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Impian Pemimpin

(istimewa untuk YB Lim Kit Siang)

oleh Pak Samad
20.2.2016

Datangnya dengan peta yang tulus terbuka
Cekal disemainya benih impian bangsa
Dirinya pemahat peta hidup berukun
Dengan peluh diukirnya secermat tekun

Di dalam taman merpati mesra menari
ternampak dia meneroka rimba asli
tabah disemainya benih janji yang murni
diusaha yang mercup: Impian Sejati

Tujuh dekad setengah dirinya berarah
Diasasnya demokrasi di era resah
dilepaskan kekunang di alam gelita
agar malam merdeka berwarnian indah Continue reading “Impian Pemimpin”

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We Salute You Mr. Lim Kit Siang! Happy 75th Birthday!

By Martin Jalleh

When the ruling coalition dishes out what is most politically expedient,
you remain principled and unwavering in your political journey.

When the same spent politicians declare only what is most convenient,
you steadfastly and consistently live out your firm convictions.

When the powers that be compromise on what is right and just,
you show unflinching courage in fighting for justice and truth.

When greedy and corrupt leaders brazenly bleed this country dry
You leave no stone unturned to ferret out the guilty. Continue reading “We Salute You Mr. Lim Kit Siang! Happy 75th Birthday!”

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Kit Siang, man behind the politician

– Kerk Kim Hock
The Malaysian Insider
22nd February 2016

Since the recurrence of my cancer last year, reminiscing has become an important part of my life and tonight’s event will certainly add to my many beautiful memories.

A 75th birthday is indeed a significant milestone and let me extend my sincere congratulations to the birthday boy, who is still going strong at an age which others would have quit and settled into retirement.

But as someone once said: Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter. In any case, Lim Kit Siang is still young when compared to Nelson Mandela who was 76 when he became the president of South Africa in 1994.

Kit Siang has not been rewarded such a lofty position nor abundant wealth but because of his selfless struggles and immense sacrifices, God has rewarded him with more than 2.3 billion seconds of life!

75 years lifetime is more than 2.3 billion seconds. Continue reading “Kit Siang, man behind the politician”

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Tengku Razaleigh’s speech at LKS’ 75th birthday anniversary

(Speech by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah at DAP Parliamentary Leader Lim Kit Siang’s 75th Birthday Celebration at the Equatorial Penang on 20 Feb 2016)

1. Given the adversarial nature of our politics, speculation about Kit Siang being the doyen of MPs in the Dewan Rakyat is merely a moot point. But his sitting across the aisle from the Government bench notwithstanding, Kit Siang has contributed his fair share to the development of our political and parliamentary practice. We will surely come to this conclusion if we took a disinterested look, devoid of “partisan bias” and the “plays to the gallery”, at his politics and parliamentary role.

2. The slow progress in our political maturity has somewhat affected the relationship between the parties forming the government and the opposition. This has developed a them-and-us mindset among our politicians and parliamentarians thereby denying the country the progression of “the other side of the aisle” into His Majesty’s loyal Opposition. Perhaps it is time we deliberately moved in that direction. And certainly Kit Siang will be able to offer his positive contribution in this, given the length of his tenure as an Ahli Dewan Rakyat. His experience will surely be useful even though he has been in the opposition all the while. Continue reading “Tengku Razaleigh’s speech at LKS’ 75th birthday anniversary”

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Umat Islam atau menteri keliru?

Amin Iskandar
The Malaysian Insider
21 February 2016

Apabila menteri atau timbalan menggunakan hujah “mengelirukan umat Islam”, persoalan sering kali timbul dalam sanubari penulis, apakah benar umat Islam begitu lemah sehingga mudah dikelirukan atau pemimpin itu sendiri yang sering keliru?

Di sebuah negara di mana majoriti penduduknya beragama Islam, pemimpinnya Islam, media arus perdana dikuasai orang Islam jika mereka masih lagi mudah dikelirukan, ertinya, umat Islam di Malaysia merupakan yang paling lemah di dunia.

Ketika mengharamkan penggunaan kalimah Allah bagi bukan Islam satu ketika dulu, hujah “mengelirukan umat Islam” turut digunakan.

Terbaru dalam isu restoran menggunakan tanda “tiada babi”, Timbalan Menteri Di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Datuk Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki berkata, tindakan akan diambil kepada pengusaha kerana mengelirukan umat Islam. Continue reading “Umat Islam atau menteri keliru?”

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Bersih 4 t-shirt ban underestimates people’s wisdom

Khoo Ying Hooi
The Malaysian Insider
22 February 2016

Last week, the Shah Alam High Court upheld the government’s decision to ban Bersih 4 t-shirts and related printed materials. The decision comes after Bersih 4 organisers filed a judicial review against the government’s ban on the yellow Bersih 4 t-shirts.

In his judgment, Judge Datuk Mohd Yazid Mustafa said that the order by Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was valid, as the minister had the discretion to make such decisions on the basis of preserving the peace in a multi-racial country like Malaysia.

I quote, “The minister has taken the relevant consideration in making the said order. I take judicial notice that Malaysia is multi-racial and multi-religious, thus puts a heavy responsibility to the minister to maintain and preserve peace, notwithstanding the Federal Constitution confers rights of assembly (and) freedom of expression.

“However, the national interest needs to be jealously guarded. Indeed, the prime consideration to safeguard the public order, security and peaceful, are at the hands of the executive.”

This decision is disappointing for one reason – how could we possibly reach the stage where wearing a t-shirt with the label of Bersih 4 is considered illegal with the potential to cause public disorder? Continue reading “Bersih 4 t-shirt ban underestimates people’s wisdom”

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Umberto Eco changed my life

THE JOY OF SEMIOTICS

by Annalisa Merelli
February 20, 2016

He did so on a bright, warm day in Bologna — I think it was the late spring of 2003. I was an undergraduate student then, one year away from a degree in mass communication, and with too many ideas (my personal brand of not having a clue) about what to do next. Professor Eco was going to present the brand-new master’s degree in semiotics — the world’s first! — in the room B of the University of Bologna’s communications department, which boasted a total of three rooms.

I went out of curiosity — about him, not the course. I had bent my Italian practicality too much already, had heard far too many times that the path I was on was never going to get me a job, to even consider committing two more years to “the arcane field of semiotics“ — the study of meaning or, as a relative of Steven Johnson’s brilliantly put it, “the study of how plants grow in light. Very important field.” (No one ever knows what semiotics is. No one. Ever.) Continue reading “Umberto Eco changed my life”