Posted on

The significance of the ‘Citizens’ Declaration’

by K Siladass
Malaysiakini
7 Mar 2016

The country is in turmoil. There are too many demeaning incidents that do not inspire confidence in the present leadership, particularly that of Najib Abdul Razak. Foreign governments are allegedly not too comfortable to deal with the present prime minister, because his explanations about the money found in his personal bank account varied from one to another situation, which is nothing but a clear case of vacillating.

His handpicked attorney-general believes that he is the law and whatever he says must be accepted. In this regard he treats the whole legal system as being incapable of differentiating between chalk and cheese. An attorney-general who condones alleged criminal acts is unfit to be one. And in handling Najib’s case he has clearly abused the discretionary power he has.

Umno Baru is split, hence within the country Najib’s prestige as prime minister is in shambles. His integrity as a leader is questioned. The most important question that looms at large is who needs to be saved? Najib or Malaysia? Who needs to be protected, Umno Baru led by Najib or Malaysia? Continue reading “The significance of the ‘Citizens’ Declaration’”

Posted on

First thing MPs should do tomorrow is to redeem honour, dignity and privileges of MPs by censuring Executive contempt and disrespect of Parliament in imposing humiliating OSA conditions on Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB when presented to PAC

The first thing that Members of Parliament, irrespective of whether from ruling coalition or the Opposition, should do tomorrow is to unite on a common platform to redeem the honour, dignity and privileges of MPs by censuring Executive contempt and disrespect of Parliament in imposing humiliating Official Secrets Act (OSA) conditions on the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB when presented to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Not only is the Auditor-General’s final audit report of some 300 pages classified under the OSA, interfering with parliamentary privileges as to what Parliament intends to do about reports and documents presented to it which, in the process nullifies the principle of the supremacy of Parliament over the Executive, but even more serious, treat Members of Parliament as naughty school children prone to mischief and law-breaking who cannot be entrusted with state secrets!

It is the height of contempt of Parliament for the Executive to classify the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB as under the OSA although submitted to the PAC on Friday and later today, and what is even more humiliating, imposing the rule that PAC members cannot take home the Auditor-General’s 300-page final audit report, and PAC members can refer to the AG’s final audit report only in Parliament’s “strong-room”!

Why not lock the “cari makan” PAC Chairman, Datuk Hasan Arifin together with the 13 other PAC members in the Parliament “strongroom”, requiring to digest, understand and master the Auditor-General’s final audit report before they are allowed to leave the Parliament “strongroom”?
Continue reading “First thing MPs should do tomorrow is to redeem honour, dignity and privileges of MPs by censuring Executive contempt and disrespect of Parliament in imposing humiliating OSA conditions on Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB when presented to PAC”

Posted on

Call for Anwar Ibrahim’s release from Sungai Buloh prison to take part, like Nelson Mandela in South Africa in 1990, in national reconciliation talks to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed and rogue state

There have both been bouquets and brickbats following 304 (March 4) historic gathering on the signing and proclamation of the Citizens’ Declaration involving former Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir, former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, former Cabinet Ministers and Opposition and civil society leaders.

Undoubtedly, the Citizens’ Declaration on Friday had come as a total surprise and shock to many, including journalists whose profession is to smell out trends and news breaking stories, who would never imagine as possible such a get-together of long-time political opponents for a common cause.

I thank all for the bouquets and even welcome the brickbats, provided they are honest views and not pure venom soaked in lies and spite.

Can the Citizens’ Declaration to Save Malaysia calling on Datuk Seri Najib Razak to step down as Prime Minister and for democratic and institutional reforms succeed?

To be frank, I do not think anybody can answer that question in all sincerity. But to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed and a rogue state is a deserving, honourable and honest objective which is worth trying to achieve and even failing, instead of not trying at all. Continue reading “Call for Anwar Ibrahim’s release from Sungai Buloh prison to take part, like Nelson Mandela in South Africa in 1990, in national reconciliation talks to Save Malaysia from becoming a failed and rogue state”

Posted on

Perjuangan 50 tahun DAP dan Lim Kit Siang

Thor Kah Hoong
The Malaysian Insider
6 March 2016

Ketua Parlimen DAP Lim Kit Siang berbual dengan THOR KAH HOONG, mengimbas kembali parti politik yang diterajuinya selama 50 tahun seiring dengan tempoh 5 dekad beliau sebagai seorang ahli politik, yang melihat banyak kenangan suka dan duka (termasuk pernah ditahan pihak berkuasa 3 kali), ketika pembangkang politik memusuhinya, meramalkan apa yang dijangka akan menjelang dan pendapatnya mengenai kemungkinan mencari titik persamaan dengan bekas musuh, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

TMI: Bila anda berminat dalam politik dan di mana ia mula berakar umbi?

