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Should Rukunegara be Preamble to Malaysian Constitution or be the Centrepiece of TN50?

The civil society initiative to make Rukunegara relevant again and be the guide for public policies and law-making is most commendable and timely.

The civil society initiative, known as “Rukunegara sebagai Muqadimmah Perlembagaan” (RMP) or “Rukunegara as the Preamble to the Federal Constitution”, is aimed at including the national document as the opening statement of Malaysia’s supreme law, the Malaysian Constitution.

I cannot agree more with RMP chairman Dr Chandra Muzaffar when he said the Rukunegara has been sidelined, giving way to other trends that threatened national unity and integrity.

He said at the launch of the RMP campaign: “If such trends gain more influence in the future, the characteristics of our country will change.

“This is why we Malaysians have to remind ourselves of the Rukunegara and how important this ideology is in a whole and inclusive society.”

I made a five-day visit to Jakarta and Jogjarkata in September last year together with three DAP MPs, Teresa Kok (Seputeh), Zairil Khir Johari (Bukit Bendera) and Steven Sim (Bukit Mertajam) to meet with leaders of political parties and Islamic organisations as well as public intellectuals, and one thing that struck us was the central place of Pancasila among the major Indonesian political and intellectual leaders in the nation-building process in the country. Continue reading “Should Rukunegara be Preamble to Malaysian Constitution or be the Centrepiece of TN50?”

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I am prepared in the next 72 hours to meet Liow and Mah any place any time in the national interests to discuss how to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy

During my “Jelajah Desa Bersama Kit Siang” visit to Sungai Gelugor on Sunday, I told a media conference that if the PAS President, Datuk Seri Hadi Awang is prepared to conclude a solemn agreement that the top priority in the 14th General Election is to save Malaysia from becoming a global kleptocracy and a failed and rogue state, which would be the national agenda for the next five to ten years, I am prepared to co-operate with him. Was Hadi prepared to make such a commitment?

This had created a lot of political waves, both in MCA and Gerakann quarters, with the MCA Youth leader and Deputy Education Minister launching into a tirade against the DAP.

Why? Is it just because of my preparedness, despite our great political differences, to work with Hadi Awang on a common agenda in the larger national interests to free the country from the curse of a global kleptocracy?

Only the small-minded and political opportunists will call this an “U-turn” or hypocrisy, when it is the highest form of expression of patriotism and love for Malaysia.
I do not know what is Hadi’s response, but I stand by my position that despite our great political differences, I am prepared to work with Hadi to save Malaysia from global kleptocracy – not mere kleptocracy.

No country can claim to be God-fearing, guided by the religious, moral and ethical precepts and principles, whether Islamic, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu or Sikhist, and nobody can claim to be patriotic and want to save the country if he is she is content for Malaysia to remain a global kleptocracy! Continue reading “I am prepared in the next 72 hours to meet Liow and Mah any place any time in the national interests to discuss how to purge and cleanse Malaysia of the infamy and ignominy of being regarded worldwide as a global kleptocracy”

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Fund-scandal fallout keeps Malaysia on its toes

By Una Galani | HONG KONG
Reuters
Jan 23, 2017

(Reuters Breakingviews) – Malaysia is still struggling to put its sovereign-fund scandal behind it. Prime Minister Najib Razak was not named in lawsuits filed last year by the U.S. Department of Justice after billions disappeared from 1Malaysia Development Berhad, and he has deftly avoided a legal tangle on his home turf. Nonetheless, the fallout is keeping Malaysia’s leader on his toes.

The scandal at the fund Najib championed has left a dark mark on sentiment around the country. Money from the fund found its way into financing the movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” and allegedly into Najib’s personal bank account, something he denies. But mud sticks. One recent survey by FT Confidential Research found 71.5 percent of respondents had a negative view of the prime minister. Malaysia must hold an election by August 2018 at latest, but even with the redistricting of constituencies, it will be a slog to win more votes than in 2013 which saw the worst-ever performance for the Barisan Nasional ruling coalition. Continue reading “Fund-scandal fallout keeps Malaysia on its toes”

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Cabinet on Wednesday should set up national consultative council on TN50 under chairmanship of Nazir Razak to ensure a shared national vision by 100% and not just 47% of the population

The Cabinet on Wednesday should set up a national consultative council on 2050 National Transformation Policy under the chairmanship of CIMB Group Chariman, Datuk Seri Nazir Razak to ensure a shared national vision by 100% and not just 47% of the population.

