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A strict and no-nonsense Prime Minister would have sacked Abdul Rahman as Minister for his shockingly insensitive tweet about bomb explosion in Kuala Lumpur in an attempt to justify the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council Bill

A strict and no-nonsense Prime Minister would have sacked Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan as a Minister for his shockingly insensitive tweet about bomb explosion in Kuala Lumpur in an attempt to justify the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council (NSC) Bill.

Responding to tweets criticizing the NSC bill, which was passed “like a thief at night” at the late-night session last Thursday on Dec 3, the final day of the 25-day budget parliamentary meeting, and which conferred on the Prime Minister such absolute executive powers as to usurp the constitutional prerogative of the Yang di Pertuan Agong to declare an emergency under Article 150 of the Malaysian Constitution, as well as to oust the powers of the Cabinet and to undermine the autonomy powers of Sarawak and Sabah, Rahman had tweeted:

“If a bomb exploded in KL then perhaps you guys would have a different view. But sadly that would be too late.”

Rahman’s tweet is not only frighteningly insensitive but also outrageously illogical. Continue reading “A strict and no-nonsense Prime Minister would have sacked Abdul Rahman as Minister for his shockingly insensitive tweet about bomb explosion in Kuala Lumpur in an attempt to justify the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council Bill”

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Let Najib clarify in his UMNO Presidential Address at the UMNO General Assembly whether he is the first Malaysian Prime Minister to be investigated by the FBI as to whether he is a ‘kleptocrat’

Should Pakatan Harapan MPs from DAP, PKR and Parti Amanah Negara who have been in the forefront demanding full and satisfactory accountability from the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his twin mega scandals on RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB go on their bended knees and thank their lucky stars that the Prime Minister was so merciful and spared them the agony and shame of an expose on the last day of the 25-day parliamentary meeting last Thursday (Dec. 3)?

This is because Najib said last night that the opposition spews nothing but “lies” on 1MDB (auta bukan fakta), declaring: “It they (the opposition) attack us using logic, rational thinking and facts, they will lose. It’s now the battle of the minds.”

If Najib is right, and the Prime Minister had appeared in Parliament on the last day of the budget parliamentary meeting on Dec. 3 to lay down the facts of the two scandals, all the Pakatan Harapan MPs who had been harping them would have been mercilessly exposed not only as opportunists, charlatans and even ignoramus.

However, before deciding whether the Pakatan Harapan MPs should be thankful for such little mercies from Najib, they must ask why the Prime Minister was so kind to them, if it was true that it would be so easy for him to squash the Opposition MPs who had been raising a storm particularly since March about the 1MDB scandal? Continue reading “Let Najib clarify in his UMNO Presidential Address at the UMNO General Assembly whether he is the first Malaysian Prime Minister to be investigated by the FBI as to whether he is a ‘kleptocrat’”

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Tun Razak – A Leader With A Free Mind

M. Bakri Musa
www.bakrimusa.com
7th December 2015

Notwithstanding their common aristocratic background, obvious brilliance, and genuine nationalism, plus their overlapping leadership in UMNO, Tun Razak had little in common with Datuk Onn Jaafar. To start with, there was their obvious age and thus generational difference, Onn being about 30 years older. The critical differentiating feature separating the two however was their personalities.

Like Onn, there is as yet no authoritative biography of Tun Razak. There is William Shaw’s, published in 1976, sympathetic bordering on the hagiographical. Razak had many contemporaries, some very erudite, but none had sought to pen an account of this great man. Likewise his sons (he had no daughters) who are all well educated, including one who is a Cambridge graduate, yet none has seen fit to write an account of their great father, apart from the anecdotal recollections in responses to interviews.

The contrasting personalities between Onn and Razak could not be more obvious then when they were campaigning or otherwise engaging the common people. To be sure, both were atypical politicians; neither exhibited the usual politician’s backslapping or feigned familiarity and affability. They both seemed aloof and uncomfortable with crowds. While Onn had the imperious look of an aristocrat who is forced to be with the peasants, Razak had that of a policy wonk embarrassed at being unable to articulate more simply his complex ideas. Both however, had great intellect and more importantly, were remarkably free-minded although expressed in very different ways. Continue reading “Tun Razak – A Leader With A Free Mind”

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Why was the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council Bill passed like “a thief in the night” in a late-night session on the last sitting of the 25-day Parliamentary meeting without any prior notice to the major stakeholders in the land?