Lim: Sejak zaman persekolahan saya. Continue reading “Perjuangan 50 tahun DAP dan Lim Kit Siang”

Posted on

There is an air of panic in Putrajaya as a result of the historic 304 Citizens’ Declaration for Najib’s removal and democratic and institutional reforms

There is an air of panic in Putrajaya as a result of the historic 304 Citizens’ Declaration for Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s removal as Prime Minister and call for democratic and institutional reforms to Save Malaysia.

This was why Najib had summoned UMNO/Barisan Nasional Members of Parliament to his official residence last night – a pre-council meeting which in the past had been held either on the eve of the beginning of Parliament or on the morning of the first day of Parliament meeting, but never two days in advance!

And there are valid reasons for Najib to be concerned about the effect and impact of the 304 Citizens’ Declaration, signed not only by the longest-serving former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the former Deputy Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, former Ministers, but also by political and civil society leaders.

This is because the Citizens’ Declaration had crossed the great political divide and accords with the sentiments of overwhelming majority of Malaysians, regardless of race, religion, region, politics, age or gender that a national call must go out to reach the maximum number of Malaysians, even to the 3.3 million UMNO members and a million PAS members, for all to stand on a united common platform to save Malaysia from the slide down the slippery slope to a failed and a rogue state.

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, from inside Sungai Buloh prison, has given unequivocal support to the bridging of the political divide not to be limited to “personal agendas or political vendettas” but to “chart a new way forward to save our beloved nation”. Continue reading “There is an air of panic in Putrajaya as a result of the historic 304 Citizens’ Declaration for Najib’s removal and democratic and institutional reforms”

Posted on

50 years of a party and politician

BY THOR KAH HOONG
The Malaysian Insider
6 March 2016

DAP parliamentary leader Lim Kit Siang looks back on 50 years of the political party he helms, in tandem with his five decades as a politician, the many ups and downs and ins (Lim was a guest of the authorities for three stretches), the time political opponents were after his blood, doing a bit of crystal-ball gazing at what’s looming, and his thoughts about finding common ground with a former nemesis, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

TMI: No better place to start than at the start. When did you become “politicised”, where was the beginning rooted?

Lim: Since my school days.

TMI: Your school days?

Lim: In the sense we were very interested in events – the school days of the 1950s lah, I was in secondary school 1955-59. Those were the times when, nationally and internationally, there were a lot of exciting developments… 1955 was the Bandung Conference, 1956 was the nationalisation of the Suez Canal and the Hungarian revolution, 1957 was our Merdeka, and in my class, there was a group who was tuned in to all these events.

I remember my last year in school, 1959, waiting for our Form Five results to come out, those days we had no IT to distract us, our only distraction was to cycle around town, to roam around.

We’d go to the deserted school at night, sit beside the longkang and yarn, and someone will say, “let’s go out into the world and form a political party”. Continue reading “50 years of a party and politician”

Posted on

Asia’s top debater forms new youth group, first statement is against Najib

by Ista Kyra Sharmugam
The Malaysian Insider
2 March 2016

Fed up with the government under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, Asia’s top debater Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and 24 other youths have put their names to a statement rejecting the current leadership.

They have also formed a group called “Challenger”, which stands for “Change Led by the Young Generation” and have just launched their Facebook page.

The 25 comprise student representatives and youth leaders from various local and international universities, with Syed Saddiq as the spokesman.

“We have lost faith in Datuk Seri Najib and his allies, as their actions have jeopardised and will sacrifice the future of Malaysia.

“Our love for Malaysia is unparalleled. It is therefore our duty to speak up against those who seek to wreck our beloved country apart.

“We, the generation that will inherit the leadership of this country, have an obligation to save the future from the present,” Syed Saddiq said in the statement posted on Challenger’s Facebook page. Continue reading “Asia’s top debater forms new youth group, first statement is against Najib”

Posted on

My only wish is that the Royal Address by the Yang di Pertuan Agong opening Parliament on Monday will announce the establishment of a credible Royal Commission of Inquiry into Najib’s twin mega scandals

Parliament will be opened by the Yang di Pertuan Agong on Monday to kick off a 20-sitting of the first meeting of the 4th session of the 13th Parliament from 7th March to 7th April 2016.

