Month: December 2015

In his Christmas Message, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak called on Malaysians to celebrate the festive season and welcome the New Hear with a brand new resolution and personal mission to bring Malaysia to the “pinnacle of success”.

It is indeed deserving food for thought for Malaysians in the last week of the year to ponder whether Malaysians are striving after the pinnacle of success or staring at the abyss of a failed state if present national trajectories are not corrected!

I don’t think there are many Malaysians who would regard 2015 as a successful year for the country, bowed and beaten in the past 12 months by a host of political, economic, good governance and nation-building crisis to the extent that astute observers of the national scene are even warning about the coming of the “perfect storm”.

The first step for Malaysia to shake out of this impending “perfect storm” is to end the denial syndrome paralysing the nation’s leaders, making them dream about “pinnacle of success” when we should staring at the the “abyss of a failed state” – as just a year ago, it would have been unthinkable that the Malaysian ringgit would have fallen by a fifth of its value to struggle between RM4 to RM5 to a US dollar, but which has now sadly come to pass. Continue reading “Are Malaysians striving after the pinnacle of success or staring at the abyss of a failed state?”

COMMENTARY
The Malaysian Insider
24 December 2015

Today is Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) birthday and Malaysia is one of the rare Muslim countries to celebrate the occasion with a public holiday thrown in. Not many celebrate it, let alone gazette a holiday for it.

Unlike Christmas, which is celebrated worldwide except in two countries this year and forever – Brunei and Somalia. It would appear that public celebrations of Christmas and in the case of Somalia, New Year, is inimical to their beliefs.

That is their excuse. And the limit to their citizens’ freedom and rights.

But we in Malaysia are a lot more fortunate. We have the freedom to celebrate diversity, celebrating Christmas and New Year despite the views of a narrow section of public that wishing Merry Christmas is not quite kosher. Continue reading “Our freedom to celebrate diversity”

2015 Christmas Message in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 24th December 2015

Christmas Day tomorrow in 2015 is especially significant as today is the birthday of Prophet Muhammad on Maulid-ar-Rasul, an overlapping which underlines religious diversity both in Malaysia and the world.

I am reminded of two events, the first the Monday incident in Mandera in northeast Kenya where Muslims protected Christians in a bus attack by Somali Islamist terrorists, telling the terrorists, “You’ll have to kill us all” and other, the January 2013 Thaipusam visit by the then PAS Mursyidul Am and Kelantan Mentri Besar, Datuk Nik Aziz Nik Mat to the DAP National Chairman and MP for Bukit Gelugor, Karpal Singh in the latter’s Penang home where Nik Aziz’s 82nd birthday was also celebrated.

Let Malaysians regardless of race, religion and region be inspired by both these events, in particular the example of the two great Malaysian leaders, Nik Aziz and Karpal Singh, to promote harmony, goodwill, tolerance across race, religion and culture so that Malaysia can be a model of peaceful multi-religious diversity for the world. Continue reading “Let Nik Aziz and Karpal be the example for all Malaysians to promote harmony, goodwill and tolerance across race, religion and culture so that Malaysia can be a model of peaceful multi-religious diversity for the world”

BY P. GUNASEGARAM | Kinibiz
DECEMBER 14, 2015 8:00AM

The very setting up of 1MDB and its operations was aimed at spinning billions out of this self-styled strategic development company owned by the government for the benefit of various others. The eventual cost of this to the country might be as high as RM42 billion.
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[Note to readers: This article and the associated charts provide an overview map of our coverage of 1MDB, and attempt to link the various parts to the whole. The information for the series is obtained from various sources both public and private and includes reported content elsewhere and others from our own sources, which we believe to be accurate. Figures have been rounded off where it makes things clearer.]

Even before it became 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB), it was mired in controversy as Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA) in 2009, Terengganu’s very own sovereign wealth fund. TIA was to be kickstarted with a RM5 billion bond issue guaranteed by the federal government.
Continue reading “Anatomy of a money-spinner”

The National Security Council (NSC) Bill is the greatest security disservice to Malaysia by the Najib premiership, as instead of uniting Parliament and the nation with a single-minded purpose to defeat the threat of ISIS terrorists, it has divided the country with an unprecedented unconstitutional grab for power by the Prime Minister.

