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Great regret that Ku Li is playing the racial card of reducing Malaysian politics into Malay versus Chinese when it should be a battle between integrity, good governance and democracy versus corruption, bad governance and authoritarian rule

The launch of the seven-week Bersih 5 convoy in Johor, which is held simultaneously today in five other locations in the country, is a historic occasion for patriotic Malaysians regardless of race, religion, region or politics to reclaim the country from undemocratic, corrupt and opportunistic forces in the country which are prepared to see the country hurtle down the slippery slope towards a failed state provided they can achieve their selfish and greedy objectives.

The Election Commission’s most undemocratic redelineation of electoral constituencies in the nation’s history, even more unfair and undemocratic than the four previous redelineation exercises, has only highlighted the importance, relevance and urgency of the Bersih’s cause and primary objective to have clean, free and fair elections.

Nov. 19 should be a rendevous with history for all Malaysians concerned not only about the future of democracy but also the future of the plural Malaysian nation – why a country with so much promise for greatness in various fields of human endeavour and which could be a showcase of successful multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multi-cultural nation to the world has overnight becoming a “basket-case” of nation-building? Continue reading “Great regret that Ku Li is playing the racial card of reducing Malaysian politics into Malay versus Chinese when it should be a battle between integrity, good governance and democracy versus corruption, bad governance and authoritarian rule”

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Ku Li’s DAP Bashing: A Cynical Play for UMNO Leadership

Koon Yew Yin
1.10.2016

All sorts of developments have taken place in our political arena this past fortnight which have tempted me to write about.  The most prominent is the attempt by the Election Commission to steal the next election for the BN. However many other analysts have commented and written about it so there is no need for me to say anything much except to urge our Malaysian electorate to vote in the next election – wherever their constituency and the outcome of the re-delineation exercise  – so as to finish off once and for all, UMNO’s and BN’s monopoly of power.

Assuming the next election is in 2018, I propose that one of the key electoral slogans for the opposition parties is

“Malaysians Have Had More Than Enough of 59 Years of BN Misrule and Power Abuse”.  

Continue reading “Ku Li’s DAP Bashing: A Cynical Play for UMNO Leadership”

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Three questions for Najib on 1MDB global financial scandal, including whether he is MO1?

I have given notice to ask the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak three questions on the 1MDB global financial scandal in next month’s Parliament, viz:

1. To ask the Prime Minister whether he is “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” mentioned in the US Department of Justice lawsuit seeking forfeiture of US$1 billion 1MDB-linked assets and what action he had taken as a result.

2. To ask the Prime Minister when the government learnt that the United States authorities were carrying out investigations into the embezzlement and money-laundering of 1MDB funds under the US Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative and what actions the government had taken.

3. To ask the Prime Minister what co-operation Malaysian government has given to various governments and international institutions investigating various aspects of the 1MDB financial scandal. Continue reading “Three questions for Najib on 1MDB global financial scandal, including whether he is MO1?”

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Najib’s statement on co-operation with US and other international authorities on 1MDB embezzlement and money-laundering – too little, too late and of no credibility

The Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak made a very surprising statement during his visit to Germany when asked about international investigations on multibillion dollar 1MDB embezzlement and money-laundering.

He said that Malaysia would cooperate with US and other international authorities investigating the embezzlement, misappropriation and money-laundering of funds from the Malaysian state-owned 1MDB that he founded.

Najib said: “We are equally concerned about good governance in Malaysia and the rule of law.

“So within the bounds of good governance and the rule of law, Malaysia will do its best to cooperate and to do whatever is necessary.”

Isn’t such a statement by Najib not only too little and too late, but totally lacking in credibility?

Why only make such a statement in Germany more than two months after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawsuits on July 20 on the forfeiture of over US$1billion of assets in the United States, United Kingdom and Switzerland, from over US$3billion embezzlement, misappropriation and money-laundering of 1MDB funds, (implicating the Prime Minister himself as identified by a Cabinet Minister that the “MALAYSIAN OFFICIAL 1” mentioned in the US DOJ indictment is none other than Najib himself) and months after several countries like Singapore and Switzerland had taken action against banks, financial institutions and their staff in their countries for being involved in the international conspiracy on money-laundering of 1MDB funds? Continue reading “Najib’s statement on co-operation with US and other international authorities on 1MDB embezzlement and money-laundering – too little, too late and of no credibility”

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Excommunicating Saudis? A New Fracture Emerges in Islam

By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
Wall Street Journal
Sept. 22, 2016

International conference in Russia’s Chechnya leaves out Saudis, creating fresh religious strife — this time within Islam’s Sunni sect

Political conflicts in the Middle East between the Saudi-led camp of Sunni powers and a rival Shiite camp led by Iran have already morphed into a religious war. Now, a theological dispute within Sunni Islam is causing another regional political rift — a result of an initially obscure conference in Russia’s Chechen Republic.