How can the first minority government in the country, which won only 47% support of the popular electorate in the last general election in 2013, undertake a national undertaking like the TN 50 concerning the vision of Malaysia for the next 33 years when it has the lost the locus standi even to claim to represent the majority of Malaysians?

The 53% of the popular electorate, who rejected the Barisan Nasional as the Federal government in Putrajaya, must be able to fully participate in the evolution and shaping of TN 50 if the objective is to create a shared national vision for 100% of Malaysians and not just 47% of the people.

The Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is right when he said yesterday that Malaysians need to focus on efforts on instilling unity instead of giving attention to matters pertaining to disagreements and differences in opinion. Continue reading “Cabinet on Wednesday should set up national consultative council on TN50 under chairmanship of Nazir Razak to ensure a shared national vision by 100% and not just 47% of the population”

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UMNO’ first and second major Goebbellian offensive against DAP have tanked and failed, now we await the third UMNO Goebellian propangada gambit


I want to remind the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak of the Chinese saying “If you don’t want anyone to know, don’t do it”. (若要人不知 除非己莫为)

This is because the pieces are falling into place about Najib’s Goebbellian Syndrome to use me as a guinea pig to test out Goebbels’ Nazi propaganda doctrine to “tell a big lie, keep repeating it and eventually people will believe it” as the strategy to control the rural Malay mind.

The whole sorry story started with Najib’s UMNO Presidential speech on Nov. 30, where he notched up another octave in the politics of race, hatred and falsehood when he declared DAP as UMNO’s Enemy No. 1 in the forthcoming 14th General Election, declaring that the Malays will have to decide whether to maintain a government led by UMNO or DAP.

This is of course a political fallacy, as whatever happens in the 14GE, whether Najib is toppled as Prime Minister or UMNO loses the Federal Government, the Malays in Malaysia will continue to exercise political power in the country as there is no way they will lose their political power.

For the past two months, neither Najib nor anybody in UMNO and its propaganda apparatus has been able to give a decent reply to the question recently asked by National Laureate Pak Samad as to how Malays could lose political power if UMNO is defeated in a general election. Continue reading “UMNO’ first and second major Goebbellian offensive against DAP have tanked and failed, now we await the third UMNO Goebellian propangada gambit”

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Lesson of my two-day “Jelajah Desa Bersama Kit Siang” is that ordinary Malays like ordinary non-Malays want unity, peace, harmony, progress and prosperity for plural Malaysia and not racial or religious polarization to divide the country and cause tensions

One important lesson I have learnt from my two-day “Jelajah Desa Bersama Kit Siang” in Bukit Mertajam to Kampong Permatang Tok Subuh yesterday and to Sungai Gelugur in Bukit Gelugor today is that ordinary Malays like ordinary non-Malays want unity, peace, harmony, progress and prosperity for plural Malaysia and not racial or religious polarization to divide the country and cause tensions.

In the past eight years, irresponsible politicking and communalization have succeed in projecting a very misleading and even mischievous perception that the Malays are being oppressed and suppressed in Penang, that the DAP-led Penang State Government is anti-Malay and anti-Islam.
These are not borne out by the facts and the actual situation in the state.

In fact, the DAP-led Penang State Government has done more for the Malays and Islam as compared to what Barisan Nasional government of the past.

I myself have been demonized of being anti-Malay and anti-Islam. Continue reading “Lesson of my two-day “Jelajah Desa Bersama Kit Siang” is that ordinary Malays like ordinary non-Malays want unity, peace, harmony, progress and prosperity for plural Malaysia and not racial or religious polarization to divide the country and cause tensions”

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Najib’s Goebbelian Syndrome – I am made a guinea pig to test the Goebbels’ Nazi doctrine to “tell a big lie, keep repeating it and eventually people will believe it” to control the rural Malay mind

This is Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s Goebbelian Syndrome – to use me as a guinea pig to test out the Goebbels’ Nazi doctrine to “tell a big lie, keep repeating it and eventually people will believe it” to control the rural Malay mind.