After the shot-gun passage of the NSC Bill in the Dewan Rakyat on Dec. 3 as if “a thief in the night” without proper prior notice or consultation with MPs and the civil society, the country was assured that the NSC bill is aimed primarily at fighting terrorism particularly the threat posed by ISIS, and not intended to usurp the constitutional powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong in declaring a state of emergency for country.

If the NSC Bill was designed primarily to deal with the threat of terrorism posed by ISIS, the logical thing to do is to park the proposed National Security Council under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) instead of creating a new executive body which is even more powerful than the Cabinet with far-reaching and new-fangled powers. Continue reading “National Security Council (NSC) Bill greatest security disservice to Malaysia as instead of uniting Parliament and nation with a single-minded purpose to defeat the threat of ISIS terrorists, it has divided the country with an unprecedented unconstitutional grab for power”

Lyana Khairuddin
The Malaysian Insider
23 December 2015

It is really easy to get caught in the hype and commercialisation of Christmas.

Let’s be realistic here, Christmas no longer represents merely a religious holiday that marks the birth of Jesus, but rather an occasion for merrymaking with friends over food, that great unifier of mankind.

Of course, in Malaysia, our turkeys are halal-certified and our merrymaking involves being served orange juice in wine glasses. Continue reading “A Christmas wish”

I could not believe my eyes when I saw the report, “Reveal donors for RM10m arch facelift, Umno rep tells MB” (Malaysiakini), and I had to read it a second time to believe what I had.

Most readers would have reacted in similar disbelief and incredulity to the report, for the common question which would leap to everyone’s mind is the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s RM2.6 billion “Donorgate” with the astronomical sums in his personal banking accounts before the 2013 general election, and the many turns and twists, including parliamentary escapades, of this RM2.6 billion “Najib Donorgate”, which had intrigued national and international attention for some six months since it was first exposed by Wall Street Journal in early July.

The marvel is not that a Selangor UMNO Assemblyman Mohd Sharif (Dengkil) is asking for the identity of the donors for the RM9.8 million facelift for the Kota Darul Ehsan arch along the Federal Highway and marks the border between Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, but that there is not a single one from the whole gang of UMNO Members of Parliament and State Assembly representatives in the country demanding revelation from Najib about the RM2.6 billion “DonorGate”, which is 260 times bigger than the RM10 million facelift donation in Selangor. Continue reading “UMNO Asemblyman raises eyebrows when he demands revelation of donor for the RM10 million arch facelift, but cowardly silent about Najib’s 2.6 billion “Donorgate”, which is 260 times bigger than the face-lift donation”

Bridget Welsh
Malaysiakini
22 Dec 2015

COMMENT Today marks the three-month anniversary of Pakatan Harapan – the revamped opposition coalition that is having difficulty getting off the ground. It is supposed to bring about hope, to galvanise like-minded Malaysians in the spirit of reform and cooperation to offer an electoral alternative. It is failing badly. As the year end approaches, it is valuable to examine why.

Legacy issues

The fact that Harapan was formed out of disappointment with Pakatan Rakyat has marked the new coalition. Attention still centres on who was responsible for Pakatan Rakyat’s collapse, with the blame game a persistent dynamic. At the same time, there is denial that Pakatan Rakyat is over, with some individuals and parties unwilling to let go of the past.

These legacies of the past are debilitating Harapan. Rather than look forward, opposition parties in Harapan are continually focused on old wounds and battles. Fighting old friends now enemies is the norm, as old wounds are still raw. DAP attacks PAS. PKR insists that it can work with everyone (while in effect it is working with none as it stymies its supposed partners). Continue reading “In search of hope for Pakatan Harapan”

What parliamentary charade!

What I had feared most has indeed come to pass – and what happened in Senate yesterday invokes Shakespeare’s immortal lines in Macbeth: “It is a tale, Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.””

Also come to pass was my warning yesterday, viz:

“BN Senators who have won new respect from Malaysians for daring to speak up to oppose the weaknesses, flaws and dangers of the NSC (National Security Council) Bill will forfeit their new-found public respect and admiration in a matter of 24 hours if they are not prepared to act on their conviction and vote for reference of the Bill for further study and amendment, as the NSC Bill in its present form is a blight on constitutional democracy in Malaysia.

