Month: September 2015

Mariam Mokhtar
Malaysiakini
7th Sept 2015

In the past, Umno Baru used the battle cry, “Umno Baru is the only party in Malaysia which defends the Malays”, to try and win their hearts and minds. Not wanting to be excluded, PAS would claim, “PAS is the only party that protects Islam”.

Ironically, a highly divided Umno Baru and fragmented PAS can no longer claim to be defenders of the Malays, nor the protectors of Islam, but then, they never were. There will be Malays when both Umno Baru and PAS have been wiped out.

Today, both Umno Baru and PAS are in disarray. The leaders’ greed for power, selfishness, underhand tactics and their manipulation of the Malay mind, have brought about their own downfall, and that of their parties.

These leaders failed to lead. They were only interested in feathering their own nests and prolonging their power. Continue reading “Is Umno Baru the Malays’ defender?”

Nurul Izzah Anwar
Malaysiakini
Sept 7th, 2015

MP SPEAKS The planned Sept 16 red-shirt racially-based rally is deeply troubling, fomenting concerns of racial provocation in times when unity is sorely needed in facing Malaysia’s many adversities. It is especially disheartening to see a minister openly supporting this racist ideology. The Star Online reported Umno supreme council member Ismail Sabri Yaakob will be sending party members to join the rally in his capacity as Bera Umno division chief.

Just yesterday a police report has been lodged against this racially provocative protest. The police must immediately act to ensure such acts of provocation does not proceed with any sense of impunity. Continuing silence from the authorities is even more troubling when contrasted with the home affairs minister’s incessant urgings to hunt the few outliers who desecrated images of PAS and Umno leaders in the Bersih 4 rally.

Notwithstanding general disapproval and condemnation over such crude insults against any political leaders as well as their symbols ; the social harmony of our society necessitates priority. The police must act to stem any efforts to racialise events – as this is clearly an effort to further divide Malaysia along racial lines.

What’s worse, the posters being displayed in KL associated to the Sept 16th event is akin to inviting violence on one racial group by another. This is completely flouting existing laws and reason and cannot be allowed to continue. Continue reading “Racism is the colour of Jahiliyyah Arabs”

The Cabinet and the UMNO Supreme Council meeting on Wednesday should take a clear Malaysian stand against any rally seeking to provoke and incite tension and hatred of one race against another in Malaysia, whether the proposed Sept. 16 or Oct. 10 gatherings.

The fundamental right to freedom of assembly to peacefully advocate constitutional rights and liberties of Malaysians must be defended as a basic democratic liberty and human right of Malaysians, but there can be no right whatsoever to commit heinous crimes as inciting racial or religious tension, hatred and conflict in plural Malaysia.

It is in fact the basic duty and responsibility of any government to ensure that those who want to provoke or incite racial or religious hatred to create conflict, disharmony and chaos in plural Malaysia must be stopped in their tracks, and not allowed any room whatsoever to commit the heinous crimes of inciting inter-racial or inter-religious tension and conflict.

The Sept. 16 and Oct.10 rallies were conceived as Malay counter to the purported Chinese Bersih 4 rally of August 29 and 30, alleging that Bersih 4 was a Chinese show of force against Malay political power – which is a most irresponsible allegation totally without basis, as there was not a tinge of racialism at all in the Bersih 4 rally where Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, sex, gender or even politics converged in Kuala Lumpur, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu for a common cause for good governance and free, fair elections – issues which completely transcend race. Continue reading “Call on Cabinet and the UMNO Supreme Council to take a clear Malaysian stand against any rally seeking to provoke and incite tension and hatred of one race against another in Malaysia, whether Sept. 16 and Oct. 10 gatherings”

Thanks to the Malaysian government hosting the three-day 16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Putrajaya from Sept. 2 – 4, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal has been transformed from a national scandal into a global one.

Henceforth, through the 1,000 delegates representing the foremost anti-graft fighters from 130 countries who attended the 16th IAAC, the world will be following closely the development of Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal – to determine whether it will be a classic case of the theme of the 16th IACC, “Ending Impunity: People. Integrity. Action” in the most negative sense!

This year of 2015 should the best possible year for Malaysia in terms of international publicity, as Malaysia is the chair of ASEAN and a member of the UN Security Council, but it is shaping up to be Malaysia’s worst and most horrible international year in the nation’s history – really annus horribilis for Malaysia!

For three days, through the 16th IACC, Malaysia was not only lectured by Europeans, Australians and Americans, but also by Africans and South Americans such as by countries like Peru, Cameroon and Russia, about the deplorable state of integrity and ant-corruption in Malaysia.

Now the whole world knows that the Malaysian Prime Minister could not answer simple questions, to the extent that he had to pull out from the official ceremony of the 16th IACC, which is probably the first time where the head of government of a host country had to run away from an international conference! Continue reading “Two more questions for Najib about the RM2.6 billion in his personal accounts – which were 26 times more than the legally permissible limit to be spent by all the 222 BN parliamentary and 505 state assembly candidates in 13GE”

By Michael Peel
Financial Times
4th Sept 2015

An official push for reform to political party funding in Malaysia has deepened a dispute over how authorities are dealing with the financial scandal engulfing Prime Minister Najib Razak.