In his UMNO Presidential Speech on Nov. 30, Najib set in motion this Goebbelian power play, telling three Nazi-style “Big Lies” about the DAP, viz:

1. That the 14th General Elections will be a contest between UMNO and DAP;

2. That the DAP is anti-Malay or anti-Islam.

3. The “nightmares” Malay will suffer if UMNO loses power in the next general elections.

These three “Big Lies” fit the Goebbels/Nazi definition that “if you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

Najib and the UMNO propagandists have not been able to reply to my rebuttal of Najib’s “Three Nazi Big Lies” against the DAP or the challenge to Najib to list out DAP’s Three Big Lies against him or the UMNO leadership – but the Goebbelian attack of “Nazi Big Lies” on the DAP and me have continued. Continue reading “Najib’s Goebbelian Syndrome – I am made a guinea pig to test the Goebbels’ Nazi doctrine to “tell a big lie, keep repeating it and eventually people will believe it” to control the rural Malay mind”

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Najib is repudiating his father Tun Razak’s legacy in violating the fifth Rukunegara principle of “Good Behaviour and Morality” by leading the UMNO charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies against the DAP

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak is repudiating his father Tun Razak’s legacy in violating the fifth Rukunegara principle of “Good Behaviour and Morality” by leading the UMNO charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies against the DAP.

Today, through UMNO “mainstream media”, Najib continued the campaign of fear, hatred and lies against the DAP claiming that Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad had admitted that the DAP would be given the Deputy Prime Minister’s post if the Opposition wins federal power, and lambasted Mahathir for having spent 22 years attacking me and suddenly, Mahathir wanted to give me the position of Deputy Prime Minister.

Anybody who follows public affairs closely would know that Najib was concocting a tissue of lies, as DAP had never asked for the post of DPM, whether under Pakatan Rakyat, Pakatan Harapan or the present Pakatan Harapan Plus Pribumi Bersatu – and I myself am not aware that Mahathir wanted me to be Deputy Prime Minister if the Opposition wins federal power.

I should be flattered that in the past few days, the UMNO/Barisan Nasional “mainstream media” had gone to town about the fairy tale of my being Deputy Prime Minister, hoping to create fear and hatred in certain sectors of the population through dissemination of such lies and falsehoods. Continue reading “Najib is repudiating his father Tun Razak’s legacy in violating the fifth Rukunegara principle of “Good Behaviour and Morality” by leading the UMNO charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies against the DAP”

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The role and place of Rukunegara, the first Caliph’s inaugural address and global kleptocralcy in TN50’s “shared vision for the future”

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak has touted 2050 National Transformation (TN50) policy as a shared vision that will give everyone, especially young Malaysians, an opportunity to shape the nation in the years to come.

He said at the launch of the TN 50 at the first of Town Hall dialogues with 500 selected youths at the Universiti Malaya’s Dewan Tunku Canselor on Thursday night that TN 50 shared vision for the future, which is Malaysia’s roadmap for the next 33 years, must come from the people so that there is a sense of public ownership and belonging.

Very correct. How can a minority government, which has only 47% support of the popular electorate in last general election in 2013, have the locus standi to talk about creating a national vision for 2050 without the full participation of the 53% of the national electorate who rejected UMNO/Barisan Nasional government?

When former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad introduced “Vision 2020” when tabling the Sixth Malaysia Plan in Parliament in 1991, he had the support of the majority electorate in the 1990 general election, where Barisan Nasional secured 53.4% of the popular vote, which increased to 65.2% in the 1995 general election.

This is very different from Najib, who secured only 47% of the popular vote but 60 per cent of the parliamentary seats because of gerrymandering and a most undemocratic redelineration of electoral constituencies. Continue reading “The role and place of Rukunegara, the first Caliph’s inaugural address and global kleptocralcy in TN50’s “shared vision for the future””

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The Malaysian government must seriously consider funding a new MH370 search

The Malaysian Government must give full and satisfactory response to serious allegations made in the international media that it had withheld crucial data that could help find the missing MH370 from the Australian authorities and independent aviation and data experts involved in the search.

The Australian news website News.com.au is one of the international media which had made these shocking allegations.

In an exclusive article, the Australian website said: “If you assumed those tasked with finding this needle in a haystack had been given every piece of information available to solve what is now regarded as the greatest aviation mystery in history, you would be wrong.