I will be absent from the five weeks of Parliamentary meeting beginning on Monday as I had been suspended from Parliament for six months, not because I had committed any crime or corruption or anyway involved in the greatest corruption and financial scandal to hit the country in six decades – the 1MDB scandal and the Prime Minister’s multi-billion ringgit “donation” scandal – but because I had been in the forefront demanding full accountability and transparency on these two mega scandals.

In demanding full accountability and transparency for Najib’s twin mega scandals, I am suspended from Parliament for six months and have to sit out the 20-day meeting of Parliament from Monday, but those responsible for the twin mega scandals and for the cover-up of the twin mega scandals which have shaken the Prime Minister’s credibility and plunged Malaysia’s international image and standing to their lowest ebbs in the nation’s history do not suffer any restriction or constraint and are able to walks the Chamber of Parliament with immunity and impunity!

This is indeed the supreme irony of ironies, which illustrate why life in Malaysia, in the recent words of former Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Musa Hitam, is “turning upside down…The end seems to justify the means and anything, anything goes. The dividing line between good and bad, right and wrong, seem blurred”.

Barring the five years from 1999 to 2004 when I was not a Member of Parliament after losing in the Bukit Bendera parliamentary constituency in the 10th General Election, this will be the first time since I was elected Member of Parliament 47 years ago in 1969, that I will be missing the Royal Address at the official opening of Parliament each year. Continue reading “My only wish is that the Royal Address by the Yang di Pertuan Agong opening Parliament on Monday will announce the establishment of a credible Royal Commission of Inquiry into Najib’s twin mega scandals”

Posted on

Hasan Arifin should move a motion in name of PAC to censure the Executive for classification of Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB under Official Secrets Act as a contempt of Parliament and breach of parliamentary privilege

The Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Datuk Hasan Arifin should move a motion in the name of PAC in Parliament which reconvenes on Monday to censure the Executive for classification of Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB under the Official Secrets Act as a contempt of Parliament and breach of parliamentary privilege.

The reason which had been given for the classification of the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB is not only unacceptable, it has never been done before as far as the Auditor-General’s reports were concerned.

For instance, the Auditor-General’s interim report on 1MDB which was presented to PAC in July was never classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

Why is it necessary to classify the Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB under OSA, a contempt of Parliament which must be challenged by MPs at the first available opportunity, i.e. on Tuesday on March 8. Continue reading “Hasan Arifin should move a motion in name of PAC to censure the Executive for classification of Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB under Official Secrets Act as a contempt of Parliament and breach of parliamentary privilege”

Posted on

Najib should seek a vote of confidence in forthcoming Parliament unless he is unsure of unquestioned loyalty from UMNO/BN MPs

Shortly after the historic gathering for the signing and the proclamation of the Citizen’s Declaration to Save Malaysia, calling for the removal of Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the Prime Minister of Malaysia and democratic and institutional reforms, the Najib government came out with a swift response.

It said that a general election is the only “existing mechanism” to change the government and the Prime Minister – “the only mechanism that is lawful, democratic and fulfil’s the people’s will” – claiming that in 2013, “the Malaysian people expressed their will and elected the current government, led by Prime Minister Najib Razak” and any change must “follow the democratic process and await the next election, in line with Malaysia’s laws and Federal Constitution”.

What balderdash!

Firstly, the government statement is more than bending history because Najib was not elected Prime Minister as a result of the support of the majority of popular votes. He is the first minority Prime Minister of Malaysia as he secured only 47% of the popular vote but 60% of the parliamentary seats, a reflection of the undemocratic and unjust electoral system.

Secondly, a general election is not the only way or mechanism for a change of Prime Minister. Continue reading “Najib should seek a vote of confidence in forthcoming Parliament unless he is unsure of unquestioned loyalty from UMNO/BN MPs”

Posted on

Najib making fatal mistake of underestimating the intelligence of Internet users in Malaysia to be able to differentiate truth from falsehoods in 14GE just as Pak Lah made the fatal mistake in 12GE in 2008 in underestimating the impact of Internet

Let me preface my speech with some observations about what the distinguished panelists have said this evening.

Firstly, the special appearance of the founder of Sarawak Report, Claire Brown from United Kingdom on Skype including a question-and-answer session with the audience in this hall highlights the futility of those in power to censor or control the flow of information in the Internet era.

Secondly, thanks to the government ban on The Malaysian Insider, more Malaysians have acquired the very simple skills of circumventing the Internet walls erected by Putrajaya to block access to The Malaysian Insider and other websites, with The Malaysian Insider becoming The Malaysian Outsider, getting acquainted with Unblocking sites and the “wide wide wide” world of Internet devoted to fighting all forms of Internet censorship. This is because all the secrets of overcoming Internet censorship can be mastered in a few minutes by searching the solutions on the Internet.

