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Outcome of UMNO General Assembly – Najib stronger but UMNO weaker

The outcome of the UMNO General Assembly over the weekend is that the Prime Minister and UMNO President Datuk Seri Najib Razak has emerged stronger while UMNO has become weaker.

This is good for Pakatan Harapan for the 14th General Election but not good for Malaysia in the next 30 months as the country stumbles from one crisis to another under a government paralysed by crippling denial syndrome and an administration which is fractured, inept and cut off from the realities on the ground.

This is why the UMNO General Assembly completely ignored four of the five biggest political and socio-economic scandals in the country this year – Najib’s RM2.6 billion “donation” and RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals; the undemocratic and unconstitutional National Security Council Bill which usurps the constitutional powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet and 13 State Governments; and the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) adding to the hardships of low-income Malaysians, already sandwiched between rising costs of living and falling incomes.

On the fifth biggest scandal in the country, there was even an attempt at the UMNO General Assembly to hijack public funds to come out with a publication to glorify the Sept. 16 “Red Shirts” rally in Kuala Lumpur which turned the 2015 Malaysia Day into a “black-lettered” day full of negative vibes of inter-racial disunity, division and disharmony when it should be a day to celebrate the unity, union and harmony of Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region! Continue reading “Outcome of UMNO General Assembly – Najib stronger but UMNO weaker”

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DAP made bogeyman to rally Malay support, divert attention, say analysts

by Anisah Shukry
The Malaysian Insider
14 December 2015

The demonising of DAP in this year’s Umno general assembly was a calculated move by party president Datuk Seri Najib Razak to use the opposition party as a bogeyman to drum up support among the Malays and distract his supporters from his own weaknesses, say political analysts.

DAP was Umno’s villain of choice because PKR was not seen as a threat, due to the jailing of party de facto chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, while PAS was seen as a potential ally, said Ibrahim Suffian (pic), the executive director of independent pollster Merdeka Center.

“The economy is not doing so well, the prime minister and the party are less popular. So in order to round up support, particularly among its core supporters, it needs to define an opponent that is very different from them.

“Here, DAP is targeted as the bogeyman to rally Malay support because it represents the antithesis of what Umno stands for – DAP is secular, it champions a more liberal democracy, it wants more equality for minorities, for example.”

Lim Teck Ghee, the executive director of the Centre for Policy Initiatives said Najib was also trying to distract supporters from his own failings by demonising DAP. Continue reading “DAP made bogeyman to rally Malay support, divert attention, say analysts”

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Malaysia Premier Tightens Grip as Draws Islamic Parties Closer

Shamim Adam
Bloomberg
December 14, 2015

Having silenced his critics at a meeting of Malaysia’s ruling party, Prime Minister Najib Razak is moving to cement his hold on power by further wooing the ethnic Malay majority.

After five months of political turmoil sparked by a multimillion-dollar funding scandal, Najib has seen off potential threats to his leadership, securing the backing of the powerful division chiefs in his United Malays National Organisation. His message of unity and his calls for loyalty went largely unchallenged at a five-day annual UMNO congress last week attended by detractors including former premier Mahathir Mohamad.

As an additional buffer, he is bringing UMNO closer to the main opposition Islamic party. That could help rally the Malay vote ahead of an election due by 2018. UMNO, in power since independence in 1957, won the 2013 ballot with its slimmest result yet as Chinese and Indian electors deserted Najib’s coalition, and since then he’s embraced policies that play to his support base of Malay voters.

A closer working relationship with Parti Islam se-Malaysia could have dual outcomes: Further help Najib fend off the funding scandal and lead to more hardline policies. PAS, as the opposition party is known, has advocated Shariah law — which allows for stoning or amputation for certain crimes — in a state it governs, while Najib has already made greater use of the country’s Sedition Act with the detention of media executives and political opponents. Continue reading “Malaysia Premier Tightens Grip as Draws Islamic Parties Closer”

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PAS loses shine with campus students

by Zulkifli Sulong
The Malaysian Insider
14 December 2015

Groomed by PAS in university for a future in politics, four close friends who lived and studied together, and were part of the Islamist party’s campus network, have decided to abandon the party and affiliate themselves with other political parties instead.

In events that mirror developments at the national level after PAS progressives left to form Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), the four friends, Khairul Najib Hashim, Mohammad Amar Atan, Fahmi Zainol dan Adam Fistival Wilfrid, said they found PAS to be stifling.

The Universiti Malaya (UM) student activists said the PAS network, also known as “jemaah” (congregation) on campus was controlling and restrictive. Continue reading “PAS loses shine with campus students”

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The five government scandals this year which show that UMNO/BN Federal Government is utterly insensitive to the rights and concerns of all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region

This is the 43rd parliamentary constituency I am visiting as part of the “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” nation-wide campaign since I was suspended from Parliament on Oct. 22, 2015 for six months – – not because I had stolen, robbed or killed anyone, but because as elected representatives, we have the right and obligation to demand full accountability from the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak for his RM2.6 billion “donation” and the RM50 billion 1MDB twin mega scandals.

Although it will not be possible for me to visit all the 222 Parliamentary and 576 State Assembly constituencies in the country during the period of my six-month suspension from Parliament, I will try to visit more than 50 per cent of the 222 Parliamentary constituencies in the country by the time I am allowed to return to Parliament – with a strong and unmistakable mandate from Malaysians from all over the country, embracing all races, religions and regions in the country, to demand that Najib must fully account for the twin mega scandals.

Undoubtedly today, one of the greatest concerns in everyone’s minds, even to the Malay Rulers who even issued a rare joint statement on the 1MDB scandal on Oct. 6, are the two questions: where the RM2.6 billion “donation” in Najib’s personal banking accounts came from, and where they have gone to.

For six weeks during the budget parliamentary meeting, Najib and the Ministers had taken MPs from both sides of the House for a ride, giving the promise that the government would be completely forthcoming and answer all questions relating to the RM2.6 billion “donation” scandal on the last day of Parliament, only to renege on the last sitting of Parliament on Dec. 3 with a three-minute Ministerial Non-Statement by the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi disclosing absolutely nothing at all.

Did Najib, Zahid or any government minister offer any apology or express any contrition to Members of Parliament and the nation for the government being caught so red-handed in breaking its promise and breaching its trust to Parliament and the country?

None at all. In fact, the Ministerial benches seem quite proud of such perfidy! Continue reading “The five government scandals this year which show that UMNO/BN Federal Government is utterly insensitive to the rights and concerns of all Malaysians regardless of race, religion or region”