“News.com.au can reveal that Malaysia withheld, and continues to withhold, from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) and consulting experts, vital radar data containing possible clues to the location of the Boeing 777 – or what is left of it.” Continue reading “The Malaysian government must seriously consider funding a new MH370 search”

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MH370: Should Malaysia fund new MH370 search?

by Jonathan Head
BBC
Friday 20 January 2017


Many distraught relatives have called for the search to continue

The announcement on 17 January that the search for MH370 was being suspended should have surprised no-one.

At the tripartite meeting last July of the three countries involved in the search, Malaysia, Australia and China, they agreed that it would not be continued beyond the current 120,000sq km area (46,332 sq miles) of the southern Indian Ocean, unless there was credible new information showing a specific location for the crashed airliner.

Nonetheless the families of the victims have condemned this requirement for a “precise location”, calling it “at best an erroneous expectation, and at worst a clever formulation to bury the search”. Continue reading “MH370: Should Malaysia fund new MH370 search?”

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Why hasn’t MH370 been found?

Elle Hunt
Guardian
Thursday 19 January 2017

Australia’s multimillion-dollar search effort for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight ‘tested the limits of human endeavour’ – and failed. Where did it go wrong?

Nearly three years after the disappearance of MH370, theories abound as to what caused the Boeing-777 to change course and fly more than six hours with its satellite and navigation systems turned off, before plummeting into the Indian Ocean at terrifying speed.

Plenty of theories, but only piecemeal evidence.

And now, with the conclusion of the largest and most expensive underwater search effort in history, the governments of Malaysia, China and Australia have stopped looking for more. Continue reading “Why hasn’t MH370 been found?”

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Najib has achieved what all the five previous Prime Ministers have failed to do in getting Malaysia into the world’s top 20 nations – joining the club of global kleptocracy in short span of 5-6 years!

It should be a great start for the launching of the National Transformation 2050 (TN50) journey with the first town hall dialogue of the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak with 500 youths at the Tunku Chancellor in University of Malaya and telecast live to the nation.

But anybody following the TN50 launch-off live from their homes and offices would have realized that there is something missing in the air of the Prime Minister’s dialogue – detracting from the event’s authenticity, bona fides and relevance.

What was wrong and missing about the TN dialogue was brought to the fore when the Prime Minister in his ending remarks called on the youths to ensure that Malaysia get into the world’s top 20 nations.

But Najib had achieved what all the five previous Prime Ministers – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein, Tun Mahathir and Tun Abdullah – have failed to do in getting Malaysia into the world’s top 20 nations. Joining the club of global kleptocracy in a short span of five to six years! Continue reading “Najib has achieved what all the five previous Prime Ministers have failed to do in getting Malaysia into the world’s top 20 nations – joining the club of global kleptocracy in short span of 5-6 years!”

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Selling Reclaimed Johor Land is Good for the Economy

Koon Yew Yin
19th January 2017

A few months before the end of last year, I wrote on the state of the economy in an article chiefly directed at market investors and the business community. In my article I touched on the Chinese investment wave and noted that this was a most important partnership emerging between Malaysia and China which would boost our nation’s economic fortunes. I followed up this with another on “The China X Factor in Malaysia’s Future”

In my second article, I noted that the Chinese are investing here for their own benefit and not out of charity. I wrote:

Let’s make no mistake. This is not about PM Najib’s, Malaysia’s or Malaysian Chinese’s interests that China is making these deals. China will be the X factor in Malaysia’s development in any transformation programme for our nation. If we want to make it a win-win deal, we have to work to pursue our national advantage.

I had also written

The most important thing we can learn from the Chinese example, is that we have to free the creative enterprise and spirit of the people, especially the young.

No freebies – just hard work, a no-nonsense, fair and competent government, and incorruptibility which was high on the governance agenda, has made China the power to respect throughout the world and in Malaysia.

But there is also a lot wrong in China now that mainland Chinese are trying to eradicate. Let us learn from that too.

I had hoped that our leaders would take my advice in the right spirit. Continue reading “Selling Reclaimed Johor Land is Good for the Economy”

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Why is Najib leading the UMNO/BN charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies in the run-up to the 14GE unless he feels that this is the only formula to save himself in the next general election?

I am surprised by the speech by the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak in Kedah on Tuesday night that regardless of whether DAP has the top government post, the party will still “call the shots” and run the show if UMNO/BN is defeated in the 14th General Election.