Both the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak and the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid owe Parliament and the nation a full and satisfactory explanation as to why the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council (NSC) Bill was passed like “a thief in the night” in a late-night session on the last sitting of the 25-day Parliamentary meeting without any prior notice to the major stakeholders in the land?

Najib’s kitchen Cabinet of trusted Ministers and top government officers and advisers must be congratulated for pulling off one of the most remarkable feats in Malaysian government history, keeping the monstrous and pernicious NSC Bill completely under wraps without any one knowing about it, and even the snooping journalists with the most trained noses to sniff out the goings-on in the corridors of powers, have been completely bamboozled this time.

But this adds to the mystery – why was the NSC Bill kept under such tight lock-and-key that when it was first tabled in Parliament for first reading on Tuesday, 1st December 2015, it did not attract widespread attention and alert that it was such a monstrous and pernicious bill which not only usurped the powers of Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet and the powers of autonomy of the Sarawak and Sabah state, but would set the country off on the long dark road to a dictatorship? Continue reading “Why was the monstrous and pernicious National Security Council Bill passed like “a thief in the night” in a late-night session on the last sitting of the 25-day Parliamentary meeting without any prior notice to the major stakeholders in the land?”

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So you think sexist jokes are funny?

Syerleena Abdul Rashid
The Malaysian Insider
4 December 2015

Jokes are meant to make us laugh. Plain and simple, right?

By definition, a joke is made up of words within a particular and “well-defined narrative structure” designed to make people crack a smile and express some level of amusement.

Jokes can be simple or even complex. It can be a story, a one-liner, a pun, slapstick or utter nonsense. However, there are jokes that have the opposite effect; some jokes are tasteless, crude, offensive and lewd. These are the type of jokes that joke tellers ought to think twice before articulating. Continue reading “So you think sexist jokes are funny?”

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3 reasons you should be worried about the National Security Council Bill

Julia Yeow
The Malaysian Insider
6 December 2015

Just before the stroke of midnight last Thursday, December 3, Parliament passed the National Security Council Bill that nobody, not even the hawk-eyed opposition or the wide network of civil society groups, had any premonition of before it was tabled a mere two days earlier.

All peace-loving Malaysians regardless of your political affiliations, or even if you really couldn’t give two teh tariks for politics, have good reason to be concerned when this security law comes into force.

The manner in which it was bulldozed in Parliament, the ease with which it was passed and the ramifications of the vast executive powers it confers to members of the National Security Council (NSC) have left little to the imagination as to the sinister undertones of this Bill. Continue reading “3 reasons you should be worried about the National Security Council Bill”

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Islam in a Constitutional Democracy

— G25 Forum
Malay Mail Online
December 6, 2015

DECEMBER 6 — We, members of G25, at the conclusion of the Forum on Islam in a Constitutional Democracy at PAUM in Kuala Lumpur on December 5 and 6, 2015, agree on the following statement of reaffirmation:

Having discussed the role of Islam in a Constitutional Democracy under four themes namely;

i) The Federal Constitution and Shariah Law.

ii) Issues of Conflict between Shariah law and Civil law, and impact on the Federal /State division of powers in Malaysia’s legal system.

iii) Islamisation and its Consequences.

iv) Islam and Politics.:

Reaffirming our commitment to upholding the Federal Constitution as the Supreme Law of the Nation;

Reaffirming our commitment to upholding the Rukun Negara which articulates the principles and goals that should guide the Nation;

Reaffirming our belief that political stability and economic progress in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious nation like Malaysia can only be achieved when there is racial harmony, tolerance, understanding and co-operation amongst the various communities; Continue reading “Islam in a Constitutional Democracy”

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Paris and California Shootings: What Are Muslims Teaching Their Children?

Prof Dr. Mohamad Tajuddin Mohamad Rasdi
7th Dec 2015

In the wake of the horrific events in Paris and California the so called ‘middle ground’ Muslims are quick to denounce them as the work of an ‘extreme’ faction. Well, I have got news for the world. In my thesis, it is these so called ‘middle ground’ Muslims that ultimately give birth to these extremist factions they fear so much.

Perhaps many are in disagreement and in shock to my statement. I will elucidate.

Firstly, what do I mean by ‘middle ground Muslims’? Continue reading “Paris and California Shootings: What Are Muslims Teaching Their Children?”