A special committee, set up in the wake of revelations that more than $675m landed from overseas in Mr Najib’s bank account shortly before the last general election, is proposing to introduce landmark campaign finance rules.

But sceptics see the promised change as part of an official effort to whitewash both the payment to the prime minister’s account and a wider probe into more than $11bn in debt racked up by the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad state investment fund. The Najib government has already removed officials involved in various investigations into the affairs, as well as cracking down on critics in the opposition and media. Continue reading “Malaysia scandal sparks dispute over political funding reform”

Recently, many strange things are happening in our country which are not amenable to simple explanations.

The most recent strange happening in the country is the disappearance of prominent deputy public prosecutor Kevin Morais since Friday.

Kevin, who was previously seconded to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) until more than a year ago, was last seen leaving for work from his apartment at Menara Duta, Kuala Lumpur, Friday morning.

I am gravely concerned about the whereabout of DPP Kevin Morais who is well-known as a principled, righteous and God-fearing man who brooks no nonsense for any hanky-panky and discharges his duties without fear or favour.

The discovery of a burnt car in Kampung Sungai Samak, Hilir Perak has cast a pall over Kevin’s case.

I am concerned as among other things, Kevin was my constituent when I was Member of Parliament for Ipoh Timor before I contested in Gelang Patah in the last general election. Continue reading “Gravely concerned about whereabout of DPP Kevin Morais who is well-known as a principled, righteous and God-fearing man who brooks no nonsense for any hanky-panky and discharges his duties without fear or favour”

Just 12 days ago, the CIMB Group chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak warned those he described as “power people” against issuing stupid remarks amid the continuing decline in the value of the ringgit, which had plunged to levels unseen since the 1997 Asian Economic Crisis.

In an Instagram post, Nazir, who is also the brother to prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, urged the “power people”: “Accept & adjust quickly” as “capital is super sensitive; bad news & bad signs amplified” asking “power people” to avoid saying “stupid things”.

But instead of heeding Nazir’s advice, Najib’s “power people” have got even worse, increasing the stupidity, volume and velocity of their statements in the past 12 days that Malaysians are entitled to ask whether there is a competition in Najib’s Cabinet as to which Minister could say the most stupid things!

The velocity of “stupid things” uttered by Najib’s Ministers and “power people” have increased to notch more than one a day in the past 12 days – in fact to more than half-a-dozen a day in the past two days, as can be gleaned from the following headlines in the past 48 hours: Continue reading ““Walking Dead” – Is there a competition in Najib’s Cabinet as to which Minister could say the most stupid thing?”

For 56 years, Johor was the bastion and invincible “fixed deposit state” of UMNO/BN, to the extent that in the 2008 General Election campaign, the UMNO/BN leaders were so cocky as to put up the campaign theme of ensuring that Johor will be a “zero-Opposition” state.

The 13th General Election of May 5, 2013 had completely rewritten the electoral arithmetics in Johor with the then Pakatan Rakyat of DAP, PAS and PKR winning 18 State Assembly seats, one seat short of denying UMNO/Barisan Nasional two-thirds majority in the Johor State Assembly.

From a political backwaters’ state, Johor transformed overnight as the barometer of Malaysia’s political future and the new engine of political change in Malaysia.

Penang and Selangor spearheaded political change in the 12th GE in the 2008.

Johor must now take over this leadership responsibility as the engine of political change particularly for Pahang, Melaka, Negri Sembilan, Terengganu, Kedah, and Perak. Continue reading “Top priority should be given to blueprint to capture Johor in 14GE by the new Opposition coalition of DAP, PKR and PAN after the launch of PAN on Sept 16”

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”

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”

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”

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”

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”

Oliver Holmes
Guardian
4 September 2015

Facing multimillion-dollar graft allegations, the timing of the international summit could not be worse for Malaysia’s prime minister

Malaysia’s prime minister has quietly cancelled his appearance and keynote speech at an anti-corruption conference after organisers warned him he would have to respond to allegations surrounding how millions of dollars had come into his personal accounts.

“The prime minister did cancel his appearance at the conference. We told his office that if he came he would face hard questions,” Neil Martinson, director of communications at Transparency International, told the Guardian. Continue reading “Scandal-hit Malaysian PM Najib drops speech at anti-corruption conference”

Syerleena Abdul Rashid
The Malaysian Insider
4 September 2015

“You’re either with us or not” – this is the fact that the ruling regime has hammered into the minds of many Malaysians for the past several decades.

Fact is, although, they may have succeeded with our predecessors, they have lost their iron clasp hold on this generation and this is something the ruling regime is fully aware of.