Najib said: “Democracy and politics are a game of numbers. Who has the most seats, wins. Even if the top post of the government is not given to it, the party with the most seats will effectively rule.”

My surprise at Najib personally leading the charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies in the run-up to the 14th General Election is for two reasons:

Firstly, has Najib such poor strategists among his election and propaganda advisers that he is personally leading the UMNO/BN charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies in the run-up to the 14th General Election instead of leaving such “dirty work” to his subordinates, which will give him leeway for deniability of personal approval or even knowledge as Prime Minister and UMNO/BN President for such “gutter politics”, which are most unworthy of the Prime Minister of the nation?

Secondly, has Najib become so desperate that he might lose the 14th General Election requiring him to move out of Putrajaya to the Opposition benches in Parliament, that he has now thrown scruples to the winds by leading the charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies in a last-ditch effort to save his political office in Putrajaya so as to pack the maximum amount of explosives into such wild and baseless charges?

The ordinary laymen and women in Malaysia can see through Najib’s gambit as evident from the following typical reactions to the Prime Minister’s speech in Kedah: Continue reading “Why is Najib leading the UMNO/BN charge and campaign of fear, hatred and lies in the run-up to the 14GE unless he feels that this is the only formula to save himself in the next general election?”

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Jet, mansions figure in $232 million foreign trust case to be heard in Auckland court

Matt Nippert, business investigations journalist.
New Zealand Herald
Jan 18, 2017

An Auckland courtroom will on Friday become a battleground over Manhattan penthouses and a private jet amid allegations that they are the proceeds of a globe-spanning mega-fraud.

The High Court at Auckland is set down to hear a request from relatives of controversial Malaysian financier Jho Low who oppose the seizure of assets worth $230 million alleged by the United States Department of Justice to be the proceeds of crime.

US court filings said the relatives are beneficiaries of a number of New Zealand trusts that are claimed to directly own a number assets caught up the probe of a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund known as 1MDB.

US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said in July when the DoJ first filed its seizure claims that $5 billion had been misappropriated from the Malaysian state with payments by 1MDB diverted into private Swiss bank accounts and then laundered into artwork, Hollywood films and real estate.

“We are seeking to forfeit and recover funds that were intended to grow the Malaysian economy and support the Malaysian people. Instead, they were stolen, laundered through American financial institutions and used to enrich a few officials and their associates,” she said.

Financier Low is one of three individuals named in the DoJ action as receiving the proceeds of the alleged fraud. The others are a Hollywood producer and step-son of Malaysia’s current Prime Minister, and a former government official from the United Arab Emirates. Continue reading “Jet, mansions figure in $232 million foreign trust case to be heard in Auckland court”

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Mustapha not speaking the truth or in his true self when he said Malaysia must “move on” from 1MDB scandal when the law in Malaysia is neither taking its course nor the authorities in Malaysia allowed to go after those responsible for creating the international money-laundering scandal

The Minister for International Trade and Industry, Datuk Mustapha Mohamad had discovered that wherever he went, even at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, he would be pursued, hounded and haunted by the international multi-billion dollar 1MDB kleptocratic money-laundering scandal which would not leave him in peace.

Mustapha is as wrong as the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak who declared in his 2016 New Year Message on Dec. 31, 2015 that his RM55 billion 1MDB and RM2.6 billion donation twin mega scandals had been resolved and were no more issues when the International Trade and Industry Minister said Malaysia must “move on” from the 1MDB scandal.

AFP quoted Mustapha saying “We’ve learned many lessons and we are moving forward” from the scandal, and said:

“Essentially we have to move on and we have confidence that a number of issues that came to limelight as a result of 1MDB will at some point, be behind us.

“We have the authorities to go after those responsible for creating the mess. The law is taking its course.”

Mustapha is not speaking his true self as he should know more than anybody else that it is not true that the Najib government had “learnt many lessons” from the 1MDB scandal and that “the law is taking its course” and that the “authorities” are going after “those responsible for creating the mess”.