Chechnya’s strongman Ramzan Kadyrov — just re-elected with a modest 98% of the vote — is a follower of the Sufi current of Sunni Islam. The diverse and more mystical version of the Muslim faith is one long at odds with the puritan Islam promoted by Saudi Arabia and based on the teachings of 18th-century cleric Mohammed ibn Abdel Wahhab.

Normally, Mr. Kadyrov, a former Islamist rebel known for his fierce loyalty to President Vladimir Putin and for using his Instagram account to solicit citizens’ help in locating a missing cat, isn’t considered an authority on Islamic affairs, at least not outside Chechnya. But buoyed by Russia’s new influence in the Middle East after last year’s intervention in Iran-allied Syria, he managed to bring some of the Muslim world’s most famous luminaries to a conference in late August in the Chechen capital of Grozny.

The conference, co-sponsored by an Islamic foundation in the United Arab Emirates, was attended by the imam of Al-Azhar Grand Mosque in Cairo, advisers to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, influential Yemeni cleric Habib Ali Jifri and the mufti of Syria, among others. Its mission was no less ambitious than determining who qualifies to be a Sunni Muslim. Continue reading “Excommunicating Saudis? A New Fracture Emerges in Islam”

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Najib should seek parliamentary support through a motion when Parliament reconvenes on Oct 17 to refute allegation that Malaysia has become a global kleptocracy

Together with three DAP MPs, Teresa Kok (Seputeh), Zairil Khir Johari (Bukit Bendera) and Steven Sim (Bukit Mertajam), we made a five-day visit to Jakarta and Jogjarkata to meet with leaders of political parties and Islamic organisations as well as public intellectuals to understand the development of Islam and democracy, and the dangers of Islamic extremism, in a country with the largest Muslim population of some 220 million out of a national population of 250 million people.

One thing that struck us during the discussions we had during our visit in Jakarta and Jogjarkarta was the central place of Pancasila among the major Indonesian political and intellectual leaders in the nation-building process in the country, as compared to Malaysia, where the “establishment” political and intellectual leaders have virtually forgotten about the Malaysian counterpart to Pancasila, the Rukun Negara!

Leaders of the two largest Muslim organisations in Indonesia, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah, have no qualms in publicly stating, whether in private discussions or public forums, that their commitment to Pancasila was an important reason why the Islamic State concept was not suitable or appropriate for Indonesia, although it has the largest number of Muslims for any country in the world!

How many Malaysian political and intellectual leaders in the country are still committed to the five principles of Rukunegara, viz:

• Belief in God.
• Loyalty to King and Country.
• Upholding the Constitution.
• Rule of Law.
• Good Behaviour and morality. Continue reading “Najib should seek parliamentary support through a motion when Parliament reconvenes on Oct 17 to refute allegation that Malaysia has become a global kleptocracy”

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Najib, Mahathir and the timing of Malaysia’s polls

Ooi Kee Beng
The Straits Times
16.9.2016

According to its Constitution, Malaysia has to hold its next general election by Aug 24, 2018. That is still almost two years away. And yet, rumours of early elections persist, both at the state and federal levels.

This needs some explaining, given how Prime Minister Najib Razak waited until almost the last minute to go to the polls back in 2013.

The exercise to delineate constituency boundaries now being concluded heightens speculation that early polls are coming. Having lost its two-third majority since 2008, the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) has not been able to increase the number of parliamentary constituencies; it is now able only to realign the existing ones – or rename them. And that, it is doing.

That in itself is a substantive exercise of power, especially with the independence of the Election Commission that is in charge of the delineation being in serious doubt. Continue reading “Najib, Mahathir and the timing of Malaysia’s polls”

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Unesco holds back award for Malaysia PM’s wife amid 1MDB fallout

Jeevan Vasagar in Singapore
Financial Times
SEPTEMBER 20, 2016

Honour for Rosmah Mansor on hold in sign of growing international impact of graft scandal

Unesco has postponed an award it planned to give to Rosmah Mansor, the Malaysian prime minister’s wife, at the last minute in a sign of the growing international fallout from a corruption scandal engulfing the country’s leaders.

Irina Bokova, the Unesco director-general, wrote to Ms Rosmah this month saying Malaysia’s first lady was to receive the award at an event in New York this Thursday, according to the Malaysian government.