“Which is better, to speak boldly against the weaknesses, flaws and dangers of the NSC Bill but to submissively vote in favour of the NSC Bill in the Senate; or to act like the BN MPs in the Dewan Rakyat, to keep their silence for the elected BN MPs know from the very beginning that they have finally to vote obediently for the NSC Bill, whatever their inner reservations and objections to the draconian Bill?”

I have to qualify my statement yesterday as the elected Barisan Nasional MPs in Dewan Rakyat need only be ”very envious and even jealous that their counterparts in Dewan Negara are allowed to speak up about their objections and reservations about the NSC Bill which they were not allowed to do when the NSC Bill was debated in the Dewan Rakyat on Dec. 3” only for 24 hours, as the Senate has been quickly reduced to its original form as no more than a rubber stamp after the parliamentary charade in the NSC Bill debate in the last two days. Continue reading “What parliamentary charade!”

Today, the MCA-owned Star report entitled “Penang’s first CM will not be in history books” made the startling announcement:

“Kuala Lumpur. It seems Tan Sri Wong Pow Nee will not be joining the ranks of other local top leaders in the Year 6 history textbooks used by Chinese vernacular schools after all.

“Education Minister, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said the history books were already printed and would soon be sent to schools.

“’There will be no more amendments made to the history books,’ he was quoted in a report by Sin Chew Daily.

“Mahdzir pointed out that corrections were made to Malacca which was mistakenly labelled onto the state of Terengganu.”

Mahdzir’s explanation is neither satisfactory nor acceptable. If the ghastly mistake in the SJKR Year Six history textbook, which shifted the Malacca state to the north of the country near Kelantan, could be corrected, why could’nt the omission of Wong Pow Nee in the formation of Malaysia, as one of the members of the Cobbold Commission which recommended positively on the establishment of Malaysia in 1963, be rectified? Continue reading “MCA is history when it cannot even ensure that the national contributions and role of MCA founders are given proper respect and recognition in the school history text books”

Three cheers for the Dewan Negara.

For the first time in 58-year Malaysian history, the appointed UMNO/BN MPs in Dewan Negara have put the elected UMNO/BN MPs in Dewan Rakyat to shame not only for speaking up for the people, but even more important, for daring to speak the truth in accordance with the dictates of their own conscience.

The BN Senator who stole the limelight was none other than the Malaysian Senators Council (MSM) President Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman who expressed concern that the NSC Bill may be unconstitutional and contravene other laws in terms of the extensive power given to the director appointed to a security area.

He called for amendments to the Bill so that it will not contravene the Federal Constitution.

Abdul Rahman hit the nail on the head for the pernicious and monstrous NSC Bill is unconstitutional on multiple fronts, not only in usurping the constitutional powers of the Yang di Pertuan Agong, the Cabinet, the Sarawak and Sabah Governments with regard to the autonomy powers conferred on them by the 1963 Malaysia Agreement and the 11 State Governments in Peninsular Malaysia, but also the many guarantees and fundamental liberties entrenched in the Constitution.

The Rukunegara principles on the Supremacy of the Constitution and Upholding the Rule of Law are blatantly flouted by the NSC Bill which grants protection to the authorities from legal proceeding and judicial review.

Abdul Rahman further questioned the power granted to the security forces to relocate people, as well as acquire land and properties, which clearly contravene Article 9 on Prohibition of Banishment and Freedom of Movement and Article 13 on Rights to Property of the Constitution.

But despite these trenchant and potent arguments against the NSC Bill, will Abdul Rahim vote for the NSC Bill at the second and third readings when the time for voting in Dewan Negara comes later today? Continue reading “Let’s not have a parliamentary charade where BN Senators are allowed to criticize the NSC Bill but forced to vote for it at the end of the debate”

Christmas is five days away, and there is already a lot of talk about forgiveness and forget about the past.

I support the philosophy of being prepared to forgive and forget past transgressions to promote greater amity, understanding and tolerance among individuals and groups of people, not just because it is a teaching by all great religions but a good philosophy of life.

However, it is indeed odd to talk about forgiving and forgetting another political party’s past transgressions when the other party had never confessed or owned up to any past transgression or wrongdoing.

It is all very good to adopt the religious teaching or philsophy of “Let bygones be bygones” to construct a new relationship and to build a new future, to forget all the sins and transgressions of the past.

