Day: February 29, 2016

NEWS ANALYSIS BY THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER
29 February 2016

Reactions are coming in fast and furious from all quarters since Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced that he had quit Umno – the second time he had done so since 2008.

His supporters believe this announcement will shake Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak while his critics say good riddance to a has-been. The Malaysian Insider attempts to make sense of Dr Mahathir’s move and sort out the fact from the hyperbole.

The reality is Dr Mahathir knows that he no longer has the influence or the levers of power in Umno to force Najib’s resignation. Continue reading “Reverting to type, Dr Mahathir forces a high noon with Najib”

Two questions that arose directly from Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s statement on Saturday and Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department rebuttal the same day await official confirmation or denial.

Firstly, was there a charge sheet in the Attorney-General’s Chambers before the Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail was summarily sacked on July 27 which would have indicted the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak for corruption in the RM42 million SRC International scandal?

Secondly, whether the Attorney-General Tan Sri Gani Patail at the time had briefed the then Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, about Najib’s “corruption” wrongdoing, which precipitated the “purges” by Najib on July 28, involving the sacking of the Deputy Prime Minister, a Senior UMNO Cabinet Minister and the Attorney-General as well as other grave reprecussions undermining the Rule of Law in the country. Continue reading “Will Najib present White Paper to answer two questions thrown up in the public domain in the past two days – was there a charge sheet in the AG’s office last July to indict Najib for corruption and did the then AG brief the DPM at the time about Najib’s “corruption” wrong doing?”

It was exactly 30 years ago that I moved from Kota Melaka parliamentary seat to Penang to contest in Tanjong constituency – the Battle of Tanjong of 1986 – against the incumbent Dr. Koh Tsu Koon who was to become the Penang Chief Minister for four terms spanning 18 years from 1990 to 2008.

DAP comrades in Penang had in fact suggested in early seventies that I move to Penang to lead the DAP charge to make Penang the “engine head” for political change in Malaysia, and although this suggestion was made at every subsequent general election, I had not agreed to the move from “south to north” until the 1986 general election.

Although the subsequent “Battles of Tanjong 2 and Tanjong 3” in 1990 and 1995 did not succeed in DAP capturing the Penang State Government, this objective was finally achieved in the 2008 and 2013 General Elections, and it is my hope that Penang will not only continue to be the seat of DAP-led Penang State Government, but the base for the achievement of federal change of government in Putrajaya in the next 14th General Election.

Although the DAP is now celebrating our 50th anniversary, I believe that the DAP’s most important and challenging tests are not in the past 50 years, but in the next 20 to 30 years.
We want the DAP message of justice, freedom, good governance and national unity not just to ring loud and clear in Penang but throughout Malaysia, in Peninsula Malaysia as well as in Sarawak and Sabah.
DAP is in the throes of an important transition, and we must be guided by two challenging objectives and principles. Continue reading “DAP’s most important and challenging tests are not in the past 50 years but in next 20, 30 years”

The greatest challenge facing the country is how to get out of the present political cul de sac if Malaysia is to break the trajectory towards a failed state because of rampant corruption, socio-economic injustices, collapse of governance, unbridled racial extremism and religious intolerance and bigotry and a rogue state because of violations of democracy, rule of law, free speech and egalitarianism.

If we are selfish and only think of our self interests, whether of political parties or individuals, we should not upset the status quo and the best thing to do is to wait for the next 14th General Election for UMNO/Barisan Nasional in the next hustings under the leadership of Datuk Seri Najib Razak cannot be weaker and more vulnerable.

But this will not be in the best interests of the nation, for Malaysia would have descended further in the next two years down the slope towards a failed and a rogue state.

However, the country seems to be in a cul de sac, both for those in the corridors of power and outside. Continue reading “Malaysia must get out of the present political cul de sac if the nation is to break the trajectory towards a failed and rogue state”