The award was to recognise efforts to counter extremism through the education system and honour the work of Permata, a Malaysian organisation that works with children and teenagers. Permata was founded by Ms Rosmah.

However, Malaysia’s ambassador to the UN was told in an email that it would be deferred to 2017 because of questions about Permata’s funding, according to a Malaysian government statement on Tuesday.

Questions surrounding the Malaysian prime minister and his family have intensified after US prosecutors outlined detailed allegations this summer concerning Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB. Continue reading “Unesco holds back award for Malaysia PM’s wife amid 1MDB fallout”

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Mahathir-Anwar reconciliation creating waves in Indonesia

The Mahathir-Anwar reconciliation is creating waves in Indonesia, and is the subject of inquiry of the many political leaders and public intellectuals I met during the four-day visit to Jakarta and Yogyakarta.

This is the third overseas visit by DAP leaders to learn and update on the latest political developments with regard to Islam and democracy, particularly in Moslem-majority nations.

The countries first visited were Jordan and Egypt in April last year, followed by visits to Tunisia and Turkey last October. Continue reading “Mahathir-Anwar reconciliation creating waves in Indonesia”

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The rise of Aman Abdurrahman, IS master ideologue

Rendi A. Witular
The Jakarta Post
January 25 2016

Unlike his contemporaries, cleric and terrorist convict Aman Abdurrahman has never seen war. He never fights along his fellow jihadists in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria or in any domestic sectarian conflict.

But Aman’€™s preaching is so contagious that Abu Bakar Ba’€™asyir, the elder statesman of the regional terrorism network, has succumbed to his doctrine and authority.

Aman’€™s notoriety was recently extended with the alleged involvement of his followers in an attack targeting police and foreigners in a Central Jakarta district packed with shopping centers, embassies, the UN headquarters and government offices on Jan. 14. The attack killed four civilians and four perpetrators. Continue reading “The rise of Aman Abdurrahman, IS master ideologue”

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Barisan Nasional Supreme Council has degenerated from Federal coalition government’s highest decision-making body into a superfluous and even super-annuated creature without any bite, role, authority or purpose whatsoever

Nobody is impressed with the Barisan Nasional Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor’s announcement that the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council will meet on Friday to discuss the Election Commission’s (EC) proposed redelineation exercise.

This is because the Barisan Nasional Supreme Council has degenerated from the Barisan Nasional Federal coalition government’s highest decision-making body into a superfluous and even superannuated creature without any bite, role, authority or purpose whatsoever.

It has followed the footsteps of the Cabinet to become an utterly toothless, purposeless and irrelevant body.

Despite protestations and denials by the EC Chairman, Datuk Mohd Hashim Abdullah that the constituency redelineation exercise was being carried out for the benefit of certain parties, nobody believes that the Election Commission would dare to propose the most unconstitutional, blatant and flagrant constituency redelineation proposals – the most undemocratic of all five redelineation exercises in the nation’s history – without “greenlight” from the highest “political strategists” in the corridors of power in Putrajaya (which do not include anyone from outside UMNO)!

Mohd Hashim’s protestation and denials lack credibility or conviction, for the EC Chairman is unable to explain why he had jettisoned his predecessor, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof’s previous redelineation plan to abide by the Constitution and the democratic principle of “one man, one vote” by ensuring that there will be no super-size parliamentary constituencies exceeding 100,000 votes. Continue reading “Barisan Nasional Supreme Council has degenerated from Federal coalition government’s highest decision-making body into a superfluous and even super-annuated creature without any bite, role, authority or purpose whatsoever”

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Election Commission Chairman Mohd Hashim should explain why he had jettisoned his predecessor’s redelineation plan to abide by the Constitution and the democratic principle of “one man, one vote” by ensuring that there will be no super-size parliamentary constituencies exceeding 100,000 voters?

The DAP MP for Serdang, Dr. Ong Kian Ming’s repartee to the denial by the Election Commission Chairman, Datuk Mohd Hashim Abdullah that the constituency redelineation exercise is being carried out for the benefit of certain parties is a gem: “Yeah right, and I’m sure that Jho Low had nothing to do with 1MDB either…”

Can Mohd Hashim explain why he had jettisoned his precedessor, Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof’s redelineation plan to abide by the Constitution and the democratic principle of “one man, one vote” by ensuring that there will be no super-size parliamentary constituencies exceeding 100,000 votes?

Abdul Aziz had gone on public record to say that in the new constituency redelineation to be proposed by the Election Commission, “a constituency with a large number of votes, more than 100,000, has to be divided into two, so that the constituents could obtain good service from the elected representatives”.

Why did Mohd Hashim abandon this important Constitutional and democratic principle in the final proposal of the Election Commission for the redelineation of electoral constituencies?