The recent Bersih 4 rally – and like the other three rallies that came before, showed them just how upset Malaysians are. Continue reading “The paranoid government”

Zairil Khir Johari
The Malaysian Insider
4 September 2015

A question that is often thrown at me, usually with the intention to provoke, is whether I support the abolishment of vernacular education, and correspondingly whether I believe that the answer to our national unity woes lies in having single-stream education.

My answer each time I am asked this is no, and not because I am rehearsing a political line. I say no because I am a firm believer in choice and competition in education, as well as the fact that neither language of instruction nor ethnic make-up of schools cause disunity or a predilection for racism.

To be sure, it is an easy premise to believe – if children go to schools that are made up of only one race and speak only one language, they would find it difficult as adults to mix with those who look and speak differently. Continue reading “The problem with vernacular schools”

by Ida Lim
Malay Mail Online
September 4, 2015

PUTRAJAYA, Sept 4 — Malaysia’s handling of the investigative process of state-owned firm 1MDB and the RM2.6 billion controversy involving the prime minister will be a “test” of the independence and strength of the country’s institutions, seasoned anti-corruption advocate Akere Muna said today.

Muna, who chairs the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) council, said the solution for the controversies faced by the country would have to be both political and systemic.

“This is a systemic test of the country and the way it gets out of it will determine the strength of the system,” he said in an interview here.

“The way all of this plays out, you will be able to judge the autonomy of MACC, the independence of the judiciary and whether the powerful can be treated differently,” said Muna, who is also a lawyer and former Cameroon Bar Association chief.

“It’s a test, and from that test, you will know whether your country needs systemic adjustment,” the former vice-chair of global watchdog Transparency International added. Continue reading “Handling of 1MDB, RM2.6b probe will test independence of institutions, Malaysia told”

The Education Minister Datuk Mahdzir Khalid has admitted his earlier mistake and said that the new “Bina Bangsa” module, once implemented, would affect both national primary schools and vernacular schools.

DAP Parliamentary Spokesman for Education, MP for Bukit Bendera Zairil Khir Johari had yesterday questioned the need for the “Bina Bangsa” module to be introduced only in vernacular primary school when the non-Bumiputera enrolment at national schools were at an all-time low.

Zairil said that contrary to general perception, national schools are actually now more mono-ethnic in its make up as compared to vernacular schools, especially Chinese schools.

He also said it was very “mischievous” for Mahdzir to imply that vernacular schools were an obstacle to national unity as such an assertion was without basis.

Zairil stressed that what the ministry should do instead is to look into the values that are imparted as well as the quality of education available, especially in national schools.

I am glad that the new Education Minister has taken heed of Zairil’s criticisms but there is an even more fundamental question about Mahdzir’s proposal of a “Bina Bangsa” module. Continue reading “First to take the “Bina Bangsa” module should be Mahdzir himself and Malay-supremacist UMNO Ministers and leaders who continue to be racially-minded instead of trying to be Malaysian first and race second”

One upshot of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s last-minute pull-out from the 16th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Putrajaya is whether this would also mean that Najib would be avoiding all international conferences unless they are held in the Third World or he can be assured that no “hard questions” would be asked?

Transparency International (TI) has confirmed that Najib was told that he would have to face hard questions from participants at the 16th IACC, like the ones that were asked by TI President Jose Ugaz in his opening speech with regard to the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal bank accounts – “Who paid the money and why?” and “Where did it go?”

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Datuk Paul Low owes Malaysians a proper explanation as to why he advised the Prime Minister against attending the IACC due to his “personal issues” and “a possible hostile reception”.

What are these “personal issues” – is it that Najib is now regarded by the 1,000 participants at the 16th IACC as one of the corrupt leaders of the world, like Otto Perez Molina who resigned as Guatemala President yesterday mired in a massive, multi-million customs corruption scandal? Continue reading “Following pullout from IACC, will Najib be avoiding all international conferences unless held in the Third World or he can be assured that no “hard questions” would be asked?”

by Jean Yeoh
Malaysiakini
Sep 2nd, 2015

Bersih 4 was my second street protest experience as a 70-year-old retired teacher, minus the excitement, but added more mixed feelings. I went to Bersih 3 with only one intention, for my three grandchildren. I went to Bersih 4.0 with two demands, spelt out on my self-made poster: for the next generation (in Chinese) and ‘utamakan pendidikan berkualiti (prioritise quality education).

Again my family gave me full blessing to participate, though knowing very well that it would be a bigger risk-taking adventure for me as what happened in Bersih 3 was still fresh in everybody’s mind.

But, ‘to Bersih 4 I will go’, despite reading lots of negative comments such as ‘so near the Low Yat fiasco, sure something more horrible will happen’, ‘what if the Red army came with bricks, sticks and even parangs’ ‘what is the use of going, still the same Malaysia and even worst then after Berish 3’and ‘Najib Abdul Razak is so desperate now he will try to create a scene so that emergency can be declared’. Continue reading “We went to Bersih 4 as patriots”