Cina DAP”

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Tolerance of racism in Malaysia

Julia Yeow
The Malaysian Insider
20 September 2015

Malaysia Day has come and gone, and it’s tragic that a day to celebrate unity, interdependence and diversity was instead hijacked by a street rally which achieved little but show the world that Malaysia has become a country utterly divided along racial lines.

Covering Wednesday’s protest for work created a strange disconnect for me, almost as if the words shouted and messages on the banners were meant for, and coming from, people from some foreign, far-away land.

That was until I received a message mid-way through Wednesday’s rally. It was a friend who has been working and living in Malaysia for almost a decade, someone who has grown to love this country almost as much as her country of birth.

She was shocked and angry after having just read on the news that Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali had taken to the stage at the rally and said the following words:

“Dulu kita bukan masyarakat majmuk tetapi melalui rundingan dan tolak ansur kita menerima kaum lain. Kita bagi mereka kerakyatan. Kita bagi kerakyatan, kita ingat mereka berterima kasih.”

(Once, we were not a multicultural people, but through negotiation and give-and-take, we accepted other races. We gave them citizenship. We gave them citizenship, and we thought they would be grateful.) Continue reading “Tolerance of racism in Malaysia”

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Malaysia is pounded every day by a surfeit of lack of integrity issues and problems, which is hurtling Malaysia down slippery slope to failed state

Malaysia is pounded every day by a surfeit of lack of integrity issues and problems, which is hurtling Malaysia down the slippery slope to a failed state.

Something is very wrong with the national institutions and system of values, which have reached a very advanced stage of rottenness, when the Police confirmed today that the body found in a drum filled with concrete last Wednesday was that of deputy head of the Attorney-General’s Chambers Appellate and Trial Division, Anthony Kevin Morais.

Morais’ abduction and gruesome murder were believed to be related to a corruption case he was handling.

Today, we have three bad news all related to one mega corruption scandal in Malaysia – the long-running M50 billion 1MDB scandal, viz:

• FBI starts probe on 1MDB, says WSJ (Malaysiakini)

• Ambiga says ‘appalled’ by 1MDB critic’s six-day demand (MMO)

• Najib risks arrest if he travels abroad, says Dr Mahathir – by V. Anbalagan (TMI)

Questions teem everyone’s mind. Continue reading “Malaysia is pounded every day by a surfeit of lack of integrity issues and problems, which is hurtling Malaysia down slippery slope to failed state”

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Call on Najib to explain whether he had been guilty of abuse of power when he stymied Hishamudin’s promotion from Court of Appeal to Federal Court in 2013

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak should explain whether he had been guilty of abuse of power when he stymied the promotion of Court of Appeal judge, Justice Hishamudin Yunus to the Federal Court in 2013.

Hishamudin’s promotion to the Federal Court was recommended by Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) in 2013 but his elevation was blocked by the Prime Minister.

This is a clear case of Executive interference with the independence, impartiality, integrity and professionalism of the judiciary which the Judicial Appointments Commission Act 2009 was enacted by Parliament to overcome so as to ensure unbiased selection and elevation judges. Continue reading “Call on Najib to explain whether he had been guilty of abuse of power when he stymied Hishamudin’s promotion from Court of Appeal to Federal Court in 2013”

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Is it worthwhile for Najib to abandon 1Malaysia Policy and Global Movement of Moderates initiative for the placebo Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay rally?

Is it worth it for the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to abandon his signature 1Malaysia Policy and the Global Movement of Moderates initiative for the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay rally?

These are the two major policy initiatives Najib would want to be remembered as his legacy as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia – one his local contribution to Malaysian nation-building and the other his contribution to global politics beset by the trials and tribulations caused by intolerance, bigotry, extremism and terrorism.

But in one fell stroke, he had destroyed both – and all for the placebo effect of the Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay Rally in Kuala Lumpur! Continue reading “Is it worthwhile for Najib to abandon 1Malaysia Policy and Global Movement of Moderates initiative for the placebo Sept. 16 Red Shirts Malay rally?”

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Do Umno Malays know the meaning of dignity?

Mariam Mokhtar | September 20, 2015
Free Malaysia Today

They need to exorcise the demons inside them and to wean themselves from the entitlement culture.

COMMENT

It looks like the red shirted Umno-Baru Malays are condemning themselves to a life sentence of self-denial. They assume that everyone else in Malaysia owes them a living. It is time they came to terms with the real world. They need to exorcise their inner demons, and they need to wean themselves from the entitlement culture, which they expect will nurse them from cradle to grave.

Malays throughout Malaysia were ashamed to be associated with these bigots, who claim that they held the Red Shirts Rally to uphold Malay dignity. Their protest had nothing to do with Malay dignity. The rally was held primarily to distract us from the 1MDB scandal.

What kind of dignity can we associate with insolence and the hurling of insults at other communities? What dignity is there in transporting the elderly from the villages to boost attendance at the Kuala Lumpur rally? Taxpayers’ money was probably used to facilitate the transportation and to provide meals and pocket money. Continue reading “Do Umno Malays know the meaning of dignity?”

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In loving memory of Kevin Morais

Jessica Sidhu
Malaysiakini
19 Sep 2015

Kevin Morais was a pure professional, highly ethical, very hardworking and humble. He possessed no ego of any form.

In his work he was very thorough, often asking as many questions as it required to understand every permutation completely.

He took his work as a prosecutor very seriously, often missing meals, and constantly suffered from red watery eyes from reading law through the night.

He gave his all to the cases he took on and sometimes when witnesses turned hostile or the case went awry for reasons beyond Kevin’s control, it affected him deeply. It hurt him to talk about those cases.

You see, Kevin was married to his work. He had no social life. He took on cases others left behind as if they were too complicated. His dedication to serve justice was uppermost in his mind. He endeavoured to make sense, get a thorough grasp so he could fight for justice. Continue reading “In loving memory of Kevin Morais”

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Dignity is all about looking at ourselves

TK Chua
Malaysiakini
19 Sep 2015

Dignity is now a big word in Malaysia. But what is it?

It is self-respect, pride, self-esteem and self-worth. It is the quality of being worthy of honour or respect.

Dignity is not what others bestowed on us. It is how we carry ourselves. It is how we portray ourselves worthy of admiration and respect by others. Only we can insult our own dignity, not others.

I agree stomping on the pictures of Najib Abdul Razak and Hadi Awang was not the right thing to do. But it is how we react to that stomping that defines our dignity. Continue reading “Dignity is all about looking at ourselves”