Is this at the behest of the powers-that-be in UMNO? Continue reading “Election Commission Chairman Mohd Hashim should explain why he had jettisoned his predecessor’s redelineation plan to abide by the Constitution and the democratic principle of “one man, one vote” by ensuring that there will be no super-size parliamentary constituencies exceeding 100,000 voters?”

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Award Canceled for Children’s Group With Ties to Malaysia’s First Lady

By LOUISE STORY
New York Times
SEPT. 18, 2016

Organizers of a high-profile event to be held during the annual United Nations conclave this week have at the last minute canceled an award they had planned to give a Malaysian organization over concerns about its links to Malaysia’s first lady, whose family is mired in corruption allegations.

The event, to be held Thursday at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, honors people and groups that have fought extremism. Among the scheduled honorees was Permata, a Malaysian children’s organization that was founded several years ago under the auspices of Rosmah Mansor, the wife of the Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak.

Ms. Rosmah is known for her lavish spending on luxury items like Hermès Birkin bags.

The couple’s family and close friends are at the center of a Justice Department lawsuit claiming that $1 billion in assets — including a $30.6 million penthouse at the Time Warner Center in New York and a $39 million mansion in the Los Angeles hills — were bought with money stolen from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, called 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB.

A statement on Sunday from Tudor Parfitt, a scholar involved in the event, confirmed that the honor had been withdrawn. Continue reading “Award Canceled for Children’s Group With Ties to Malaysia’s First Lady”

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Pakatan Harapan will have to consider the option of snap polls in Selangor as the Election Commission’s constituency redelineation proposals have mangled and butchered the map of Selangor with the sole purpose of returning UMNO to power in the state

Pakatan Harapan will have to consider the option of snap polls in Selangor as the Election Commission’s constituency redelineation proposals have mangled and butchered the map of Selangor with the sole purpose of returning UMNO to power in the state.

The Barisan Nasional only won 12 UMNO state assembly seats in the 2013 General Elections, but it is hoping to recapture the Selangor State Government which it had failed in two general elections in 2008 and 2013 through the most unashamed, blatant and flagrant violation of the democratic principle of “one man, one vote” in the redelineation of the constituencies, both for Parliament and State Assembly, in the Selangor state.

The Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, Razali Ismail, has denied that the
redelineation exercise is lop-sided and in favour of UMNO and Barisan Nasional, claiming that the allegation is aimed at tarnishing UMNO’s image. He needs to only look at the redelineation proposals in Selangor.
Continue reading “Pakatan Harapan will have to consider the option of snap polls in Selangor as the Election Commission’s constituency redelineation proposals have mangled and butchered the map of Selangor with the sole purpose of returning UMNO to power in the state”

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Why the BN Government Will Lose in the Next GE

Koon Yew Yin
18.9.2016

The latest hot news in town is whether Najib and BN are going for early elections, Various UMNO ministers have been calling on their constituency members to be prepared with some UMNO leaders claiming that this is the best time to take advantage of the wins in the two recent by elections in Perak and Selangor and the state elections in Sarawak.

On the other hand, PM Najib has not dropped any hints. But the Deputy PM has discounted early elections. According to Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the claim that the general election could be held as early as next March was based on speculation. He also stated the conclusion was reached using the predictions of unnamed Umno leaders polled by the media outlet. “That is a prediction based on structured sampling which they did. But the reality is that we must keep our feet firmly planted on the ground and while the leaders in the government, BN and Umno don’t deny that the survey was done academically, but the reality is different”.

Whatever the truth is on this matter, I hope it is true that an early election will come about. In my previous posting, I had noted that we have had a lifetime of UMNO/Aliance and UMNO/BN rule in the country. Continue reading “Why the BN Government Will Lose in the Next GE”

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Election Commission’s constituency redelineation proposal the worst gerrymandering in all five redelineation exercises in nation’s history

The Election Commission’s constituency redelineation proposal is the worst gerrymandering in all five redelineation exercises in the nation’s history.

Under the proposed redelineation, the parliamentary quota in the Peninsular states – which is the average number of electors per parliamentary constituency in the peninsular states, derived from dividing the total electorate by the total number of parliamentary constituencies in all the peninsular states – is 68,814.