The CEO of Malaysiakini, Premesh Chandran had rightly cited the “tsunami” loss of UMNO/Barisan Nasional in the 12th General Election in 2008 to the Internet as the Prime Minister at the time, Tun Abdullah had subsequently admitted his “serious misjudgment” in underestimating the power of the Internet, losing the cyberwar to the Opposition. Continue reading “Najib making fatal mistake of underestimating the intelligence of Internet users in Malaysia to be able to differentiate truth from falsehoods in 14GE just as Pak Lah made the fatal mistake in 12GE in 2008 in underestimating the impact of Internet”

Posted on

Follow the money, if you can

Economist
Mar 5th 2016 | KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysia’s 1MDB affair – Investigators in several countries are trying to get to the bottom of Malaysia’s growing corruption scandal

IT WAS a striking move from a country better known for hiding iffy foreign wealth than for exposing it. Frustrated by a lack of co-operation from Malaysian counterparts, Switzerland’s attorney-general declared in late January that there were “serious indications” that $4 billion had gone astray from Malaysian state concerns, some of it into accounts held by current or former Malaysian and Middle Eastern officials. The announcement fuelled an already combustible scandal that has transfixed Malaysians, battered their prime minister, Najib Razak, and could yet ensnare banks around the world.

The allegations of misappropriation centre on a Malaysian state investment fund, from which it is suspected that large sums were siphoned by businessmen and officials with links to Mr Najib. It is thought that some of this was used to help his party win an election in 2013; some was spent on buying assets at questionable prices; and some of the remainder was moved to offshore shell companies and bank accounts. All those suspected of involvement, including Mr Najib, deny wrongdoing. None has been charged with a crime. Continue reading “Follow the money, if you can”

Posted on

The Najib effect

Economist
Mar 5th 2016

Not only Malaysians should be worried about rotten politics and a divisive prime minister

ONE of South-East Asia’s richest and hitherto most stable countries, Malaysia ought to be a beacon. Its constitution is liberal, and its brand of Islam generally tolerant. Its diverse, English-speaking population, combining ethnic Malays, Chinese and Indians, gives it zest and vim. Yet under the prime minister, Najib Razak, the country is regressing at alarming speed. Its politics stinks, its economy is in trouble, and there are worrying signs that the government is not above stirring up ethnic and religious divisions.

For the past year allegations of corruption have swirled around Mr Najib. They centre around hundreds of millions of dollars that made their way into his bank accounts before the most recent general election, in 2013. Investigators are looking into whether the money is linked to a troubled state investment firm, 1MDB, whose advisory board Mr Najib chairs. He denies wrongdoing. His attorney-general has ruled that the money was a legal donation from an unnamed Saudi royal, and that much of it has been returned. Continue reading “The Najib effect”

Posted on

As Najib Razak digs in, disillusion among Malaysians grows

Economist
Mar 5th 2016 | KUALA LUMPUR

Malaysia’s scandals – The art of survival

ONLY standing room is left at the civic hall in Petaling Jaya in the western suburbs of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital. Inside 1,000-odd middle-class Malaysians have gathered to consider the fallout from a corruption scandal that has buffeted the country since July. “The whole world is laughing at us,” says a retiree watching from the back rows.

At the heart of the scandal are hundreds of millions of dollars that for unclear reasons entered bank accounts belonging to the prime minister, Najib Razak. You might think such a revelation would unseat Mr Najib and spell ruin for his United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which has held power since independence. Instead, Mr Najib appears to have strengthened his grip, by purging critics within the cabinet and police. On February 29th the grand old man of Malaysian politics, Mahathir Mohamad, stormed out of the party in disgust. Dr Mahathir was prime minister for 22 years until 2003 and was once a fan of Mr Najib. No more. Continue reading “As Najib Razak digs in, disillusion among Malaysians grows”

Posted on

Lines finally drawn in fight for Malaysia

COMMENTARY BY JAHABAR SADIQ, EDITOR
The Malaysian Insider
4 March 2016

It took Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to force the issue for all Malaysians. He drew a line in the sand today, asking friends and foes to make up their minds once and for all.

Get on his side to “Save Malaysia” from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s government or be the enemy and part of the Najib Party – the ones defending the status quo as much as Dr Mahathir did when sacking Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim 18 years ago.

Anwar has signed up to support his mentor-turned-nemesis’s efforts. So has Lim Kit Siang and the DAP, Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and the PKR gang, and activists such as Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan and Maria Chin Abdullah.