However, this readiness to forgive and forget all the sins and transgressions of the past must be accompanied by the readiness and resolution to right all current wrongs, injustices and transgressions or it is totally premature for any talk about “Let bygones be bygones”.

Is such a possibility on the cards? Continue reading “Release Anwar from Sungai Buloh prison; drop all politically-motivated charges against Zunar, Azmi, Maria Chin and others; withdraw NSC Bill; suspend GST and fully account for Najib’s twin mega scandals before anyone talks about “Let bygones by bygones””

Amin Iskandar
The Malaysian Insider
20 December 2015

Peristiwa Presiden Umno Datuk Seri Najib Razak dan Presiden PAS Datuk Seri Hadi Awang berada di atas satu pentas di Kuala Lumpur minggu ini menjawab pelbagai persoalan yang sebelum ini tidak begitu jelas.

Dalam hal kerjasama di antara 2 parti Melayu itu, Umno kelihatan lebih jujur berbanding PAS.

Ketika Hadi dan beberapa pemimpin lain masih berdolak-dalik tentang kerjasama di antara 2 parti itu, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed mendedahkan sudah 2 tahun Umno dan PAS bekerjasama. Continue reading “Umno, PAS perlu gabung jadi satu parti”

P Ramasamy
Malaysiakini
20th December 2015

COMMENT Is it a major surprise to Malaysians that Umno and PAS are moving closer and closer for a final embrace? Or are Malaysians shocked beyond belief that those once-formidable foes have sunk their deep-seated differences for a new political alignment?

Whether Malaysians are surprised or shocked, the reality of this new alliance seems to be looming in the horizon. Whether such a relationship will be cemented in the form of admission of PAS into BN or a formation of a different sort of arrangement, remains to be seen.

However, most political analysts seem to think that a political relationship is in the offing.

What are the benefits for Umno if this alignment takes shape? Continue reading “Umno-PAS alliance a ‘reinvention’ to remain relevant”

The monstrous National Security Council (NSC) Bill made history of sorts when it spearheaded a European Parliament motion condemning human rights violations in Malaysia even before it became law – as it has still to be passed by the Dewan Negara expected on Tuesday, given the Royal Assent and gazetted before it joins the statute list for the most pernicious and infamously bad laws in Malaysia.

The European Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution deploring the slew of human rights violations in the country and called for the withdrawal of the NSC
Bill which were rushed through the Dewan Rakyat on the last day of Parliament on Dec. 3 in a late-night sitting without adequate prior notice or consultation with MPs and the civil society.

Even the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) was kept out in the cold and was completely in the dark about the NSC Bill although Suhakam was tasked by Parliament with the statutory duties of promoting and protecting human rights.

Why have a Suhakam when it was not consulted and even did not know that such a monstrous and pernicious NSC bill was in the works – making a total mockery of human rights, democracy and the supremacy of the Constitution as professed by the Najib government? Continue reading “When democracy and human rights activists are regarded as bigger threats than ISIS terrorists as envisaged by the monstrous NSC Bill, Malaysia is replacing Myanmar as the rogue nation in ASEAN”

Some 10 days before the recent UMNO General Assembly, the Deputy UMNO President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said in his speech to 1,000 Barisan Nasional leaders in Pagoh that Malay support for UMNO had dwindled to 30 per cent when Malay support for UMNO over the years had always been above 50 per cent.

He warned that unless this warning signal to UMNO, in particular the unhappiness of the people over Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s twin mega scandals of the RM2.6 billion “donation” in his personal banking accounts before the 13th General Election and the RM55 billion 1MDB debts, is faced by the UMNO leadership, UMNO may be defeated in the 14th General Election in two years’ time.

This theme was taken up by the Perak Mufti, Harussani Zakarai who warned at the Regional Conference (Multaqa Serantau) for al-Azhar University alumni in Kuala Lumpur that Malays will lose their political power in about two years’ time if their leaders continue to fight against one another.

In an apparent reference to the 14th general election, Harussani called for the defence of Malay power in the country, saying the maintenance of that power would protect the position of Islam.

He said: “Malay leadership in this country must be defended because that’s where the strength of Islam lies.

“If the Malays are defeated, then Islam will too.”