Mustapha’s statement in Davos needs an important qualification as the law in Malaysia is not taking its course, and the authorities in Malaysia are not going after “those creating the mess”. Continue reading “Mustapha not speaking the truth or in his true self when he said Malaysia must “move on” from 1MDB scandal when the law in Malaysia is neither taking its course nor the authorities in Malaysia allowed to go after those responsible for creating the international money-laundering scandal”

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DAP forms Felda parliamentary bureau to support DAP MPs to champion the cause of Felda settlers to ensure that they are not the latest victims of injustices of a bungling and kleptocratic government

DAP has formed a Felda parliamentary bureau to support DAP MPs to champion the cause of Felda settlers to ensure that they are not the latest victims of injustices or a bungling and kleptocratic government.

The appointment of Datuk Shahrir Samad as the new Felda Chairman has not alleviated the concerns and even worries of the Felda settlers that their legitimate rights and interests are properly safeguarded and protected.

In fact, it is the height of irony that Shahrir’s appointment as Felda Chairman had led to more turbulence in the stock market with talk that Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd (FGV) may be taken private, presenting the deep chasm between the lucrative promise when FGV was listed at an IPO price of RM4.55 in 2012 and its doldrum RM1.70 range at present. Continue reading “DAP forms Felda parliamentary bureau to support DAP MPs to champion the cause of Felda settlers to ensure that they are not the latest victims of injustices of a bungling and kleptocratic government”

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Generation of “false news” and “big lies” about DAP by UMNO leaders and cybertroopers an index of their growing desperation about loss of credibility and public support because of rampant corruption, economic crisis and worsening racial and religious polarisation

It is ironic but true – the generation of “false news” and “big lies” about the DAP by UMNO leaders and cybertroopers are not a reflection of confidence and hope, but the contrary, an index of their growing desperation about loss of credibility and public support because of rampant corruption, economic crisis and worsening racial and religious polarization – particularly among the Malays in the country.

Just before I came to this dialogue, I was reading about the latest UMNO cybertrooper attack on me – ridiculing the statement by the Deputy Amanah Youth Leader Faiz Fadzil “yang berkata DAP yang hanya bertanding di 51 daripada 222 kerusi Parlimen tidak mampu menerajui kepimpinan negara jika pembangkang menang dalam pilihan raya umum ke 14” by twisting what I said on 31st December that “I expect DAP to double the number of Parliamentary and State Assembly constituencies to be contested in the 14GE as compared to 13GE”.

Yes I did say about expecting the DAP to “double” the number of parliamentary and state assembly seats to be contested in the 14GE, but I was not talking about Malaysia as a whole but specifically about Sabah state, where DAP contested in four parliamentary and eight state assembly seats in the 13GE.

A person who is honest, sincere, pious and God-fearing would not have twisted what I said, for it was very clear that I was referring to doubling the seats contested in Sabah and not Malaysia-wide, unless the UMNP cybertrooper has a very low IQ – but this is the quality of UMNO leaders, propagandists and cybertroopers attacking the DAP who have to be liars to tell downright lies and falsehoods about DAP leaders which cannot stand scrutiny or challenge at all! Continue reading “Generation of “false news” and “big lies” about DAP by UMNO leaders and cybertroopers an index of their growing desperation about loss of credibility and public support because of rampant corruption, economic crisis and worsening racial and religious polarisation”

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WHY PRESIDENT TRUMP IS BAD FOR FREEDOM … IN MALAYSIA

BY SHERIDAN MAHAVERA
South China Morning Post
15 JAN 2017

Civil activists in the country enjoyed US support under Obama, but the incoming president’s anti-China stance may require him to turn a blind eye to Najib’s domestic agenda

After eight years with an influential friend in the White House, Malaysian civil society groups are bracing for the worst when Donald Trump takes over on January 20.

During outgoing President Barack Obama’s two terms, human rights advocates, democracy groups and anti-corruption activists had cultivated warm relations with US officials in Kuala Lumpur, even meeting the 44th US president on his visit to the capital last year – the first by any sitting US president.

In that time, Washington’s tacit support for their causes had been a crucial morale booster during a period of regular clampdowns by the administration of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, who himself was eager to curry favour with the US leader.

But now they fear a shift in US priorities by a Trump administration that is likely to view Malaysian civil liberties as of relatively low diplomatic priority. Or even worse, that a US, which no longer champions democracy and human rights, might provide moral cover for Najib to further suppress freedoms. Continue reading “WHY PRESIDENT TRUMP IS BAD FOR FREEDOM … IN MALAYSIA”