The parliamentary quota for each state in Peninsular Malaysia are as follows:

2016 Redelineation:-

State Registered Voters Parliamentary Constituencies Parliamentary Quota
Selangor 2,078,311 22 94,469
Johore 1,649,131 26 63,428
Perak 1,407,529 24 58,647
Kedah 1,044,444 15 69,626
FT (KL) 788,413 11 71,674
Penang 867,748 13 66,750
Kelantan 940,591 14 67,185
Pahang 740,023 14 52,859
Negri Sembilan 557,137 8 69,642
Terengganu 669,546 8 83,693
Malacca 456,645 6 76,107
Perlis 137,098 3 45,600
FT (Putrajaya) 17,627 1
Peninsular Malaysia 165 68,814

The Election Commission owes the Malaysian electorate a full explanation why the present exercise is even more unfair and undemocratic in disregarding the “one man, one vote, one value” principle than the previous four constituency redelineations.
Continue reading “Election Commission’s constituency redelineation proposal the worst gerrymandering in all five redelineation exercises in nation’s history”

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Election Commission’s proposed redelineation of constituencies is not only undemocratic but runs afoul of the 1Malaysia Policy to build a nation of Malaysians

In my 53rd Malaysia Day message, I asked whether the Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Policy is dead or alive.

This was because the Election Commission’s constituency redelineation proposals, made public on the eve of the 53rd Malaysia Day, was not only undemocratic in violating the “one man, one vote, one value” principle, but clearly against the 1Malaysia policy to create a nation where every Malaysian perceives himself or herself as Malaysian first and race, religion or region second.

Let the Election Commission Chairman, Datuk Seri Mohd Hashim Abdullah explain whether the constituency redelineation proposals had been inspired by the 1Malaysia policy to promote a nation where every Malaysian regards himself or herself as Malaysia first or will in effect exacerbate racial polarisation and consciousness, and undermine national unity, in the country.

Furthermore, let him answer critiques that the new redelineation proposals are in fact more undemocratic than previous redelineations in violating the democratic principle of “one man, one vote, one value”. Continue reading “Election Commission’s proposed redelineation of constituencies is not only undemocratic but runs afoul of the 1Malaysia Policy to build a nation of Malaysians”

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Onus is on Election Commission to prove that it is not gerrymandering the current constituency redelineation exercise as in the past to keep UMNO in power

The onus is on the Election Commission to prove that it is not gerrymandering the current constituency redelineation exercise as in the past to keep UMNO in power.

There are two reasons why the Election Commission shoulders such an onus.

Firstly, the public admission or confession at the end of 2013 by the former longest-serving Secretary and later Chairman of the Election Commission, Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman, who managed six of the 13 general elections and responsible for three of the four electoral constituency redelineations in Malaysia that he had gerrymandered the redelineations to ensure that the Malays remain in power.

Secondly, preliminary study of the current redelineation exercise indicate that it is driven by the overall agenda to keep UMNO in power and to eliminate Opposition leaders in vulnerable seats from Parliament, like Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in Pagoh and Nurul Izzah Anwar in Lembah Pantai than to comply with the democratic and constitutional principle of “one man, one vote, one value” and to establish that the Election Commission is transparent, independent and professional not beholden to the dictates of the government of the day. Continue reading “Onus is on Election Commission to prove that it is not gerrymandering the current constituency redelineation exercise as in the past to keep UMNO in power”

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Belasungkawa Allahyarham Dato’ Dr Haron Din

DAP menzahirkan rasa simpati dan takziah kepada keluarga Allahyarham Dato’ Dr Haron Din atas pemergian Allahyarham pagi ini.

Walaupun ada kalanya berbeza pendapat dari segi politik, DAP mengiktiraf peranan Allahyarham sebagai tokoh penting dalam medan politik dan dakwah negara.

Semoga Allahyarham ditempatkan dalam kalangan mereka yang beriman.

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A question for Malaysians to ponder while commemorating 53rd Malaysia Day – Is Najib’s 1Malaysia Policy dead or alive?

I dedicate a question for Malaysians to ponder while commemorating the 53rd Malaysia Day – is Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia Policy dead or alive?

If Najib’s 1Malaysia Policy is still alive, why are UMNO leaders spearheading a national campaign of hate and lies drumming up racial and religious politics, the latest example being the Minister for Rural and Regional Development, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who alleged that Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s new political party is a proxy for DAP to divide the Malay community – just like PKR and Parti Amanah Negara?

DAP shared the same platform as the first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman and veteran UMNO leader, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah when the latter led Parti Semangat 46 in the 1990 General Election to bring about electoral and institutional changes in the country.

Were Tunku and Razaleigh traitors of the Malay community or pioneers of Malaysian nationalism and patriotism?

Is Najib and UMNO’s survival justification enough to abandon the 1Malaysia Policy to promote racial and religious hatred and animosities based on lies and falsehoods? Continue reading “A question for Malaysians to ponder while commemorating 53rd Malaysia Day – Is Najib’s 1Malaysia Policy dead or alive?”