There are two dangerous fallacies here. Continue reading “Why it is good for the soul of UMNO to be defeated in 14GE – the only way for UMNO to get rid of corrupt leaders and to reform to be politically relevant again as experienced by Indian National Congress, Taiwan Kuomintang and Japanese Liberal Democratic parties”

By Mike Thomson
BBC News, Jakarta
19 December 2015

Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim nation, but are its local Islamic traditions in danger of being overtaken by fundamentalism?

As I thread my way through crowds of worshippers at central Jakarta’s grand Istiqlal Mosque, traditionally dressed religious students grab my arms and pull me towards them.

“Take your photo with me!” shouts one. “No, first with me!” shouts another. Several small cameras appear as I am propelled to the centre of their smiling, boisterous group. All raise their thumbs in the air as the cameras start clicking.

I have visited many mosques around the world and I cannot remember ever getting such a warm and friendly reception. Though when I relate this experience to Yenny Wahid, founder of a Jakarta-based research centre on religion and daughter of the late Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, she is not surprised.

This, she says, is an example of a particularly Indonesian approach to Islam, known as Archipelago Islam.

“It really puts an emphasis on moderation, on tolerance, on protecting minority rights and basically has a big emphasis on a life of harmony,” she says. “So, it’s not strange when you see a woman in a headscarf walking hand in hand with a nun here.” Continue reading “Is Indonesia winning its fight against Islamic extremism?”

— Liew Ching Tong
The Malay Mail Online
December 19, 2015

DECEMBER 19 — A coalition between Umno and PAS is very likely to take shape following Prime Minister Najib Razak’s speech at Umno General Assembly recently, as well as Najib and Hadi Awang’s joint appearance in pink Baju Melayu at the Regional Conference (Multaqa Serantau) for Al-Azhar Graduates yesterday.

The Umno-PAS merger is part of a series of “once-in-a-generation” political earthquakes, aftershocks and realignments in 2015 and beyond.

On the one hand, in the aftermath of clean sweep of the conservative faction at the PAS Muktamar elections on 6 June, the progressives formed Parti Amanah Negara on 16 September. Pakatan Rakyat ceased to exist and a new coalition Pakatan Harapan was formed on 22 September.

Before the actual split, internal debate within PAS was focused on two issues: Continue reading “An Umno-PAS coalition and its impact on all of us”

by Nabihah Hamid
The Malaysian Insider
20 December 2015

Malaysian singer-actress Soo Wincci recently made headlines when sponsors pulled out of her first solo concert in the country, after she made a video demanding Datuk Seri Najib Razak resign as prime minister.

But insisting that the show must go on, the former beauty queen bankrolled the October 31 concert herself and managed to attract a packed stadium that included opposition supporters, politicians and celebrated local singer Siti Nurhaliza.

Looking back on the entire saga nearly two months later, the winner of the Miss World Malaysia 2008 said she had no regrets about releasing her outspoken video, made at the same time as the Bersih 4 rally in late August, despite the troubles it brought her. Continue reading “Singer-actress Soo Wincci says demanding Najib’s resignation a ‘responsibility’”

This is the fourth of my five-whistlestop visit to Perak today as part of the “Solidarity with Lim Kit Siang & Mana RM2.6 billion?” nation-wide campaign.

I started in Kopisan in Gopeng, went to Kampar, and now coming from Bidor, ending up in Hutan Melintang after this visit.

Everywhere I went, since the first day of this nation-wide campaign after my six-month suspension from Parliament for wanting the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak to give full and satisfactory accounting for his twin mega scandals – the RM2.6 billion donation in his personal banking accounts and the RM55 billion 1MDB scandal – I found the question “Mana RM2.6 billion?” close to the hearts and minds of all Malaysians, regardless of race, religion or region.

They are also close to the hearts and minds of the three million UMNO members and one million PAS members, although their respective leaders, Najib and Datuk Seri Hadi Awang, are in advanced “courtship” based on the understanding that these twin mega scandals should be banished from the public domain in Malaysian politics. Continue reading “Najib and Hadi have reached rare unanimity that Najib does not have to answer the question “Mana RM2.6 billion?” but 30 million Malaysians, including three million UMNO members and one million PAS members, want Najib to give immediate answer without any more delay”