A total of 58 prominent Malaysians signed Dr Mahathir’s Citizens’ Declaration today. The only ones missing are those from PAS. Continue reading “Lines finally drawn in fight for Malaysia”

Posted on

Malaysia laughing stock of all foreign offices in the world with the infantile and moronic justification that TMI banned to maintain peace, stability and harmony

Malaysia is the laughing stock of all foreign offices in the world with the infantile and moronic justification by the Malaysian Foreign Ministry that the news portal The Malaysian Insider had to be banned to maintain peace, stability and harmony in the country to safeguard the multi-racial and multi-cultural values, norms and practices in Malaysia.

Wisma Putra’s response to United States’ concern about the move to restrict access to domestic and international reporting on Malaysian current affairs and the call by the US State Department spokesman John Kirby to the Malaysian government to ensure that its laws respected freedom of expression including the free flow of ideas on the Internet is one of the most asinine statements ever issued in the name of the Malaysian government in the nation’s 48-year history.

Has the intellectual depth and breadth of the “Mandarins” in the Malaysian civil service become so scarce and shallow that such a statement could pass muster as to be released in the name of the Malaysian government?

What has happened to the Malaysian Governments’ 20-year Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Bill of Guarantees especially on “No Internet Censorship”?

Are all the ten guarantees in the MSC Bill of Guarantees now to be regarded as no better than a worthless scrap of paper? Continue reading “Malaysia laughing stock of all foreign offices in the world with the infantile and moronic justification that TMI banned to maintain peace, stability and harmony”

Posted on

From saving nation from Dr M, to saving it with Dr M

Malaysiakini
3.3.2016

COMMENT “Mahathir wants me dead but I pray that Mahathir will live to 100 years to see the decline and end of Mahathirism.”

Little did Lim Kit Siang know at the time that Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s influence would dwindle within the next three years of him uttering those words.

Fast backward, prior to the last general election, the 75-year-old DAP stalwart was furious because the 90-year-old former premier wanted the voters in Gelang Patah to put Lim’s political career in a coffin.

Lim said Mahathir’s “kubur” (grave) remark elicited a “rapturous response” from then deputy prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin who declared “I was ‘trapped’ in Gelang Patah and that I was ‘finished’ politically.”

There was not the only thing which ruffled his feathers. Continue reading “From saving nation from Dr M, to saving it with Dr M”

Posted on

Cat out of the bag why PAC meeting of Feb. 24/25 postponed – for AG to think of ways to suppress Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB?

The cat seems to be out of the bag as to why the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Feb. 24 and 25 were summarily postponed in the last minute although there were three times the requisite PAC quorum of three available for the two scheduled PAC meetings last month, with the cock-and-bull story about some PAC members out of the country?

The clue is to be found in the Malay Mail Online scoop today that the Auditor-General’s final 1MDB audit report has been classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) 1972, and that PAC members will not be allowed to take home the 300-page report on the controversial state investment fund when it is tabled at the PAC tomorrow.

Was the last-minute postponement of the PAC meeting on Feb. 24 and 25 to give Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s henchmen in the Executive, in particular the new Attorney-General, time to think of ways to suppress the Auditor-General’s final audit report on the 1MDB?

This is downright ridiculous and a clear and gross violation of parliamentary powers and jurisdiction by the Executive branch of government and shows the insufferably arrogant attitude by some members of the Executive who think that they are the only patriots in the country, although they are responsible for the international opprobrium and odium suffered by the country on the world stage as a nation which is increasingly corrupt, repressive and authoritarian! Continue reading “Cat out of the bag why PAC meeting of Feb. 24/25 postponed – for AG to think of ways to suppress Auditor-General’s final audit report on 1MDB?”

Posted on

Malaysia’s US$1 billion question

– Jakarta Post
The Malaysian Insider
3 March 2016

In a desperate attempt to unseat his former “golden boy” Datuk Seri Najib Razak from the premiership, former Malaysian leader Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced his resignation from the ruling Umno on Monday.

His move, however, will hardly impact Najib, because Dr Mahathir cannot deny that he was also, at least partly, responsible for the current political landscape. The resignation looks more like personal revenge against Najib because of his failure to abide by his former mentor’s instructions.

There are growing protests from civil society groups against alleged power abuses and rampant corrupt practices involving political elites and the ruling coalition government.

But the opposition is divided and even hostile within itself, while the government silences the disgruntled groups using the tactics of wealth and power distribution.

The Wall Street Journal dropped another political bombshell on Malaysia when it reported on Monday that Najib has US$1 billion in his bank accounts, US$319 million more than what the newspaper allegedly found in July last year. Continue reading “Malaysia’s US$1 billion question”